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[— Manga Scene —]
"I feel great… He gave it to me," said Sasuke.
"Huh?" Sakura still didn't understand what was happening.
"I finally understand it… I am an avenger…"
"Even if I must sell my soul to the devil… I am on a path where I must gain power…" Sasuke spoke coldly.
'I see… As I thought, the mark on his neck that the Sakura girl was talking about was this curse seal… but he actually got up from it…' Dosu seemed to realize that the situation had slipped beyond their control.
"Now… It was you guys, right?"
…
'This… this is…' In that moment, Dosu felt as though he could see the shadow of Orochimaru looming behind Sasuke, whose curse seal had begun to spread across his entire body.
"His chakra is too large!!"
'How can it be this much?'
"Dosu!! No need to be afraid of this half-dead freak!!"
"No Zaku!! Don't you realize?!!" Before Dosu could warn his companion, Zaku had already launched a devastating sonic blast at Sasuke.
"Heh!! I've blown him away!!" Zaku said triumphantly.
"Blown who away?" But to his misfortune, it appeared that Sasuke had simply stepped aside, carrying with him Sakura and the unconscious Naruto.
[— End Scene —]
In Kumogakure, the readers' breath had frozen at that moment, most of them shinobi who had assumed that the events of the Chunin Exams would amount to little more than a children's squabble.
"To think that surviving the curse seal would grant Sasuke this massive surge in power… I wonder what Orochimaru's goal is behind all of this?"
The Third Raikage A mused with a curious expression as he watched what unfolded after the previous scene.
A one-sided crushing, Sasuke had shattered the arms of his opponent, Zaku.
With every wicked smile Sasuke wore on that curse-seal-covered face, it seemed as though he was losing his old self, piece by piece, in Sakura's eyes.
And in the readers' eyes as well.
This isn't Sasuke-kun…
Those were Sakura's words as she stopped Sasuke in that moment, causing the curse seal to begin retreating from his body.
"Impressive… It seems Sasuke chose to deal with the devil for the sake of revenge… and the devil in this case is Orochimaru, isn't it?"
A look of contempt crossed the face of A, the son, for in his view, he preferred that his own power remain pure and untainted by anything external… yet it was clear that Orochimaru had his eye on Sasuke.
"Yao Yao! Maybe Orochimaru wants to take over Sasuke-kun's body for his Sharingan."
Killer B said this as though he were dancing to the rhythm of a rap song playing only in his own mind.
Dodai's eyes narrowed upon hearing that.
Kumogakure had long coveted Konoha's dojutsu, whether the eyes of the Uchiha clan or those of the Hyuga clan.
Given that the Uchiha were powerful and difficult to target, the village's leaders had long since set their sights on the Hyuga clan instead, waiting only for the right moment.
If Orochimaru in the manga was targeting Sasuke for his Sharingan, it seemed they shared a similar ambition. Were they supposed to condemn him for that?
Of course they were! From Dodai's perspective, by targeting the Hyuga clan, Kumogakure, a great village, was trying to strengthen itself at the expense of weakening Konohagakure, another great village.
But who was Orochimaru? Well, at present, he was a powerful shinobi from Konoha, but in the manga, he was a rogue ninja who had apparently founded some obscure village. At best, he was a first-rate villain driven by personal ambition.
There was no comparison between the ambition of a single individual seeking personal advancement and that of a great village striving to strengthen itself and protect its very existence.
Dodai was not the only one in Kumo who thought this way; most of the stronger shinobi shared similar sentiments.
"In any case, it seems Orochimaru has already set Sasuke's path at this stage."
The Raikage's eyes narrowed as he said that. For some reason, he had grown fond of Sasuke's character, and he felt a pang of sorrow seeing Orochimaru impose upon him a road he had never chosen for himself.
"But it seems he has chosen the path of revenge… I wonder just how deeply he hates his brother Itachi, to allow the devil to consume him like this…"
"The Uchiha clan was wiped out… What a fascinating future this manga has laid out for us."
"I truly cannot stop reading this manga…"
…
In Sunagakure, the general mood was not so different from Kumogakure; in fact, it bore a striking resemblance to that of all the great villages.
The eyes of the former Third Kazekage, Saburo no Shazan, narrowed as he watched the current Sasuke.
"What a terrifying transformation… What kind of poison is this curse seal, that it can grant its host such a horrifying surge of chakra?"
"Unbelievable… Judging by their reactions, this appears to be a chakra at the level of a Jonin…"
Granny Chiyo's eyes widened as she said that.
"Far too powerful… and far too ferocious."
Ebisu swallowed hard as he took in the terrifying scene, one that had no business taking place in what was supposed to be a mere Genin examination arena.
"This must not be allowed to continue… We need to gather intelligence on this Sannin… To think he will reach this terrifying level of power in the future… What about the other two?"
"Tsunade Senju and Jiraiya?"
"Precisely. If they reach the same threatening level as Orochimaru, does that not mean Konoha will possess weapons of mass destruction? Even if one of them goes rogue… the other two would be powerful enough to crush any rebellion…"
"And let's not forget that white fang of theirs… How will he turn out in the future? Just look at his son Kakashi, and you can imagine the sheer terror of his power…!"
Without thinking, Shazan pressed a hand to his chest over his heart. On that day, Sakumo's blade had nearly pierced it and ended his life in that dreadful ambush, had fate not intervened to protect him.
Fortunately, that man valued his relationships and permitted his retreat in exchange for the lives of two of his village's ninja.
The mere memory of that day made his expression contort.
It seems Konoha will grow stronger and stronger as the future unfolds…
The Kazekage longed to see something from Gaara that would put his mind at ease about what was to come.
…
Unlike the Kazekage, Rasa had felt uneasy from the moment Gaara appeared.
'It seems Sasuke is Gaara's true rival in this exam…'
Rasa looked at the fearsome Sasuke depicted in this chapter.
"They surrendered willingly? It looks like they left the scroll behind… That means Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura's team has passed this exam."
Beside him, his fiancée Karura wore a strange expression as she stared intently at the scene.
"I wonder what's happening with Gaara's team, have they finished their exam as well…"
Karura felt a surge of curiosity and longing to see Gaara, for a reason she had not yet come to understand.
…
Elsewhere, the old man, the jinchuriki of the One-Tail, wore a strange expression as he stared at Naruto, who had remained unconscious this entire time.
'It seems Orochimaru has sealed off the flow of chakra between the Nine-Tails and Naruto… Naruto's misfortune was crossing paths with that madman Orochimaru…' he thought.
…
Back in Konoha, attention here was still fixed on Orochimaru, and as the events of this chapter were read, that attention only grew more intense.
Orochimaru, for his part, paid it no mind; his own attention was equally fixed on Sasuke in the manga.
Studying him with a gaze of keen curiosity.
"Hmm," Orochimaru rested his hands beneath his chin, his eyes dissecting every detail of Sasuke's form with the expression of an eager scientist.
"Strange… it doesn't appear the transformation is complete… the curse seal must not have been fully absorbed… Is it because Sasuke is resisting?"
"And yet he has clearly chosen the path of power that was handed to him on a golden platter."
"Orochimaru… what kind of power is this? Did you give him some of your own chakra?"
Jiraiya asked with narrowed eyes.
"Oh… I always thought you were a complete idiot, but it seems you have some intelligence after all…" Orochimaru said in a mocking tone.
"What did you just say, you bastard?!"
"Now, now, no need to get upset… You were right, it seems, the curse seal is a means of sharing my own chakra with Sasuke. But that is only a minor benefit, barely noticeable compared to what has yet to be revealed…"
"In any case, it seems Sasuke has gained power greater than himself through me… or rather, through my counterpart."
"Heh~ But with that power comes a heavy price that must be paid… I feel sorry for Sakura-chan."
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 146: I Got a Little Carried Away, My Apologies.
Chapter 147: The Fastest Team to Pass the Second Exam!
Chapter 148: A Rain of Blood…!
Chapter 149: Things Are Getting Exciting.
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