Chapter 290: Karin's Chuunin Exam 24

Chapter 290: Chapter 286: Karin’s Chuunin Exam 24

Karin’s attention sharpened at once.

Not because of Kiba Inuzuka.

She knew enough about the Inuzuka clan to know roughly what to expect. Enhanced senses, aggressive taijutsu, cooperation with ninken, claws, teeth, and a lot of charging straight at people while pretending it was strategy.

Useful.

Dangerous, even.

But not especially mysterious.

Naruto Uzumaki, on the other hand, was very interesting.

He was an Uzumaki, even if he clearly didn’t know what that meant, and a Jinchūriki, even if Konoha seemed to have raised him like an idiot instead of a weapon. That alone made him worth watching. Add in the fact that Orochimaru had done something to his seal, and Karin couldn’t help but lean forward slightly as Naruto jumped down to the arena floor with a grin far too large for someone in his condition.

His chakra was a mess.

Not just large and wild, as it had been before, but tangled. Blocked. Interfered with. Whatever Orochimaru had done, it sat over Naruto’s existing seal like a badly placed lock over another lock, disrupting the flow instead of properly controlling it.

Karin’s fingers tightened against the railing.

What was Konoha doing?

This was their Jinchūriki. Their village’s greatest weapon. Even if they didn’t care about Naruto as a person, and Karin had no reason to believe they did, they should have cared about what was inside him. Letting an enemy S-rank missing-nin interfere with the seal of a Bijū container and then doing nothing about it was beyond careless.

It was almost impressive stupidity.

“He’s the one from before,” Tōji said, watching Naruto wave his arms and shout something at Kiba.

“Yes,” Karin said.

“The loud one.”

“Obviously.”

Naho tilted her head. “He doesn’t look strong.”

“He isn’t,” Karin said, then paused. “Not properly.”

Because that was the strange thing.

Naruto was weak.

He moved badly, wasted energy, shouted too much, and carried himself like someone who had never been properly taught how dangerous the world was. His stance was loose, his guard poor, and his chakra control was so terrible that Karin almost wanted to cover her face from secondhand shame.

But beneath all that, there was something.

A body that healed too fast.

Stamina that should not belong to a boy his age.

Instincts buried under layers of stupidity.

And chakra.

So much chakra.

Even with Orochimaru’s seal interfering, even with his own control ruined, Naruto still had enough chakra that most Jōnin in the room should have felt embarrassed calling themselves shinobi.

Konoha had taken an Uzumaki Jinchūriki and somehow produced this.

Karin did not know whether to laugh or be offended.

Kiba landed across from Naruto, Akamaru perched on top of his head. The small white dog barked, and Kiba grinned with all his teeth.

“So I get you, huh?” Kiba said. “This’ll be easy.”

Naruto pointed at him. “Don’t get cocky! I’m gonna beat you and move on to the finals!”

Kiba laughed. “You? Come on, Naruto. Everyone knows you’re the dead last.”

Several Konoha Genin reacted to that, some with winces, some with annoyance, and some with the kind of familiarity that told Karin this was not a new insult.

Dead last.

Karin stared down at Naruto.

An Uzumaki Jinchūriki had been allowed to become the dead last of his class.

Konoha truly did not deserve what it had.

Hayate coughed into one hand and looked between them. “Begin.”

Kiba moved first.

Fast.

Faster than Karin expected, actually.

His body dropped low, chakra sharpening around his limbs as his nails lengthened into claws. Akamaru jumped from his head at the same time, circling wide while Kiba attacked from the front.

Good opening.

Simple, but good.

Sometimes, if you were fast enough, you didn’t need tricky angles. Sometimes, going straight ahead wasn’t bad, and apparently, she had underestimated the speed boost of the Inuzuka clan’s techniques.

Naruto barely got his guard up before Kiba slammed into him, driving a clawed strike across his arms and sending him skidding back across the stone floor. Akamaru came in from the side, forcing Naruto to jump awkwardly away, only for Kiba to already be there with a kick to the stomach.

Naruto hit the ground, rolled, and scrambled back to his feet.

Messy.

Ugly.

But fast enough to avoid the follow-up.

Karin adjusted her glasses.

Kiba was stronger than she had first assumed. Not brilliant, no, but he and Akamaru moved well together. Their timing was good, and their pressure left little room for a normal opponent to breathe.

Against the Naruto currently standing below, he should win.

Easily.

Naruto formed a hand seal.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

Karin felt the chakra gather, twist, and then stumble against Orochimaru’s seal.

Three clones appeared.

No, not even three.

Two proper clones and one half-formed thing that burst into smoke almost instantly.

Naruto blinked.

Kiba laughed. “That’s it? What happened to the big crowd?”

Naruto gritted his teeth. “Shut up!”

The two clones charged with him.

It was a terrible attack.

All three Narutos came straight in, shouting, with no attempt at subtlety or positioning. Kiba and Akamaru tore through the clones immediately. One popped under Kiba’s claws, the other vanished when Akamaru slammed into its legs, and the real Naruto took another hit to the chest before managing to kick Kiba away.

Karin stared.

The secondhand embarrassment was growing worse.

“Is this really an Uzumaki?” Tōji asked.

“Unfortunately,” Karin said.

Naho looked at Naruto with something close to pity. “His control is terrible.”

“His control has been tampered with,” Karin said. “But yes, even before that, his control must have been terrible.”

“By the Inuzuka?”

Karin just shook her head. She couldn’t fully explain it, since that involved a few secrets, and it wasn’t a good thing to know too many secrets. She was worried those two might get killed for knowing too much.

Karin looked toward the adults.

The Hokage was watching with a serious expression, but he did not look surprised enough. Some of the others seemed concerned, but none of them were doing anything.

What dangerous and foolish game were they playing here? Did they want Naruto to lose? But even then, there were far better ways of achieving that than risking Naruto’s seal like this.

Below, Kiba pressed the advantage. He and Akamaru struck from both sides, forcing Naruto to twist and stumble away from one attack only to be caught by another. Naruto tried to form more clones, but the chakra misfired again, giving him only one this time.

Kiba destroyed it without slowing down.

“You’re done!” Kiba shouted.

Naruto ducked under one claw, slipped on his own foot, and somehow avoided Akamaru’s bite because of it.

Karin’s eyebrow twitched.

That had not been skill.

That had been luck.

Kiba clearly thought the same, because his frustration spiked.

“Hold still!”

“Make me!”

Naruto threw a punch. Kiba dodged it easily and drove his knee into Naruto’s stomach, folding him over. Akamaru barked and lunged, but Naruto grabbed the little dog by reflex and tossed him aside before Kiba could follow up.

That, at least, was something.

Not skill exactly.

Instinct.

Naruto did better when he stopped thinking.

Which was probably good, since thinking did not appear to be his strength.

Kiba clicked his tongue and pulled out a small pill. He tossed it to Akamaru, who swallowed it at once. The dog’s chakra spiked, body shifting as red markings appeared, and Karin felt the ninken become sharper, stronger, more aggressive.

Food pill.

Then Kiba formed a seal.

“Man-Beast Clone!”

Smoke burst around Akamaru, and when it cleared, there were two Kibas standing in the arena.

Karin leaned forward slightly despite herself.

That was useful.

That pill was clearly special, made for the Inuzuka, by the Inuzuka. And its purpose was clear as well: to overcome the current limitation of a young ninken.

Akamaru was clearly too young, too small to pull off a move like this, but the pill made up for that, allowing the two to perform more advanced clan techniques.

Worthy of being an ancient clan.

Naruto looked between them.

Then pointed.

“That’s cheating!”

Karin closed her eyes for a moment.

Embarrassing.

Genuinely embarrassing.

Kiba laughed again, and the two of him dropped to all fours.

“Fang Over Fang!”

They spun forward like drills, tearing across the floor with enough force to crack stone and throw up dust. Naruto barely avoided the first pass, only for the second to clip his side and send him tumbling.

He hit the ground hard.

Then got up.

Kiba attacked again.

Naruto got hit again.

Then he got up again.

And again.

And again.

For all his weakness, for all his stupidity, for all his complete lack of polish, Naruto did not stay down. Each hit should have slowed him more than it did. Each scrape and bruise should have made his movements worse. Instead, he simply kept forcing himself back to his feet through sheer stubborn refusal.

Karin’s annoyance softened into reluctant interest.

Clearly, for all his faults, Naruto did have some strengths beyond just his insane levels of chakra; there was his endurance, his stubborn refusal to stay down.

Kiba was clearly taking it easy on him, avoiding hurting him too badly. Any of those hits could have killed him had he wanted it, or at least caused some serious injuries.

Those were clean hits, with chakra-enhanced claws, enough to cut stone and wood, much less flesh.

Karin had half expected Konoha to declare him the victor, as he clearly could have ended the fight half a dozen times already.

But nothing happened.

Naruto simply continued to stand up, to ask for more.

And Kiba, well, he was getting annoyed, and that seemed to be a weakness of his.

He had the advantage. He had speed, teamwork, technique, and a working clan style. Naruto’s chakra was crippled, his clones were unreliable, and his ability to fight back was limited.

All Kiba needed to do was stay calm and finish him cleanly.

Instead, Naruto’s refusal to fall offended him.

So he rushed.

Again and again, harder each time, shouting more with every charge. The attacks remained dangerous, but they became easier to read. His pride was taking control of the fight, and Akamaru followed his lead.

“What is he doing?” Naho asked.

“Throwing away a winning match,” Karin said.

Tōji tilted his head. “How?”

“By getting angry that his opponent is still alive.” Which was honestly baffling, as his own mercy was the reason Naruto could still resist.

Below, Naruto staggered, breathing hard. Blood ran from a cut on his cheek, and his jacket was torn in several places. He looked awful.

Kiba looked better.

He also looked furious.

“Just stay down already!”

Naruto wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “No way.”

Kiba snarled and charged.

Naruto’s hands came together again.

For a moment, Karin expected another failed Shadow Clone.

Instead, smoke burst around him.

Transformation.

When it cleared, there were three Kibas in the arena.

Karin blinked.

Oh?

That was not… terrible.

It was not good either. His transformation was rough, and Karin could tell which was Naruto by his chakra instantly, but Kiba was not a sensor. His nose was his greatest tool, and the arena already smelled of smoke, sweat, blood, dog, and poison residue from the earlier fights.

Kiba hesitated for a moment, picking through the many scents to find the correct one. It was a small pause, but Naruto had still bought a second or two.

He took the opening, slammed into Kiba from behind, and sent him stumbling forward. It was a sloppy hit, more tackle than strike, but it worked. Kiba cursed, spun, and struck back, catching Naruto across the jaw.

Naruto went down.

For a second, it looked over.

Then Akamaru, still confused and smelling too many Kibas, rushed in again.

Naruto grabbed him.

Not hard enough to hurt badly, but enough to throw the dog into Kiba’s path.

Kiba pulled his attack at the last instant to avoid hitting his partner.

Naruto kicked him in the stomach.

Kiba doubled over.

It was ugly.

It was stupid.

It was working.

Karin wanted to pretend she was not seeing this.

Kiba recovered quickly and shoved Naruto back. “You little—”

He inhaled sharply, likely preparing to track Naruto properly by scent.

Then Naruto, still bent over from the last hit, let out a sound that echoed horribly in the chamber.

For one frozen second, no one moved.

Then the smell reached the upper balcony.

Tōji made a strangled noise behind his mask.

Naho went completely still.

Karin stared.

Kiba gagged.

Akamaru whined.

Naruto blinked, then looked almost as horrified as everyone else.

“I, uh…”

Kiba clutched his nose, eyes watering. “You disgusting—!”

Karin very slowly lowered her head into her hand.

This was it.

This was the level of dignity carried by the Uzumaki name in Konoha.

A fart.

Against an Inuzuka.

And because the world was apparently cruel and without justice, it worked.

Kiba’s greatest sense betrayed him. The enhanced nose that had let him track Naruto, pressure him, and control the fight became a weakness all at once. He staggered, disoriented, and for the first time in the match, he was truly open.

Naruto noticed.

Somehow.

His expression shifted.

Not into intelligence, exactly, but into opportunity.

He formed a hand seal again, forcing chakra through the mess of Orochimaru’s seal with sheer stubbornness.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

This time, more clones appeared.

Not many.

Four.

But four was enough.

They rushed Kiba together, and though the movement was clumsy, it had momentum. One clone swept Kiba’s legs. Another drove a fist into his back. The real Naruto jumped upward, copying, very badly, the kind of movement Sasuke had used earlier.

Karin’s eyes narrowed.

He was copying Sasuke copying Lee.

Badly.

So badly.

And yet Kiba, still half-blinded by tears and choking on the smell, failed to react in time.

Naruto brought his heel down.

“Konoha Uzumaki Barrage!”

That was not the name.

Karin was almost certain that was not the name of any real technique.

The hit landed anyway.

Kiba slammed into the floor and did not get back up.

For a long moment, the chamber was silent.

Hayate looked down at Kiba, then at Naruto, then coughed as if even he needed a moment to accept what had just happened.

“Winner, Naruto Uzumaki.”

Naruto stared.

Then he threw both hands into the air.

“Yeah! I won!”

The Konoha side erupted again, though this time the cheering sounded much more confused. Sakura, from wherever the medics had taken her, was not there to shout for him, but the large boy from Shikamaru’s team looked stunned, the Hyūga girl looked quietly relieved, and Shikamaru looked like he had just witnessed something deeply troublesome.

Karin understood.

She too felt troubled.

Not because Naruto had won.

Because of how.

Tōji leaned closer. “Karin-sama?”

“Don’t.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Continue not saying anything.”

“Yes, Karin-sama.”