As soon as Anko left the Forest of Death, she noticed that a party of three was approaching her.
‘The old man is already here, huh. Since he seems to be taking the matter rather seriously, I should do the same, I guess.’
Anko quickly approached Hiruzen and the two ANBU following him and went down on one knee.
“Hokage-sama, I have something important to report.”
Hiruzen almost tripped when Anko acted formally in front of him, but he managed to keep his balance and preserve his dignity.
After Anko finished her report, Hiruzen really wanted to start cursing but didn’t know who to curse.
“Anko Mitarashi, is everything you just reported true?”
He couldn’t help but ask. Three genin and one jonin defeating one of the Sannin was simply too ridiculous. Even if it was four jonin, victory would have still been impossible.
‘Just how strong are those three really? Have they finally revealed all their cards or are they hiding even more things? Anko seems to have gotten quite the power boost as well after Yuna removed her seal. Considering not even Jiraiya could remove it I don’t even dare to guess what level in sealing Yuna has reached either.’
“Yes, Hokage-sama! Everything I said is true!”
Hiruzen heaved a deep sigh and nodded his head at Anko.
“Very well, go back to your duties as the head examiner of the second test. I will comb through the forest for a while and will head to the middle of the forest, afterward.”
“Yes, Hokage-sama!”
Meanwhile, deep inside the Forest of Death, three people were sitting around a campfire. Two young men with black hair and one young girl with red hair and red eyes. While the two men were happily chatting with each other, the girl only sat there in silence, trying to be as small as possible.
This girl’s name was Karin, and she would rather be somewhere else right now. The only reason she was taking part in the chunin exams was that she had no other choice but to do so. She could heal people that bit her, something she shared with her mother, and if she didn’t go and support the two young men in becoming chunin, her mother would be treated even worse than she already was. She was basically here as an emergency kit for the two men to use whenever they want.
Minutes passed, and just when the two men were about to organize the night watch, Karin felt something approaching. She jumped up and looked in a certain direction with disbelief in her eyes.
Her senses have always been extraordinary, she can not only sense chakra over vast distances, but she can also determine the disposition of the one she was sensing.
What she was sensing now, however, left her whole body shivering in pure terror.
She could only describe it as an ancient beast approaching her. The moment she sensed it, it also sensed her and as soon as it did, Karin knew that this was the last day of her life. There was no escaping it. Death was coming.
Her two so-called teammates, meanwhile, were screaming at her and demanding that she explains the situation to them, but Karin didn’t even hear them.
Moments later, it appeared.
Instead of the huge monster, Karin was expecting, a young girl with red and blue hair appeared out of the forest. At first, Karin thought that she made a mistake, when she met eyes with the young girl, however, she knew that she didn’t.
‘How beautiful, so deep and unfathomable.’
To Karin’s surprise, as soon as the young girl saw her, the ancient predator seemed to vanish and instead was replaced by an incredibly warm presence that Karin instinctively wanted to rely on.
“Oh? You have quite an interesting ability, little girl. And that hair…Are you an Uzumaki?”
Karin shuddered a little when she heard that question.
‘How does she know about that? I never understood why my mother told me to keep my clan name a secret. She was very insistent that I keep it a secret. Although I don’t understand why this might be bad.’
Karin’s teammates, meanwhile, didn’t like being ignored at all.
“Oi, bitch! Who do you think you are!”
“Yeah, who are you? Did you come here to ser…”
That was as far as they came before Yuna vanished and sent both of their heads flying.
“What are these insects buzzing about? So annoying. Well, little girl, are you an Uzumaki?”
Terror gripped Karin when she saw how easily her two teammates were killed. At first, she simply wanted to lie, but when she crossed eyes with the young girl once again, she instantly understood that lying wasn’t an option.
Seeing the fear in Karin’s eyes, the young girl chuckled a little.
“Guess it is rather rude to ask for someone’s name without giving out your own first? I am Yuna Uzumaki. Nice to meet you.”
Karin’s eyes widened in surprise when she heard that, but there was clearly still some suspicion left in her eyes.
“Hehe, you are quite the mistrusting little girl, huh? Not sure if you know about it, but what about this?”
A single ice-blue chain popped out of Yuna’s back and started to hover in the air. Karin’s eyes widened when she saw that.
‘The [Uzumaki’s Adamantine Chains]! My mother told me about them. Only very few Uzumaki can use them, but they are definitely not something a non-Uzumaki could use.’
Karin gave a slight bow to Yuna and apologized.
“I am sorry for how I acted. My name is Karin Uzumaki.”
“Haha, no worries, Karin. I can more or less guess why you are hiding the Uzumaki name even though most people have forgotten about it by now.”
Karin was surprised that Yuna immediately started talking with her using her first name but somehow didn’t feel averse to it. She was even more surprised when Yuna revealed that she knows why she was hiding her last name because Karin herself didn’t know.
Yuna looked around and noticed that she very likely just killed Karin’s teammates, making it impossible for her to continue the exam.
‘Oops. They were acting like bandits so I killed them on instinct. Additionally, the one that caught my interest, Karin, didn’t seem to have any good feeling for them either, so I just went and did it. I hope Karin isn’t too interested in becoming a chunin.’
Yuna gave Karin another look and a frown appeared on her face.
‘She seems to be undernourished. Is she getting mistreated in her village? Might as well poach her away.’
“Yo, Karin, interested in joining Konoha?”
[Very subtle.]
‘Never said I would make it subtle.’
Karin, naturally, was completely dumbfounded by that sudden question.
“Haa…?”
“Haha, no need to be surprised. I can see that you are not living that great a life in Kusa. How about you come to Konoha instead? The family should stick together, you know?”
“F-Family?”
“Naturally. The Uzumaki clan was known for its deep family bonds with each other. Since you are an Uzumaki, I am willing to put you under my protection if you want.”
Although Karin was shocked by that offer and really wanted to accept, she couldn’t
“I-I can’t. M-my mother… she is in…”
“Oh? Your mother lives in Kusa as well, huh? Fine, I will go and grab her after the second part of the exam is over.”
“Eh? J-just like that? Isn’t that impossible?”
Seeing that Karin was on the verge of accepting, Yuna took out a piece of paper and started to scribble on it.
“Nothing is impossible for me. If I want something, I take it. Your sensing ability made me curious and after realizing that we are from the same clan I got even more curious. If all I need to do to get you to join Konoha is to kidnap a single person, I will naturally do so.
Here take this piece of paper and leave the Forest of Death. Go to the first overseer you find and tell him or her that Anko Mitarashi’s student sent you with a message for her. When Anko appears, hand her this piece of paper.”
After saying that, Yuna gave Karin the paper she has been writing on for a while now. Karin looked at it with wonder, but couldn’t see anything written on it.
“W-Will this really be alright?”
“Of course.”
Karin crossed eyes with Yuna once again and the only thing she could see and feel was unwavering confidence.
A wide smile appeared on Yuna’s face.
“Trust me.”
Seeing Yuna’s bright smile, Karin’s face started to blush pink at first, and after watching Yuna’s face for a few more seconds, red.
[Ding! Another young girl has been corrupted by ho…]
‘System notifications off.’
[Access denied.]
‘Tsk’
Meanwhile, in another part of the Forest of Death, Hinata’s head shot up and she started to frantically look around.
“What’s wrong, Hinata? Is someone coming?”
A frown appeared on Hinata’s face.
“I am not sure. I felt some kind of disturbance, but I can’t really put my finger on it.”
“You mean like a disturbance in chakra?”
“No, not chakra. something else.”
Since nothing seemed to have changed around them and no enemies were appearing either, Hinata decided to shelf the problem for now.
‘Maybe Yuna has an idea what that was? I will ask her later.’
