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After teasing Anko Mitarashi for a while, A finally let go of her wrist.
“You know what’s good for you!” Anko rubbed her sore back and winced.
A dangled the bundle of tri-colored dango.
“You eating these now, or saving them?”
Anko glared and snatched them back.
“What I do with them is none of your business!”
The words had barely left her mouth before her stomach let out a loud, humiliating growl.
She was starving, practically hollow, but staring at the dango A had presented like some kind of bouquet, she just couldn’t bring herself to unwrap them.
It wasn’t that the skewers were anything special.
It was just that being shown interest in such an absurd, blunt way had left a stubborn awkwardness in her chest that simply wouldn’t go away.
A watched her wrestle with herself and burst out laughing.
His large hand ruffled her hair without asking permission and brushed off a few stray leaves.
“If you’re hungry, let’s grab something to eat.
Ichiraku Ramen?
Grilled meat?
Or more dango?”
Anko swallowed hard.
Her eyes lit up.
“Dango,” she blurted.
“And red bean soup!” The words were out before she could stop them.
She immediately looked away, cheeks burning bright red.
“Alright, let’s go.” A raised his arm to sling it over her shoulder.
She sidestepped neatly before he got there.
They walked side by side for a few paces before Anko’s expression turned bitter.
“Actually, forget it.
I’m the head examiner for the second phase.
I can’t just disappear.”
She pulled out a pocket watch and checked the time.
“If something happened to one of the candidates, that would be on me.”
A waved it off.
“Easy fix.
I’ll have a word with the old smoker.
I’ve got that much pull.”
Anko smiled and shook her head.
“No need.
That would be irresponsible, and it wouldn’t look right.”
He thought about it.
She had a point.
“Fine, head back to the exam site.
I’ll go buy you food.
At my speed it’ll take two minutes flat.”
“Really?” A soft snort.
The corner of her mouth curled up.
“You’re actually not so bad.”
A let his gaze sweep over her, stroked the goatee on his chin, and grinned with bad intent.
“Since I’m being such a good sport, how about a little reward?”
“Tch…
maybe later.
Inside the damp, lightless expanse of Training Ground 44, screams rang out from every direction, weaving a death symphony through the dark.
Naruto Uzumaki’s legs turned to water.
His face went pale.
He was about to piss himself.
“Uh, I gotta go.” He spotted a large tree before the words were fully out and started undoing his belt right there on the spot.
Sakura Haruno’s face went red.
She charged over and punched him square on the head.
A massive bump swelled up instantly.
“You idiot!
There’s a lady right here!”
“Owwww…” Naruto clutched his head and shuffled off into the trees, looking deeply wronged.
He was back a few minutes later, visibly lighter, shaking out his pant leg.
“Man, that was a big one.
Feels great.”
Sakura looked like she was about to lose her mind.
She was just opening her mouth to explain what basic decency was when Sasuke’s voice cut through, flat and cold.
“Password.”
Naruto blinked.
Then grinned.
“Oh, right!
The password is—”
SWISH!
Before he finished the sentence, Sasuke’s kunai was already in the air.
“What the hell?!” Naruto rolled sideways in a barely-controlled scramble, came up on his feet, and rounded on Sasuke.
“Are you insane?!”
Sakura’s voice was cool and cutting from the side.
“We never set a password.
That was the whole point, so nobody could forget it.
You’re a fake.”
“And the real Naruto would never have dodged that in time.” Sasuke’s brow tightened.
“Drop the act and transform back.
Impostor.”
“Is that so…” The fake Naruto ran a long tongue slowly around its lips.
Then the face began to warp, rippling outward until the disguise dissolved completely.
Standing in Naruto’s place was a pale-faced kunoichi in a wide-brimmed straw hat.
Her voice came out dry and hollow, like something dredged up from a grave.
“You’re a lot more fun than I expected.”
Sasuke stepped forward, eyes locked on hers, expression cold.
“Where is the real Naruto?”
She let out a low, eerie laugh.
“You mean that brat?
He had the nerve to climb up on top of the giant snake’s head and pee on it.” She tilted her head.
“Wonder how that’s working out for him.”
“You—!” Sasuke’s teeth clenched.
Fire ignited behind his eyes and he lunged.
“Ho ho ho…” Unhurried, the kunoichi reached into her coat and pulled out a blue-gray scroll.
She stuffed it whole into her mouth, grin spreading wider as she chewed.
Beat me, and you get the brat back, and this Earth Scroll is yours too.
But remember one thing.”
She snapped her eyes wide open.
“You fight with your lives on the line.”
The killing intent hit like a wall collapsing.
It didn’t build.
It detonated, a shockwave of pure, concentrated bloodlust that tore across the ground and sent wind howling through the trees.
One second Sasuke and Sakura were in a forest.
The next, they weren’t.
They were standing in a sea of corpses and blood, and from somewhere they couldn’t see, countless voices screamed.
“Urgh,!” Sasuke’s charge died.
He grabbed his head and dropped to one knee, great drops of sweat rolling down his face and spattering the dirt.
Sakura behind him fared even worse.
Her eyes went blank.
Tears ran down her face and she couldn’t stop them.
[Such killing intent…
a thousand times worse than Gaara.
No, ten thousand.] Sasuke forced his head up.
The kunoichi was walking toward them now, unhurried, a kunai turning slowly in her fingers.
His face was the color of chalk.
In his head, he screamed: [Move.
MOVE, you useless legs!]
“I was hoping you’d keep me entertained a little longer.” She sighed, almost sounding disappointed.
“But I suppose this is where it ends.”
A flick of her hand.
Two kunai flew.
One for each of them.
SQUELCH,
Blood sprayed.
…
Meanwhile, Naruto was wedged inside a giant snake’s throat.
The walls pressed in from every side, coated in mucus that reeked of acid and rot.
He watched a rice ball tumble out of his backpack and dissolve in seconds, eaten away by gastric juices like it was made of nothing.
His face turned deathly pale.
“I’m actually going to die in here.
No, no—”
The pressure kept building.
His lungs forgot how to work.
Shapes drifted in front of his eyes, one after another.
(The kid was already having his life flash before him.)
“Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Old Man Third, Sakura, and that smug bastard Sasuke, ”
He gritted his teeth.
“No.
I am not dying here!”
BOOM!
“Ninja Art, Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!”
➤ Next: The Scared-Shitless Sasuke, and the Vanishing Facial Copy Jutsu
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