Chapter 38 - Chuunin Exam(9)
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Naruto and Karin were walking side by side as they came back after fishing "You really find my hair pretty?" Karin asks in curiosity
Naruto smiled and replied "Yup! It's the same color as my mom's hair."
Karin giggled happily and replied "I see, hehe…"
Naruto just ignored it for now and got back to the array of seals "We're here."
Karin looked around in confusion and said "Where are we? All I see is an empty space."
Naruto chuckled and replied "There's an array of seals here it's only natural you can't see anything."
Karin nodded as she did indeed sense 2 people here but didn't see anything. "I sense 2 people's chakra but I can't see them, I did find that weird."
Naruto in surprise said "You did?"
"Yes, I've always been able to sense people around me since I was younger."
Naruto nodded "I see… It might be a variant of Uzumaki Bloodline, unfortunately, I wasn't blessed to be able to possess that kind of ability."
"Although you weren't blessed with it, you're strong enough to not need it."
Naruto chuckled, "I guess so."
Naruto held Karin's hand and she blushed "What are you…"
"I'm giving you access to the array."
"I-I see…"
The array was then visible to Karin as she nodded in understanding
They went inside the array to find Sakura and Sasuke still sleeping on the ground so Karin asked "Who are these two people?"
"These are my teammates, the guy is Uchiha Sasuke, and the girl is Haruno Sakura."
…
After a few hours. Naruto and Karin were chattering happily, in front of a fire, sitting on a log of tree while eating the fishes they caught.
Sasuke woke up and looked at Naruto "You're awake."
Naruto who was chatting turned his attention to Sasuke "Same to you, I was surprised when I woke up, Sakura was the only one on guard against sound ninjas."
Sasuke in surprise turned his head beside him seeing Sakura fatigued asleep on his side and smiled "I see…"
"Oops… What's this? Is Sasuke-kun smiling?" Naruto teased
Sasuke's smile froze and coughed " *Cough* Anyway, who's the girl beside you?" He asked, looking at Karin.
"Her?" As Naruto was about to introduce Karin, Karin spoke shyly "I'm Uzumaki Karin. Naruto's future wife…"
Sasuke's eyes twitched and his gaze went towards Naruto "Another future wife? How many wives are you trying to have?"
Naruto simply ignored him while Karin with her eyes wide open asked "Another future wife? You already have a few?"
Naruto answered with a wry smile "I only have one… for now…?"
Karin with tears in her eyes said "Were you playing with my feelings?"
Naruto, who didn't know what to say, answered "I wasn't playing with your feelings! It's just that… I haven't decided what to do yet…"
Karin sighed in relief but still sadly said "But still… judging by your attitude… you'll have a lot of girls in the future…"
"This…"
The mood went quiet and Sasuke said as he scratched his head "Sorry about that…"
Naruto sighed "It's fine. I guess I'll take a few wives. How can I explain this to Haku…"
Karin looked at Naruto with a conflicted look but said with determination in the next instant "I'll be your second wife!"
"What?" Naruto and Sasuke in shock, both said
At this moment, a clone of Naruto arrived, saving Naruto from the conversation they were having. "I took a 'Heaven' Scroll. It's enough to pass the test right?"
Naruto, Sasuke, and Karin looked in the clone's direction.
The clone scratched his head and asked "Did I come at a bad time?"
Naruto sighed and said "It's fine, give me the scroll."
The clone nodded and passed the scroll to Naruto.
Poof!
The clone disappeared.
Naruto stood up and said "In any case, we're done with the mission, let's go to the tower?"
Sasuke nodded and also stood up
Karin quietly stood up as well.
"Carry, Sakura. Sasuke."
Sasuke nodded and carried Sakura on his back. "Do you know the way to the tower?"
Naruto nodded "Yup! My clones informed me."
…
As they were travelling into the tower ninja's appeared and surrounded them. Sasuke activated his sharingan and was about to put Sakura to the ground, but suddenly,
They heard wind sound grinding against each other and dropped into the ninjas that they encountered along the way.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
The ninjas were beheaded in an instant with Naruto's clones dropped from the skies that surprised both Sasuke and Karin
Naruto chuckled, "Although my clones only possess a bit of chakra, they have master-level chakra control to use it efficiently."
Karin's eyes shone as she thought 'He's really strong!'
Sasuke nodded and deactivated his sharingan. He can conserve his strength and recover more from his injuries before the next exam thanks to Naruto.
The clones turned their way and nodded, while Naruto nodded in reply and they disappeared again to secure the surroundings.
…
After a while, they reached the tower.
"We're here." Naruto commented as they reached the tower.
They headed inside the tower for them to see a banner inside telling them to open the scrolls.
Naruto opened the 'heaven' scroll and Sasuke opened the 'earth' scroll.
Poof!
A huge amount of smoke appeared from the scrolls so they both let go of the scrolls as they knew it was a summoning jutsu.
"Hey!" A guy appeared from the summoning and as they observed, it was Iruka. "Long time no see…"
Naruto smiled and said "Hello! Iruka-sensei!"
Iruka smiled and explained "At the end of the second test, it's set up so we chuunins meet up with the exam takers. So… the second test, all three of you passed, congratulations."
Iruka observed them and said "Looks like Sakura is unconscious. She's lucky that you two are exceptional, and who's the girl with the red hair?"
Naruto chuckled and replied "It's Sakura who's exceptional, she was awake for about two days, watching over our unconscious ass or else we would have been free food after the first day where we lost consciousness. And the red haired girl is Uzumaki Karin. She'll be staying with me, we're relatives."
Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement of what Naruto said
Iruka chuckled, "I see… sorry for thinking that you two were the only ones who were exceptional. What do you mean this girl will be staying with you?"
"Well… They treated her badly in her village, looking at her arm. Just because she had exceptional bloodline capabilities, they treated her like some emergency medkit and bit her arm to heal themselves."
Iruka frowned and indeed Karin's arm was full of bitemarks "That's indeed bad. In any case, we welcome you to the hidden leaf village."
Karin bowed in reply
…
Kabuto appeared in the tower as well with Orochimaru beside the outside of the tower undisguised
Orochimaru asked "How was it?"
Kabuto shook her head in helplessness "That kid is a monster, Orochimaru-sama. After the confrontation with that civilian kid, Haruno Sakura, who appeared to be also exceptional in Fuinjutsu and our sound genins, Uzumaki Naruto woke up.
Haruno Sakura, killed the leader of the three in great difficulty, and when Uzumaki Naruto woke up he directly beheaded the rest.
After that he repaired Haruno Sakura's array of seals in an instant then summoned a hundred clones to scout so I had no way of spying on him."
"Kekeke! That kid is indeed a monster, with one jutsu, he destroyed through, 'Five-layer Rashomon'. Good thing it lost power at the end but it consumed most of my chakra."
Kabuto nodded "Indeed. I saw it from a distance, it was surreal."
Orochimaru changed his transformation into a hidden leaf ninja and smiled "It's another variable we have to watch out for during the time we invade Konoha."
Kabuto kneeled down and replied "Yes, Orochimaru-sama."
…
Hokage's office…
"Orochimaru was here?" Hiruzen asked with a frown as he examined Anko's seal
Anko with a frown face nodded "He was here, I thought the seal was already inactive but when we fought he activated it and that caused my body to feel numb all over."
Hiruzen sighed and asked "Does it still hurt now?"
"No… It feels much better now."
A jounin in the back inquired "by the way, Orochimaru is one of the three legendary sannins right? Isn't he the handbook class 5 missing ninja that even the anbu can't get close to. I had heard that he had already died."
Another one asked "Why would he come back to the village?"
Anko who was about to speak said "He probably…"
Hiruzen with a frown interrupted "Sasuke right?"
"???"
"Anko-sama!" A ninja from outside said urgently
They turned their attention to that ninja and he announced "We have confirmed 21 have passed the second test. In accordance with the rules, for the first time in 5 years, we will start preparations for a preliminary before the third test. The second test is complete."
Hiruzen said "Well.. let's continue the exam as planned. We'll deal with Orochimaru separately"
Anko with a pale face replied "Yes…"
"Oh by the way, come see me later after the preliminaries, let Naruto take a look at that seal, he might be able to deal with your cursed seal."
Anko replied in surprise "Naruto? The blonde kid?"
"That's right, according to him, fuinjutsu is just a combination of codes. He made it sound so easy. In other words, he's what you would call a genius. No… he's what you would call a monster."
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(A/N: Leave a power stone if you like the story. Thanks!)