(Kimimaro's Team POV)
-Ranmaru, how far away they're?- Suigetsu asked with a toothy grin.
-3 kilometers to the west.- Ranmaru replied calmly, his eyes red.
-Let's go!- Suigetsu laughed excitedly, running ahead.
Ranmaru sighed, but glanced to the side, where he saw Karin looking rather quiet.
She looked in the direction Suigetsu had gone, her eyes vacant and thoughtful.
-Karin, are you alright?- Ranmaru frowned slightly, worried.
Karin seemed to come to her senses, she adjusted her Yukata slightly, nodding with a weak smile. - Okay, let's go before Suigetsu gets into trouble again.
Saying this, she ran away, chasing after Suigetsu.
Ranmaru tilted his head slightly, looking at Karin's back, but in the end he shook his head and moved forward as well.
The trio sped through the trees, but Ranmaru soon noticed something strange. -They seem... to be coming towards us?
Karin and Suigetsu stopped and looked at the arriving team, their lips trembling.
The leader carried a huge flag, his hair was a long, tube-shaped quiff pointing forward, another was small, wielding claw-like blades in his hands, the last one was... incredibly fat!
The two sides exchanged surprised glances, and soon the flag bearer was shouting excitedly. -Oh! Who would have thought we'd find our targets first! That's truly lucky!
-I don't see what luck is, Kazami.- The shorter man sighed, he had collected Oto's dolls, so he knew the trio in front of him. -They are the students of the leader of Otogakure, they are not weak.
-Muyami! Don't be so pessimistic! Right, Burami?- The leader laughed excitedly, ready for combat.
On the other side, Suigetsu smiled, shaking his head in surprise. -Those guys are really stupid, but whatever, I'm going to deal with the guy who's holding the flag.
Karin rolled her eyes, but didn't complain. Seeing the two remaining, she made her choice. -I'll take the short one.
She wasn't going to get near that sweaty fat guy, no way.
Ranmaru sighed, he didn't mind anyway. He wasn't planning on touching Burami, his strength had always been his Genjutsu, so he didn't complain.
-Hey! We can hear you! Who's short?!- Muyami shouted angrily.
Suigetsu laughed and pulled Kubikiribocho from his back, attaching the cable extension. He advanced towards Kazami. Karin looked at their Kusa hitai-ate, her lips trembling slightly. Her hand pulled out a kunai, but she was slightly shaking it.
Fear, hatred, pain... Karin hated Kusa, but she also feared it.
Not because of it power, but because that place was her hell when she was little.
The pain of being treated like a chakra reserve and a free cure, being bitten every day, the pain of losing her mother for the same reason...
The teeth marks had faded from her skin long ago, but Karin never truly got over it. Even so, seeing this team now, Karin's fear was submerged by hatred.
With a sudden impulse, she lunged toward Muyami, her eyes cold, chains emerging from her back, advancing faster than Muyami could dodge, when he tried to dodge the chains, Karin made him run to the right, but on the ground, another chain pierced the earth and he was bound by chains.
Before Ranmaru could even start to move, Muyami was caught in Karin's chains, years of training have made Karin's chains extremely fast, not only that, but training with Kimimaro made Karin's chains the first thing Kimimaro avoided, so Karin became very good at reading the environment and using it to attack.
-Damn it! What are these chains! Let me go!- Muyami shouted.
-Muyami! - Kazami shouted worriedly, ready to run and help, but Suigetsu was still smiling when his sword fell covered in chakra. Kazami turned quickly, using his flag to defend himself, but the blade was covered in wind-style chakra, and the sword split the metal shaft in two.
Before Kazami's shocked eyes, the sword continued to fall, opening a deep gash in his chest.
Suigetsu had trained in the wind style precisely to improve the sharpness of his sword, it seemed that it had paid off now.
He has been training with Sasuke for many years, and as the two who use swords, they are the ones who fight each other the most. Ever since Sasuke learned to imbue his blade with lightning, his Kubikiribocho has been cut time and time again!
That made him furious!
It was Jugo-sama who gave him the idea, the lightning style is weak against the wind, and in terms of sharpness, wind is even better than lightning, so he suggested that Suigetsu learn to use the wind style.
It took several months, but Suigetsu succeeded, just as Jugo said, when his sword met Sasuke's, the lightning seemed to become unstable while the wind continued to advance, it was his turn to cut Sasuke's sword, this excited him for a long time.
Sasuke also made great progress trying to regain Suigetsu's swordsmanship advantage. In the end, in terms of swordsmanship, they are rivals, they use nothing but swords when they fight. Victories and defeats are shared, but their friendship has grown considerably because of this.
In any case, Kazami's direct defeat was not without reason, a simple sword movement was based on months of hard work by Suigetsu.
-Kazami! - Burami shouted, his fat body ready to run and help, but at that moment, he found himself surrounded by mist, the figures around him rapidly disappearing.
-Kazami?! Muyami?! Where are you?! - Burami shouted in shock. - Damn it, is this genjutsu?!
But as he tried to break free, he couldn't, Ranmaru's Genjutsu, based on his Dojutsu, was too strong. Before Burami could even think of a solution, a kunai covered in lightning surged forward from afar and pierced his forehead, crossing it effortlessly.
Before Burami's shocked eyes, he fell to the ground, his fat body kicked up a large cloud of dust, unable to say anything more, he died quickly.
Ranmaru looked at the dead body and sighed, he would have preferred not to kill, but... he looked at Karin, still holding Muyami in her chains, her body trembling slightly.
Kazami could no longer move, lying on the ground, bleeding continuously.
-Damn it! Burami...- Kazami looked at the fat, dead body in the distance, tears escaping his eyes. He slowly turned his head to Muyami, looking at Karin, and said with difficulty. -Please... please... let him go.
Karin seemed not to hear, engrossed in the boy writhing in the chains, she was not a cold-blooded killer, so she hesitated to kill someone she didn't even know, based solely on what she had experienced in Kusa.
But... the image of her mother's cold, thin body came to her mind.
The next moment, the chains tightened forcefully.
Before Kazami's shocked eyes, Muyami was shattered into pieces. His eyes widened as even more tears escaped his gaze. He died soon after, overcome with grief.
Karin stood still, her body and clothes stained with blood, she stared at the pieces of flesh with a hardened expression.
-Karin... - Ranmaru placed his hand on Karin's shoulder, pulling her from her reverie. She saw Ranmaru's worried face, then looked at Suigetsu, who had a neutral expression not far away, looking at her without making any jokes or insults.
For a moment, tears escaped Karin's eyes, but she held them back and quickly dried them. She turned her face away, hiding it from her companions, and said. -Let's find Tag and get out of here quickly.