Naruto roughly explained the ins and outs to his two teammates, not going into too much detail about Karin being bullied in the Hidden Grass Village, as that fell into the realm of personal privacy. He only told them that Karin was very pitiful.
Sasuke extracted the key points: "So you're saying Karin is your sister?"
"Also your sister."
"What does it have to do with me..." It seemed like it really did have something to do with him. Sasuke remembered his red-haired godmother.
Sakura asked, "So are you going to stand up for your sister?"
"Actually, she might become your sister in the future too," Naruto tried to make connections.
"Huh?" Sakura's mind couldn't quite process it.
Naruto teased, "When you change your surname to Uchiha in the future..."
"Ah..." Sakura's cheeks flushed red, and she secretly glanced at Sasuke. "Oh, Naruto, why are you saying such things?"
[Inner Sakura: If you have something nice to say, say more!]
Sasuke was confused. Why would Sakura change her surname to Uchiha? Did her family have elders from the Uchiha clan?
Just like that annoying woman named Izumi, she originally had a commoner's surname, but her mother was from the Uchiha clan. Later, she awakened the Sharingan and then changed her surname to Uchiha.
Sasuke had always been wary of Izumi Uchiha because he could tell at a glance that she had designs on his brother.
Could it be—she wants to ask my brother to teach her how to train?
Absolutely not! My brother already spends so little time training with me, I can't let her take up his time!
Regardless of Sasuke's wild thoughts, Naruto calculated that there were a total of 20 teams that advanced to the second round. After removing his own team and the three teams he had dealt with, there were 16 teams left.
So Naruto created 16 Shadow Clones. Naruto waved his hand and said, "Each of you confirm one team, open a small map, and do a carpet search!"
"Yes, sir!"
The 16 clones scattered in all directions and quickly left Naruto's main body's line of sight.
One of them took out the number 001 tag and stuck it to his chest, one directly transformed into Naruko, and another's cheerful expression turned into a poker face.
Naruto said, "Let's continue towards the tower. If the clones don't find them, we can still block the entrance."
Sasuke and Sakura had no objections. Standing up for their sister was their duty.
The Kagura Shingan used by the clones might be slightly weaker compared to the main body, but it was enough. The Death Forest itself wasn't particularly large.
Since the exam had just started, the teams that entered from different entrances were still relatively scattered.
Soon, the Shadow Clones made discoveries and locked onto the positions of various teams, heading towards them respectively.
Thirteen of the clones weren't so lucky and didn't encounter any Grass Ninja. They were initially dejected because they had lost this gamble of luck, losing their chance to appear. Then, they cheerfully chose a way to die.
So the innocent examinees watched as a little blondie excitedly ran into their line of sight, and then, right in front of them, either committed suicide with a Kunai, or committed suicide with a Rasengan, or committed suicide by running into a tree, or committed suicide by grabbing a poisonous snake and letting it bite himself...
These 13 teams discussed the dusty little blondie clone who came to perform suicide:
"That was a Shadow Clone just now, right?"
"Yeah, what does that mean? He ran in front of us just to commit suicide?"
"Are you stupid? Shadow Clones are ninjutsu used for reconnaissance. If he sees us and then commits suicide, he'll transmit the information back. That means our location and route are already exposed."
Many teams chose to quickly relocate and change their routes to avoid being ambushed by this blond kid's team.
Of course, there were also confident ones, like Gaara's team and Six Paths Toth's team from the Hidden Sound Village. They weren't afraid of being found and continued on their original routes.
Big Brother-in-law's group also generally believed that Naruto's Shadow Clone was there to scout information.
Tenten complained, "What is that guy thinking? Can't he just dispel the Shadow Clone properly? Why does he have to stick his head into the tiger's mouth? It's scary, okay?"
The Ino-Shika-Cho team also encountered a Shadow Clone. Shikamaru was calm: "Naruto shouldn't be here to steal from us, so let's continue the ambush. It's too troublesome to find a suitable ambush spot again."
Choji munched on snacks, nodding: "That's right, Naruto shared his precious snacks with me before, so he definitely won't steal the scroll.
How about we use the scroll to trade for more snacks with him?"
Ino covered her head, despairing. She couldn't stand these two lazy and gluttonous guys!
Number 001 and the Unnamed Shadow Clone were lucky enough to each find a team of Grass Ninja.
Number 001 happily stood in front of them, carrying an Eight Trigrams Xuanhua Axe made of branches, and shouted:
"I opened this road, I planted this tree, if you want to pass, leave the toll!"
On the other side, the Unnamed Clone spoke concisely but domineeringly:
"You are already surrounded."
The luckiest, but also the unluckiest, clone was Naruko, because—she encountered Hinata's team.
At first, Naruko was pleasantly surprised. Her luck was so good that she could meet Hinata. Wouldn't the main body reward herself with dozens of appearances?
However, when Naruko jumped out to say hello, she found that the atmosphere was not right. Hinata took two steps back, looking incredulous and at a loss.
Kiba opened his mouth wide, pointing at Naruko with one finger, as if he had seen something incredible: "Y-y-you..."
Akamaru: "Woof?"
The scent is right, but the image seems a little strange?
Shino pushed up his sunglasses, and the lenses reflected the same light as Conan.
Naruko was confused. What's wrong with me? She casually smoothed her blonde pigtails, her movements freezing in place. She looked down and couldn't see her toes...
Grass, a plant.
Sun, a star.
Crap, I messed up. I seem to be in a cross-dressing state!
"Um... I'll let the main body explain later."
Looking at Hinata, who was so surprised that she had activated her Byakugan, Naruko showed a poignant smile. I'm afraid my appearances are going to be deducted!
Naruko quickly dispelled herself.
"Question: What should I do if my girlfriend finds out about my cross-dressing hobby? Waiting online, it's urgent."
This was the last thought Naruko sent back.
"Hahahaha..."
The Naruto main body, who was hurrying along with two teammates, let out a laugh of utter despair under the puzzled gazes of Sasuke and Sakura.
What's with this guy again?
In this situation, if Sasuke were to ask Naruto, "Why does the Prime Minister laugh?"
Naruto would definitely answer him: I laugh at that Naruko's lack of wisdom, and Shadow Clone Number 001's recklessness!
What do Hinata's Chakra fluctuations feel like? After training together for so long, can't you really recognize them? And you even dressed up as a woman and went forward!
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