Because of Richard's intervention, Orochimaru did not give Sasuke the Curse Mark of Heaven as in the original timeline.
Though Orochimaru still disguised himself as a candidate from Kusagakure and participated in the second round of the Chunin Exam, he remained inactive, merely observing Sasuke from a distance.
Orochimaru desperately desired Sasuke's body—or more specifically, a vessel possessing the Sharingan. However, compared to acquiring Sasuke's body, he was even less inclined to provoke Richard now.
Transferring into Sasuke's body would certainly enhance his power significantly. Yet even with that boost, he doubted he could defeat Richard. Though reluctant, he had no choice but to abandon his plan for Sasuke's body. It simply wasn't worth completely antagonizing someone like Richard, who could kill him with ease.
What Orochimaru didn't realize was that Richard had invisibly saved his "life" by stopping him from taking Sasuke's body. Otherwise, after training Sasuke, he would have been absorbed by the Uchiha in reverse. Though he wouldn't have died, being absorbed by Sasuke would have been no different than imprisonment.
Not only that, shortly after he would have escaped from Sasuke's body, he would have been sealed by Uchiha Itachi with the Totsuka Blade and transferred elsewhere to continue his imprisonment. Even the small white snake he used to preserve his life would have been incinerated by Itachi's Amaterasu.
Although he eventually would have successfully resurrected and regained his soul and the use of his arms, this was only possible because a Curse Mark remained on Anko and because Sasuke intentionally revived him. Otherwise, from the moment Itachi sealed him with the Totsuka Blade and burned his life-saving white snake with Amaterasu, his existence would have ended completely.
"Yeah, I'll wait for you at the apartment tonight," Uzuki Yugao quickly replied after hearing Richard's answer.
"Sounds good!"
After speaking, Richard demonstrated his flying ability in front of Uzuki Yugao and soared toward the Forest of Death.
The day after Uzuki Yugao revealed her identity, she received a message from the Third Hokage canceling her mission to monitor Richard. That afternoon, she shared this news with him.
Although Richard didn't fully trust the Third Hokage, after hearing this from Uzuki Yugao, he revealed abilities he had never shown her before—like flying and heat vision.
Uzuki Yugao understood that Richard displayed these powers because he trusted her and wanted her to inform the Third Hokage.
The Naruto world certainly had many jutsu with diverse effects, but few granted the power of flight. Among these rare flying techniques, the most renowned was the Earth Style: Lightweight Rock Technique used by Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage.
Though the Third Hokage himself hadn't mastered any flying jutsu, he clearly understood the tremendous advantage flight capability provided.
Richard demonstrated his flying and heat vision abilities to Uzuki Yugao precisely to let the Third Hokage know that if he wished to leave, no one in Konoha could stop him. In truth, even without flight, nobody in the village could prevent his departure. But considering his weariness with teleportation for travel, Richard still showcased these two abilities.
Under Uzuki Yugao's watchful gaze, Richard ascended into the air and quickly vanished from sight. She reluctantly turned away only after he completely disappeared.
If she had already developed a fondness for Richard before revealing her identity, now he unknowingly occupied an elevated position in her mind—second only to Hayate Gekko.
Uzuki Yugao recognized this herself. But since Hayate was still alive, even with her growing attraction to Richard, she didn't overthink it, regarding him simply as a trustworthy friend.
Without much effort, Richard arrived in the sky above the central tower of the Forest of Death. He didn't enter directly but hovered mid-air, using his enhanced vision to observe the preliminary matches taking place inside.
Richard's timing was perfect—the duel between Gaara and Rock Lee was underway in the tower. Though he already knew the outcome, he still eagerly anticipated the next famous scene: Rock Lee's Eight Gates!
To be precise, he looked forward to witnessing Rock Lee facing Gaara with five gates of the Eight Inner Gates released.
Though Rock Lee wasn't conventionally handsome, his strength undeniably ranked among the best of Konoha's current rookie twelve. Except for Neji, none of the others qualified to face Rock Lee head-on.
Especially after opening the fifth gate, the Gate of Closing—even Neji, with his Byakugan and mastery of the Rotation technique, would be no match for Rock Lee.
If not for his bad luck in being matched against Gaara, Rock Lee could have easily advanced to the third round of the Chunin Exam. Unfortunately, he encountered the One-Tailed Jinchūriki.
After a brief exchange of testing moves, Lee removed the weights from his legs, dramatically increasing his speed. Facing Lee's enhanced velocity, Gaara's automatic sand defense began failing to keep pace.
To counter Lee's attacks, Gaara started manually controlling the sand defense by consuming his own chakra.
Time ticked away gradually.
After Gaara evaded the Primary Lotus, Lee finally activated the later gates of the Eight Inner Gates.
Gate of Opening, Gate of Rest, Gate of Life, Gate of Pain, and Gate of Closing!
When Lee opened the fifth gate, his chakra surged to astonishing levels, and his skin flushed crimson.
It's finally here! Richard thought with anticipation as Lee unleashed the fifth gate.
As Richard knew, facing Lee with the fifth gate opened, Gaara quickly found himself overwhelmed—unable to land, constantly battered by Lee's relentless attacks.
From all appearances, Lee held the absolute advantage. Even Guy-sensei and Gaara's siblings Kankuro and Temari believed so. In fact, everyone present assumed Lee would ultimately win this match.
But only Richard knew this was Lee's final moment of glory.
Though Gaara was beaten to the point of having no chance to fight back, his injuries weren't severe. Even after enduring Lee's Hidden Lotus, Gaara retained enough strength to counterattack.
The final result matched Richard's memory: Gaara crashed to the ground from Lee's Hidden Lotus. But Lee had also expended tremendous physical energy and chakra.
When Lee no longer had the strength to defend himself, Gaara, still lying on the ground, executed his Sand Coffin technique, crushing Lee's left arm and leg.
Just as Gaara was about to finish Lee, Guy intervened, stopping the sand from continuing its assault.
What a shame! Richard sighed internally, seeing that Lee's limbs were broken exactly as he remembered.
Although Lee would eventually recover completely under Tsunade's treatment without lasting damage, he would never again shine as brightly as today. Even his later battle alongside Gaara against Kimimaro would fall far short of this moment's intensity.
This defeat wasn't just Lee's most painful loss—it relegated him to an insignificant supporting role for the remainder of the series.
After preventing Gaara from attacking the severely injured Lee, Guy suppressed his anger, carried Lee from the tower, and rushed to the hospital.
Having witnessed the battle between Lee and Gaara, Richard flew back to his residence. Though Choji and Dosu would fight next, he had no interest in their match.
The most thrilling confrontation in the entire preliminaries had been Gaara versus Lee. The other matches seemed mundane to him, nothing worth his attention.
More than an hour later, in the living room of Richard's house, Sasuke, having successfully passed the preliminaries, sat on the sofa and said, "I've successfully advanced through the second test and the preliminary round of the Chunin Exam. The third round begins in a month. If it's convenient for you, I hope you'll continue training me."
Though Richard hadn't witnessed Sasuke's battles against the Sound Ninja Trio and Yoroi Akado, he wasn't at all surprised by Sasuke's success.
Due to his intervention, Sasuke hadn't received Orochimaru's Curse Mark of Heaven. Yet Sasuke's current strength wasn't significantly inferior to what it would have been with the curse mark.
Although the Curse Mark would have multiplied Sasuke's chakra, strength, speed, and other attributes, it would have gradually corrupted his body. Without the curse mark, but with Richard's specialized training, Sasuke's abilities had improved considerably.
Combined with the Vibranium Katana, even without the Curse Mark, Sasuke could unleash exceptional combat power.
Against the Vibranium blade, both ninja bodies and tools like kunai and shuriken were as fragile as paper. Unless Sasuke couldn't even touch his opponent, with that sword in hand and his rapidly improving swordsmanship, he could easily defeat any competitor in the Chunin Exam.
Even Gaara's absolute defense couldn't withstand the Vibranium Katana in Sasuke's possession. As for the others—they stood no chance.
Unlike his approach with Uzuki Yugao, Richard hadn't taught Sasuke specific sword techniques but focused on defeating enemies in the shortest time possible. However, Sasuke, having awakened his Sharingan, had secretly copied many of Richard's movements.
Though Richard never performed advanced techniques like Octaslash or Gravesong in Sasuke's presence, even his casual movements were extraordinarily refined compared to the standard of this world's ninja.
"Over the next month, Kakashi should teach you some new jutsu—focus on learning from him," Richard said calmly. "If I have time, I'll come find you at your home."
Though he didn't have much more to teach at the moment, it would be beneficial for Sasuke to learn Chidori from Kakashi. Without the Curse Mark, losing Chidori would make Sasuke significantly different from the original timeline.
Beyond maintaining some of Sasuke's original fighting style, Richard had another purpose in having him learn Chidori from Kakashi—he wanted to acquire the training method from Sasuke afterward.
Richard knew Chidori required three hand seals and that its speed potentially left the user vulnerable to counterattacks without the Sharingan's perceptive abilities. He also knew Chidori could be extended into many derivative techniques.
But he didn't know the specific training method. When Kakashi used Chidori against Zabuza, Richard had forgotten to observe the chakra flow patterns with his enhanced vision.
Though Sasuke would have preferred Richard's guidance for the next month, he nodded at Richard's answer. Regardless, Kakashi remained his official instructor.
"If there's nothing else, I'll head back now," Sasuke said, standing up.
"Alright, take care," Richard replied.
With a slight bow to Richard, Sasuke departed with his Vibranium sword, heading toward the Uchiha compound.
After Sasuke left, Richard checked the time and went to his bedroom for a late afternoon nap. It was only three o'clock, with several hours before evening. Since he had nothing pressing to do, he might as well rest.
Shortly after lying down, Richard fell asleep.
At seven in the evening, Richard opened his eyes, got up, and headed to the bathroom. After enjoying a comfortable hot bath, he changed into clean clothes and used his flying ability to head toward Uzuki Yugao's apartment.
By coincidence—or perhaps Uzuki Yugao had invited him too—as soon as Richard arrived at her apartment door, he spotted Hayate Gekko holding flowers.
The moment Richard saw Hayate, Hayate also noticed him. Immediately, a look of displeasure crossed Hayate's face.
Though Richard hadn't yet attempted to win over his girlfriend—planning instead to wait until Hayate died in battle before seizing the opportunity to capture Uzuki Yugao's heart—Hayate still regarded him as a romantic rival.
Normally, Hayate, as Uzuki Yugao's official boyfriend, wouldn't need to worry so much. If Richard were anyone else, there would be little cause for concern.
The problem was that Richard wasn't just anyone.
Despite his annoyance with Richard, Hayate knew that Richard far surpassed him in strength, appearance, and wealth. Even though Richard hadn't actively pursued Uzuki Yugao, Hayate felt tremendous pressure.
Compared to Richard, Hayate currently maintained only two advantages.
First, he had known Uzuki Yugao longer and was her official boyfriend. Because of her loyalty, he didn't need to worry about her suddenly falling for someone else.
Second, his background was much less suspicious than Richard's. Although the Third Hokage no longer had Richard monitored or personally spied on him with the Telescope Technique, the Konoha leadership—including the Hokage—still didn't fully trust Richard.
When Richard landed at the apartment entrance, Hayate immediately demanded, "What are you doing here?"
"Yugao successfully mastered the sword techniques I taught her today and invited me to dinner as thanks," Richard replied, his expression perfectly calm.