Naruto laughed in delight. "Sasuke, you're awake!"
But Sasuke did not answer. He still had his head lowered, an ominous sound rumbling from his throat.
Naruto frowned and cautiously approached him.
"Sasuke, what's..."
Sasuke suddenly raised his head. His two-tomoe Sharingan contracted sharply as he pushed off the ground and charged at Naruto like a madman.
Caught off guard, Naruto was slammed straight into the trees behind him.
The tremendous impact drew blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Damn it, Sasuke, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Naruto roared.
But Sasuke seemed not to hear him. He leaped up again and rushed at him with incredible speed.
Naruto hurriedly rolled aside.
How could he possibly bring himself to attack his teammate?
He raised a hand and clenched it in the air. A Flying broom immediately appeared in his grasp.
Sasuke had gone mad. For now, Naruto could only use the broom to keep him occupied.
If he ran away, Sakura would most likely be the next victim.
Sakura lay sprawled in an open patch of ground in the distance. Watching Sasuke's rampage, tears shimmered in her eyes.
"Sasuke, what happened to you?" she murmured helplessly.
On the ground, Sasuke kept howling. His blood-red eyes remained locked on Naruto, who was riding the Flying broom.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
He rapidly formed hand seals, spitting out a row of small fireballs that shot straight toward Naruto.
Naruto's eyes widened. He immediately felt a wave of heat behind his butt. Looking back, he saw that the bristles of his broom had caught fire.
The flames were right at the seat of his pants, quickly burning a hole through them.
"Sasuke, screw your whole family!"
With a roar, he jumped straight off the broom and plopped into a puddle beside him.
"Sizzle!"
A Byakugan rose up, and Naruto's entire body relaxed.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
At that moment, Sasuke's voice came again from the other side of the forest.
Naruto quickly dodged aside as a massive fireball flew past his back.
He gritted his teeth, a fierce glint surfacing in his eyes.
Sasuke was currently in a crazed state. Trying to get close to him would probably be dangerous.
So, Naruto let out a mournful sigh.
"Sasuke, don't blame me! Wood Style: Thousand Years of Impalement Technique!"
Sasuke was instantly restrained. The moment the Wood Release Hand struck him squarely in the rear, he let out a sharp scream.
A red mass of energy filled with evil power spewed from his mouth.
Then, the red whirlwind surrounding his body quietly vanished.
Naruto wiped away a cold sweat and let out a long breath.
Once Sasuke returned to normal, he immediately felt a stinging pain in his rear.
Looking down, he found himself tied up by a pile of wooden stakes.
And among all the rookies, Naruto was the only one who knew this ninjutsu.
He screamed like a madman, "Damn you, Naruto! Are you trying to send me to heaven?! Let me down already!"
Naruto curled his lips. He did not know who exactly had been cursed here. With a light clasp of his hands, the wooden stakes binding Sasuke quietly disappeared.
Sasuke staggered forward, clutching his rear with both hands and glaring at Naruto resentfully.
He truly had no memory at all of what had happened earlier...
"Sasuke, let's get moving! Otherwise, they'll break out of the paralysis soon," Naruto reminded him quietly.
Sasuke wore a dark expression, as though someone owed him eight hundred coins. "Then why didn't you tie up the one who could still move too?"
Naruto scratched his head, his face quietly reddening. "She's a girl. Wouldn't it be inappropriate to use that move on her?"
"You could've just tied her up!" Sasuke said, angry yet somewhat helpless.
"This is composite ninjutsu. When I use it, it comes as a full set!"
"Then only form half the hand seals!"
"Yeah, why didn't I think of that?" Naruto's eyes lit up.
Then he raised his hands and formed seals. "Wood Style: Impale Technique!"
As soon as the words fell, the ground beneath Koto's feet suddenly split open, and a wooden hand shot straight up.
"Pfft!"
Koto's face instantly flushed crimson as she was impaled and sent flying into the air.
A scroll fell straight out of her ninja tool bag.
Naruto blankly picked it up, awkwardly scratched his head, and laughed.
"Hehehe, I didn't expect forming only half the seals would turn out like this!"
With that, he took the scroll and ran after Sasuke and Sakura.
On the other side of the forest, Mitaraishi Anko leaped from branch to branch.
She spoke into her earpiece.
"Possible Orochimaru sighting confirmed. Requesting immediate Anbu deployment for a search!"
"I repeat, possible Orochimaru sighting confirmed. Requesting immediate Anbu deployment for a search!"
Beneath a tree she passed, a white snake wriggled, a vicious gleam in its eyes.
"Anko, my dear student, your teacher is unwell this time, so I won't be coming out to meet you!"
With that, he slunk out of the tree hollow in disgrace.
Invincible Scratch-off.
Wu Di sat behind the counter, tapping his fingers against the tabletop and yawning.
Ever since Naruto and the others had entered the forest for their exam, the odds of the shop's golden flashes had suddenly dropped considerably.
Bored, he glanced at the tickets behind him.
Then a fresh idea suddenly came to him.
He ran a scratch-off shop, but it seemed he had never scratched a ticket himself.
Why not give it a try?
He looked around, his gaze settling on the scratch-off tickets that cost one million Ryo each.
Since the shop had opened, not a single one-million-Ryo ticket had ever been sold!
Rubbing his hands together, he grabbed one.
Looking at the pristine ticket surface, he hesitated.
If he scratched nothing from it, one million ryo in silver notes would be gone!
After struggling with it for a moment, he steeled himself.
Anyway, it had been sitting there unsold all this time. If no one bought it, that was basically the same as not having it at all.
Since that was the case, he might as well scratch it himself. If he got something good, wouldn't that be a huge profit?
Having figured it out, he picked up a coin.
"Scratch, scratch, scratch..."
He had only scratched off half the coating when a brilliant golden light suddenly burst forth.
This glow was far stronger than the light from an ordinary winning ticket.
The people currently scratching tickets gathered around in surprise.
"What did he win? Why is it so bright?!"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah! Now I'm curious too!"
Wu Di chuckled, swung his arm wide, and quickly scraped off the rest of the coating.
In an instant, a scroll gleaming with golden light flew out.
Unlike the other ninjutsu scrolls.
Once other scrolls floated out, their glow disappeared.
But this scroll kept flashing even after it landed in Wu Di's hand.
"Damn, you can tell at a glance that this is good stuff!"
"Boss, you've got incredible luck!"
Wu Di laughed heartily and impatiently opened it.
At the top of the scroll, eight golden characters gleamed brilliantly: Ancient Divine Skill, Fiery Golden Eyes!
"Damn, it's the Monkey King's Fiery Golden Eyes!"
His eyes lit up.
When he was young, he had fantasized countless times about possessing Fiery Golden Eyes like the Monkey King's, able to effortlessly see through everything in the world.
He had never expected that after entering the Naruto world, he would accidentally fulfill a childhood dream.
He took a deep breath and immediately accepted the complimentary copy into his mind.
As for the original scroll, he planned to treasure it properly.
After receiving the Fiery Golden Eyes, Wu Di found that he could see everything more clearly than before.
At that moment, a young man clutching his rear entered the shop.
Before you continue