Chapter 61: Naruto's Strength!

"Izayoi-kun, that girl seems really down on her luck."

Watching Karin leave with the shadow clone, Hinata couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

She used to think she was timid and humble enough in front of Izayoi when she was younger, but after meeting Karin, she realized Karin had it way tougher. That expression in her eyes really tugged at the heartstrings.

"You find people like her everywhere," Izayoi said as he patted Hinata's head with a small smile. "Some have it even worse. We can't help everyone in this world; the best we can do is protect the people who matter to us."

"Right." Hinata nodded firmly.

She didn't see herself as some kind of saint—she just felt a sense of empathy toward Karin because they were from the same clan as Izayoi, which hit her softer side.

When Shino Aburame came back, Izayoi asked, "So, which scroll did they end up with?"

"It's the Heaven Scroll," Shino replied.

"Perfect. We have the Earth Scroll."

Izayoi took out his team's scroll and tossed it to Shino. "I'm putting you in charge of both scrolls."

At that, Shino seemed to sense Izayoi's intentions. "We've already got both scrolls—why not head straight to the tower?"

Izayoi looked in a certain direction. "No need to rush. There's one more annoyance to deal with first."

Hinata's face shifted slightly—she recalled Izayoi's words back in the bathroom and connected them with the intel from her Byakugan. "Izayoi-kun, are you going after that Sand shinobi with the gourd on his back?"

"Nope. This one's even stronger."

Izayoi shook his head, then said to Hinata and Shino, "You two head for the tower and wait for me outside. Once I'm done, I'll catch up."

"Understood."

Knowing just how powerful Izayoi was, Hinata simply gave a sweet nod. Seeing her so compliant, Shino nodded as well. "Got it."

Once they split up, Izayoi leapt into motion, making a beeline toward Team 7's location.

His next target for a "destiny redo" was Sasuke Uchiha.

With Izayoi's current setup, only taking down Kage-level opponents would bump up his "drop rate." He'd already tried fighting the likes of Zabuza, Raiga, Haku, and Ranmaru, but got nothing—he simply outclassed them too much.

He even tried finishing enemies off with barely-charged shadow clones or ganging up on them alongside those clones, but still never got any good drops. Clearly, shadow clones and kills alone wouldn't boost the odds. Meanwhile, true Kage-level foes were rare in this era.

Because of that, if he wanted to farm special "traits" and break them down for points, he had two options:

1. Figure out if there's a hidden system mechanic that boosts drop rates.

2. Collect super-high-level traits and dismantle them for a massive point haul.

Even if a Kage-level trait was purple, that was still only a four-digit point payout. But above purple were gold and red (and maybe beyond). Breaking down a gold or red trait could yield tens of thousands—or even hundreds of thousands—of points. If luck went crazy and he got a red trait worth nearly a million points, he might instantly upgrade a red trait to some unknown higher tier one-to-one.

Until Izayoi discovered a new way forward, Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke were prime candidates to "grow" for better drops. Of the three, Sasuke's talent was the highest and his growth the quickest, meaning any power boost for Sasuke would raise Izayoi's own drop rate.

So he had to change Sasuke's fate and keep him in the Konoha Village, making it easier to "farm" those traits. Plus, Sasuke's loyalty wouldn't lose out to Karin's. In the original story, after Naruto completely outdid him, Sasuke basically gave up fame and fortune to work for Naruto, barely ever returning home—and nearly taking out his own daughter by accident in the process.

In a One Piece analogy, he was basically the perfect "Number Two," like Zoro. No way Izayoi was letting Orochimaru get his hands on that.

A flash of white light glinted in his eyes, and he sped up yet again.

…

Meanwhile, Team 7 was face-to-face with a mysterious Grass shinobi.

"You've got the Heaven Scroll, right? I'll bet you really want this Earth Scroll in my hand…"

That Grass ninja was actually Orochimaru using the Face Copying Technique. Under Team 7's wide-eyed stares, he dangled the Earth Scroll—and then casually tilted his head back and swallowed it.

"He… ate it? He just swallowed the scroll whole!" Naruto blurted, his eyes nearly bulging.

"What kind of body does he have? Some sort of secret technique, or maybe a Kekkei Genkai?" Sasuke wondered aloud, trying to stay cool.

Meanwhile, Sakura was practically shaking out of her skin, hiding behind the other two.

"All right, let's get started… the scroll-stealing game."

Having swallowed the Earth Scroll, Orochimaru gave them a sinister grin. "I'll be coming at you at full strength."

Boom—

An invisible wave of raw killing intent blasted out from Orochimaru.

Team 7 froze for an instant, then dropped to their knees, pale-faced and gasping for air.

"Urgh…"

Sasuke, who was usually the strongest, even puked right then and there.

"Is this… a genjutsu? No—it's just his killing intent!"

He looked at Orochimaru with the same dread he'd once felt toward Itachi. "All it took was a wave of his killing aura for us to see ourselves getting slaughtered. Who the hell is this guy? How could someone like this even be in the Chunin Exams?!"

Compared to the Sand ninja with the gourd, this was on a completely different level—like they weren't even playing the same sport.

"D-don't think you're scaring me that easily—!"

Suddenly, Naruto's shout cut through Sasuke's panic.

Sasuke turned to see Naruto pushing himself upright, hands shaking but refusing to crumble under Orochimaru's aura.

For some reason, seeing that "dead last" stand his ground snapped Sasuke out of his fear. If that idiot can manage, then so can I.

His eyes hardened, pupils bleeding into twin tomoe—the two-tomoe Sharingan.

"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto yelled, voice carrying. "I'm gonna be Hokage someday—believe it!"

He formed hand seals. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Poof, poof, poof—

Clouds of white smoke popped off in rapid succession, and a breeze blew them away to reveal three hundred Narutos.

"Sasuke, Sakura—get behind me!"

Some of the clones hoisted Sasuke and Sakura, passing them backwards over the crowd. The original Naruto and the remaining clones formed a fresh series of hand seals, shouting, "I'll blow you away in one shot!"

Seeing that many clones—plus the seal Naruto had just used—made Orochimaru's smug façade crack. "That chakra… wait, could he be—?"

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

Three hundred voices roared in unison.

~~~

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