According to Temari, it takes three days to travel from Konoha to the Demon Desert, even with a ninja's foot speed. When it comes to long-distance running, Naruto has never been afraid of anyone except for Guy and Rock Lee, those two ruthless guys who can run while sleeping.
At first, Naruto just wanted to run casually, as long as he wasn't in the bottom thirty. With so many weaklings around, Naruto didn't think the three of them would end up at the bottom.
But Sasuke and Sakura seemed particularly serious, constantly asking Naruto if anyone had passed them. Then, to narrow the gap with the person in front, they drastically reduced their eating and resting time.
In the end, they only ate one meal a day, choosing high-energy foods recommended by Sakura. Their rest time was also reduced to the bare minimum needed to maintain activity, striving to use every spare moment for running.
When they reached the desert area, Sakura, who usually cared most about her skin, completely stopped wasting energy on skincare. Instead, she focused entirely on observing the trio's physical condition and planning the route forward.
Eventually, Naruto unconsciously became serious as well. This atmosphere reminded him of the scene when thousands of troops were crossing a single-plank bridge back then.
The Konoha Twelve Xiaoqiang could be said to be the strongest of the Genin. Even Choji, who was a little plump, and Shikamaru, who was lazy, wouldn't let their physical fitness fail them at this time.
The real trouble was only for those ninjas with mediocre talent, who didn't train as hard as Rock Lee, and—Kurama Yakumo.
Yakumo's physique was too weak. Even with Tsunade's help and extra training, she still couldn't keep up with her peers. She was already gritting her teeth and persevering after running for only half a day. Haku and Karin taking care of her caused the three of them to fall out of the Twelve Xiaoqiang's echelon, gradually being caught up by those behind.
Haku saw that Yakumo was not in good condition and stopped to suggest, "Let's take a break, shall we?"
"No, don't..." Yakumo supported herself on her knees, watching people constantly pass them, and insisted, "I finally became a ninja, I finally met you guys, I... I can persevere..."
Karin looked at Yakumo's stubborn appearance, struggled inwardly for a moment, rolled up her sleeves, put her arm in front of Yakumo, and said, "Bite me."
"Huh? Why?" Yakumo was confused.
Karin said softly, "As long as you bite me, whether it's injuries or stamina, you can recover quickly. If you want to keep running, then bite."
"Karin, you..." Haku had seen Karin covered in scars and knew her past.
Although her skin was now in excellent condition after Tsunade's treatment, her family was worried about her discomfort and had stopped mentioning Karin's ability. Unexpectedly, Karin actually offered it herself now.
Karin gave him a smile: "It's okay, I used to be forced to heal those guys, but now, I want to help my teammates."
Yakumo knew at a glance that there was a hidden story. If she really bit her, it would probably make Karin recall bad things, so she shook her head and refused Karin's kindness.
"Don't be long-winded, you also said you wanted to continue!" Karin was probably influenced by Kushina and had a bit of a decisive style, saying that she was about to stuff her arm into Yakumo's mouth.
"No, I don't want to do that!" Yakumo dodged repeatedly.
Haku stopped the two of them and said with a smile, "Okay, we actually have other ways."
Ten minutes later, the three of them surpassed a large group of people represented by Wolong and Fengchu again.
"What is this?!" Everyone watched blankly as two beauties (mistake) pulled an Ice Cart and whizzed past, with another beauty sitting in the cart.
The Ice Cart was a real Ice Cart, made by Haku using Ice Release. He and Karin pulled Yakumo to run, and the speed was extremely fast on flat roads. Uneven roads would be covered with a layer of ice after Haku ran over them, becoming flat.
The three of them worked hard to approach the Twelve Xiaoqiang's team again. When Yakumo recovered enough stamina, she would jump out of the cart to save her two teammates some energy, and repeat the process when her stamina was exhausted.
During the break, Karin exclaimed, "I didn't expect you to think of using Ice Release like this!"
Haku ate something in small bites and replied, "This was also inspired by Naruto."
"Naruto?" Karin and Yakumo looked at Haku curiously, "What does this have to do with Naruto?"
"Well, once he clamored for me to help him make some Frostmourne, and later said that this is Ice Make Magic, which can make Ice Hammer, Ice Shield, Ice Cannon, and the like." Haku recalled Naruto's whimsical ideas and couldn't help but smile.
Hearing this, Karin understood. She could almost completely imagine Naruto's expression when he said these words: "...He's still the same, just like Dad, um... how should I put it? Right, chuuni, and he still has the nerve to say Dad is chuuni."
Haku chuckled in agreement, "Yeah, he even said something about developing ultimate moves like Ice Age and Mahapadma. Although I still have no clue how to do them, I'm getting better and better at making things with ice."
...
Three days later, at the entrance of the Demon Desert Surveillance Post.
The examinees arrived one after another, and the last thirty were directly eliminated. They had run for three days, and even if they were dissatisfied, there was nothing they could do, because this was the way of the ninja. Falling behind by one step in a mission could mean death, so eliminating them was reasonable.
Kakashi, Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai Yuhi, as representatives of Konoha, were already there to welcome the examinees.
Kakashi glanced at his students. He knew they would be fine and even felt that participating in the Chunin Exams was a bit like bullying. So Kakashi said nothing, lowered his head, and continued to read his book with peace of mind. He was away from Konoha, no one was watching him, it was great.
Asuma mouthed something to Choji, roughly meaning that his barbecue was ready.
Kurenai looked at Kurama Yakumo with both joy and concern. She knew that physical fitness had always been Yakumo's weakness. Once she passed this stage, there shouldn't be any major problems later on.
Guy was the most excited, looking at the examinees who were so exhausted that they couldn't catch their breath, some of whom were lying directly on the ground, and he was moved to tears:
"Everyone performed so well! Seeing you all working so hard, your teacher is truly moved from the bottom of my heart! Now that I think about it, when I participated in the Chunin Exams back then..."
Tenten interrupted mercilessly, "Guy-sensei, you can tell your stories later. Let us go and rest as soon as possible..."
Guy's tears stopped, and he said a little awkwardly, "You're right..."
Naruto really wanted to hear him continue. If he remembered correctly, Guy kicked Obito flying with one foot during the Chunin Exams, it was so fast, accurate, and ruthless, truly worthy of being called the Blue Beast.
After giving his teammates some clear water and salt, Naruto glared at Kakashi. He looked at other people's teachers and then at his own. He liked reading books, huh? Just you wait
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