Chương 59

"Next time I meet him, I will shoot his head off with my guns." Sakura said. Rei didn't destroy her dream. That guy was almost unkillable, and she wants to kill him with a gun? Good luck! Naruto and Sasuke rather went out to just meditate and practice lightly. They had been beyond angry and the fight would be perfect to let go of the anger that had been boiling inside. Meanwhile, Rei looked at Karin. She instantly lowered her head.

She was really trying to grasp and understand what had happened to her, and also trying to believe.

"Everything must be new here for you." Rei asked. Karin could only nod. She didn't know what to say.

"Karin, I know you are scared but trust me, you will be happy here and if you want anything, you can always ask Daniel and Laura. They will help you.."

"Uh.. It's not that.." Karin could only reply that.

"Than?" Rei was confused as he thought that was what the young girl wanted.

"I want to be useful. I hear just now that you had a fight. You.. You can take a bite at me and recover yourself." Karin said. Rei looked at her for a brief second and than sighed. She has the same disease as Laura. A fear of losing life, if they weren't useful.

"Karin. I didn't sign contract with you just so that I can use you. I already got what I wanted from you and I am sorry if you felt like that was a manipulation. But I genuinely meant it when I said that I would provide you a safe place. This place is as safe as it can get. Away from all assassinations and other manipulations. Here you are free to do anything." The sincere words of Karin brought tears in her eyes as she couldn't believe that Rei really meant to just safeguard her and not use her like the rest.

It had been an hour since she had arrived and Daniel had given her a brief situation of this world, and the whole world fascinated her. But it also made her scared as she thought she would need to do something for Rei. But Rei admitting it whole heartedly that she didn't need to do anything gave her a sense of relief.

"But if you really want to do something then I would advice you to practice your ninjutsu and get strong. Being strong always helps." Rei said.

"Of course, you don't have to force it. If you don't want to learn any ninjutsu and just want to live a life of luxury, it is very much possible here."

"No.. No.. I will strive hard to be strong and be helpful to others. I hope none of the people around suffer like me." Karin got some courage and spoke what she wished to do. Rei only smiled at that. Rei also showed the life around and explained how things were here. He spoke of his wealth, the immensity of the world and the technology the world provided. Soon an hour later, after calming himself, Rei was back at the Forest of Death. The same location where he left. He finally saw the aftermath properly.

The destruction was ridiculous, entire sections of forest had vanished. Trees lay broken everywhere. The ground looked like a battlefield fought by giant beasts. Several parts were still smoking.

"... What a sore loser." Thankfully the source of all that destruction was gone. Orochimaru had finally left. Rei immediately expanded the Mind's Eye of Kagura and searched for the tower. The signature was easy to locate now. The moment he found it, he used the contract connection. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Return." Inside the ranch, Team 7 vanished instantly. One moment Naruto was complaining about Orochimaru and the next he was standing beside Rei again.

"... Still weird." Naruto muttered. Soon all four of them were running through the forest together. Without Orochimaru present, nobody could stop them. The tower appeared on the horizon shortly afterward and for the first time that day everyone relaxed properly. The worst was finally over. Or at least that was what they believed. Because none of them knew that Orochimaru wasn't finished with them yet. Or it was suffice to say Rei wasn't finished with the snake guy.

Soon they were at the Tower and proceeded to open the scroll that made Iruka summon and he went on to explain how they would have to wait a bit as they had arrived quite early. In fact, in the eyes of Iruka, this team had arrived fast. In fact they were the fastest team to arrive, and couldn't help but pat them on their back for their wonderful performance. Naruto and Sasuke weren't moved at all and just nodded. They didn't even suffer while on this mission and completed it in less than 3 hours.

Thanks to Rei and his hard work. They were looking forward for the arena fight that Rei had mentioned. And thus after waiting for more hours, all the teams had arrived. After that Hiruzen came and spoke about why the exams were being held while Rei just gave a brief glance at disguised Orochimaru. This guy, even after the plot derailed, still came. Good, it meant that he would still follow the Konoha Crush plan. Let him do it, but he also felt maybe this guy would come after him. Whatever!

He wouldn't be able to kill him anyways. After that Hayate Gekko appeared and spoke about the elimination rounds that needed to happen since many genins seem to have crossed over. Kabuto surrendered after the announcement and Rei just side eyed him, while Kabuto did the same. Kabuto had already known what had happened and for the first time he felt someone, who was just a genin, seemed to be playing some kind of chess, someone who seemed to be few steps always.

He couldn't describe but he always felt it and he was sure Orochimaru felt it too. This made things really interesting. Soon the first fight started and unlike the canon where Sasuke struggled against this spy named Yoroi Akado, this time Sasuke was fast and ruthless about it. The fight was fast and concise. And Sasuke used taijutsu at first to make the man lose the momentum, but the moment Sasuke activated chidori and almost impaled him, it made this man realize that he wasn't at the same level as Sasuke at all.

"Oh.. You have taught him your signature move.. Nice one.. As expected of my rival." Guy, who had been standing beside Kakashi said. Kakashi could only nod. Technically, it was Rei who taught Sasuke chidori after copying from him. But right now Kakashi wasn't that much moved by Sasuke's move. He had already gotten the information from Hana and even Anko admitted that Orochimaru might have sneaked in and attacked the genins.

That said it all, and thus right now his mind wasn't in the headspace to appreciate his students. He had always known his students were good enough, and given what they had seen and practiced all this time, it would be a huge upset if any of them couldn't make it to the next phase of the exams. Sasuke won the match by a mile and Gaara, who had shown no interest, finally looked down upon everyone present had now interest on this person called Sasuke, same as that person called Rei.

Next was Shino's battle and that followed the canon too. Rei wasn't that much moved at all. This guy was pretty powerful and it didn't take long to bring down his opponent. Meanwhile, Neji was shocked to see a man covered in bugs. It was unheard of. But next fight was where the canon story shifted away. Kankuro vs Rei. This caught the attention of others in Team 7.

"Rei.. You beat the shit out of that guy.." Naruto said, quite loud to be fair. This made Gaara's team see daggers at Naruto, but he didn't care. Sasuke didn't even bother to give him a good luck. This guy came out just fine against a Sanin, and a small genin could trouble him? Please! Rei vs Kankuro. Kakashi looked mildly interested at this fight. He knew Rei was going to win, but wanted to see how he wins this. The way Rei carried had always been different from others and there were reasons for that.

Kakashi also knew that many of the tactics Rei knew couldn't be used by Rei openly. At least not yet, or rather, knowing Rei, he would never show his full hand, so he was curious what he would reveal in this fight. Meanwhile Rei simply jumped down into the arena and landed softly before looking toward his opponent. The wrapped figure on the back of the supposed man made Rei smile. Same strategy, huh! Hayate glanced between them.

"Begin." The moment those words left his mouth, Kankuro rushed forward aggressively. To an outsider it looked normal. To Rei however, it looked ridiculous.