Doto Kazahana stared at Naruto in horror.
Naruto pulled Koyuki Kazahana up from the ground, then noticed Doto's furious expression and laughed. "Don't worry," he said. "I won't fight you."
For some reason, Doto felt both enraged and terrified upon hearing that.
He was furious that this brat dared to look down on him—yet terrified because Naruto was far too mysterious.
If they really fought, Doto had a feeling he wouldn't stand a chance.
Naruto didn't care what Doto thought. He turned to Karin and said calmly, "Karin, I won't help you this time. You have to defeat that guy on your own. Otherwise…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
Of course, Naruto would never truly abandon her. He said that only to give Karin a sense of pressure—a mental push to make her fight with the determination to kill or be killed.
Only through that kind of mindset could her combat experience grow quickly.
Sure enough, Karin's expression grew serious after hearing him.
She stared at Doto and said to the small Nine-Tails inside her mind, "Hey, Little Kurama, you heard him, right? If we can't beat this guy, we're dead."
A cute, childish voice immediately echoed in her head. "Shut up! I can accept you calling me Kurama, or even Little Kurama—but stop repeating it like that! If you keep doing that, I won't give you any chakra! Get it yourself!"
"Alright, alright, Little Kurama," Karin replied quickly.
A moment later, a stream of uncontrolled Tailed Beast chakra surged from her stomach.
After being refined by Karin, that chakra transformed into her own and formed a golden barrier around her body.
Doto's eyes widened in disbelief. A deep sense of danger rose in his chest.
He no longer cared about his surroundings or the fragile equipment nearby.
With a ferocious snarl, Doto raised his hand, gathering a storm of snow and frost in his palm. "You brat—go to hell!"
The jutsu's range was enormous.
Naruto quickly pulled Koyuki back, retreating twice before they barely managed to avoid the freezing blast.
The blizzard roared toward Karin.
But just as it was about to hit her, her entire body turned into a golden flash and vanished like a streak of light.
The violent jutsu tore through the cave, destroying all the machinery nearby.
Still caught up in his own power, Doto didn't realize that his attack had completely missed its mark.
Until—out of the corner of his eye—he caught a glint of gold.
Then pain exploded in his abdomen. His face twisted in agony.
"What… what just happened?"
He looked down and saw Karin standing in the shadows.
She attacked me?
He hadn't even reacted!
No—it wasn't that he didn't react. Her speed was just completely beyond comprehension!
Seeing Doto frozen in place, Karin tilted her head and said curiously, "Huh? Little Kurama, look—he's just standing there!"
Kurama's childish voice huffed impatiently. "Hmph! My chakra is too strong—it's boosted your speed to the level of the Body Flicker Technique. That guy's just a half-baked ninja with some cheap tech toys. How could he possibly keep up?"
Hearing that, Karin's confidence soared. Alright, let's finish this!
She pulled a kunai from her pouch.
Doto felt a deadly chill creep up his neck.
In desperation, he raised his arm to protect himself—
A sharp flash, and half his hand was sliced clean off.
Blood sprayed across the icy floor as Doto stared at his severed limb, terror spreading in his chest.
He had tried to block the blow, but the attack had already ended before he even realized what happened.
From a distance, Naruto watched Karin toy with Doto and sighed helplessly.
It seemed he had overestimated the man.
He'd thought Doto would make a decent mid-level boss—but the reality was disappointing.
Thinking about it, though, it made sense.
The Nine-Tails Chakra Mode was a high-level technique that didn't even appear until much later in the original timeline.
Meanwhile, Doto was just a mediocre ninja with poor chakra control and a few pieces of weird tech.
With Karin's speed completely outclassing his, none of his jutsu could even touch her.
His chakra-absorbing armor was also useless, since Karin wasn't using ninjutsu against him at all.
The result? The so-called "mini-boss" was being toyed with by a novice barely learning to fight using the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
"Forget it," Naruto muttered. "This guy's too disappointing."
"In that case, let's use a genjutsu to help Karin improve her combat sense."
He decided to use the illusion technique he had learned at the Waterfall of Truth — one that reflected a person's true self and forced them to battle against their own heart.
That kind of near-equal confrontation would push Karin's growth even further.
Meanwhile, Koyuki, who had been hiding behind Naruto, watched in stunned silence.
In her eyes, Doto had always been an unbeatable nightmare.
Yet now, even Karin — who still needed Naruto's guidance — had easily defeated him.
And Naruto himself looked completely unimpressed, almost disappointed.
Koyuki's emotions were indescribable.
The man who once seemed like an insurmountable mountain was now nothing more than a plaything.
It made her realize — there were always mountains beyond mountains, skies beyond skies.
As for Karin, she showed no mercy.
Maybe it was the influence of the Nine-Tails' chakra… or maybe it was her harsh childhood — either way, she wasn't bothered by blood or death.
She never hesitated when killing enemies.
Just like with the Snow Ninjas before, every strike was fatal.
Doto was stronger than them, able to block some of her blows, but even he didn't last long.
The moment the fight began, he had released his ninjutsu — and that was the last time he went on the offensive.
Within half a minute, his shattered body collapsed to the ground.
When the icy storm finally faded, the battle was already over.
Karin dispersed the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode and walked back toward Naruto.
She noticed Koyuki still standing there, dumbfounded.
With a smug grin, Karin raised her hand, pulled down one eyelid, and stuck out her tongue.
"Serves you right~" she teased playfully.
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