Chapter 57: The Serpent Strikes
Sakura raised an eyebrow at the Grass shinobi.
The Land of Waves engagement had been too short. It had let Naruto experience what it meant to fight, but it hadn't taught him what it meant to be a shinobi.
A shinobi was, by definition, someone who would do whatever it took.
In that respect, Sasuke was clearly ahead of Naruto.
Sasuke saw the blond gremlin still standing there frozen like an idiot, and lightning instantly began crackling along his body as he blasted forward at full speed.
In the span of a heartbeat, Sasuke planted a single kick that sent the man flying!
The Grass shinobi was launched into a violent tumble and slammed sideways into the trunk of a nearby tree.
There was a clean, sharp crack...
Sakura's eyebrow ticked up. As a medical shinobi, she knew that sound far too well.
Neck's broken.
People were sometimes that fragile. With the right angle, even a single thrown stone could end a life.
Sasuke looked at the Grass shinobi crumpled at an unnatural angle on the ground, then turned back to Naruto, who looked stunned.
"Yo. You okay there, Dead-Last?"
At those words, Naruto seemed to detonate. He immediately turned toward the second Grass shinobi — the one who had abandoned the redhead and was now trying to slip away alone.
A high-speed shuriken flew out of Sakura's hand and severed the tendons of the man's leg, sending up a spray of blood!
"AAGH!"
The Grass shinobi crashed straight to the forest floor, clutching his leg and howling.
Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a single look. Sasuke gave a small nod and started toward Naruto.
Everything understood without a word said.
Sakura watched Sasuke walk over and turned away to approach Karin, who had been standing frozen in place this entire time.
"I keep my promises."
Sakura looked at the redhead and offered a small smile.
"...Mm."
Karin's response was a quiet, muted sound. Her emotions were complicated — not because of what was happening to her two "teammates," but because of the unknown new life that was about to begin. She was, frankly, anxious.
For the moment, Sakura — the girl who had unilaterally decided to take her — was the only person Karin had any reason to trust.
Karin wasn't stupid. Before the exam had even started, Sakura had known Karin's Grass team would pass the first stage and would be assigned to enter through Gate A4. Those two facts alone told her the pretty pink-haired girl in front of her was not an ordinary Konoha shinobi.
"Naruto."
Sasuke walked over to him and looked down at the Grass shinobi sprawled on the ground.
"Kill him."
Sasuke pulled a kunai gleaming with cold light and pressed it into Naruto's hand.
Naruto stared at him in disbelief.
What met him was an unfamiliar look in Sasuke's black eyes.
Sasuke watched him calmly.
In the Land of Waves, Sasuke had personally killed the boy who had been willing to die to protect Zabuza. After that, he understood.
What it meant, fundamentally, to be a shinobi...
When circumstances couldn't be changed, all you could do was quietly accept them.
Sakura leaned against a tree trunk and watched Naruto in the distance, silent. This kind of thing — Naruto would have to work it out for himself.
Suddenly, Sakura felt something tickle her ear.
Her green eyes flicked to the redhead curled against her arm, who had fallen sound asleep clutching it.
Karin's red hair, stirred by the night breeze, was brushing lightly against her ear.
This girl was so short on a sense of safety. Even when sleeping, she had to be holding onto Sakura.
Naruto and Sasuke had each asked one question about Karin's presence, and Sakura had brushed them both off with a vague "a friend I met on a past mission." Both boys had clearly had follow-up questions, but ultimately let it go. They trusted Sakura.
Night faded. The first light of morning lit up the Forest of Death.
The slightly piercing brightness reached the pink-haired girl's closed eyes, and her lashes twitched...
Sakura cracked her sleepy eyes open and saw a head of yellow hair right in front of her face.
"Sakura-chan, you're awake!"
"GAH!"
On pure reflex, Sakura kicked.
Naruto went sprawling face-first into the dirt.
"Ngh... Sakura-chan's... kicks... are so strong..."
He lay on the ground rolling his eyes back, mumbling.
"You absolute idiot — what kind of person hovers over someone first thing in the morning?!"
Sakura snapped at him, exasperated.
"Aw, I just wanted to see what Sakura-chan looked like sleeping..."
He pushed himself up off the ground, rubbing his face, and protested with a wounded look.
Karin, who had been jolted awake by their bickering, instinctively tightened her grip on Sakura's arm and shot Naruto a look of pure disgust.
As if "PERVERT" was written across his entire face.
"Where's Sasuke?"
Sakura extracted her now-mildly-numb arm from Karin's grip and shook it out.
"Sasuke went to get water. He should be back soon."
Naruto scratched his head and immediately reverted to his usual sunny-disposition self.
Karin pursed her lips and stared at the blond gremlin.
Why does this pervert have such warm, sunlight-like chakra...?
"Alright. Once Sasuke gets back, we move out."
The pink-haired girl stood up and stretched.
Karin looked up at her, opened her mouth to say something — and froze.
In the next instant, the redhead lunged and tackled Sakura flat to the ground!
Sakura, completely unguarded against Karin, was caught utterly off-guard and slammed down to the dirt!
Sakura looked up at Karin, who had her pinned beneath her, and her expression went grim.
Beyond the body restoration ability, Karin had a second kekkei genkai called the Mind's Eye of the Kagura.
A sensory kekkei genkai capable of detecting any movement within tens of kilometers — surpassing even the Byakugan in pure perception. In the field of sensing, the Mind's Eye of the Kagura was the unrivaled apex of the shinobi world.
Right now, Karin's expression was raw terror. Her ruby eyes were trembling.
What had she sensed?
Evil. Terror. Bloodshed...
Like being plunged into a viscous swamp full of writhing serpents, countless slick venomous snakes flicking their tongues across her skin — the kind of presence that made the scalp prickle and the whole body run cold.
This vicious chakra was something Karin had never sensed before in her life.
Every dangerous adjective in the language seemed inadequate to describe it.
And right then — exactly where Sakura had been standing a moment before — a slow puddle of mud began to rise from the ground, gradually forming itself into a humanoid shape...
"How interesting..."
The figure had long jet-black hair, a forehead protector bearing a musical-note insignia, dressed in earthen-yellow robes with a thick purple hemp rope tied around the waist.
His entire being radiated the dangerous aura of a deadly serpent. A pair of golden, slit pupils swept across the three genin in front of him — and across Sasuke, who had just returned with the water flask...
"Descendant of the Uzumaki..."
That oppressive gaze fell on the violently shaking Karin.
"Descendant of the Uchiha..."
The eyes shifted to Sasuke, who was bracing himself like he'd hit an enemy line.
"Sensei's final disciple..."
The being whose true name was Orochimaru — his gaze ultimately came to rest on the pink-haired girl...