Soon, Naruto's group burst out of the woods and reached the edge of the fishing village.
The scene before them made them pause slightly.
A huge crowd had gathered in the open space in front of Tazuna's house.
On one side were Tazuna, Yuto, and their group, including the bridge workers and many villagers who had come upon hearing the news.
Most were poorly dressed, thin and pale. But now, each face carried grief, indignation, and a desperate determination, gripping whatever 'weapons' they could find tightly.
Rusty hoes, polished sickles, fishing spears, even crude long spears made by sharpening the ends of wooden poles.
Yuto and the several young people who had returned with him were somewhat more elite. Not only were their complexions and builds much better than the villagers, but they also each held a samurai sword, standing at the front of the crowd, passionately rallying and boosting morale.
Opposite them, in a tense standoff, was another group, larger in number and better equipped.
Most were burly, fierce-looking wandering samurai, wearing miscellaneous leather armor or cloth clothes, carrying gleaming samurai swords, heavy maces, iron chains, and other weapons, their eyes full of violence and greed.
Leading them was a short, fat man who looked out of place with the surroundings.
He was in his mid-forties, wearing a black suit that was extremely tight on his round figure, complete with a bow tie and shiny leather shoes.
He was leaning on an ornate cane topped with a large gold ornament in one hand, and holding a thick cigar in the other, puffing away.
He stuck out his big belly, as if pregnant for ten months. His greasy, fat face was covered in fierce flesh, and his small eyes sparkled with cunning and cruelty. This was the head of the Matsuo Group, the man monopolizing the Land of Waves' trade and oppressing its people… Matsuo.
Matsuo took a drag of his cigar, slowly exhaled a smoke ring, and looked with narrowed eyes at Yuto, who stood before the opposing crowd with dark skin and sharp eyes. His voice carried heavy sarcasm and threat: "Yuto... heh heh, I never expected it. You lot, the fish who managed to slip the net back then, actually have the nerve to come back? What, tired of living out there, so you've come back to die, to reunite with that fool Kaiza?"
He paused, pointed the cigar at Yuto and the young people beside him, then swept it over the angry faces of the villagers. His voice suddenly rose, full of ferocity: "Fine! Saves me the trouble of finding you! Today, I'll arrest all you ignorant rioters who dare to resist the Matsuo Group and the Daimyo-sama! I'll take you to the pier and execute you publicly! Let's see who dares to follow your example and not obediently work for me, and instead get any funny ideas!"
"You're lying!" Yuto trembled with rage, stepped forward abruptly, pointed at Matsuo's nose, and roared with all his might: "Matsuo! You leech sucking the blood of the people of the Land of Waves! Look at everyone! Look at Tazuna-san! Look at Inari! Look at every person in this village!"
"Who made everyone poorer day by day, unable to even afford food? Who forced us to sell our fish at low prices and buy your grain and salt at high prices? Who colluded with the Daimyo to increase taxes, forcing people to sell their children? You! It's you! It's those nobles and the Daimyo sitting in their palaces who don't care whether we live or die!"
He turned to the villagers behind him, whose bodies trembled slightly with fear and anger, and shouted: "Fellow villagers! Don't be afraid of him anymore! Kaiza-nii used his life to tell us that begging on our knees won't buy us a way to live! Only by standing up and driving them out of the Land of Waves can we and our children have a future! People like Matsuo deserve to be hanged from a lamppost!"
"Hang Matsuo!"
"Avenge us!"
"Fight them to the death!"
Yuto's words were like sparks igniting dry tinder, instantly detonating the villagers' long-suppressed anger.
Thinking of their executed loved ones, their increasingly difficult lives, the future without hope, fear was gradually replaced by shared indignation and anger.
People raised their crude weapons, letting out uneven yet powerful roars.
The fat on Matsuo's face twitched, then he showed an even crueler smile. He viciously threw his cigar to the ground, stamped it out, and waved his gold cane, ordering the hundred or so savage wandering samurai behind him: "Unyielding! Attack! Kill these rioters! Leave no one alive!"
"Kill!!!"
The wandering samurai let out bloodthirsty howls, brandishing their weapons, and charged at the villagers like a bursting dam!
They were seasoned in slaughter. Facing villagers armed only with simple farm tools, practically unarmed, it was simply a massacre!
Many villagers, facing this terrifying momentum, showed fear and instinctively shrank back.
"Stop!!!"
Just as the tragedy was about to occur, Naruto, who had just arrived, was furious, letting out a roar, about to recklessly charge forward.
But someone was faster than him!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!
Three figures shot out like wind from Tazuna's house's windows and door, instantly blocking between the terrified villagers and the ferocious samurai!
"Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
Karin, leading the charge, her red hair flowing in the wind, let out a sharp cry. She opened her right hand, and the next moment, five thick golden chains shot out from behind her!
The chains, like golden pythons with a life of their own, fast as lightning, with overwhelming power, instantly pierced through the chests of the over ten samurai charging at the front!
The chains continued without losing momentum, penetrating several more behind them, skewering dozens of samurai together like candied haws on a stick!
Blood sprayed, screams ceased abruptly. The skewered samurai still had ferocious and stunned expressions on their faces as life left them.
"Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique!"
Almost simultaneously with Karin's attack, Kurotsuchi completed her hand seals.
Chakra surged from her mouth.
A grayish-white, viscous, mud-like substance shot from her mouth, rapidly spreading forward at great speed!
The charging wandering samurai, caught off guard, were firmly trapped by this grayish-white 'mud'.
Even more terrifying, upon touching the enemy's body, this 'mud' rapidly hardened at a visible rate, becoming a hard substance comparable to rock!
Dozens of samurai only had time to cry out in fear before their lower bodies were solidified in the hard cement, unable to move, becoming live targets.
The youngest, Ranmaru, did not advance. He simply stood still, opening his light-red eyes.
His gaze quickly swept over the remaining samurai and the distant Matsuo.
After a moment, he said in a young, clear voice: "No Chakra reactions. They're all ordinary samurai. No Ninja mixed in."
Ranmaru's judgment undoubtedly reassured Karin and Kurotsuchi.
The two exchanged a glance and no longer held back.
Karin's small figure darted out like a clever cat. A kunai had appeared in her hand. She weaved between the samurai wounded or stunned by the Adamantine Sealing Chains, each swing of her hand precisely slicing across an enemy's vital point. Her movements were clean and efficient, carrying a ruthlessness that belied her somewhat bookish appearance.
Kurotsuchi was even more direct. She didn't even use a kunai, relying instead on her exquisite Taijutsu and the great strength and defense granted by her Earth Release Ninjutsu. She was like a tiger among sheep.
Her fists and feet were heavy as a thousand kilos, each blow sending a fully armed samurai flying along with his weapon, the sound of bones breaking clearly audible.
Occasionally, a samurai tried to sneak attack from the side or behind. She would simply stamp her foot, causing a hard stone pillar to rise from the ground or an earthen wall to emerge, easily neutralizing the attack while often injuring the attacker in return.
The battle was almost a one-sided massacre.
Over a hundred ferocious wandering samurai, who had oppressed the people as easily as eating and drinking, were as fragile as paper dolls before these two young Land of Stars Genin.
Within a minute, they had suffered heavy casualties, were wailing in agony, and had completely lost their combat effectiveness.
Matsuo, initially smug, had long since frozen his ferocious grin, replaced by boundless fear and disbelief.
He watched his heavily paid samurai fall like wheat, his legs starting to tremble uncontrollably.
He no longer cared about appearances. Letting out a pig-like scream, he dropped his ostentatious gold cane, turned, and tried to run.
"Trying to run?" Karin snorted coldly. One of her Adamantine Sealing Chains shot out like a striking snake, quickly wrapping around Matsuo's fat waist and then tightening violently!
"Ah—!" Matsuo screamed, dragged by the chain like a pig about to be slaughtered, pulled several meters across the dusty ground until he was before Yuto, Tazuna, and the other villagers, where he stopped.
He collapsed to the ground, his expensive suit stained with mud, his face covered in tears and snot. Looking at the surrounding villagers, whose eyes were blazing with fury as they slowly closed in, he was scared out of his wits, kowtowing repeatedly and begging for mercy: "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Spare me! I'll give you all my money! I'll give you my company! Please, spare me! I don't want to die!!"
"Wow! S-so strong!" Naruto, who had just run up, watched this lightning-fast battle scene, unable to help opening his mouth wide in sincere admiration.
'These Genin, who looked not much older than me, were actually this strong?'
But unlike Naruto's simple admiration, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Adult Sasuke, the moment Karin displayed the Adamantine Sealing Chains, their pupils contracted slightly, and their faces showed gravity and surprise.
Kakashi and Jiraiya quickly exchanged a glance, both seeing confirmation in the other's eyes.
Kakashi lowered his voice, speaking so only the two could hear: "That technique... is [Adamantine Sealing Chains], right?"
Jiraiya slowly nodded, his gaze locked on the red-haired girl retracting the golden chains, a heavy 'Mm' coming from his nose: "It's a secret technique unique to the Uzumaki Clan... no doubt."
Both their hearts sank. They thought of Naruto's mother, Kushina...
The Uzumaki Clan, that ancient clan known for their powerful vitality and unique sealing techniques, had been wiped out years ago, its survivors scattered across the Ninja World, almost disappearing without a trace.
Now, in the Genin Team of the Land of Stars, a descendant of the Uzumaki appeared who could use the complete Adamantine Sealing Chains?
Adult Sasuke's emotions were even more complex.
In his Space-Time, Karin was an important companion in Team Taka.
The Karin he remembered, though possessing excellent sensory and healing abilities, had a combat style far from this fierce and proactive, and had never used the Adamantine Sealing Chains for attack so skillfully.
This Space-Time's Karin had not only joined the Land of Stars, but her improved strength and fighting style were also vastly different from the image he knew.
'Was it a difference caused by a different life path, or... did the Land of Stars have a special way to enhance a Ninja's strength so quickly?'
Just then, Yusuke walked up to them, watching his three students cleaning up the battlefield and comforting the villagers. A hint of pride appeared on his face. He touched his nose and introduced them: "Those three are the Genin who came with me this time, also the examinees for the Joint Chunin Exams. The red-haired one is Uzumaki Karin, the tall, black-haired one is Kurotsuchi, and the little boy with purple hair is Ranmaru. Young people, they don't know their own strength. I hope you'll forgive them."
"Uzumaki Karin..." Kakashi murmured the name, somewhat entranced as he looked at her. He felt she really resembled Kushina...