Starts In Konoha: Unlocking Shadow Clone

With Ino's attentive care and Sasuke's resilient constitution, Sasuke awoke the following morning, fully recovered with no major issues.

After handing the Heaven and Earth scrolls to the Ino-Shika-Cho team, Naruto didn't rush to seek out other teams.

By now, it was the third day of the exam. Many candidates were likely panicking, anxious about elimination, and beginning to move toward the Central Tower. Most were probably hoping to ambush other teams who already had scrolls.

Naruto's current position wasn't too far from the Central Tower. With the aroma of grilled fish wafting through the air, it was enough to draw other teams closer.

Therefore, Naruto's main priority was to train Sasuke.

"The Cursed Seal left by Orochimaru will indeed greatly boost your power. However, as long as you use Chakra, your willpower will be gradually corroded. Anyway, the opportunity's there, and whether you can resist it depends entirely on you."

Upon hearing Naruto's words, Sasuke nodded firmly.

He could feel a continuous flow of Chakra within him. The more he craved it, the more abundant the Chakra seemed to be. But his mind also started to blur, a persistent voice in his head kept telling him he was an avenger, urging him to stop at nothing for vengeance, even if it meant self-destruction.

With Naruto's guidance, Sasuke understands that these voices were unreliable, but right now, he couldn't immediately think of a way to resist them.

The simplest solution would be not to use Chakra.

However, in that case, the Cursed Seal would become useless, or even a hindrance, which made him feel conflicted and troubled.

"Naruto, I can't control it."

After trying for a long time without success, Sasuke finally asked Naruto for help.

Hearing this, Naruto also fell into deep thought.

He didn't have a Cursed Seal himself, and despite having read the original work, he had no idea how Sasuke eventually mastered it.

He only knew that after spending two years with Orochimaru, Sasuke could control the Cursed Seal and even activate its second level without trouble.

After some thought, Naruto suggested, "I think the principle should be similar to tree climbing training. Since you can't control it all at once, why not try releasing a little at a time? Gradually increase the Chakra, let your body adapt, and increased the intensity after your mind is unaffected."

'The path of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Slow accumulation is the safest approach.'

Sasuke considered this for a moment and thought it was feasible, so he started to release his Chakra.

The three-tomoe mark on Sasuke's neck instantly turned fiery red, like a burning flame, and began to cover Sasuke's skin, gradually forming a pattern of fiery streaks.

When the pattern covered about a tenth of his body, Sasuke stopped channeling his Chakra, and the fiery lines darkened to black and stopped flowing. Then, he sat cross-legged and began resisting the Cursed Seal's invasive influence.

Watching Sasuke's expressions shift from furrowed brows to grimaces, then calm, Naruto nodded in satisfaction.

'If things continue to develop in this way, Sasuke should be able to gradually and completely master the Cursed Seal within a controllable range.'

However, before Naruto could feel proud for long, his Danger Sense flared up again.

This time, there were no signs of movement at all.

'It seemed that the enemies this time were better at concealing their presence than the Ino-Shika-Cho Team.'

"Come out, I've already seen you!"

Naruto said coolly, with his hands clasped behind his back.

Of course, he hadn't actually seen anyone. But given the limited places to hide within a hundred-meter radius near the river, bluffing his opponent seemed easier than searching around.

However, after a long silence, nobody responded.

Feeling a bit embarrassed after his failed bluff, Naruto couldn't help but scoffed, "Fine, stay hidden all you want. If I catch you, it won't end well for you."

Instead of looking around and risking being embarrassed, Naruto decided to stay put. After all, he is the one who had the scrolls. No matter what, these candidates still had to eventually come to him.

With this thought, Naruto placed the Heaven and Earth scrolls openly on the ground.

'With such a tempting bait, how could the fish not bite it?'

Sure enough, after seeing the Heaven and Earth scrolls, the hiding team couldn't resist any longer.

From the trees, the bushes, and the river…

Three figures sprang toward Naruto at the same time, aiming to snatch the Heaven and Earth scrolls.

Judging from the other party's forehead protector, they are Genin from Amegakure.

Not only that, they were the three people who had clashed Sasuke back in the first exam.

Back then, Naruto was too cautious, preferring to avoid unnecessary conflict, so he hadn't confronted them. But now, with how they made him embarrassed just now and the lingering grudge from before, Naruto wasn't planning to let them off easily.

"Sasuke, go have some practice."

"Okay!"

Sasuke opened his eyes, and the Sharingan had already been activated.

With the Cursed Seal's fiery patterns still on his body, Sasuke's speed was nearly at its peak, moving like a phantom as he charged toward the Amegakure's Genin emerging from the river.

In a flash, Sasuke maneuvered behind the Amegakure's Genin mid-leap, grabbing his waist from behind and twisting with great force. The two reversed positions, with Sasuke's head up and the Amegakure's Genin's head down.

Then, Sasuke violently slammed him toward the ground. With a loud 'boom', a small crater appeared, and the head of the Amegakure's Genin cracked open like a watermelon, blood spurting everywhere.

"What the… Sasuke, you..."

Naruto gulped in shock, 'I only told Sasuke to get some practice and get used to the Cursed Seal… How could he kill someone?'

'It wasn't like we had any deep-seated grudge, so was that really necessary?'

"When they pulled out their weapons last time, they were clearly aiming to kill me. Those who kill will be killed in return. They messed with me, and they deserve to die!"

Sasuke snorted coldly, then his figure vanished again, appearing next to the Amegakure's Genin jumping down from a tree.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Several shuriken shot out. And if one looked closely, they could see thin, hair-like wires attached to the shuriken. It's Sasuke's Shuriken Manipulation Technique.

"Bind!"

With careful calculations, the steel wires bound the Amegakure's Genin tightly to the tree in front of him.

But that wasn't the end. Sasuke quickly formed hand seals and shouted, "Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"

At the next moment, a large stream of flames burst from Sasuke's mouth, racing along the steel wires to the bound Amegakure's Genin.

"Ahhh!!!"

With piercing screams, the Amegakure's Genin was burned into a blackened corpse, dead beyond any doubt.

The last Amegakure's Genin, who had just emerged from the bushes, turned pale upon witnessing Sasuke's ruthlessness. Terrified, he retreated rapidly, hoping to escape, but Sasuke showed no intention of letting him go.

In fact, the Cursed Seal on Sasuke's face had extended further, now covering over two-thirds of his body.

With another burst of speed, Sasuke appeared behind the last Amegakure's Genin in the blink of an eye.

Before the Amegakure's Genin could do anything, Sasuke seized his arms from behind and yanked them back, locking them firmly.

Then, he arched his body slightly and kicked the Amegakure's Genin in the back of his head.

Without loosening his grip, Sasuke continued pulling on the Amegakure's Genin's arms while delivering brutal kicks to the back of his head. With a violent jerk, the Amegakure's Genin's arms and head separated from his body in a gruesome, brutal display!

Blood splattered across Sasuke's face, but he wasn't satisfied yet. Laughing madly, he screamed, "Die! All of you, just die!"

Seeing this, Naruto was completely dumbfounded, "It's over, Sasuke has gone mad..."