Temari felt the subtle surge of Karin's chakra as her eyes connected with Karin's, while the crimson armor around Karin started to dissipate. A surge that should have been impossible for the exhausted redhead to produce.
As Karin's hard breathing started to quickly even out and she straightened her back, Temari realized what happened and her expression became glum, "So you actually have a brain, huh? You didn't just blow your whole chakra reserve up as I first thought."
Karin's eye twitched as she heard that. What did the sand harlot think she was? Stupid?
"Of course not!" She exasperatedly exclaimed, her tone sounding very wronged, "I reabsorbed most of my chakra construct and only used for the explosion the remaining few percent that I wouldn't be able to take back into my chakra system."
"Remaining few percent, my ass. You had to use at least sixty percent of the chakra construct to create an explosion of that magnitude." Temari rolled her eyes with a snort and Karin's eyes nervously shook, causing Temari to knowingly smirk.
She didn't need more confirmation that she was right. The Uzumaki redhead had at best forty percent of her chakra reserves left. That was extremely good news for Temari as she also spent a lot of her chakra to counter that explosion.
"Hmph. It makes no difference." Karin sniffed, "I still have many ways to beat you."
"Oh~? Do tell, kid. What fantastical move have you prepared for the little ol' me?" Temari provocatively asked as her battle fan appeared in her right hand with a small puff of smoke.
She naturally retrieved it after summoning the sandstorm. After all, leaving her special weapon just lying around would not be very smart.
Karin did not rise to the weak provocation of her opponent. Her lips spread into a small smile, "I am an Uzumaki and there is one thing Uzumaki are very well known for but it always goes unnoticed compared to our fame for the sealing arts, huge vitality, and chakra reserves. Let me show you... the Uzumaki sword style!"
An exquisite katana abruptly appeared in her hand and a second later a crimson layer of chakra covered its surface, reinforcing it while Karin took a stance with her sword in front of her and her knees slightly bent in preparation to move in whichever direction necessary.
Manifesting a full body armor with her current chakra reserves would have been wasteful. Karin learned her lesson from the previous exchange and she grudgingly admitted that Temari was an extremely experienced kunoichi. Clearly, she had no qualms of making this a waiting game of who can last longer. Using an exhausting Justus like that was not in Karin's best interest. That's why she opted to coat only her blade.
"Unfortunately for you," She slowly spoke, looking at Temari with self-confidence, "I-"
She didn't finish her sentence and instead instantly rushed at Temari at breakneck speed, swinging her sword in a downward arc.
Alas, Temari expected it and blocked the slash with her closed fan, momentarily surprised at the force behind the attack but... it was nothing she could not withstand. Even if it drove her feet into the ground enough to crack it.
As for suddenly attacking being dishonorable... heh. There was no honor among thieves and they were ninjas. Close enough.
Karin quickly realized there was no way to overpower Temari and decided to adjust her tactics. Slightly leaning the tip of her sword to the left alongside her body, she tried to use an Uzumaki sword technique where the user slid her blade alongside her opponent's weapon before fluidly executing a stab.
Temari noticed the slight adjustment of Karin's body, however, and thanks to her vast experience, she realized what the redhead tried to do. Inwardly clicking her tongue, she... let go of her war fan just as Karin started her sword technique.
Sliding one's blade against the opponent's weapon required the opponent to have a firm hold of his weapon. The second Temari let go of her war fan, Karin's technique gained more momentum than it should have and Karin found herself involuntarily pulled forward without being able to stop.
Her eyes barely managed to widen when Temari's elbow brutally smashed into her face.
Karin couldn't let that go unanswered. As her head was snapping backward with blood flowing from her nose, she let go of her katana, and with her now free hand, she punched Temari in the kidney, causing her to grunt in pain as she leaned forward and gritted her teeth.
Karin also used the momentum of Temari's blow and didn't just try to stop the momentum of her head. Instead, she used it to rebound her head forward...
Temari who was a bit distracted from the blow to the kidney suddenly experienced Karin's forehead smashing into hers with a loud thud followed by a surge of pain as her head bounced back, making her drop onto her ass.
Karin was no different and also fell onto her posterior, wincing from the self-inflicted pain while her lips were curled in a gleeful vindictive smile. With the blood flowing from her nose, it was one disturbing sight.
After the initial shock wore off, Temari realized what just happened and reached up, touching her forehead before bringing her fingers in front of her eyes only to see her blood, making her expression shift into utter bewilderment.
'Did that bitch just headbutt me?' She looked in disbelief at the groaning Krain who held her forehead in her arms while lying three feet away from her.
Realizing it really happened, Temari was suddenly filled with seething anger and her expression twisted.
Karin was slowly getting past her pounding headache while berating her past self for having such an amazing idea for a counter-attack. Her head was throbbing as heck!
But just as her mind was starting to become clear again, she was suddenly grabbed by her hair and her head was forcefully smashed into the ground.
Her poor nose... suffered yet again.
Karin quickly reacted and hit her assailant who was behind her with her elbow into the area she assumed to be hips. Fortunately, it helped and her hair were let go.
Karin groggily pushed herself away from her attacker while turning around. The world was swimming in front of her eyes and when she saw Temari clutching her sides and glaring at her, Karin remembered she was still in the match against the Suna bitch.
Fire flared in her eyes as she slowly stood up, Temari mirroring her actions, both swaying from side to side as if drunk and disoriented, glaring at each other.
Karin was a bit quicker, however, and was standing sooner than Temari. She used it to her advantage and lunged at Temari, her hands landing on Temari's shoulders as she pushed her back onto the ground.
The breath was completely taken from Temari as her back impacted the ground when Karin used her whole weight to push her down. Her mind was still kinda sluggish but when her lungs suddenly felt the impact and lost the air in them, her clarity momentarily returned and...
Karin was about to start delivering blows to Temari when her head jerked to the side as Temari's hand slapped her straight across her face, making her stop with her attempt at attacking Temari from sheer astonishment.
She let go of Temari's shoulder with her right hand and put it on her reddening cheek, feeling the sharp sting as if to make sure she was really slapped. When her mind finally registered that she was not dreaming, her face twisted in rage but...
Letting go of Temari's shoulder was stupid and Temari used it to her advantage. As Karin's face twisted, Temari's fist met Karin's nose... again.
This made her topple over to the side as she clutched her face in pain as blood was pouring out of her nose. But as she was rolling over, Karin managed to get one last blow in and delivered a brutal axe kick with her heel, straight into Temari's abdomen.
Temari spat saliva and blood as her stomach area received another blow.
While Temari was catching her breath, Karin raised herself on one knee, gasping for air, and noticed Temari's hair bands were snapped and her hair were all over the place.
Not one to miss such a sun-kissed opportunity, Karin took a handful of the blond locks and pulled... very hard.
Temari gasped in pain as she felt her head being forcefully pulled back by her hair.
Amidst her struggle, she noticed Karin's posture was not very stable and in an attempt to make her let go of her hair, she threw herself at Karin, making both of them tumble on the ground yet again, both groaning.
This time the two girls recovered almost at the same time and started to exchange slaps, pulling each other's hair, and occasionally even delivering a punch or two while they rolled on the ground.
Needless to say, the audience had a hard time believing what they were seeing.
Rei was openly chuckling at Konan who had her eyes closed, unwilling to look at what was happening in the arena. Pakura in the Kage Box seemed like she wanted nothing more than to disappear into the thin air from embarrassment.
This was not a fight between kunoichi. There was no finesse. No techniques.
No... this was a bonafide catfight and for some reason, Rei found the situation exceedingly amusing. To think these two girls would start pulling each other's hair in front of all these foreign dignitaries and Kages...
'Well, so much for Uzushio's and Suna's dignity.' He chuckled while witnessing Karin trying to scratch Temari's face with her nails as Temari was trying to deliver yet another punch into Karin's face.