Naruto hesitated, looking at the team that had instantly fallen apart. "Shikamaru, what do we do now?"
Shikamaru sighed. "What else can we do? Didn't you see someone pulling Prince Yue Man's carriage? We have to chase them!"
As for Neji and the others, they had already taken chase. Since the other teams had disbanded, there was no longer any need for cooperation. Only now had the second exam officially begun.
Any ninja who stood in their way would be an enemy, including teams from their own village!
...
Mika-tsuki Island was a small island far to the south, rich in resources.
If they followed Prince Yue Man's carriage, the journey would take about seven days. However, with multiple unnamed ninja pulling the carriage at a gallop, the actual arrival time depended on their stamina.
Due to the intelligence Naruto had obtained himself and the new rewards brought by Lin Yu, the sixty small teams that had been surrounding Prince Yue Man's carriage had now fallen a significant distance behind.
Oh, now it was probably fifty-seven teams...
"How dare you block our path, die!"
The hot-tempered Karui leaped forward and kicked away two ninja from an unknown village. It was a crushing defeat for an elite ninja from a major village to beat up a genin from an obscure region; they didn't even need to use jutsu.
"I, we surrender!" The remaining ninja, with a look of panic, knelt on the ground begging for mercy. Their luck had been terrible, running right in front of the Cloud Hidden team.
"Karui, don't bother with him. Someone is already far ahead," Omoi narrowed his eyes. At the very front of the team, a boy with long blue and white hair, wearing loose robes, weaved through the forest with elegant steps.
"Damn it, I'll stop him! No one can get ahead of us Cloud Hidden ninjas!"
Karui channeled chakra and charged forward, leaving Omoi and Atsui behind to sigh in helplessness as they quickly followed.
Meanwhile, Team Seven also encountered a conflict.
"Get out of the way, brat!"
A spiderweb blocked Naruto and the others' path, and then three figures landed in front of them.
A monster with six arms, a freak with two heads, and a distinctive fatty. What a strange lineup!
Naruto was speechless. Jirobo and the others had spent so long in Orochimaru's lab that Naruto hadn't seen them at the Eternal Base.
"Hey, why are you blocking us?" Naruto demanded loudly.
Jirobo sneered, "Why? Because we saw this route first."
"Routes can be seen first? Did you build this road?"
Naruto was about to say more, but Sasuke interrupted him. "Don't waste words with them, Naruto. They're clearly here to cause trouble."
Sasuke had already pulled a kunai from his ninja pouch, his gaze cold. He would let everyone know that not just any cat or dog could stop them.
"As expected of Uchiha Sasuke, much smarter than that idiot."
Jirobo grinned. "However, without matching strength, even a sharp mind is useless."
The battle was about to erupt...
In the spectator seats of the arena, Orochimaru watched the screen, a smile of interest hanging under his hood as he observed the clash between Team Seven and the Sound ninja team.
"Orochimaru, did you order Jirobo and the others to stop Naruto?"
"Lin Yu-kun, you've arrived too?"
Seeing Lin Yu take a seat next to him, Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyelids twitched. That was the seat he had reserved for Danzo!
"I came to watch. After all, Jirobo and Naruto have no grudge against each other. Them actively seeking them out like this must have been your order."
Orochimaru smiled faintly. "Hehehe, I have no interest in Naruto. I just heard that Itachi has a younger brother with even greater talent than him, so I wanted to see for myself."
"After all, Itachi's talent is already there. I'm very curious about how high his younger brother Uchiha Sasuke's talent truly is."
Lin Yu said casually, "So you sent Jirobo and the three of them to test Sasuke's skills? You're disrupting the fairness of the competition."
Orochimaru nodded, watching the two sides already engaged in battle on the large screen. He said, "I only told them to test Uchiha Sasuke during the third exam if they encountered him. I didn't expect them to find him beforehand."
"Tch!" Lin Yu didn't believe Orochimaru's nonsense. However, Team Seven, after their special training, wouldn't be easily defeated by Jirobo and the others, given their talent and potential.
"Hey, I'm saying, is it appropriate for you two to talk like this in front of me?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi, caught in the middle, couldn't stand it. Having cultivated his temperament for years and not concerning himself with the ninja world for many years, he hadn't even heard of the Sound Village.
"Orochimaru, did you establish that Sound Village over the years?"
Orochimaru said with a faint smile, "A casual endeavor, just a hobby outside of science."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's forehead veins bulged. This Orochimaru boy dared to show off in front of him now?
Did he truly think that Hiruzen, known as "the cheater," was old?
"Hmph! Do you believe I'll notify Minato to arrest you right now? And you, Lin Yu kid, even if Orochimaru was once your teacher, you can't let your guard down against him!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed out his chest and glared, making Orochimaru chuckle.
"If teacher Hiruzen wishes, notifying the Fourth Hokage is not out of the question."
"What do you mean by that?" Although Hiruzen was old, he was not foolish and immediately understood the underlying meaning.
"Cough, you two continue. I have to go monitor the exams, so I won't be staying long."
Lin Yu glanced at a corner where a small old man was staring at him with a gloomy gaze, his eyes seemingly filled with a hint of resentment.
Alright! The Hokage's official partner has arrived, time to leave!
"Wait, you haven't explained clearly yet."
"Teacher Hiruzen, just watch the match. It's the era of the young now, no need to worry so much." Orochimaru's attention returned to Sasuke on the large screen.
Uchiha Sasuke, talent surpassing Uchiha Itachi, truly made one anticipate.
...
Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew from colliding kunai. Six people in the forest had clashed several times, but they had only exchanged superficial blows.
Both sides were probing each other's strength.
Bang!
A figure with pink hair was sent flying backward, leaving a long trail on the ground until they crashed into a tree stump, dissipating the force.
"Sakura! Are you alright?!" Naruto, who was fighting Jirobo, yelled.
"I'm fine." Sakura rubbed her arm, her expression grim as she stared at Sakon, who was slowly walking towards her.
He's so strong, I can't beat him. What should I do?
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Whoosh!
Dozens of Narutos temporarily entangled Jirobo, and then the main body rushed to Sakura's aid.
At this moment, a red blur flashed through the forest, followed by a loud "bang" as Kidomaru was kicked away. Sasuke, with his Sharingan activated, repelled the enemy and landed in front of his teammates.
"Just a two-tomoe Sharingan? His talent isn't that great!"
Kidomaru landed on all fours beside Sakon, patting the dust off his clothes with a contemptuous expression.
Orochimaru-sama's laboratory had thousands of Sharingan pairs, with the lowest being three-tomoe. Sasuke's two-tomoe Sharingan was completely insufficient.
Clap, clap, clap!
On the other side, Jirobo had also shattered Naruto's shadow clones, and the two teams faced off again.
"So, do you want to go all out here?"
Although they desperately wanted to, they hadn't forgotten Orochimaru-sama's orders.
Sakon shook his head. "Let's wait for the third exam. They have a burden on their team, which isn't conducive to Orochimaru-sama recording data."
"One-on-one? I really want the third exam to start soon!" After the warm-up, Jirobo felt much more refreshed. These Leaf ninjas seemed stronger than he had imagined.
"Retreat!"
The three moved quickly. After a simple probing of each other's skills and realizing they couldn't win quickly, they immediately set off towards Mika-tsuki Island again.
"Phew, it's good they retreated, otherwise it would have been a tough battle."
Seeing the three leave, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, but her heart was filled with disappointment. She had heard everything they said; she was the burden of this team.
"It's good they ran fast, otherwise I would have shown them my new jutsu!" Naruto rolled up his sleeves, looking as if he was saying "you're lucky you ran."
"Idiot, we've already fallen far behind. We need to hurry and catch up."
With that said, Sasuke had already leaped onto a branch and headed towards the main group.
"Wait for me, Sasuke. Sakura, hurry up and follow."
Sakura responded. In just a few months, the gap between her and Naruto had widened so much.
No! How can I, Haruno Sakura, lose to a gay couple!
Inner Sakura roared: I, Haruno Sakura, want to find a powerful master too!