Chapter 61: The Perfect Second-in-Command – Don’t Underestimate Me, Bastard!

"Izayoi-kun, she's so pitiful..."

Looking at Xianglin who had just left with the shadow clone, Hinata said with a sympathetic expression.

She had once thought that when she was younger, she had already been timid and inferior enough in front of Izayoi.

But compared to Xianglin, she still fell short.

The look in that girl's eyes—it was heart-wrenching.

"Pitiful people like her exist everywhere. And those even more pitiful than her aren't rare either."

Izayoi patted Hinata on the head and smiled. "We can't help everyone. What we can do is protect the people who are important to us."

"Mhm."

Hinata nodded vigorously.

She wasn't some kind of saint. She was only emotionally stirred because Xianglin was from Izayoi's clan.

When Shino Aburame returned, Izayoi looked at him and asked, "What kind of scroll did they have?"

"It was the Heaven Scroll," Shino replied.

"Perfect, we've got the Earth Scroll."

Izayoi took out their team's scroll and tossed it to Shino. "You're in charge of keeping both scrolls safe."

Hearing this, Shino seemed to sense something. "Now that we have both scrolls, aren't we going straight to the tower at the center?"

Izayoi turned his head to look in a certain direction and said, "No rush. There's still one more problem that needs to be handled."

Hinata's expression shifted. She recalled what Izayoi had said in the bath, and based on the intel she had gathered with her Byakugan, she couldn't help but ask, "Izayoi-kun, are you going after that Sand ninja with the gourd?"

"No, someone even stronger."

Izayoi shook his head and instructed Hinata and Shino: "You two head to the area outside the central tower and wait for me there. I'll join you once I deal with this issue."

"Yes."

Hinata, knowing just how strong Izayoi was, nodded obediently.

Seeing that even Hinata didn't insist on tagging along, Shino naturally also nodded. "Understood."

After parting ways with Hinata and Shino, Izayoi vanished in a flash and sped toward the direction of Team 7.

That's right—Izayoi's next target for changing destiny was none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

At his current setup, only by defeating Kage-level opponents could Izayoi increase his drop rate for skill tags.

No matter if it was Zabuza Momochi, Raiga Kurosuki, Haku, or Ranmaru—none had ever dropped a tag.

Because Izayoi's strength was far beyond theirs.

Defeating them only had a minuscule chance of yielding low or mid-tier tags.

Izayoi had even experimented: he tried killing enemies alongside low-chakra shadow clones, but even then, no tags dropped.

That meant neither shadow clones nor kills alone improved the drop rate.

And in this era, Kage-level powerhouses were extremely rare.

Under these circumstances, Izayoi had only two ways to farm skill tags and convert them into points:

See if the innate tag system had other hidden mechanisms to boost drop rate.

Farm ultra-high-level tags to break them down into points.

At most, tags from Kage-level enemies would be purple—breaking one down only yielded a few thousand points.

But above purple were gold and red tags—and even unknown-tier ones.

Disassembling gold and red tags gave random five-digit or even six-digit points.

If luck exploded, a single red tag might give 990,000+ points—basically a 1:1 conversion to level up that red tag into some unknown tier.

Until he discovered a new mechanism, Hinata, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki were his key targets.

Among the three, the one Izayoi valued the most was Uchiha Sasuke.

Because Sasuke had the best talent and improved the fastest.

As long as his strength rose, Izayoi's drop rate would increase.

Thus, Izayoi had to change Sasuke's fate and keep him in Konoha, making it easier to farm tags.

And Sasuke's loyalty wasn't any less than Xianglin's.

In the original story, after getting defeated by Naruto, Sasuke abandoned fame and wealth and became Naruto's workhorse—so loyal that he rarely even went home and nearly killed his own daughter by accident.

If this were the world of One Piece, Sasuke would be the perfect Roronoa Zoro-type second-in-command.

With that kind of talent, Izayoi naturally wasn't going to let Orochimaru take him.

With a flash of white light in his eyes, Izayoi's speed increased even more.

…

Meanwhile, Team 7 was confronting a Grass ninja.

"You've got the Heaven Scroll, huh? I guess you'd want the Earth Scroll in my hand…"

The Grass ninja—Orochimaru in disguise using the Face-Stealing Technique—waved the scroll in his hand, then, under Team 7's shocked gazes, tilted his head back and swallowed it.

"He… he swallowed it?! He actually ate the scroll?!"

Naruto shouted in disbelief.

"What kind of body structure is that? A secret technique? Or a Kekkei Genkai?"

Sasuke analyzed calmly.

As for Sakura—her legs were trembling, and she was hiding behind Sasuke and Naruto in fear.

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"Now then… let the scroll battle begin."

Orochimaru, having swallowed the scroll, gave Team 7 a playful grin. "I'll be going all out, you know!"

BOOM—

An invisible shockwave of bloodlust exploded from Orochimaru's body.

Team 7 was stunned for a moment, then collapsed to the ground, faces pale, breathing ragged.

"Urgh…"

Even Sasuke—the strongest among them—vomited on the spot.

"A genjutsu? No… that's killing intent!"

Sasuke stared at Orochimaru with the same fear he once had facing Itachi:

"Just from his killing intent, we're seeing our own deaths… Who is this guy?! Why is someone like this even in the Chuunin Exams?!"

Even compared to that gourd-carrying Sand ninja, this Grass ninja was in a totally different league.

No—a completely different dimension!

"Da… damn it. Don't think you can scare me that easily, bastard…!"

Just then, Naruto's voice broke through the tension.

Sasuke turned his head reflexively.

To his shock, Naruto wasn't vomiting. He was gritting his teeth and standing up, forming hand seals.

For some reason, seeing this, all of Sasuke's fear toward Orochimaru disappeared in an instant.

Even this dead-last wasn't scared—what the hell was he afraid of?

With that thought, Sasuke's gaze became firm. His black pupils turned into two-tomoe Sharingan, glowing red.

"Don't underestimate me, bastard! I'm gonna be the next Hokage…!"

At the same time, Naruto shouted at Orochimaru:

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Puff puff puff…

A series of air-popping sounds rang through the forest.

With every sound, a burst of white smoke appeared.

The clouds of smoke created a dense white mist.

As the wind scattered the fog, 300 Narutos stood in the forest.

"Sasuke, Sakura—get back!"

The shadow clones lifted Sasuke and Sakura and passed them back hand-to-hand.

The original and remaining clones formed seals and shouted arrogantly:

"Watch me blow you away, bastard!"

Seeing Naruto unleash so many shadow clones at once and recognizing the hand sign, Orochimaru's smug expression finally shifted.

"That amount of chakra… could this brat be…?"

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

All 300 voices roared in unison.