Sakura shifted her gaze away from the Ame Ninja's body, letting it rest on Naruto, who was standing up beside the corpse.
"When did Naruto become this strong?" Sakura muttered, finding it hard to believe.
She compared the loser in her memory—who couldn't even throw a shuriken straight and was knocked down by Sasuke in a single move during every taijutsu spar—with the blonde youth before her, who had soloed an enemy ninja in under ten seconds.
"This loser..."
Sasuke's fists clenched at his sides, his knuckles turning white.
He hadn't noticed how this Ame Ninja had appeared at all, yet Naruto had not only detected him but had also killed him before he could even arrive.
Ever since the Land of Waves, starting from that battle with Haku, Naruto had been constantly surpassing him. The Naruto standing before him now was no longer the same loser he had known growing up.
Unaware of what the two were thinking, Naruto patted the dirt off his knees and glanced at them.
Not wanting to dwell on the subject, he pointed at the corpse on the ground. "A pity, this guy didn't have a scroll on him. He probably left it with his teammates."
Sakura wanted to press him further on the previous matter, but before she could speak, Naruto shifted the topic, his tone growing a bit heavier.
"This means his teammates must still be nearby. They can't be too far. If we stay here and wait for them, we need to prepare an ambush. If we choose to leave, we have to decide on a direction now—whether to go deeper or take a detour in another direction."
"What do you think?"
Sakura parted her lips, about to say something, but in the next instant, her words were swallowed back down by the expression on Naruto's face.
'Hmm? Orochimaru is here?'
Naruto's expression instantly switched from discussing tactics to high alert.
In his perception, a cold Chakra was rapidly approaching, and would soon arrive right in front of them. Without needing to guess, Naruto knew who it was.
He immediately warned Sasuke and Sakura, "Watch out, a powerful enemy is coming."
Hearing this, Sasuke and Sakura immediately drew their Kunai and went on high alert.
Naruto's eyes swept over them as he said, "Sasuke, Sakura, the person coming is extremely strong. Remember, if you can't win, prioritizing survival is your top priority. Don't try to fight them head-on."
Just then, a gust of wind suddenly blasted out from the forest ahead.
Sakura's hair was blown straight up, and the Kunai in Sasuke's hand was forced downward by the pressure of the airwave.
After the wind swept past, a trench appeared on the ground. The cross-section of the trench was as smooth as if it had been ground by some massive, blunt object, with the soil beneath and shattered tree roots overturned from the edges.
"Hehehe... how interesting."
At this moment, a hoarse, drawling female voice drifted over from the direction the trench extended.
Then, a thin female ninja wearing a Kusagakure headband slowly walked out of the shadows.
Her pupils were vertical black slits, and the lines of skin and muscle around her mouth curled upward slightly in a way that defied normal facial anatomy.
She slowly walked to the edge of the blasted trench, looked down at Naruto and the other two, and then pulled a black scroll from her robe.
Earth Scroll
Holding the scroll before her, she opened her mouth and under the gazes of all three, stuffed the entire black scroll down her throat.
Having done all this, she closed her mouth, and a long tongue extended from the corner of her lips, licking all the way around them.
"Now then, let the scroll battle begin."
An undisguised killing intent poured out of her body.
Sasuke and Sakura felt as if they saw their own deaths.
Sakura collapsed onto the ground. This oppressive pressure was completely beyond her limit. Her whole body trembled, and every nerve screamed at her to "run," but her body refused to obey.
Sasuke barely managed to maintain his offensive stance, but the hand tightly gripping his Kunai was trembling uncontrollably.
His brain could analyze the opponent's strength, but in the face of such an absolute gap in power, his body instinctively signaled him not to attack.
Sasuke bit his lip, drops of blood seeping from between his teeth, using the pain to force his weak legs to stand straight.
"Oh? Completely unaffected?"
Orochimaru's gaze swept from the collapsed Sakura to the fist-clenching Sasuke, and finally landed on Naruto, who stood at the very front.
"Loser..."
Staring at Naruto's back as he shielded him and Sakura, Sasuke felt an unprecedented wave of frustration.
Am I actually being protected by this guy?
A surge of unwillingness overpowered his fear, pulling him back from the brink of collapsing.
Sasuke stepped up to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Naruto, lowered his center of gravity into a lunge, and channeled all his remaining Chakra into his legs.
Even if he couldn't win, he had to fight. An Uchiha would never hide behind anyone.
"Sasuke, you're no match for him." Naruto stopped Sasuke's movement.
"Leave this place to me. Take Sakura and leave now."
Sasuke glanced at Sakura trembling on the ground, and then looked at Naruto in front of him.
"Don't die here..."
After speaking, he slung one of Sakura's arms over his shoulder and dragged her quickly toward the depths of the forest.
Sasuke knew that someone of this caliber was not someone he could deal with.