Naruto: Boruto Returns to Shippuden

Chapter 44 Awakening

With Boruto pressing down on his chest, Tosu Kinu felt like he couldn't breathe. He tried to struggle but found that he couldn't move at all, as if his body had lost control.

"Cough...cough, I admit you're strong, but your teammates aren't as good as you," Tos Anvil said with a cold laugh, a trace of blood still hanging from the corner of his mouth. Then he raised his hand with difficulty and pointed tremblingly into the distance.

Boruto was startled and quickly looked in the direction Tosu Kinu was pointing. Sakura and Naruto were fighting fiercely with two other enemies, both of whom had injuries of varying degrees.

Initially, Naruto and his friends were evenly matched with their opponent in taijutsu, and Naruto even showed signs of suppressing his opponent.

However, faced with the strange sonic attack, Naruto and Sakura couldn't find a way to deal with it and slowly fell into a disadvantageous position.

Boruto quickly abandoned Tosu Kinu and joined the battle as fast as he could, since he had already destroyed Tosu Kinu's porous armor and it couldn't cause any more trouble.

Boruto's arrival immediately changed the course of the battle.

Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru, who were hiding in the bushes not far away, silently watched the fight.

All three of them were attracted by the huge commotion here.

Ino frowned and said, "Sasuke looks like he's fainted, and Sakura seems to be in bad shape too."

"What should we do now?" Choji asked Shikamaru beside him.

Shikamaru thought, "I didn't expect Boruto to have such strength. He's just as good as Sasuke. It seems we need to redefine the strength of Naruto's team."

At that moment, something unexpected happened. A powerful burst of chakra erupted, and Sasuke suddenly awoke from his unconsciousness.

Sasuke's awakening immediately attracted the attention of everyone present.

"What...what's going on?"

Boruto saw that Sasuke was surrounded by purple chakra, his face was covered with black marks, and he exuded a cold aura, like a demon.

Ino muttered uncertainly to herself, "That's... Sasuke?" She had never seen such a terrifying Sasuke before.

Shikamaru sighed; more trouble had arisen.

Sasuke scanned the room and saw Sakura looking disheveled, with even her hair cut off.

Sasuke walked up to Sakura and asked coldly, "Sakura, who... is it that made you like this?"

Tosu Kinu, who was still lying on the ground, was shocked by what he saw: the cursed seal was actually covering his entire body. This amount of chakra was just too much.

He seemed to see Orochimaru's shadow in Sasuke.

Sack Stirrup, however, disagreed, saying, "These guys who are about to die are nothing to fear! Let's wipe them all out in one fell swoop!"

"Sky-Slicing Extreme Wave!"

"Water Release: Waves!"

Faced with Zaku's attack, Boruto simply used Water Release to overwhelm it.

Sasuke had vanished from his spot and reappeared in front of Zaku, kicking him away.

When Qin Chui saw that both Sak Stirrup and Tos Anvil had been defeated by them, he knew that continuing in this way would not bring any benefit, so he decided to retreat.

“This is the Book of Earth, here you go!” She went to Tos Kinu’s side, took out the Book of Earth and tossed it to Boruto.

Boruto took the [Book of Earth], glanced at it, and then put it away.

As Boruto received the Book of Earth, she and her two teammates dashed away into the distance.

Boruto looked at Sasuke with a furrowed brow and said, "Sasuke, your body..."

Boruto felt that the black mark on Sasuke's body was somewhat similar to his own before, only the style was different.

Boruto looked at the black mark on Sasuke's body and wondered to himself why it looked somewhat similar to the one on his own body. However, upon closer inspection, there were still significant differences.

Sasuke calmly told Boruto, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Besides, I feel a continuous surge of power welling up inside me, making me feel incredibly comfortable. It's all thanks to that guy."

Sasuke continued, "I finally understand. I am an avenger, and I would gladly sell my body to the devil!"

Boruto's expression grew increasingly serious, and he couldn't help but retort, "After selling your body to a demon, can you still be considered your true self?"

Sasuke ignored Boruto's words and sneered, "So what? I'm willing to pay any price to achieve my revenge."

Just then, the cursed seal on Sasuke's body began to gradually dissipate, and he slowly returned to normal.

Meanwhile, Naruto tried to persuade Sasuke, "It's best to avoid using this strange power..."

Unfortunately, before Naruto could finish speaking, Sasuke ruthlessly interrupted him: "Why can you use those special powers, but I can't?"

Whether it's Naruto's Nine-Tails transformation or Boruto's previous display, now that I finally have power equivalent to theirs, how can I not make good use of it?

“...This is not what I want either!” Naruto retorted.

“But that’s the truth… isn’t it?” Sasuke glanced at Naruto and said calmly.

"But..." Naruto hesitated, unable to finish his sentence.

"Alright, I don't want to talk about this now." Sasuke said, turning and leaving.

......

In the Forest of Death, Boruto spotted three figures lying in front of him. Upon closer inspection, he realized they were three bloodied and mangled corpses.

Sasuke approached the corpses and examined them closely. He discovered that these people had been crushed to death, and their bodies were covered in countless small wounds.

“Someone is dead here,” Sasuke said softly.

"They look like they just died. Who are they?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know, but judging from their appearance, they should be test takers as well," Boruto guessed.

"Look! This is the [Book of Heaven]!" Naruto suddenly spotted a scroll not far away.

Naruto picked up the scroll and said, "We were just thinking about how to get the remaining two scrolls, and here's one right in front of us."

Sakura asked in confusion, "Why would someone leave the [Book of Heaven] here?"

Boruto speculated, "I'm afraid the person who killed these people didn't know beforehand whether they possessed the 'Book of Heaven' or the 'Book of Earth'."

"Then, after realizing it wasn't what they wanted, they left it here."

Upon hearing this, Sasuke became excited. He hadn't expected there to be such a monster in this Chunin Selection Exam! This will be a perfect whetstone for him to hone his new strength!