A few minutes later, Naruto and Sasuke emerged from the dense forest and arrived at the site of the earlier battle.
Under the combined assault of Hinata, Karin, Haku, and the others, Kimimaro gradually fell into a disadvantage. In the end, he seized an opportunity to escape their encirclement and vanished into the boundless forest.
Since Naruto was not present, they did not dare to pursue him. They could only remain where they were and wait for Naruto to return.
After all, Kimimaro's appearance and departure had both been filled with strange details. Perhaps there were traces of some other major figure meddling behind the scenes.
When they saw Naruto return, Hinata and the others hurried over and told him about their battle with Kimimaro. Their faces were full of dejection as they regretted failing to keep Kimimaro there.
Naruto smiled. "Kimimaro's strength is already close to Kage-level. It's perfectly normal that you couldn't catch him. If he hadn't been worried about drawing the attention of Konoha jonin, you wouldn't have won so easily."
"Close to Kage-level?" Hinata, Karin, and Haku all looked startled.
Being able to fight such a powerful opponent to a draw meant that their strength had reached Jonin standards, didn't it? But why would such a monster appear in the Chunin Exams arena?
Had Naruto disappeared just now to deliberately give them a chance to gain experience, or had he gone to meet someone else?
Still, knowing too much was not necessarily a good thing for a ninja, so they did not ask further.
After exchanging information, Naruto had Haku and Karin deal with the unconscious Shino and Kiba, while he and Hinata went to sort through the spoils.
On the surface, the spoils were nothing more than the Sound ninja, their equipment, and the Earth