The roasted ants were delicious. Naruto ate a bit too much, so his original plan of sprinting in circles was changed to a leisurely walk to aid digestion. Not only did Naruto eat too much, but so did Guren at Orochimaru's hideout.
But would the cunning Naruko let her digest her food?
No.
So Naruko pulled Karin, Guren, and an unknown corpse into a game of poker. The poker rules were very similar to "Fight the Landlord," but in a four-player mode.
The card game was bizarre. Naruko was deliberately tricking Guren and Karin. Both of them, and the corpse controlled by Kabuto, were trying to find an opportunity to seize Naruko and extract chakra.
Naruko's face was solemn, but she felt incredibly smug inside. The feeling of the other three people at the card table wanting to kill her, while she was confidently playing, was simply too exciting.
Karin played a pair of fives. Guren slammed down a pair of tens.
Naruko glanced at Guren's "size," scornfully drew two cards, and said, "A pair of Aces."
Karin glared. "A pair of Jokers."
"Pass."
"Do you even know how to play? We're on the same team, you know!" Naruko slammed the table.
Karin remained unmoved. "A pair of fours."
Guren: "A pair of eights."
Naruko repeated her previous action, drew cards, and continued to scorn Karin. "A pair of Aces."
"Boom!" Karin exploded, smashing the wooden table to splinters with a palm strike, her crimson hair fluttering with rage. "What do you mean by that?!"
It seemed Naruko had not only planted Sweet Potato No. 2 but also a Blood Red Chili Pepper No. 2.
Naruko spread her hands, nonchalantly. "It's just a game of cards."
Why are all you Uzumaki women so hot-tempered?
"Is that how you play cards?!"
"If you can't handle it, don't play." Naruko dodged Karin, walked to the wall, pressed her handprint, then retreated into the teleportation portal.
Seeing Naruko leave, Karin massaged her chest, trying to calm herself. "It's just a card game, don't get angry, don't get angry..."
However, in less than ten seconds, Naruko reappeared from the teleportation portal. "Didn't expect that, did you? I'm back again."
"I was in a hurry just now and forgot to bring you a gift. Here's a make-up."
With that, Naruko pulled out two band-aids from her pocket and tossed them over. "Here, I'm giving you a set of... romantic lingerie."
Two seconds later, Blood Red Chili Pepper No. 2 evolved into Blood Red Pointed Pepper.
Karin's hair stood on end, and her roar echoed throughout the entire hideout. "Uzumaki Naruto!! I'm going to kill you!!"
"Whoosh... Crack..."
Eight enormous chains extended from Karin's body.
The chains were incredibly fast, reaching Naruko in the blink of an eye.
Naruko dove forward, sprawling on the ground, hands raised above her head in a begging gesture. "Wait, I have one last thing to say!"
"Trying to beg for mercy? Too late!"
Naruko lifted her head. "No, I wanted to say... don't stick them on backward."
With that, her chakra ran out, and she vanished.
"Boom!" The chains smashed the floor and were slowly retracted.
"Hmph... hmph... hmph." Exhausted from anger and the excessive use of Adamantine Sealing Chains, Karin sat tiredly on the ground, panting heavily.
Guren, who had already despaired into a salted fish, picked up a teacup, took a sip, and said, "I don't know what you did to provoke him, but I advise you to apologize to him, or if you keep getting this angry, you might not live past thirty."
Karin: "..."
After getting revenge on his two enemies, the refreshed Naruko went looking for his third enemy... the ants.
Naruto was speechless.
In the original story, Sasuke only released four chains when he was stabbed to death. Now, after being angered for a year, she burst out eight! Were you trying to get revenge on Karin or help her evolve her abilities?
Is this how you take revenge?
Speechless or not, the plan had to continue. After his leisurely digestion walk, Naruto looked up at the sky, then resumed running in circles.
Tonight, the moon was bright and the stars sparse. The lighting was perfect—a good opportunity for lurking.
Somewhere in the exam grounds, a temporarily formed team of Sakura, Choji, and Ino whispered in the open space between two small tents. All three looked exhausted.
They had encountered an enemy today, a Sand Ninja squad. Their strength was not to be underestimated; the three of them had to take turns unleashing their potential to defeat them. Although they had burst their potential, they also sustained some injuries.
Choji was bitten by an enemy's snake, and Sakura had dissolved the venom, but it had taken a toll. Ino had unleashed the Yamanaka clan's secret technique to link consciousness, overdrawing her mental energy. Sakura, treating her two teammates, had overused her chakra.
The three were currently discussing the night watch issue. During the Chunin Exams, even at night, it wasn't safe.
"I'll take the first watch," Sakura suggested. She had examined both of them and knew their injuries; they urgently needed rest. Unlike them, Sakura's chakra overuse was because she was constantly storing chakra for the Yin Seal, which left her with very little usable chakra.
The Yin Seal's initial creation required continuous chakra infusion until completion; otherwise, it would be for naught, and she'd have to start over.
With Sakura's chakra reserves, it would take three years to fill. Three years was too long, so Sakura opened a small pool beside the large Yin Seal pool. This small pool, once full, would be used for battle.
However, in this exam, neither of her pools was full, which left her with even less usable chakra. Sometimes, she would even faint for a short while due to chakra overuse. The main reason was simply too little chakra.
If she were to bite Naruto and have him inject chakra, it would be full in at most a day. Any second more, and Naruto would automatically change his surname to Hatake.
Although the Yin Seal required a long preparation time, it also had many benefits. Once the chakra storage was complete,
Sakura would trigger the ultimate passive of a healer—Sakura's Immortality, also known as the Strength of a Hundred Seal. As long as she wasn't instantly killed, "Sakura-bro" could revive at full strength on the spot.
At the same time, she would also gain the same eternal youth ability as Tsunade; Sakura would maintain her youthful figure until her death. This meant that as long as "Sasuke-bro" worked hard, Sakura could give birth to an entire Uchiha clan! Even four generations living together.
Unfortunately, "Sasuke-bro" married the most fertile woman in the village but only had a daughter.
The other two also understood the situation, so Sakura's suggestion was accepted by them.
Choji rubbed his stomach. "Then I'll take the second watch."
He was hungry and wanted to satisfy his cravings in his dreams. For the past two nights, Choji often dreamed of roasted meat, but the meat would constantly move closer and further away from him, which he found very confusing.
"Then I'll take the third watch," Ino mumbled.
"Good, you two rest first," Sakura said with a smile, waving them back to their respective tents.
"Oh right, Ino, you can use this as a pillow," Sakura said, taking out a thick book and handing it to Ino.
It was a novel. Some time ago, she had been depressed for a long time after learning that her teammates weren't aliens. A nurse at the hospital, seeing her in a bad mood, recommended this novel, which was so niche that only those within the circle knew about it.
It was a female protagonist novel, titled "Three Lives, Three Worlds, A Fated Bond." It mainly told the story of a pair of brothers who, due to an unfair distribution of family property, fell into conflict and fought fiercely.
After being reincarnated with a curse, they continued to contend with each other. In the third life, the female protagonist played a comedic role in their drama. Some of the book's content challenged Sakura's worldview, but she still persisted in reading it.
However, time was limited, so Sakura read at most one page a day. She had calculated the pages and estimated that she would reach the ending on October 10th of Konoha Year 64. Unconsciously, "Sakura-bro" once again touched upon the truth of the Naruto world.
Time passed bit by bit. Sakura woke Choji, and after Choji finished his watch, he woke Ino.
With sufficient sleep, Ino had recovered well, sitting in front of the tent, practicing her newly acquired ability.
The Yamanaka clan could use mental power to guide people within a certain range for telepathic communication. Ino couldn't do it before, but now she could. Like a child with a new toy, she scanned everything within her perception range repeatedly.
Suddenly, Ino sensed a person entering her perception range, moving very fast. Fearing a mistake, she sensed a few more times. However, since it was a newly awakened ability,
she could only scan like a radar, following a pattern, and couldn't use it as she pleased. So, in her perception, the person's location changed with each scan.
On the other side, the running Naruto felt a strange linked sensation. Before he could respond, the connection was broken.
"Who the heck is that, making a nuisance call in the middle of the night!"
He originally didn't want to bother, but as he ran further away, he suddenly heard intermittent sounds.
The communication quality was comparable to an old PHS phone. "Who... are... you..."
For whom
Naruto mentally added that line for Ino, but he didn't reply, because Stephen Hawking said not to reply to such messages. As a classmate, Naruto knew who was calling as soon as Ino spoke. It was just that her voice sounded as if she was speaking with her mouth full of spicy strips.
Since Ino was there, Sakura must be there too.
Planning something in his mind, Naruto accelerated out of Ino's signal range.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu." He formed a hand seal, released a clone, and asked, "You know what to do, right?"
"Mhm," the clone nodded.
"Here, do it yourself," Naruto pulled out a kunai and handed it to him.
However, the clone didn't take it. It just gave a warm smile, then lunged into Naruto's embrace, the kunai piercing his abdomen. Its movements were agile, its demeanor calm, its will firm, quite reminiscent of Yahiko.
"Bang."
The clone disappeared. Naruto knew this was Itachi now.
I just asked you to deliver a message; do you really need to be so dramatic?
The Shadow Clone Jutsu was quite remarkable. When each clone disappeared, the other clones would receive its memories.
The future Hokage once used this trait during his Rasenshuriken training, sending a clone to Asuma for guidance. After the clone understood, it dispelled, and all other clones instantly understood.
A short while later, Naruto received the location of his brother-in-law from the clone on the other side. Fearing that his brother-in-law might be injured unexpectedly, Naruto had kept a clone remotely following them.
Now that he had encountered Sakura, it was a good opportunity to lead her to his brother-in-law to check on him, lest some injuries linger and cause future problems. Naruto was really worrying himself sick over his brother-in-law.
Incidentally, he also wanted to see if these three people in his "friend group" needed to improve their strength.
First, Ino.
You're so pretty, and you don't even post more pictures in your friend circle for people to admire. What's the deal with you making nuisance calls to me in the middle of the night?
Next, Sakura.
Finally, his loyal follower Choji.
Mainly because he was fat and could use the Partial Multi-Size Jutsu, making him difficult to fight. So Naruto decided he should first hunt down the two people under 200 pounds.
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