If their goals remained the same, the outcome would likely be just like before.
This was one of Shiki's realizations since arriving in the Naruto world.
Take Orochimaru, for instance—his target was always Sasuke. So even if the teams in the Chunin Exams weren't the same, the result stayed unchanged.
Orochimaru attacked Team 7 again and marked Sasuke's neck with the Cursed Seal of Heaven. Despite its severe side effects, it also served as a medium for Orochimaru's resurrection.
But Shiki had to admit—it was an excellent method for absorbing natural chakra.
Compared with Naruto's later Sage Mode—which didn't allow him to absorb natural chakra while moving—this approach seemed vastly superior.
In fact, Shiki even considered that if he ever had the chance to learn Sage Mode, he might draw inspiration from this cursed seal as a method to gather natural chakra.
Of course, all that was something for the future.
By the next morning when Shiki arrived, Orochimaru had already left.
The area was in complete disarray, littered with countless traces of battle.
The ground was pockmarked with craters, and Sakura stood bruised all over. Behind her, Naruto and Sasuke lay together.
Clearly, after both Naruto and Sasuke had collapsed, Sakura had dragged them together and taken responsibility for protecting them.
Rock Lee lay face-down on the ground, blood trickling steadily from his right ear.
Members of the Tenth Squad stepped in front of Sakura too, while Konoha's Ino–Shika–Cho trio launched into their signature formation.
Still, they clearly seemed to be at a disadvantage at the moment.
Meanwhile, the Sound Ninja Trio looked far worse off than in the original story. At least now Dosu was already down and out.
Neji and Tenten appeared as if they had just arrived, standing atop the trees, waiting for their moment to strike.
"Tsk... seriously annoying," Shiki muttered casually—but at least the Sound Ninja Trio sensed the danger he posed.
After all, during the written exam, the aura he displayed—one not weaker than Gaara's—left a deep impression on them.
Yet, as ninja from Otogakure, they still looked down on Shiki Uzumaki, a newly promoted genin.
"It really is annoying. You troublesome brats keep coming one after another," Sakon shrugged, treating Shiki's arrival as nothing more than showing up to die.
Indeed, he was the most arrogant of the Sound Three.
As he spoke, he cast a contemptuous glance at Rock Lee lying on the ground. He knew how close Shiki and Rock Lee were—something obvious from their conversations during their time at the Academy.
Faced with such provocation, Shiki fell into slight silence.
Lee was still too restricted.
Just thinking about it brought up thoughts of Lotus techniques—especially Primary Lotus. But using those required opening the first gate first, which put immense strain on the body.
Adding to that, Lee simply didn't grasp how Dosu fought using sound-based techniques. As a result, Lee had likely already been injured by the sound attacks from the very beginning. This severely impacted his performance in the following fight.
Lee's strength lay in taijutsu and speed.
However, because Lee didn't understand Dosu's attack method and didn't immediately unleash his full power at the start, he was hurt by Dosu's sonic techniques.
Therefore, as the fight progressed, Lee became increasingly defensive. This was the tragedy of a ninja who relied solely on taijutsu.
His combat techniques were overly rigid. However, Shiki knew that if Lee truly unleashed his full power, the Sound Ninja Trio before him wouldn't last even a second.
"Brother, aren't you going to step in yet?" Yuuma was already burning with anger.
If this were merely an ordinary exam match, then naturally there would be no objection.
But now, things had gone far beyond the bounds of normal combat.
"No, I suppose we won't need to intervene anymore," Neji said calmly. Tenten, by his side, stood silently as well, watching what was unfolding.
Shiki turned his gaze elsewhere too; within his perception, a sinister and evil chakra gradually began to rise.
Chapter 129: Another Battle
Before this, Shiki had come across unique chakras. But among all those sensed, none had such an evil aura as this one.
Even Gaara had been terrifying mainly due to his overwhelming presence.
"Sasuke, what really makes Orochimaru terrifying isn't his combat strength, but his disturbing talent for creating entirely new techniques, along with his unimaginably bizarre methods. Perhaps this can also be understood as the power of an academic overachiever."
Looking toward Sasuke, Shiki couldn't help but remark thoughtfully.
Black cursed seals now covered his entire body. Without a doubt, this appearance was undeniably cool. He looked just like a rebellious teen—no one could rival him unless it was perhaps the world's fiercest emo-haired rebel.
Shiki idly thought to himself, yet he had to admit that compared to the lame pun he had just made, the cursed seal clearly drew his attention far more.
"Sakura, who did this to you?"
There was no attempt to hide the fury in his voice. Sakura seemed to sense that the aura of the person in front of her was almost like a completely different individual from the Sasuke she knew. She shivered slightly but still refrained from speaking.
"You punk… didn't think you'd get back up again," Sakon sneered at Sasuke. In truth, he had every reason to be arrogant—he was arguably the strongest among the Sound Ninja Trio.
The decapitating airwaves he casually unleashed were actually on par with, or even exceeded, the power of a C-ranked jutsu. Yet for him right now, such actions were undoubtedly extremely dangerous. However, compared to the more cautious Dosu and the one already unconscious on the ground...
At this moment, no one could stop his arrogance.
Even if Dosu were still conscious, he probably couldn't stop him either.
Sasuke turned to Sakon and asked icily, "Was it you?"
His voice carried the weight of someone ready to crush his enemy in an instant.
Needless to say, the three blood-red characters reading "death" on Sakon's chest were especially ominous.
"So what if it's me? After all, you're just some pushover who went down without a fight anyway."
A day ago, those words would've crushed Sasuke entirely.
But that was then — he wasn't the same pitifully weak Sasuke anymore.
Like the hazy vision he'd seen in his dream before, he had already made his choice.
As someone set on revenge, he'd gladly strike a deal with the devil to gain real power.
And now, he'd already pried open Pandora's box.
Still, he could feel the raw power coursing through every part of him — intoxicating, like an addiction he couldn't resist.
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