90 You're not!

Shikamaru simply couldn't have gotten a worse opponent due to the Devil Fruit Haku possessed—the Light-Light Fruit of Borsalino.

Back then, I wondered how to maximize Haku's combat power, and after much deliberation, I decided to give him this fruit for the simple reason that he could use ice as mirrors to reflect light.

Not only that, he could also shoot laser beams and cause massive explosions!

He only needed to discreetly create an ice mirror the size of a coin, and light refraction could be lethal for his opponent. Plus, the wound would be cauterized by the heat of the laser beam, so there wouldn't be overly bloody scenes for Haku.

Add the ability to travel at the speed of light from one place to another; it seemed like an excellent choice almost tailor-made for Haku.

That's why giving him a fruit like Aokiji's is such a big mistake, like giving Doflamingo's fruit to a puppeteer from Suna—it's flashy and adds very little if you think about it carefully and objectively.

Not to mention that many things could be easily imitated.

The Ice Age can be achieved with enough chakra!

Next was the match between Naruto and Kiba, and... wait, does it not seem like that?

Naruto VS Karin.

I'm 100% sure this was deliberate—do they want to see what Karin is capable of?

Or is it Danzo's doing? I'll really have a talk with these old folks later...

"I thought I'd be against the Hyuga," Karin complained disheartenedly. "Either of them! That would have been more interesting. But no, I had to get... this one." She refrained from mentioning that we knew about Naruto's jinchuriki condition, like the rest of the world, but I must point out that when Mariko and Karin found out about Naruto's existence... well, it's more complicated.

"Come down right now, redhead!" Naruto shouted as he pointed at her with a proud expression. "It's time for me to take revenge for Sasuke or my name isn't Naruto Uzumaki!"

"You're not an Uzumaki!" Like someone had stepped on her tail, Karin jumped into the arena shouting angrily, her hair starting to stand up for reasons that go against physics. "You're nothing more than a half-breed who would shame the clan in every way. Even the color of your hair isn't right!" She continued shouting, clenching and waving her fists threateningly. "How much Uzumaki lineage can you have? Does it even reach 0.01%? What do you know about the history of the clan? Do you know or have any interest in fuinjutsu? And you don't seem very smart!"

Naruto's shocked expression was evident to everyone, and I think it's fortunate that Kakashi isn't present, or else I think he might have to stop him.

As for Karin's intense reaction...

Mariko came with me once to the village during one of my visits to Mikoto because she wanted to see the child who shared her last name. But upon feeling Naruto, she discovered that he had almost no Uzumaki blood in his veins, as if the lineage had been diluted over hundreds of generations, and he hadn't even inherited the special chakra for which Kushina was selected as a jinchuriki.

It was more like Kushina had sealed part of her special chakra inside the seal itself before dying.

According to the Uzumaki clan's standards, Naruto was such a distant relative that even the clan would consider him a stranger and had no rights to inheritance or political protection.

That didn't make much sense to me—Kushina seemed to be a very Uzumaki woman!

So, I took some genetic samples from Naruto's apartment and found out that during the pregnancy phase, Kushina must have received some questionable vaccines (probably thinking or being told they were something else) that caused Minato's lineage to take almost complete dominance in the early stages of embryonic formation.

So in reality, Karin is right; he should be called Naruto Namikaze. The only thing he inherited from his mother, based on the microscopic amount of Uzumaki DNA in his body, is probably his love for ramen, nothing more.

Later, Karin found out that an idiot was proclaiming that he was an Uzumaki, and of course, she didn't like the clan's reputation falling even further...

People say blood is thicker than water, well, for Karin, Naruto doesn't even have water. So despite knowing about Naruto's difficulties, her rage at his embarrassing behavior calling himself an Uzumaki outweighed the pity she felt for him.

"Ah!" Naruto reacted a bit later. "You're just saying nonsense to distract me and try to beat me. Let me tell you, you have no chance against me, the future Hokage!"

"Mr. Enel," Karin turned while gritting her teeth and started to release killing intent. "Can't I really kill him? This blonde idiot is driving me crazy!"

The Konoha ninjas tensed at the declaration because they could tell Karin was very serious about killing her jinchuriki.

"Mmm," I reflected as everyone looked at me. "Let off some steam if you want, just don't leave him with permanent damage."

"Hey!" Naruto looked at me with a scowl. "Do you think a girl can beat me, the great Naruto Uzumaki? I'll defeat her in less than ten minutes and be one step closer to becoming Hokage, believe it!"

Damn, the kid really is a lost cause. Does he have to keep provoking Karin like this?

And indeed, Karin is like a volcano about to erupt. She didn't even respond, just stared at Naruto with a scowl until the referee signaled to start.

Naruto crossed his hands and prepared to perform his cloning technique, but he was in the middle of shouting his move when Karin aimed her palms at him, sending a wave of magma rushing towards Naruto and burying him alive. He screamed in pain as his flesh melted into the magma, revealing his bones.

Or that would have happened if Hayate hadn't jumped and saved Naruto when the magma was inches away from his body. However, he didn't escape without getting some drops on his clothes that burned him and left some small burns on his body.

"Tch!" Karin clicked her tongue disgusted.

"Karin..." I called with a reprimanding tone, but she knows I'm not taking it seriously.

"Oh, right, no killing him," Karin stuck out her tongue playfully. "Sorry! I forgot."

The others present sweated, not only because of that personality shift and because they could feel the heat still emanating from the magma from their positions, but because everyone realized that Karin didn't even need to make seals to launch such a destructive ninjutsu.

She was still standing in the magma without even breaking a sweat!

Sarutobi breathed a sigh of relief seeing that Naruto had only taken a good scare and some minor burns, while looking with great interest at Karin.

It seems Anko's card must be played later; she has to get that Uzumaki for the village!

It's just... she seems to feel no affection for Naruto despite being family. How strange.