"Yay, this is awesome!" came a cheerful shout from the redhead beside him.
Sukuna pinched the bridge of his nose, regretting his life choices as Karin skipped happily beside him.
"I can't believe you're actually taking me bounty hunting!" Karin beamed, swinging her arms like she was out for a picnic. "Finally, no more rivers, no more trash, no more D-ranks! Real action, and I'm all along with you. This is like a dream!"
"Yeah, a nightmare that is," Sukuna grumbled to himself.
"Huh? Did you say something?" Karin asked, looking completely nonchalant and carefree.
"Nope, nothing." Sighing, he just shook his head. He couldn't help it. Ultimately, he had to take her along.
Sukuna shot her a sideways glance. "I told you, this isn't a game. It's dangerous. Stay close to me, don't attract attention to us, and for Kami's sake, please lower your voice. We are assassins, for crying out loud."
Karin clasped her hands dramatically. "Ohhh, so you do care about me! How sweet." She leaned closer, smirking. "Is that why you finally gave in?"
She grabbed onto his arm, feeling the years of hard work that had resulted in a muscular form. She blushed slightly. He looked lean but was cut beneath the surface.
Slowly wrapping her arms around his, she pressed herself against him, half-teasing, half-fulfilling her fantasies.
"No," Sukuna said flatly. "You wouldn't shut up. You threatened to cry in front of the Hokage until he ordered me to take you along. That's not 'sweet,' that's blackmail." Sukuna replied with irritation.
Though he knew she wouldn't actually do that, his going out was supposed to be a secret. If that got revealed, there would be consequences.
But that didn't mean she couldn't keep pestering him about it. And for god's sake, if she opened her mouth about his little escapades in front of, let's say, Sakura, Sasuke, or Naruto—then he'd have three more annoying pests hovering around him.
'Tch... so annoying.'
Karin laughed, not the slightest bit guilty. "Emotional strategy. That's what it's called. Effective, isn't it?"
"Perhaps I should leave you somewhere here in the forest. Surely someone's gonna pick up the stray sooner or later," he muttered. The more he thought about it, the more appealing it sounded.
Karin ignored him, spinning in a circle as they walked, fully aware he was just grumpy because of her stunt.
"This is going to be great! We'll fight bad guys, capture criminals, maybe even save some townspeople. I can't wait to show off what I've learned this year, dattebane!"
"Don't bother. There won't be anything like that. Today we have a simple mission—to track and eliminate some bandits," Sukuna grumbled.
"Heh… no enemy shinobi? Only regular bandits?" Karin whined and stuck her tongue out at him.
She highly doubted he had taken this kind of mission unintentionally.
"Huff, whatever. Just see how much I've improved. It's tracking, right? Just leave it to me!" Karin puffed her chest out, not the slightest bit bothered by Sukuna's underhanded tactics.
"Good, that's the entire reason I picked this mission in the first place. I'm not good at tracking. I wanted to take on more complicated missions, but tracking is a pain for me. If you do well this time, then maybe I might take you with me in the future if this kind of bounty hunt comes along." Sukuna replied offhandedly—but that made Karin pause.
"Really?!" Her eyes lit up, eager to show what she could do.
"Yeah."
Sukuna gave her a tired look but nodded nonetheless, unable to hide the smirk tugging at his lips.
As they went further into the forest, it grew quiet except for the crunch of leaves under their feet. Sukuna walked lazily with his hands in his pockets while Karin had her eyes shut, focusing.
He was taking a hands-off approach this time, letting her handle the entire thing on her own. If he was intentionally taking a rookie job for her, then he might as well let her do it entirely.
"Found them," she whispered after a moment. "Seven of them, about half a mile ahead. They're hiding in a little camp near a stream."
Sukuna nodded. "Good. No wonder it was so hard to find these guys. They're practically hiding right at the heart of the forest. Sigh.
This one's yours. I'll watch."
Karin grinned, her excitement bubbling over. "Finally! Don't blink, or you'll miss my brilliance."
"Don't shout, you idiot. At this rate, before your brilliance, we'll see that camp emptied, the bandits already gone, or worse—an ambush laid out for us," Sukuna chided, earning a pout from the girl.
They moved closer until the camp came into view. The bandits were lounging, weapons at their sides, completely unaware.
Sukuna first assessed their strength from his side—no shinobi, no formal training by the look of it either. Basically, they were fodder.
Perfect for the girl's first time.
"You're up, then," he nodded to her.
Karin grinned and formed a hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" In an instant, three copies of her appeared, rushing toward the camp from different angles.
Sukuna had taught her. If anyone ended up asking how she learned it, he could always put the blame on Naruto.
However, he didn't like her approach. Why make the clones now? If any shinobi were among them, they might have picked up on this chakra fluctuation.
Surrounding them so they couldn't run away was a good idea—but what was the point if she revealed her position by doing so?
He sighed. He'd have to correct that mistake later.
The bandits jumped to their feet, shouting in surprise. Turns out there was no need for a shinobi to sense chakra fluctuations. Karin's over-the-top charge was about to rattle them. The idiot had chosen the most straightforward attack.
She had the element of surprise—and she gave it away.
'That's minus two points.'
'And make sure she stays away from Naruto a bit. His idiocy seems infectious.'
One swung a sword, cutting through a clone, only for Karin to appear behind him and slam a kick into his back. He crashed into a tent.
Another bandit tried to rush her, but her chakra chains burst forth, glowing bright red. The chains wrapped around his arms and legs, locking him in place before she sent him flying into a tree with a spin.
'Okay, that was good. Seems like the early training on chakra chains was a wise decision after all.' Sukuna nodded to himself. Reluctantly, he mentally gave her one point.
Two more bandits threw shuriken, but Karin ducked and countered with her own. A well-timed explosion tag detonated, knocking them flat. "Amateurs," she muttered.
'So, she's taken her sealing lessons well. Good,' Sukuna nodded with a sense of accomplishment.
Learning sealing and talismans alone was boring, so when Karin came along asking to get stronger, he not only increased her training but also taught her sealing. Being an Uzumaki, she took to it like a fish to water.
Sukuna honestly wished to teach Naruto too, but he was afraid the idiot might one day blow himself up. At least for now, Naruto was off-limits when it came to sealings.
Another clone charged at the fifth bandit and vanished in smoke, distracting him long enough for the real Karin to dart in with a chakra scalpel. She sliced his weapon clean in half, then knocked him out with a sharp jab.
Whistle
If the earlier display was good, then this was really impressive. The chakra scalpel was sharp enough to cut iron. There she showed the outcome of her hard work. Of course, being a medical-nin, all that training in chakra control had helped her tremendously.
The sixth came screaming at her with a club, but she sidestepped and caught him with a powerful uppercut, her training in taijutsu showing clearly. He went down like a sack of rice.
The last bandit panicked and tried to run, but Karin's chakra chain shot out, latching onto his ankle. With a sharp tug, he hit the ground face-first. She marched over, tied him up with a sealing tag, and dusted off her hands.
"All done," Karin declared proudly, turning back toward Sukuna. "See? I told you I could handle it!"
Sukuna smirked faintly. "Not bad. Loud, flashy—far from anything I'd call a ninja—but you did the job. Ultimately, that's what counts."
Karin huffed. "Loud and flashy is my style!"
"Yeah, let's try to fix that next, okay?"
"HEY!!! That's RUDE!"
...
A/N : A bit of bonding and showing off how strong the current cast have become.
xxx
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