The burly man lying on the ground heard Feng An's words and realized the other party knew he was awake.
He sat up shakily and took out two Earth Scrolls from his arms.
After Feng An took the scrolls, the man immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed.
"P-Please, don't kill me."
He had witnessed the entire fight between Feng An and his companions.
The strength his companion had unleashed was already terrifying, yet the young man before him had remained utterly calm facing such a secret technique.
He had turned him to ash with a mere gesture.
Such power made him dare neither resist nor flee. The instinct for survival forced him to his knees, surrendering to the red-haired boy.
After taking the scrolls, Feng An ignored him and returned to Yukime.
"Yukime, the scroll you have is the Heaven Scroll, right?"
Yukime was a bit dazed. The scene just now had left her reeling. She knew Feng An was strong, but she never expected him to be this strong!
This wasn't the first time her understanding of Feng An had been refreshed. It seemed he grew stronger with every encounter.
She knew the gap between them would only widen until they were worlds apart with no intersection left.
At this thought, Yukime's eyes couldn't help but dim.
"Yes, it's the Heaven Scroll."
She took out the scroll and looked at the word "Heaven" on it but felt none of the joy she had imagined.
Perhaps it was because she felt completely uninvolved.
"Sister! Feng An! Let's go to the designated tower to complete the mission!"
Fubuki's face was filled with uncontrollable excitement at the thought of her team passing so quickly.
Yukime nodded mechanically.
Feng An scratched his head and followed Fubuki.
He was a little depressed.
They had collected the Heaven and Earth Scrolls so quickly he didn't know what excuse to use to delay handing them in.
He hadn't yet achieved his goal of showing off in front of the proctors.
On the other side, the burly man, who had been kneeling and trembling, only lay down on the ground after confirming Feng An and the others were completely gone.
"He killed two of my teammates... why didn't he kill me?"
"Am I so weak he couldn't even be bothered to finish me off?"
The burly man could only smile bitterly, feeling no resentment, only a strange sense of relief.
Be thankful for your weakness.
…
As Feng An and the other two slowly moved toward the tower, they heard the sounds of fighting and clashing shuriken.
Fubuki, walking ahead, was the first to spot several people fighting up ahead.
She quickly signaled to crouch down. "There's another team fighting ahead. Let's go around carefully…"
Yukime crept forward, then suddenly her eyes widened, and she turned to look at Feng An.
"It's that Grass Ninja you mentioned, fighting others."
Feng An's eyes lit up upon hearing this.
Wasn't the opportunity to show off just presenting itself?
Yukime saw his strange, sparkling expression.
"Didn't you tell us to run if we saw him? Why do you look so excited?"
Feng An said calmly, "Just because I told you to run doesn't mean I have to."
Fubuki, at the front, rolled her eyes and muttered, "I wonder who got punched into a tree and couldn't get out just now."
Feng An thought hard and finally came up with a good idea: delay them from reaching the tower to complete the mission!
"Fubuki, wait. Let's hold off on handing in the scrolls for now."
"Why?"
"We still have plenty of time. I'll give you a sneak peek at the final exam content."
"The final match is an individual competition, one-on-one. Observing their fights is great practical experience. What a perfect opportunity."
Fubuki and Yukime looked at each other, then seemed thoughtful.
Honestly, if the final round was really one-on-one, Yukime felt watching here was even more pointless.
She knew her chances of winning a one-on-one were extremely slim.
"I'm fine either way."
After Yukime stated her opinion, she looked at Fubuki, letting her decide whether to stay or go.
Fubuki was much stronger than Yukime. In a true one-on-one, as long as she didn't encounter the famous powerhouses, she had a good chance of winning.
After hesitating a few seconds, she nodded.
"Then let's hide and watch."
Feng An was delighted. Fubuki agreed to stay.
This brought him one step closer to completing his goal.
Ahead, Orochimaru was fighting fiercely with the three members of Team 7.
Well, more accurately, with two of them.
Pink-haired Sakura just stood behind, anxiously calling out to Naruto and Sasuke.
When Fubuki and Yukime saw Sakura's performance, they immediately thought of themselves.
Weren't they just like that?
The two couldn't help but blush.
The battle had reached a stalemate.
"Wait," Sasuke said gloomily, pulling a scroll from his backpack. "If you want a scroll, here it is."
Naruto and Sakura were confused by Sasuke's actions.
Naruto demanded loudly, "You're giving the scroll to the enemy? What are you thinking?"
Sasuke glanced at Naruto and casually threw the scroll toward Orochimaru.
As the scroll flew through the air, Naruto gritted his teeth and leaped up to intercept it mid-flight.
Sasuke said darkly, "Naruto, don't get in the way—"
BAM!
Naruto punched Sasuke away.
With a grim expression, he whispered, "You're a fake, aren't you?"
Sasuke wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. "Idiot! What are you talking about? I'm serious!"
"The real Sasuke isn't a weakling like you! Do you think she'll let us go if we hand over the scroll?"
Orochimaru, who had been quietly watching their argument, slowly stood up, a smirk playing on his lips as he looked at them with amusement.
"Naruto, congratulations on answering correctly."
"As for the scrolls... I can just take them from your corpses after I kill you."
"Damn it!"
Naruto roared and charged at Orochimaru.
Orochimaru lifted his sleeve, bit his finger, and drew a bloody mark on his arm.
He calmly formed hand signs.
"Summoning Jutsu."
A giant brown snake instantly appeared beneath his feet, swatting Naruto away with its tail.
Fubuki, watching from the sidelines, felt her pupils dilate.
"What a huge snake! How can there be such a disgusting summon?"
Feng He glanced at Fubuki out of the corner of his eye.
This is disgusting?
If you saw the toad summons, wouldn't you vomit up yesterday's meal?
After knocking Naruto away, Orochimaru flicked his long tongue and directed the giant snake under his feet to charge at Uchiha Sasuke.
At that moment, Sasuke was still frozen by insurmountable fear, trembling uncontrollably, unable to react.
Just as the giant snake was about to strike Sasuke, Naruto—who had just collected "rent" from the Nine-Tails—stepped in front of him.
He leaned his back against the giant snake, stabbing a kunai into its mouth.
Then he slowly raised his head and smiled at Sasuke:"Hey, you're not hurt, are you? Coward."
*****
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