I don't own Naruto! At all! And sadly…I never will…*sigh*

"Text" - Sakura talking to Karin.

"Text" - People talking.

'Text' - Thoughts/Karin mentally talking to Sakura.

There seems to be a real lack of interest in this story, so I might need to delete it or put it on halt. I'm sticking to the shorter chapters, but if you want longer chapters then you should let me know. Reviews would be highly appreciated!

Chapter 5

Karin sighed tiredly as she climbed onto the soft bed and crept under the covers. Her body ached all over, especially her fists, which were now bruised. She had decided to remove her gloves during training, but she now regretted it as she stared at her purple knuckles. She still hadn't managed to get it right – she wanted to perfect those chakra-filled punches, but her timing was never right. She sighed as she turned over onto her stomach. Tomorrow she would have to work on her chakra control. After all, that was the root of the problem. She was in a different body with different chakra and she wasn't completely used to it yet. At least she could still use her Mind's Eye of the Kagura, but she had noticed it took a lot more effort on her part. The rosette's body was still new and strange to her and the girl's chakra was mixing around with her own. It was an uncomfortable situation and she would need some time to adjust to all the sudden changes.

Karin absentmindedly wondered if she could still use all of her old justsus. Her chakra reserves were rather pathetic right now and she would never be able to accomplish anything with such little chakra at her disposal. She would need to do some exercises to expand her chakra reserves. And she already had a few exercises in mind.

… … … …

Karin lazily cracked an eye open and stared at the light-pink ceiling. Her pink air was splayed messily around her shoulders. She let out a content sigh. It was a Saturday. She had the entire day to herself. The sun was just beginning to rise as she hopped out of her bed, her small feet making a dull 'thud' against the wooden floor. She quickly grabbed a few items of clothes from her closet and got dressed, feeling grateful that she took a shower the previous night, after her training. She was dressed in an almost identical copy of the previous day's outfit, the only difference being the shirt, which was baby-blue instead of red. She didn't want a closet filled with nothing but red – that would be boring. She quickly braided her bubblegum pink hair and tied it with a dark blue ribbon. Once she was satisfied with her appearance she went to brush her teeth and wash her face.

Karin smiled as she exited the house. The sun was shining brightly and there were only a few clouds in the sky. She immediately decided that she was going to take the long way to the training grounds. A cold breeze rustled the leaves of the trees and sent pleasant shivers down her spine. There were birds singing in the trees, filling the air with pleasant tunes. The streets were already filled with people heading to work.

Karin sighed as she strolled through the streets, enjoying the fresh smell of flowers that hung in the air. Every now and then she would have to weave her way around people, but most of the time that wasn't even necessary. The street was filled with people, but it wasn't crowded.

The training grounds were once again completely empty, much to Karin's delight. She didn't feel like searching for a new spot to train.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?"

'Chakra control. I need to get used to your body and your chakra.'

"I see. Well, what did you have in mind?"

'Just a few basic chakra control exercises, nothing too difficult. I want to get used to your chakra gradually. I don't know what might happen if I suddenly tried to use an actual justu and, to be completely honest, I don't really want to find out.'

"Hmm…okay. I see what you mean - there's a chance you might hurt yourself if you tried to do a justu."

'Exactly.'

Karin sat down on the grass. She picked a blade of grass and lied down flat on her back as she placed the blade of grass on her forehead.

"Is this similar to the leaf balancing exercise?"

'Sort of. It's just a lot harder since a leaf is bigger than a blade of grass.'

Karin closed her eyes as she allowed some chakra to flow to her large forehead. The blade of grass shook, just barely, as she pushed a small bit of chakra into it. Karin made sure to keep her breathing steady and her muscles relaxed as she focussed on her chakra. The blade of grass moved slightly so it levitated about two millimetres above her forehead.

Chakra control on such a tiny object was very difficult. Push in too much chakra and the grass might burn and turn to ashes since it's too small to handle all the chakra, but push in too little and it will have no effect other than slowly wasting your chakra. It brought back memories of her old life back in hidden grass. Of the first time she'd ever attempted this exercise.

Most genin at their age would have been busy with tree-climbing or even water-walking, but her sensei always said that it was better to start with the smallest stuff and slowly work your way up to the biggest. Grass balancing was the smallest of the small, yet it was still rather hard to master. With tree-climbing and water-walking there was a larger surface area to work with, but with something as small as a single blade of grass it was much more difficult. The amount of chakra used was far less than the other exercises, but the control had to be far more precise.

Her team had spent days trying to master this exercise, but to no avail. Karin remembered how happy she had been when she was the first to complete the exercise. Both of her male teammates had, for the very first and very last time, looked at her with envy.

They had always looked down on her and often told her how useless she was, but she never believed them until she was attacked by that bear in the chunin exams. That had been a real eye-opener for her. It had been the first time in her entire life that she had felt completely helpless. It was something she never wanted to feel again in her entire life.