Chapter 604 : Terrified Sakura!

"One, two, three… All of them are as dead as stone Buddhas!"

"What kind of Ninjutsu is this?"

Outside the forest of death, a squad of Konoha ninjas found 3 dead bodies. Kotetsu, who was inspecting their bodies, scratched the back of his head and sighed, "What bad news… We have just started the exam and have already faced a problem!"

He instructed, "Report this to Council Member Fujin or Lady Anko who are conducting the second exam."

The two ninjas immediately disappeared.

'Nothing goes better with dango rice dumplings than oshiruko bean soup! As soon as I'm done with my lunch, I'll get to the tower and see what he is up to.'

Anko was eating peacefully when one of the ninjas reached and shouted, "Terrible news, Lady Anko!"

He informed Anko about the dead bodies and led her to them. As soon as she arrived, her eyes widened and fear was visible on her face.

Kotetsu said, "Judging from their belongings and papers, they are all shinobi from Kusagakure and were registered to take part in the Chunin Exams. And, as you can see, their facial features are completely gone! Their faces are as smooth as though they have been melted away!"

With horror on her face, Anko analyzed, 'There is no doubt about it! It's his technique! But why would he meddle in this?'

"Show me the photos from the dead shinobis' ID!" Anko ordered. They quickly handed her the IDs. She looked at the pictures and thought, 'So, this is the face he stole! Incredible! How did Fujin know that something was off about it? However, he'll be in great danger if Orochimaru attacks the tower!'

Anko shouted, "This is awful! You three! Report what's happened to Lord Hokage! Ask him to deploy additional Anbu squads to the forest! If possible, ask him to come as well, but ask him to be careful of any traps! I'm going after the imposters!"

Anko hurriedly left towards the Forest of Death. The three ninjas didn't waste time either and rushed towards the Hokage Building!

Back in the forest, the fight between the Genins and Orochimaru wasn't much different. Even though the Genins were stronger than their canon counterparts, it didn't have any impact against Orochimaru. The only effect it had was that Orochimaru was more impressed with Sasuke.

Realizing that they couldn't win, Sasuke tried giving up the scroll in order to avoid the fight, but Naruto didn't allow that to happen and got angry at Sasuke instead. His rage allowed some of Nine Tail's chakra to leak, impressing Orochimaru. However, Orochimaru still caught him and used the Five Elements Seal to cut off his access to Nine Tail's chakra.

Following Naruto's defeat, Sasuke put up a valiant effort and managed to burn Orochimaru's mask, but ultimately didn't do any real damage to him.

Watching from a long distance away, Fujin shook his head and muttered to himself, 'Well that's a shame. I expected Sakura to join the fight as well instead of just cheering Sasuke due to Kakashi's training… I guess only Tsunade can make her useful.'

Fujin squinted his eyes and decided, 'Anyway, it's time. Hiruzen will eat my head if I don't do anything and let him run amok!'

Orochimaru was done chatting with Sasuke. He extended his neck and bit his neck, planting the curse seal on Sasuke! Due to his Genjutsu, neither Sasuke nor Sakura could move.

"I look forward to seeing you again, Sasuke… In the qu…"

Suddenly, Orochimaru's eyes widened as he sensed danger! He quickly moved his elongated neck like a snake to avoid the incoming attack! To Sasuke and Sakura's surprise, half a dozen cuts opened up on Orochimaru's neck and began spilling blood like a fountain! However, he had avoided critical hits and wasn't beheaded.

In the blink of an eye, Orochimaru quickly retracted his neck and looked to his left. Fujin's figure became visible. He looked at Orochimaru while thinking, 'Though I decided against killing you due to the difficulty involved, it's hard to resist if you provide me with such a nice opening! I wonder if his skin shedding would still work after being beheaded!

Still, the sneak attack failed. I might have had better success if I used a stronger jutsu, but he would have sensed the chakra fluctuations much earlier and the result would still have been the same.

The only way I could have slashed his neck for sure would have been by using the Flying Thunder God jutsu. However, using it when I'm not guaranteed to kill him will be a massive waste.'

Since Orochimaru had applied his seal on Sasuke, Fujin no longer had any worries about impacting the future negatively as now Orochimaru was sure to die at Sasuke's hands and not interfere with other major events. As a result, he made his move.

There were two, or rather three main reasons for this. The first one was that the opportunities to fight a rank S ninja were just too rare! Fujin didn't want to miss out on fighting against someone like Orochimaru.

The second reason was the fact that Fujin had already planted tens of thousands of Flying Thunder God marks in the Forest of Death. As a result, he wasn't worried about dying. In the worst case, he could escape easily. In addition, he could also use them to kill him if the opportunity presented itself.

The third and the most important reason was Orochimaru himself! In Fujin's eyes, Orochimaru was a walking treasure chest! Even though killing Orochimaru would have a massive impact on the future and could change it in ways that Fujin couldn't predict, Fujin felt that the gains would be worth the loss if he could read Orochimaru's memories and get access to his knowledge.

In fact, if killing him wasn't so damn difficult, Fujin would have gone all out to ensure that he died in these vast forests irrespective of the cost! Unfortunately, Fujin knew that killing Orochimaru was nigh impossible. So, he didn't want to expose skills like Flying Thunder God jutsu.

Suddenly, Sasuke collapsed to his knees as he couldn't endure the pain! Sakura hadn't seen Fujin yet and shouted at Orochimaru, "What did you do to Sasuke?"

Orochimaru nonchalantly answered without even looking at her, "Just a little something to remember me by…"

He smirked and said, "I didn't expect to be hunted by the legendary Spectral Swordsman here."

'The legendary Spectral Swordsman?' Orochimaru's words surprised Sakura. She looked where he was looking and saw Fujin standing there. Seeing the proctor, she immediately became relieved and was about to call him out when Sasuke suddenly began screaming due to the unbearable pain he was under and squeezed her hands too tightly.

She said worriedly, "Hang on, Sasuke!" and shouted, "Proctor, he put a strange mark on Sasuke's neck!"

Unfortunately for her, Fujin didn't pay any attention to her and instead said, "You crashed into my exam and are still surprised? Sigh, I'd be impressed if I didn't just find out that one of the Legendary Sannins was bullying Genin kids. Is this how much you have fallen, Orochimaru?"

Sakura wondered, 'First the Legendary Spectral Swordsman and now Legendary Sannins? What's up with all these cool names?"

Orochimaru chuckled in surprise and asked, "I didn't expect you to be much of a talker. Do you want to appeal to my conscience?"

Fujin didn't bother answering that and instead looked at Sakura and asked, "Girl, are you injured as well?"

Sakura immediately answered, "No! But Sasuke is in pain. And, he knocked out Naruto as we…"

Before she could complete her sentence, Fujin disappeared from her sight before suddenly appearing next to her. To her surprise, he was carrying Naruto and dropped him next to her and the wailing Sasuke.

Orochimaru looked at his speed and analyzed, 'Not bad. His speed is spectacular for his age. I can see why Juzo fell and how he could escape from Kisame…'

Without looking at her, Fujin said, "The battle that'll take place here will be too destructive for you to witness. Hold both of them very tightly. Their lives are in your hands."

Sakura was confused but followed his instructions properly hearing the seriousness in his voice. Sasuke was still in pain while Naruto was still unconscious. She held both of them tightly when she heard, "Good."

To her surprise, Fujin picked her up by the back of her neck. A strange wind surrounded her and her teammates. She shouted in shock as Fujin sent them flying backwards parallel to the ground with a flick of his wrists!

However, even before the shock had passed, her eyes grew wide as she sensed two terrifying chakras! To her horror, the entire area where they were initially at was blown up by horrifying winds! The massive trees were uprooted and cut! Moments later, the entire thing was set ablaze!

Terrified, she thought, 'What the hell was that? Even Kakashi sensei and Zabuza's chakras weren't this horrible! And what was that terrifying Wind and Fire? Could ninjutsu be that strong?'

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