Chapter 211: Natural Energy

 

At the central tower, Hiruzen listened to the reports from the Forest of Death.

Anko and Tessen remained weakened for two days after their battle. Orochimaru had escaped, and no search team found a reliable trail beyond the damage surrounding the hollow.

"What do you intend to do?" Hiruzen wondered.

Konoha investigated quietly. Daimyō and shinobi from many countries were watching the village during the examination. A public admission that Orochimaru had infiltrated the forest would expose weakness and spread panic before Hiruzen understood the threat.

Search teams therefore moved beneath ordinary examination orders. The barrier corps compared signatures without changing the visible perimeter, and messengers carried reports directly to the tower. Hiruzen could not allow visiting dignitaries to learn from rumor that one of Konoha's Sannin had entered a field full of foreign heirs and candidates.

Inside the hollow of a great tree, Sakura watched Sasuke and Naruto lie unconscious.

"Sasuke, please be all right."

She did not understand why the enemy had spared them after demonstrating how easily he could kill all three. Orochimaru had marked Sasuke and left. Naruto had fallen after releasing a power that did not resemble an ordinary genin's chakra.

The memory repeated whenever she looked at them. Killing intent alone had shown all three the image of their deaths. Only the resistance built through Tonbo's genjutsu training let them move after that first shock. Their combined attacks destroyed summons and tore apart the clearing, yet Orochimaru crossed every defense and withdrew at the moment of his choosing.

Sakura tightened her grip upon a kunai.

The encounter had made her own weakness impossible to ignore. Sasuke possessed talent, judgment, and combat skill beyond hers. Even Naruto had produced a terrifying aura and strength hidden beneath his usual mistakes. Sakura assisted their attacks, but when both boys fell, she had no decisive power of her own.

Countless deaths in Tonbo's simulations had improved her choices. They had not replaced the basic strength needed to carry those choices through.

Sakura could remember traps, manage supplies, and see how a formation failed. During the main attack, however, Sasuke and Naruto created the openings while she added force from the edge. When the boys became the targets of something she could not understand, knowledge without power left her kneeling beside them.

"I will catch up to both of you," she promised. "I will not remain a burden."

Three figures watched the tree hollow from the shadows outside.

Dosu studied the warning lines Sakura had placed.

Kin and Zaku waited behind him. Orochimaru had ordered them to test Sasuke, but the unconscious Uchiha looked less impressive than the attention surrounding him. The Sound trio intended to discover whether the weakness was real before deciding how much force to use.

"Uchiha Sasuke," he murmured. "I finally found you. I want to know why Orochimaru-sama considers you so valuable."

At the Analysis Team headquarters, Tonbo received Hiruzen's message confirming that Anko and Tessen had survived.

"Safe. Good."

He had sensed the activation of Tessen's proxy tool and assumed the battle involved Orochimaru. The news allowed him to set that worry aside. Hiruzen ordered the Analysis Team to reinforce Konoha's internal security while the search continued.

Patrol reports, visitor movements, and barrier notices replaced the research diagrams on Tonbo's desk. His team had spent years becoming the village's spare hand: investigators when information failed, guards when numbers thinned, teachers when the Academy needed help, and clerks when the Hokage's documents overwhelmed the office.

Tonbo closed his book with regret. The assignment meant overtime.

Orochimaru did not appear again during the remaining forest stage. Konoha remained outwardly peaceful. Children played in the streets, shops opened for the foreign crowds, and the additional visitors made the village look more prosperous than ever. Ichiraku stayed full from morning until night. Teuchi and Ayame needed every employee they had hired.

No one watching the market would have guessed that search teams were tracking one of the Sannin beyond the walls. That contrast gave Tonbo no comfort. Peaceful streets could mean a threat had vanished, or that it was waiting for the moment when every guard decided the danger had passed.

Tonbo could not help them. The examination ended, and the one-on-one preliminary matches began.

He appeared in the spectator gallery beside Kakashi.

"The busiest man in Konoha found time to watch genin fight," Kakashi said.

"I have always paid attention to the village's juniors. You are the lazy one. Read less *Make-Out Paradise* and look at the women in the street. You might finally find a wife."

Kakashi's answer died behind his mask.

Naruto leaned over the railing. "Kakashi-sensei does not have a girlfriend? Is his face so ugly that he hides it?"

Sakura and Sasuke listened. All three had tried and failed to see what Kakashi concealed.

Kakashi gave Naruto a flat look. "You should worry less about my face and more about why no girl at the Academy likes you."

Naruto sagged and looked toward Sakura. She turned away. Farther along the gallery, Hinata overheard the exchange and blushed bright red.

Kiba noticed and frowned. She always reacted that way around Naruto. The possibility forming in his mind made no sense to him.

Naruto noticed none of it. Sakura's rejection occupied his attention, Sakura watched Sasuke, and Sasuke pretended not to hear any part of the exchange. Tonbo counted the directions of their affection and decided the preliminary bracket was simpler.

Tonbo found the tangle of childish affection more entertaining than Kakashi's revenge.

"The match is about to begin," Hayate called. "Candidates, prepare."

Names flashed across the selection board.

Uchiha Sasuke versus Akadō Yoroi.

Both descended into the arena.

"Go, Sasuke!" Sakura and Ino shouted together.

They turned and glared at one another.

Naruto folded his arms. "He had better not lose and disgrace Team Seven."

"How could Sasuke lose?" Sakura snapped, though her eyes remained fixed upon the cursed seal at his neck.

Tonbo watched with open interest.

Orochimaru's mark used natural energy, a rarity Tonbo had wanted to understand for years. Now that his chakra reserves had grown, Sage Mode no longer looked entirely beyond reach. Genjutsu or ninjutsu infused with natural energy could undergo a qualitative change. Tonbo suspected the impossible power of Kurama Yakumo's genjutsu came from the same source, which would explain why it penetrated defenses he had prepared in advance.

He had once believed serious use of natural energy belonged almost entirely to the three great sage regions. His investigation proved otherwise. The Tsuchigumo clan's forbidden technique, created by En no Gyōja, had enough force to destroy a village-sized area during the Third Shinobi World War. Secret arts in smaller countries also incorporated ambient energy. Mutations like Jūgo's appeared in scattered places throughout the shinobi world.

Those methods did not grant the full abilities of Sage Mode. They used natural energy directly for a technique, often with dangerous limitations. Jūgo's transformation was the closest example Tonbo had found to the way Sage Mode strengthened and vitalized a body.

The cursed seal translated that rare constitution into a mark Orochimaru could place upon someone else. If Tonbo understood how it invited natural energy into a human chakra system, he could begin designing a path that did not depend upon gaining entry to Mount Myōboku, Ryūchi Cave, or Shikkotsu Forest. The seal was dangerous, but the information inside it might answer a question the great sage regions kept for themselves.

Sasuke's cursed seal offered a rare opportunity to feel that mechanism at close range.

Hayate raised his hand.

"Begin."