The Battle Against Time

Orochimaru didn't know why. Although he was a little jealous of Ryoha's talent, he felt that it was interesting, so he decided to play around with Ryoha.

In his opinion, if he were a little bit serious, defeating Ryoha in a minute would be a piece of cake, so Orochimaru said that. He had 100% confidence in himself to say such words, but Orochimaru didn't know that he would regret this sudden decision for the rest of his life.

"Really?" Ryoha's eyes suddenly lit up, and he stared at Orochimaru with burning eyes. The heat in his eyes made Orochimaru a little overwhelmed, and he couldn't help but wonder if this kid had a special tendency.

"I, Orochimaru, have a pretty good reputation in the world of ninjas." Orochimaru was bragging again here. However, Ryoha didn't care. At most, he would just reveal another trump card.

"Since that's the case, let's continue." Ryoha took out an Explosive Tag and formed a seal above it, placing it next to Sasuke.

"Remember, you only have one minute. If you dare to mess around again after one minute, I will immediately detonate the Explosive Tag. I think you really want to get the Sharingan. You can't get it from Itachi, so you only have Sasuke to help you. As long as you dare to mess around, I will make you lose the opportunity to get the Sharingan forever."

Ryoha was ruthless to his enemies and even more ruthless to his own people. This surprised Orochimaru. Was this really a ninja that he looked down on from the Acadamy that had never experienced the flames of war? Such a cold-blooded move.

"Sakura, if you don't want to get hurt, then you should take this opportunity to escape. The farther you run, the better. Even if you give up this exam, it doesn't matter."

Ryoha looked at Sakura who was trembling in fear, but his eyes were firm. He knew in his heart that Sakura was no longer as childish as before after this incident. At the very least, she could understand this situation better, unlike in the original work, where she was only thinking about Sasuke here and there. So Ryoha still decided to give Sakura a chance for her to choose.

"We are in the same team. How can we retreat before the battle? I know that with my strength now, I won't be a help at all, but at least we're here together. I will try to train harder in the future."

"If there will be any future for us after this, that is," Sakura muttered in her heart. She walked to Sasuke's side, disregarding the Explosion Tag beside him. Obviously, if something happened, she chose to die together—such a calm demeanor in the face of death. Even Orochimaru would respect Sakura more now, let alone Ryoha, who had never liked her.

"That's true. If I were at the same age as Sakura, I would also be so childish. Maybe I would be worse than her. I am just a little more mature because of my circumstances, being transported here from Earth and all, but Sakura is just a twelve-year-old girl."

"It would be a little frightening if she was too mature. Of course, she will have a childish side. Maybe I have always been too demanding of her. In fact, she has already worked hard, exceeding the mental age of an ordinary twelve-year-old girl." Ryoha corrected himself, and his view of Sakura had changed.

On the other hand, Sakura also noticed that Ryoha's gaze towards her had changed. He was no longer as unhappy as before. Instead, it had turned into recognition. This made Sakura extremely happy, and at the same time, she was even more determined with her choice. "I will definitely grow up. Ryoha, I won't be the same as before." Sakura muttered.

"Hey, little brat, I'm not going to kill you. There's no need to make it seem like a life-and-death battle. Even if you lose in a minute, you will at most receive that mark from me. There's no need to be so nervous. Maybe you will be grateful to me when the time comes."

Orochimaru's teasing made Sakura blush, but Ryoha was calm and composed. His expression was still firm.

"Then come!" After saying that, Ryoha opened the distance between the two of them. Orochimaru's body structure was really too strange. That Soft Physique Modification made Orochimaru's body too powerful, and the speed of his instantaneous expansion and contraction was too fast.

Good thing Ryoha had the predictions from his Sharingan and his training inside the gravity chamber. Otherwise, he would be in danger.

Just now, he had secretly eaten some ninja food pills that he prepared this morning so that he could immediately nourish himself. After a while, his chakra had also replenished. But he couldn't drag this battle any longer. Otherwise, with Orochimaru's experience, he would definitely notice anything unusual with him.

"Sharingan, I hope you won't disappoint me. I won't fail this time." This time, Ryoha decided to go all out, so he used one of the mysteries he had discovered. He found that when the Sharingan evolved, the chakra within its body would continuously surge.

Thus, after several experiments, he found that when he poured chakra into the Sharingan during normal battles, it could exert power beyond what he currently has for a short time. In other words, this overdrive ability wouldn't last for long and would render him weakened afterward. But he could only risk it. If he only relied on his current strength, his 2-tomoe Sharingan would be no match to Orochimaru.

"Orochimaru, take this! Water Release - Water Dragon Jutsu!" Ryoha crossed his hands and made a series of hand seals while retreating at high speed. Seeing that Orochimaru was rushing towards him at an extraordinary speed, he immediately released a ferocious water dragon from a place without any water and rushed towards Orochimaru.

"Earth Release - Earth Dragon Bullet!" Orochimaru didn't even look at it and released a dragon-slaying jutsu, instantly defeating Ryoha's water dragon. At the same time, the earth dragon continued to charge toward Ryoha.

"I saw it." Ryoha crazily poured chakra into his Sharingan. When it reached a certain level, the Sharingan would stop absorbing it after it couldn't withstand Ryoha's Chakra. At the same time, the Sharingan would also display an ability that was beyond ordinary.

"Fire Release - Fire Dragon Flame Bullet." Ryoha turned around and moved ahead of time. He was just a bit faster than the earth dragon and left his previous position. In the eyes of ordinary people, it seemed to be luck, but Orochimaru realized that this was a sign of Ryoha becoming stronger than before.

"Fire Release - Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!" How could Orochimaru give Ryoha the chance to dodge? After all, if he couldn't deal with Ryoha within a minute, that would be embarrassing. It would be bad if a veteran like him was fooled by a Genin brat, even though this brat was not at the level of a Genin.

"Crash!"

The two flames collided in the air. Since they were both flames, it could only depend on whose chakra was stronger. It was apparent, after that collision, Orochimaru's flames had assimilated Ryoha's flames.