Disclaimer: All dialogues except for those spoken by Karin, Ryuu, Kurotaro and Sasuke to Karin, are taken word for word from Chapters 65, 66 and 67 of the manga.
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Chapter 2: The contestants
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As the hours went by Karin started to believe that some god had gone and randomly struck them with a ray of luck. She honestly did not know how else to explain it.
It hadn't only been the fact that they managed to get their hands on that scroll without even having to fight for it, but also that the road to the tower had been unnervingly peaceful. There were no traces of other teams attempting to hunt them down or of wild creatures wanting to devour them whole; and Karin was particularly thankful for the later, as she highly doubted she would make it out alive if it were to happen again.
When they arrived to the tower they had four hours to spare, so after one of Konoha's chuunin gave them a short speech about the meaning of Heaven and Earth on the parchments they had been allowed to wander through the tower while they waited for the time to run out.
Kurotaro busied himself with observing the other teams, seizing each participant and trying to decipher which ones were the strongest of the bunch. Meanwhile, Ryuu simply helped himself to some water and sat down to have some rest before the storm wiped away the calmness again. Karin joined him, sitting down on the floor and resting her back against the cold wall, trying to steel her nerves for whatever was to come; but every few minutes she would look around the room again, trying in vain to spot a familiar face with obsidian eyes.
Time continued to pass, uneventful, and while two more teams arrived to the tower there were no traces of her savior anywhere. Karin was beginning to drum her fingers anxiously on the palm of her hand, her brows furrowed with uneasiness.
He is going to make it, she told herself more times than she would have liked to. He is going to make it because he is strong, he knocked that bear out as if it were nothing.
And it was definitely true. Ever since she could remember the strongest ninja around her had been her current teammate, Kurotaro, and Karin has seen the extent of what he could and couldn't do. Alas, it had only taken her a minute with the black-haired boy and she already knew that he was stronger than Kurotaro could ever hope to be.
He is kind a part of her head chimes in, and Karin finds herself smiling, her brows relaxing. Only someone kind can be strong.
And her teammate wasn't kind. Not in the slightest.
The redhead allows herself to sneak a glance at the brown haired boy who was still standing a few steps ahead of his two teammates, hands on his hips and watchful eyes set on a team standing to the left, where another redhead like Karin was standing. As she takes the redhead in, she blinks with surprise; he was such a contrast to all those surrounding him, not only due to the dark rings under his eyes and the tattoo on his forehead, but rather due to the fact that as far as Karin could see, he was completely unscratched. Spotless, even. Not even a small speck of dirt adhered to his clothes, not a disheveled hair, no nothing. It was as if he hadn't fought at all, but the untidy state of his two teammates was enough to tell her that had not been the case. So then, how come he—?
Karin's thoughts reach an abrupt stop as suddenly, as if feeling her eyes on him, said redhead turned around and aqua green met crimson red, Karin not being able to help the startled gasp that left her lips.
S-so cold!
Karin had never seen someone with eyes like those, capable of freezing you to the bone simply with the merest of contacts. She felt a shiver run down her spine, but she still couldn't make herself look away, as if in a trance.
Finally, after a long and tension-filled moment that seemed to stretch on forever, the boy's eyes narrowed and he looked away from her with as much indifference as when he had first turned in her direction. But Karin could still detect something different in his look; something akin to disgust.
Without really knowing why, Karin gulped down. All of a sudden she wasn't feeling so blessed anymore.
She spent the rest of the time looking down at her feet. The only exceptions were when a new team would arrive; in those instances she would raise her head hopefully—only to look back down again, her shoulders slouching with disappointment each and every time.
One minute after the given hour, they were told to stand in line.
Karin had been walking to her position at the rear of her team, right behind Ryuu, when she caught a flash of blue from the corner of her eye. A pull of gravity suddenly manifested itself on the pit of her stomach and she turned around so fast that she felt a curt pain somewhere in her neck.
But said pain was completely forgotten as her eyes landed on him. On the boy she had been waiting for, the boy she had been hoping to see.
He made it. I knew he would make it! She cheers inwardly, a happy smile beginning to draw itself across her features and her quick heartbeat sending pleasing currents of warmth through her petite body.
As she took in all she could see of him, the smile fell a little and her brows furrowed with slight concern. From the place she was standing at—at the back of the last line on the left—all she could see was his back and a mere glimpse of his profile. But she could still see the numerous scratches on his arms and legs, not to mention the disheveled state of his hair and how dirty his clothes were.
He had a rough time, didn't he? Karin wonders thoughtfully, and allows her eyes to slide away from him and to his two other teammates. In front of him stood a blonde with an orange jumpsuit, and with slight surprise Karin recognized him as the loudmouthed participant who had spoken during the written test, calming everyone's nerves with his courage and confidence; though despite his bravado Karin had still thought that he was just as nervous and scared as they were, deep down—perhaps even more so.
Said blonde's clothes were just as dirty and unkempt as the black-haired boy's, and it was obvious that he had also participated in a fight or two. Lastly, the girl standing behind Karin's savior had light pink hair cut in quite a messy way, and her arms, bare shoulders and legs were also full of cuts and purple prints.
Frowning, Karin looked down at herself. Aside from a scratch here and there, she was basically unharmed. And so were Ryuu and Kurotaro.
We definitely got lucky.
She can't help the thankful sigh that escapes her lips as she thinks that. Really, never in her wildest dreams did she think she would be able to make it this far—and much less that it would make her so happy. But here she was, and she would be lying if she said that she was not feeling uncharacteristically hopeful and proud of their achievement.
"First off, for the second test… congratulations on passing!" suddenly yells out the ferocious woman that had been in charge of explaining to them what the second test was all about, and Karin quickly snaps to attention. As she does so, her lips curve up into a small but happy smile that she was not able to hold back.
'Congratulations on passing!' the woman had said, and it was like she had indirectly acknowledged Karin herself. Now there was no stopping the hopeful and proud feeling that she had been trying to subdue, and it begins to swell inside of her to the point where her cheeks warm up.
"Hokage-sama will now explain the third test! Listen carefully!" the woman—Mitarashi Anko, was it? continues after a brief moment of silence, and afterward she turns towards the old man who was standing up front, at the head of the group of people working to arrange the exams. "Now, Hokage-sama. Please."
She says in a much calmer and politer voice, and the old man nods and then begins to speak, his eyes passing over each of the genin as he did so. "For the third test..." He halts all of a sudden, as if he had had a change of mind.
"But before I explain that, there's something I'd like you to know. It concerns the true reason for this exam…" he trails off briefly, and before he pulled down his hat and covered his eyes, Karin had been able to see a seriousness that made the feeling of elation she had been previously experiencing begin to fade away. "Why do we have all the allied countries taking the exam together?"
Huh? Don't we know that already? Karin wonders, somewhat perplexedly, and it's as if the Hokage was reading her thoughts because they're just what he addresses next.
"To 'promote friendship among the countries', to 'raise the level of shinobi'… I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning. This exam is…—"
As the Hokage's silence dragged on and created a tension-filled atmosphere, Karin could feel how the curiosity of the rest of the participants gradually shifted to anxiety instead.
Hers did not. Until the Hokage broke the silence, that is.
"—A replacement for war among the allied countries."
His words echo though the place—his eyes just as serious as them, and Karin's own widen with astonishment, her mouth hanging agape due to the surprise and the many connotations that were already surfacing in her brain.
T-That means…!
"What does that mean?" inquires a girl to Karin's right but the redhead doesn't bother to turn towards her, her eyes set on the Hokage instead, willing him to give an explanation different from the one she was thinking of.
Alas, the old man does anything but and his words are exactly what Karin's confused brain had been expecting.
"If you go back in time, the current allies were enemies who fought each other over who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the stage that these countries chose for battle…" he let the silence stretch on, his unspoken words ringing clear through the ears of all of them. "That is the origin of this chuunin selection exam."
There is a brief pause to let his words sink in, but said pause is curtly broken by the same loudmouth from the written test, and this time Karin does turn towards him as he yells out: "Why the hell do we have to do that crap? Isn't this thing for deciding who's a chuunin?"
"It is a fact that this exam decides which shinobi have what it takes to become a chuunin." The Hokage calmly replies without missing a beat, and Karin turns back towards him—but her mouth is no longer agape nor are her eyes widened with surprise; rather, her expression is one of hesitant acceptance. Logically, she understood what the Hokage was saying, and what he had yet to explain. But emotionally, she was drawn to what the loudmouthed blonde had yelled out; this was supposed to be about testing out their own abilities and becoming someone worthy in the eyes of the shinobi world—but even while doing that, they were mere pawns in the big picture.
It sort of took the charm away from it all. Or so Karin thought, somewhat dejectedly.
"But on the other hand this exam has another side," the Hokage continues, and Karin resists the urge to sigh, being able to take a guess at what was coming next. "Where each country's shinobi risk their own life to protect their land's prestige."
"Prestige?" echoes a blonde girl who is at the head of the team standing right beside Karin's own.
And here, Karin thought frowning, comes the part I like less.
"Watching this third exam will be leaders and influential individuals from many countries who make up the clients of the shinobi. And the leaders of the countries will also be there to watch each of your battles. If the strength of that country is clear, that country will receive more clients. And conversely if seen as weak, they will lose clients."
It made perfect sense, but she still did not like it. She couldn't shake off the impression of being sold to an audience; of being used, even. And she was not even material for this—no matter from which side one looked at it, she just wasn't.
Why did they send me here? She wonders not for the first time, and her eyes focus sideways on the ground, her fists clenching weakly.
What good impression of her country could she possible give? She who couldn't even face a wild animal which wasn't half as dangerous as the most mediocre of shinobi could be?
All she would be able to do is make a fool of herself and her team in front of the Kage of many countries.
"It's not as if the Grass has that many clients to lose…" Quietly murmurs Ryuu, but Karin cannot find in herself the will to reply.
So caught up is she in her thoughts that she completely misses the Hokage's next words and what brings her back to earth is the loud and angry yell of another boy, who was casually standing by the side of the loudmouthed blonde.
"Yeah, but why? Why do we have to risk our lives in battle?"
As the Hokage looks for the right words to reply, Karin's eyes travel from the boy towards the old man, her brow furrowed lightly as she awaited his next words.
"The strength of the country is the strength of the village." he declares at last, and the room is eerily silent. "The strength of the village is the strength of the shinobi. And a shinobi's true strength is… born only through life-risking battle."
His powerful words and the meaning they carry make Karin draw in a breath, her heart beating painfully slowly against her ribcage.
"This exam is a place to see each country's strength and to show off your own strength. It only has meaning because lives are at risk. And that's why those that have come before you have fought in the chuunin exam for this dream. That is meaningful."
"But then why—" suddenly inquires the girl who had spoken back when the Hokage's speech had just begun. "Why do you say stuff about this being for 'friendship'…?"
"I said it in the beginning: I don't want you to confuse the purpose of this. By losing life and establishing balance. This is the shape of friendship in the world of shinobi."
By losing life and establishing balance… Karin echoes in her mind, her eyebrows curved upwards in an expression of pained understanding. That's… such a cold way of looking at something that's supposed to be anything but that.
"Before we begin this test I will tell you one more thing. This is not just a test… This is a life-risking battle. With your dreams and your country's prestige on the line."
"Hehe I get it." Karin turns towards the blonde boy at hearing the smile in his voice. He was reacting in a way that she wouldn't have expected coming from him, who seemed to be someone who didn't have such a cold way of looking at human feelings and bonds.
Though perhaps she was the one who was in the wrong due to not being used to how things were in the 'world of shinobi' as the Hokage had put it. Perhaps she was the only one who had been thrown headfirst into something she didn't completely understand.
But a brief look at the profiles of those near her showed more than one surprised face, and their presence at least helped Karin to keep under to control the feeling of isolation that was coming back to haunt her.
"I don't care what it is…" mutters a hoarse voice two team's by the blonde's right, and with slight surprise Karin realizes that it was none other than the cold eyed redhead from before. It's only then that she notices that she hadn't heard his voice before. It was cold and menacing. Just like his eyes. "Just hurry up and tells us what this life-risking battle entails."
"Yes, I'd like to now explain the third test, but—"
"—Actually…" says a male voice out of seemingly nowhere, only to cut himself short by a loud coughing fit. It is still coughing that he lands crouched at the Hokage's feet. "I apologize, Hokage-sama. From here on, as the referee… Would you please allow me, Gekkou Hayate…?"
The Hokage nods, staring intently at the man who had just introduced himself as the referee. "By all means."
The recently arrived man turns towards Karin and the rest, who look with surprise at his sickly state. There were wide dark rings under his eyes, which looked half-dead. His skin was very pale and his body was shaken by coughs every few words he spoke.
"Hello everyone, I'm Hayate. Umm… before the third test there's… something I'd like you to do."
…Something you would like us to do? Karin wonders, tilting her head to the side with curiosity.
"Umm… it's a preliminary for the third test, to decide who gets to participate in the main event."
Karin's eyes widen, her heart skipping a beat.
N—no way! Do they want us to…?
"…Preliminary?" inquires an unknown female voice, immediately followed by the male standing by Ryuu's right.
"Preliminary? What do you mean?" he yells, and by his reaction it seemed obvious to Karin that he had reached the same conclusion as she had.
"Sensei… I don't understand this preliminary, but…" speaks again the same unknown female voice, and Karin slightly turns only to find that it was the pink-haired girl. "Why aren't all the people here allowed to participate in the next test?"
Karin inwardly agrees with her question, though she remains silent. Everyone was already making all the questions she wanted to make, so there was no point in adding to the ruckus. Quickly, her eyes steal a look at her savior to see how he was taking the news, and she was slightly surprised to see him looking perfectly calm.
Was he really not concerned in the slightest about getting eliminated?
Is he that powerful?
Karin cannot help but to look down at her feet, her brows completely furrowed now. She felt the exact opposite of what he felt; she had found it hard to survive back out there, and they had managed to get this far only thanks to a surge of luck. If they were asked to fight one another now, Karin did not have a single chance of passing to the next round, so she wouldn't even get to tell her relatives that she made it to the finals.
This is so unfair, she complains, half-heartedly, before holding back a sigh that made her eyes close and her shoulders slouch.
"Umm… because the first and the second test may have been too easy this year… we have a bit too many people remaining."
…Easy? They consider that easy? Karin's shoulders slouch even more, to the point where she looks almost comical.
"According to the rules of the chuunin exams, we must have a preliminary and… reduce the number of participants for the third test."
"No way…" Breathes out the pink haired girl, but Karin is already too resigned to agree with such a display of disbelief.
"As Hokage-sama indicated earlier, there will be many guests at the third test… So the fights could take too long. We're limited in time." coughing slightly, Hayate continues. "Umm… so anyway… Those who are not feeling well… Those who feel like quitting after these explanations, please come forward now, since we will be starting the preliminaries immediately."
If Karin thought nothing would be able to get her out of her gloominess then she was smoothly proven wrong. The referee's brand new revelation causes her to swiftly raise her head, her eyes open like plates.
"What? Right now?" yells the other loudmouthed boy, efficiently voicing out Karin's inward shock.
Well, Karin thinks, and this time she does let out the sigh she had been holding back. At least now I won't have to embarrass my people in front of all the Kage. Just in front of…
The image of the group of people who was currently in the room makes its way to her mind, along with the smiling face of a certain someone, and Karin promptly gives up on her attempts to find the positive side of the situation.
This is bad. In every way.
"Umm… I'm going to quit."
"Huh? K—Kabuto-san?"
Curious, Karin turns towards the source of the—by now—familiar voice of the blonde boy who was in her savior's team, and it's then that she sees the guy who had just announced his forfeit. He didn't seem to be badly hurt, and Karin began to seriously consider Hayate's words.
'Those who feel like quitting…'
She had been so surprised about the fact that the preliminaries would be happening right away that she had almost passed over that very important part of his speech.
"Umm… you're Yakushi Kabuto-kun from the leaf, right? You may leave now…" Announced Hayate between coughs, as he checked a folder which—Karin guessed—contained their profiles. "Umm… does anyone else want to retire? Oh umm… I forgot to tell you that from now on it will be individual battling. You may raise your hand based on your own judgment."
Karin isn't as surprised as some are by the new piece of information, as she had already assumed such would be the case since they would probably wish to cut the numbers by half. Regardless, she still finds that she is not as unfazed by that announcement as she would have liked to be.
No that Kurotaro-san, Ryuu-kun and I are really a team… The redhead thinks, her eyes absentmindedly set on the back of the high-collared blue shirt of her savior. They had even ditched her in order to attempt to get the scroll, after all. They were just three people coarsely thrown together. No more, no less.
But… I guess it'd have been… comforting, to have them there with me. She softly admits to herself, blinking to get her eyes to focus again.
"Kabuto-san! Why are you quitting? Why?"
Even though her eyes morosely move from the blue shirt towards the blonde and then towards the gray-haired guy who was quitting, Karin doesn't really hear what he was replying. She was too busy going over her thoughts, trying to decide if there was a decision to make.
Should I… should I quit?
The mere thought of quitting sent a bolt of displeasure through her body, and the turmoil showed in her red eyes. Be it by luck sent by the Heaven's or mere chance, the three of them had gotten to this point, something that Karin had never thought possible. And the thought of giving that up, just like that, with just a raise of the hand… after days of hunger, fear, sweat and blood… after all the effort…
Somehow, she didn't find that fair. Even if all she did was make a fool of herself afterward, even if she—no, even though she would be eliminated in the fights that were about to come, even then… even then she wanted to…
"Don't rack your brain so hard." Ryuu tells her all of a sudden, startling her out of her thoughts. "We made it this far so let's just see what happens, alright?"
He gives her a slight smile, and after a few moments Karin finds herself returning it, nodding her head. Feeling more at peace with herself, she turns away from her teammate and towards the high-rank shinobi reunited in front of them, only to notice the Hokage and Mitarashi Anko busily talking to one another with serious expressions.
… Is something the matter? She wonders, somewhat curiously, and when she sees the way the old man's eyes travel towards the guy called Yakushi Kabuto she turns towards him as well, staring at him curiously.
He was no longer speaking with the blonde boy, rather, he was beginning to turn around, only halting to say something to his teammate; and until then, Karin saw nothing particularly interesting about him. But then he began to make his way to the exit of the place, and when she caught a glimpse of his profile a spark of uneasiness shot through Karin's head.
She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, utterly confused as to what had made her feel like that. It wasn't the first time she felt such a thing, either—lately it had been happening more often. And one thing was common between those who made her feel that way—
—There's something weird about him.
But she couldn't put her finger on what it was.
An abrupt movement from her dark-haired savior caused Karin's eyes to dart from the deflector and to him instead, and she had to blink with astonishment when she saw the way he clutched his shoulder in noticeable pain.
Did he get hurt? He seemed fine when he saved me, Karin ponders, concerned. Any thoughts about Yakushi Kabuto abandoning her mind with the same easiness in which he had abandoned the test.
"Umm… now… there are no more retiring, right?"
Karin briefly steals a glance at the referee, but then her attention goes back to the black-haired boy who continued to clutch his shoulder, just in time to watch the way in which he and the loudmouthed blonde turned towards their other teammate.
It's then that Karin noticed that apparently the pink-haired girl shared Karin's own concern for the boy's shoulder, and Karin watches, curious, the way in which the girl places both hands on her heart and—was it Karin's imagination, or were those tears?
The girl continues to speak, then, and her savior's lips begin to move as well. Karin doesn't get to hear what they're saying, but they seem to be arguing, and she watches how her savior's expression changes to one of irritation, his eyes turning as cold as stone.
Karin's heartbeat quickens and she forces herself to turn away and focus back on the Hokage and those standing by him. Those three were having a private conversation, one of those that happened in real teams, unlike the cell she and Ryuu and Kurotaro had been thrown in. Had she kept watching, she would have felt like she was intruding.
I hope everything is fine with them, she thinks, and her chest feels heavy for some reason. That moment when he turned back towards his pink-haired teammate had been the first clear look at his face that Karin got since the episode on the woods, and she was sure that there had not been so many bruises before, and—
Perhaps I saw wrong, a voice points out, thoughtful. I didn't have my glasses at first and the sun was very bright, too, so—
—The turmoil she had glimpsed inside of his obsidian eyes hadn't been there before, either. That much she was sure of.
When he had smiled at her—when he had given her the smile that even now was capable of making her cheeks feel warmer by just its mere memory, his eyes had been clear. There were no shadows there. They were just extensions of that smile, warm and inviting. There had not been a single ounce of coldness there.
She guesses that perhaps her eyes could have played tricks on her; perhaps his smile had been blinding enough to erase most of the bruises on his skin from her eyes.
But there was no way that she had mistaken the look in his eyes. No way at all.
… Did something happen?
Karin doesn't think she would be getting any replies, but she still can't stop the thought from taking form inside her mind.
"Umm… Now… Let's begin the preliminary." Hayate announces, coughing slightly, and the room falls so silent that Karin can almost make out everyone's breathing. "This preliminary will consist of one on one fighting. You will basically fight as if in a real life confrontation. Since we now have exactly 20 entrants, we will conduct 10 matches and… umm… the winners will advance to the third test."
"There are basically no rules. The fight continues until one of you dies or is knocked out or admits your defeat. Umm… if you don't want to die then quickly acknowledge your defeat." Karin had been about to frown, thinking about just how that advice was oh so very helpful given the situation, when Hayate continued: "But when I decide that the winner has clearly been established… Umm… since we don't want to pointlessly increase the amount of corpses, I will jump in and stop things."
I wonder if he'll stop my match as soon as I step in the arena… regardless of how ridiculous the thought was—Karin doubted there was any way to make out that fast how unskilled someone was—a gloomy aura still set itself upon her, causing Ryuu to give her an inquiring look over his shoulder, possibly guessing what she was thinking.
"And the object that controls your destiny is…"
"Open it," Mitarashi Anko speaks into a small communicator, and Karin watches with surprise as a rectangular screen located near the ceiling was suddenly revealed to them.
"This is… this electric score-board will… show the match-ups for each battle. Now, this is sudden but let's announce the 2 names of the first fight."
Karin's mouth dried and she swallowed down, hard; the anxiety and fear and distress coming together to form a bile that attempted to make its way up her throat and left a sour taste in her mouth as it dropped back down on her stomach, making it feel heavy with dread and tight with trepidation.
If my name comes up, what am I going to do? What?— The image of a certain redhead appeared in her mind like an electric bolt, and her thoughts turned even more agitated. What if I'm grouped against that cold eyed boy? What then?
But Karin didn't need to anguish herself with such thoughts for much longer as the names stopped to spin and left only two behind, each written in clear, yellow characters.
Uchiha · Sasuke
VS
Kurodo · Kurotaro
It seemed surreal to see the name of her teammate up there. But the surrealism was quickly washed away by a wave of relief so great that it made Karin's knees shake, and she sighed quietly, taking a hand to her chest and feeling her heart's pace slowing down against her palm.
Ryuu turns towards her with an understanding smirk. "You were scared, huh?" Karin nods, feebly and honestly, and Ryuu's smirk widens into a sheepish grin. "Me, too. But this bastard is excited."
He turns back towards Kurotaro and Karin leans to the side in order to take a look at him from behind Ryuu's back. True enough, Kurotaro's shoulders were heaving up and down with mirth, his fingers itching by his sides as if they were claws.
Karin frowns, not liking what she was seeing; Kurotaro could be so strange sometimes, she doubted she would ever understand him. And it was better that way, no doubt. Ryuu had told her something before and whether he was joking or not, Karin is sure that he is right nonetheless—Kurotaro was messed up in the head.
I wonder who he is up against?
She raises her eyes and stares up at the screen again, narrowing her eyes in order to read the characters more clearly.
Uchi…ha… Sasu…ke, eh? Who is that?
She takes a look at the teams lined up around them, trying to decipher according to their reactions just whom was the one in question. Merely ten seconds afterward, Karin's eyes have widened with surprise. Most were looking at one direction, at exactly one person—a black-haired boy dressed in blues and whites and with scratches covering his legs and arms.
N—no way!
He was Uchiha Sasuke? Kurotaro's opponent? He out of all people?
"Now, these two entrants please come to the front."
But any doubt is erased from her mind as he steps out, walking to the front alongside Kurotaro, who had briefly turned around to shoot her and Ryuu a smirk along with a few words that Karin hadn't even registered and didn't care for in the slightest, given the circumstances.
"The two participants in the fight are Kurodo Kurotaro and Uchiha Sasuke. Are you ready?"
"Anytime."
"Yeah…" The black-haired boy replies, and Karin is still watching him with such surprise and disbelief that she doesn't even realize that she is glad to hear his voice again. It was just so incredibly haphazard that he had to be put against her so-called teammate. Just what were the chances of that?
"Now… we will be starting the first match. Will everyone but the two participants move to the upper level?" Hayate requests, and around her the rustling of feet beginning to move could be heard.
Her feet don't join said rustling, though.
"Hey Karin, come on. We have to go to the upper level to watch the fight—Karin!"
She snaps out of her thoughts due to Ryuu's voice. The boy is staring at her over his shoulder, a frown drawing his eyebrows together. "What's the matter, Karin? Are you really that worried over Kurotaro or something?"
"T—that's not it!" Karin begins to protest, but then her tongue gets tied and she just doesn't know how to continue. How can she explain this to him without revealing what had happened in the forest?
Ryuu continues to look at her for a while longer, clearly waiting for her to continue. But when Karin closes her lips and averts her eyes, Ryuu heaves a sigh. "Whatever. Let's just move out of the way before someone calls us out. I'd rather not get any of the spotlight just yet."
As he turns around and begins to walk away, joined by the rest of the teams who were going up to the left side of the upper level, Karin knows that he is right. They're in an unknown village and they had run out of luck already so the less they stood out, the better.
But knowing that still cannot stop her legs from moving in the opposite direction. And so she avoids walking into the boys and girls abandoning the arena, circling them in order to reach from behind the boy whose name she finally knew.
Uchiha Sasuke!
Her mind repeats, and its mere mention sends sparks of adrenaline running through her veins.
Ryuu turns back only to find that Karin wasn't behind him, but rather, moving away from him, towards the Konoha genin who would be fighting Kurotaro. "Hey, Karin! Where are you going? You aren't supposed to—!"
But it's too late already, as she has reached the black-haired boy. Kurotaro spots her first and his eyes narrow with annoyed curiosity, while Gekkou Hayate's expression remains unchanged though his eyes are also set on her.
She ignores them both, however, as she is completely focused on the back of the other boy standing in the arena.
"Sasuke-san!" she calls out before her mind can even think of what, exactly, she was going to tell him. And it's almost in slow motion that she watches the boy turn towards her with eyes full of suspicion. But that soon changes as Karin sees the way they light up with recognition once they land on her, and her heart begins to beat a little faster afterward. "That's your name, right? Sasuke-san?"
She asks, more out of need to keep talking and break the silence than out of real doubt. If he was there standing with Kurotaro then there were little to no chances of him being anyone but Uchiha Sasuke.
"Yeah. So you made it this far, huh?" her savior—Sasuke inquires, a slight and amused smile contorting his lips, and to Karin, he even looks impressed. She quickly nods, the colors already making their way up her otherwise pale cheeks, and then she bows her head.
"Thank you for before!"
Sasuke simply shrugs casually in response. "It was nothing."
Karin raises her face just in time to watch him turn around, no doubt eager to begin his fight, but then he suddenly stops and turns back towards her, his eyebrows furrowed in a curious expression. "That guy I'm about to fight. Is he your teammate? You two are wearing the same clothes."
Karin wants to reply but she doesn't really trust her voice right then; so she nods instead. An enticing smirk draws itself across Sasuke's lips.
"Too bad then. Your team will be missing one member."
Sasuke turns away once again then, not giving Karin any time to think of anything to say in response; but somehow she doesn't think it would have made any difference, as her tongue seemed to be tied still.
Sasuke, he was definitely cocky.
Or perhaps just confident, Karin muses, as she hurries up the stairs in order to join Ryuu, deliberately ignoring the inquiring glare that Kurotaro had sent her way as she ran past him. I would like to be that confident, too. Though the difference is that he has reasons to be so, while I…
"Oi, what was that down there? Did you know that guy?"
Karin hesitates for a moment, but then she shakes her and places her hands on the cold handrail, circling her fingers around it.
"I don't know him."
But… I would like to.
—
End of the 2nd chapter
The first half of the chapter is a little slow because I decided to leave in the canon dialogues in order to blend in Karin a little better. And also to show her characterization a little more clearly. Some of you may be wondering how come Karin felt something in Kabuto; truthfully I'm just playing with Karin's perception which was highly praised in the Databook, which even mentioned that it was quite probable that Karin's chakra sensing ability was so sharp due to that.
The real changes to the canon verse start right here; next chapter we'll see a bit more of them, and by the fourth chapter pretty much everything will be completely non-canon for a while, except for a few of the main canon events.
Thank you to those who have favorite'd this story despite there only being one chapter out so far. And special thanks to my kind reviewer! Please don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts, I really enjoy reading them.
Until next time!