Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden or it characters in any form whether it be manga, television, video games, or toys. They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto. I am not writing to make a profit in any shape or form. I simply do this for enjoyment of myself and others. I REPEAT I do not own any version of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, or wish to make money off this property. Thank you and enjoy the story.
Karin Uzumaki: Journey through the Chunin Exams
Chapter 1
Damn this whole exam Karin thought as she ran from the giant boar chasing her though Forest of Death. The 13 year old red head hadn't wanted to join the stupid exam in the first place but her "teammates" had strong armed her into joining, then they ditch her as soon as they entered the forest calling her dead weight! She was angered more by the fact that she was just about to put her hand up before that blonde haired idiot had made his speech. Now here she was three days later about to be eaten by an animal, why was life so cruel to her? That was the last thought Karin had before she slammed into a tree. It took a few seconds for to regain her senses only to see the world as a blur, because her glass had been knocked off as the boar attacked her. She saw a blur of brown in front of her and heard the sound of a charging animal and closed her eyes prepared for this to be the end, only to hear a loud crash.
"I assume these are yours." A soft voice said to Karin.
Hesitating for a moment Karin reached out and took the offered glasses and put them on. What she saw was a young ninja the same age as her dressed in typical ninja gear with a leaf head band tied to his right arm. His dark brown hair was short but disheveled and he had deep almost piercing gray eyes.
The boy gave a small smile, "Your teammates ditched you as well?" He asked
Karin nodded and looked behind her to the dead boar that had a kunai through its head.
The boy followed her eye to the beast behind him, "Yeah that thing is quite a beast, Anko wasn't kidding when she said the wild life was breed to kill. Kind of makes me question why the First Hokage built this place." His eyes turned back to Karin. "It looks like he got you."
Karin gave the boy a confused look until she looked down and saw a cut down the side of her body reaching from her stomach to her leg. She grimaced as she saw the wound, but the boy was already talking about it.
"It looks worse than it actually is, once we get back to my hideout I can treat it, but we better get to the tower by tomorrow to make sure it doesn't get infected." The boy said
"We?" Karin asked
The boy's eyes widened and a dusting of red colored his cheeks, "Well I just thought- , I mean both of our teams ditched us and well strength in numbers and all that. But even if you want to split up I will still heal you." The boy said all this quickly and blushing the whole time.
Karin let out a small giggle she found his stumbling a little adorable. "I will go with you, it's not like I have a lot of choices."
"Good" The boy said his smile returning. "Can you walk?" He asked.
Karin nodded and got up from the forest floor. The boy put out his hand.
"I'm Drake." He said
"Karin" The red head replied
Drake nodded as he went over to the boar he had killed and grabbed it by the snout and started dragging it.
"What are you going to do with that?" Karin asked
"Cook it for dinner of course, now follow me the hide out isn't that far away." Drake said as he dragged the beast behind him. Karin followed curious to find out more about her new teammate.
The hideout was simply a hollowed out tree trunk that Drake had taken resident in. It was barely big enough to fit both young ninja. But they were able to fit along with a small fire, and a bed roll, along with Drakes pack.
"Home sweet home" Drake said as he and Karin entered the tree trunk. "Lie down on the bedroll, I'll get dinner going."
Karin did as instructed, and lied down on the bedroll and as she did she felt her roommates charka, and found it to be calm, but as she dug deeper she felt it almost crackle like a bolt of electricity. She was intrigued but her searched was stopped by the smell of cooking meat.
"Well dinner is started, now let me take a closer look at your wound. " Drake said as he bent down and examined the wound. As his hands touched her skin Karin felt a blush reach her cheeks. "Uh oh" Drake said
"What is the wound worst then you thought?" Karin asked
"No its not that, it's" A fierce blush covered Drake's cheeks as he spoke again, "I need you to remove your top for me to get at the wound properly."
Karin's face went from embarrassed to angry in a split second and a great killer intent filled the air, "I swear if you're doing this to be a pervert I will PLUMMEL YOUR FACE IN!" She yelled at him.
Drake held his hands up, "It's nothing like that, I promise." Drake went to his pack and pulled out a blanket and handed it to Karin. "Use that to cover yourself, I'll turn away." Drake said
Karin simply let out a humph as she Drake turned away. A few moments later a cough was the sign that Drake turned back around. Karin was spread across the bed sheet with the blanket covering everything expect the area where the wound was. Taking a deep breath Drake over to her and started to treat the wound.
There was silence for a moment until Karin spoke
"So how do you know that I'm not an enemy ninja simply here to kill you and have my team steal your scroll?" Karin asked
Drake let out a small chuckle, "The thought has entered my mind. It's not like ninja haven't used a beautiful young woman to trap there enemy before. But I find it unlikely that they would have let you get hurt let alone chased around by a boar. Also you don't look like the fighting type so if it came to a fight I could take you if I needed."
Karin didn't know whether take that as a compliment or not so she just decided to keep the thoughts to herself and focus on the fact that Drake had called her beautiful. It caused her to smile and gain a little red in her cheeks.
"My turn for a question. Why did your teammates ditch you?" Drake asked
Karin frowned, "I didn't want to take this exam to begin with, and as you said I not a fighting type. Which to my teammates means I'm weak, and they didn't need weak people holding them back so they ditched me the moment we entered the forest. I have survived by luck the last few days."
"There wrong." Drake said causing Karin to look back at him. His dark gray eyes met her red ones as he spoke. "Only the strong could survive in this forest and the fact that you have survived, alone means more then there words ever could. You are strong Karin and screw what everyone else says." He said
Karin was shocked that this stranger was defending herself of steam, and she felt her chest tighten the more she stared into his eyes. Karin broke eye contact and ignored the tightening in her chest and asked her next question.
"Why did your teammates leave you?" She asked
Drake paused in his wound treating, "We had an argument. They believe throwing around flashy justu and making a lot of noise is what it means to be a ninja, I am much my subtle, I prefer stealth. My teammates disagreed and the second day I woke up and they were gone. I guess two years of being teammates means nothing." Drake finished with a sigh. "But the fools left our heaven scroll, so I have that."
"I'm glad they left, if they didn't I never would have met you Drake." Karin said with a small smile
Drake returned the smile, "Same here Karin." A few moments later Drake announced that he had finished mending the wound. Drake then pulled out an extra shirt from his bag and threw it over to Karin.
The red head had a smirk as she spoke, "So forward Drake, we haven't even spent a night together and you're already giving me a shirt."
Drake's response was to blush and tell her dinner was ready. Karin changed into his extra shirt and Drake handed her a bowl filled with stew, and two ate before retiring for the night.
Drake's eyes snapped open later that night, and as he scanned the area he saw that the fire was out and Karin was shivering. With a grunt he got up and put the blanket he was using across her, and a few moments later the girl stopped shivering. A smile crossed Drake's lips as he fell back asleep.
Karin found herself being shaken awake by Drake the next moment.
"Get up. The goal for today is get an earth scroll and get to the tower. The sooner we do that the sooner we get your wound fully treated." Drake said
With a groan Karin nodded and got up, and in less than an hour the hideout was torn down and the two were racing toward the tower, hoping to run into a team along the way.
It was a couple hours later that Drake made a hand sign and Karin stopped. Drake pulled out a kunai and bent down, and it was then that Karin saw a wire. Drake cut the wire and a pair of logs crashed together a few feet in front of them.
"Damn they saw through our trap." A ninja said appearing on a tree branch above them.
"Yeah after me spent hours rigging it up." Another said on another branch
"Well it seems we'll have to take care of them the old fashioned way." The final ninja said pulling out a kunai.
"Karin I know this may be a bad time, but what exactly are your strengths as a ninja?" Drake asked while holding two kunai out.
"I can sense charka." Karin said
Drake nodded, "Okay this can work. You track them I take them down. On my signal." He said before throwing a smoke ball down. Before doing a justu, "Water Style: Hidden Mist Justu" He said as a wall of fog surrounded the small area, whose effects were increased by the smoke ball.
"What is this are too afraid face us like a man!" One ninja said.
"We are ninja, there is no right way to fight" Drake's voice spoke from the mist. The next moment the ninja that spoke was dragged into the mist.
"No!" Another ninja said only to be dragged into the mist as well
The final ninja was sweating now looking around fanatically so much so that he didn't feel the shift in the air as a lightning covered kunai was shoved into his right arm, and was followed up an elbow by Drake that knocked him out. As the mist disappeared it showed Drake and Karin standing side by side.
"That charka sensing of yours works wonder Karin, if you won't here I wouldn't have been able to find them." Drake said as he walked over to the downed ninja
Karin blushed, "Thanks Drake but how did you know the Hidden Mist justu?"
"It is a very common justu, you can find it in the library if you know where to look. We're in luck they had an Earth scroll. Now the only thing left is to patch them up." Drake said
"Why bother?" Karin asked
"I plan on being a ninja for a very long time Karin. I will have a lot of blood on my hands by the time I'm done and I would rather that start later than this Chunin exams." Drake said
Karin just shrugged but was even more intrigued by your new companion, friend? What exactly was there relationship? She would need to talk to Drake about this later after they got to the tower. With a nod Drake and Karin continued to the tower, and after another few hours that got to the entrance, and saw the riddle.
"Maybe we have to put both the scrolls together?" Karin asked
Drake shrugged and he threw both of the scrolls together and they started to smoke and he dropped them. A moment later a chunin appeared and raised an eyebrow at the pair.
"Where are your teams?" He asked
"The ditched us so we formed our own team." Drake said
The chunin narrowed his eyes, "I'll have to talk to my superiors about this. For now neither of you are in the third part of the exam, but you are allowed to use the facilities, you may go in." The chunin they disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Karin looked nervous, so Drake grabbed her hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze.
"Everything will be fine Karin, now let's get that wound looked at." Drake with a smile. With the same smile Karin and Drake walked into the tower still holding hands.
And here is the end of this one-shot. I am thinking of making a three part story that would include this part, the preliminaries, and the month before the finals. I will write the other parts if there is enough want for them, but for now this is a oneshot. Please tell me your thoughts in a review. As always thank you for the support.
