This Naruto is too easily persuaded.

On the northwest side of the forest, towering trees reach for the sky.

Naruto stood on a thick tree trunk, hands in his pockets, looking down at the farce unfolding below.

He didn't deliberately conceal his presence, but because the people below were so weak, they didn't even notice the observer above them.

In my field of vision, a red-haired girl wearing glasses is desperately trying to escape through the bushes.

Behind her, a massive brown bear roared and crashed through trees, just inches away from her.

"Ah! Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer!"

The girl screamed in terror, tripped over a tree root, and fell heavily to the ground.

My glasses flew off, and my vision immediately became blurry.

She closed her eyes in despair, covered her head with her hands, and trembled.

Waiting for death to come.

On the treetop, Naruto did not make a move immediately.

He frowned slightly, his gaze behind his glasses carrying a hint of regret, and... a hint of exasperation at their inadequacy.

"This amount of chakra and vitality... even within the Uzumaki clan, he must be a rare genius."

Naruto looked at the girl lying on the ground, waiting to die, and sighed inwardly.

"Despite possessing astonishing potential, they have only become food for wild beasts because they have not received proper guidance and training."

"Really..."

Below, the brown bear opens its blood-red maw, ready to bite.

Boom! A muffled sound.

The expected pain did not occur.

The girl opened her eyes trembling, her pupils dilating instantly.

The once ferocious giant bear was now like a rag doll, with half of its body embedded in the pile of rocks.

In front of her stood only a blond boy dressed in a dark blue outfit.

Naruto didn't help Karin up; instead, he stood in front of her, looking down at her.

"Red hair, immense life force... You must be an orphan of the Uzumaki clan?"

Why would someone be chased by a beast of that level?

"Huh? The Uzumaki clan...?"

Karin frantically groped for her glasses and finally managed to make out the blurry figure in front of her.

For some reason, although the boy's tone was somewhat stern,

But Karin instinctively felt a connection to the boy in front of her.

This made her feel at ease, and she even had a slight urge to cry.

"Take it."

Naruto tossed Karin a stack of explosive tags he had drawn himself.

"Find a secluded place to hide, protect yourself, and don't wander off."

"Who...who are you? Why did you save me?"

Karin gripped the detonation tag tightly, her voice trembling.

Naruto did not answer her question.

He suddenly raised his head, looked in the direction he had come from, and his expression turned slightly serious.

Just now, he sensed an extremely malevolent burst of chakra in Sasuke's direction.

"Don't die."

Leaving behind a brief piece of advice, Naruto vanished from the spot in an instant, as if he had never been there.

Only Karin remained quietly in place.

If she weren't still holding a thick stack of explosive tags, she might have thought she was having a bizarre dream.

……

Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest.

A fierce wind howled, and murderous intent surged like a tide.

"What...what is this...?"

Sasuke stood frozen in place, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

In his vision, the world before him had turned blood red.

The straw-hatted ninja only released a trace of killing intent, yet Sasuke seemed to see the horrific scene of himself being beheaded and tortured to death.

This is pure mental crushing.

"vomit……"

Sakura, who was standing next to her, could no longer bear the mental pressure. She knelt on the ground and began to dry heave, tears streaming down her face.

"What a disappointment, you Uchiha brat."

The grass ninja approached step by step, his footsteps seeming to overlap with Sasuke's heartbeat, making it hard for him to breathe.

"Move! Move! I'm going to die! I'm really going to die!"

Sasuke roared inwardly, but his body felt as heavy as if it were filled with lead.

The grass ninja leisurely took out a kunai and casually threw it at the immobilized Sakura.

In the face of despair, the two tomoe in Sasuke's eyes suddenly spun, and another tomoe slowly emerged.

Three tomoe, awaken your eyes!

With a thud, he pulled out a kunai and stabbed it hard into his thigh.

Blood splattered, and the intense pain instantly shattered the shackles of fear.

Then, he used all his strength to tackle Sakura and dodge the kunai.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Technique!"

Using the clarity brought on by the pain, Sasuke quickly spat out several balls of flame as cover, then picked up Sakura and retreated swiftly.

"Oh? You're using pain to break through killing intent? Not bad."

Kusanagi easily dodged the flames, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes.

But this is just the beginning.

After placing Sakura in a safe spot, Sasuke did not run away.

Instead, he used the Sharingan's perception to throw out several shuriken with thin lines attached to them to block the grass ninja's movements.

"His skills are passable, and can he even see my speed...?"

While dodging attacks, the grass ninja thought to himself casually.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

"Wire?"

When he saw that the kunai and shuriken he had dodged were all connected by thin steel wires, it was too late.

The steel wires quickly intertwined and wrapped around him, binding him tightly to the tree.

"Chance!"

Sasuke's eyes widened, his teeth clenched, and his hands rapidly formed hand seals.

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"

The scorching flames shot straight up the steel wire towards the Grass Ninja, instantly transforming into a fire dragon that engulfed him.

"Ha ha……"

Sasuke was breathing heavily, and the wound on his thigh was still bleeding, but he stared intently at the ball of flame.

"Did...did you kill him?"

However, the flames died down.

The terrifying figure remained standing.

However, the skin on his face was burned off, revealing his true appearance.

Golden, vertically elongated pupils, purple eyeshadow.

Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin!

"Very good eyes...really good for this age."

Orochimaru tore off the tattered dough, revealing a hidden, greedy gaze:

"But that's not enough."

Sasuke felt a suffocating despair in an instant.

He hadn't expected that his combo attack wouldn't even scratch his opponent.

"Next, it's my turn."

Orochimaru's figure vanished instantly.

Bang!

Sasuke felt a sharp pain in his abdomen and was kicked away like a cannonball.

He crashed heavily into a large tree and vomited a mouthful of blood.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Sakura cried and tried to go forward.

"Don't come any closer! Run!"

Sasuke shouted with difficulty.

He tried to get up, but Orochimaru stepped on his chest, rendering him unable to move.

"It's over, Sasuke-kun."

Orochimaru's neck stretched out eerily, and he opened his mouth to reveal sharp fangs:

"Please accept this gift from me."

Sasuke watched the head draw ever closer, his eyes filled with resentment and fear.

"Is this... my limit?"

"Damn it, if it's that guy..."

At this critical moment.

Boom! ...

A loud whooshing sound descended from the sky.

Orochimaru keenly sensed the danger and instantly retracted his neck, leaping backward.

A colossal object grazed his body and landed heavily a short distance away.

When the smoke cleared, Sasuke and Sakura stared in shock.

What had just crashed down was a huge, bloody, mangled snake head!

The giant snake was beyond dead, its eyes still seeming to hold the bewilderment of its dying moments.

A figure stood silently atop the snake's head.

He held a handkerchief in his hand and slowly wiped the bloodstains from his hands.

"Cough... Naruto..."

Sasuke watched that figure from behind.

A feeling of peace, which I hadn't experienced in a long time, welled up inside me.

Naruto tossed aside his handkerchief and looked at Orochimaru not far in front of him, a cold glint flashing in his glasses.

"I didn't expect you to have your eye on Sasuke..."

"This ugly posture... is not the demeanor one would expect from a senior."