Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

Naruto stared curiously at the three black tomoe-shaped curse marks on Sasuke's right shoulder.

With the magatama head inside and the hook tail outside, it forms a non-standard circle without an outer ring on Sasuke's shoulder.

Feel the natural power that is slightly spreading from the curse seal.

Even though Naruto already knew that Sasuke could control the cursed seal.

However, witnessing Sasuke master the basics of natural power in just one night without any foundation or instruction still surprised Naruto with Sasuke's talent.

Then Naruto looked up and met Sakura's gaze as she lay next to Sasuke.

"Naruto?"

Sakura, who had already woken up from her coma, instinctively called out Naruto's name.

She looked completely bewildered, unaware of where she was or what had happened...

He just stared blankly at Naruto, who was covered in dust and dirt.

"You're finally awake."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, feeling fortunate that Sakura had woken up, but he didn't forget to ask about her physical condition: "Do you feel nauseous or uncomfortable, or anything else?"

Sakura shook her head, propped herself up to sit up, and suddenly felt a splitting headache.

"Well!"

The headache made Sakura let out a soft groan.

"My head... hurts a little..."

As she said this, Sakura reached out and gently pressed the back of her head, finding the source of the pain.

"...The sudden gust of wind swept me away...I think I hit my head, and then I lost consciousness."

Sakura recalled those fragmented memories and found the reason.

Are there any other injuries?

At Naruto's prompting, Sakura patted herself down for a while longer.

"Nothing."

"That's good. The fact that you're awake means you're alright... but Sasuke..."

Naruto looked down at Sasuke, who was still fast asleep, and avoided Sakura's gaze.

It seems Sakura didn't realize she was under a genjutsu.

Naruto did this to ensure Sakura wouldn't discover his use of the Flying Thunder God Technique, and also to ensure Sakura could effectively avoid Orochimaru.

Before Orochimaru attacked Team 7, Naruto had already cast a genjutsu on Sakura.

This causes her to fall into a dream state under certain circumstances, making it difficult for her to distinguish between reality and illusion.

This is the real reason why Sakura's memories are fragmented.

Judging from Sakura's current reaction, she probably really thinks that she was blown away by the hurricane and hit her head on something, causing her to lose her memory.

"Sasuke?" Sakura looked at Sasuke, who was covered in wounds. "Naruto, what happened?"

Sakura tried hard to search her memories, but her clear recollection only went up to the time when a sudden hurricane swept away the three members of Team 7.

"I do not know either……"

Naruto's answer to Sakura's question was slightly bitter.

"Let's organize the existing intelligence first."

Naruto offered a suggestion.

Sakura nodded; there was no other way now.

"Let me tell you the time right now. We've already spent the first night in the Death Forest, and it's dawn on the second day. It'll be light soon."

Naruto's words left Sakura speechless.

She was actually unconscious for that long...

“We hadn’t been in the Death Forest long last night when we were hit by a violent hurricane that scattered us.”

Naruto looked at Sakura: "Sakura, you were blown away by the wind, bumped into something, and then lost consciousness."

"Ah."

Sakura affirmed Naruto's conclusion.

"And then it was me... I was blown far away by that hurricane, just like you—"

As he said this, Naruto suddenly reached for his ninja tool pouch.

Sakura's gaze followed Naruto's hand, and then Naruto's hand reappeared in Sakura's line of sight.

Naruto suddenly had a black "Earth" scroll in his hand.

Sakura had no idea that Naruto would take out the "Earth" Scroll.

She stared at the scroll before her, speechless.

“The Scroll of ‘Earth’…we…”

Sakura was still somewhat incredulous.

The passing standard for the second exam is that all members of the ninja team must collect the "Heaven" and "Earth" scrolls and enter the tower in the center of the Death Forest within the exam time.

On the second morning, Class 7 had already completed its first exam objective.

"—This is what I wanted to say: after I was blown away by the hurricane, I encountered the enemy."

Naruto carefully put the scroll away and continued, "It was the complete three-person team from Amegakure. Sakura, you should remember those three—they were all wearing oxygen masks."

"I remember them, their names should be Oboro, Kagari, and Yumeka!"

Reminded by Naruto, Sakura also remembered the three Amegakure genin with conspicuous masks in their mouths.

Oboro, one of the three, sat in front of Sakura during the first exam.

Immediately afterward, Sakura suddenly realized what was happening and looked at Naruto, asking, "Naruto, you encountered all three of them by yourself?"

"Yes."

Naruto answered, his tone completely genuine.

This... is of course a lie.

But it's not entirely a lie.

Naruto did indeed encounter the Amegakure trio he had mentioned.

Oboro is the enemy that Team 7 encountered at the beginning of the original work, who disguised himself as Naruto to get close to Sasuke and Sakura.

However, the encounter between Naruto and the three members of Amegakure was not the "passive" situation he had just described to Sakura.

It is proactive, not reactive.

The tree hollow where Team 7 is currently hiding was not found by Naruto.

Rather, it's more accurate to say that Naruto snatched it from Oboro, Kagari, and Yumeka under the perception of the Wind-Soothing Dawn Technique.

Naruto simply reversed the order in which he encountered these three people.

After all, Naruto was blown away from Sasuke and Sakura by the hurricane.

He always encounters some "unexpected" events that delay him.

Only then could he reasonably "arrive late," and by the time he returned to Class 7, everything had already been settled.

"It took me a lot of time to barely beat the three of them."

"When I found Sasuke, he was already badly injured and unconscious. There was also extensive environmental damage nearby—traces of fire jutsu burning trees and land, and a giant python that had been killed by shuriken."

Naruto added some details about the battle in his explanation: "My shadow clone found you, and then my shadow clone and I brought you, who were unconscious, to this tree hole, where we stayed until dawn the next day."

After listening to Naruto recount the whole story, Sakura's gaze darted between Naruto and Sasuke.

She lowered her eyes, hiding the expression in them so that Naruto wouldn't see it.

I was completely useless... I was fast asleep and knew nothing about what was happening while Naruto and Sasuke were in danger...

Chapter 40 The Sound Ninja Attack

"Sakura...Sakura!"

Naruto's voice gradually grew louder.

Sakura then looked up again: "What's wrong?"

Sakura smiled gently at Naruto as he called out to her.

Sakura knew very well that she hadn't completely controlled her emotions.

The smile she gave Naruto was probably an ugly, forced one...

Realizing this, Sakura quickly turned her head away.

She turned her face to Naruto, her pink hair falling down to obscure her expression.

Sakura knew very well that Naruto had fought alone against the three members of Amegakure last night in order to reunite the scattered Team 7.

Naruto must have used up a lot of his chakra.

Meanwhile, Naruto, facing the unconscious Sasuke and her, had no idea where the enemy who attacked Team 7 with a powerful Wind Release technique was hiding...

With the crisis still unresolved, Naruto must have had no rest all night.

They stayed up all night, protecting their comrades in Class 7.

Sakura didn't want her weakness to distract the already exhausted Naruto.

"Sakura, are you feeling unwell?"

Naruto's concerned inquiry still reached Sakura's ears.

Yes, how could someone as observant as Naruto not notice his clumsy attempt to conceal his true intentions?

"I'm fine. By the way—Naruto, did you call me just now because you wanted to say something?"