Karin wasn't sure what to do. By all means, she was supposed to be dead a long, long time ago, but somehow, she survived. She survived that godforsaken village which took away her mother, and she survived that forest of death as well.
But the latter almost seemed impossible to her. Her Mind's Eye of Kagura was the only thing she relied on; countless times, she had relied on it to come out of dangerous situations. In fact, surviving for this long was only because she had awakened her clan's sensory ability.
So when her Mind's Eye of Kagura felt that vile chakra in that Sand Shinobi, she knew for certain that she would die.
But she survived again. Guess that's what Uzumaki people are good at—surviving.
Shika Nara, that is the real reason why she was alive today. Not only did the boy save her, but he also healed her leg, a wound that even she knew was almost fatal in that forest, healed in an instant.
To heal her, he even showed what he was capable of. No one else understood the gravity of what Shika did for her more than she did.
Because she knew how dangerous it could be if people were to know what kind of healing ability he has. So she understood just right what kind of danger he took to heal her.
She was conflicted right now. Shika asked her to stay in Konoha, but she wasn't sure what to do. She wanted to, but she was afraid that what happened to her before would happen again.
She was currently watching all the ninja fights happening. She herself didn't have any fighting training. She did learn a little medical knowledge as those Kusa shinobi wanted her to be their healer, but that was it.
She had no fighting power, and thus, seeing people her age fighting and using different kinds of jutsu was fascinating for her.
And finally, the fight she had been waiting for all this time came—the fight between Shika and Sasuke.
She learned that Sasuke was a genius from Shika, so she was looking forward to this fight. She had a feeling that Shika was stronger than he showed others. After all, he had all those summons.
Though unfortunately, he wouldn't be using them in this fight. He clearly stated to her that no one knew about his summons and asked her not to tell anyone about them either. She didn't understand why. She could understand about that healing deer, but other summons of his were normal. Why not show them?
But she agreed nonetheless. She just sighed, knowing that Shika couldn't use them in this fight. She was actually looking forward to seeing him fight with those summons.
Back to the fighting ring, Sasuke and Shika were going at it. Due to Sasuke not being able to use jutsu, he was just sticking with normal taijutsu right now, and Shika was matching him all the way.
This was surprising for others. Most of them didn't know what exactly either Sasuke or Shika was capable of, but just Sasuke's name was enough to know that he was strong. Not to mention others knew that Sasuke was strong, considering that he was the rookie of the year of his class.
So seeing that Shika, a person who didn't even get a team, was matching him in taijutsu was surprising for them.
And what about those who knew what Sasuke was capable of?
Kakashi, who earlier was not paying attention to Shika, after seeing him matching Sasuke on his taijutsu level, was amazed. His single eye grew wider in surprise while the Guy standing beside him narrowed his eyes. He saw glimpses of his own fighting style in Shika's moves.
But that wasn't enough. He also saw the Hyuga's fighting style in that too, both his and Neji's.
Kurenai saw Shika matching Sasuke in taijutsu and couldn't help but smile brightly. "Yup, that's like the Shika I knew," she internally thought, feeling a little proud.
Earlier, she was a little worried, seeing that genjutsu wouldn't work that well against a Uchiha. Though she wasn't sure whether Sasuke had activated his Sharingan, knowing Shika's genjutsu level, she knew that it wouldn't do much.
Genjutsu of that level wouldn't work if Sasuke really had the Sharingan. But unlike what she thought, Shika didn't even use genjutsu and was pretty much matching Sasuke with taijutsu.
She smiled seeing this. One thing is understandable and can be chalked up to talent, another thing as well, but the third, that is not just talent but Shika being a genius.
Shika not only showed talent in genjutsu and water style but now also in taijutsu. She couldn't help but want him more in her team, though the way the boy was going, there is a possibility that he will be a chunin sooner than later, so her wish might not come true.
But there was also one thing that was making her a little mad. Even after learning so much from her, that child wasn't using genjutsu in fights yet. She repeatedly told him that he needed to involve genjutsu in his fights regularly to get a good grasp of these techniques, but he never listened.
Sigh... She couldn't help but sigh at this.
Asuma beside her was now finally interested in this fight. After all, Kurenai was interested in that kid, and not to mention, he too could see how Shika was fighting on equal footing with Sasuke.
Others were also surprised at this. After all, Sasuke was the best among them, and now Shika was fighting him equally.
Maybe out of all of them, only Team 9 and Hinata were not that surprised. Team 9 because this level of taijutsu was nothing for them, for obvious reasons, and Hinata because in the last 3 months or so, she was Shika's default taijutsu partner. No one right now knew better than her how much Shika had improved.
But in the fighting ring, Shika himself was a little frustrated. He was holding back. After all, he was using weights even right now to hold himself back and train in the meantime. He started some time back to train his body, but seeing that currently he was only almost equal to Sasuke, he felt frustrated.
Only he knew how much he worked to get up to this level, and even after all this, if he wasn't able to beat Sasuke, then it was frustrating. And that is when Sasuke wasn't using his Sharingan.
He believed that if Sasuke activated his current 2-tomoe and 1-tomoe Sharingan and he removed his weight, then they should pretty much again be equal.
Sigh...
But that was not the only reason he was frustrated. He was only equal in taijutsu with Sasuke, but his shuriken jutsu was much better. The Uchiha clan has one of the best shuriken jutsu in the village, and Sasuke learned them all.
His shuriken jutsu was giving him a hard time. Dodging all of them was not hard, but Sasuke was really good at using those shuriken thrown at close range, making some throws almost point-blank.
Tch.
Shika barely dodged the upcoming kunai and parried another one incoming with his own kunai. There were already a few shallow cuts on his body. But those cuts were just on the clothes. In reality, right now, Shika was so good at using the round deer's reverse curse technique through his body that he could directly heal his body mid-fight. He didn't even need to use his hands; he could directly heal wounds on his body like Tsunade's Hundred Healings mark.
It, of course, wasn't that good yet, but he was sure that with more training in the round deer's reverse curse technique, he could somewhat replicate the Hundred Healings mark that Tsunade has.
"Okay, I understand my average level now. Let's end this fight." Shika, after understanding his level, was ready to end the fight.
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