"Karin," Yakumo said calmly. "Don't be impulsive."
"I am perfectly calm," Karin said, cracking her knuckles, her voice deliberate. "I've been wanting to knock him down a peg for a while now."
Sai seemed oblivious to the source of Karin's anger, still wearing his faint smile. "Please do not interfere with my mission."
In Sai's mind, the mission assigned to him by Sakura was the highest directive. No one could stop him. Sakura's orders were second only to the consultant's in priority, and no one could stand in his way. Sai's thinking was just that simple.
"You want a fight? Then bring it on," Karin said, clenching her fists without a shred of fear.
It had been a while since she'd had a real fight. This was a good chance to see the results of her training.
Without giving Sai another chance to speak, Karin shot forward, throwing a punch straight at him.
Sai was completely composed in the face of Karin's sudden attack. During his time with Danzo, moments of life and death like this were commonplace.
Unhurriedly, Sai drew the short sword from his back with his right hand, using the blade to block Karin's attack. His left hand was already at his ninja tool pouch, about to pull out a miniature scroll.
But then, something happened that surprised Sai. When Karin's fist made contact with his sword, the blade shattered inch by inch. At the same time, an immense force grazed past his ear.
Sai quickly dodged to the side without a hint of hesitation. He immediately unrolled the scroll, his brush flying across it. In the blink of an eye, two tigers took shape.
"Ninja Art: Super Beast Scroll!" Two enormous tigers leaped from Sai's opened scroll. With two thunderous roars, they lunged at Karin with the force of a mountain.
Karin was momentarily startled, then took half a step back. She clenched both fists, gathering her strength. Just as the two ink tigers pounced, she struck out with both hands, unleashing a wave of overwhelming power that surged toward the beasts.
In an instant, the tigers inflated like balloons and then exploded, splattering black ink everywhere.
By the time the ink cleared and Karin tried to find her target again, she felt a powerful pull on her legs. Looking down, she saw two large snakes coiled around her legs and waist, immobilizing her.
Just then, Sai slowly walked out from the side. He looked at Karin and smiled faintly. "You can just stay here for a while."
Karin struggled, but the coils were tight. "Let me go!" she yelled in anger.
"I can't do that. I can't have you interfering with my mission," Sai said with his signature smile. He then turned to Yakumo. "Well then, shall we continue?"
Yakumo was already staring, dumbfounded. She had never imagined someone could fight using paintings. Even though they were just ink, she hadn't expected to witness it so soon.
"Can you teach me how to draw?" Yakumo asked.
"No. My mission does not include that," Sai refused.
Seeing Yakumo's "betrayal," Karin was both furious and anxious. You asked for this, she thought. She calmed her mind, trying to quickly enter that familiar state.
Just as Sai finished speaking, a sense of danger came from behind him. After two sharp thuds, Sai, with his back still to Karin, dodged to the side. A golden, thorny chain had struck the spot where he had just been standing. Before Sai could recover, another wave of danger came from his side.
This time, Sai had nowhere to dodge. He was bound tightly by the thorny chains, unable to move. When he looked at Karin again, his expression was one of utter shock. Several chains had emerged from Karin's body and were floating in the air around her.
Sai tried to use his chakra but found it difficult to mobilize. Looking at the chains, he had a sudden realization. Did these chains also have the property of disrupting chakra?
The Adamantine Sealing Chains didn't just seal the chakra of Tailed Beasts; they could seal the chakra of ordinary ninja as well. The effect just wasn't as pronounced as it was on a Tailed Beast's chakra.
"Hah... hah..." Karin panted heavily, clearly having expended a great deal of stamina, but she had managed to bind Sai securely.
"Is this... a sealing jutsu?" Sai's smile was gone, his muscles tense as he asked.
Karin didn't answer. At that moment, she was struggling to maintain the Adamantine Sealing Chains and was too exhausted to speak.
"I surrender," Sai said, his face expressionless.
Under these circumstances, after a quick assessment of the situation, Sai made his decision. While his mission had to be completed, compared to the consultant's highest directive, Sakura's orders could be abandoned.
The mission he had received was to monitor Sakura while also following her commands. But if his own life was threatened, then in order to complete the consultant's primary directive, he could abandon the secondary one.
The moment Sai surrendered, the chains around him dissipated. Karin's eyes rolled back in her head, and she collapsed to the ground.
It was still too much for me, Karin thought with a flicker of frustration before she passed out.
"Karin!" Yakumo rushed forward to check on her. The fight between Sai and Karin had left her stunned. So this is what a ninja battle is like.
"Karin!" Yakumo shook her, calling her name.
"Shaking her like that won't do as much good as taking her to the hospital," Sai said, walking over.
"I..." Yakumo bit her lip. "Can you help me take her to the hospital? I can't carry her."
Yakumo's constitution was weak. She would get winded just from moving around for too long, let alone carrying another person.
"Hm?" Sai looked at Yakumo with some surprise, a slight stir in his heart. He thought for a moment in silence, then smiled. "Alright. I'll help you."
"Thank you, Sai," Yakumo said gratefully.
"Y-You're welcome." Sai's smile was still fake, but it was a bit stiff. Yakumo's thanks had left him at a loss. A strange sense of familiarity flashed through his mind, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.
Lifting Karin from the ground, Sai put her on his back. "The training will end for now," he said.
"Okay," Yakumo nodded. She then asked again, "Can you... teach me how to draw? The ninjutsu that uses drawing to fight."
Sai was about to refuse, but he felt as if his tongue was weighed down by a thousand-pound stone. He couldn't get the words out. After a moment of stunned silence, he said, "You can ask Captain Sakura. She's the one who designed your training."
"I understand. Thank you," Yakumo thanked him again. Sai's meaning was clear: if Sakura didn't object, he wouldn't either.
Sai's face was stiff. "I'll be going now."
He quickly left. For some reason, that familiar feeling was getting stronger, but he just couldn't grasp it.
Sai didn't know what it was. He wanted to smile at Yakumo, but the smile that came so easily during training was impossible to produce now. He had to get away.
At the Konoha Hospital, Sai delivered Karin to a room. Because Karin was the Fifth Hokage's disciple, the medical staff also reported the incident to Lady Fifth.
When Tsunade arrived at the hospital, Sai was sitting by Karin's bed. Seeing him, Tsunade's brow furrowed slightly. The medical team had reported that Karin had no obvious injuries but was unconscious.
Although Karin was her third disciple, as Hokage, Tsunade didn't have much time to personally instruct her. But she always kept an eye on Karin's situation. After all, she was an Uzumaki, a distant blood relative, and her own student.
"What happened?" Tsunade asked Sai.
"Mm," Sai thought for a moment. "We sparred a bit. She ended up like this after using a jutsu with chains."
"What kind of jutsu?" Tsunade asked.
"I don't know. I've never seen it before," Sai said with a shrug.
"Can you describe it?" Tsunade was a bit puzzled. She knew all the jutsu Karin had learned.
"Hmm... they were golden chains, with thorn-like spikes on them," Sai said, then added, "Oh, and that technique seemed to have the effect of sealing chakra."
"Sealing chakra?" Tsunade muttered to herself, a thoughtful look on her face. Then, with a start of surprise, she said, "Could it be... the Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
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