Hey, here's a little warning, when I started writing this story two years ago, I didn't know as much about Karin. She probably wouldn't be as nice as she is in this story but I can't change it because she's really important to the plot, so sorry for Karin's slight OOC-ness.
"Try again!" she heard her sensei order. The past two days have been spent helping her perfect her shadow clones so she could use them in training. After Sakura had turned down Kakashi's sharingan, he kept his offer open in case she changed her mind.
She breathed deeply again, pushing all thoughts of Kakashi, Naruto, and especially Sasuke out of her mind. She took a deep breath and concentrated all her chakra into recreating her body. She heard the 'poof' that indicated that her clone was ready and opened her eyes.
"Ahh!" she shrieked as she looked over at her 'clone', which was actually a lifeless version of herself with a misshapen body and an abnormally small head and hands.
'At least my forehead isn't big anymore.' she thought sarcastically as she glanced distastefully at her creation that most definitely did not look like her. She realized it wasn't so lifeless when it opened it's eyes and began to twitch. Sakura screamed and quickly dispersed her latest creation, breathing heavily, she dropped to the ground with a defeated sigh. She had thought she could do this. She had believed just the thought of Naruto suffering would alone be enough to get her through these exercises, but apparently she was wrong.
'Usually training exercises come so easy to me! But I've been doing this for two days straight with no success!' she thought sullenly as she dropped her head in her hands. 'I want to get him back but... I don't...'
"Sakura, why are you sitting down? We're not done here." Kakashi inquired as he crossed his arms and raised his unmasked eyebrow.
"Kakashi-sensei. I'm sorry but... I just don't know if I can do this." she replied shamefully as she buried her face in her arms. This jutsu used an exuberant amount of chakra, she had only made three (deformed) clones today and she was already exhausted. She tilted her head up slightly as she heard Kakashi give a heavy sigh.
"Two days of my life wasted." he said as he pulled his perverted book up to his face and began to walk away. "I'm just not sure I can bear to see how disappointed Tsunade's going to be in you."
"Tsunade-sama... she knows." Sakura asked, surprised as Kakashi nodded his head in affirmation.
"Of course, she's the Hokage. I needed permission to delay a rescue team in order to train you. And she said if it was any other shinobi, she never would have allowed it."
Sakura felt herself tense up, predicting her sensei's next words.
"It's because of you, Sakura. It is only because of her faith in you that she has granted my request."
Sakura tried to stop herself, but she couldn't help it when her eyes filled with tears.
"There are search teams trying to determine Naruto's location, there are people who volunteered specifically to rebuild Naruto's apartment so he'd have a home when he gets back. Everyone's doing their part, and all their hard work relies on the hope that you will bring Naruto back. You can't give up, it's not an option."
'Naruto…'
"Everything you know, all your skills and techniques and jutsu's, they're all based off of your strengths; intelligience, memory, and chakra control. Shadow clones are completely based off of ninjutsu and stamina, which are far from your strong points." he gave a small smile under his mask as he saw the green-eyed kunoichi's eyes fill with realization. "But I have enough faith in you to believe you can improve your weaknesses and turn them into strengths." he continued as he saw his words get through to her, helping her realize what her problem has been the entire time.
'Everyone's counting on me to save you…'
"I have created a technique that only a person with exceptional chakra control can use." he blushed as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. "I created it and even I haven't mastered it yet." he added sheepishly, receiving a smile from the pink-haired chunin. "Sakura, I believe you can master this technique."
'And I won't let them down!'
"Kakashi-sensei." she started, her eyes shining with hope and excitement. "Sorry I wasted so much time." She stated before making the proper hand signs. The last thought in her mind was Naruto's smiling face before she concentrated on using her chakra to remake her body.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Karin entered the cell holding a plate of breakfast for its single prisoner. She looked down at the blond boy, asleep on the floor, silently wondering why he had whisker marks on his cheeks.
'Not that I haven't seen weirder, working for Orochimaru and all.'
She looked down wearily at the boy, somewhat afraid to touch him as she sensed a very dark and powerful chakra from him. It seemed to intensify as he slept since it didn't feel as intense as it did four nights ago when the boy was first brought in by Sasuke. Based on the chakra she sensed, she could easily see why Sasuke thought this boy would make a valuable addition to their group. She sensed his chakra to be more powerful than that of the Hachibi they had attempted to capture only days ago. Though, based on what she saw, he seemed to be more of a prisoner of Taka than a member. She decided to kick the boy awake, then run a few feet away in case something went wrong.
The rude awakening caused him to sputter, he winced at the movement due to a terrible pain in his neck, caused by sleeping on the hard cold floor of his cell. He blinked his eyes rapidly to adjust to the light before realizing that there barely was any. He looked around, his eyes finally landing on a red-haired girl holding a plate of food. His stomach growled, begging him for nourishment and he flashed the girl a smile.
"Is that for me, and if not, you mind sharing? I'm starving!" he said with a wide grin, his metal shackles clanging together as he lifted his arm, placing a hand on his growling stomach.
She made no move towards him. The great intensity of the chakra had faded, but it's intimidating darkness still lingering. It was strange how something so dangerous and scary could come from the smiling, whisker-faced, boy, harmlessly chained to the floor in tattered maroon robes. His face fell as he saw that she made no move to get any closer.
The look in her eyes reminded Naruto of the fear he had seen on the faces of those who recognized his power. It brought back memories of feeling isolated and lonely; memories of hurting the people closest to him like Jiriya and Sakura.
"Y-your chakra." she stuttered, causing his frown to deepen.
"Yeah, I know." he said before pushing his sadness away and replacing it with a forced smile. "Don't worry, I'm not much of a threat on an empty stomach." he joked, causing Karin's eyes to widen in surprise.
"You're our prisoner. You should be cursing and yelling and spitting at me." she explained incredulously. "How are you so carefree and smiling?"
Naruto tapped a finger on his chin as he thought of a reply.
"How about this, I'll trade you an answer for that delicious looking plate of food in your hands that I would absolutely hate to see wasted."
She gave him a curious glance before slowly making her way towards him with the plate she was ordered to deliver to him. As she drew closer to him, she noticed that he actually had two chakra's and that, though there was more of the dark chakra, there was a fairly large amount of the other chakra too, at least more than that of a regular person, anyway. The other chakra was warm and bright, very comforting, especially in comparison to the dark chakra that sent chills down her spine.
After he had attained his meal and taken a few bites, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and sighed in satisfaction at finally giving in to his stomach's pleas for food before glancing back at the glasses wearing girl.
"I don't really remember much of why I'm here or what happened, but I do remember being in a fight with Sasuke before I ended up here, so I assume Sasuke is the one who captured me." the girl nodded, confirming his beliefs, silently urging him to continue.
"Well honestly, even if I am only here as his prisoner, I feel like being here, so close to Sasuke brings me one step closer to bringing him back to Konoha." his eyes widened in surprise as the red-headed girl exclaimed.
"Wait, you're Naruto! You're the one who's always trying to bring Sasuke back to Konoha!" he nodded in confusion.
"Sasuke told you about me?" Naruto asked skeptically, finding that unusual for Sasuke since he apparently wanted to sever his bonds with him. He ate a few more bites of food as he awaited the girl's response.
"Sorta." she answered as a blush as bright as her hair dusted her pale cheeks. "He kind of talks in his sleep." she explained causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow at the strange statement.
"You watch him sleep?" he asked, amused as the girl's blush deepened.
"He says interesting things!" she defended lamely.
"Well that would explain why you follow him around." he said, ignoring her lame defense and coming to his own conclusions. "So you're in love with Sasuke too, huh?"
"Wha-! I am not!" she protested before her defensive mood changed to curiousity and jealousy. "And what do you mean 'too'?" she asked before patiently waiting for him to finish chewing his food.
"Before Sasuke left the village to train with Orochimaru, he and I were both on Team 7, along with my good friend Sakura, who was in love with him." he explained before looking away from his half empty plate at the girl. "I'll assume he doesn't return your feelings?" he inquired, finding his answer when the girl turned a woeful gaze to the ground. Naruto shook his head.
"Same old Sasuke, always rejecting the efforts of beautiful women." he looked over at her with a foxy grin. "I'd reccomend getting over him, I'm pretty sure he's asexual."
The comment, though directed towards her crush whom she was mostly pretty defensive of, caused her to crack a smile. She also blushed after realizing that Naruto had implied that she was beautiful.
"So how does this Sakura girl look." she asked curiously, taking notice at how Naruto's eyes lit up at the mention of her.
"Well she has short pink hair and light green eyes. She's really smart, one of the smartest people I know! And she is determined, hard-working and very strong." he explained, rubbing his cheek as it tingled when he remembered all the times her fist had made contact with it. Karin thought it sweet that he mostly listed personality traits when describing her, proving he cared for her far beyond her looks.
"Well I think it's easy to assume that you're in love with this Sakura girl?" she said, her theory confirmed at him blushing and nodding his head in affirmation. She was surprised at how comfortable she was with the blond boy that was supposed to be her prisoner, his dangerous chakra forgotten.
"Speaking of which, did Sasuke tell you anything about Sakura, like whether or not she was ok?" Karin shook her head causing a frown to form on her near perfect features when she saw his face fill with concern.
"I wouldn't really worry if I were you." she said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "For some reason, Sasuke is very against unnecessary killing." she explained.
"Is that so?" he said softly as his lips curled up slightly. "Maybe Sasuke's not as far into the darkness as I thought, maybe bringing him home won't be so hard." Karin raised an eyebrow at his hopeful words.
"You really don't remember what happened two nights ago at all, do you?" Naruto slowly shook his head, the tone of her voice making him weary of her next words.
"Naruto, no offense but... I don't really think you have much of any chance bringing Sasuke back to Konoha with you."
"And why is that?" Naruto said furrowing his eyebrows at the thought of never fulfilling his promise.
"You're not just a prisoner here for no reason, you're a weapon." Karin explained solemnly as she remembered the boys screams when he was first brought in by Sasuke. "Once Sasuke activates Mangekyo Sharingan, you're completely under his control." she said as her eyes dropped to the floor before she could see his reaction the the news.
"You haven't just lost your freedom, you've lost control over your own body." she locked eyes with the boy, seeing his eyes wide, shocked frozen by her words.
"You belong to Sasuke now."
There's chapter 4, rewritten! Sorry again about Karin. Please review and
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