It's better to be a rebel ninja than to be a Hokage

After the battle with Sound Ninja, Team 7 and Team 10 separated because of their different plans.

Class 10, which had collected the "Heaven" and "Earth" scrolls from Naruto, chose to go to the high tower in the center of the training ground as early as possible to complete the second exam and qualify for advancement.

Team 7 rested in the tree hole for a whole day to recover from their injuries and chakra.

Sasuke also took this opportunity to explain to Naruto and Sakura what happened to him last night after he separated from them.

……

"Grass ninja?"

Sakura repeated the key points of Sasuke's words, "Sasuke, you said that the person who attacked you disguised as a Kusanagi was Orochimaru?"

Sasuke nodded and confirmed again: "That man is Orochimaru, one of the legendary 'Three Ninjas' of Konoha, who has defected from Konoha for many years!"

"Why would such a famous guy disguise himself as a Kusagakure ninja? Could it be that Kusagakure has teamed up with Orochimaru and is preparing to attack Konoha..."

Sakura still has some doubts that cannot be sorted out.

Sasuke didn't know the answer either.

If it was really as Sakura guessed, the seriousness of Orochimaru's infiltration into Konoha would be raised to a new level.

"No, Kusagakure should also be kept in the dark... Didn't Sasuke just say that when Orochimaru cast the curse seal on Sasuke, he called himself the 'founder of Otogakure'. We were attacked by the three Otogakure ninjas because they received orders from Orochimaru."

"Since he already has his own village, he won't take the risk of joining forces with Kusagakure. After all, the more people who know about it, the greater the possibility of being exposed."

Naruto answered: "The reason why Orochimaru chose Kusagakure to disguise himself is probably related to the ninja structure of Kusagakure. When I was in the ninja school, didn't the school teacher also teach us the geography of the ninja world? Kusagakure is a village that excels in learning and studying ninjutsu from other countries."

"I remember what was said in class, but what does this have to do with Orochimaru choosing a Kusagakure ninja to disguise himself and sneak into Konoha?"

Sakura turned to look at Naruto, waiting for his analysis.

"Do you two still remember what Kakashi-sensei said about the ninja assassination team when we were in the Land of Waves? In the ninja world, which values ​​intelligence, ninjutsu and ninja tools that represent the characteristics of each village, and even the ninjas themselves, are all important sources of intelligence."

"Even Konoha, one of the five great ninja villages, acquired information about other countries' ninjutsu with great difficulty during several ninja wars. Why is it that the small country of Kusagakure is known as 'good at learning and studying other countries' ninjutsu'?"

Naruto finally asked Sasuke and Sakura.

But before the two could answer, Naruto continued:

"The quality of ninjas in small countries is always inferior to that of big countries. If the small country's territory is isolated, it would be fine - but the Grass Country where Kusagakure is located is adjacent to the two big countries of Fire and Earth."

"It is surrounded by two small countries - the Land of Water Tak and the Land of Rain."

"Taki-no-Kuni was a country that could rival the other five great countries in ninja power during the Warring States Period. Although it has declined now, the rich heritage left over from the Warring States Period still allows it to look down on other small countries."

"The Rain Country is a small country, but it fought against the three ninja villages of Konoha, Sand Village, and Iwagakure among the five major countries with its own strength during the Second Shinobi World War..."

"The high pressure crisis from the outside made Kusagakure maintain a highly open policy towards the source of ninjas - accepting rebellious ninjas from other countries, wandering ninjas from lost countries... This allowed Kusagakure to quickly strengthen its own strength and prevent the covetousness of powerful neighboring countries. It also made Kusagakure become good at learning and studying the ninjutsu of other countries."

"The composition of the Kusagakure ninjas makes it difficult to trace the origins of Kusagakure ninjas. The result is that compared to disguising as ninjas from other countries, the probability of Orochimaru being discovered as a Kusagakure ninja is extremely low."

In the original work, before the second Chunin Exam began, Orochimaru, disguised as a Kusagakure candidate, even took the initiative to contact the chief examiner, Mitarashi Anko.

As Orochimaru's former disciple, Red Bean did not immediately notice the abnormality due to Orochimaru's disguise as a "Grass Ninja" when facing his iconic long tongue.

It was not until Orochimaru activated the "Heaven" seal on Red Bean's body that was exactly the same as Sasuke's, and the power of the seal broke through the suppression again, that Red Bean was convinced that Orochimaru had sneaked into Konoha.

"and……"

Naruto looked at Sasuke, "Orochimaru went to such great lengths to disguise himself, but his purpose is very strange... Sasuke, you said Orochimaru told you that he came to find you on purpose?"

"At first I thought his goal was the scroll, and I was glad that you were the one keeping it... But knowing that the scroll was not in my hands, Orochimaru, who was absolutely stronger than me, still pestered me but didn't kill me... He was like a snake playing with its prey..."

Sasuke nodded grimly, his strange emotion not being that he was distressed that he was coveted by one of the famous Sannin.

It was because - when he explained his encounter with Orochimaru to Naruto and Sakura, he deliberately concealed the information - Orochimaru had obviously come into contact with Uchiha Itachi, and was very familiar with the suffering of the Uchiha clan in the past - better than Sasuke himself, maybe even better than Uchiha Itachi...

Orochimaru tempted Sasuke with the power of revenge that he could not refuse.

Sasuke was actually... very moved.

He calls himself an avenger, and if he can successfully avenge his brother Uchiha Itachi for the rest of his life, he would be willing to do so even at the cost of his own life.

"Sasuke!"

Naruto's suddenly serious voice pulled Sasuke out of the thoughts he had suddenly sunk into.

"What?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto.

"There are too many unsolved mysteries about the power of that curse. Unless you have a way to control the curse, I don't want you to sink into that power like that."

The genuine concern and persuasion in Naruto's words made Sasuke lose his mind.

"I will try my best……"

Sasuke answered, but he couldn't promise Naruto anything.

……

After Sasuke woke up from a long coma, the three members of Team 7 finally put together the information they knew.

But the three people, each with their own thoughts, failed to come to any good conclusion.

The only thing he could do was to continue to take part in the Chunin Exam and let everything take its course.

It was not until the third day of the second Chunin Exam that Team 7, which had spent a full day resting, set out again to participate in the exam.

At least when it came to the exam, the three of them were united in purpose.

That is to quickly enter the tower with the scroll.

"Then let's confirm the plan again."

Using earth escape technique to renovate the land and eliminate the remaining breath of Team 7 in the tree hole, Naruto gathered Sasuke and Sakura to confirm the key points before moving.

"Because of the curse seal, Sasuke's chakra will be activated uncontrollably once it is consumed to a certain extent, and his body will be covered with black spots, just like when he fought the Sound Ninja before. Although I have recovered most of my chakra after a whole day of rest, the wound on my abdomen will take a long time to heal - which means that two of the three people in Team 7 cannot fight, or fight for a long time."

"And we have already gathered two of the three conditions for successfully passing the second exam."

Naruto looked at Sasuke and Sakura who were listening to him carefully.

Sakura took over the conversation: "'Obtained the complete scroll of heaven and earth' and 'No reduction in the number of ninja squad members'."

Sasuke also said: "What we have to do now is to reach the tower in the center of the Death Forest within the specified exam time while maintaining the above two conditions."

Naruto pondered, "Today is the third day of the exam. The teams with good luck and sufficient strength should have almost reached the tower. The remaining two days will be a tug-of-war between the teams with weaker strength."

"These are just best-case scenarios, right?"

Sasuke interrupted at this point.

"Well, although theoretically, out of the 20 groups of candidates taking the exam, at most 10 will pass. But we cannot rule out the possibility that a group, after having collected all the scrolls, will continue to kill other candidates and eliminate as many opponents as possible in this exam where killing is legal."

Compared to the best case scenario.

The worst-case scenario described by Naruto was more reasonable.

This was a ninja exam that explicitly allowed killing, so unlike the first exam, no one would be satisfied with just a "pass" score.

"So the next direction to move to the tower will be planned by me. I will repeatedly use the shadow clones to explore various places. The shadow clones that encounter enemies will cancel the spell. I will synchronize the intelligence of the shadow clones and define the direction with people as a 'dead end'. The path of the shadow clones that have not canceled the spell is a safe 'living end' without enemies."

"Let's just avoid the battle and head to the tower. Any other ideas?"

After explaining how to move towards the tower, Naruto's eyes moved to Sasuke and Sakura.

Sasuke and Sakura both shook their heads.

"Then start moving!"

After saying that, the three members of Class 7 disappeared from the ground and moved stealthily among the trees in the forest.

The three people's marching formation changed slightly from the first night.

Naruto, who was responsible for leading the way, was at the front.

Sasuke, who is unable to consume chakra at will due to the curse seal, is at the back of the danger area that has been detected.

Sakura, the weakest one, is still in the middle position and can be immediately protected by Naruto and Sasuke when in danger.

Naruto's leading route is not the most time-saving straight line, but a straight line with a curve.

His multiple shadow clones would sometimes suddenly cancel the spell and pass the information to the original body. If the shadow clone that canceled the spell happened to be in the route that Team 7 was currently heading, Naruto would immediately change routes.

Although this leading route would take a little longer to reach the final tower, it allowed Team 7 to avoid any danger along the way.

After moving forward for a while, Naruto suddenly stopped.

Noticing Naruto's movements, Sakura and Sasuke came to his side.

"what happened?"

Sasuke asked.

"All the shadow clones I sent out have just been released from their spells."

Naruto replied with a frown.

"all?!"

Sasuke looked at Naruto in surprise.

Although Sakura didn't say anything, her silence also expressed her concern.

"They are all located close to the tower... As expected, someone chose to ambush on the road leading to the tower in order to eliminate more opponents."

Naruto looked serious, it seemed that they had encountered the worst situation.

"Then we can't avoid fighting next?"

Sakura asked Naruto.

Naruto nodded, but immediately shook his head.

"Naruto, what do you mean by nodding and shaking your head?"

Sasuke was puzzled by Naruto's unusual reaction.

"There is an enemy in one direction, but there is only one person. The other two companions are not visible. They should be candidates who have lost the qualification to take the exam. The second exam does not allow waivers during the exam, so that guy appeared near the tower. Except for the examiners and candidates, the beasts in the Death Forest will not appear near the tower. That guy should be waiting for the five-day exam to end."

Naruto explained his affirmative and negative attitude just now.

"In that case, why not just move directly to the position of the eliminated candidate? Naruto, what are you hesitating about?"

At first glance at Naruto's explanation, it seemed that they could indeed continue to avoid the battle and head towards the tower.

But Sasuke also noticed Naruto's attitude and realized that things were not simple.

"The lone candidate is a Kusa ninja."

This is what Naruto hesitated about.

Orochimaru had disguised himself as a Kusanagi before.

"But Sakura and I met her once before the exam, and she should indeed be the candidate sent by Kusagakure to take the exam."

Sakura was stunned when she heard this. She didn't expect Naruto's words to suddenly involve her.

But thinking about what Naruto just said, Sakura immediately recalled it.

"It's the female Kusanagi named Karin whom I met at the barbecue restaurant before!"

Sakura once again visualized the red-haired figure being bullied by her companions at that time.

"Hmm, I think that's her name. I didn't pay much attention to her at the time... I'm glad you still remember her, Sakura."

There was a strange flash in Naruto's eyes that no one noticed.

The tone of her voice really sounded as if she only remembered Karin's name after Sakura's reminder.