"Izanami-kun, she's so pitiful."
Hinata looked at Karin, who was walking away with a Shadow Clone, her eyes full of sympathy. She remembered thinking she had been timid and humble enough in front of Izanami when she was younger. But compared to Karin, she now felt that she had never truly known what real fragility looked like. The sadness in Karin's eyes was heartbreaking.
"There are pitiful people like her everywhere. And even more pitiful ones out there too," Izanami said softly as he patted Hinata's head with a gentle smile. "We can't save everyone. What we can do is protect the people who matter most to us."
"Mm." Hinata nodded earnestly. She knew she wasn't a saint. But Karin was one of Izanami's clan members, and that alone tugged at her emotions.
Just then, Izanami noticed Shino Aburame had returned. "What scroll did they have?"
"The Heaven Scroll," Shino replied calmly.
"Perfect. We have the Earth Scroll," Izanami said, pulling out their own team's scroll. He tossed it to Shino. "I'm leaving both scrolls in your care, Shino."
Shino's glasses reflected a faint gleam. He seemed to understand something. "Now that we've got both scrolls, shouldn't we head to the Central Tower?"
Izanami turned his head, gazing toward a distant direction. "No rush. There's still one problem left to solve."
Hinata's expression changed subtly. Remembering what Izanami had said earlier in the bathroom—and matching it with the reconnaissance she'd done using her Byakugan—she asked nervously, "Izanami-kun, are you going to deal with that Sand Ninja with the gourd?"
"No. Someone even stronger than him," Izanami replied, shaking his head. Then he turned to both Hinata and Shino, giving them firm instructions. "You two wait for me outside the Central Tower. I'll catch up after I'm done handling this."
"Yes." Hinata nodded obediently, trusting in Izanami's overwhelming strength.
Since Hinata had agreed, Shino didn't raise any objections. "Understood."
After parting ways with his teammates, Izanami instantly took flight, speeding toward the location of Seventh Class. That's right—his next target was none other than Uchiha Sasuke.
At this point, only by defeating Kage-level powerhouses could Izanami increase the chances of acquiring Talent Entries. Enemies like Zabuza Momochi, Kurosuki Raiga, Haku, and Ranmaru had dropped nothing. That was because Izanami's power far outclassed theirs—beating them only yielded a minuscule chance of dropping low- or mid-tier entries.
Izanami had even tried killing enemies using weakened Shadow Clones, hoping it would trick the system, but it didn't help at all. Neither Shadow Clones nor alternative kill methods had increased his drop rates.
In this era, the number of Kage-level opponents was very limited. So if he wanted more entries, Izanami had two paths. One: discover some hidden mechanic in the Talent Entry System to improve the drop rate. Two: target enemies with high-quality entries—the kind that could be decomposed into large amounts of points.
Purple entries from Kage-level foes only gave four-digit points. But gold and red entries? Those could provide five- or even six-digit points when decomposed. And red entries had a small chance—if you were lucky—to yield over 990,000 points, enough to instantly promote the red entry to an unknown new level.
So until Izanami uncovered a hidden trick, his primary farm targets would be Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke.
Among them, Izanami valued Sasuke the most. His talent was exceptional, and his growth rate unmatched. If he kept Sasuke close and strengthened him, he'd have a reliable entry farm anytime he needed. And in terms of loyalty, Sasuke was no less devoted than Karin. In the original timeline, after being swayed by Naruto, Sasuke abandoned all personal ambition and served selflessly. He even became so detached from domestic life that he nearly killed his own daughter after being away for too long.
In a way, Sasuke was like Roronoa Zoro from One Piece—a perfect second-in-command.
Naturally, Izanami wouldn't let someone like that fall into Orochimaru's hands.
With a flash of determination in his eyes, Izanami accelerated again.
…
At that moment, Seventh Class was facing off against a Grass Ninja.
"You got the Heaven Scroll. So you must really want this Earth Scroll," the Grass Ninja said with a strange smile, holding the scroll up. Before any of them could react, he tilted his head back—and swallowed the scroll whole.
"He… he swallowed it?! He actually ate the scroll!" Naruto exclaimed, eyes wide in disbelief.
"What kind of body does this guy have? Some secret technique? A Kekkei Genkai?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes.
Sakura, trembling, had already taken cover behind her teammates.
"Well then, let's begin the scroll-snatching battle," Orochimaru—disguised as the Grass Ninja using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal—said with a sly grin. "I'll be going all out, you know!"
Boom—
A sudden, invisible wave of Chakra exploded from Orochimaru's body.
The entire team froze. Then, one by one, they collapsed to the ground—faces pale, breathing heavy.
"Ugh…" Sasuke, the strongest among them, vomited on the spot.
"Is it Genjutsu? No… it's killing intent!" Sasuke gasped, staring at Orochimaru. Fear welled up inside him—the same fear he'd felt when he first faced Itachi. "Just his killing intent made us see our own deaths. Who the hell is this guy? Why is someone like him here in the Chunin Exams?!"
Even the Sand Ninja with the gourd couldn't compare. This wasn't just a different league—it was a different dimension.
"Damn it… don't think you can scare me like that…"
A familiar voice cut through the fear.
Sasuke turned. Naruto was standing—shaking, but defiant. His teeth were clenched. He was forming hand signs.
Sasuke's fear vanished. If even Naruto—the class dead last—could stand up to this guy, then what excuse did he have?
A sudden clarity lit Sasuke's eyes. His black pupils morphed into a pair of crimson double tomoe Sharingan.
"Don't underestimate me… I'm the man who's going to become Hokage!" Naruto roared.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A flurry of explosions echoed through the forest. With each bang, white smoke burst out, covering the area in thick mist.
As the mist was swept away by the wind, three hundred Naruto clones stood proudly in the clearing.
"Sasuke! Sakura! You two, hide behind me!"
The clones surged forward. Some of them grabbed Sasuke and Sakura and passed them backward, hand over hand, shielding them from harm.
The original Naruto and his other clones made hand signs simultaneously, shouting in unison, "Watch me blow you away in one breath!"
Orochimaru's expression shifted ever so slightly. What had begun as a game suddenly felt more serious. "That chakra… could this brat be…?"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Three hundred voices shouted in unison.
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