"The reward for the last C-rank mission hasn't even been paid yet, and now there's already another C-rank mission!"
Naruto cracked his knuckles, full of fighting spirit.
The previous C-rank mission had been far too easy, making him think the woman in front of them would be the same. One Great Fireball from Sasuke and a Multiple Shadow Clone from him would be more than enough to handle it.
But…
The woman laughed with her head lowered, her shoulders shaking. Her straight, long black hair hid a face that was originally pale like a corpse.
Then she raised her head.
Golden, snake-like eyes locked onto the three of them, and the instant her killing intent erupted—
Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura froze where they stood.
They had seen the Third Shinobi World War with their own eyes, lived through the Nine-Tails' rampage, visited the era when Konoha was first founded, even crossed hands with the legendary Madara Uchiha. They had joked over meals with the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, and his brother.
But all of that had been because those people saw them as juniors. They had never intended to harm them, much less unleash killing intent at them.
Up until now, the only true killing intent they had experienced was Zabuza's, and the aura Minato Namikaze had released toward the Iwagakure ninja during the Third Shinobi World War.
Compared to the killing intent of this person called Orochimaru, however, Zabuza's felt insignificant.
And Minato's cold, decisive aura was completely different from Orochimaru's sticky, damp, and oppressive killing intent. More importantly, Minato's killing intent had never been directed at Naruto and the others.
Under Orochimaru's killing intent, in a single instant, the three of them felt as if they had already been brutally tortured to death, blood splattering everywhere.
Like small mice locked in the gaze of a giant snake, it was as if some biological force had pinned them in place, leaving them unable to move.
Satisfied at the sight of the three kids frozen in fear, Orochimaru took out the Earth Scroll he was carrying.
"Really want this?" he asked.
Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto remained silent.
"Then how about trading it for the scroll you have on you?" Orochimaru continued.
The Heaven Scroll?
To pass this exam, they needed to possess both the Heaven Scroll and the Earth Scroll at the same time, report to the tower in the center of the Forest of Death, and open both scrolls together.
Unless they somehow had two Earth Scrolls, trading an Earth Scroll for a Heaven Scroll made no sense at all.
"No… that's not it…"
Naruto suddenly spoke, his eyes locked on Orochimaru, filled with wariness.
Under that crushing killing intent, even opening their mouths was difficult.
"This… stinking snake… isn't after the Heaven Scroll…"
"!!"
Sasuke's and Sakura's expressions changed instantly.
They immediately understood what Naruto meant.
"Hehehe" the woman laughed eerily. "That's right What I want is the special scroll you're carrying, the one that records different missions."
Naruto's heart sank. That scroll was absolutely vital to them.
He instinctively shielded his ninja pouch and denied it. "We don't have any mission scroll! You must be mistaken!!"
Idiot! Don't answer him! Sasuke cursed inwardly. Naruto's reaction had practically told the enemy outright that the scroll was on him.
Sure enough, Orochimaru's gaze shifted to Naruto Uzumaki.
"No need to hide it," Orochimaru said calmly. "I saw it. That scroll is in your ninja pouch."
Naruto shouted to pump himself up. "Go to hell! I'm never giving you the mission scroll!!!"
Orochimaru wasn't annoyed in the slightest. He spat three kunai from his mouth, all aimed straight at them.
"Killing you and taking it myself works just as well, doesn't it?"
That eerie voice sounded as though it had already pronounced their death sentence.
Sasuke clenched his back teeth hard. I didn't back down even in front of Madara. There's no way I'm losing to some freak like this!
Sakura stared at the giant snake corpse at Orochimaru's feet. A nagging feeling kept surfacing in her mind, as if they were overlooking something important.
[Sakura, toads are slugs' natural predators, but toads that can eat slugs end up as delicacies for snakes.]
[Katsuyu-sama, then what's a snake's natural enemy?]
[There are many, but the one snakes have absolutely no answer to…]
[Is us slugs.]
Because slugs secrete a toxic substance, all three of a snake's attack methods, binding, swallowing, and injecting venom, are useless against them. Instead, the slug's toxins corrode the snake's scales, internal organs, or even its mouth.
These were fragments of memories from the early days of Konoha, when they had completed missions recorded on Naruto's mission scroll and signed contracts with the Three Great Sage Regions.
Naruto and Obito had contracted with the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku.
Sasuke and young Kakashi had contracted with the White Snake Sage of Ryūchi Cave.
Sakura and Rin had contracted with the Slug Sage of Shikkotsu Forest.
Sakura gathered all her strength and quietly reached for the kunai at her thigh.
She dragged her thumb hard across the blade. A bead of blood immediately welled up from the cut on her fingertip.
Using the sharp pain as a trigger, she began forming the hand seals for a summoning.
"Oh?" Orochimaru sneered. "Summoning jutsu?"
"Who would've thought," he continued mockingly, "that the son of the Fourth Hokage, the last Uchiha of Konoha, the younger brother of Itachi Uchiha… would need a girl to save him. Hehehe~"
Those words hit Sasuke and Naruto hard.
That's right, this time the first to react was Sakura.
But the two of them weren't about to lose either.
They each cut their fingers and began forming the hand seals for the Summoning Jutsu as well.
If only Sakura had been forming seals, Orochimaru might not have found it familiar.
But the moment all three of them formed seals together—
The three skinny figures before his eyes were suddenly replaced by three others.
Tsunade.
Jiraiya.
And himself.
Orochimaru.
The legendary Sannin had long since fallen apart.
All that remained were a blood-fearing strongest medical ninja, a gambler who disguised herself as a young girl to dodge her debts;
A so-called Pervy Sage who neglected his duties, a lecher who spent his days lurking outside women's bathhouses for "research";
And a genius ninja who defected from Konoha, a madman who trampled on the value of life and used living people as test subjects to study ninjutsu.
...
"Summoning Jutsu!!!"
Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura shouted in unison.
For a moment, it felt as if the BGM of a last-ditch counterattack kicked in, pushing the tension straight to its peak.
Dark purple scales filled their vision, blocking Orochimaru's sight like an enormous wall.
When he looked up, what he saw left him completely stunned.
Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were being lifted straight into the air by a massive dark purple presence.
From where they were now, they could see most of Konohagakure spread out below them.
Looking down at the colossal living creature beneath their feet, it was a good thing they were all ninja. Otherwise, they would have been crippled by fear of heights.
"Ma—hey! Are you Manda?!" Sasuke blurted out, utterly confused. The horns on both sides of the snake's head were unmistakably Manda's. That part was right. But how could Manda, who had been no thicker than a finger back then, have grown this huge?!
Standing on Naruto's shoulders were Shima and Fukasaku-sennin, who had once been madly in love and were now practically an old married couple.
Lying on top of Manda's head, Naruto slapped the massive skull with his hand.
"Hey—!! Are you Manda's dad or his grandpa or something, dattebayo?! You're way too big!!! Your son wasn't even as thick as my thumb, dattebayo!!"
Beside Sakura, a slug about the size of a dog stood with them on Manda's head. With her limited chakra, she couldn't summon Katsuyu's full true body.
Manda's enormous form towered above the dark sea of trees, rising so high that the blue sky came back into view.
At this moment, it wasn't just the other Konoha genin taking part in the exam inside the Forest of Death, or ninja from other villages like Gaara, who were shaken. Even the villagers back in Konoha were alarmed.
Ninja leapt into the streets one after another, and many people rushed to the Hokage Tower to ask what was going on. Was this an enemy attack?!
Hiruzen Sarutobi's pipe slipped from his mouth.
He definitely didn't remember his three students, the legendary Sannin, needing to take part in the Chūnin Exams.
He did know about the last time Minato and his group had arrived in Konoha's founding era, but the report hadn't gone into such detail as to mention that Naruto and Sasuke had already learned summoning jutsu.
So, under the assumption that Orochimaru had come to Konoha, and with Orochimaru indeed having come to Konoha, the Chūnin Exams entered a strange state of half-suspension.
Almost all available ANBU and jōnin were dispatched to maintain order in the Forest of Death.
At the same time, an even more unexpected piece of news reached the Third Hokage, one that left him so exhausted he almost wanted to retire.
It was said that outside Konoha's gates, two Kazekage had arrived to watch the Chūnin Exams.
Two?!