Reborn into Naruto World with Tenseigan

Somewhere in the Forest of Death

Looking at the result of the battle not far away, Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly.

He understood the strength of the nine Genins that faced Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Shimizu Mika a while ago, especially the strength of Sakon, Ukon, Tayuya, Kidōmaru, and Jirōbō. Upon activating the Cursed Seal implanted in their body to Level 2, they can even fight against Jōnins for a while, and adding the other four, defeating Jōnins might not be that far-fetched for the nine of them together.

Be that as it may, Orochimaru couldn’t deny the result of the battle before him. Even if he was somewhat expecting this result, for the three brats under Kakashi to be able to defeat all nine of them without sustaining any major injury, it’s a big deal.

What’s more, the battle wasn’t even that intense, and it’s quite obvious that neither of the trio of Sasuke, Naruto, or Mika have used everything they have. They haven’t been pushed to their absolute limit and this excited Orochimaru.

“Interesting…” mumbled Orochimaru with a smile as he licked his lips in zest.

Good thing he had prepared other Otogakure shinobi as well to test out Uchiha Sasuke. He is confident that the other two main squads will definitely not disappoint him.

‘Uchiha Sasuke, Shimizu Mika, and Uzumaki Naruto… all three of them have something interesting about them…’

After witnessing the battle, Orochimaru’s interest in Uchiha Sasuke has indeed increased a lot, the young Uchiha’s performance was better than he had expected. But it’s not just Sasuke, Orochimaru’s interest in the other two members of team seven has developed to a certain extent.

Uzumaki Naruto has always been a topic of interest because of his Jinchūriki identity and the fact that he had learned to use Sage Chakra at such a young age, and now… he has mastered Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu as well as Yondaime Hokage’s Rasengan, and that’s not it… he seems to have gained some degree of control over the chakra of Nine-tails. Orochimaru keenly discovered that during his fight against both Kidōmaru, Naruto briefly entered the tailed beast mode, however, he did not go berserk or lose control, which is highly surprising.

For a child as young as twelve to be able to control the Nine-tail’s Chakra… there has to be something extraordinary about it.

‘Uzumaki Naruto is the opposite of Kuroto-kun…’ Orochimaru had such a thought. On one hand, Kuroto had high intelligence and a grasp of complex subjects but did not have that raw talent/potential, on the other hand, Naruto seems to have raw talent/potential but does not have that high intelligence and grasp of complex subjects, ‘he would probably need to put in a lot of effort to fully develop that raw talent…’

And finally, there’s Shimizu Mika…

‘Her Kekkei Genkai… it’s very similar to Jūgo… perhaps her Kekkei Genkai is better developed?’ The Natural Energy entering Mika’s body when she transformed her body parts into blades and needles did not go unnoticed, such an ability reminded him of Jūgo who is also capable of naturally absorbing Natural Energy suspended in heaven and earth and transforming his body, though he is unable to change his body this precisely and to this extent.

‘It’s really intriguing…’ muttered Orochimaru as he once again licked his lips.

…

Monitoring Room, Forest of Death

After watching the battle between the nine Otogakure Genins and Team Kakashi through the screens, although ‘Kuroto’ felt proud upon witnessing their growth, noticing the behavior of Otogakure Genins, he couldn’t help but frown slightly, ‘The behavior of these nine Genins is a bit abnormal…’

Although, they cannot hear the conversation between the nine Otogakure Genins and team Kakashi, thanks to his Sharingan, ‘Kuroto’ is perfectly capable of reading their lips even through the screens, and he noticed several mentions of, ‘Kill Uchiha Sasuke’ from the mouths of Otogakure Genins. But he couldn’t understand why they wanted to kill Sasuke.

Just as ‘Kuroto’ was thinking, Jiraiya spoke, “The skills of these children are getting better and better… I think we probably don’t have to be worried about Team Kakashi…”

There are only a few battles going on in the Forest of Death at the same time, as such, the attention of the majority is focused on the battle between the nine Otogakure Genins and team Kakashi. As Sasuke’s supposed master–because Sasuke became the inheritor of the legacy of Mount Myōboku–Jiraiya naturally paid special attention to Sasuke.

Putting his doubt at the back of his mind, ‘Kuroto’ nodded slightly, “Kakashi’s training seems to be very effective…’

At this time, Tsunade-hime spoke doubtfully, “That Jutsu used by Otogakure Genins… I have neither seen, nor heard of such weird Jutsu… What kind of secret Jutsu is it that allows them to transform their body to such an extent?”

In fact, Tsunade-hime had seen the Cursed Seal when she examined it on Mitarashi Anko’s body, it’s just that that happened nearly six years ago, and Anko did not intend to use that technique either, so Konoha never gained any useful information about the Cursed Seals Orochimaru created. Due to this reason, she couldn’t connect the dots and frowned upon witnessing such weird techniques.

Jiraiya agreed with Tsunade-hime, “Now that you mention it… I have never heard of or seen such weird Jutsu either. Perhaps it’s a Secret Jutsu that was recently created by Otogakure ninjas… maybe we should try to investigate it, just in case…’

Had Jiraiya been close to the battlefield when the Otogakure activated the Cursed Seals, he would have immediately understood the Jutsu as he would have been able to notice the presence of Sage Chakra, but he cannot do that from such a large distance.

Tsunade-hime asked, “Are you worried about something?”

Jiraiya nodded, “Their behavior is a bit odd… they don’t seem to care about taking away the Scrolls, rather they are more interested in fighting team Kakashi… and more specifically, Sasuke.”

Five of the nine Otogakure Genins ganged up on Sasuke, this is enough to make Jiraiya notice that something is strange about them… it’s as if, they were specifically targeting Sasuke!

Just as Jiraiya was wondering about their objective, suddenly, Tsunade-hime pointed at the screen, and spoke, “Look at that!”

Both ‘Kuroto’ and Jiraiya focused on the screen pointed out by Tsunade-hime and noticed another Otogakure squad approaching Team Kakashi that had just begun interrogating the red-haired Kunoichi of Otogakure.

…

Back on the battlefield

Noting the strange obsession of Otogakure Genins toward killing him, Sasuke was more confused and questioned, “Why? Why are you so obsessed over killing me?”

Tayuya did not answer, instead, she waved the Kunai in her hand at Sasuke, “Die!”

But Sasuke easily dodged the attack, and then he grabbed Tayuya by the neck, and slammed her on a tree. He lifted both her arms above her head and pinned them to the tree using a Kunai, then put the blade of another Kunai on her neck, and while staring into her eyes with his Sharingan, he questioned, “Answer me… why are Otogakure ninjas after my life?”

Naruto and Mika also looked at Mika curiously, “Yes… why do you want to kill Sasuke/Sasuke-kun?”

The insistence of these nine Otogakure Genins to take Sasuke’s life even at the cost of losing their own has made all three of them frown. From the very start, their objective was not the Scroll, but Sasuke’s life… it’s as if they are participating in the Chūnin Promotion not to become Chūnins, but to assassinate Sasuke, which is very confusing since he doesn’t have any enmity with them, heck, other than Kimimaro, he doesn’t even know any Otogakure shinobi personally.

Tayuya chuckled, “Genjutsu won’t work on me…” and added, “Even if I die, the result will not change… if not by our hands, then by their hands, eventually, you are going to die Uchiha Sasuke!” then without waiting for any response from Sasuke she jerked her neck forward which caused the Kunai to pierce her neck and caused her death.

“Tch…!” Sasuke clicked his tongue in annoyance as he removed his hand from the Kunai. Apparently, the Otogakure Kunoichi killed herself. Sasuke regretted a little, ‘I shouldn’t have put Kunai there…’ But it can’t be helped, he has no experience in interrogation.

Watching Tayuya lose her breath, Mika sighed, and asked, “What should we do next? We already have the Scroll we needed… should we go to the tower, or should we search for Deidara of Iwagakure…?”

Before Sasuke could give a response, suddenly, Naruto turned around, “Someone’s coming…”

Sasuke and Mika immediately became vigilant.

Not long after, the sound of slow footsteps came from the direction they were looking at. Based on the slow and unhurried sound of the footsteps, team Kakashi determined that the person approaching them was very calm and had no intention of concealing their whereabouts.

Soon, a figure of a person gradually appeared before the three of them. Pale skin, vivid green eyes, two scarlet dots on the forehead, shoulder-length white hair along with a strange zigzag that evenly divides the hair on both sides. The person needed no introduction. The moment Sasuke saw him, his expression became stern, and he called out, “Kimimaro of Otogakure…!”

Naruto and Mika also became nervous and looked around. If Kimimaro has come, then the other two members of his squad should be around too.

Sasuke held the hilt of his Kusanagi sword, and spoke, “Kimimaro, If it was you who arranged for these people to attack me… then I can only say that I am disappointed in you… You should know that neither of them is capable of killing me.”

Kimimaro glanced at the nine Otogakure Genins that were either dead or dying, then turned his attention back on Sasuke, and spoke calmly, “I hadn’t intended for them to attack you, their task was to find you… regardless, I am glad that you did not die in their hands…”