Chapter 34
"No need to worry, Kuzo. We're here with you," someone tapped Kuzo on the shoulder. When he turned, he found Kakashi behind him. "Leave the rest to us."
"It's okay, kiddo. You've done your part," said Guy.
More shinobi from different clans, only elites, were here.
This wasn't the problem. If the first and the second Hokages were inside those coffins, then this squad wouldn't do much.
"Hey, don't treat me like I was a coward. I just retreated to observe who's coming," he replied, turning to Orochimaru, who was still trapped in the barrier.
From the coffins, two shinobi he didn't know appeared. They had sand village symbols.
For the first time in a very long time, Kuzo sighed in relief.
"I wanted to have more time to spar with you, Kuzo-san. But we'll meet again, soon," replied Orochimaru, weaving a series of hand signs. A large snake appeared, its body getting scratched by the spikes.
The shadow clones that sustained the barrier walked closer, shrinking the barrier to burn the snake.
The snake howled in pain as the bone spikes wounded its flesh.
Orochimaru got inside the snake's mouth, leaving a few words. "Until then, be prepared to see me."
He then vanished along with the snake, turning into a puff of smoke.
Kuzo clenched his fists tightly before slamming the ground, causing a crack to spread. His form soon changed into that of a human.
'I was tricked. If I only stayed there, I would have killed the snake and he wouldn't have had a chance to run away. With my transformation, it would be easy.'
"This is frustrating," he said, putting his palm on his face.
A hand patted him on the shoulder, trying to be gentle.
"It's okay. You did your best," Anko said, clearly accepting what happened. She smiled. "Besides, it's satisfying to see that snake run away. I'm happy to see that. The only thing I'm sorry about is not being able to see his reaction now that all of his facilities have been destroyed."
"No need to feel sorry," she added.
True. He may not have killed Orochimaru, but he surely had avenged En No Gyoja. Now that Orochimaru had lost all his life's work, the Sound Village, he may lose his mind and become furious.
All of his research, all of his test subjects, vanished like a puff of smoke.
Kuzo took a deep breath, stood up, and smiled.
"Me being sorry? Oh, please, I still have plan B. And C, and D. And a D in the C." Smirking, Kuzo stood up and stretched his arms up. "If it works, I'll call you up."
Because if he knew something about the snake, he would seek revenge. There was a good reason why Kuzo asked not to attack or alert the sand village that Orochimaru is their Kage now. The reason for that was that if Orochimaru managed to survive from plan A, he would come back to Konoha as the Kazekage. They know where he'd be, and that's the advantage they had.
"Anyway, I need to continue the exam," Kuzo replied, walking in the direction of the forest of death. Reason? He needed to find Kabuto, capture him, and then, kill him and keep his head for information. Other than that, he needed to watch Gaara's movements. Gaara would surely be the weapon to destroy Konoha.
If Orochimaru went back to fight the Hokage, he'd definitely use Gaara's tailed beast. Then not many could stop it from causing destruction. Not many, true. But there were still some amazing individuals in Konoha who could prevent that.
"Sure, lead the way," Anko replied, inviting Kuzo into the Forest of Death with a smile.
He looked at her with a wondering face. 'Why isn't she questioning anything?'
"I trust your plan," she replied, as if she read his mind. "Now, go."
Kuzo nodded before using the body flicker jutsu to vanish from sight.
-x-X-x-
Inside the Forest of Death, Kuzo moved between the trees, which were so long that they covered the sun. One could easily tell that a tree was higher than 50 meters. Probably 100 meters or so.
On his way, he found so many giant leeches and animals, which he could easily dodge.
'I wonder if I should kill them. They don't have much power compared to me, but I still can absorb their power.'
'But if there is an animal that I want its power, it would be the water bear. Too bad that these guys are smaller than 1 mm.'
He stopped wondering when he found a large bear in front of him. He stood up, facing it.
Kuzo, frustrated from his last fight, attacked the bear that could eat him with one bite.
The bear opened its mouth widely, roaring at Kuzo, who spread his arms. Kuzo held the jaw and the nose of the bear, closing them on each other with extreme strength. He then lifted it up and super-slammed it back, creating a shock-wave.
The impact was enough to put the bear in a death situation, allowing the Gluttony Seal to do its work.
'Decent boost in my chakra and physical strength,' he thought as he stood up and looked at his fist, clenching it.
Behind him, there were around three chakra signatures, and they all had their eyes on him. When he turned, he saw two older guys with a girl who was around his age, staring at him. The girl stared at him with awe behind her glasses.
She was white, almost pale, had red hair, red eyes, and looked very cute in her white attire.
He blinked twice, recognizing her. 'Karin.'
Seeing that he was looking at her for a long time, Karin turned her eyes.
"Who are you, and why are you looking at her like this?" asked teammate number one.
"Yeah. You have a death wish. If you have the Earth scroll, throw it and leave," added her teammate number two.
They grabbed their kunais, but Kuzo ignored them.
He kept looking at the red-haired, red-eyed girl. He asked. "You're an Uzumaki, aren't you?"
She shyly nodded, holding her hands together.
"Then, what are you doing with the trash from the Grass Village? Why don't you join us, instead," replied Kuzo. "Konoha would have use for people with your talent."
She had potential to be a scientist like Kabuto and Orochimaru.
Karin didn't say anything. Instead, she looked at her teammates. They were looking at Kuzo with their eyes shaking.
"You called our village what?"
"Trash." Kuzo pointed to Karin. "If this girl had this many bite marks while she's this young, it means you are too weak to be considered a challenge."
"You have a death wish."
Kuzo shook his head. "I'll give you two choices. Give up, and I'll erase your memory. Attack me, and I'll erase you completely."
A killing intent was released from his body. Kuzo thought about Orochimaru, and his blood craving grew. He didn't have a lust for blood, just an endless craving.
The two started shaking; one of them peed himself.
"Hurry and make a decision. I don't have time," Kuzo asked, looking at how they froze.
They held their kunai and jumped at him, wanting him dead.
Being the man he was, he kept his word. He wrote a Kanji character in the air with his finger, resulting in the release of two sharp wind blades, which erased the two shinobi.
Kuzo had a feeling of disgust. Not from himself, of course.
Have you ever eaten a meal that you thought wasn't to your taste, and it proved to be not? That's what he felt when he ended up with the two genin.
Kuzo put his hands in his pocket and asked Karin, who was visibly shaking.
"I'm not threatening you? But I know that an Uzumaki girl like you doesn't belong there. Maybe your mom should have reached Konoha first."
"You know Mom?" asked the Uzumaki clan girl.
"That's not important. I'll give you a choice. Get back home, or follow me, and I'll ask the Hokage to let you join. Deal?"
"But why?"
"You may prove useful."
She could be trusted by Orochimaru to do his experiments. As much as he hated Orochimaru, his research was amazing. He could clone a part of a tailed beast, clone a human, and do more. And with Kabuto here, he could extract all of this information out of his head. Who knows? Maybe one day, he'd need to clone Shisui Uchiha. She'd be a good person to do that task. An Uzumaki here. She could turn into a useful vessel for a tailed beast. Besides, what Kuzo liked about her was her intelligence.
"You just want to use me?" she said, hugging her body, blushing slightly. He looked at her arms, full of bite marks.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but Konoha's shinobi aren't that weak to get fatally injured, and we don't need you," he replied. "Though I could see talent in you. Follow me or not, your choice."
Kuzo then walked away, making his way toward Kabuto's chakra signature.
Karin, who seemed to take her time to think, lifted her head and ran after Kuzo. She reached her headband and threw it to the ground. "Wait! But how will you negotiate with my village? They may want me back."
"We'll say you're dead," Kuzo said, "If not convinced, they could send their Kage."
"But we don't have a Kage."
"That's the point." Kuzo smiled widely.
"What's your name?" she asked him.
"Kuzo."
"Kuzo-sama. I'm Karin. By the way, how did you know I'm an Uzumaki?"
"Red hair, red eyes, immense chakra reserves, and very high stamina," Kuzo said. When he looked at her, her chakra gave him a certain vibe. She had folds of chakra more than a jonin at her age. The thing was that her chakra would keep increasing as she grew up. That's the scary thing about Uzumaki.
"So, where are you going?" she asked him.
"To hunt some rat." He replied.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone