NIP Chapter 89 Naruto: Sasuke, you idiot!
Chapter 89 Naruto: Sasuke, you idiot!
Chapter 89 Naruto: Sasuke, you idiot!
Sasuke glanced at Naruto sideways and snorted, "Hmph, don't misunderstand."
He had his hands in his pockets, a smug smile playing on his lips. "After all, you're not that guy. Your strength is limited. If it were him, I wouldn't be worried at all."
"Huh!?" Naruto's initial感动 (feeling of being moved) vanished instantly, replaced by rage that nearly made smoke billow from his nose. "What do you mean by 'limited strength'!?"
He angrily swung his fist: "Damn it! Sasuke, you idiot, I still hate you!"
Seeing Naruto's reaction—from being incredibly grateful one second to jumping up and down the next—Sakura couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Xiang stood aside, witnessing the heartwarming scene of the three bickering and playing around, and a feeling of envy and longing welled up in her heart.
I couldn't help but exclaim, "You two have such a great relationship!"
"Huh?!" Naruto and Sasuke were both taken aback, and almost simultaneously retorted, "Who's on good terms with him?!"
After saying that, the two looked at each other, then turned their heads away at the same time.
On the other side of the Death Forest.
Broken branches and charred marks were scattered on the ground, and the air was filled with a sweet and pungent smell of blood and the scorching heat of lightning strikes.
Kakashi knelt beside a thick tree trunk, his left eye closed.
He leaned against the tree trunk, panting heavily, sweat dripping from his forehead.
At this moment, his face was pale and his breathing was disordered, clearly indicating that his chakra was nearly exhausted.
Not far in front of Kakashi, on an open ground, lay a pale human skin.
The human skin was faded and dried, lying loosely among the fallen leaves like a cicada's molted shell, with a charred hole clearly visible in the chest area.
Kakashi was panting heavily, staring intently at the human skin, his eyes filled with complex emotions and resentment.
He clearly pierced Orochimaru's chest with the Lightning Blade just now.
Who knew that Orochimaru's mouth would open wide, and another perfectly intact "Orochimaru" would emerge from his throat!
Immediately afterwards, Orochimaru's body suddenly transformed into countless slender snakes, making a rustling sound, and then disappeared into the dense surrounding forest and grass, scattering and escaping.
"hateful!"
From not far away came Hongdou's angry shout.
Carrying a kunai, she chased after the small snakes slithering on the ground, hacking at them like a madwoman.
Several members of the Root's dark forces were also lurking nearby, trying to finish off the enemy.
However, the ground was covered with small snakes, which were extremely slippery and quickly disappeared into the deeper grass.
Kakashi slowly stood up, knowing that pursuing them was futile.
He watched the snakes disappear into the shadows and sighed softly, "He still got away—"
Kakashi felt a tightness in his chest.
He clearly recognized that his chakra reserves were a fatal weakness when facing a powerhouse like Orochimaru.
Kakashi vaguely felt that his eye power was very strong, but he just couldn't keep up with the chakra.
If it weren't for Anko and several ANBU members nearby, Orochimaru might not have chosen to escape, and he would likely be the one who died here.
Before long, several members of the Anbu and Anko returned to Kakashi's side.
Hongdou's face turned ashen, and she slammed her fist hard against the tree trunk next to her.
With a muffled thud, countless withered yellow leaves were shaken down.
Hongdou's shoulders trembled slightly with anger as she gritted her teeth and said, "Damn it! He still managed to get away!"
Kakashi braced himself on one knee, trying to calm his erratic breathing.
He looked up at Hongdou and said heavily, "Were we unprepared—or did we underestimate Orochimaru?"
"Those peeled-off face skins found in the exam hall earlier were probably Orochimaru's. He peeled off his face skin to disguise himself as a genin and infiltrated the Forest of Death."
Red Bean was pleased to hear this, but then frowned and snapped, "What do you mean? Didn't you come here to hunt down Orochimaru?"
She initially thought that the Anbu's sudden intrusion into the examination venue was because the intelligence department had detected something in advance, and therefore specially led a team to surround and kill Orochimaru.
Kakashi shook his head with a wry smile: "Of course not. We were just ordered to monitor Kabuto's squad."
"Yakushi Kabuto?" Anko was taken aback.
An ANBU member wearing a cat-face mask explained, "None of us are Jonin; we're more than capable of secretly monitoring a few examinees, but we never expected this—"
"You were able to sense Orochimaru's location and brought us right under his nose."
The members of the secret service exchanged glances, their eyes filled with bitter smiles and lingering fear.
With their strength, monitoring a few genin examinees would have been no problem at all.
They couldn't intervene at all in the fight against Orochimaru.
"After all, this is just the Chunin Exams," Kakashi shook his head with a sigh, his eyes filled with both helplessness and anger.
"The participants are just genin from various villages, most of them recent graduates from the ninja academy. It's unbelievable that Orochimaru, a guy who's been famous in the ninja world for over a decade, would be so unethical, disguising himself as a genin to sneak into the exam hall and bully the younger ones—"
"That's absolutely shameless!"
Kakashi frowned deeply: "Orochimaru risked everything to sneak into the exam hall; he probably has his eye on one of the candidates in this exam."
Upon hearing this, Hongdou's eyes widened: "What? These examinees are just genin, who could he possibly fancy?"
Kakashi raised his head, a hint of worry flashing in his single eye: "Among this batch of examinees, there are two Jinchuriki."
He lowered his voice and said slowly, "If Orochimaru triggers the Tailed Beasts to go berserk, Konoha right now cannot withstand two Tailed Beasts attacking at the same time."
"Hehe, let me introduce myself!" Naruto scratched his head and laughed, "My name is Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto!"
Xiang Jiao's small body jolted, her eyes widening in shock: "What did you say your last name was?"
"Whirlpool?!" She stared wide-eyed at the blond boy in front of her, her heart pounding uncontrollably.
"That's right, my surname is Uzumaki," Naruto replied with a smile.
"Whirlpool—" Xiang murmured blankly.
Sakura excitedly ran up and looked at Xiang closely, her face full of surprise. "You're from the Uzumaki clan too, right? You're from the same clan!"
"Huh? But—but—" Xiang murmured, feeling a little dizzy, "But his hair—"
She pointed to Naruto's short blonde hair, puzzled.
The Uzumaki clan is mostly known for its red hair, but this blond boy claims to be of the same clan as him?
"My hair is the same color as my dad's, so it's blonde!" Naruto scratched his head, grinning a little sheepishly. "But my mom's hair is the same color as yours, a beautiful red!"
"Beautiful?" Xiang was stunned.
It was the first time someone had complimented her on her beautiful hair, and she couldn't help but feel her cheeks burning.
Just then, Naruto seemed to notice something, his gaze falling on Kaori's exposed forearm, and his smile froze.
He frowned, slowly reached out and grasped Xiang's left wrist, lifting her arm up, and asked in a deep voice, "What happened to your left hand? Hmm? Your right hand too!"
Before Xiang Yizheng could react, Naruto had already gently lifted her sleeve.
The next moment, Naruto gasped.
All that could be seen were the deep and shallow teeth marks and scars covering Xiang's thin arms!
The horrific bite marks were crisscrossed and layered, with old and new bites mixed together on the skin, a truly shocking sight.
At first glance, there is almost no intact skin!
"W-What's going on?!"
Sakura was speechless when she saw the scars on Kiyokawa's arm, and covered her mouth in astonishment.
Sasuke's brows furrowed tightly, a flash of anger crossing his eyes: "Who did this?"
Xiang lowered her head and slowly withdrew her arms.
She paused for a moment, then gave a smile that looked more like a grimace: "These are wounds from the past."
As she spoke, she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down.
"A few years ago, the Land of Whirlpools was besieged and destroyed, and most of the clansmen died that night. My mother and I were lucky enough to escape and eventually ended up in Kusagakure."
She paused, raised her reddened eyes and looked around, then lowered her head with a self-deprecating smile: "Kusagakure is willing to take us in."
"Actually, they just covet our unique abilities," she said, slowly raising her scarred arm. "Just one bite from us can heal our wounds. That's why we were taken in."
Naruto clenched his fists upon hearing this: "Is that so?!"
Xiang gave a wry smile: "Not every small village has the resources to train medical ninjas. Naturally, 'medical tools' like us, who can directly heal injuries, become their treasures, and they want to squeeze every last drop of value out of us."
Xiang's voice choked with emotion: "Later, my mother was bitten by them again and again to treat her wounds, and eventually died from her injuries."
She used almost all her strength to say the last few words.
After listening to Xiang's narration, a deathly silence fell over the surroundings.
A gentle breeze rustled through the trees, but it couldn't dispel the lingering atmosphere.
Sakura opened her mouth wide, speechless for a long time.
I couldn't feel it when I was watching dreams before.
Now, try to put yourself in the girl's shoes and consider her situation a little.
Born in the peaceful and stable Konoha Village, Sakura could not imagine the tragic life that this girl of the same age had gone through.
The cruelty and cold-bloodedness of the ninjas in Kusagakure sent chills down her spine.
Sasuke stood silently to the side, his dark eyes blazing with fury.
He asked in a deep voice, "So, your two teammates handed you the reel and left you wandering around the woods alone, actually using you as bait to lure other teams in?"
Xiang bit her lip and nodded, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes.
Naruto said angrily, "No wonder those two bastards were hiding in the tree watching the show when that bear attacked you!"
At this point, the anger in his chest suddenly flared up!
Naruto suddenly turned around, walked to the grass ninja lying on the ground groaning, and without any hesitation, kicked him in the stomach!
"Ouch-!"
The grass ninja screamed and was sent flying, rolling more than ten meters on the ground before crashing into a tree trunk and losing consciousness.
"These bastards!" Naruto cursed, his face turning ashen with rage.
His chest heaved rapidly, and after a long while, he slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, calming himself down.
Naruto then walked back to Kaori's side, solemnly extending his hand to her, his blue eyes filled with a reassuringly firm light: "Kaori, from this day forward, I will never let you go back to that hell again! I promise you!"
Kaji looked up and met Naruto's sincere and determined gaze.
At that moment, she seemed to see a glimmer of hope.
My tense nerves finally relaxed at this moment.
Xiang felt a lump in her throat, and hot tears welled up in her eyes.
She gazed at the tall, blond-haired boy before her, and in her blurred vision, she seemed to see light—