The two continued to stare at one another for a few long moments, though for the poor Rain Genin behind them, it felt like forever had passed before Orochimaru pulled back his pressure.
"Very well then, I came here with a little bit of advice," Orochimaru said, a cruel smile on his face as he turned his eyes toward the approaching Root ninja.
"Danzō Shimura might seem like an old cripple, but he isn't to be underestimated, and he has a large hideout here in the Forest of Death. The few following you are just to keep an eye on you. Once they attack, it won't be just this." He pointed at the Root shinobi.
"What do you want?" Karin asked, her eyes never leaving the man. "Why are you helping me?" she added, because even a fool like her knew that there was always a price to Orochimaru's help.
"Oh, it's not really help, little Karin. I'm very curious about the Uzumaki clan bloodline, and among the last three living members of your clan, only you have any research value. It would be a shame if you were to die here; that's all," he said, finally giving her a reason.
And, in fact, it was a reason she could understand, even believe.
He clearly still had some foolish belief that one day, maybe after getting his hands on his beloved Sharingan, he would be able to capture her and Kaguya.
Foolish, but she couldn't deny that he had ambition.
"What scroll did you get?" Karin suddenly asked, having just remembered that he had snuck in here disguised as a team, which meant he would have been given one.
Orochimaru couldn't help but blink at the sudden and very unexpected question, but soon enough, he let out a laugh.
"An Earth Scroll. Do you need it?" he asked, finding the situation rather amusing.
Here he was, warning her about Danzō and his Root, while she was thinking instead about the Chūnin Exam and even about getting a scroll from him, one of the three Sannin.
"Good, we need that. Hand it over and get on your way. If you aren't going to help deal with those Root fellows, at least don't get in my way," Karin demanded.
While it might seem crazy to make demands of someone like Orochimaru, it was clear to see that he was here for her, for whatever reason.
And if he had gone through all this effort to find her and talk to her, he wasn't going to start a fight now.
In fact, Orochimaru was impressed by her guts.
Most people would be begging for their lives, but this young girl was not only asking for his help, but also ordering him around as if he were her subordinate.
It was rare to see someone with this kind of backbone, though he wasn't going to admit that.
Instead, he just took out the scroll and threw it toward her. "Fine, do what you will. But don't forget what I said about Danzō. Even if you can handle his Root ANBU, he isn't someone you should underestimate," he warned one last time before vanishing, his body dissolving into the ground.
Karin caught the scroll, and only once she was sure he was gone did she let out a breath.
Despite not being afraid of him, she had to admit, facing him like this had been rather nerve-wracking.
He was, after all, once a full member of the Akatsuki, a true S-rank shinobi, and despite how confident she was in herself, she understood that she still wasn't at that level just yet.
It would take a few more years, but she would get there.
"What happened, Karin-sama?" Naho asked as she and Tōji finally got up, having endured the pressure Orochimaru had let loose earlier.
"Nothing much, though I got us the scroll we needed," she said, showing the scroll she had just scored. "So we don't need to worry about those Taki Genin, which is good, because they were scared off just now." Karin said. "But now we have to worry about something else."
"Those Root guys you two talked about?" Tōji asked, having overheard their conversation.
"Yep, so we are going to go ahead and draw them out. You two are going to find a place to hide and wait for me there. Once this is over, I will find you, and we can leave. I should be able to handle this, so don't worry," she explained, wanting to keep her team safe, despite being rather annoyed by Tōji.
After all, if either of them died, she would be out of the exam and unable to show off in the final round, something she didn't want to miss.
"Of course, Karin-sama!" they quickly agreed, and Karin handed both scrolls over to Tōji.
"Here, if you open them, they should summon Renga-sensei, who might be able to save your life if things get bad, but try not to; it will mess with the exam," she explained. "Now, you two go find a place to hide; I will deal with this."
They both nodded and disappeared into the shadows, leaving her alone.
Karin waited until she could no longer sense them before she took off on her own.
The Root shinobi had just about caught up to them, having also been forced to move slowly to avoid triggering the traps set by the Taki team and alerting Karin and the others.
There were fifteen of them, hardly enough to deal with Karin, but according to Orochimaru, they weren't the real kill team, merely a small part of it.
Meant to keep track of her, and no doubt help box her in when they were ready to launch their attack.
Since that was the case, it would indeed be best to eliminate them all, and then take advantage of having both scrolls to head straight for the finish line.
Once inside the tower, it would be more difficult for Danzō to act; at least, that was the plan.
She moved quickly to close the distance between herself and the Root shinobi, then performed the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu.
As a true-blooded Uzumaki, she had plenty of chakra to burn, and this particular ninjutsu felt almost custom-made for them. It was one of the most chakra-heavy ones, which was why few could use it, but she had no such problems.
Perhaps only someone like Naruto Uzumaki, who had both the chakra of the Uzumaki clan and that of a Jinchūriki, could use this ninjutsu with less concern than she could.
Fifteen Root shinobi, so she made a total of two hundred and twenty-five shadow clones, enough that each Root shinobi had to face fifteen each.
No matter how skilled those Root guys might be, she doubted they would be able to take down that many clones, and even if they did, she could always make more or fight personally.
Though she was a noble, so why would she lower herself to deal with this trash on her own?
A Sannin was worth it, but these ones? No chance.
As her shadow clones appeared, the Root shinobi felt the change in the area and moved in to investigate.
Only to be met with a hail of kunai from the surrounding forest.
Each Root ninja instantly took cover, some even summoning earth walls to protect themselves, but to their surprise, no one attacked.
They only threw the kunai to force them to separate as they all dodged and hid behind cover, thus getting surrounded.
And the moment they did, the attacks began.
Fifteen groups of fifteen clones attacked each of the Root shinobi at the same time.
Each of them used a barrage of ninjutsu, not overly powerful ones, mostly just C-rank ones like fireballs and wind blades.
But the sheer number of them was overwhelming.
In an instant, five of the Root shinobi were blown to pieces, their bodies unable to handle the barrage of ninjutsu.
The remaining ten managed to avoid the first barrage, their reactions just barely fast enough to use the substitution jutsu, causing the attack to land only on some wooden logs.
But the Karin clones were ready for this, and began to use sensing techniques to find the real bodies.
This was even faster than relying on their eyes. In fact, they were able to pick up the destination of their substitutions before they even arrived there. It was all a matter of skill.
And the skill of these Root shinobi? It was hardly worth mentioning.
While they were normally part of the ANBU, and those were meant to be elite shinobi, that didn't translate into strength. In fact, most ANBU were either Chūnin or Tokubetsu Jōnin.
With real Jōnin and elite Jōnin being the true elite, they were leaders and captains of the ANBU.
And the Root? Sure, their training was brutal, but that was meant to make them unfeeling, endlessly loyal, and unafraid of death, turning them into tools.
Which also meant few of them had much in the way of real strength. All skill, no strength; that was the Root.
And Karin? She had both.
Plus the advantage of numbers.
If anyone had expected a high-octane fight, they clearly didn't know the first thing about the horror of a properly trained Uzumaki.
Few people could survive a barrage of offensive elemental ninjutsu.
Shadow clones were fragile; one hit, and they were done, but their damage output? That wasn't at all diminished.
Using them for taijutsu was just foolish; instead, ninjutsu was the true path.
And so, the fight didn't last long.
Even though the ten Root shinobi had avoided the first attack, the rest quickly caught up to them and finished the job.
No matter how desperately they fought back, how willing they were to use suicide attacks, all it meant was that when the fighting stopped, there were a few dozen fewer clones standing around.
But those that remained were unharmed.
And the dead bodies of the Root lay around them, bloody and mutilated, their blood seeping into the ground of the Forest of Death.
Honestly, the fight had been so anticlimactic that Karin felt foolish for sending her teammates away... it felt so... unnecessary.
She blamed Orochimaru; all his talk about how she shouldn't underestimate Danzō, and him going out of his way to warn her, had made her too cautious.
She felt that this many clones had been complete overkill. A complete waste of chakra.
Not that she was necessarily low, but a waste was a waste nonetheless.
She let her clones poof away as she took off toward her two teammates. She didn't bother to clean up after them; it wasn't like she had left any evidence behind.
Sure, it was possible to read the minds of the dead to see what had happened, but would Konoha do that?
If they wanted to accuse her of attacking and killing their shinobi, they would first have to explain why they had a dozen ANBU following her team around during the Chūnin Exam.
Plus, Danzō already wanted to capture her, so what did it matter if he had a reason? He already had one, called greed.
"I leave you alone for two fucking minutes, and you run into trouble?" she cursed under her breath as she felt another group of Genin getting close to where her teammates were hiding.
(End of chapter)
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