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( Translator: I miss some paragraphs for almost all the chapters and I added them sorry )
"The seal has been applied. Unless they deliberately check for it, even Orochimaru won't be able to detect it. But Gaara might be in a bad mood lately, so let's gather the Heaven and Earth scrolls first and go to the tower in a few days."
Karin naturally had no objections.
The two returned to their previous location, retrieved the buried items, and then burned the clothes they were wearing to ashes.
Then Karin casually pointed in a direction. "The chakra reaction is closer over there."
"Hmm, let's go that way." Since they weren't in a hurry, the two strolled leisurely, taking about half an hour to find their target.
Only, this target...
"Too bad, it's the Ino-Shika-Cho formation," Mujie shook his head regretfully, looking at the three below.
"Can't we kill them?"
"No. The Ino-Shika-Cho three clans are fiercely loyal to the Third Hokage. The Nara clan leads all the Jonin in Konoha, the Yamanaka clan is responsible for the Intelligence Division and the Barrier Division, and the Akimichi clan's Multi-Size Technique possesses considerable destructive power even in the ninja world, playing a vital role in combat units. If the three heirs die here, we won't have it easy either. Since we're under someone else's roof right now, let's keep a low profile. Once Orochimaru's plan begins, we won't have to worry so much anymore."
"Then let's change targets," Karin said, looking in other directions.
"No need," Mujie waved his hand. "It's just that we can't kill them, and there's no need to deliberately avoid them. Let's go. If they're not sensible, we'll just beat them up."
The current Ino-Shika-Cho formation could be said to be the weakest of all the elite teams. Although Team 8 had Hinata holding them back, Kiba and Shino's secret techniques could make up for Hinata's lack of combat power.
But Team 10 was different. Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru were support-type ninjas in the first place, and the former was slacking off, while the latter was lying flat. They had been skipping school and hadn't properly learned their clan's secret techniques. Akimichi Choji's destructive power was quite good, but that was all he had.
The reality didn't exceed Mujie's expectations. These three sneaky guys didn't notice Mujie and Karin above their heads at all. It wasn't until the two landed among them that they reacted.
"Who are you!"
Ino jumped up, and Shikamaru and Choji also became alert with sullen faces.
The current Ino-Shika-Cho was more like a comedic trio.
Mujie opened his mouth, wanting to ask them to hand over the scroll, but after thinking about it carefully, they definitely wouldn't hand it over directly. In the end, he would still have to beat them up, so…
Why not just beat them up first?
Mujie appeared in front of Shikamaru with a tap of his foot, and then swept his khakkhara, hitting Shikamaru's tibia.
"Ah! It hurts! It's an enemy!" Shikamaru hugged his leg and quickly jumped back. Mujie was too fast; he didn't react at all!
"Shikamaru!" Ino and Choji anxiously wanted to rush over, but Karin blocked them.
"Choji! Take care of her! We'll go support Shikamaru!"
As soon as Ino finished speaking, she put her hands together, taking the stance of the Yamanaka clan's secret technique.
Choji also used the Multi-Size Technique to become bigger.
He became a giant meatball and started spinning rapidly. When his speed reached its limit, he charged towards Karin like a train with a whoosh.
Ino was overjoyed. She shouted, "That's it! Choji! Force that woman into a corner! Watch my Secret Technique: Mind Transfer—"
Karin bent down, grabbed the ground, and instantly lifted a section of it, creating a ramp. Choji, following the ramp, whooshed— and flew off somewhere…
Then she looked at Ino.
"Mind… Mind…" Ino's face stiffened, then her mind went blank, and the stance for her secret technique instantly turned into a heart shape with her hands. Then she started singing and dancing, "My heart… My beloved, where are you…"
Karin found it quite amusing. She found a rock and sat down, then gestured for Ino to continue.
Uh, this…
Ino continued her performance tearfully.
However, very quickly, Choji came charging back, yelling.
Ino immediately clenched her fists and exclaimed joyfully, "Great! Choji! Finish off that hateful woman!"
As a result, Karin lifted another piece of the ground, and Choji whooshed—and flew away again.
Ino burst into tears. What do you do when someone falls for the same trick twice?
She looked at Karin, who was looking at her with an expressionless face, and could only say while shedding tears, holding up her fist, "Look, look, there was nothing here originally, but actually, you can… pull out a colorful flag from it!"
With a swish, she actually pulled out a colorful flag.
"Ooh," Karin applauded.
Ino's heart was about to collapse. She never imagined that the trick she used to amuse Sakura back then would be used here. But why did she have to perform acrobatics for the enemy during the Chunin Exams? And Choji didn't know where he'd gone either. Waaah, Mommy, I want to go home!
On the other side, Shikamaru was struggling to hold on under Mujie's attacks. Even his 200 IQ couldn't help him figure out what was happening.
However, one thing was certain, he had to defeat the enemy quickly!
"Come on, Shikamaru! You can do it! You can do it!"
Shikamaru quickly took stock of everything around him—giant trees, shadows, rocks, protruding boulders…
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him. But before he could act—
Smack! Mujin struck his pinky toe again, sending him hopping around in pain while clutching his foot.
"To be distracted in battle means you still have plenty of energy to spare."
As Mujin spoke, his staff moved faster, each strike landing precisely on the parts of Shikamaru's body with the most bones—the most painful spots.
Tears streamed down Shikamaru's face from the sheer agony. This wasn't the kind of pain from injury—it was pure, unadulterated pain!
The strategies he had been formulating in his mind were long gone. Mujin's relentless attacks left him unable to think, let alone execute any plans. So…
Shikamaru closed his eyes, flopped down in a spread-eagle position, and gave up.
"…"
Shikamaru's surrender left Mujin momentarily speechless. "You're giving up?"
"Aaargh, yes, I give up! You weren't planning to kill us anyway, right? Do whatever you want—I'm not getting up again!" Shikamaru's complete resignation threw Mujin off guard, leaving him unsure how to proceed.
Mujin sighed quietly, then said in a bored tone, "The scroll."
"It's here! It's here!" Ino immediately tossed the scroll over—not out of concern for Shikamaru, but because she was running out of ways to entertain herself!
Mujin caught the scroll and confirmed it was the 'Earth' scroll they needed. With both Heaven and Earth scrolls now secured, there was nothing else they absolutely had to do.
After stowing the scroll, Mujin looked at the sprawled-out Shikamaru one last time and said, "In battle, victory is ultimately decided by strength. Intelligence can only play a supporting role. If the gap in power between opponents is too great, you won't even get the chance to use your wits. If you want to protect someone, don't think about taking shortcuts."
He once thought his cleverness could make life better for his family in Grass Hidden Village. But when Karin's mother died, he realized that without strength, he was nothing.
Karin approached Mujin, and the two vanished in a blur.
Ino and Shikamaru both sighed in relief. Shikamaru even muttered under his breath, "What's with that condescending lecture?"
At that moment, Chōji finally arrived, panting heavily.
"Chōji! Why are you so late?" Ino scolded, flailing her arms in frustration.
Leaning against a tree trunk, Chōji gasped for air as he managed to say, "I… I was worried about you guys, so I ran toward the sound of fighting… but it turned out to be someone else's battle, so I came back… huff… huff…"
Ah…
Ino scratched her head. "Well, thanks anyway. But all our scrolls were stolen. What do we do now?"
"Scrolls? I found this at the site of the battle." Chōji handed over an 'Earth' scroll.
"Ah, it's back…"
"I like that girl. Next time we meet them, we can kill the other two and keep her to dance for us," Karin said calmly, her words carrying a chilling undertone.
"They care deeply for each other. If you kill the other two, she'll only hate you."
Karin thought for a moment. "Then we'll capture all of them. We can use the lives of the other two to force her to dance for us."
Mujin looked at Karin, a proud smile spreading across his face. "You've truly grown into a qualified villain."
"Mm!" Karin beamed happily.
The two found a hollowed-out tree near a stream at the edge of the Forest of Death. All the teams were rushing toward the center, so no one would disturb them for the next few days.
Humming a tune she'd overheard from Ino, Karin gathered some dry grass to line the ground and picked flowers to decorate the entrance of their hideout.
Watching Karin busy herself, Mujin couldn't help but smile. He cleaned the scarred youth in the stream, performed basic preservation techniques, and placed him on a stump outside the tree hollow.
The jutsu scroll Orochimaru gave them was slimy but thankfully waterproof. After cleaning it, the two began studying it together.
For the next few days, they lived comfortably, far removed from the chaos unfolding at the center of the forest. They strolled through flower-filled meadows, fished by smooth stones, or simply lay on the grass all day doing nothing.
At night, they huddled close together, never feeling cold.
But such peaceful times were fleeting. It was now the fifth day of the second phase of the exam.
Mujin formed hand seals and created a Shadow Clone. The clone then performed another set of seals, aiming at the scarred youth's head. "Secret Technique: Face Transfer Jutsu."
The youth's face began dissolving instantly. The clone peeled it off and applied it to its own face.
"All right, it's time for us to head to the tower."