Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

"I see!"

Choji, already quite obese, suddenly swelled into a ball of flesh. "Let me stop him with my flesh bomb tank!"

"How naive!"

Tos scoffed.

But everyone who was preparing for battle suddenly froze.

The immense chakra, perceptible without needing to consciously perceive it, carried a chilling aura that could pierce to the bone, enveloping everyone.

Everyone instinctively tried to find the source of this unusual chakra—

—Sasuke, who had been unconscious in the tree hollow, appeared before them.

Chapter 42 Turning Crisis into Safety

"Sa...suke?"

Sakura sensed the unfamiliar chakra emanating from Sasuke.

Sasuke's chakra was like poison, making people fearful and unwilling to get close.

In order to escape the suffocating chakra, Sakura didn't even notice that she shrank closer to Naruto.

It wasn't just Sasuke's chakra that felt unfamiliar.

Sasuke's appearance also underwent a strange change.

Irregular black markings resembling burning flames appeared all over his body, making Sasuke look ferocious.

Sasuke scanned everyone present, finally fixing his gaze on Naruto.

Noticing Naruto's weak and blood-covered appearance, Sasuke's expression darkened: "Naruto, who did this to you?"

"It's me! Everyone else would have died long ago if they had faced my Sky-Slicing Wave! That piece of trash was lucky; he's still alive."

Before Naruto could speak, Zaku took the initiative to admit it.

Sasuke's attention was immediately drawn to the three Sound Ninja in front of him.

"You are from the Sound Village..."

Looking at the ninja headbands on Zaku and the others, Sasuke narrowed his eyes: "The 'test subjects' Orochimaru mentioned... the ones who let me fully experience powerful strength, are you guys?"

"Test sample?"

Hearing Sasuke mention Orochimaru's name, and hearing Orochimaru's way of referring to the three Sound Ninja as if they were disposable, unimportant tools, they were deeply moved.

Dosu, who became the leader of the Sound Ninja trio, clearly had many things in mind.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt like he was being used as a pawn by the Orochimaru-sama he admired, which made Tosu's fighting spirit begin to wane...

What is Lord Orochimaru thinking...?

"Never mind, none of that matters."

Sasuke glared at Zaku and said cruelly, "You dare to lay a hand on my comrade? I'll repay you a thousandfold for the pain you suffered!"

As soon as Sasuke finished speaking, he vanished.

His teleportation speed is terrifying!

Before Zaku could even blink, Sasuke had already appeared behind him.

"Oops!"

Shikamaru exclaimed in surprise and quickly deactivated the Shadow Imitation Technique.

Shikamaru's judgment was both correct and decisive.

Just as Shikamaru's shadow returned to his side, Sasuke had already twisted off one of Zaku's arms.

Sack's severed hand hung in an extremely bizarre position from his shoulder, the bones completely shattered and the muscles torn apart.

Sasuke rendered Zaku unable to fight using only taijutsu.

Sasuke's behavior was no longer a normal battle, but a one-sided act of cruelty.

Even ninjas who have faced life and death together find it hard to accept Sasuke's cruel and manipulative treatment of his enemies.

"There are two left."

Sasuke paid no attention to Zaku, who was kneeling on the ground groaning in pain, and instead focused his gaze on Koto beside Zaku.

Unable to speak, Koto—or rather, Ino, whose body was occupied by Koto's Mind Transfer Technique—was relentlessly pursued by Sasuke's fierce, cold, and ruthless gaze.

Sasuke quickly formed hand seals.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique—"

However, Sasuke's ninjutsu release was interrupted at the last moment.

"Stop, Sasuke! The creature inside that female Sound Ninja's body is Ino!"

Naruto appeared beside Sasuke and grabbed Sasuke's hand as he completed the hand seals.

Naruto glanced at the stunned Koto, whose eyes were moist and tears were welling up in them: "Ino, undo your Mind Transfer Jutsu, or you'll get hurt."

Naruto's calm reminder brought Ino, who was inside Koto's body, back to her senses. She put her hands together and formed the hand seals to release the Mind Transfer Jutsu.

As Ino's spiritual power left Koto's body, Koto lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.

Ino herself emerged from the bushes not far away.

When the Mountain Clan uses their Mind Transfer Technique on an enemy, their own body will fall into a coma and become extremely vulnerable.

When fighting multiple enemies, the Yamanaka clan must protect their own body before using the Mind Transfer Technique.

"Let go, Naruto!"

Sasuke stared at Naruto with his Sharingan, two tomoe already appearing in his red Sharingan.

The power of the cursed seal directly transformed Sasuke's single-tomoe Sharingan into his current double-tomoe Sharingan.

Seeing Naruto and Sasuke suddenly arguing, Tos seized the opportunity to retreat to Zaku and Jean's side.

"We have lost this time, please let us go—this is our way of showing our sincerity."

Tosu took out the "Earth" scroll that the Sound Ninja Team possessed and placed it on the ground.

Tos's actions were both a sincere attempt to seek peace and a hope to use the scroll to shift the conflict of interest.

Their primary goal is also to pass the second Chunin Exams.

Since he hadn't personally witnessed the magatama-like scars on Sasuke's body that Naruto had mentioned, Tosu was able to temporarily suppress his doubts about Orochimaru's orders.

It has now been confirmed that Sasuke was indeed subjected to the power known as the "cursed seal" by Orochimaru.

Tos immediately abandoned the idea of ​​fighting.

The three Sound Ninja received orders from Lord Orochimaru to eliminate Sasuke, but Sasuke now possesses the power of the Cursed Seal.

Tosu naturally knew about cursed seals; those who possessed cursed seals were all individuals valued by Lord Orochimaru.

The five strongest members of the Sound Village received this power from Orochimaru.

That was a force that Tos could not contend with, even if he added Sax and Qin.

Since Orochimaru values ​​Sasuke Uchiha, why did he give them the order to get rid of Sasuke?

Could it really be as Sasuke Uchiha just said, that the three Sound Ninja were "test subjects"...?

Once doubts arise, Tos can no longer fight without any scruples.

"How could I let you escape so easily!"

Noticing Tosu's movements, Sasuke temporarily abandoned his standoff with Naruto.

The most urgent task is naturally to eliminate these Sound Ninja.

Sasuke thought that with the power of the cursed seal, he could easily break free from Naruto's grip.

But Sasuke suddenly realized that Naruto was surprisingly strong.

He couldn't shake off Naruto's hand immediately and could only watch helplessly as Tosu escaped with his companions.

"Naruto!"

Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, feeling angry at Naruto for obstructing him.

It was only when Sasuke turned around that he realized Naruto's hand, which was restraining him, was covered in blood.

The blood was coming from Naruto's abdomen; Naruto had been covering the wound with his hand to stop the bleeding...

But in order to stop Sasuke's atrocities, Naruto didn't even have time to worry about his own injuries.

“Sasuke, those who succumb to power may seem strong, but in reality they are all weaklings with nothing but empty shells… I don’t object to you using this strange power, but if the person using the power is controlled by it, then in my eyes you are a weakling who can’t even defeat yourself.”

Naruto stared directly into Sasuke's eyes, making no attempt to hide his disdain for Sasuke's current obsession with power.

"A guy who can't even beat himself is even less likely to beat anyone else."

"Or is it that your magnanimity is nothing more than this?"

Naruto's decision to stop Sasuke from killing the Sound Ninja was not due to a surge of compassion or sympathy for the enemy.

The three Sound Ninja are no threat at all.

However, if Sasuke were to kill the Sound Ninja in his current brutal state, he would fall right into Orochimaru's trap of plunging Sasuke into darkness.

Sasuke's rampage will greatly affect Naruto's upcoming Karin plan.

Konoha should already know that Orochimaru has been in contact with Sasuke. If Sasuke runs into trouble beforehand, he will inevitably be controlled by Konoha—and Naruto, as a member of Team 7, will also be hard-pressed to escape.

If things turn out this way, Naruto's plan involving Karin will fail at the last moment before it's about to succeed.

Orochimaru mixed his spiritual power into the cursed seal, and Sasuke, who harbored darkness in his heart, was easily swayed.

Given Sasuke's personality, he would indeed choose to dedicate himself to darkness in order to avenge himself against Itachi Uchiha.

However, Naruto also knew that Sasuke was more worried that he didn't have enough power to take revenge on Itachi Uchiha.

Naruto used Sasuke's psychology to prevent him from being controlled by the cursed seal and going berserk.

Sasuke's rationality made him realize that Naruto's words were true.