"Danzo once asked Hokage-sama for Karin, but Hokage-sama refused," Yūgao said.
"Danzo…"
Although he is such a genius, Danzo has never sought him out.
Sure enough, he still looked down on geniuses from small families.
Perhaps in his opinion, the most talented person from a sword-wielding family would be a special jounin at most.
"Kazuki, if you want to take revenge on Danzo, I advise you to give up this plan. Danzo controls an organization called Root, and its strength is not much weaker than our Anbu. Even Lord Hokage has suffered because of him!"
Yūgao didn't know why Kazuki wanted to find out who betrayed Karin, but she thought he didn't just want information.
Kazuki nodded in agreement, "Don't worry, I won't act impulsively."
He just wanted to identify his enemy.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Orochimaru, Danzo Shimura…
Very well, let's deal with them one by one.
...
[Ding! The object you bound, Uzumaki Naruto, learned the Summoning Jutsu, Gamabunta, the host will receive a hundredfold return...]
[Congratulations to the host for mastering the Summoning Jutsu. Gamabunta!]
"Well… these two guys won't be able to summon anything in a month, right?"
As the time for the Chunin Exam drew closer, Kazuki observed that Sasuke and Naruto's strength had not improved much, which left him somewhat disappointed.
He had expected Orochimaru and Jiraiya to provide some surprises, but it was clear he was overthinking it.
Orochimaru's own combat ability was not outstanding. His strength came from his bizarre techniques and the diversity of his ninjutsu!
This diverse fighting style was not suitable for Sasuke. With Sasuke's current strength, there wasn't much he could learn from Orochimaru.
As for Jiraiya, his fighting abilities were well-rounded, including offense, defense, interference, perception, sealing, summoning, and evasion!
Naruto should learn a lot from Jiraiya, but Jiraiya may not always be available to teach him.
Jiraiya's teaching would focus on Naruto's strengths and what ninjutsu suited him. Teaching random ninjutsu would only waste Naruto's training time.
Naruto had already learned the Rasengan, knew some swordsmanship, had solid basic ninjutsu, slightly poor taijutsu, zero sensory ninjutsu, and hadn't yet mastered any elemental nature techniques.
Kazuki figured that in addition to teaching Naruto the Summoning Jutsu, Jiraiya could only teach him taijutsu and Wind Release techniques.
Kazuki estimated that he would likely acquire one or two Wind Release jutsu in the next few days, along with Naruto's mastery of the Wind Release chakra nature.
As for senjutsu, it was unlikely that Jiraiya would teach Naruto that before the Chunin Exam.
"Forget it, I'm too lazy to pay attention to those two guys. Someone else can help supervise them. Strength doesn't grow overnight."
Kazuki got up and left the Gekko Clan with Karin, heading toward Konoha's back mountain.
Although Sarutobi Hiruzen wouldn't let Karin leave the Gekko Clan, Kazuki still took her out. What could he do?
Moreover, Kazuki didn't feel like anyone was watching them. As long as no one knew he had left with Karin, he didn't have to worry about being nagged.
A secluded area in Konoha's back mountain.
Haruno Sakura had been waiting for a long time.
Ever since Naruto went to train with Jiraiya, Sakura had no one to practice with.
Thus, she could only ask Kazuki for help, and he had agreed.
Of course, he wasn't the one sparring with her.
Originally, he wanted to find Hinata Hyuga to train with Sakura, but Hinata had been grounded by Hiashi for special Chunin Exam training.
With a father like that, Kazuki could only give up his plan. Sometimes, he felt like adding Hiashi to his blacklist, but since Hiashi didn't hinder him, Kazuki saw no reason to be needlessly hostile.
Kazuki wanted power to enjoy life, not to uphold justice or do evil!
He didn't want to be a villain, he just wanted to be free.
"Sakura!"
Karin greeted Sakura first.
After spending time together, Sakura had become familiar with Karin.
"Karin!"
Sakura responded happily, then looked at Kazuki, "Kazuki-kun, please help me!"
"No trouble at all."
Kazuki took out a scroll, summoned a wooden chair from it, and then created a shadow clone.
"Practice with Sakura," Kazuki instructed the clone. "Come over here and massage my shoulders."
Karin: "Okay, Kazuki-kun!"
Sakura: "…"
Kazuki's shadow clone had one-tenth of his strength and mastered most of his ninjutsu. The average shadow clone couldn't compare.
Against Sakura, who was barely at the level of a special jounin, the clone was more than enough.
During their sparring, Sakura was mostly on the offensive while Kazuki's shadow clone only defended. But even so, Sakura was no match and was constantly overpowered!
Watching Sakura struggle, Karin said enviously, "I wish I had the same strength as Kazuki-kun."
Kazuki glanced at Karin.
It seemed like he hadn't brought Karin along just to massage his shoulders—perhaps he needed her to be more combat-capable as well.
In the original work, Karin had various abilities, but now it seemed she only had Mind's Eye of the Kagura.
"Karin, do you want to learn ninjutsu?"
"Can I?"
Karin's eyes widened with anticipation.
"Of course. Let's start with the basics of chakra control. I remember you couldn't even climb trees or walk on water during the Forest of Death."
Karin blushed, recalling her embarrassing performance, and muttered, "No one taught me…"
"It's okay. If they won't teach you, I will."
Kazuki gently touched her cheek and smiled warmly.
Karin looked at his soft smile and was momentarily dazed. After a while, she whispered, "Thank you, Kazuki-kun."
She had always thought Kazuki, like the people from Kusagakure Village, just wanted to keep her by his side. But to her surprise, Kazuki wanted to teach her ninjutsu!
So gentle!
It's great to have met Kazuki-kun!
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+86 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg