Well I have proven my theory that every other chapter is a gonna be a pain in my butt, cause this chapter nearly gave me writers block on the first half. Had to rewrite three times then have my beta help me in order for it to flow. X-X But this chapter made me happy in the end, especially the Karin bit, wasn't sure how to handle it, but I made it work.
HOLY CRAP WHEN DID WE HIT 200 FOLLOWERS?! Seriously! I leave you guys alone for just a few days and this happens! Thank you guys so so much! I love the support from you all!
SPECIAL NOTICE: Sorry I forgot to put this in the original update. We have a cover art now! A lovely friend of mine from college took the time to draw me a picture for this fanfiction and she would really appreciate some feedback. If you would like, leave some feedback in your review, thanks! :D
ArmCannos34: Yep Anko has her priorities XD
IsraAl'Attia-Theron: I wrote a little side story of Ibiki's report, this made me laugh too much not to. Thanks for the idea luv! :D
Renavelia: He's going and there's no stopping him!
VenaHope: Yep! That's what the weasel is for!
Tawnypelt37: Yeah Anko is a little slow in understanding her friend's type of man XD Hope you like this chapter!
Mackenzie Willow: Thanks senpai! :D Anko is a blast to write and that entrance scene was something I had worked on for a bit, plus it demonstrates just how big Dei's creations can get now.
Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf: Well Karin is in this chapter, but you'll learn pretty quickly that our opinions of her are very different lol. I'm glad that people can see something in her that I cannot though. ^-^ But don't expect much with Ino, she matures on her own pretty well in the anime, plus we have mature!Sakura to help with the push. Deidara doesn't need to be the one to always cause changes. :)
silverwolf310: Ibiki is scared of Deidara XD thinks he's insane. And yeah, Anko is like Hidan, if she's in the warning then expect lots of random crap to come from her mouth.
Reaper: To be completely honest, I have no idea. Orochimaru could easily kill him if he got close enough, but he can take on some Akatsuki members one on one (Like Kisame due to natures and Hidan… for obvious reasons). He won't rely heavily on C4 (In fact after this arc expect a drop in using it) and he is limited in his chakra because earth-style is very draining and his clay. So if Deidara catches someone off-guard? Then he can most likely overpower the opponent. But in a prolonged fight, Deidara is a sitting duck. There's also the fact that the self-insert in Dei's body tends to react on impulse, so mistakes are easily made. This was a really good question, I just can't put a measure on strength because Dei has spent most of his time making sure OTHERS were strong and not himself, just have fast enough reflexes and create powerful clay creatures. Hopefully this was a good enough answer. ^-^
MelonLordOfMelons: I am 99.9% sure I have read that particular story before on multiple occasions. Also oh my god XD What is with you and always making me laugh?!
Zeuseus: Here ya go!
Shaxoom: I'm glad you liked this! I've noticed a lot of my readers come in with the whole "eehhhhhh… I dunno… maybe a few chapters" and then this happens XD love it when it does, I love catching people off guard.
Grayson's gal: I never knew I wanted this fanfic until I spent 3 hours trying to find one that wasn't Sakura related. XD Not kidding, that was my inspiration, I just wanted a self-insert story on my favorite character.
"Blah" - Talking
'Blah' - Thinking
"Blah" - English
Blah - Passage of time
Warning: Language, violence, Orochimaru, disturbing imagery (That isn't Orochimaru), dead animals, minor insanity.
Disclaimer: I actually had a nightmare that this fic got taken down because I forgot to add a disclaimer XD Either way I still do not own Naruto.
3rd person POV
Ibiki entered the Hokage's office with a splitting headache and some questions that need to be answered. In the office, Hiruzen is calmly drinking tea while his clones handle the paperwork.
"Hokage-sama, we need to talk about Deidara."
Hiruzen looks from his seat at Ibiki with a sigh, "What has he done this time?"
Ibiki straightens his back, "He's- 'this time' Hokage-sama…?" His shoulder's slump at the prospect of things going on regarding Deidara that he may have missed, before coughing and continuing, "He created a massive dragon, destroyed a wall to the testing room, and scared the piss out of several genins. I am certain without the heads up, many of the jounins would be in the same position."
Hiruzen slowly blinks and motions for Ibiki to continue nonchalantly, "And?"
'Is he serious?!' Ibiki throws his arms in the air, "Why does he have so much freedom?! Don't get me wrong Hokage-sama, I trust the kid with my life, Kami knows he's earned my trust with everything he has done in the past. But he's a kid that can use explosives!"
"It's Deidara." Hiruzen said that as plainly as someone telling an idiot that the sky was blue.
"Hokage-sama! This is serious! Why is Deidara allowed to do the things he can do like leaving the village willy nilly?"
"It's Deidara." Hiruzen repeats himself.
"Having access to S-class information despite not being an ANBU and also being born in another village?"
"Because it's Deidara."
"Is there anything he can't do?"
Hiruzen nodded, "Yes, but he just has a lot of freedom because of things we have discussed in private, nothing he plans on doing will involve harming the village."
Incomes a random ANBU, "Hokage-sama, Deidara is dropping explosives into the Forest of Death on the wildlife."
Ibiki gives Hiruzen a questioning look, "Do you have a reason for this?" Ibiki physically winces when Hiruzen took a long drink of his tea, slowly set it down and cleared his throat. The scarred man instantly regretted the poorly worded question.
"It's Deidara."
Deidara's POV
Within less than ten minutes birds were already going off into the air. I had to create clones and make them go collect any teams that gave up or need immediate medical attention. I can confirm that Hinata's team passed thanks to Shino using leeches… ugh. Poor group lost a teammate due to blood loss.
Shivering at the disturbing imagery, it takes me a few minutes to locate Team 7. Team Anko decided that they were just going to go ham on anything that moved and collect scrolls… well, Ukon and Sakon decided this, Kimimaro is just there as backup.
The chunin exams was and still is, my favorite arc of the original series. So many amazing characters made their debut and the animation was… ahem, almost always beautiful. I'm looking at you Sasuke, you had some weird faces.
By the time I was able to zoom my scope onto Naruto's team, Orochimaru was already fighting Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto was most likely dealing with the giant snake, but damn, Sakura is a beast!
Just before the fight
3rd person POV
Team 7 regrouped after chasing away the Amegakure shinobi, and are now in a circle, unaware of the bamboo sticking out of the ground nearby.
"We need to make a password so we know if one of us are being impersonated or not." Sasuke begins to make up one in his head.
Sakura looks at him confused, 'Why not just speak in Deidara's other tongue…?' Before she could say edgewise, Sasuke speaks up.
"We will ask each other, 'When does a shinobi strike'" Sasuke proceeds to recite the poem. (AN: If you guys think I'm willing to type that poem 3 times, nu uh.)
Naruto and Sakura look at each other blankly, Sakura memorized it easily, but it flew over Naruto's head like Lee's heart.
"Sasuke-kun… How about instead we-" Before Sakura could finish her sentence, a powerful gust of wind sends everyone flying. Sasuke and Sakura easily hide in bushes while Naruto… became a snake's temporary lunch.
Some things never change.
Sasuke climbs out of the bush and looks around, "Sakura? Naruto?" Sakura slowly comes out of her hiding spot and approaches him "Hang on. The password."
Sakura nods, "Right… a shin-… oh, come on Sasuke-kun, that poem is more lame than that time Deidara-sensei spent an hour trying to shove you into a duck costume on Halloween." She folds her arms with a deadpanned expression as what she said processes into Sasuke's mind.
She lets out a giggle when Sasuke's face turns tomato red and he looks away grumbling, "You're the real Sakura alright."
"Hey guys! What the hell was with that wind, dattebayo?!" 'Naruto' runs back to his teammates, fox on his shoulder and all, only for Sasuke to whip out another kunai. "Oh… right, the password."
He then recites the poem word for word.
At first, Sasuke and Sakura relaxed for a moment, he got the password right. Then they remembered that despite his brothers trying, Naruto is still dumber than a sack of hammers.
So they decided to test a theory.
Sasuke spoke, "What is the name of the creature Deidara gave Sakura?" He jabs a thumb at the chirithy on Sakura's head, which somehow did not fall off this entire time.
'Naruto's' expression fell as he stared at the dream eater on the pinkett's head, "Uhhh teme, that's a cat- WOAH! What the hell?!" He skillfully dodges a kunai being thrown at him.
Within seconds Sakura and Sasuke get into a fighting position, sweat began to form on their palms as they stared at the imposter.
"For your information, it's a chirithy. A dream eater." The chirithy pats Sakura's head in approval. If it had fingers it would have gave 'Naruto' a rude hand gesture.
"You're just an imposter. I bet you don't even know what's in the real Naruto's locket." Sasuke smirks, only to pale when a long tongue slips out of the lips of the imposter.
"Aren't we the clever ones?" A cloud of smoke poofed into the air, as it clears there stood Orochimaru, the fox turning into a snake. "You didn't trust your teammate even with a password and used personal questions to weed out imposters. Quite intelligent."
"Thanks for the compliment, but you should have done your research before trying to impersonate the dobe." Sasuke backs away when looking at Orochimaru in the eye, gulping slightly feeling the killing intent.
Oro pulls out his scroll, catching the two's attention, "You'd love to get your hands on our earth scroll isn't that right?" Smirking, he proceeds to swallow the scroll whole, "By the end of this battle…" He licks the saliva off his chin, "One of us will have both scrolls… and the other will be dead."
It was like the Fuck This Shit train had taken a sudden stop into Nope Town as both genin sprang into action.
"Sakura! Ground sink!" Sasuke quickly jumps onto a tree, pulling out shuriken and throwing them with intention at Orochimaru.
"Got it. Fire him!" Sakura charged forward rapidly using handsigns, slamming her hands onto the ground "Earth style: Antlion technique!" Using just enough chakra, causing Orochimaru to sink from the knee down into the earth.
'How clever, minimizing my movements, I didn't expect such a technique from a young gi-' Oro's thoughts were cut short when Sakura slams her fist into his face. Using a strength that reminded him of a young Tsunade, yanks his entire body out of the earth and sends him flying headfirst into some trees.
"NOW SASUKE-KUN!"
"Nice job with the landscape Sakura! Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke leaps from the trees and sends a giant fireball in the direction of Oro, but before it could land the snakeman literally slithers out of the way, smirking.
"My my, isn't this entertaining. Please keep this up, my prey." The man lets out a throaty chuckle as summons a massive snake. "Or maybe I shall cut this short and kill you both?"
Both genin freeze at the sight of the large serpent, the same thought ran through their minds. 'How are we going to take that down?!'
Suddenly a flash of orange appeared, punching the snake's snout with inhuman strength.
"Sorry about that guys, I was too busy cleaning snake guts off of my family photo, dattebayo!" Naruto stood on a tree branch smiling like an idiot while dangling his necklace in a show-off way. The fox is growling on his shoulder, fur puffed out in aggression, staring at Oro who is mentally recovering from the minor surprise.
"I see… you killed my other summon. You're quite good." His tongue shoots out like a frickin cameleon and wraps itself around Naruto's torso and arms.
Naruto's eyes shine red as he struggled to get away, red chakra seeping out from his body. Orochimaru calmly swats the clay fox away and summons another snake to keep the blond's teammates busy.
"Let go of me you bastard, dattebayo!" Naruto kicked and flailed but he was suspended in the air.
Without a care Oro easily lifts up the boy's shirt, jacket and all to reveal Minato's seal, "How lucky, not only have I encountered one of the last sharingan users, but the Kyuubi host as well. You'll be quite the pain if I let you have that chakra." Oro weaves some handsigns before slamming his fingers against Naruto's stomach "Five pronged seal!"
Naruto gasps as overwhelming pain takes over his body, by the time Sakura and Sasuke took care of the snake, the blond was already unconscious.
Orochimaru carelessly throws Naruto to the side and Sakura is quick to catch him. Laying her teammate down the chirithy is quick to do first aid on Naruto; using medical supplies it carried in it's little pouch tied around its neck.
Sasuke stares at Naruto's unconscious body, his rival, his best friend, hurt because he was too slow to take down an enemy. He wanted to pull out his clay and forget this ever happened, to grab his teammates and flee the area, to throw the bird and have Deidara obliterate this monster- No.
He would do it himself.
"Kukukuku… It appears you have your sharingan activated, young Uchiha."
Sasuke didn't even realize how clear the world in front of him was until the man made that comment.
He crouches down, and leaps toward Orochimaru.
After the fight (AN:The fight stayed the same as in the anime from that point on.)
Sakura and Sasuke looked at the supposed dead body tied to the tree. "Is… he dead…?" Sakura's voice was a whisper, as if afraid the man would come back to life.
The laughter from the tree was all they needed to confirm the status of Orochimaru.
Orochimaru, without effort, breaks free of the wires and uses a paralyzation jutsu, "I see, you are a true Uchiha. You are definitely his brother, if anything your eyes are even keener than Itachi's… so full of delicious hatred and potential power… yes, you'll do nicely."
"Who the hell are you and what do you want, you bastard?!" Sasuke struggles with breaking free from the jutsu but he can't move. Sakura is immobile by Naruto, staring the whole scene in fear.
"My name is Orochimaru, and as for what I want, well… that's for a later visit." Weaving hand signs, the snakeman's neck elongates towards Sasuke, fangs poised to bite.
Only… he didn't bite Sasuke. No, his fangs collided with soft earthy clay, an angry squeak formed from Sasuke's neck and the clay weasel sprang to life. It leaped off its human's neck and exploded, causing damage to not only Orochimaru, but to Sasuke, who is sent flying backwards unconscious from the sudden pain.
Jutsu broken, Sakura pulls out the clay bird from her pouch 'Please show up…' and threw the sculpture into the air.
Before Orochimaru could even try for round 2, a series of exploding frogs fell from the sky as a large clay bird made a nosedive to the ground.
"Back off bitch, they're mine, un!" Deidara lands by Sakura and Naruto, picking them up and taking them to Sasuke. All the while shouting out "Katsu" over and over again, chasing the snakeman away.
Shaking with anger the bomber quickly tends to Sasuke's wounds using healing salves and other ointments, "He won't have scars, but these will hurt like a bitch until he gets to a healer, un."
Sakura drops to her knees, letting tears roll down her face from the sheer stress, "You knew…? That's why you gave him the weasel…?"
"... I knew this man wanted an Uchiha, and I know how he can control people… it was a precaution, un." Deidara gave Sakura a smile, "I'm proud of you Sakura. You did well in that fight."
At the praise Sakura threw herself onto the teen, sobbing loudly into his shoulder, babbling incoherent sentences about Naruto and Sasuke being hurt.
"Oh baby girl…" Deidara gently strokes the pinkett's hair, "Shhh… I'll help you learn medical ninjutsu after this is over okay, un?" He waits for the girl to nod before continuing, "Find someplace to hide. Set traps, preserve your chakra. Kimimaro's team will run into you, un."
Placing a gentle kiss on her forehead and giving the boys loving looks, Deidara returns to his clay bird and takes off back into the sky.
Day 2
Sakura was exhausted.
She tried to stay up the whole night to watch over the boys. However after being nudge to the ground by both her chirithy and the fox, she allowed sleep to take over her as the two creatures guard the trio.
She only got a few hours of sleep before she needed to check on the boys and apply the salve Deidara gave her for Sasuke. He would twitch and hiss in pain, but otherwise remaining motionless as he slept away the burns.
Naruto hasn't moved once since the fight, and what worried Sakura was that his wounds weren't healing. He wasn't beaten too badly though, most of the damage was from before the fight.
'Please wake up soon…' Sakura gets up to stretch before making sure her traps were okay. Satisfied she looks at her chirithy, "Can you find Kimimaro-san?" the dream eater nodded before leaping away.
A laugh from the other end of the clearing made the pinkett turn at her heel, kunai ready.
"Well well well, we were hoping to catch you asleep, but I guess this will do." The three Oto shinobi leap from their hiding spot and stood before her.
Sakura got into a defensive stance, "I suggest you bug off."
Kin didn't seem to appreciate the attitude, "Oh? Little miss high and mighty got an attitude even though she looks like she's gonna pass out? Please."
Dosu tilts his head slightly, "We only want Sasuke. Wake him up and we'll let you and the blond live."
Sakura scoffs, "This is for Orochimaru, isn't it?" No answer, but their tense shoulders said otherwise, "Then no way in hell. Earth style: Flying thrown stone!" (AN:These jutsus have weird names.) Sakura slams her hands onto the ground, large boulders are sent in the direction of the Oto shinobi.
"How the hell does this bitch know elemental jutsu already?!" Zaku tries dodging, but every time he stopped, another rock would be aimed at his head.
"I had a good teacher!" Sakura smirks but loses sight of Dosu, who appears by her, she has to leap away before the sound from his arm could damage her ears. But even then, the sound left her disoriented, enough for Kin to think she could grab her hair.
Big mistake.
The moment Kin tried to grab a bundle of Sakura's hair, something sharp stabbed her hand. Looking at her palm yelping in pain, several small pink needles sticking inside her hand. "What the hell?!"
"Deidara-sensei said that I need to make my hair not be a target, so…" She loosely shakes her head, audible clinking could be heard from the top of her head. Connected to her headband with fine wire, were pink senbons so thin and so tiny, that they matched Sakura's naturally glossy hair. "I gave myself some protection, took me hours to painstakingly attach each wire to my headband."
Kin froze on the spot, not even thinking something like that was possible, "How do they not poke your eyes?!"
Sakura shrugs, "My hair is thick enough and tied back?"
While the girls were distracted, Dosu was heading towards the boys, the little clay fox was growling, smoke protruding from its ears as it was prepared to do its job.
"Heh… runt." Dosu prepares a soundwaves when he feels a shift behind him.
"Take one more step towards my otouto… and I will give you a slow death."
Dosu stiffens as he looks over his shoulder, he is met with acid green eyes promising an agonizing death.
Kimimaro had made a break for the area as soon as Sakura's chirithy pointed in the direction of the team. Sakon kept close but knew better than to get involved, lest he be the one that got stabbed with a bone.
Needless to say he wasn't a happy camper finding not only his precious baby brother, but his teammates, all in danger.
Zaku tried to attack Kimimaro, but Sakon was quicker, punching the guy in the face while wiggling his finger in a "tsk tsk tsk" motion, "Bad idea buddy, trust me, you do not want to get in between Kimi and his brother… Like your friend is right now."
Dosu got the hint and quickly scrambled away from Kimimaro. Noticing that had he responded a second too late, the clay dragon on the Kaguya's shoulder would have ripped his head off.
With how noisy the area has been, a certain Uchiha woke up absolutely pissed. He's always a grumpy person in the morning.
Sasuke tilts his head, wincing at the pain his jawline and neck were producing. Activating his sharingan in annoyance after seeing Zaku turning his attention to Sakura as Dosu kept Team Anko busy.
He slowly gets up from his spot, placing a hand on his neck, feeling the tender skin and thick layer of salve. 'That weasel was meant to…' He snaps his attention to Zaku after hearing Sakura cry out in pain, the asshole just punched her.
Without hesitation Sasuke charged at Zaku and knocked him to the ground, glaring heavily at the boy. "I wonder if I should be merciful to you or not. Will you apologize to her?"
Zaku snorts, "Ya think I'm some kind of pansy? No way! Not my fault she used up all her chakra."
"You asked for it then." Sasuke raises his leg and with a well timed kick, Zaku's arm snapped with a sickening crack.
The forest goes silent only for a moment before Zaku's screams fill the air.
The Uchiha glares at Kin, who quickly backs off from Sakura as she slowly tries to remove the needles from her hand. Dosu tried to keep fighting… but then Kimimaro turned into a human porcupine and was watching the bandaged boy with livid eyes.
Dosu could tell this was a losing battle for his team, and gently sets down their scroll as a peace offering. "We'll leave this with you." The Oto team quickly leave the area to save their own skin.
When Kimimaro was certain that the team left, he retracted his bones and kneeled by Naruto, pleased to find that he is still breathing.
Sakura spent the next half hour explaining to everyone what happened with Orochimaru, and why Sasuke is now an overcooked duck. Kimimaro held a recently awoken Naruto close to his chest, only allowed the clay fox near them.
Sasuke rubs his burnt neck gingerly, "Who knows what would have happened if that guy bit me…"
"I think Deidara-sensei knew, that's why he gave you that weasel."
'It's not just that…' Sasuke suffers from a flashback-no-jutsu about Deidara telling him to speak with his brother. He then looks at their scrolls, "We have both scrolls. We should head to the tower."
"We're going with you." Kimimaro quickly pulls Naruto to his feet. Sakon sighs, knowing that there is no arguing with Kimi, he's the leader.
Team 7 hesitate for a moment, but fearing another attack, agree with Kimimaro.
Deidara's POV
After watching over the chibis all night I allowed my muscles to relax. Anko had gotten my attention during the night and she went to confront Orochimaru, but I had to keep an eye on the team.
When Kimimaro chased the Oto team away I let myself lay on my clay bird and sleep the day away. My clones can handle this.
Day 3
I only had one bird be shot into the air today, which was surprising. I guess teams either want to save them up or used them on day one. Rather amusing when I had full grown adults giving up within a matter of hours, only for them to learn that not only am I a jounin at 16, but I have been training in that forest since I was 12.
Total. Ego. Killer.
I leap off my bird and look at the Amegakure team before me, it wasn't the one Gaara killed, or the guys in the yellow suits, but they did wear the air masks. I tilt my head expecting them to climb on the bird, or at least say something. They wanted to give up, right?
Based on the senbon embedded in my arm, I guess not.
"What is with you adults and not listening to me, un?" I groan in annoyance as my arm went limp, no the senbon was not poisoned, but it hit a pressure point. I easily dodge several more senbons aimed at me.
"We know how your jutsu works, you can't kill us," The leader I presume, laughs at me and his teammates joined in, "not with our air masks on."
… Ohhh! Wow, these guys are idiots. I pull out a C4, which adorably enough was a chibi Pein for shits and giggles.
"They don't teach you guys about cellular size in Amegakure, do they?" The team pauses as I let the chibi Pein dissolve into the air.
"Don't mock us!" One of the Ame shinobi begins weaving hand signs, only to hold his left arm screaming as I made his hand go byebye.
"I'm not mocking you, I'm informing you that my jutsu attacks at the cellular level. As long as you have microscopic openings in your body, like your eyes, ears and pores, C4 will get to you, un."
The team backs away, realizing their mistake, this is why I had them sign the waver.
Their bodies won't return home.
"I warned you all about what would happen if you attacked me, I said I will kill you and your teammates. So, I guess I told you so, un!" I happily smile and a single handsign, "Katsu~"
I picked up their scroll and left on my bird humming.
Day 4
My clone waved me over to something that made my shoulders slump.
'Oh hell no.'
Zooming onto the scene with my scope, I watched Karin being bitten by her jackass teammates. The anime never specifies when this particular scene happened, but I guess it was today, and Sasuke is just a few minutes away.
As the two Kusa shinobi finish biting Karin and hand her the scroll, telling her to hide, I could feel apathy hit me like an ocean wave. Hitting me then pulling away as I try to push the bad thoughts away, only to smack my face again in an uncontrollable layer of not giving a fuck. Despite what others in my past life have told me, despite the things I have read, I hate Karin. I never watched the filler on her backstory that was shoehorned near the end of the anime, and I always got annoyed when she was on screen.
Granted, that was the original Karin from shippuden, and this is a Karin I can mold to be what I want her to become; a strong female woman who… doesn't fangirl over Sasuke. Frankly I think if I can break Sakura's fangirl habits, then I can squash Karin's, set it on fire, and throw it off a cliff.
This wasn't the Karin that just stands on the sidelines and beats up Suigetsu. In fact, I'm staring at a tiny girl who honestly looked like she did not want to be in this exam.
Breaking my monologuing about my least favorite female, something caught my attention about Karin that caused me to become more peeved with her teammates, than with her. They trusted her with the scroll, told her to hide, she is their healer and the only female.
But they took the damn bird with them.
Just as the anger began to sweep over me I notice Karin looking up directly at my bird, and then the bear attacked. I watched as Karin tripped while running away and her glasses went flying off her nose. I subconsciously put my hand on my nose in sympathy, I use to own glasses and this scene happened often in my past life.
I was about to break my own rules and head down there to get rid of the bear when Sasuke arrived and kick the bear's head, knocking it flat to the ground. I watched as Karin scrambles to put on her glasses and stare at Sasuke with utter adoration.
Oh boy, gotta work fast…
Sasuke says something to her before leaping away on the trees. Just as both of us began to relax the bear wakes up again, Sasuke didn't hit it as hard as I thought he did.
With a sigh, I calmly drop some C1's on the beasts and… well… bear guts everywhere.
"Sorry about that, un." I leap off my bird and land in front of the redheaded child, she stares at me for several seconds, before something sparked in her eyes. When she opened her mouth to speak I raise my hand, "If it's about my chakra, I have heard it's weird, un." Based on how fast she closed her mouth, it was about my chakra.
I turn my head to the direction Sasuke left, "You met Duck-kun, I see."
"...Duck-kun…?" Okay, Karin has a cute voice, in fact, her child self is rather adorable.
"Sorry, I mean Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke, he and several other genin in this exam were my students before they became genin, un." Karin nods in understanding, but I can tell she is confused as to why I am here, "Your teammates are jackasses, you know that? You're their healer and the one with the scroll yet they took the bird."
Her big eyes widen even farther than I thought possible, before lowering her head, "I… I'm an outsider in the village… my mother was the healer but she died and… now I'm…" She stares at her sleeved arms.
"Honey, do I look like I give a shit about you being an outsider?" I don't even give her time to answer my rhetorical question, "I'm a former missing nin from Iwagakure and now I'm a jounin, in charge of the chunin exams, with the Hokage wrapped around my finger. If you ask me, you should ditch Kusagakure and live in Konoha, un." She gives me a baffled expression as I fold my arms. People never seem prepared to hear my blunt responses, I don't sugar coat things, if I did I would own a bakery.
"B… But I can't! They took us in! My mother and I would have died without them!"
"And where is your mother then?" That shut her up, I soften my tone, "Let me see your arms..."
Karin hesitates, before slowly rolling up her sleeves, the moment the sleeves butched up under her armpits I yank both arms to me, earning a yelp as I examined each bite mark with disgust. I made sure to keep my palm mouths shut, not wanting to accidentally bite the delicate skin.
The scars are even uglier in person, the anime just makes them look flat, but here I can see and feel the rise and fall of the scars from various human jaws connecting with her arms to absorb her chakra. Young jaws, old jaws, a few had gaps due to the shape of the person's teeth, it was like Karin was a walking dental record for the people of Kusagakure.
It was disgusting and wrong.
"That decided that then." I release her arms and begin molding clay, "Move from that spot and I'm kicking your's and your teammate's asses so hard you'll still feel it back in Kusa, un." Karin wisely stood still, afraid of what's to come.
Finished with the sculpture, I gently begin to work on Karin's hair, pulling it back in a pale grey ribbon, I attached the sculpture to her ponytail.
It was a rosebud.
Once she realized it was attached to her head, she began to panic. I had to put my hand on her shoulder to calm her down, "It's okay Karin-chan, I am not going to activate it. It's an offer."
"An… offer?" She repeats back in confusion.
"The reason why my chakra seems weird to you connects to what I am going to tell you right now. When the chakra of a human snake begins to slither its way to your village, remove this flower from your hair and stab it; it will explode, I will sense it, and I will come get you, un." I kneel to her height and look at her in the eyes, "You can also use it if you just wish to leave Kusagakure, un."
Karin pauses before nodding, she gently touching the flower on her head, eyes lighting up at how real it felt.
I give her my charming big brother smile that for some reason kids just love, "You look cute with your hair up, un." Her face begins to match her hair as I jump onto my bird and fly off.
Not only will this give me a chance to mess with Orochimaru again, but… maybe it will help me see Karin in a better light.
Her team gave up that evening though, I had to keep myself from pushing one of the boys off the cliff when they tried to blame her. Though I did tell the kid to shut up and learn to be a better shinobi.
I think I have a new admirer, and it's a certain redhead… joy.
Day 5
Once I was able to confirm that there were no more teams to collect, I head to the tower to stand with all of the jounin sensei, Anko couldn't make it so I became the moral support for her team.
I'm not complaining, I get to watch everyone fight.
I zoned out as Hiruzen and Hayate explain the chunin exams, how kids have to fight together to gauge strength and keep the peace and blah, blah, Hunger Game like reasons, blah.
What confused me and made me a little anxious was Kabuto staying, Team 7 and Team Anko both made it to the tower on day 4, not long after Sasuke saved Karin. So Kabuto never encountered the Ame team.
I eye Orochimaru, 'What are these assholes planning…?'
There's an extra four people now, so some matches will have to be different. Meaning I may enter these battles blind.
Hayate raises an arm to point at the screen as it jumbles names. Knowing my luck, it's going to be that Kami-awful battle between Sasuke and Yoroi, and without the curse hickey Sasuke will win without any issues and- Holy shit…
"The first match is…"
Aren't I a stinker? XD I could not resist letting that end on a cliffhanger!
So much crazy shit happened in this chapter, but I managed to make sure to include Karin. So yes, I hate Karin. However like with Sasuke, I will be having Deidara mold her into a more likeable character, starting with getting her out of Kusagakure. Dei has a soft spot for children and with how poorly she's been treated thus far, and since this isn't shippuden Karin, Deidara is willing to give her a chance. I understand that people like her… but I'm not one of those, please respect my opinions as I have tried my hardest to respected all of yours who have been requesting her.
Also we now had a taste of the new and improved Sakura, I'd like to think she's more useful now while also still being allowed to express herself. ^-^
Next chapter is the first rounds of the chunin exams! The fights have already been determined along with how they will go and what the end results are, I just have to turn them into actual fights. Depending on the length I may split it into two chapters, but that's based on how I manage to write the fight scenes, the Oro fight was kind of my practice. Some fights will remain the same as their anime counterparts (Depends on how important/how much I loved the battles.) and if they are, I will only add some of Dei's commentary… you guys can just watch the battles, they're all over Youtube and I'm lazy. XD
As usual, reviews are loved and I'll see you guys… whenever I get the chapter done, I haven't even started yet, better get to work I guess! :D
Bye!
