30 Chapter 30

Kuzo saw Kabuto, who turned, their eyes meeting. Kabuto examined Kuzo for a bit, smiling and waving his hand.

It seemed that he didn't remember who he fought that night.

That was good.

When he had encountered him that night and erased his memory, Kuzo had left him an invisible curse mark. With a single hand sign, he could bring Kabuto down.

Kuzo approached Kabuto and smiled, "Kabuto sempai, we meet again." Kuzo then bowed respectfully.

Kabuto scratched the back of his head. "Stop, please, I'd be embarrassed."

"No need. We both were survivors from that mission we did together." Kuzo said, finding the best excuse to open a conversation. "I'm so happy to see you here," he added.

He was very glad to see Kabuto here. Because that meant Orochimaru would be here as well, disguised as someone.

"No need to mention it. How have you been?" Kabuto asked.

"Doing well. You?" Kuzo replied, blinking twice, acting as a friendly person.

"I can't say the same." Kabuto said, sighing heavily, "lately, I have been busy preparing for the chunin exam. It's my 6th time. By the way, where have you been?"

"Where have I been?" Kuzo tilted his head.

"Yes. In the last five months, you weren't active in the Genin corps, so I had thought something bad may have happened." Replied Kabuto.

That was very bold of him to say that after having sent Kimimaro with the Sound Four to kidnap him and kill En No Gyoja.

Kabuto here may be wondering what happened for everyone to die and why had Kuzo survived. Their plan had failed, and Kuzo hadn't left any survivors to tell what happened. En No had left a huge hole in the ground, which could be used as an explanation of why the Sound Four and Kimimaro failed. But to Kabuto, the spy, it would be better to find out the whole truth.

"Thanks for the concern. I was just surviving outside the village." Kuzo replied.

"If you ever feel like talking about that and want someone to listen, I'll be there for you." Kabuto said in a gentle tone, smiling and poking Kuzo in his heart.

"I'll be sure to tell you. It's a very interesting story." Kuzo smiled and shook Kabuto's hand.

"I see…Oh, look, something interesting seems to happen there." Said Kabuto.

When Kuzo turned, he saw a few shinobis entering Konoha from different villages. But this time, he had noticed a specific group.

A red-haired boy, accompanied by a slightly older blond girl and a teenage man wrapped in black.

In the middle, there was a young crying kid. Beside him were a girl with long pink hair, a blond boy in orange, and a black-haired kid with spiky hair who gave off an edgelord vibe. That's clearly Sasuke Uchiha.

There was no mistake. This was the scene where Gaara was introduced for the first time.

Kuzo looked at the red-haired boy, standing on the downside of a tree branch, defying gravity.

On the top of that tree branch sat Sasuke, who was quite shocked by the existence of the red-haired boy, Gaara the sand.

Gaara had a mark on his forehead, which was the seal that bound the One-Tail monster to Gaara.

Because Kuzo could absorb seals, he wondered what might happen if he absorbed that seal.

Would he gain the powers and the chakra of the tailed beast?

Or would he simply release it?

'What was its name. Shikaku? No, that's Shikamaru's father. It's Shukaku. That's quite a troublesome individual if he were left free. And if I were honest, I'm no Madara to challenge a tailed beast like that.'

Kuzo turned his head to another tree, noticing a bunch of genins hiding between the leaves. When he examined their headbands, he noticed a musical tone symbol.

"You're smiling?" asked Kabuto, quite curious about Kuzo's behavior.

Kuzo didn't deny it. "This test is going to go very smoothly."

If he knew things would work perfectly, he would have brought glasses and worn them. And when he'd win, he would take them off and say, 'Everything went according to a plan.'

But that didn't matter. Because the purpose of this mission wasn't to brag. It was to help himself achieve inner peace by achieving revenge on Orochimaru.

Once he'd confirm Orochimaru's existence in this village, the best ANBU of Konoha would attack his hidden facilities. Kuzo would personally take care of the Sound Village, earning himself as much power before the final confrontation.

"And why is that?" asked Kabuto.

"There aren't many strong people. But it's going to be entertaining." Kuzo said to the clueless Kabuto, thinking about what he would face later.

"Another Konoha's weakling genin barking with his mouth wide." Said someone. When Kuzo lowered his head, he saw the sand genin, who was covered in black, looking at him.

Kuzo turned his head behind him. No genin was behind him barking. He then looked at the black-clothed genin, saying, "You need to recheck your hearing. Cause there was no weakling here other than you." Kuzo then patted him on the face. Smiling, he said, "Don't hurt yourself, little boy."

He didn't know why he said that. But part of him was frustrated of being bullied. Kuzo had endured it in his class for about a week. But his body, which had muscle memory, had endured it his whole academy year. The mockery was quite intolerable. When he had a chance to give himself a breather, he used it.

'Man, it feels good. I feel like Bully Maguire.'

However, the words he said didn't have the same effect on the sand genin — all of them.

"You don't know who you are messing with. I'm Kankuro," he said, grabbing Kuzo's collar. "You need someone to teach manner, Konoha's genin."

Since everyone in Konoha's higher-ups knew about the sand being controlled by Orochimaru and their original goal, no one would mind him doing that.

Kuzo looked at Kankuro's hand. Knowing it's a puppet hand, he didn't mind doing the next. Channeling his chakra to his fist, he punched the puppet, the impact shattering it into small pieces that flew everywhere. Kankuro appeared, hiding in the back of the shattered puppet.

Kuzo walked to him and grabbed him from the neck. "Why don't you say that face to face?"

The blonde girl with 4 ponytails, white skin, and green eyes took a large fan that was on her back and took a defense stance.

Kuzo didn't mind teaching them a lesson.

After all, the top dog was the one who got everything.

A sand-wrapped Kuzo's hand, trying to get him off Kankuro's neck. Kuzo, albeit not pushing a lot, was unaware of his strength, and Kankuro's face was already turning blue.

"We didn't come here to fight. Just pardon him for being the idiot he is." Said Gaara. The sand then pressed on his wrist. However, Kuzo's bone density made him feel as if it were a pat on his finger.

Kuzo threw Kankuro to the ground. Kankuro started breathing heavily, his sister helping him by patting him on the back. Kankuro gave Kuzo one last glance before swallowing his own pride.

"What's your name?" Asked Gaara, looking at Kuzo's wrist.

"One day, you'll find out," replied Kuzo, earning a shake in Gaara's expressionless face.

"I see, Kankuro, Temari. Let's leave."

When the sand genins left, Kabuto came and stood behind Kuzo, saying, "you didn't have to do that?"

"Just doing a little bullying," replied Kuzo.

"Yes. But they know your strength, and they may target you in the exam." Said Kabuto, unaware that he himself was a target.

"Let them do it." Kuzo shrugged. He won't be afraid even if Gaara put him inside a sand coffin. The only thing he should be careful about was if Kankuro used his poison. But he shouldn't worry about it now that he had shattered Kankuro's puppet.

Kuzo then went to sit down on a public chair, looking around.

If there was a time for Orochimaru to sneak into the village, this would be the best time.

After all, many shinobis would register their chakra signature in Konoha's barrier, allowing the snake to register his.

They won't find his original chakra since he had possessed many people, and he could use their chakra signature instead.

"See you later, then," Kabuto said, leaving. "I have to meet with my team."

Kuzo created a shadow clone, who went to a hidden corner and possessed a bird. That bird now was scrolling through the village for some certain ninja. A tall woman in a grass village team, or a pale man with a headband of the Sound Village. Once he'd find one of them, he'd register their chakra signature in his head. He'd already told someone to inform him if the Sound Village team jonin arrived. But he needed to be able to know his chakra signature on his own so that he could target him later.

'Bingo'

He opened his eyes, and he smiled widely. The shadow clone found Orochimaru.

When Kuzo turned, it was team 7 walking by him, Sakura waved at him, and they continued their path.

He just shrugged, before looking in another direction.

'I should now start with the 2nd part of my plan.'

The chunin exam had one or two days left. This is the best time to move on with his plan.