Chapter 61

Title:

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"So...How was the mission?" I asked the duo standing in front of me with an intrigued expression on my face.

"It was... interesting, to say the least." Karin replied as she wiped her glasses before putting it back on.

What? Is that all she's gonna say? I couldn't help but wonder and turned my attention to Sai who just looked back at me with a smile that showed he agreed with Her.

I sighed audibly and shook my head. "I can't help but think I've failed as a teacher."

"Eh? You just found out? And you're still thinking? Please." Karin mercilessly said with a scoff.

"Don't be rude to Sensei, Karin-san." Sai rebuked her, causing me a little consolation before he added. "He's doing his best, although questionable, it's still okay."

Motherfu**er!

I'll just assume I didn't hear anything they've just said.

"As a teacher, I failed to teach you two how to make a proper report after a mission. That is one of the most crucial parts of being a Shinobi." I said.

"Eh? You're just going to pretend you didn't hear us?" Karin asked, but as she said, I'll just pretend I didn't hear her.

"So, tell me in detail how the exams went." I demanded and sat back on my chair.

Seeing her provocation didn't work, she scoffed and began telling me how the Chunin Exams held in Sunagakure went about with Sai adding a thing or two in-between.

According to her, although they were a team of two, they were still allowed to take part due to special reasons related to their mission.

I had given them a scroll meant to be seen by one eye and one eye alone. As soon as he finished seeing it, the scroll had burnt to a crisp.

After Gaara had finished reading the scroll, the special seal I had placed on it activated and immediately inscribed on his palm before disappearing, although Karin and Sai didn't notice this, Shukaku did and immediately threw a tantrum within Gaara.

Understanding why, he found that a portion of Shukaku's Chakra had been partitioned into a special new Place within him. That was when he came to fully understand what I had written in the letter.

He was already holding this exam as a Lure to those who would come after him and his Bijuu, so it was a surprise to see that someone else cared about it and even decided to lend a helping hand.

Due to this, he allowed Karin and Sai to participate in the Exams since, according to my letter, Karin would be able to sniff out any and all foreign chakra during the Exams, and with the help of Sai, they could sneakily deal with them without arousing public unrest.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned as Karin became unnecessarily attached to Fuu who was super enthusiastic about making a friend. And being exposed to her true feelings, Karin had found that she was similar to Naruto in many ways but one.

She was a She while Naruto was a He.

Other than that, they both possessed the same sunny chakra, optimistic personalities, was a loudmouth, had a weird 'ssu', and were both idiotic people that would be easily deceived due to their kindness.

Infact, she was similar to Naruto in all except...

'She isn't the MC.' I added while hearing her report.

Sai noted that he already had a suspect in mind due to spying on the various people within the locations of the exam.

Hōichi, a young bald monk who had chakra surpassing ordinary Jounins, but similar to many people he had seen in Hanagakure, he felt his strength wasn't in his chakra but in something else, and noticing the Biwa he carried behind him, he choose to pay more attention to him.

In doing so, he noticed when Hōichi noticed Team Matsuri as they headed towards the central tower. He was later caught in the sandstorm that Fugi, one of team Matsuri trio caused, and decided to hide underneath the sand.

After Gaara arrives to assist Team Matsuri, Hōichi emerged from the sand and prepared to attack the Kazekage but failed, much to Sai's confusion.

After Gaara's departure, Hōichi targets Team Matsuri by using their own shadows against them, this made Sai speculate that he may have been a lost member of the Nara clan.

He did this in order to lure out Gaara, knowing that he will come to rescue the Genins. And as the Kazekage approaches, the priest uses his seal, which creates chains and pierces Gaara, and begins to extract Shukaku's chakra.

This left him in shock for a while as he didn't know how to proceed. One moment the guy was caught in a Sandstorm, the next he tried to attack the Kazekage but failed and was ignored, the next he could control shadows, and sudden, he could perform Fuinjutsu, and to top it off, he was using the sounds generated by the Biwa to enhance his Fuinjutsu.

Anyone would be confused on how to proceed.

Anyways, as the two shinobi stood against each other, Fū arrived with Karin and attempted to save Gaara, which she was unsuccessful at, causing both Karin and Sai to facepalm.

Like, If you know you can't help, why bother creating more work for others?

Noticing that the kunoichi was also a jinchūriki, Hōichi decides to test the power of his seal and begins to extract her tailed beast at the same time as Gaara's.

As the extraction continued, Fū used her Cocoon to slow down the extraction process, while Karin fought off against the Fuinjutsu letter being generated by the sound waves, further slowing the process down while Sai sought for ways to extract the chains without doing damage to the Jinchuriki.

While Hōichi continued his efforts, Team Guy along with Fū's team-mates arrived to save the Jinchurikis. As Neji Hyūga got close enough, he blocked the chakra points in Gaara and Fū from which the extraction was taking place, ultimately canceling it and rejecting the chakra chains.

This came at Hōichi's expense as because the process was interrupted, coupled with Karin's onslaught, the chains went wild in pursuit and bound Hōichi, Gaara took pity on the man and asked for Neji to save him. To which, Neji blocked Hōichi's chakra points and canceled the technique. Hōichi was then taken away for treatment as Karin refused to have the man bite her.

Due to the attack on himself and Fū, Gaara canceled the Chūnin Exams before the second stage ended, informing the remaining participants that reports on their performance will be sent to their superiors, who will then decide if they are to be promoted.

"So... You made a new friend?" I asked the redhead and she beamed.

"Of course. And she's fun too."

"Oh, well I didn't ask if she was fun, now did I?" I smirked at her, causing her to freeze.

Her smiling face immediately became cold and she snorted and looked away

"Anyways, from Gaara's record, he approves of you two to be Chunins, or rather, even Jounins, which is disturbing." I said with a worried look on my face

"What? How? And Why?" Karin asked.

"Don't get me wrong, you two are fit enough to be Gold Ranks in terms of strength, no doubt, but you don't have the other qualities of one."

"Which other qualities, Sensei?"

"You know, the mission counts, chakra manipulation, elemental manipulation and... leadership quality." I said, listing the many aspects of a Normal Jounin or Gold Ranker.

"But you became one straight out of the academy." Karin said with a look of defiance causing me to sigh sadly.

"I'm just that much of a genius."

"You!" Karin lunged at me to attack, thankfully, Sai was reasonable enough to hold her back.

"See? You lack the mental strength needed. Like me, you need to learn how to be calm at all times while processing everything around you in utmost detail. Left for me, I would approve of your promotion, but I won't, because you're both my direct students." I said as I stood up.

"I'm not being mean to you both...how about this," I spread my hands and continued. "I'll let you in on a news, depending on your reactions, I'll decide what to do with you."

Karin finally calmed down but still had an angry look on her face while Sai was still calm, yet I could feel his dissatisfaction and disappointment.

"Let's have It." Karin said seriously.

"Alright..." I said as I poured for myself a cup of tea, took a sip and sighed relaxedly. "This always gets me."

"Sensei!"

"Alright, alright. Geez." I raised my other hand in surrender and sat back down.

"You like that Fuû girl right?" I asked.

Karin looked at me, confused about the question but nodded her head anyways. "She's a good friend to have."

"Of course. She's pure and all. Well, bad news for you." I said.

"What bad news?" She asked, frowning.

"Sai, how about you? Do you like the girl?" I asked, ignoring Karin's question just to irk her a little, and from her reaction, it worked.

"She's a good girl, a little too zealous, but good nonetheless." He said with a nod.

"Then how would you both feel if she's dead?"

"WHAT!?" Karin shouted at the top of her lungs. "Yo-you! That seal!"

Looking at her angry face I couldn't help but chuckle at her imagination, but shook my head.

"Calm down, will you? If I wanted her dead, I wouldn't have asked you two to give her that seal."

"Then-"

"She's in trouble?" Sai interrupted her with the question.

"Seems like you're the only one a little bit more capable of becoming a Gold Ranker." I said.

Karin's expression turned from anger to solemn and then guilt.

"You can't just blame your teacher like that, y'know." I said.

"I'm sorry." She apologized. I shook my head and brought out a scroll.

"Your new mission. Retrieve Fuû from her captors, dead or alive and only then can you open this scroll, it contains your next mission objectives." I said and threw the scroll to Sai. "You're in charge."

"Understood." Sai caught it with a solemn look before saluting.

"Sh-She's going to be okay right?" Karin asked and I smiled.

"I like you Karin. You're an Uzumaki, you're all hot-blooded, every single one of you, and you all love too deeply. However, you should also learn to control your emotions. That will be your strongest weapon someday."

"That doesn't answer the question, Sensei."

"Of course it doesn't. That's an answer you will answer. After all, it's your mission now, isn't it?"

Karin looked at me as though she could see through my blindfold for a good while. Seeing I wasn't going to answer her directly, she saluted me and turned to Sai.

"We're leaving."

"Understood." Sai instinctively replied. "Eh? Am I not the person in charge?"

However, no one answered him as Karin had already left the room.

As for where they'll begin their search, that's up to them. As for me…

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A/N: Dunno if you all know but this novel is finished on Patre@n.