Chapter 295 291: Karin's Chuunin Exam 28.5

Konoha knew how to put on a show.

Karin would give them that much.

The arena used for the final stage of the Chūnin Exams was nothing like the underground chamber inside the tower. That place had been made for shinobi, practical stone and high walls, a battlefield hidden away from civilians and nobles alike.

This place was made to be seen.

Tall stands rose around the arena, filled with civilians, merchants, shinobi, minor nobles, and important guests from several countries. Banners moved in the breeze, bright colors hanging from stone walls polished clean for the occasion. Vendors shouted from the walkways, selling food and drinks as if this was a festival rather than a place where children would beat one another bloody for the reputation of their villages.

Which, Karin supposed, was exactly what it was.

A festival.

A performance.

A battlefield wearing pretty clothes.

Tōji stood beside her, arms folded as he looked over the crowd. "There are a lot of people."

"Yes," Karin said.

Naho's gaze moved across the stands more carefully. "Too many."

Karin agreed.

Too many eyes. Too many exits. Too many hidden corners. Too many places for shinobi to stand among civilians and pretend they were not waiting for orders.

Konoha had filled the arena with spectators, but to Karin's senses, the crowd was not just a crowd. It was a great mess of chakra signatures, most small and harmless, some trained and sharp, and a few hidden carefully enough that they were clearly not meant to be noticed.

Konoha ANBU were there, of course. Some hidden openly in the places ANBU were expected to hide, others posted near the most important guests. That was normal.

Root was there too.

Karin could feel them.

Not because they carried a different type of chakra, but because they carried themselves differently. Their chakra was still in a way normal shinobi chakra was not. No idle shifts, no loose emotion, no curiosity spilling through the edges. They watched without seeming to watch, and Karin felt their attention slide over her more than once.

So Danzō had not forgotten.

Good.

Neither had she.

But they were not the only problem.

Karin's eyes moved from the stands toward the highest viewing platform, where the Hokage sat with the Kazekage.

Or rather, with the person wearing the Kazekage's clothes.

Karin went very still.

The Kazekage was wrong.

Not in appearance. The robes, the hat, the veil, the posture, all of it looked correct enough. The man sat like a Kage should sit, with the weight of a village on his shoulders and the expectation that everyone beneath him would look up.

But chakra did not lie.

Karin was no stranger to Orochimaru; she had seen him far more times than she cared to count and had felt that special snake-like chakra of his, the way it was... wrong in ways only reckless use of forbidden jutsu could cause.

And now that same chakra sat beneath the Kazekage's robes.

Karin stared for a moment, then slowly adjusted her glasses.

Of course the Snake Sannin was sitting right beside the Hokage again.

Konoha was truly unbelievable.

"Karin-sama?" Naho asked quietly.

"It's nothing," she said, not wanting to alert anyone, not even her own teammates, not yet at least.

Tōji's head turned slightly toward her, but he was smart enough not to ask loudly.

Naho also kept quiet; Karin might not have said anything, but they both understood that there was something, just that they weren't allowed to know.

Internally, Karin asked the one question that really mattered right now.

Does Suna know?

Karin looked toward the Suna shinobi gathered nearby. Baki stood with the other Jōnin, calm on the surface, but his chakra was too tight. Temari and Kankurō were with Gaara, both more controlled than they had been during the month, but not relaxed. Gaara himself was as unstable as ever, perhaps even worse after his fight with Rock Lee.

Did they know?

That was the question.

Perhaps Suna had been fooled. Perhaps their Kazekage had been killed and replaced, and the village of sand was walking forward without realizing their head had already been cut off.

Or perhaps Suna knew exactly what was happening.

That would explain a few things.

Karin's senses swept farther through the arena, searching with more care this time. Now that she knew Orochimaru was here, the other wrong notes became easier to place.

There.

A cluster near the eastern stands.

Another near the outer wall.

A few more hidden among the maintenance passages beneath the spectator seats.

Their chakra was unfamiliar to most of the people here, but not to Karin. She had felt enough Otogakure shinobi during the exam to recognize the rough shape of them. The way their chakra moved, the way it sat, the little signatures of training and technique that tied them together.

Sound shinobi.

Hidden around the arena.

Karin smiled faintly.

The finals had not even begun, and already they were far more interesting than the preliminaries.

"Don't lower your guard; this might be a game, but it is a shinobi game. Danger is never far away when shinobi gather," she reminded the two of them.

The two nodded. They looked around, trying to spot what she had seen, but naturally, they couldn't see anything.

Karin did not tell them more. There was no need. If something happened, they would follow her orders. If nothing happened, then speaking too much would only risk someone overhearing.

Besides, she still did not have enough information.

Orochimaru had replaced the Kazekage. Sound shinobi were hidden around the arena. Suna was acting strangely. Root was watching her. Konoha was pretending everything was fine.

Those were facts.

The reason behind them was still unclear.

Was Suna allied with Orochimaru?

Had Orochimaru devoured Suna from the inside without them knowing?

Were the hidden Sound shinobi here for Konoha, for Sasuke, for Naruto, for the Hokage, or for something else entirely?

And where, exactly, did Karin fit into it?

She disliked not knowing.

Kaguya-sama had told her not to interfere unless she had reason to.

Karin was beginning to think she might soon have several.

A burst of cheering pulled her attention back to the arena as the finalists were called forward. They gathered on the field below, each one stepping into view for the crowd.

Naruto Uzumaki came first, waving both arms and grinning like the entire arena had gathered just to watch him.

Karin felt embarrassed on behalf of their clan.

Because it was very clear that the crowd completely ignored Naruto, treating him like he wasn't there, or a few who couldn't do that looked at him with hostility.

Yet he somehow remained completely cheerful and optimistic.

Neji Hyūga walked with cold dignity, ignoring Naruto completely. His forehead protector was fixed neatly in place, hiding the seal beneath it, but Karin could still feel the ugly shape of it inside his chakra. Even here, even in front of thousands of people, the branch family leash remained.

Shino Aburame stood quiet and unreadable.

Kankurō looked more serious than Karin had expected, his puppet wrapped behind him as usual. Temari stood near him, fan resting against her back, outwardly confident but not quite as relaxed as she had been during the preliminaries.

Gaara did not look at the crowd.

The crowd looked at him.

They did not know what he was, not truly, but some instincts were older than knowledge. Even civilians could feel the wrongness of him when he stood still for too long.

Shikamaru Nara looked as if he regretted every decision that had brought him here.

Karin could respect that.

Then there was herself.

The moment she stepped forward, the crowd shifted.

Not as loudly as it had for Naruto. Not with the same curiosity as it had for Neji, or the same nervous interest as Gaara. But there was recognition now. The preliminaries had been closed to the public, but word had spread. A red-haired Ame kunoichi. An Uzumaki. A girl who had defeated an Akimichi with chains of chakra.

Karin could feel the eyes on her.

Some curious.

Some wary.

Some unfriendly.

Those from outside Konoha belonged to the curious ones, the ones who might have sought out some information about her and the legendary Uzumaki clan.

Those from Konoha, well, they were the unfriendly, knowing only that they hated Naruto Uzumaki, so any Uzumaki was swept under the same label as a pest.

She let them look all they wanted; soon enough, she would give them a show they wouldn't soon forget.

The Uzumaki name had been dragged through mud in this village because they had tied it to Naruto and then treated him like a joke. Karin would not allow them to do the same with her.

A final name was called.

Sasuke Uchiha.

No one stepped forward.

The crowd murmured.

Karin glanced toward the Konoha side.

Interesting.

Sasuke was not here.

That was not too surprising. He had been taken away by Kakashi Hatake after the preliminaries, and Karin had only sensed him in distant flashes during the month. Lightning chakra, sharp and focused. Training, likely. Something dangerous enough that Kakashi had not wanted anyone watching too closely.

But being late to the final stage of the Chūnin Exams was not a small thing.

Not for a normal Genin.

For Sasuke Uchiha, however, it seemed the rules were more flexible.

Karin looked toward the Hokage.

The old man's expression remained calm.

Of course.

They would not disqualify him.

The Uchiha name still carried some weight, and many were curious about the brother of Itachi, the clan butcher. Nobles had come to see him. Clients had come to judge him. Konoha had no intention of throwing away one of its brightest prizes just because he failed to arrive on time.

Politics.

Disgusting stuff.

A different proctor stood in the arena today, not the sickly Hayate from the preliminaries. This one had a senbon in his mouth and a lazy posture that almost reminded Karin of Shikamaru, though his chakra was sharper than his stance suggested.

Genma Shiranui, if she remembered the name correctly.

So the proctor had changed.

Karin wondered what had happened to the coughing one.

Given everything else happening, she doubted it was anything pleasant.

Genma looked at the gathered finalists, then up toward the Hokage. After receiving a small nod, he turned back to them.

"The rules are simple," he said. "The match ends when one fighter surrenders, is unable to continue, or I decide the fight is over. Killing is discouraged, but this is a shinobi examination. Fight accordingly."

Karin's mouth twitched.

Discouraged.

Not forbidden.

At least someone was being honest.

Then the match board was displayed for all to see.

Naruto Uzumaki versus Neji Hyūga.

Sasuke Uchiha versus Gaara.

Kankurō versus Shino Aburame.

Shikamaru Nara versus Temari.

And then, sitting awkwardly to the side of the bracket, Karin Uzumaki versus the winner of Shikamaru and Temari.

Karin stared at it for a moment.

Of course.

A nine-person bracket was inconvenient, so they had to somehow work around it.

Though one thing was clear to Karin: this had been prepared long in advance and couldn't be changed just because Sasuke Uchiha was late, which meant there was indeed a deeper meaning behind each matchup.

She was curious as to why she wasn't matched up against Gaara, but maybe Orochimaru was to blame for that?

And while Karin couldn't possibly guess the secret intention behind every matchup, she could at least guess why she was the bye.

And its name started with N and ended with ara.

Tōji leaned close from where the non-finalists had been allowed to stand. "You get the winner of those two?"

"Yes."

"Lucky."

Karin glanced at him.

He corrected himself immediately. "For them, I mean. Lucky they get to fight each other before you."

"Better."

Naho studied the bracket. "If the Uchiha does not arrive?"

"They will delay," Karin said.

"Konoha would do that?"

"For Sasuke Uchiha?" Karin asked. "Obviously."

Below, Naruto was already bouncing on his feet, eyes fixed on Neji. The Hyūga boy remained still, his face calm, his chakra controlled.

The contrast was almost painful.

Genma sent the other finalists back to the waiting area, leaving only Naruto and Neji on the field. The noise of the crowd swelled, then slowly settled as the two boys faced one another.

Karin walked back toward the finalist section, but she kept part of her attention on the highest platform.

The Hokage sat beside Orochimaru and did not know.

Or perhaps he suspected something and could not act.

Karin did not know which was worse.

Around the arena, hidden Sound shinobi waited.

Root watched from the shadows.

Suna stood too still.

And in the center of it all, Naruto Uzumaki grinned at Neji Hyūga as if this was nothing more than a chance to prove himself.

Karin adjusted her glasses.

The idiot had no idea what kind of stage he was standing on.

Genma raised one hand.

"First match," he said. "Naruto Uzumaki versus Neji Hyūga."

Naruto clenched his fists.

Neji activated his Byakugan.

The crowd held its breath.

Genma's hand fell.

"Begin."