With Orochimaru's escape, Kazama knew that Orochimaru wouldn't be able to destroy Konoha as smoothly as planned.
Despite Orochimaru's deep hatred for Konoha, which would surely drive him to attack again, the impact would be much weaker this time.
Even if Kazama might be tied up dealing with Danzo at the time, the Third Hokage and the many ninja of Konoha Village wouldn't lose their lives.
At that moment, Kazama's real body snapped his eyes open.
"How'd it go, Kazama? Did you take care of the enemy?" Naruto asked, immediately leaning in close.
"All done!"
"Whoa, you're amazing, Kazama! You beat the enemy with just a clone! If your real body had gone, you'd have torn them to pieces, right?"
"Obviously!" Kazama grinned and nodded.
"Alright, we're good to go, right? We've got the Scroll of Heaven and the Scroll of Earth, and the enemy's defeated. Let's take these to the main examiner and report in!"
"No problem!"
Naruto, clutching a stack of Heaven and Earth Scrolls, strutted confidently toward the exam's endpoint.
"Damn it!"
But as Kazama stood up, his vision suddenly blurred again.
And this time, it lasted longer than before.
"Crap! Did I overdo it just now? Are these Mangekyo Sharingan about to go blind?"
Panicking, Kazama quickly consulted the system within him.
"Since the host is not of the Uchiha clan, the risk of blindness from using the Mangekyo Sharingan is much higher than for an Uchiha."
"Damn it! What am I supposed to do? I'm about to go after Danzo for revenge. If these eyes go blind, how am I supposed to take him down?"
"The host must obtain the fifth Strange Flame, the Qinglian Earth Core Flame, as soon as possible! This flame can purify the heart and sharpen the eyes, delaying the blindness symptoms."
"Qinglian Earth Core Flame? But I haven't even gotten the fourth flame, the Nether Poison Flame! How am I supposed to get the Qinglian Earth Core Flame in such a short time?"
As Kazama racked his brain, a group of ninja suddenly approached him—all familiar faces.
Neji's team, Shino's team, Shikamaru's team, and Gaara's trio from Sunagakure.
"Crap! They're definitely here to steal our Heaven and Earth Scrolls!"
Sasuke, spotting them, immediately pulled out a kunai and got into a fighting stance.
"Relax, Sasuke. We've got a ton of Heaven and Earth Scrolls. Even if we give them some, it's no big deal."
"Oh, right!"
Hearing Kazama's words, Sasuke let out a sigh of relief.
"Hey, Naruto! You're holding a whole pile of Heaven and Earth Scrolls! So, the wolves and tigers that stole ours earlier were your doing, huh?"
Kiba from Shino's team barked at Naruto, clearly annoyed.
"It wasn't me! It was our big bro Kazama! And don't even think about stealing from us, or Kazama-nii won't let you off easy!"
At Naruto's words, most of the group froze. They'd all witnessed Kazama's terrifying strength firsthand.
Fight him? No way they'd win. But if they didn't, they'd be eliminated. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"I'll share the Heaven and Earth Scrolls with you guys, but you've gotta do me one favor," Kazama said.
Seeing so many ninja gathered, Kazama suddenly had an idea for how to obtain the Qinglian Earth Core Flame.
He'd have them each hit him with a ninjutsu.
Besides the Nether Poison Flame he was about to acquire, if he could absorb five more ninjutsu, he'd successfully obtain the Qinglian Earth Core Flame.
Then, his Mangekyo Sharingan wouldn't go blind—at least not yet.
"Name it! Whatever you want!"
At this point, the group would agree to anything Kazama asked. After all, none of them wanted to get eliminated so soon!