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However, what Kagaya absolutely could not have anticipated was that this time, the tailed beast Konoha would have to deal with was not just the One-Tail!
Inside the Forest of Death, just as the One-Tail began its rampage, and just after Orochimaru planted the cursed seal and left Naruto's group...
A swirling vortex slowly materialized, and then Obito, wearing his mask, appeared.
Obito leaped, grabbed the unconscious Naruto—who had been pinned to a tree by Sakura with a kunai—and brought him down to the ground.
"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, huh? If the sealing didn't have to follow a specific order, capturing you first would undoubtedly be the best. After all, the Nine-Tails' power is the strongest. Pity. The sealing has to be done in sequence. For now, you can help me by... thoroughly weakening Konoha!"
As he spoke, Obito pulled open Naruto's tightly shut eyelids and aimed his own Mangekyo Sharingan directly at Naruto's eyes.
'Rampage again, Nine-Tails. This time, let's see if there's another 'Fourth Hokage' in Konoha Village.'
Meanwhile, Sakura was still holding the unconscious Sasuke, who had just been implanted with the cursed seal. She was completely unaware of Naruto being taken away just a short distance behind her.
A little while later...
Obito, with a dark expression, lifted Naruto's shirt, looked at the seal on his stomach, and spoke with some surprise.
"Five Elements Seal? Who reinforced the seal on the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki? Damn it! Is it Konoha? It seems they are also guarding against another incident like the last Nine-Tails attack."
As he spoke, Obito began considering how to undo this Five Elements Seal. His knowledge of seal release was inherited from Madara. He knew a bit about the Four Symbols Seal and the Eight Trigrams Seals used to seal the Nine-Tails before. But this Five Elements Seal... Obito truly didn't know much about it.
In truth, Obito had arrived just a bit too late. He never would have guessed that this Five Elements Seal had been applied by Orochimaru mere minutes before his arrival.
Had Obito known, he undoubtedly would have mentally noted a grievance against Orochimaru.
While the One-Tail was rampaging and Obito was figuring out how to make the Nine-Tails rampage as well...
The proctors monitoring the exam outside began noticing something was wrong.
First, the bodies of several ninjas whose faces had been taken by Orochimaru were discovered. This was quickly reported to Anko.
Anko went to investigate. After just a brief look, she knew this was Orochimaru's doing! Before Orochimaru defected, Anko had been his subordinate. She was very familiar with his methods, as most of her abilities had been taught by him.
The moment she realized Orochimaru had infiltrated the Chunin Exams disguised as an examinee, Anko couldn't help but feel a wave of panic. The reputation of the Legendary Sannin spoke for itself. During the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars, they had shown the world just how powerful the so-called Sannin truly were.
To counter Orochimaru, Anko immediately sent a request to the Hokage, applying for two Anbu squads to be dispatched to hold Orochimaru off.
Naturally, two Anbu squads were unlikely to be enough to stop Orochimaru. Anko didn't expect that two Anbu squads plus herself could pin down Orochimaru. The main intent of her request wasn't to apply for the squads, but to inform the Third Hokage: Orochimaru has appeared. Please, sir, think of something quickly.
After all, she couldn't mobilize certain Jonin on her own authority. She could only use this method to subtly remind the Third.
However, the events of the day were becoming increasingly outrageous. Anko was already badly shaken by discovering Orochimaru's camouflage. Yet, after Anko entered the Forest of Death to search for Orochimaru, she hadn't run far before an enormous surge of chakra erupted.
Anko rushed toward it. And then, she saw it: the One-Tail, in the process of coalescing into form!
The One-Tail was rampaging!!!
'It's over!'
This thought instantly flashed through Anko's mind the moment she saw the rampaging One-Tail.
Orochimaru plus the One-Tail... The situation was no longer about finding Orochimaru. The most critical task now was to evacuate all examinees from the Forest of Death!
Anko immediately pushed the matter of Orochimaru to the back of her mind and sprang into action, beginning to notify the surrounding examinees to leave the Forest of Death.
The first team Anko found was Kagaya's team.
Anko stood on a tree branch and addressed the three below.
"Hey! You three! The exam is being terminated immediately! Evacuate the Forest of Death now! No delays! Move!"
Having said that, Anko left without waiting for a reply from Kagaya and the others.
Kagaya looked at the departing Anko with a peculiar expression. He could guess the reason for the evacuation—it was certainly due to the One-Tail's rampage.
But the feeling of being treated as innocent bystanders being evacuated when he himself was the chief culprit who caused the One-Tail to rampage... was quite funny.
Not long after, Orochimaru suddenly emerged from a tree and spoke to Kagaya.
"Finally found you, Kagaya-kun."
There was no one else around, so Orochimaru directly called Kagaya by name.
Kagaya and his companions were strolling along leisurely. Although Anko had told them to evacuate quickly, Kagaya naturally had no intention of running out like his life depended on it. It was no joke to say that if Kagaya got serious and activated his Mangekyo, defeating a single One-Tail wouldn't be that difficult.
Kagaya wanted to walk out slowly, to observe how Konoha would handle this One-Tail, thereby making an overall assessment of Konoha's current strength.
Seeing Orochimaru seek him out now, Kagaya wasn't surprised. The One-Tail had rampaged, and within the entire Forest of Death, the people capable of forcing the One-Tail to rampage were either Orochimaru or himself, Uchiha Kagaya. Orochimaru's visit now was undoubtedly to confront him about this.
Sure enough, Orochimaru looked at Kagaya with deep resentment. "Kagaya-kun, you promised me you wouldn't cause too much of a commotion. With this move of yours, my arrangements for Sasuke have been thrown into disarray. We don't even know if Konoha will continue the Chunin Exams now."
Kagaya rolled his eyes and cast a genjutsu on Orochimaru. "See for yourself. I really didn't intend to cause trouble."
Orochimaru accepted the genjutsu without resistance. He wasn't afraid Kagaya would try to trick him. With his survival abilities, even if this body was killed, Orochimaru was confident he could survive.
Shortly after, within the genjutsu, Orochimaru witnessed everything Kagaya had experienced.
A moment later, the genjutsu was dispelled.
Orochimaru spoke with a pained expression.
"This..."
This was something Orochimaru had never anticipated. Was this the hand of fate toying with them? Orochimaru wanted to avoid major disturbances at this stage, but then Gaara ran into Kagaya. That alone was bad enough, but Gaara also tried to kill Kagaya.
Gaara didn't know, but Orochimaru understood perfectly well: this Uchiha Kagaya, if someone actively provoked him and he backed down, Orochimaru would write his own name backwards.
Helpless, Orochimaru let out a sigh. "What do we do now?"
Kagaya spoke with equal helplessness. "What else can we do? First, see how Konoha handles this One-Tail. Then we'll formulate corresponding plans based on Konoha's response."
"That seems to be the only way."