Chapter 296 292: Karin's Chuunin Exam 29

Naruto moved first.

Naturally.

Karin had expected nothing less from him, because for all his strange moments of insight and all the power buried beneath his skin, Naruto Uzumaki was still Naruto Uzumaki.

Which meant he charged straight ahead.

Neji did not even look surprised.

The Hyūga boy shifted his stance by half a step, one hand raised, the other held back, pale eyes fixed on Naruto with cold precision. The veins around his eyes were already raised, his Byakugan active, and his chakra had settled into the same sharp pattern Karin remembered from his match against Hinata.

Focused.

Controlled.

Very different from Naruto, who just seemed to randomly throw a punch.

Neji turned aside and struck his wrist.

A small movement. Barely more than a touch.

Naruto's hand jerked, and his fist went wide.

Neji's second palm caught him in the chest and sent him stumbling back.

The crowd reacted, but not loudly. It was still early, and most of them had likely expected exactly this. The Hyūga genius against the loud, stupid-looking boy. Noble bloodline against the dead last. Grace against noise.

Karin adjusted her glasses.

It was almost insulting how easy the story was to understand from the outside.

Naruto recovered quickly, shaking his hand as if it had gone numb.

"What the hell was that?"

Neji looked at him calmly. "You should already know. You watched my match against Hinata-sama."

Naruto gritted his teeth at the mention of Hinata.

Karin noticed that too.

"Don't talk like you're better than everyone!" Naruto snapped.

"But I am better than you," Neji said.

The words were not shouted. They did not need to be.

Naruto's anger flared.

Neji just remained calm and controlled.

At least on the surface.

Naruto formed a hand seal.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

This time, the technique worked properly.

Karin leaned forward slightly despite herself.

So the damage from Orochimaru's seal had been dealt with.

The chakra still moved badly, because Naruto's control remained insulting to the Uzumaki name, but the extra interference was gone. Whatever had been placed over his original seal had been removed, and now his chakra flowed wild and vast instead of tangled and blocked.

So Konoha had finally fixed it.

Or rather, Jiraiya had.

Karin had sensed the Toad Sannin around Naruto during the month. It was hard not to, given the size and unpleasant boldness of his chakra. He had come late, but at least someone had eventually taken the threat seriously.

Still.

Late was late.

Down below, the arena was filled with Narutos.

Dozens of them.

The crowd roared.

Karin's mouth twitched.

It was impressive to civilians, she supposed. Even to many shinobi, creating that many solid clones would be absurd. But the way Naruto used them made Karin want to sigh.

The clones charged.

All of them.

Straight ahead.

Again.

Neji turned slowly, watching them come. Then he moved.

For several seconds, the arena became a blur of loud bodies and pale hands. Naruto's clones attacked from every direction, fists and feet flying, shouting over one another with more enthusiasm than coordination.

Neji handled them cleanly.

A palm to the ribs. A step back. A turn. Two fingers to the shoulder. A kick to the knee. A twist past a clumsy punch. One clone after another vanished in smoke, broken apart before they could land a clean hit.

It was not that Naruto's tactic was useless.

It was not.

A swarm of solid clones was dangerous. Even a fool could do damage with enough bodies, and Naruto had more chakra than sense, which meant he could keep producing them long after most opponents would have exhausted themselves.

The problem was that Neji was a terrible opponent for such a tactic.

The Byakugan saw too much. The Gentle Fist required only the smallest touch. And Neji was calm enough not to let the numbers overwhelm him emotionally.

"He's losing badly," Tōji said quietly.

"Yes," Karin said.

Naho watched Naruto create another wave of clones. "But he can keep going."

"That is the interesting part."

Because he could.

Neji destroyed ten, twenty, thirty clones, and Naruto simply made more. Each new group was just as loud and just as poorly coordinated as the last, but each one forced Neji to keep moving, keep striking, keep spending attention.

It was crude.

But crude did not always mean useless.

Naruto himself slipped among the clones, sometimes hiding, sometimes attacking, sometimes being obvious enough that even a blind man could have picked him out. Neji struck him twice, perhaps three times, but never hard enough to end the match.

Not yet.

Karin narrowed her eyes.

Was Neji holding back?

No.

Not exactly.

He was conserving himself. Fighting a crowd was annoying even when the crowd was made of idiots. If he overcommitted against a clone, Naruto might get an opening. If he used too much chakra early, Naruto's endless stamina might become a problem later.

So Neji was being careful.

Good.

At least one of them was.

Naruto tried to rush him from behind while three clones attacked from the front.

Neji's foot shifted.

His chakra spun.

Karin's eyes sharpened.

There.

Chakra burst from every tenketsu in Neji's body as he rotated, a perfect dome of force blooming around him. The clones struck it and vanished instantly, blown apart by the spinning barrier before their fists could reach him.

Rotation.

Karin had read about it, but seeing it was different.

A defensive technique made from full-body chakra emission, movement, timing, and the Byakugan's vision. Elegant. Efficient. Infuriatingly good. The kind of technique that made the Hyūga clan's arrogance slightly more understandable.

Naruto hit the ground and rolled backward, barely avoiding the edge of it.

The crowd cheered.

Karin ignored them.

What interested her was not the technique itself, but the boy who had used it.

Wasn't that supposed to be a main family technique?

Karin looked at Neji's covered forehead.

A branch member, sealed and bound, using the treasured defenses of the main house in front of everyone.

How interesting.

Perhaps that was why the Hyūga boy's pride burned so hot beneath all that restraint. He had reached for things he should not have been given and taken them anyway.

Karin could respect that.

A little.

Naruto pushed himself up, breathing hard. His jacket was torn, his face scratched, and his chakra was still roaring through him like a river trying to fit inside a garden ditch.

Neji lowered his hands.

"You cannot win," he said.

Naruto glared. "Yeah? You said that before."

"And I was correct."

"Then why am I still standing?"

For the first time, Neji's expression changed.

Only slightly.

Annoyance.

Karin almost smiled.

Naruto Uzumaki was very good at irritating people stronger than him and surviving it. Perhaps that was his true bloodline limit.

Neji stepped forward.

"Because you mistake standing for changing anything."

Naruto's fists tightened.

Neji's voice remained even, but Karin could feel the anger beneath it, much like she had during his match against Hinata. Not the same anger exactly. This was not clan pain directed through a family member. This was something else.

Resentment.

Toward someone who could say impossible things so easily.

"You believe effort will make you what you are not," Neji said. "You believe wanting something is enough. But the world is not moved by your wishes."

Naruto rushed again.

Neji met him.

This time, he stopped playing around.

His palms struck faster than before, each hit precise, each touch sinking into Naruto's chakra network. Naruto tried to block, but Neji slipped past his guard. He tried to retreat, but Neji followed. He tried to replace himself with a clone, but Neji saw the real one through the movement.

One strike.

Then another.

Then another.

Naruto's chakra flow began to collapse.

Karin felt the tenketsu closing.

Not all at once, but enough. Arms, legs, chest, stomach. Neji was sealing him piece by piece, cutting off the wild chakra that made Naruto so difficult to put down.

The final palm struck Naruto in the chest and sent him crashing across the arena floor.

This time, he did not get up immediately.

The crowd murmured.

Neji stood over him, breathing harder than before but still composed.

"It is over," he said.

Naruto twitched.

Tried to move.

Failed.

Karin's fingers tightened against the railing.

That was the Gentle Fist at its cruelest. Naruto's body still had strength. His reserves were still enormous. But the path between body and chakra had been cut. A shinobi unable to mold chakra properly was half-defeated before the next blow landed.

Against most people, this would have ended it.

Against Naruto Uzumaki...

Karin leaned forward.

Would the fox answer?

Neji turned slightly toward Genma. "He can no longer continue."

Naruto's fingers dug into the dirt.

"Not..." he muttered.

Neji looked back down at him.

Naruto lifted his head, teeth bared. "Not yet."

The chakra changed.

Karin felt it before most saw anything.

Deep beneath Naruto's own vast chakra, something opened its eye. A pressure rose from inside him, old and hateful, burning red beneath the surface. It was not clean chakra. It was not kind. It was rage with claws, chakra that remembered being chained and hated every hand that had touched the lock.

The Kyūbi.

Karin's breath caught despite herself.

So this was the Nine-Tails.

A red cloak of chakra flickered around Naruto, faint at first, then stronger. His wounds began to close. His blocked tenketsu forced open, not through skill, but through overwhelming pressure. The fox's chakra pushed where Naruto's could not, flooding around the sealed points, forcing pathways to answer again.

It was ugly.

It was brutal.

It was effective.

Karin smiled despite herself.

Finally.

There was the weapon Konoha had been wasting.

Around the arena, the adults reacted.

Some stiffened.

Some pretended not to.

The Hokage's chakra tightened. Orochimaru's, beneath the Kazekage's robes, shifted with unmistakable interest.

Karin noticed both.

But her attention stayed on Naruto.

He stood slowly, red chakra bubbling around him, eyes sharper than before. Not fully changed. Not consumed. Still Naruto, unfortunately.

But more.

Neji's calm cracked for the first time.

"What is this?"

Naruto grinned.

It was not a smart grin.

But it was a dangerous one.

"I told you," he said. "I'm not done yet."

Then he moved.

He was faster now.

Not Rock Lee fast. Not even close. But far faster than before, and much stronger. He crossed the distance in a burst, fist swinging toward Neji with enough force that the Hyūga boy chose to dodge rather than redirect.

Good choice.

Naruto's fist struck the ground where Neji had been and cracked the stone.

The crowd erupted.

Neji's Byakugan remained active, his eyes tracking Naruto's movements, but now the fight had changed. Before, Naruto had been a swarm of loud clones and poor control. Now he was still rough, still wasteful, still embarrassingly obvious, but each attack carried enough power that a single mistake would matter.

Neji realized that quickly.

His stance lowered.

Naruto attacked again, and Neji met him with Gentle Fist.

For several exchanges, they clashed directly. Naruto's strikes were wild and powerful. Neji's were precise and efficient. Red chakra flared each time Neji touched him, resisting the damage, forcing open what should have closed.

Karin's eyes narrowed.

That was a terrible way to handle Gentle Fist damage.

Effective, yes, but terrible.

Instead of preventing the blockage, Naruto was brute-forcing through it with Bijū chakra. Like smashing a locked door rather than finding the key. It worked only because the fox had enough power to make subtlety unnecessary.

Disgraceful.

And utterly foolish, because it wasn't just a locked door he was smashing open; it was his own tenketsu points.

Neji seemed to understand the danger. He stepped back, chakra gathering again.

Rotation.

Naruto charged anyway.

Idiot.

The dome of spinning chakra bloomed around Neji, and Naruto slammed into it head-on. Red chakra clashed against pale-blue force, the impact cracking the arena floor beneath them. Dust rose, wind whipped outward, and for a moment, even Karin had trouble sensing through the collision.

Then both figures were thrown apart.

Naruto hit the ground hard.

Neji slid backward on his feet, one knee bending as he caught himself.

The crowd roared louder than before.

Karin exhaled slowly.

That had been stupid.

But not useless.

Neji was breathing harder now. His chakra was more strained, his control still excellent but no longer effortless. Naruto, meanwhile, was pushing himself up again with the same impossible refusal to stay down.

Stubbornness backed by a Bijū.

How unfair.

How very Uzumaki.

Neji's face tightened.

"You do not understand anything," he said.

Naruto wiped blood from his mouth. "Then explain it after I beat you."

"Beat me?" Neji's voice sharpened. "You think winning one match changes anything? You think shouting loudly enough breaks the order of the world?"

Naruto formed a hand seal.

More clones appeared, fewer this time, but each one wrapped in a flicker of red chakra.

Neji's eyes widened slightly.

Karin's smile grew.

Oh, that was unpleasant.

The clones rushed from every side. Neji moved into Rotation again, destroying several at once, but Naruto had learned just enough not to put everything into the first attack. Some clones held back. Others threw dust and broken stone. One dove low, forcing Neji's line of sight to shift.

Crude.

Still crude.

But better.

Neji destroyed the last clone near him, then turned toward Naruto.

Too late.

The ground beneath him cracked.

Karin blinked.

Ah.

So that was where the real one went.

Naruto burst from below, fist driving upward into Neji's chin with all the force his small, stubborn, fox-fed body could manage.

The hit landed cleanly.

Neji lifted from the ground, eyes wide, and crashed onto his back several steps away.

The arena fell silent.

For a heartbeat, no one seemed to understand what had happened.

Then Naruto pulled himself out of the hole, filthy, bruised, and grinning like an idiot.

"Got you."

Karin stared.

He had used the clones as a distraction.

He had hidden underground.

He had waited for Neji to focus on the obvious threat.

That was...

Not terrible.

But it had also been foolish; the Byakugan could easily see under the ground. The only reason it worked was that Neji wasn't paying attention, and that the entire area had been flooded with so much chakra that even Karin struggled to track everything perfectly.

Down below, Neji tried to rise.

His arm trembled.

He got one knee under him, then faltered. The uppercut had not been elegant, but it had been clean, and with the fox chakra behind it, clean was enough.

Genma stepped closer, watching carefully.

Neji tried again.

Failed.

Naruto stood across from him, breathing like a broken bellows, red chakra fading slowly from his body.

Genma raised one hand.

"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki."

For one long moment, the arena remained quiet.

Then the crowd erupted.

Not all of it. Some cheered. Some shouted in shock. Some seemed offended that the match had not gone the way they expected. But noise filled the arena all the same, and Naruto lifted both arms as if he had just conquered the world.

Karin leaned back.

Naruto Uzumaki had won.

Again.

This time, at least, it had not been with a fart.

That was improvement.

Tōji stared down at the arena. "He beat the Hyūga."

"Yes."

"How?"

Karin looked at Naruto, at the fading traces of red chakra, at the enormous reserves hidden beneath his terrible control and worse upbringing.

"He is hard to keep down."

Naho was silent for a moment. "That is all?"

Karin thought about it.

Naruto was weak. Still weak. His taijutsu was crude, his tactics were simple, his chakra control was an insult, and without the Kyūbi he would have lost several times over.

But he had forced Neji to spend chakra.

He had endured the Gentle Fist.

He had used the power inside him when his own chakra was sealed.

And at the end, he had done something almost clever.

Karin's mouth tightened.

"No," she admitted. "That is not all."

Below, Naruto looked toward Neji, and for once, he was not grinning quite so stupidly.

Neji remained on the ground, staring upward, his face blank in a way that did not look peaceful. His chakra was trembling again, but differently now. Less anger. More confusion.

Karin hoped the Hyūga would help him recover, but she wasn't too confident; Neji's problem was deep-seated. It was the branch system itself.

But maybe, seeing a fool like Naruto rise beyond what was reasonable, do what seemed impossible, he would at least not lose hope?