"Naruto, we came together to visit the principal!"
Naruto's trademark sunny smile was always on his face, like a little sun that never set, giving off warmth and energy anytime, anywhere, lighting up everyone around him.
Compared to him, Sasuke at his side looked a bit quiet and gloomy. He softly called out, "Senpai!"
Hearing the voice, Karin quickly looked up, the corners of her mouth still stained with a bit of grease.
She was holding a fragrant fried chicken drumstick in her hand, eating with real enjoyment, her mouth shiny with oil.
Seeing them, Karin chewed the chicken in her mouth and asked in a muffled voice, "Oh, it's you two. Want to try this fried drumstick? It tastes super good!"
As she spoke, she even waved the food in her hand toward Naruto and Sasuke.
Naruto casually waved his hand and shook his head with a smile, showing he had no interest in the food in front of him.
Sasuke, on the other hand, kept his head lowered like a silent gourd, not saying a word.
Karin happily picked up a pack of chili powder and, without holding back at all, poured the whole thing onto the drumstick she had already taken a bite from.
As the packets of chili powder were emptied out, the originally golden and crispy drumstick instantly turned bright red, giving off an inviting aroma.
Right after that, Karin opened her mouth in satisfaction and took a big, fierce bite of the drumstick covered in chili powder.
In that instant, the spicy flavor surged through her entire mouth like a roaring flood.
The crispy coating and the rich, spicy taste mixed and blended together, forming a unique and wonderful texture that rushed straight into her nose.
That sharp yet addictive feeling made Karin squint her eyes and let out a satisfied hum.
"Sure enough! The days when there's something to eat are the happiest!"
While eating with gusto, Karin glanced at the silent Sasuke from the corner of her eye.
Seeing that he still looked gloomy, she deliberately raised the drumstick she was gnawing on and said with a grin,
"Oh come on, Junior Brother. It's totally normal that you can't beat your Senpai. Look at you. Why are you taking it so hard and staying this depressed?"
After saying that, Karin even winked at Sasuke playfully. On her pretty face, the word "proud" was written all over it.
The reason was simple. After waking up from a nap, Sasuke had been shocked to find that he had successfully awakened the three tomoe Sharingan.
For a moment, his confidence shot through the roof, and he felt like he was unstoppable again.
So, carried away by excitement, Sasuke eagerly went to find Karin for a spar, wanting to show what he could do.
But what he never expected was that the result of that match was him being completely crushed by Karin with overwhelming advantage.
Even worse, Karin had only used a simple sealing technique to make Sasuke unable to move at all, not even able to walk.
There was no helping it. Even though Sasuke had awakened the powerful three tomoe Sharingan ahead of time for certain special reasons, his total amount of chakra had not changed.
As a member of the Uzumaki clan, Karin, already grown and in her physical prime, had an amount of chakra in her body that was hard to imagine.
She could completely overpower the current Sasuke.
It had to be said that Sasuke was famous for being competitive and never willing to admit defeat.
So every week or two, Sasuke would gather his courage and come to challenge Karin.
However, the cruel truth was right in front of him.
Sasuke was still young, his body not yet fully developed. Putting aside strength and skills, his chakra reserves were far below Karin's.
No matter how hard he tried, the result was always unsatisfactory, ending in failure again and again.
After half a year of continuous defeats like this, the pride in Sasuke's heart finally began to shake, and he gradually accepted this unchangeable reality.
Now, he no longer had the desire to challenge Karin. Even when she teased him and called him Junior Brother, he could only endure it silently.
After a moment of silence, Sasuke seemed to suddenly remember the real purpose of coming here.
He opened his mouth and asked, "Karin, I heard the Fourth Hokage and my brother went to the Land of Wind? When did they leave?"
Naruto, standing beside him, hurriedly stepped forward to add, "Karin, is that true?"
Even though one of them had extremely high talent and the other was the rare Nine Tails jinchuriki, they were still just rookies who had not truly grown up yet.
Naturally, important missions like this would not involve them.
They would not even be told about such matters.
Although Naruto was the son of Namikaze Minato, during the period when Minato stepped from behind the scenes to the front stage, he was extremely busy.
If Uzumaki Kushina had not accidentally let it slip, Naruto might still not have known that the people of Konoha had already killed their way to Sunagakure.
After learning about it, Naruto quickly went to find Sasuke, thinking about whether they could get some information from Karin.
Although Karin was about the same age as the two of them, the people she interacted with were completely different.
Karin was responsible for inspecting and maintaining the barrier, and in her daily work she mostly dealt with the barrier team and even Konoha's senior elders.
Even though she did not deliberately try to gather information, being in that kind of environment naturally made her better informed than Naruto and Sasuke.
Karin let out a light giggle.
"You two are really behind on news. The Fourth Hokage knows the Flying Thunder God Technique. Based on the timing, the fight is probably already over by now, and they're almost on their way back!"
Then she slightly frowned, as if thinking of something, and continued, "I just don't know how much Sunagakure will compensate us this time. I heard they're really poor right now."
The war half a year ago had ended with Sunagakure's disastrous defeat.
Now, the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had personally gone to Sunagakure. The purpose was obvious. He was there to demand war reparations and compensation for losses.
However, as for exactly what Minato would demand from Sunagakure, Karin was not very clear either.
Naruto scratched his golden hair and showed a puzzled expression.
He did not know much about the Flying Thunder God Technique. So he could not help but ask,
"Can the Flying Thunder God Technique really bring people all the way back from the distant Land of Wind to our Konoha Village in an instant?"
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