Naruto: Zanka No Tachi

Chapter 40: NZNT: Chapter 40

Seeing Orochimaru call him greedy, Yusuke shook his head and said slowly, ”This is a Tailed Beast. Just a little Hashirama Cell Fusion Liquid and two measly pieces of information? The value isn’t even close to being equal.”

While he said this, Yusuke knew that the Hashirama Cell Fusion Liquid and two pieces of information he requested were already incredibly valuable. But this was a trade after all, and he had to fight for the benefits he deserved.

Orochimaru snorted coldly, ”Go ahead, but I don’t want to hear the word ’fifth’ today.”

Yusuke knew that too much of a good thing was bad. He smiled and said, ”Don’t worry. This is the last request.”

”My younger sister, Izumi, has recently started training in swordsmanship, but she doesn’t have a suitable weapon. I hope I can get a Kusanagi sword from you.”

In the Naruto world, Kusanagi isn’t a single sword. It’s a general term for a type of sword. Yusuke knew that Orochimaru had more than one Kusanagi sword. How many he had and the origin of those Kusanagi swords in Orochimaru’s possession were always a mystery.

In the original story, Orochimaru had taken out several Kusanagi swords. For example, the Kusanagi sword he used to fight the Third Hokage during the Chunin Exams was seized by Enma and left in Konoha, not taken away. When he fought against Naruto with the Nine-Tailed Fox on Tenchi Bridge, he used a Kusanagi sword that could extend.

Later, Orochimaru kidnapped Sasuke and gave him one. This showed that he definitely had a lot of them.

Besides Orochimaru, Itachi’s Susanoo also used the Totsuka Blade, which was also a Kusanagi sword. It was said to be the strongest of all the Kusanagi swords, known as the ”Sealing Sword.”

Hearing Yusuke’s words, Orochimaru opened his mouth, and a wet sword hilt slowly emerged.

Seeing this, Yusuke quickly stopped him. He didn’t want to give his sister a sword that was covered in Orochimaru’s saliva.

”Wait, can you switch to another one?”

Hearing this, Orochimaru’s face darkened. He swallowed the sword back into his belly and then spat out a scroll.

The scroll landed on the sand at Yusuke’s feet and unfurled. On the scroll was a sealing formula for storing items. In the center of the sealing formula was a flowing, cursive character for ”sword.”

”Release!”

Orochimaru formed a hand seal. A delicate katana slowly emerged from the sealing formula on the scroll.

The blade of this katana was hidden in the scabbard. The scabbard and hilt were white. Two pink ribbons embroidered with cherry blossoms fluttered in the wind at the end of the hilt.

Yusuke picked up the katana and drew it from the scabbard. In an instant, a dazzling blade of light, like cherry blossoms, bloomed under the moonlight, beautiful and breathtaking.

”What a beautiful sword!”

Admiring the beautiful cherry blossom pattern on the blade, Yusuke exclaimed in admiration. Then, he asked Orochimaru, ”What is the name of this sword?”

Orochimaru said slowly, ”Senbonzakura.”

Sheathing the katana, Yusuke said with satisfaction, ”Izumi will love this sword. Thank you.”

”Since the trade is over, Yusuke-kun, shouldn’t you fulfill your promise and give me Shukaku?” Orochimaru said.

Orochimaru, who was as cautious as ever, wouldn’t seal Shukaku in front of Yusuke. Instead, he planned to take Shukaku away first and then deal with it slowly.

Yusuke nodded. He formed a hand seal with his right hand, and the four Fire Release clones that maintained the Four Purple Flame Formation all vanished into a flash of fire, and the Four Purple Flame Formation instantly disappeared.

At the same time, a white python, nearly one hundred and twenty meters long, slithered out from behind Orochimaru. The python wrapped itself around the dying Shukaku, tightly controlling him.

Yusuke could tell that this white python had strong sealing power. Shukaku, entangled by this python, could no longer escape.

”Then, Yusuke-kun, until we meet again.”

Orochimaru, having obtained Shukaku, didn’t linger any longer. After saying goodbye to Yusuke, his body slowly sank into the sand. Shukaku, entangled by the white python, sank into the sand with him.

Looking at Orochimaru, who was gradually sinking into the sand, Yusuke said slowly, ”Until we meet again, Orochimaru.”

”Also, your current fashion sense really isn’t good. You should consider changing your clothes.”

At this time, Orochimaru had changed into the kind of clothes that had a thick rope tied around his waist and a bow tied behind it. In Yusuke’s view, this outfit was truly strange.

Hearing Yusuke’s words, Orochimaru’s face, which had been slightly cheerful because he had captured Shukaku, instantly froze. He didn’t recover until he completely sank into the sand.

Yusuke put the Kusanagi sword, ”Senbonzakura,” into his storage scroll and immediately returned to the inn.

Although he hadn’t been able to obtain Shukaku’s Yin Release chakra this time, he still had a good harvest. He had obtained many useful items and information from Orochimaru.

But Orochimaru’s performance had also given Yusuke a great deal of worry.

Orochimaru was already much stronger than he was in the original story. Coupled with the ”Four Symbol Seals” and the power he had gained after sealing Shukaku, he was even more formidable. If they ever faced each other again, it would be a huge headache for Yusuke.

Two days after Yusuke’s trade with Orochimaru, the second stage of the Chunin Exams ended.

The passing rate was similar to that of previous exams. Only about 30% of the genin teams passed the second stage. And among the eliminated teams, some genin had died directly in the Demon Desert. It had to be said that the world of ninjas was truly cruel.

Only nine teams remained that hadn’t been eliminated. Both of Konoha’s participating teams had successfully passed the second stage of the exam.

The examiners announced that the genin would have a day of rest before the third stage of the Chunin Exams. The third stage was also the final stage of the Chunin Exams. It focused on testing the genin’s individual combat abilities.

The examiners would use electronic devices to randomly select genin participating in the exam and have them fight each other in pairs. The winner of each round would advance to the next round, and the loser would be eliminated.

The Chunin Exams would officially end when the final winner was decided.

Sunagakure’s exam team would then use the results of the three rounds to come up with promotion recommendations for all the genin who participated in the exam. They would then formally submit these recommendations to the ninja villages that the genin belonged to.

The reason they only provided recommendations was that whether or not a genin from each village was promoted to Chunin wasn’t decided by the exam organizers. It was ultimately decided by each ninja village.

After all, the joint Chunin Exams were more about politics than practicality. It wasn’t just for selecting Chunin.

In the inn where the Konoha delegation was staying, Anko was enduring the pain of her Heaven Cursed Seal erupting in her shoulder.

Looking at Anko, who was sweating profusely, everyone was very worried about her condition, but they also admired her perseverance.

Not long after the second stage of the exam began, Anko’s Heaven Cursed Seal erupted. Although everyone couldn’t experience Anko’s feelings, seeing her appearance, they knew that the pain must have been unbearable for a normal person.

During this time, Itachi and Kurenai Yūhi had repeatedly suggested that they abandon the exam and first find a way to deal with Anko’s cursed seal, but Anko refused.

Under these circumstances, Anko had endured for three days. Even Itachi was somewhat in awe of this carefree senior.

”Is this the cursed seal that Orochimaru left behind? To be honest, I really don’t have a way to solve it,” Hazuki frowned, looking at the red glow around Anko’s shoulder.

Although she was very reluctant, Anko still forced a smile and said, ”It’s okay. Even if I withdraw now, it won’t affect Itachi and Hana-chan’s participation in the third round of the exam.”

Yusuke gently patted her head and smiled, ”Don’t worry. I want you to shine in the third round of the exam.”

”After all, it’s my fault. If I had noticed your cursed seal from the beginning, you wouldn’t have had to endure these three days.”

Hearing Yusuke’s words, the genin all looked at Yusuke. There was surprise, anticipation, and even more admiration.

From Yusuke’s words, they could tell that he had a way to deal with this cursed seal.

In the eyes of the genin, Yusuke, a senior who wasn’t much older than them, was already incredibly strong. They never expected that he was also proficient in sealing jutsu and could solve a cursed seal that even the veteran elite Jonin, Hazuki, was helpless against.

”Yusuke, are you really sure? This is a cursed seal that Orochimaru placed. It’s probably not that simple,” Hazuki asked Yusuke.

He was very confident in Yusuke’s strength, but if he said that he could even deal with a cursed seal placed by one of the Sannin, Orochimaru, he was still skeptical.

Yusuke nodded, ”It’s no problem to temporarily suppress it, but I’ll have to think of a way to solve it completely.”

Actually, Yusuke already had a way to remove the Cursed Seal of Heaven from Anko’s body, but doing so would expose many of his abilities. Therefore, he had to wait for the right opportunity to help Anko completely solve this problem.

Having said that, Yusuke didn’t waste any more time. He began to seal it immediately. Anko was already in a lot of pain. Every second she delayed was torture for her.

After setting up the sealing formation, Yusuke began to form hand seals.

The hand seals that Yusuke formed with both hands were very complex. They were the same seals that Kakashi had used to help Sasuke seal the Cursed Seal of Heaven in the original story.

”Evil Sealing Method!”

After completing the hand seals, several inscription seals emitting powerful chakra appeared on Yusuke’s right fingertips. As Yusuke pressed his finger, which was bearing the inscription seals, on the Cursed Seal of Heaven on Anko’s shoulder, a circle of sealing formulas slowly appeared around the Cursed Seal of Heaven.

The dark red glow on the Cursed Seal of Heaven gradually faded until it completely disappeared. The Cursed Seal of Heaven turned black again.

Because Yusuke’s mastery of sealing jutsu far surpassed Kakashi’s, the process of casting the Evil Sealing Method was much simpler than Kakashi’s, but the effect was even better.

”It worked!”

Kurenai Yūhi, who was standing beside them, saw that the cursed seal had clearly subsided. She hugged Anko happily.

She had become very good friends with IAnko over these past few days. Seeing that Anko’s cursed seal problem was solved, she was relieved.

Besides Kurenai Yūhi, everyone else present also showed joyful expressions.

”Thank you!” Anko looked at Yusuke with a mixture of gratitude and embarrassment.

Yusuke waved his hand and smiled, ”You’re my subordinate now. You have to perform well in tomorrow’s exam!”

”Yes!” Anko nodded seriously, determined to show Yusuke her true strength.

The next day, at the site of the third stage of the Chunin Exams.

The stands were packed with people. Not only were most of Sunagakure’s high-ranking officials, including the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, present, but many officials from the Land of Wind had also come to watch.

As Konoha’s representatives, Yusuke and Hazuki sat in the guest seats not far from the Fourth Kazekage, enjoying a good view of the competition.

After the presiding examiner announced a series of rules, the electronic screen above the square began to automatically select the genin for the first match. Everyone focused on the constantly flashing avatars on the screen, guessing who the randomly selected opponents would be.

”The first match, Anko Mitarashi of Konoha Village versus Uchiha Itachi of Konoha Village,” the examiner announced, looking at the information of the two genin who would be fighting on the screen.

Anko, who was full of energy and ready to shine after her cursed seal problem was solved, was taken aback. Then, she couldn’t help but curse.

”What the hell!!!”

____________________

for more advance Chapters visit my p@treon

[email protected]/kane45

Casual Reader - 15 Advance Chapters

Intermediate Reader - 30 Advance Chapters

Expert Reader - 60 Advance Chapters