The second round of pulls had been pretty decent.
Earth Spear was a ninjutsu that Akatsuki member Kakuzu had once used.
In a shinobi world where most people focused heavily on offense at the expense of defense, it was an extremely valuable technique.
Aoba really wanted to complain about the name.
It was called Earth Spear, which naturally made people imagine a long spear made from earth.
Who would have thought that it actually hardened the skin across the entire body, creating a technique that provided both offense and defense?
There was no question about Earth Spear’s strength.
It could both attack and withstand attacks, meaning Aoba no longer had to rely solely on the Flying Thunder God Technique for evasive movement.
Spending the 20 skill points required for the first upgrade of a B-Rank ninjutsu, he raised Earth Spear’s proficiency to proficient.
He still had one more 10 pull available, but he decided to wait before using it.
After hitting the guaranteed reward twice in a row, he needed to let his luck recover a little.
Hinata’s team had already obtained both the Heaven Scroll and the Earth Scroll.
After a brief conversation lasting a few minutes, they didn’t linger and headed directly toward the central tower.
Aoba’s three-man team still had to search for a target and obtain an Earth Scroll.
The groups soon parted ways.
Then they encountered some familiar faces.
It was a Suna shinobi team.
And by an incredible coincidence, it was the very same team that had already given Aoba money.
The road was narrow, and by sheer coincidence, the two sides had different scrolls.
They had no choice but to fight.
“Keep the scroll!” Koki threw the Heaven Scroll to Aoba.
The two brothers knew perfectly well which person in their team was the strongest.
Aoba caught the scroll, and the three immediately charged forward.
The Suna team was only average in strength, and neither side was particularly skilled at ninjutsu.
So the battle quickly became a contest of close-quarters taijutsu.
In reality, this was the situation for most shinobi.
The difficulty of mastering B-Rank ninjutsu was already at the standard expected of jonin, making it difficult for ordinary genin and chunin to learn powerful techniques.
Compared to the power of D-Rank and C-Rank ninjutsu, taijutsu was often more practical and consumed less chakra.
Both sides fought fiercely.
For a while, the only sound in the forest was the clashing of kunai.
Koki and Otsuki were both lacking in strength, and when facing the mediocre Suna shinobi, they were steadily driven backward.
Finding an opening, Aoba led one of the enemies away from the center of the battle.
“Why did you deliberately lure me away?
What are you planning?” After the Suna shinobi followed him and the two exchanged several shuriken, he couldn’t help wondering what Aoba was up to.
“Do you think I’m bored?” Against an ordinary chunin, Aoba could now effortlessly dominate the fight.
There was no need to go through all this trouble just to play some elaborate tactical game.
His expression made his contempt so obvious that the Suna shinobi became furious.
“You’re underestimating me!” The Suna shinobi was about to attack again when a cloud of white smoke suddenly rose beside his feet.
Another Aoba abruptly sprang out!
“It was a Shadow Clone disguised as a shuriken?!” Amid the Suna shinobi’s scream, Aoba successfully knocked him unconscious.
Unfortunately, he didn’t find an Earth Scroll on him.
There was no one else around, so Aoba was free to act.
That was precisely why he’d separated from his team in the first place.
“Let’s see…
where exactly is Karin?” Standing atop a thick tree branch, he looked around carefully, searching for his target.
Karin carried the bloodline of the Uzumaki clan and had their distinctive fiery red hair.
At this point in time, she wasn’t as forceful as she would be three years later.
She was still a timid, pitiful little girl, living an absolutely miserable life.
The Uzumaki clan were descendants of the Sage of Six Paths and were naturally gifted with powerful abilities.
After the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools, the remaining members of the Uzumaki clan wandered throughout the shinobi world and suffered all kinds of persecution and killings.
Under these circumstances, Karin’s mother came to Kusagakure.
In order to make a living and avoid being expelled from the village, her mother revealed her unique ability, the restorative properties of her blood.
A shinobi could bite her and rapidly recover from injuries and restore chakra in a short period of time.
From that moment on, the hellish life of Karin and her mother began.
Aoba remembered that Karin had participated in these Chunin Exams in the original story.
He needed to find her and have the girl work for him.
As a Konoha shinobi, he enjoyed certain conveniences, but that also meant giving up a certain amount of freedom.
If he wanted to become stronger, he needed money for the gacha.
Having someone outside Konoha who could help him would surely solve his financial problems very quickly.
Karin was the subordinate he’d chosen.
Her background was clean, her character was decent, and she was worthy of trust.
For now, his top priority was finding her.
If he missed this opportunity, he wouldn’t get another chance.
Half a day later, a huge gray bear came into view.
Seeing the gray bear lying on the ground, Aoba knew Karin was probably nearby.
After searching for a while, he indeed found a lone figure.
He immediately strode over.
Seeing someone suddenly appear, Karin instinctively tried to run.
“Don’t be nervous.
I won’t hurt you.” Aoba gently reassured the trembling girl.
Karin possessed the kekkei genkai known as the Kagura Mind’s Eye.
Since she couldn’t sense any hostility from the young man before her, she gradually found the courage to relax.
“Who are you?” She was holding an Earth Scroll in her hands as she asked curiously.
“I’m just an utterly ordinary genin.” Aoba smiled and introduced himself.
“Hello.
I’m Natsume Aoba.” Karin could rack her brain all she wanted, but she couldn’t find the slightest trace of this person in her memories.
They should be meeting for the first time.
“My name is Karin.
Why were you looking for me?” Having experienced the warmth and cruelty of the world from such a young age, the girl wasn’t naive enough to believe the two of them had simply happened to cross paths.
“I know about your past.
You ended up in Kusagakure at a young age and have been bullied by the shinobi there ever since.
Your mother even died because of it.” Rather than immediately explaining why he’d come, Aoba instead brought up Karin’s past.
His information came from the anime he’d watched in his previous life.
There was no reason for it to be wrong.
“You investigated me?” Karin warily looked at the young man wearing a Konoha forehead protector, wondering what about her could possibly be worth someone’s attention.
Could Konoha already know about my special physique?
Are they here to take me away?
“Whatever.
Do whatever you want.
It doesn’t matter.
I don’t have a choice anyway.” Her face went blank, without the slightest hint of happiness in her heart.
It’s just going from one hell to another.
Seeing through Karin’s thoughts, Aoba patiently explained.
“Don’t misunderstand.
I’m not representing Konoha, and I’m not interested in your body either.
I simply want to give you a chance to leave Kusagakure.
Would you be interested?” “Leave Kusagakure?” Karin looked surprised.
Then she gave a bitter smile.
“Where could I go?
My mother entered Kusagakure because she had nowhere else to go.
And then…” The shinobi world was vast.
Yet there wasn’t even a small corner where she and her mother could find a place to live.
“I’ll provide you with protection and let you live the life of an ordinary person.” Aoba seriously described everything he could guarantee her.
“You can live in a big house without worrying about the wind and rain.
“You can have more food than you could ever finish.
You won’t have to go hungry every day, and you’ll even be able to enjoy the finest cuisine in the Land of Fire.
“You can make friends freely, and nobody will look at you strangely.
“Most importantly, nobody will ever be able to bully you again.” His words were like warm sunlight, shining into the deepest part of the girl’s heart.
Every sentence touched something she desperately longed for.
“Can I really trust you?” By now, tears were streaming down Karin’s face.
“I don’t ask for much.
I just want people to treat me like a companion instead of a tool.
That’s all I want.” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS Hidden_Quill Thank you so much for reading!