Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!
At dusk, the people of Konoha suddenly heard a series of thunderous crashes coming from far away. Then the entire village began to shake violently.
"What happened? Was that an earthquake?" At Training Ground 1, Naruto struggled to his feet, dusted himself off, and asked in confusion.
Kakashi stared gravely toward the village entrance. He had no intention of continuing the test now. Something serious seemed to have happened near the village, and he was starting to worry about its safety.
"It wasn't an earthquake. Earthquakes come from below—their source is underground. But this wasn't an earthquake!"
Sasuke seemed to sense something and looked toward the village entrance.
None of them noticed that Karin, tied to a tree stump, had gone deathly pale. She pressed her lips together, her face twisted in pain.
Naruto noticed that something was wrong with Karin and was just about to ask her what was happening when a sharp pain suddenly struck his lower abdomen. He fell to the ground again.
"Wh—" Naruto collapsed, his body curling in on itself. Only then did Kakashi notice that both Naruto and Karin were in trouble. He quickly cut through the rope binding Karin and rushed over to check on her.
"Karin, what's wrong?" Kakashi was anxious, but he still did his best to sound calm. He didn't want the children to catch his panic.
"My stomach hurts." Karin gasped for breath after speaking. Kakashi's expression tightened at her words, and he hurried to Naruto's side to ask,
"Naruto, does your stomach hurt too?!" The pain left Naruto unable to speak. When Kakashi asked him, he could only nod.
"Could it be...!" Kakashi's heart sank when Naruto nodded. Naruto and Karin had both developed stomach pains right after the tremor. That clearly wasn't normal,