"Izayoi-kun, she's so pitiful."
Hinata gazed at Karin, who was leaving with the Shadow Clone, her expression filled with compassion.
She had thought that when she was younger, she had been timid and humble enough in front of Izayoi.
But compared to Karin, she still fell short.
The look in that girl's eyes was truly heartbreaking.
"People like her, who are pitiful, exist everywhere. There are even more who are worse off than her." Izayoi patted Hinata's head and smiled. "We can't help everyone. What we can do is protect the important people around us."
"Mm."
Hinata nodded firmly.
She wasn't some saint. It was just that Karin was a member of Izayoi's clan, which had triggered her feminine empathy.
Seeing Aburame Shino return, Izayoi asked, "What Scroll do they have?"
"It's the Scroll of Heaven," Shino replied.
"That's perfect. We have the Scroll of Earth."
Izayoi took out his team's Scroll and tossed it to Shino, saying, "You can take care of these two Scrolls."
Hearing this, Shino seemed to sense something and asked, "We've already collected both Scrolls. Aren't we heading straight to the central tower?"
Izayoi turned to look in a certain direction and said, "No rush. There's still one problem left to deal with."
Hinata's expression shifted slightly as she recalled what Izayoi had said in the bathhouse. Combined with the information she had gathered using her Byakugan, she couldn't help but ask, "Izayoi-kun, are you going to deal with that Sand Ninja with the gourd on his back?"
"No, someone even stronger than him."
Izayoi shook his head and instructed Hinata and Shino, "You two head to the outskirts of the central tower and wait for me. I'll join you after I've taken care of this trouble."
"Understood."
Knowing just how powerful Izayoi was, Hinata obediently nodded.
Seeing that even Hinata didn't insist on following, Shino naturally nodded as well. "Got it."
After parting ways with Hinata and Shino, Izayoi used the Body Flicker Technique and swiftly headed in the direction of Team 7.
That's right. The second person Izayoi intended to change the fate of was none other than Uchiha Sasuke.
With Izayoi's current setup, the drop rate for Talents would only increase if he defeated Kage-level opponents.
Whether it was Momochi Zabuza, Kurosuki Raiga, Haku, or Ranmaru, none of them had dropped any Talents.
This was because Izayoi's strength far surpassed theirs.
Defeating them only had a minuscule chance of dropping low-level or high-level Talents.
Izayoi had tried killing enemies and even created Shadow Clones with minimal Chakra to kill alongside them, but still, no Talents dropped.
This meant that neither Shadow Clones nor killing enemies could increase the drop rate.
And in this era, the number of Kage-level fighters was extremely limited.
Under these circumstances, if Izayoi wanted to drop Talents and decompose them into points, there were only two methods.
The first was to see if the Talent Attribute System had any hidden mechanisms to increase the drop rate.
The second was to obtain ultra-high-level Talents and decompose them into points.
The highest level of Talent that Kage-level fighters could drop was purple, which would only decompose into four-digit points.
Above purple, there were gold and red Talents, and even unknown levels.
Decomposing gold and red Talents would yield random five-digit and six-digit points, respectively.
If luck is on his side, decomposing a red Talent might randomly yield over 990,000 points, allowing Izayoi to upgrade the red Talent to an unknown new level at a 1:1 ratio.
Before discovering a new mechanism, Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto were Izayoi's targets.
Among these three, Izayoi valued Uchiha Sasuke the most.
Because his talent was the best, and his progress was the fastest.
As long as Sasuke's strength was boosted, Izayoi's drop rate would increase.
Therefore, Izayoi had to change Uchiha Sasuke's fate, keeping him in the Leaf Village for easy access to farming Talents.
Moreover, Sasuke's loyalty was no less than Karin's.
In the original story, after being defeated by Uzumaki Naruto, Sasuke abandoned all fame and fortune, dedicating himself to serving Naruto outside, even neglecting to return home for years, nearly leading to the death of his own daughter. In the world of One Piece, he would be the perfect second-in-command, like Roronoa Zoro.
Such a talent was naturally not something Izayoi would let Orochimaru have.
A flash of white light in his eyes, and Izayoi's speed increased even more.
...
Meanwhile, Team 7 was confronting a Grass ninja.
"You have the Scroll of Heaven, so you must really want the Scroll of Earth in my hand..."
Orochimaru, disguised as a Grass ninja using the Face Copying Technique, waved the Scroll of Earth in his hand, and under the wide-eyed gaze of Team 7, he tilted his head back and stuffed the scroll into his mouth.
"He... he swallowed it! He actually ate the scroll!" Uzumaki Naruto exclaimed in shock.
"What kind of body structure does this guy have? A Secret Technique, or a Kekkei Genkai?" Uchiha Sasuke analyzed calmly.
As for Haruno Sakura, she was already trembling with fear, hiding behind Sasuke and Naruto.
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"Now, let's begin... the scroll battle."
Orochimaru, having swallowed the Scroll of Earth, smirked at Team 7. "I'll be going all out, you know!"
Boom—
An invisible wave of energy roared out from Orochimaru's body.
Team 7 was momentarily dazed, then collapsed to the ground, pale and gasping for breath.
"Ugh..."
Sasuke, the strongest in the team, even vomited on the spot.
"Is this Genjutsu? No... it's killing intent!"
Sasuke stared at Orochimaru, his eyes filled with the same fear he had when facing Uchiha Itachi. "Just his killing intent made us see our own deaths. Who is this guy? Why is someone like this in the Chunin Exams?!"
Even though both were overflowing with killing intent, the Sand ninja with the gourd and this Grass ninja were not on the same level.
No, it was more accurate to say... they weren't even in the same dimension!
"Damn it... don't think you can scare me like this..."
At that moment, Naruto's voice reached Sasuke's ears.
Sasuke instinctively turned to look.
When he saw Naruto not only not vomiting but also gritting his teeth and standing up, forming hand seals, for some reason, Sasuke's fear of Orochimaru instantly vanished.
Even this dead last isn't afraid, so what is he afraid of? Thinking this, Uchiha Sasuke's gaze suddenly turned resolute, and his black pupils transformed into crimson Sharingan with two tomoe.
"Don't underestimate me! I'm the man who's going to become the Hokage…"
At the same time, Uzumaki Naruto shouted at Orochimaru, "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A series of sounds, like balloons popping, echoed through the forest.
Each sound was accompanied by a puff of white smoke.
The smoke formed an astonishingly large area of white mist.
When a gust of wind dispersed the mist, three hundred Uzumaki Narutos appeared in the forest.
"Sasuke, Sakura, both of you, get behind me!"
The Shadow Clones lifted Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, passing them hand-to-hand to the back.
The original Naruto and the remaining Shadow Clones formed hand seals and arrogantly shouted, "Watch me blow you away in one go!"
Seeing Uzumaki Naruto create so many Shadow Clones at once, and recognizing the hand seals, Orochimaru, who had been toying with them like a cat with a mouse, suddenly changed his expression. "Such Chakra… Could this brat be…?"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Three hundred voices roared in unison.
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