Chapter 90: Sasuke Awakens

Naruto and Sakura managed to find a good hideout rather quickly. They found a huge hollowed-out tree and after spending a few minutes putting seals on it, they both entered it and sat down. Sasuke, meanwhile, was still unconscious.

Naruto was sitting cross-legged while taking calm deep breaths. The fight against Orochimaru put more pressure on him than he would like to admit and despite some time passing since then, he could feel that his heart was still beating faster than it usually does. Now that they were at a secured place, it was the perfect chance to calm his nerves.

‘I am still not strong enough. If I were to fight Orochimaru alone I would have no chance of victory. Even running away might be impossible. I need to get even stronger.’

[Well, you still have a lot of space for growth, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Your body is still far away from its prime after all.]

‘That’s true as well. I will still keep pushing myself further and further. I feel like the future will be very hectic.’

[Indeed, there is definitely something going on in the background. Just keep growing stronger and sooner or later you will be able to use all of my chakra. That should prevent most people from even thinking of messing with you.]

‘Haha, true. Oh? We have guests. Guess I will go have some fun with them.’

[Why did you even bother setting up those seals if you want to fight them yourself?]

‘Well, I set those seals up so I CAN fight them myself while not having to think about protecting Sakura and Sasuke.’

[Right… I forgot that Yuna corrupted you.]

A battle-thirsty smile appeared on Naruto’s face.

‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’

[…]

“Sakura, we have some guests. I will be stepping outside for a while. No need to worry, though.”

Sakura nodded her head.

“Okay, good luck.”

“Haha, that won’t be needed but thanks anyway.”

After Naruto stepped out of the tree he could see three people standing in the middle of the clearing.

‘Aren’t they the three people nee-san bullied before the start of the first test?’

[I guess so. Look! That mummy still has the imprint of Yuna’s shoe on his face. Or at least on the visible parts.]

‘Oh! That’s true! Must have really hurt if the markings are still visible half a day later.’

“Yo, the name’s Naruto Uzumaki. Did you come here to hand over your scroll? That is good. Throw it over, then you may leave.”

Seeing that all three of them were glaring angrily at him, Naruto chuckled a little.

‘Nee-san was right, provoking your enemies IS really fun.’

[…]

“We have no time for games, brat. Hand over Sasuke and we will allow you to live.”

‘Geez, Sasuke again. He sure is popular, huh? Shouldn’t he at least tell me his name first? Oh well, henceforth he shall be known as Mummy.’

“Sorry, Sasuke just had a speed date with this really creepy guy with a very long tongue and is still rather exhausted from all the action they had together. Maybe come back later?”

The trio’s eyes widened when they heard that while the mummy in the front muttered “Orochimaru-sama met him?”.

‘Oi, Kurama, am I having a stroke, or did Mummy just say Orochimaru-“sama”?’

[Pretty sure he did. I guess intelligence isn’t very high up on Orochimaru’s priority list for his subordinates.]

‘Considering he basically admitted to being a subordinate of Konoha’s most hated traitor during the chunin exam that is held by Konoha, I am pretty sure that being stupid is rather high on the priority list instead of intelligence being low.’

“Even if Orochimaru-sama met him, we were still ordered to kill him and that is exactly what we will do now. Move aside or die!”

‘You can’t be serious. Is he trying to frame Orochimaru?’

[Pretty sure he is simply very stupid.]

‘Yeah, I thought so.’

Naruto shook his head and approached the trio.

“Might as well tell you that the one who beat you up previously was my nee-san and apologize that my shoes have a different pattern than hers, so I won’t be able to duplicate nee-san’s marking. Well, most of your face is covered anyway, so I guess that doesn’t matter, Mummy.”

Mummy’s visible eye became red in anger when he heard that. He readied the device he had on his right arm and charged at Naruto.

“Killing her little brother will be the first step to erasing the humiliation I have received.”

“[Resonating Echo Drill]”

He swung his arm at Naruto, which he easily caught with one hand. Although Mummy was surprised by how easily Naruto blocked his attack, a smirk appeared on his face.

“You will pay for your arrogance!”

Just like Naruto saw it before the first exam, chakra was directing the soundwaves from Mummy’s right arm towards his ear. He flared his chakra and easily disturbed it, just like Yuna did previously, and then punched Mummy into the stomach, sending him flying away.

‘Arrogance, huh? If I showed genuine arrogance during a fight and lost it because I was looking down on my enemy I don’t even dare to imagine nee-san’s punishment. I probably wouldn’t be able to even see ramen for a very long time.’

[Gahaha, she is rather sensitive when it comes to that, isn’t she? She would probably spank you for three days straight, wouldn’t she?]

Naruto shivered at whatever punishment Yuna would have come up with.

Next, he noticed a few senbon flying at him and that a few had bells attached to them. Naruto moved his hand and caught all of them midair. As soon as he did, the bells rang and he could feel a weak genjutsu trying to confuse his senses.

“Oh? Genjutsu through sound. Haven’t seen that one before.”

Naruto, instantly, canceled the genjutsu and gave the bells a closer look. Moments later he tossed the bells aside like a child that was no longer interested in a certain toy.

‘Normal bells. I thought there might be some seal on them to amplify the effect, but there was nothing. Not interesting.’

Naruto could feel that the third person was currently gathering chakra in his hands. He pointed the palms of his hands towards Naruto and Naruto couldn’t help but be surprised when he saw that there were holes in them.

‘Good thing nee-san isn’t here. She would probably make a ridiculous amount of obscene jokes if she saw this guy. Anyway, he will be named Handjob Man from now on.’

[…]

“Die! [Decapitating Airwaves]!”

A powerful gust of wind was shot at Naruto.

‘So he can shoot air out of those openings? Isn’t that just wind jutsu with extra steps? Oh well…’

“[Wind Style: Great Breakthrough]”

Naruto shot out his own wind jutsu and as they clashed with each other, Naruto’s jutsu easily won the fight and was heading towards Handjob Man. Handjob Man, however, increased the chakra flowing towards his hands.

“[Extreme Decapitating Airwaves]”

Now, his attack was barely enough to cancel out Naruto’s jutsu.

‘How curious, he can increase the output mid-attack, huh? But those holes are probably a huge weak point, right? I wonder what happens when you plug them shut while he is gathering chakra.

Naruto was just about to go on the offensive when a burst of corrupted chakra came out of the place where Sakura and Sasuke were waiting.

At first, Naruto wanted to activate every seal he prepared to restrain whatever had just appeared, but he noticed rather quickly, that the chakra felt a little bit like Sasuke’s.

‘This feels really disgusting. This might not be as easy to seal away as we were expecting.’

Moments later, Sasuke walked out of the hollow tree followed by a confused Sakura. Sasuke had significantly more chakra than he previously did and black markings were covering the left side of his body.

“S-Sasuke-kun, are you alright?”

“Yeah…I can feel power overflowing from within me. I have never felt this great. I finally get it now. I only live for my revenge. As long it is for my revenge, I will do it. Even if I have to eat fruits presented by the devil.”

‘Aaaand~ it’s gone. Seems like Sasuke’s last chunks of sanity have finally left the room.’

[A true prodigy. From what I know, it is rare for Uchiha to reach such a high level at such a young age.]

‘I wonder what he will do now. Does he still recognize me as an ally?’

[Hehe, you still don’t get them. When they acquire more power they step forward with arrogance and want to flaunt it.]

Sasuke scanned the battlefield and then slightly lifted his head up to show that he was looking down on everyone here.

“Naruto, step back. I will deal with them.”

‘Wow, you actually got that right. Not bad Kurama. I should probably kowtow in front of Uchiha-sama for finally calling me by my actual name and coming to my rescue, huh?’

[That would be appropriate.]

Naruto pondered for a moment and then just shrugged his shoulders.

“Sure, go ahead. Do me a favor and find out what happens to Handjob Man over there when you seal the holes in his hands while he is gathering chakra in them. That’s the only thing that still interests me about them.”

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!?”

Handjob Man immediately got angry when he heard Naruto’s nickname for him, which Naruto found slightly unreasonable.

‘How else am I supposed to call him? He didn’t give me his name, after all.’

Handjob Man, immediately, started to gather chakra in his hands, but before he finished doing so, Sasuke appeared in front of him and kicked him away.

An arrogant sneer appeared on his face as he looked at the three hostile shinobi around him.

“I will play with you for a while. Show me what a bunch of weaklings like you can do.”

‘Oh boy, good thing he isn’t nee-san’s little brother. Considering he is only slightly stronger than those three that sentence would have certainly earned him a spanking.’

[What do you mean by “good thing”? That would be absolutely hilarious!]

Naruto went quiet for a while and then nodded his head in agreement.

‘I guess that is true. That would indeed be pretty hilarious.’