Chapter 270 266: Karin's Chuunin Exam 4

While the Ame trio sat by themselves and didn't really interact much, Karin wasn't as idle as she seemed.

She used her sensor abilities to keep track of everyone inside the building and to profile everyone.

And thanks to this, she realized a few things.

For one, the Jōnin sensei of the different teams were gathering in a few rooms surrounding this one, and thanks to the small hidden cameras, which weren't so hidden that Karin couldn't spot them, she figured they would be watching the exam taking place.

Which wasn't all that strange.

She also noticed that a few Chūnin seemed to be mixed in all around the room, and many of them were from Konoha, but their numbers didn't quite make sense.

It was totally normal for someone with Chūnin-level chakra to take part in the exam; there were plenty of those. Many of them had more chakra than even Shigure-sensei, though despite his role, Karin knew he was at best a Tokubetsu Jōnin.

But in a small village, that was already impressive. In fact, only the stronger villages even had that rank. In Ame, they were directly given the Jōnin rank.

No, the fact that there were many of them wasn't suspicious in itself; any village would send its best, or outright cheat and send Chūnin directly.

No, it was their numbers. They didn't fit three-man teams. There was clearly one too many, so unless two were missing and would be arriving late... something suspicious was going on.

As for whether those two were simply in the bathroom... yeah, that wasn't possible. Karin knew they were currently all empty.

So clearly, they were not there to take part in the exam, at least not as test takers. Instead, she suspected they were a part of the exam itself.

And then there was that grey-haired Genin.

He was clearly putting on a show, pretending to be weak, while he was far stronger. In fact, Karin now suspected he was a medic-nin, and a Tokubetsu Jōnin one at that.

Which was beyond impressive for his age.

It explained why his chakra felt a bit weak, not because it was only Chūnin level, but because it was slightly more gentle due to medical ninjutsu.

So, that raised the question: what was he doing here? Was he an assassin, meant to eliminate her, or was his target someone else?

And why send a medic at all? Rather than someone more expendable, no village would waste someone of his skill.

It was all very confusing, and Karin found herself paying more attention to the boy, her eyes locked on him, watching his every move.

This only earned her some looks from others, who wondered why she was staring at the poor-looking kid, but she paid them no mind, more concerned about this one oddity than all the others combined.

Though she did spare a look at the Sand trio.

It was easy to tell who was in charge. Gaara, who stood out even from the rest, not just because of his massive chakra reserves, but because he was a loner.

It was very clear he didn't like the other two members of his team, even though they were his own siblings, which she couldn't understand.

Shouldn't family stick together?

But maybe that was something to do with him being a Jinchūriki? They weren't exactly well-liked by other people.

Though his being here was another mystery.

What village would send its Jinchūriki to another village for a Chūnin Exam?

And why did Konoha agree?

She could clearly feel that the seal binding Shukaku was nothing impressive; if anything, it felt like Shukaku was only barely being kept at bay by Gaara's willpower alone.

Impressive for sure, but reckless.

Foolish even, but then again, Kaguya had always talked about how foolish it was to deal with Jinchūriki and Tailed Beasts.

Time continued to pass by until another massive chakra source finally arrived at the building, when only about ten minutes were left on the clock.

And it was a chakra source Karin had already felt, and one she was rather disappointed with.

Uzumaki Naruto.

He didn't even have the typical Uzumaki appearance; what kind of Uzumaki had blond hair?

Not to mention, his chakra control was clearly horrible, and he looked pretty foolish. No matter how she thought about it, he seemed like a total disgrace to the name Uzumaki.

Along with him was Itachi's brother, Sasuke Uchiha, who seemed far stronger when compared to Naruto; his chakra was solid Tokubetsu Jōnin level, which was impressive for his age.

And his control was also spot on. All in all, he seemed to live up to being Itachi's brother.

Though if Naruto disappointed her, the last of the three was an utter disaster.

A kunoichi with so little chakra that Karin had no idea what she was doing taking the Chūnin Exam.

She should clearly be putting in work to strengthen her body to increase her reserves.

Sure, her control was solid, but that was hardly a surprise when you had that little; controlling it was hardly a challenge.

How someone like that ended up on a team with the other two, she had no idea. No matter how little she thought about Naruto, he was both an Uzumaki and a Jinchūriki.

So his strength wouldn't be low. In fact, he would surely become the strongest person in all of Konoha. He was, after all, the Jinchūriki of the strongest Tailed Beast.

Sasuke was an Uchiha and would likely reach S-rank like his brother.

Both were future elites of Konoha, truly important people, and their teacher was the legendary Hatake Kakashi.

It didn't make sense for a weakling like that to be put on the same team.

Honestly, she wouldn't be surprised if the girl died during the second round; at this rate, she seemed more like a burden than a teammate.

But then again, it wasn't her problem.

It was just a waste of talent to have someone like her on a team with people like those two.

Despite the fact that they should have had no problem dealing with the genjutsu downstairs, they didn't come up right away.

In fact, as she sat there sensing them, she realized that Sasuke was fighting someone!

What in the world was happening?

There wasn't long until the exam began, and they were fighting?

Weren't they afraid of getting hurt before the exam even started?

Karin couldn't see what was happening, only that Sasuke was clearly dominating, despite getting caught by surprise once.

Indeed, his opponent didn't have much chakra, but his body was strong, and he was quick, a good thing to know if they ran into him.

As for his teammates... a rather unimpressive kunoichi, and the other... a Hyūga? Yeah, that was the Byakugan alright; the special chakra was impossible to miss.

Finally, after a Jōnin-level signature showed up, the two teams split up and went their separate ways, Naruto's team toward their teacher, and the other team directly toward this location.

Karin turned toward the door as they entered.

And as she did, she was shocked at what she saw.

An ugly green bodysuit on a not-that-attractive guy, with horrible hair and bushy eyebrows.

Well, it was honestly his hair and eyebrows that made him seem ugly. He was clearly strong, so his body had to be impressive under that hideous outfit, but who thought it was a good idea to wear something like that?

She felt an urge to end him just for the crime against fashion alone.

The three quickly found their seats, and not long after, Naruto, Sasuke, and the kunoichi entered.

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