"Here is fine," Fujimoto Tōma said, stopping in front of a naturally formed cave. "Naruto, Sakura, I'll need some time. Guard the entrance and don't let any other shinobi get close."
"Got it," Haruno Sakura replied, though her eyes lingered on Uchiha Sasuke with clear worry. No matter what Tōma said, this didn't look like a normal injury.
"Leave it to me!" Uzumaki Naruto thumped his chest. "I won't let anyone in!"
Once Naruto and Sakura moved outside, Sasuke finally spoke.
"…Is it really that bad?"
He was confused. It was just a snake bite. Did it really warrant all this?
"If it were an ordinary snake, you'd heal quickly even without medical ninjutsu," Tōma said calmly. "But that snake belonged to Orochimaru."
He pulled out a scroll, summoned a mirror, and handed it to Sasuke.
Sasuke stared at his reflection. On his neck, three black marks had surfaced, shaped vaguely like tomoe.
"So this is what's been causing it…" he muttered. "What is it?"
"A curse mark," Tōma answered. "It grants power beyond normal limits, but it also erodes the mind. Most people eventually lose control and die."
Sasuke was silent.
Tōma watched him closely. "So what's your choice? Accept the power, or reject it? If it's you, this thing probably won't kill you outright."
"Power…" Sasuke paused, then turned his head away. "I don't need strength from something this twisted. And I doubt it could help me defeat that man anyway."
Tōma blinked. "You decided fast."
"Hn. There's nothing to think about," Sasuke said, tugging his collar aside to expose the mark. "Get rid of it."
Tōma exhaled softly, almost amused. "I'm starting to believe you really can surpass him."
"That was always the plan," Sasuke replied, a faint curve at his lips.
"All right," Tōma said, growing serious. "I'm starting."
Even for him, this wasn't trivial. Orochimaru's curse mark wasn't fully understood, and if it truly involved corrupted natural energy, ordinary sealing techniques might fail.
He considered several options, then settled on one.
The Eight Trigrams Seal, reinforced with a Four Symbols Seal.
If chakra was involved, even tainted chakra, this combination would hold. He would reverse the usual function, suppressing the curse mark's energy instead of drawing it out, and use the Four Symbols Seal to prevent buildup over time.
Later, once he mastered senjutsu himself, he could deal with it completely.
Decision made, Tōma formed chakra at his fingertips and began inscribing seals across Sasuke's body.
If a curse mark could feel pride, it would die satisfied being restrained by this level of sealing.
Outside the cave, Sakura stood guard, her thoughts drifting.
She had been helpless again.
In the fight, in the aftermath, even in treatment, all she could do was stabilize pain. Meanwhile, Tōma healed wounds outright.
If she became better at medical ninjutsu… could she finally be useful?
As for combat, she didn't even want to think about it. Naruto and Sasuke had already reached heights she couldn't imagine. Catching up in that field felt impossible.
Maybe this was her answer.
Naruto, on the other hand, was thinking about something entirely different.
He'd fully learned Tōma's version of Wind Release: Gale Palm, using an absurd method. Different shadow clones trained different body parts, then merged the results together. Inefficient, messy… but it worked.
Now Tōma wanted him to make it instinctive. Constant.
That sounded insane.
But he'd try anyway.
"Man, Tōma's taking forever," Naruto muttered, hands behind his head.
"Be patient," Sakura said. "Stay here. I'll look for food."
"I'll handle it," Naruto replied, forming a seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Several clones popped into existence.
"Food gathering is on us!" they said in unison before scattering.
Sakura watched them go. "…That jutsu really is convenient."
"Right?" Naruto grinned.
Then his expression shifted.
"Sakura. Be careful. One of my clones just got taken out."
Her face hardened. "Then we hold this position. No one gets past us."
Naruto smiled. "Obviously."
"Listen to me," Sakura said, regaining her composure. "We'll set traps first."
Inside the cave, Sasuke heard the distant sounds of fighting.
"Someone found us?"
"Yes," Tōma replied without looking up. "Don't move. Trust them."
He'd already sensed the Sound Village trio. As examinees, he couldn't intervene directly. But he trusted Naruto.
Sound-based techniques versus wind.
Naruto would figure it out.
"Hmph," Sasuke said. "If he loses, I'm mocking him to his face."
Tōma chuckled.
Unlike before, Sasuke had never truly looked down on Naruto. He recognized his strength early. To Sasuke, it wasn't Naruto catching up. It was both of them moving forward together.
Outside, Naruto lived up to that trust.
He struggled at first, bloodied by unfamiliar attacks, but then he felt it. The wind around his body disrupted sound itself.
A grin spread across his face.
"Found it."
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
The Sound ninja stared in disbelief.
Not only did Naruto keep producing clones, but every single one maintained the wind field. Their sound-based attacks couldn't penetrate it at all.
"How much chakra does this guy have?" one of them hissed.
It was absurd.
They'd planned to wear him down.
Instead, they were the ones running out of options.
Naruto panted, eyes burning with resolve. "I told you. No one gets in. When I say something, I mean it!"
His chakra flared, tinged faintly with red.
The Sound trio finally understood.
They weren't getting past him.
Not today.