บท 43: Sakura Takes a Nap

Obviously, with Sakura being this close to Orochimaru and with her sword passing through the wall of snakes that he had spat at her, there was no way that Sakura could have avoided or blocked Orochimaru's snake strike. Facing off against one of the legendary Sannin as a Genin, she was lucky to have succeeded in landing even a mutually destructive hit on him!

Indeed, Sakura had succeeded in slicing Orochimaru's host body's breasts, and since chakra is the miracle that binds and connects all things, not only had she absorbed his host body's chakra, she had also obtained some of Orochimaru's own chakra as well. Not an incredible amount, since her sword cut had been shallow, but still a substantial amount, especially so for a Genin!

And so, with her plan having succeeded, the last thing Sakura had heard before fading into unconsciousness was the System's mechanical voice…

Ding! Congratulations to the Host for attaining F-Cup (92cm bustline). Accept rewards?

Accept rewards?

Orochimaru picked up the unconscious Sakura by the collar and pried open her eyelids. Her pupils were unresponsive and dilated; he had definitely given her a mild concussion; and yet, her fingers were still clenched tightly around her sword's hilt.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

How fascinating; instead of cutting him, her sword had managed to steal some of his chakra and seal it within herself. Sensing wasn't his speciality, but Orochimaru could definitely recognize his own chakra when he encountered it; how could he not, after having planted Cursed Seals on all of his favourite subordinates?

Orochimaru found this slashing and absorbing technique of hers very appealing to his own philosophy of stealing from the strong to overcome the strong; judging by the multitude of chakra signatures he was detecting from within her, this likely wasn't the first time she had made use of this unknown Fūinjutsu.

"Too soft," Orochimaru chuckled. "To have an Uchiha and an Uzumaki so close to you, and to refuse to make use of their potent chakra… what a waste."

He would keep her alive for now, to observe her progress as a potential candidate for Living Corpse Reincarnation, but in his opinion, it would be useless to implant her with a Cursed Seal. She possessed part of his chakra, so she would easily be able to undo the mind-eroding part of the seal designed to degrade her willpower and bend her will to his.

After all, it was his chakra signature that the Cursed Seals recognized!

"Let go of her…" Sasuke groaned; he was still bound tightly by Orochimaru's tongue.

Now Sasuke, on the other hand…

Orochimaru retracted his tongue, freeing Sasuke in the process. The young boy then flipped away to put some range between the two of them, not daring to allow the man to leave his sight for even a second.

"Your eyes could capture my movements, couldn't they?" Orochimaru called out to Sasuke. "But let me guess, your own body couldn't keep up?"

Sasuke clenched his teeth in frustration. He had first become aware of this shortcoming during his fight against Rock Lee; and now once again, he was finding himself outmatched by a wide margin. How could this keep happening to him!?

It was infuriating, but the person that Sasuke was most frustrated at wasn't Rock Lee or even Orochimaru; no, Sasuke was most frustrated with himself.

Sakura's combat IQ, Naruto's surprising cunning and this new hidden power of his… The two teammates that Sasuke had previously dismissed as complete wastes were gradually catching up to him— and even surpassing him in certain areas! It was maddening, watching them grow exponentially stronger, while he felt like he was remaining stagnant in comparison!

"You wish to become stronger, don't you?" said Orochimaru suddenly. "You do realize that at the rate you're growing, you'll never defeat Itachi in this lifetime; don't you, Sasuke-kun?"

"Just who the hell are you!?" Sasuke cried out in shock, upon hearing this random enemy speak his brother's name. "How do you know that man!?"

Orochimaru's eyes glinted dangerously.

"I am the Great White Snake, Orochimaru," he hissed. "Impress me, and I shall grant you the power you seek… enough to vanquish even Uchiha Itachi! But fail to do so, and I shall kill you, and take your little friend instead…"

Sasuke retrieved a handful of shuriken from his tool pouch with a wave of his hand and reactivated his Sharingan, cold sweat running down his temple. This was going to be a difficult fight…

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Accept rewards?

"Shut up, already," Sakura mumbled irritably.

Sakura's eyes fluttered open, and judging by the head of raven hair brushing against her face and the warm back pressing against her breasts, Sasuke was giving her a piggyback ride. Startled, Sakura tried remembering what had just happened to her, despite her pounding headache.

"You're awake," came Sasuke's weary voice in front of her. "It's up to you now… the Sound-nin… coming…"

Having communicated his message, Sasuke collapsed face first into the dirt. He had finally allowed himself to fall unconscious, now that he knew that he and Naruto were in good hands.

Still riding on Sasuke's back, Sakura bent forward to examine his condition, but to her dismay, she quickly found the three black Tomoe imprinted on his neck— she had failed to stop Orochimaru from branding him with the Cursed Seal of Heaven.

It was all coming back to her now— the Chūnin exams, Orochimaru… Sakura glanced at her surroundings; they were a short distance away from the clearing where they had fought against Orochimaru, and Naruto was lying a short distance behind them. In all likelihood, Sasuke had tried dragging her and Naruto from out in the open to a more secluded area by pure force of will, despite Orochimaru's Juinjutsu actively eroding his very sense of self and causing him immense pain.

Sakura then checked herself in a panic, before blowing a sigh of relief; Orochimaru hadn't put any of his Cursed Seals on her. Maybe he had found her beneath his notice, and so hadn't even made the effort to finish her off? In any case, her breasts were now bigger than ever before; it had been a while since she had last caught sight of her feet while standing upright.

Accept rewards?

"Yes!" Sakura snapped at the System. "Just give 'em to me, already."

Congratulations to the Host for obtaining the Purifying Slash! Originally the Poison Tits Restoration Slash, the System judged this skill to be spectacularly pointless in a world where no one lactates poisonous milk as an assassination technique; therefore, the System has taken the liberty of modifying it to make it slightly more useful.

"So, what does it do now?" Sakura queried.

Activating the Purifying Slash Kenjutsu will now purge the target of any poisons coursing through their bloodstream.

'At least now we won't have to fear Sasori of the Red Sand's poisons,' said Inner Sakura sarcastically. 'If we even live long enough to make it to him...'