"The second stage of the Chūnin Selection Exam… officially begins!"
As the exam start time arrived, Mitarashi Anko's voice echoed through the broadcast, reaching the ears of all proctors and examinees.
The proctors stationed at the gates immediately took out their keys and unlocked the iron doors, saying to the examinees, "Go in."
In an instant, the genin who had passed the first exam surged forward—some darted in as afterimages, others ran in the classic ninja pose with fists clenched behind them, while some calmly strolled inside.
Team 8 was among the last group.
"Izayoi-kun, should we take the initiative?" Hinata asked.
"No rush. Let's go find someone first."
Izayoi activated his Tenseigan, his gaze shifting to a god's-eye view, first sweeping across the entire Forest of Death, then locking onto different squads like he was switching between surveillance feeds.
Very soon, the location of Karin and her two teammates was revealed to him.
"Follow me." Izayoi flashed forward in an instant.
Hinata and Aburame Shino followed closely behind.
"Izayoi-kun, are you going to find that kunoichi from Grass?" Hinata seemed to sense what he was up to.
"Yeah. Talents like her can't be wasted," Izayoi nodded.
He had come well-prepared for this exam—even wearing colored contact lenses to disguise his Tenseigan.
He was here to change two people's destinies, and one of them was Karin.
His journey to the black market made him realize the inconvenience of being a lone wolf.
If he hadn't cleverly kept Momochi Zabuza and Haku alive, he wouldn't even have one human puppet right now.
Haku made a fine tool, but unfortunately, his loyalty was only to Zabuza.
As for Zabuza, Izayoi didn't trust him—so he wouldn't recruit such a missing-nin.
But since then, Izayoi had been considering recruiting subordinates.
Karin was one of his targets.
Her clan was wiped out, her parents long dead, and their legacy lost—and yet, she still managed to awaken all of the Uzumaki clan's unique abilities at age sixteen.
Karin's talent was among the best, even when measured against the thousand-year history of the Uzumaki clan.
Even without any fate-defying intervention, her trait list already outshone many other so-called "cockroaches" (survivors).
[Uzumaki Bloodline (Purple)]
[Chakra Control (Purple)]
[Medical Genius (Blue)]
[Jōnin Aptitude (Blue)]
[Ōtsutsuki Lineage (Blue)]
Just like how even among red traits there are differences, though both Naruto and Karin had the same "purple" Uzumaki bloodline, Karin's red-haired purity far surpassed Naruto's blond hair—even if he carried the chakra of their ancestor within him.
And Izayoi was certain that five traits were not Karin's limit.
Back when he first learned medical ninjutsu, he had unlocked the trait [Medical Genius (Blue)].
The Uzumaki naturally had an affinity for sealing jutsu.
As soon as Karin started learning sealing techniques, she would definitely unlock a trait like [Sealing Genius (Blue)] just as he had.
At that point, Karin would be a six-trait genius.
There was no way Izayoi would hand over such a talent to Orochimaru.
Hinata and Shino had no idea what Izayoi was planning.
However, Shino seemed to pick up on something and adjusted his sunglasses, reminding him, "Izayoi, are you planning to recruit a ninja from another village? That's against the rules."
"Then, Shino, will you report me?" Izayoi asked with a smile.
Shino thought for a moment. "If you don't keep her in Konoha, I won't."
After spending so much time together, Shino had already come to see Izayoi and Hinata as companions.
Izayoi wasn't like Naruto, who ignored him—Shino had a great impression of him.
To Shino, both Izayoi and Hinata were his friends.
He wouldn't betray his friends—as long as they didn't do anything that would harm the village.
Keeping a foreign ninja "detained" in Konoha would be a serious diplomatic incident.
As the Aburame clan heir, Shino couldn't turn a blind eye to that.
"Don't worry. I'll handle it properly," Izayoi said with a confident smile.
Seeing him so straightforward, Shino added, "If you need help, just say the word."
"You and Hinata just take care of those two Grass ninja for me."
Moving at full speed, Team 8 quickly closed the distance to Karin's team.
At that moment, Karin was busy laying traps under the orders of her teammates.
"Hurry it up! If someone spots us, we'll just leave you here."
"Y-Yes!"
"Useless. If it weren't for your healing ability, we wouldn't even bring such deadweight."
"S-Sorry…"
Being scolded and threatened by her teammates, Karin didn't dare express any dissatisfaction. She just kept laying traps, apologizing in a trembling voice—completely submissive.
This was the status of an outsider.
Though Karin had grown up in Grass Village, her mother wasn't a native. Even though she became a ninja, the village never trusted her as one of their own.
Both Karin and her mother possessed incredibly powerful healing abilities.
Yet, to the Grass Village, they were nothing more than mobile medical packs.
Anyone injured could just come by and absorb their chakra to heal.
As a result, Karin's mother—despite inheriting the Uzumaki clan's robust life force—died young.
And Karin, malnourished and nearsighted, was left behind.
The most laughable part was that the Grass Village prided itself on studying jutsu from other villages, yet they couldn't even understand what red hair and healing powers truly meant.
"Eight Trigrams Air Palm!"
Just as Karin was placing a trap, a girl's shout rang out behind her.
Alongside it came a buzzing sound rapidly approaching.
Before she could even react, a loud bang came from where one of her teammates stood.
Turning her head, she saw him pinned to a tree like a poster, cracks spiderwebbing around his body as blood poured from his mouth.
The other teammate hadn't even reacted when he was overwhelmed by a swarm of insects raining from the sky. After a scream, he collapsed with no sign of life.
Karin was so terrified by the sight that she collapsed to the ground, her pale face growing even whiter.
At that moment, she heard a warm chuckle by her ear.
"Yo, we meet again."
Looking up at the voice, she saw three figures—two boys and a girl—standing in front of her.
When she saw Izayoi in the center, Karin's eyes widened behind her glasses. "It's you!"
"Let me see your arm."
Hinata crouched down, grabbed Karin's arm, and pulled up her sleeve.
The next second, her expression turned sharp.
Karin's forearm was covered in bite marks of varying shapes.
That wasn't what angered Hinata, though.
She and Hanabi had been absorbing Izayoi's chakra daily for the past two years—yet not even one bite mark remained on their skin.
That was because the chakra they absorbed was less than Izayoi's recovery rate.
But Karin only had two teammates, and yet her one arm already had marks from multiple people.
That meant her situation was the opposite—her chakra was being drained faster than she could recover it.
"Eight Trigrams Air Palm!"
Hinata stood up and struck again from a distance, sending another wave crashing into the barely breathing Grass ninja, killing him on the spot.
From beginning to end, Hinata never asked about Karin's condition.
But her actions made Karin's eyes well up with tears, her vision blurring.
Ever since her mother's death, it had been years since she felt cared for by someone.
And this time… that feeling came from her supposed enemy.