Karin heard Tayuya’s flute and watched as the air around Orochimaru bent, pressing on him and causing his knees to buckle, which spoke a volume about the strength of his body. Karin surmised that even chunins would be crushed under so much pressure. And yet, Orochimaru just cradled his head in his hands while gritting his teeth enough for blood to flow from his lips due to the intense sound that descended upon him.
Karin was trapped in the Sound Bubble of Tayuya once and remembering the pain and disorientation it caused made her wince. She didn’t dally, however, and instantly used the situation to her advantage, sending chains at the momentarily restrained man while noting with the corner of her eyes that Kimimaro shot ten finger bullets, aiming them around Orochimaru in case he decided to evade. Under the sound suppression, it would be hard to avoid being hit.
The Orochimaru did not dodge, Karin seriously doubted he could even think straight right now, so Kimimaro’s bone finger bullets didn’t find purchase. Instead, her chains fiercely ripped into Orochimaru’s body, severing several vital parts before brutally pulling out, tearing chunks of meat and bone. Karin had no intention of playing nice with a known S-rank fugitive.
Despite their attacker’s body crumbling into pieces onto the ground, with a big puddle of blood underneath it courtesy of the sound pressure and the slaughter of Karin’s chains, the Uzushio team did not lower their guard.
They had their doubts. It could not be so easy, could it?
Sure, they were all supposedly S-rank ninjas in their own right with Tayuya being high A-rank since she discovered how to use her sound properly. It would take a bit of training but she was on the right path to becoming the newest S-rank of the Village on the Other Side. But… sparring with other S-ranks was a routine. It was never this easy. Not once.
Their doubts were answered a moment later when Orochimaru’s body and the blood underneath it started to turn into mud and Karin’s eyes suddenly widened as her head snapped to the right, the girl almost gaping.
“How did you…” She involuntarily spoke, staring at an empty branch.
Hearing her, her teammates quickly refocused on the place, knowing better than to question Karin’s sensing prowess.
“I must say… your team play and individual abilities are most interesting.” Orochimaru spoke while emerging from the tree branch, his tone deep and laced with the slyness and amusement of a snake.
“What happened, Karin.” Kimimaro emotionlessly asked, his eyes trained on their opponent in case he tried to capitalize on their discussion.
“For a moment, he disappeared from my senses.” Karin said with a frown. That could be fatal and her job now became that much harder for it.
Tayuya clicked her tongue while Kimimaro’s eyebrow twitched. Depending on Karin’s senses was addictive because it was an easy way out that worked most of the time. Fortunately for them, their trainers made sure to beat this overreliance on the girl out of them when it first emerged. Karin had to depend on her senses because they were hers but that didn’t extend to Kimimaro nor Tayuya.
Understanding the hidden meaning of Karin’s words, Tayuya pulled the flute away from her lips in a show of relaxation while secretly drumming her pointing finger on her thigh, releasing a very quiet sound…
“If I may ask, how did you discover me?” Orochimaru asked and Karin pursed her lips before sighing. She could feel his chakra and it confirmed what she saw in his eyes. Pure curiosity. He was not fishing out a weakness. He was just curious.
Knowing they needed a bit of time, Karin decided to go with it, “Emotions.” She said and shrugged, causing Orochimaru’s eyes to go wide in glee.
“Emotions! You can sense emotions!” He exclaimed, “The possibilities for such an ability.” With that, he would never have to worry about the intentions of his subordinates! “What a marvelous ability!”
“Now that I answered your question, you wouldn’t mind reciprocating, would you?” Karin offhandedly quipped, causing Orochimaru to lift an eyebrow in amusement at her before he nodded in agreement.
“How did you disappear from my senses?” She asked, not really expecting him to reveal it. But even a hint would be enough to set her on the path of correcting the probable flaw in her sensing capabilities.
Orochimaru’s lips almost mockingly widened and he gave Karin a condescending look, “Experience. Lots and lots of experience.” He said, the glee in his tone unmistakable, only spreading into his eyes when he saw an angry vein bulge on Karin’s forehead when she heard his reply.
He did answer her question as he agreed but both knew this was not really what she was asking about.
“Heeh~, wording, girl. You are not the smartest kunai in the pouch, are you?” He smugly goaded, “I thought about offering you a position in my ranks at first but now I see it would be pointless.”
Naturally, he did think of that but from what he was observing, the girl would have never said yes. She was too smart for that and would most likely feel his intentions. Just his luck…
Hearing him, Karin’s anger flared higher and her eye started to twitch as she balled her fists. The son of a… monkey just discreetly called her stupid! She gnashed her teeth at him while giving him a withering glare but didn’t move from her spot.
Orochimaru’s amused expression started to slowly blank out, eventually ending in a dissatisfied frown. Anger was one of Uzumakis’ weaknesses so he tried to rile the girl up. She was young, it was a reasonable logical jump, expecting her to break the formation and go for an attack, making an opening in the team.
Alas… Orochimaru was left disgruntled when it didn’t work.
“This is it, huh?” He indifferently stated, pausing for a bit and causing Karin to narrow her eyes as she felt… something. Before she could give the feeling more attention Orochimaru continued, a small snake-like smile appearing on his lips, “I guess Uzushio now provides its ninjas anger management classes. I won-“
With the corner of her eyes, Karin noticed Tayuya giving her the signal that she was ready. Without any forewarning, chains burst from around Orochimaru, tying him up. It was a real bother to sneak them so close to him without making him notice.
During their small talk, she did not just that but also trapped the whole clearing with remotely controlled seal traps.
Before Orochimaru could even try wiggling out of the chains, shockwaves impacted him from all sides, this time not going for lethal damage but only to incapacitate him.
As for Kimimaro… he stayed behind to protect his teammates in case the Orochimaru in front of them was just another decoy.
When Karin gave the signal that her sensing prowess was not sufficient, Tayuya swapped into a more subtle fighting style. She first spread the influence of her chakra into the surroundings. After weeks of training with Karin, Tayuya’s control over this aspect of her Jutsu was so refined, even Karin had a hard time sensing the chakra in the surroundings. There was simply too little of it… and yet, it was completely sufficient for Tayuya’s needs.
Karin could really see what Rei meant when he ranted about the potential of the sound-based Jutsus after she noticed this aspect of them.
The entire clearing was under Tayuya’s control. She could sense almost any sound in her ‘domain’, create shockwaves out of thin air, make her target feel vertigo by affecting their inner ear, cause them to hear anything from annoying to utterly debilitating sounds, and that meant she could fake the voices of her teammates, disorienting her enemy…
Tayuya was really dangerous once she established control of her surroundings.
Obviously, it had many flaws as Rei, Konan, and even Yugito proved when they spared against Tayuya who smugly thought her new technique would be enough only to be smacked down.
Looking at the subdued Orochimaru, Karin’s eyes narrowed and she focused more on her Mind’s Eye when something flickered further away from their position…
“Shit.” She cursed, attracting the attention of her teammates, “Just crush him.” She clicked her tongue in displeasure as she realized what the weird feeling during his talking was, “It is a shadow clone. The real Orochimaru is already retreating.”
Orochimaru gave them one last smug smile and dispersed into thin air before they could ‘crush’ him, making Karin and Tayuya pout.
Kimimaro looked over the spotless clearing, knowing the innocent look it portrayed was just a guise. The number of traps… “I wonder who will clear up all these traps. Not me.” He shrugged and turned around, walking away and masterfully evading the traps while ignoring the heated glares of his female companions.
Well, they set the traps up so they can defuse them, no?
