Takumi's hand paused. Ino and Sakura immediately stood up. "We'll go check the situation."
"Don't open the door. The treatment is almost done."
Takumi continued the treatment. "If it's just buying some time, Sasuke and Naruto should be able to handle that much."
Ino went to the door, peeking through the crack outside. "There are three enemies. One of them is that guy you repelled earlier, Takumi."
"Mmm, I know."
Takumi withdrew his hand and said softly, "It's done. You can put your clothes back on."
"Ah, oh, okay."
Sasame couldn't help but let out a reluctant, soft moan. Coming back to her senses, her face instantly flushed bright red.
Takumi smiled lightly, then turned and walked to the door.
Hearing this light laugh, Sasame's face reddened even more, as if steam was rising from the top of her head.
Opening the door, Takumi saw Sasuke and Naruto in a tough fight.
The guy he injured earlier clearly hadn't recovered.
The main fighters were the other two.
One used spiders, the other excelled at burrowing.
The one using spiders, Jigumo, had set up a net of traps here. The burrowing one, Kagero, waited for an opportunity to ambush.
Naruto and Sasuke were struggling to hold on.
"Good work. Leave the rest to me."
Takumi said softly.
"But we haven't lost yet!"
Naruto was somewhat unwilling. He was only at a disadvantage, not defeated.
"Whether the enemy has reinforcements is unclear. Dragging it out will only worsen the situation. And don't forget our mission."
Takumi's tone became stern.
Sasuke clicked his tongue, immediately withdrew and retreated, his eyes full of unwillingness.
'Just dealing with these two scumbags, and I'm already struggling.'
'If facing that man, I'd really have no chance at all!'
Sasuke gritted his teeth, hating his own strength more than once in his heart.
'Why am I so weak?!'
'Why?!'
"Tch!"
Naruto also retreated unwillingly.
"Be careful. That person, his strength is formidable."
Kamikiri covered his chest, still fearful.
Just one punch made him cough blood. Another punch and he'd probably be dead.
"Don't worry. Under my net, no one can…"
Bang!
Takumi instantly appeared before Jigumo.
Then, he threw a fierce punch.
Boom!!!
One punch.
Takumi used just one punch to blow the opponent's head apart.
The brutal scene instantly silenced everyone.
Kamikiri and Kagero widened their eyes.
They never expected the situation to change so dramatically in an instant!
'He held back!'
Kamikiri realized this first.
If he could blow Jigumo's head apart with one punch, naturally he could have blown his chest apart too.
'This person cannot be provoked!'
"Retreat, now!"
Kamikiri made the judgment and immediately fled without looking back.
Kagero directly burrowed into the ground, disappearing without a trace.
"Alright, no one will disturb us for now."
Takumi shook his hand, flicking off the blood.
Turning back, seeing the others dumbfounded, he couldn't help but show a gentle smile. "What's with the standing still? Our time is precious."
Everyone nodded.
"Now that the lead on Orochimaru is broken, what do we do?"
Sasuke frowned.
"Can't say it's completely broken."
Takumi looked at Sasame.
Sasame had just come out of the house when she saw the headless corpse not far away.
She immediately recognized the clothes as belonging to Jigumo, who had been chasing her earlier.
"Ah!"
She gasped, then immediately covered her mouth.
"Who is she?"
Naruto looked surprised. "How did she come out from inside?"
"Big idiot."
Sasuke shook his head, speechless.
He truly never expected Naruto to be this clueless.
Having such an idiotic teammate was the misfortune of his lifetime.
"Idiot Naruto, she's the masked person from earlier."
"My name is Fuma Sasame, from the Fuma Clan."
Sasame somewhat shyly introduced herself. "Thank you for saving me. My goal is to find my older brother, who was captured by Orochimaru."
"Orochimaru?!"
Naruto yelled, then was immediately hit on the head by Sakura's fist. "Don't interrupt!"
Sasuke's expression turned serious. "Orochimaru? How are you connected to him?"
"Those who attacked you earlier are also from the Fuma Clan. But they've all sworn allegiance to Orochimaru, wanting his recognition to gain powerful strength from him to revive the Fuma Clan."
"But my brother was captured because he's the most talented genius of the Fuma Clan."
At this point, Sasame's expression changed, full of gravity.
"Orochimaru is extremely powerful and has many formidable subordinates. If we can gain his recognition, reviving the Fuma Clan is just around the corner."
"That's why so many in the Fuma Clan work for him. My brother knew the dangers but couldn't resist Orochimaru, so he had to go with him."
"I advise you to leave this place as soon as possible. If you provoke Orochimaru, you might be in danger."
Originally, when Sasame spoke about Orochimaru's information, everyone listened carefully.
After all, that was their purpose this time.
But when she said not to provoke Orochimaru, Sakura and the others couldn't help but look strange.
They exchanged glances, then couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Seeing Sakura and the others' reaction, Sasame looked dumbfounded.
'What's going on?'
'I wasn't telling a joke just now, right?'
'Why are they suddenly laughing?'
Takumi raised an eyebrow.
"Uh... don't provoke Orochimaru... but what is Orochimaru, anyway?"
Ino laughed, patting her stomach. "Yeah, what's there to fear about Orochimaru? And how can you rely on him? Hahaha!"
"What are you talking about?"
Sasame looked utterly confused, then said with a flushed face, "Orochimaru-sama is very powerful! You outsiders have no idea how powerful Orochimaru-sama is!"
"Um, sorry."
Sakura wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes, then grabbed Takumi's arm. "The Orochimaru you're talking about has already lost to Takumi-kun several times. Rather than relying on Orochimaru, it's more practical to rely on Takumi-kun."
"That's right."
Ino, not to be outdone, grabbed Takumi's other arm. "Takumi-kun's strength is obvious to all. And he defeated Orochimaru right in front of everyone."
"If Orochimaru hadn't run fast, he would have died by Takumi-kun's hands long ago."
"Wh-what?"
"Defeated Orochimaru?"
"How is that possible?"
Sasame looked utterly bewildered.
Orochimaru had left a very deep impression on her.
He was the actual controller of the entire Land of Rice Fields, with immense power!
In this place, Orochimaru was like a god!
How could he possibly be defeated?
Sasame nervously swallowed, somewhat incredulously staring at Takumi's face.
Takumi was the one who just treated her injuries, and he seemed very strong too.
'Could it be...'
'No, even if he's strong, he couldn't possibly defeat Orochimaru!'
But looking at Sakura and Ino's expressions, she felt they didn't seem to be lying.
This threw her into confusion.
"Actually, we came this time to investigate Orochimaru's location and capture him."
Naruto gave the final push. "We're telling the truth."
"This..."
Sasame was completely dumbfounded.
'They probably had no reason to deceive me. Could it be Orochimaru was really defeated by this boy before me?'
Sasame fell into a dazed state, feeling her faith crumble!
"Regardless, after finding Orochimaru, we can rescue your brother, right?"
Takumi didn't waste more words.
He continued leading the group forward.
In the forest.
They headed towards the rumored location of Orochimaru's hideout.
Right then,
"Look out!"
Sasuke suddenly called out, already holding a kunai in hand.
Takumi stepped in front of the three girls, looking ahead.
Whoosh!
A giant pair of scissors flew towards them.
Followed by a thin figure.
It was Kamikiri.
"What a reckless way of attacking."
"Why are you still entangling us?"
Takumi shook his head.
These people were also from the Fuma Clan, but they were severely brainwashed by Orochimaru, now just used as pawns.
"Go to hell!"
Kamikiri shouted madly, attacking immediately.
But Takumi didn't dodge or evade.
However, just as the scissors were about to pierce his body,
Bang!
A fierce punch sent Kamikiri flying.
This punch directly knocked him unconscious.
The next second, the ground suddenly bulged.
Kagero emerged from the ground, but what greeted him was a large foot.
Bang!
Kagero was directly kicked flying.
But he seemed to have thicker skin, as he wasn't knocked out.
"Kamikiri! Kagero!"
Sasame shouted. "What happened to Arashi?"
"Cough, cough..."
Kagero coughed, not answering Sasame's question.
He quickly gathered Chakra and began transforming.
While transforming, he muttered.
"A mayfly larva emerges from the ground, spreads its wings in the sunlight, and dies in an instant. That is the mayfly's way of death."
"What's he doing?"
Sasuke frowned, immediately activating his Sharingan. "He's concentrating Chakra inside his body!"
Kagero's body turned into some kind of crystal. His back split open, and a figure stood up from within.
"What?"
Everyone was shocked.
Even Takumi was somewhat surprised.
What emerged from Kagero's body was a beautiful girl.
"Holy crap! Here we go again! This time it's an uncle turning into a girl!"
Naruto couldn't help but hold his head. "How is this done? That's too exaggerated!"
"Damn, she's quite pretty though."
"Yeah! Why are they all such strange Ninjutsu?"
Unlike Naruto and Sasuke, Sakura and Ino clearly focused on different things.
'How is her skin so good?'
'It's so enviable!'
However, just as everyone was amazed by the uncle-turned-girl, Kagero simply picked up the unconscious Kamikiri and fled swiftly.
"Uh, so she just ran away?"
Naruto looked bewildered. "She went through all that trouble transforming just to escape?"
Sasuke also had a black line on his forehead, but he quickly looked at Takumi.
'The reason the other party fled was definitely because of Takumi.'
'They must have sensed the strength gap between themselves and Takumi.'
'So they decisively took their companion and left.'
'What a calm judgment.'
"No helping it. Original characters are basically pretty weak." Takumi said.
"Huh?"
"Cough, nothing. It's getting late. Let's find a place to rest."
Takumi looked up at the sky. "Today's been quite eventful. But at least the lead on Orochimaru isn't completely lost."
He looked at Sasame with a smile. "Would you mind guiding us tomorrow?"
"Ah, y-yes, of course, no problem."
Sasame quickly nodded.
After finding a sheltered spot and setting up tents, Sakura and Ino, quite forcefully, assigned Sasuke and Naruto to take the first watch.
Then the two, one on each side, forcefully dragged Takumi into a tent.
"This..."
Seeing this, Sasame was instantly dumbfounded, utterly bewildered in the wind.