Disclaimer: All dialogues pertaining to the Chuunin fight (with the exception of those spoken to Karin and/or mentioning her) were taken word-for-word from Chapters 98 onward. The same applies to the fight scenes, which also remain the same as their manga counterparts. Lastly, the characters Midori and Shiba are indeed canon; they are the two Kusagakure shinobi that Gaara murders in Chapter 110.

Note: While re-reading it, I realized this was probably the hardest chapter to write; and to my dismay, it probably shows. Le sigh. The first chunk of the chapter is mostly Karin summarizing what happened during the first three fights, since I figured there wasn't any need to describe them in detail (we're all familiar with them, after all). Things will develop once it's Sasuke's turn. But I must warn you… action is nowhere near my forte (orz).

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Chapter 15:

Main Event: starts! Konoha under attack!

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Getting up early turned out to be the right idea. By the time they arrive to the arena people were already lining up and eagerly discussing in loud, cheerful voices who they thought would make it and who they thought would not.

Uchiha Sasuke was a name never missing when it came to whom—according to the villagers—would become chuunin, and Karin finds her spirits soaring even as they wait under the hot sun. Kurotaro felt just about the opposite, but he had taken to childishly keep to himself ever since Sasuke kicked his ass the other day; something nor Ryuu nor Karin could complain about.

Still, Karin couldn't help but feel a little wary of his silence.

'Heh, maybe he is growing up,' Ryuu had jokingly told her last night, when she had voiced her concern. Karin didn't know about that; but she definitely did not want to put it to the test, so she has made sure to keep her training a secret from Kurotaro. One thing was he thinking she had been hanging out with Uchiha Sasuke, and another altogether would be if he found out she had been training with him—and under the tutelage of none other than the Copy Ninja Kakashi, at that—though she had not been aware of Kakashi's well-known reputation until Ryuu told her about it. Regardless, Kurotaro would get carried away by jealously and hear no reasons; something she could do without, thank you very much.

Especially since it would hurt the barely existent dynamics of their team, and now that she had become dead-set on participating on the next Chuunin exams, improving their teamwork had become one of her goals.

"Hey, hey, it's Karin!"

The voice came from behind. Blinking, she turns only to find Uzumaki Naruto waving and running towards her, morosely followed by another Konoha genin.

"So you really came, huh!" Naruto says with a grin, rubbing his nose as he comes to stand before her.

"I told you I would!" Karin grins back, and feels excited just by looking at him. "Are you nervous?"

Naruto puts his fists up and strikes a pose, completely fired up. "Never! I can't wait to show everyone what Uzumaki Naruto can do, 'ttebayo! Keep your eyes on me, Karin, you wouldn't wanna miss it!"

She chuckles, but before she can say anything in response Ryuu is curiously poking her shoulder and giving a meaningful nod to Naruto. "Who's your friend, Karin?"

"Oh, right! Ryuu-kun, Kurotaro, this is—"

"Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's next Hokage, dattebayo!"

Karin can't help the fond smile that quirks up her lips as she watches Ryuu being taken aback by Naruto; she could relate, alright. Uzumaki Naruto was definitely something else—and even Sasuke could attest to that.

"Pft, aren't you the freak who beat dog-boy thanks to a fart?" suddenly remarks Kurotaro, arms crossed across his chest and one eyebrow arched high.

Karin frowns, but Naruto beats her to the punch. "What?! Who are you to talk, you are the guy who got his ass kicked by Sasuke-teme, aren't ya?!"

Kurotaro's eyebrows begin to twitch, "You bast—!"

"Oi, oi, calm down, man!" Ryuu gets a hold of Kurotaro's sleeve before he could give another step forward, but there is no stopping the glaring match the two seemed to be having. Behind Naruto, the other Konoha nin sighs and places a hand to his temple.

"Maa, how troublesome… that's enough, Naruto. We should be going inside now."

Naruto seems reluctant, so Karin steps in between them and places her hands on his shoulders. "That's right! You will get to show him what you're made of later, won't you, Naruto-san?"

As expected the use of the suffix seems to be enough, for Naruto goes back to his enthusiastic mood in the blink of an eye. "Right, right! No one will look down on me anymore after I win today, 'ttebayo! See ya later, Karin! Ryuu, annoying-guy!"

Ryuu has to restrain Kurotaro from childishly trying to pounce on Naruto again, and Karin can't help but sigh; so much for Kurotaro growing up.

Her thoughts are cut short however, as a shiver abruptly runs down her spine. Before she knows what is happening, a very familiar girl is walking past her—a blonde, dressed in light purples and carrying a fan on her back.

A single look at the fan makes Karin's legs cramp with painful recognition but she barely register the feeling, her brain too busy with the redhead who was following Temari—and looking at her.

Glaring at her.

Time seems to slow down as her eyes remain caught by Gaara's hostile ones, and she remains frozen and upright even as he finally looks away and disappears behind the gates of the podium; so much so that she jumps when Kurotaro breaks the tense silence that had unknowingly settled in their team.

"… W—what the hell was up with that guy?"

His voice sounds coarse, and Karin can't help but blink with surprise as she notices the bread of sweat rolling down his temple. To his left Ryuu doesn't look any more at ease, and he even heaves in a sigh of relief.

So even they felt it, huh? Just what… is Sabaku no Gaara?

That thought occupies her attention, and drowns out Ryuu's and Kurotaro's subsequent conversation.

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Thoughts of Gaara still trouble her mind by the time they're finally allowed inside the arena; but they fade altogether as the fights start to take place.

Thanks to having found seats on the west side of the arena, the three Kusagakure genin were always face-to-face with one of the current participants no matter what happened; which granted them a clear view of their struggles.

The exams had begun with Naruto being pitted against Hyuuga Neji. Just like she had promised, Karin had loudly cheered him—which had not been a hard task, considering how incredible his display against the Hyuuga had been.

'I can figure it out with these eyes… talent is decided at your birth… you could say that everything is decided when a person is born.'

'Why do you always automatically decide things like that?!'

Now Karin understood why Naruto had been so adamant about her own match against Temari. Her struggle had been similar to his, in a way; both trying to prove that they could do it, both trying to abandon the shadow of being underestimated. The difference was that Karin had done it to prove her worth to herself—while Naruto had done it to prove his worth to the world.

But the Karin from back then is different from the current Karin—and next time; next time she would be fighting just as Naruto had done.

Konoha is full of amazing people, Karin had thought then, watching as the blond grinned and blew kisses at the audience. And they all seem to be part of Sasuke's team, heh.

But Naruto's drive and resourcefulness had not been the only things from the blond that had taken Karin aback. There had also been something else; something in the monstrous quantity of chakra the boy had been able to call forth despite the Hyuuga having previously sealed his chakra points. Karin's reaction to it had been instinctive and raw—

She had immediately been reminded of Gaara.

Mere moments later she had shook her head and vanished the thought. There was no comparison between someone like Naruto—all warm sunshine and bright colors—and the likes of Gaara, who preyed on people.

After the emotional roller-coaster that fight had turned out to be, the other guy from the sand—Sabaku no Gaara's and Temari's teammate, Kankuro—had forfeited. Karin had not been able to help it. She had turned towards Ryuu and Kurotaro and the three of them had shared puzzled looks.

"I don't get it. The guy is a monster with those puppets of his, why is he forfeiting?"

"Maybe he chickened out," had sardonically suggested Kurotaro, returning his attention to the arena and effectively ending their rare display of camaraderie.

Afterward had come Temari against the Konoha genin who had been with Naruto that morning, Nara Shikamaru; Karin had never seen him fight before, so she had apprehensively wondered what he would pull to give a fight to the arrogant blonde.

To her surprise, this match ended being a battle of wits—one where the Nara boy had come out on top. Yet, just when it looked like the boy would claim his victory, Shikamaru had taken them all by surprise by raising his hand and forfeiting.

Karin had stared, slack-jawed and Ryuu had slapped his forehead. But the more expressive of the three had without a doubt been Kurotaro, who indignantly threw his arms up.

"What's up with these bastards! They keep forfeiting one after another!"

"And to think he had her where he wanted her, huh…"

And just like that, they had gone through three of the four appointed matches. Only one remained—the one that everyone around Karin had been looking forward to the most.

Uchiha Sasuke vs Sabaku no Gaara

Problem was, Sasuke was nowhere to be found.

At first Karin had thought nothing of it. It would not be the first time that a training session lasted longer than it should, and while they should have been careful to be on time this was Sasuke and Kakashi they were talking about. Sasuke, Mr. Stubborn-and-Training-Addict ultimate and Kakashi, Mr. I-can-never-be-on-time. It was a faulty combination, no matter how Karin looked at it. She only hoped he would not be disqualified for his careless tardiness.

But by the time Temari's fight had come around, Karin had begun to think that maybe she should have ditched Ryuu and Kurotaro that morning and gone to the training ground instead. They were running out of fights and out of time, when in the world would he show up? If he did not do so once this fight was over, he would be disqualified for sure.

Damn it, Sasuke! Hurry up!

The redhead urges on, anxiousness finally creeping onto her. It was hard to avoid it, especially considering that the villagers seated around her were doing nothing but ask Where's Sasuke-kun? Where the hell is the Uchiha prodigy? and weren't even trying to keep quiet about it.

But Sasuke's absence was not the sole source of her uneasiness, not quite. There was something else tugging at the back of her mind and begging for her attention.

There were ANBU all around the arena.

Karin had first noticed it during Naruto's fight. By mistake, she had caught a glimpse of a cloaked figure moving in the audience directly across from her, and had turned around only to find an identical one doing the same in their own area. They weren't wearing the same vests they had worn when Karin had first found out about their existence back in the Hospital, but it was impossible to mistake those animal-shaped masks for anything else.

Since that moment, Karin has counted eight of them—2 per each area of the arena—and for some reason she could not get their presence out of her mind. It was the same as it had been in the Hospital; elite jounin guarding Sasuke's room for seemingly no reason whatsoever, a clear indication that something was going on.

Something more than what met the eye.

But what—? That was the question, and for the life of her Karin could not figure it out.

"Hn… so that bastard backed out, huh?"

Kurotaro's voice brusquely breaks Karin away from her thoughts and the redhead bites the inside of her cheek, pretending not to have heard him. She was not going to be baited so easily.

Two more minutes go by. To her right, even Ryuu is starting to get restless. "Karin… are you sure he is coming?"

He will come—is what she had meant to say. But what comes out as she parts her lips is a breathless whisper instead.

"He's here…!"

Ryuu's confused expression morphs into one of surprise as a whirlwind of leaves forms out of nowhere in the middle of the arena, as if on cue—and in the middle stood none other than Uchiha Sasuke and his teacher, Hatake Kakashi.

Around Karin, everyone seems to be holding their breaths—but she is leaning forward in her seat, a wide grin curving her lips as she stared at the two, relief washing over her like a wave.

About damn time!

"Sorry, we're late."

Kakashi sheepishly says, but the referee simply smirks.

"Your name?"

"Uchiha… Sasuke."

There's a collective intake of breath around her—and then there's an explosion of sound. People whispering, cheering—all at the simple sight of him.

Yours is the most anticipated fight for sure, Sasuke! Karin animatedly thinks, taking the boy in. He was spotless, which meant he had probably gone to clean himself up after finishing the training with Kakashi. He had also discarded his usual attire for a high-collared black shirt and pants of the same color. His arm-warmers were gone as well in favor of the ones Kakashi had got him for his birthday, and while he was not wearing his weights, the black rubber stripes circling his left arm and calves were very reminiscent of them.

To Ryuu's right, Kurotaro crosses his arms across his chest and scoffs. "Pft, show-off."

Karin can't help but to snicker, inwardly agreeing.

When she looks back at the arena she finds Sasuke and Kakashi turned in the same direction, their eyes closely observing someone. Noticing it as well, the referee calls him out as Karin turns towards the participant's area, knowing full well just who the other two were looking at.

"Gaara, get down here."

As the redhead begins to comply—not without shooting Sasuke one last glare—Naruto and Nara begin to make their way out of the arena. The fight would really commence, once and for all.

She hopes against hope that Sasuke would not be reckless enough to forget her warnings.

"Hey, aren't those Midori and Shiba?"

Inquires Ryuu, lightly elbowing Kurotaro in the ribs. The other boy frowns slightly but follows the direction his teammate was looking in, his eyes landing on a pair of Kusagakure chuunin wearing matching thick scarfs. His eyes narrow with slight suspicion. "Hn, what are those two doing here?"

"Maybe they're guarding the daimyo?" suggests Ryuu, and looks around to try and spot the man. By his side, Kurotaro groans.

"I don't get why they keep asking those idiots to play bodyguards when they can barely take care of their own asses."

Ryuu ignores the other's comment, his eyes still following the two Chuunin who were making their way to the exit of the audience area. "I wonder where they're going?"

"Who the hell knows. Bathroom break, maybe."

It feels like an eternity goes by between the time Gaara was called down to the moment he finally steps a foot in the arena; but as soon as he does, Karin is already at the edge of her seat.

It wasn't that she doubted Sasuke would win, no—that wasn't it.

What made her nervous is what Gaara may be able to do to Sasuke before he could secure his win.

Karin swallows and pushes her glasses further up the bridge of her nose, her gaze sharpening as the jounin occupying Hayate's role raises one arm in a signal that everyone knew only too well.

"Now… finally…"

"Begin!"

As soon as Genma gives the signal, sand begins to come out of the calabash hanging on Gaara's back and Sasuke jumps back and out of reach, alert.

So this is the sand Kakashi and Karin mentioned…

He was just beginning to wonder about how far it may be able to reach when Gaara abruptly yelps and clutches his forehead in apparent pain.

"Don't… get so angry…" the redhead struggles to say, his eyes distraught. "…Mother."

Sasuke can only stare, flabbergasted. Mother? What is he talking about?

"I fed you some nasty blood earlier… I'm sorry. But this time…" the sand around Gaara begins to take shape and his only visible eye swiftly lands straight on Sasuke's, a predatory grin stretching his lips.

"This time… it will be delicious."

I have a bad feeling about this.

Is the only thought racing through Karin's mind as she watches them. Gaara's back was turned to her side of the arena, but from what she could see in Sasuke's expression, the boy was most likely talking to him—but at such distance there was no chance Karin or any of the spectators could make out anything he was saying.

As suddenly as he had begun Gaara stops flinching, but his shoulders are heaving up and down with effort—he was panting. Karin herself lets out the breath she had not realized she had been holding all along—there had been an oppression just now. An oppression that Karin can't completely comprehend, but that had let up the moment Gaara had stopped struggling with himself.

Despite being able to breathe more easily, the girl remains wary.

Sasuke is the first to attack, throwing a handful of shuriken that are easily stopped by Gaara's sand, which morphs into a sand-clone. Sasuke wastes no time, charging at it head on—but the clone turns out to be atypical and the Uchiha gets his own shuriken thrown back at him, barely managing to block them with some kunai of his own.

Sasuke changes tactics then, starting to attack the clone with taijutsu—but it serves no effect, as the sand either shifted to absorb the attack or blocked it altogether.

And then—then Sasuke's chance comes. Karin knows what's going to happen even before Sasuke smirks, his sandal barely even scrapping the ground as he all-but-teleported right behind Gaara, his right arm thrown back and ready to strike in a pose Karin knew only too well.

The girl grins, enthusiastically.

Sasuke's going to start using Rock Lee's taijutsu!

And true enough—that was exactly what Sasuke did. He did not have any weights to slow him down so his speed was almost unbelievable. Karin's eyes manage to keep up with him solely because she has had the chance to witness him in action before, but by her side Ryuu is completely open mouthed, struggling to keep track of what was going on.

Heh, Kakashi-san is amazing!

The redhead thinks, understanding all too clearly why the man had made Sasuke train the way he had. He had been expecting this to happen—had been preparing Sasuke for this all along.

To make sure the Uchiha would have a chance to peel off Gaara's sand armor. And as she watches him—each of his hits connecting with his target, his speed too much for Gaara or his sand to react in time for any of them—Karin thinks that maybe the fight would not last for too long, after all.

Sasuke seems to think the very same thing, because after a particularly strong kick that sends Gaara flying back a few good feet, the Uchiha stares at him with a taunting smirk.

"What's wrong? Is that it?"

Karin snorts a little, there he went again.

Gaara remains silent and Sasuke gives him no time to reply, lunging at him again, this time increasing his speed as he ran in circles around the boy only to then attack-him head on, pummeling him with a shower of kicks and punches to then grab him by the collar and drive his knee into Gaara's stomach with brutal force, sending the redhead flying to the ground again.

Once the dust around them settles, both boys are simply staring at each other, both panting. Karin frowns lightly, her fingers clutching the edge of her seat.

Sasuke was being reckless. Gaara's sand armor was not completely off yet, and Sasuke had already spent a good chuck of his stamina.

Idiot, that's one of the first things Kakashi-san warned you not to do…! Karin inwardly lectures, but the thought dissipates form her mind as Gaara does a seal and a vast amount of sand answers his call, coming to surround him at an alarming speed.

Sasuke wastes no time and sprints into action, running at it at full speed and preparing to give it a powerful punch.

What welcomes him however is no mere sand—it's a death trap.

Karin's breath hitches in her throat as the stakes lung at Sasuke, who manages to avoid getting pierced by them by mere millimeters. He is not completely unharmed, though—he is shaken, distraught by how close he had been to getting killed, and as he hops away, panting, there's blood dripping down his leg and knuckles.

"Sasuke…." Karin mutters, and her own knuckles have turned white.

Using all the sand to protect himself… so it gets hard when it's packed tight…

'Ryuu-kun said that his sand is a shield of some sort, a second-skin. Like an absolute defense or something.'

An absolute defense, huh… Sasuke assesses while closely observing his opponent, who had disappeared behind a spherical shield of sand. Going by what had happened as he punched it just now, the sand was not about to break nor shift with mere taijutsu anymore. He would have to use something else entirely.

The question is—what if Gaara tried something while he was concentrating his chakra?

As if on cue, grains of sand begin to shape themselves into an eyeball, looking at him from above the sand-cocoon. The unexpected movement startles him, but soon enough his calculating gaze comes back.

He wants to keep an eye on me, huh? Fine, I'll give you something to look at.

Smirking, Sasuke charges forward, landing a couple of hits on the sand-sphere's surface, which remains completely unaffected.

As I thought, it's no good. The smirk enlarges.

Hiding in there, I don't know what he is up to but… this is perfect, since mine's also takes some time.

Slowly, Sasuke pulls back the bandages wrapped around his wrist.

"Maaan, there's his absolute defense again," Ryuu moans, sliding a hand down his face in exasperation. "What can Uchiha do now…?"

"Get the crap beaten out of him, I guess," supplies Kurotaro, but his voice curiously didn't sound amused by that fact. If anything, it sounded tight and focused.

Ryuu sighs. "Yeah… I guess you're—"

"Be quiet, you two." Karin cuts in, levelly, and even Kurotaro leans forward in order to give her a questioning stare. Karin however does not bother to return neither of their looks, her sight focused on Sasuke, who had just jumped to the arena's wall. "Be quiet and just watch him."

Ryuu and Kurotaro share a look and then wordless do as they're told, turning their attention to the arena again. What they see makes their eyes widen with surprise.

"What the—!"

Kurotaro slides forward in his seat, wanting to get a closer look. "Lightning chakra?!"

The chirping of a thousand birds swallows the stadium whole and Karin grins, boisterously.

"Go, Sasuke! Go!"

Sasuke begins to charge forward—and a lot of things happen at once.

The eye—the same kind of eye Karin had seen back at the training field—begins to move, and as Sasuke's chidori impales Gaara's absolute defense the ominous air gathering around the redheaded boy reaches an all-time high that causes Karin's head to momentarily spin—so she almost misses how the air around her shifts.

Her intuition takes over and makes her hands form the seal—kai! —at the same time her mind finally realizes the way the atmosphere had underwent a swift change.

By her side, Ryuu and Kurotaro are immobile, their eyes closed and—asleep?!

What the hell is going on?! Genjutsu?! Karin frantically wonders as she begins to look around, trying to discern the source of the chakra that had trapped everyone, temporarily forgetting about the fight going down in the arena.

For the shortest of instants she gets a glimpse of one of the ANBU banishing into the shadows, and her eyes widen with disbelief.

"No way…!"

And then there's a shrill shriek—deafening and painful and dangerous—and Karin's head swipes around only to find Sasuke roughly pulling his arm back from the sand-sphere in obvious pain, and—and—

—what the hell was that huge, beast-like arm protruding from Gaara's shield?!

Karin's heart hammers against her chest, her expression distraught.

Just what—what the hell is going on in here?!

Unknown to her, Sasuke was asking himself the very same question, but for different reasons.

The Uchiha can only stare, paralyzed in fear, at the eye—the inhuman eye looking back at him from the hole his chidori had made into the cocoon. He had never—ever—seen such a thing before, never—just what—what was that?!

So disturbed is he over the sighting that he does not notice his sharingan slipping back into obsidian, and neither does he move as the sand around Gaara fades and finally reveals the boy; he was clutching his shoulder, blood leaking from in between his fingers.

But Sasuke feels no satisfaction over having been able to make the boy bleed, no—instead his eyes widen with tensioned confusion, sweat slowly dripping down his forehead.

No… it wasn't those eyes… what was that—thing that was looking right at me?

He felt cold all over just at the thought of it. It hadn't—

It had not been human.

Sasuke barely has the enough time to ask himself just what the fuck was going on when the ground begins to shake.

There's an explosion somewhere in the distance.

Karin looks away from Sasuke and to the sound of the blast just in time to see how two of the Kage jumped to the roof—and, wait a second—was that a kunai the Kazekage had been holding against the Hokage's throat?

A cold sweat begins to drip down her back, making an unpleasant shiver run down her spine.

She did not know what was going on—could not possibly keep track of all the things that were happening all at once—but what she did know is that there was an ominous feeling, one powerful enough to be almost palpable and that was trying to take over her from the inside out, threatening to rip her nerves apart.

Karin forces herself to swallow her heart, which kept trying to make a run out of her chest through her throat, constricting it to the point it was getting harder to breathe—and turns towards Ryuu, desperately shaking him.

"Ryuu-kun!" she calls out, but to no avail. "Ryuu-kun, wake up!"

Nothing. She carefully moves him so that he is leaning his forehead on his knees, and proceeds to reach Kurotaro, shaking him by the arm. "Kurotaro! Kurotaro!"

Nothing. Karin curses inwardly, her desperation rising at alarming levels.

Damn it, you two…! Why do you always leave me alone at the worst of times?!

She slides her eyes away from Kurotaro and down through the rest of the row of seats, only to find that everyone else seemed to have shared the same fate as her two teammates.

Everyone but her.

That thought weights down on her, isolates her—and when she thinks that she is going to break under the pressure, a familiar face pops into her mind.

Her eyes widen. Of course! Why had she not thought of him before? If there was someone who would not fall prey to genjutsu, that was him!

Where's Kakashi-san?!

It takes her a few tries, but she finally spots the man standing in the tribune right across from her own, and very much awake.

Relief begins to wash over her—but it stops as she realizes that she would have to cross the whole stadium in order to get to him.

What if... the ANBU are still around?

The thought makes her pause. Hesitate. But then she swallows and reaches out, taking two kunai from her pouch.

The chances of encountering the enemy were high. But if she stayed where she was—sticking out like sore thumb for she was the only one awake—she would be putting herself in just as much danger.

Waiting would be no good. She had to get to Kakashi, no matter what.

If there was someone who may know what was going on, that was him.

… And if she wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible, then she had to move alone.

She gives her teammates a regretful look. Sorry, Ryuu-kun, Kurotaro… I'll come back for you two later, I promise.

Taking a deep intake of breath and readying herself—Karin begins to move.

Sasuke is still watching what had just happened to the Sandaime when three people land on the arena—and before Sasuke can even react Genma is standing right in front of him, shielding him from the newcomers.

"Fool! Trying to transform into your complete form before the signal!" yells out a rough voice, followed by a female one and then another male.

"He is experiencing the side-effects, it's impossible to proceed now."

"Then what are we supposed to do?! Do it without Gaara?!"

"Uhh... Uh…"

Sasuke watches, stricken, as Gaara kneeled down and clutched his head, hostage of an apparent inward struggle that Sasuke could not begin to comprehend.

In front of him, the man with the red markings on each side of his face gives Gaara an angry look before meeting Genma's eyes.

"Abort the mission. You guys take Gaara and retreat."

His orders are unexpected, and the other two—who Sasuke now recognized as Gaara's other two teammates—don't bother to hide their surprise.

"What about you?!" Temari yells, while Kankuro curses under his breath.

"I'll join the battle. Go!"

Temari looks reluctant, but Kankuro is already steadying Gaara. Soon the group of Sand nin jump away and up the arena's wall—not even sparing Sasuke a single look.

Meanwhile, Sasuke is watching them, slack-jawed. W-wait…! His fight wasn't over yet! They couldn't just take his opponent away from him like that!

He turns towards Genma, wanting to tell the man to do something about it—only to get cut off, as the jounin engages in a conversation with who Sasuke guessed was Gaara's teacher.

"Is the leader of this party… Orochimaru?"

The man from the Sand simply smirks. "Who knows? Let's just join in the fun."

Orochimaru?! No, more over—he had a fight to finish, damn it!

"Hey! What's going on?!"

When Genma speaks, his voice is more level than Sasuke has ever heard it being. "Sorry, but the chuunin exam is now over. You go pursue Gaara and the others."

Yet again Sasuke finds himself unable to do anything but stare, his mind whirling at a mile per hour and trying to wrap itself around the bizarre twist the day had taken.

Before he could even attempt to do so however, Genma is looking at him over his shoulder, his stare serious and urging. "You're already at the Chuunin level. If you're a leaf shinobi then make yourself useful."

A frown replaces the surprise his features were previously showing, and Sasuke holds the jounin's eyes for a long moment before finally looking away, crossed.

Geez… what is this?!

Is the thought that crosses his mind before he reluctantly takes after Gaara.

A familiar spark goes off in Karin's insides. The girl follows its trail just in time to see a lone figure jumping over the wall serving as fence for the arena.

…Sasuke!

The surprised redhead thinks, halting. Where in the world was he going?! Shifting her gaze from the wall to the arena, she realizes that Sasuke was not the only one gone—Sabaku no Gaara had disappeared, too, and in his stead stood a man from the Sand that lunged at the exam's referee as Karin watched.

For a moment she stays like that—immobile and watching the fight—and then there is a loud commotion somewhere ahead of her and Karin remembers that she was supposed to move—move and reach Kakashi, fast! Now more than ever—

Sasuke, what the hell are you getting yourself into now?!

She runs through one of the halls connecting the tribunes at full speed—she was almost there. One more tribune, and she would be with Kakashi—and then a shadow suddenly drops by the end of the corridor, blocking her way.

Shit!

Karin reacts purely on instinct once more, dropping herself to one foot and sliding the rest of the way. It has the desired effect, as the shadow jumps away and Karin makes her way into the tribune, almost crashing face-first into a row of seats.

She has barely regained her footing when the shadow looms over her—and she looks up just in time to avoid the pair of kunai that are hastily thrown at her, aimed to kill.

Karin lands a couple feet away, by the railing, and looks up at her attacker. The shadow turned out to be a Sound Nin, his face fully covered except for his eyes, which glinted with bloodlust.

"You managed to escape the genjutsu, huh? Not bad," the man says with a rough voice. Before Karin could register what was happening he was moving at full speed—and appearing right behind her. "But you die here!"

Ugh…! Why did bad things keep happening one after another?!

Karin ducks and sprints to the right—almost falling once but breaking the fall with her hands and using the impulse to fasten her run. She does not get to make it to the hall as another kunai flies past her, gracing her cheek and drawing out a thin line of blood—and then the man is in her way again.

"There's nowhere to run!"

Karin halts her sprint midways—a fist swept through the air where she had been just a moment ago—and summer assaults backwards, landing on one seat.

Damn it…! she curses darkly, panic beating insistently against her thoughts—but her weary mind does not give entirely into it, instead frantically trying to come up with something—anything to get her out of the mess she was in. There was no way she could take this man in a one-on-one fight, no way at all. Not at her current level.

She did not feel ready for it.

But—Karin thinks, as she strengthens her hold on her kunai and hardens her gaze, narrowing her eyes. She guesses she would have to be.

Chakra flows down her leg and to the sole of her feet at the same time the Sound nin attacks her again, a new kunai readily held in one hand.

One moment he is there and the next he is not.

Then he is right in her face, his arm arched back and ready to slit her throat with the sharp weapon—but Karin jumps up at the last moment and the kunai only gets to cut through her right cheek before she uses it as foothold, grabbing with it the enough impulse needed to jump away from the man, cleanly landing behind him.

The attacker wipes around just in time to see Karin throwing her two kunai at him—one he easily deflects with a shuriken, the other he does not even need to bother with as it entirely misses its mark and drives itself into the wall behind him.

Oh, please—

His eyes darken with the thrill of a hunter who has secured his prey and Karin gives a hesitant step back, adopting a defensive stance.

"Looks like you're out of luck, little girl."

He snarls and Karin gulps, her eyes shaking with anxiety.

And then the man lunges—Die!—and Karin holds her breath and shuts her eyes close—

Oh please—let it work!

And pulls.

There's the sound of a kunai dashing through the air and then there's the sickening echo of pierced skin and tissue followed by a sharp cry of pain and an intake of breath.

Karin releases hers then and snaps her eyes open, only to find the man looming directly above her—his eyes wide and unseeing. Then he begins to fall and Karin's shaking legs can barely get her out of the way as the man lands by her feet, a kunai sunk deep in the back of his neck.

Panting, the redhead untangles from her little finger the thin thread of wire flowing with chakra that the shinobi had missed, too caught up in his desire to kill her.

It had been such a simple trick—a split second decision possible only thanks to Kakashi's teaching—that which had saved Karin's life. And also… that which had made her claim her first life.

I…

Her knees finally give up on her and she lies on her fours by the side of the body, trying to catch her breath and willing her heartbeat to slow down before she could get a heart-attack.

Suddenly there's something cutting through the air—and Karin pulls her head back right as a kunai dives past, taking some threads of red hair with it.

What the—?! Another…?

But the thought fades just as a yelp dies in her all-too-dry throat as she looks at the railing only to realize that there was not one, no—not two—

But a seven shinobi from the Sound standing in line and staring back at her.

Karin feels the ground shake below her and death close in on her, her body overwhelmed with dread as her distraught eyes took in the sight.

She was outnumbered, outclassed—and utterly screwed.

Or that's what she thought—until a man rushes in past her from the hall and towards the Sound nin, blades infused with chakra lethally held in each hand and taking down every single shinobi they came across.

Four seconds later the man sporting a Konoha jounin vest is standing tall and surrounded by the enemy's fallen bodies. He turns to face Karin, his stare grave but his voice kind.

"Are you alright?" he inquires, continuing only once Karin has given him a shaky hold. "You should go hide, this place is no longer safe for genin. Go to—"

"I—I can't do that!" Karin yells. His suggestion had cut through the panicked haze blurring her mind and she could now remember all too clearly what had brought her into the enemy's hands in the first place. "I need to reach Kakashi-san!"

"Kakashi…?" the jounin echoes, taken aback. Karin nods again—this time resolutely, and gets to her feet. But not without picking up the kunai that the Sound nin had reflected earlier, which had been lying by her feet.

"I need to reach him, no matter what!"

The man frowns for a moment, thoughtful—and then he nods tightly. "Alright, but be careful! No matter what you do, stay out of the enemy's path! Don't let your guard down!"

"I won't!"

Karin wipes around and runs into the hallway leading to the next tribune. Her ears can clearly pick up the sounds of a new battle beginning at her back, but ahead of her everything is suspiciously listless. Carefully, Karin leans against the wall and takes a look at the tribune.

As expected, there was another unit of Sound Nin—but they were all lying on the ground, Karin was not sure if dead or asleep, as there were no traces of blood anywhere. A woman clad in whites and reds stood unscathed along the row of seats, and Karin has not even given a step in when the woman's red stare lands on her own.

"You should be hiding. Go on, leave before you are noticed."

The redhead frowns, somewhat crossed. "Kakashi-san is up ahead, I need to reach him!"

The woman tilts her head to the side. "Reach Kakashi…? What for?"

"I—he is my—"

—Sensei is the world that had almost slipped out without her notice, but the girl holds it back, hesitating. The woman must have read the conflict transpiring in Karin's red eyes, because she turns forward again.

"…Alright, you may go on. But hide. If the enemy sees you, they'll attack."

Karin gives no reply; simply dashes towards the seats and crouches down once there, slipping through the rows while propped on her elbows and forearms in order to avoid the rain of kunai and shuriken that had now begun to fall upon the tribune.

It takes her a considerable amount of time, but once she reaches the hallway she forsakes all precaution and runs with abandon—she comes to a halt however as there is a loud crash ahead of her, and she reaches the end of the hall just in time to see debris falling through a newly-formed hole, a Konoha jounin clad in nothing but green standing right before it with a pleased smile on his face.

Karin blinks—and then there is a voice—an all too familiar voice reaching her ears, and she feels so relieved that for a moment she thinks she is about to cry.

But the feeling lasts only until her brain registers just what Kakashi was saying.

"Chase after Sasuke, join up to him and stop him! Then take him away to a safe location."

Karin's eyes widen—and a few feet ahead of her, Naruto's do the same.

"What happened to Sasuke?!"

"I'll explain as we go!" Yells Haruno Sakura, before grabbing Naruto and jumping through the hole. They're followed by a small dog, and then by Nara Shikamaru, who mutters something under his breath before jumping in himself.

"Will they be alright by themselves?" asks the green-clad jounin to Kakashi.

"Pakkun's with them, they should be fine… as long as they don't get in too deep."

Karin wastes no more time—she steps forward, lightly gasping for air as she did so. "Kakashi-san…!"

Both jounin are startled by her voice, and when Kakashi's eye lands on her it is wide open with surprise. "Karin…!"

"Kakashi-san, what's going on?! Why are there Sound nin attacking us? Where's Sasuke?!"

"Karin… there's no time to explain." Kakashi says at last, after staring at the girl for a long moment. Her cheeks were bloodied and her arms and legs scratched—it was obvious that she had had to fight her way to them. But for Karin to have actually reached them… and moreover, even deflected the genjutsu…

Despite the tension-filled atmosphere and the dire situation they were all in, Kakashi allows an approving look to slip in his eye. "You've done well… it was worth teaching you, Karin."

The redhead parts her lips but no sound comes out, so she snaps her mouth shut again, her brows still furrowed and her gaze agitated. "Kakashi-san… what…?"

"I'll explain everything later. For now, you need to leave this place."

"But where should I…?"

"Shinobi from the Sand and Sound have most likely already entered the village, so that will be no good. Karin…" Kakashi pauses, and Karin holds her breath. "…I want you to enter the forest and stay put. Don't go in too deep—just wait for Sasuke and the others."

"Sasuke… he is gone after Sabaku no Gaara, isn't he?" Karin inquires, her eyes narrowing with trepidation. Kakashi nods and then looks back at the arena.

"Don't worry about him. Just wait for him to reach you. Understood?"

Karin nods, reluctantly, and after a soft but clear go! from Kakashi, the redhead dashes for the hole in the wall. She is positioning herself for the jump when the white-haired jounin suddenly calls her back.

"Karin, there's one more thing…"

She gives him a curious look over her shoulder, but he is not looking at her.

"… You would be able to recognize Sasuke anywhere, wouldn't you?"

Huh?

Karin hesitates for a moment, not understanding the point of the question.

"….Yeah," she states, at last. If there is something she has learnt about Kakashi, is that there was always a point to everything he did or said. "I think so."

Kakashi nods, but his next words only add to her confusion. "If it gets hard… focus on him and hold on tightly. Don't forget that, Karin. Now, go!"

Karin gives the man one last look and then jumps through the hole.

Once she is gone, Maito Gai turns towards Kakashi, a grave look in his face.

"Kakashi... I understand you sending Naruto-kun and the others, but this girl… just what are you trying to accomplish by sending her?"

"You're underestimating her, Gai. Karin isn't the same helpless girl we saw in the prelims. Besides… as things are, the forest may be the safest place in the village right now. She should be fine as long as she stays away from Gaara and the others."

Gai doesn't look entirely convinced. "Even so…"

"Also," Kakashi adds, as if he had not heard the other man at all. "If worse comes to worst…"

He trails off, his unsaid words sharpening his gaze and setting his tensioned jaw.

His silence is filled by the sound of thunder echoing in the distance, promising to brew a storm.

—

End of the 15th Chapter

… Uh. W—well, I tried. Haha, my apologies if the action scenes are lackluster! As for Karin's, I tried to make it as realistic (when it comes to her prowess) as I possibly could; so hopefully I succeeded in that, though a kunai+wire trick may not have seem anything impressive.

Next chapter will deal with the rest of the Konoha invasion, so stay tuned! To those who reviewed, thank you!

And to those who were asking (or enthusiastically demanding, haha) for some romance—I have to acknowledge that there is a reason why this fanfic is tagged as "General / Friendship" rather than romance, but I've succumbed to your enthusiasm—so I will see what I can do to please you guys (in that regard) before the story is over (only 2/3 chapters left!).

Thanks a lot for reading and (as always) I'm looking forward to your thoughts, so please don't forget to review~!

Kanae