Chapter 14: Youzumaki? Me too!

"Hey, have you ever eaten ramen before?"

"…No."

"Oh man, you don't know what you're missing. The noodles, the broth, the toppings, the nice smile that Ayame-nee gives you when she serves it…"

"…"

"I'll buy you a bowl while we're waiting for the tournament. I promise once you've had a taste you won't want anything else!"

"…If I'm not satisfied I'll kill you."

"Sure, sure."

Watching the blonde genin and her rather easy to upset brother interact, Temari was currently coming down from an admittedly milder panic attack than she normally would have. Gaara was the kind of person to kill first and never ask questions. She'd watched him kill classmates, chunin minders, civilians that got too close, assassins, the list went on and on. Only their father was able to really stop him when things got too out of hand without needing to knock him out.

Then this kid showed up.

Naruto Uzumaki, according to him. The orange highlighter just waltzed into their camp and started talking. Getting past the fact that none of them noticed him coming, Gaara simply engulfed the blonde in sand mid sentence. It took a few seconds for all three of the sand genin to realize that the clump of sand was not dripping blood like usual.

"Sheesh, that really is one of the worst ways to go."

The statement, made by the exact same blonde they'd seen crushed a second prior, was made conversationally with an arm slung around her shoulders. She stabbed him, naturally, but he just exploded in a small poof of smoke. Clones of some kind, clearly. A dozen clones later Gaara stopped trying to kill them.

That's when things started to get weird.

Though it was obvious Naruto was a Konoha genin taking the exam, he had no interest in their scroll, nor did he seem to want to sabotage them in any other way. He was just… hanging out.

And Gaara was actually talking to him.

It was deeply unsettling in a way that made her almost miss the murder tanuki in him. Almost.

"How about you, Temari-chan? Want to join us?"

"Don't chan me, kid, I'm not the kind of girl you can just get casual with," she snapped automatically.

"Sheesh, what's her problem," Naruto said in a stage whisper, nudging her brother with an elbow. Gaara looked down at the offending limb before returning a level gaze.

"My sister is not a people person."

Never before had the urge to wallop her little brother ever came to her like this. Literally. Thoughts like that were suicide.

"You know, you're awfully friendly all things considered," Kankuro said with a frown.

"Well no duh, makeup face, I'm trying to make some friends here," Naruto said with a flat expression. "Isn't being friendly kind of expected?"

"War paint, yeah, but why?" Kankuro just shook his head. "Random Konoha genin wants to be friends with the Kazekage's kids just because? Sure, tell me another one."

The blonde boy frowned for a second before shrugging to himself.

"Fair point. I'll admit I'm really here for Gaara. You two are kinda just extras. No offense."

"Stop bullshitting us, what do you want from my brother?" Temari demanded.

"I'm really starting to question your memories here… I said it, didn't I? I'm trying to make a new friend."

"You can't honestly think we'd believe-"

"I mean I've never met another jinchuriki until now so it seemed natural."

Dread.

Another-

Her lungs filled with ice.

Another jinchuriki!

"Hey."

Temari's eyes snapped to the monster disguised as a blonde genin. He was giving her an understanding look.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you."

Kankuro had similarly tensed, one hand already resting on his puppet's sling to deploy it at a moment's notice. Gaara on the other hand suddenly grinned.

"So, you are like me."

"In that we both have tailed beasts sealed in us? Yes. Village generally treats us like shit? Also yes. Everything else? Hell no, Gaara, not even close." Naruto frowned as he considered the red haired genin. "You need some help, and I'm gonna give it to you whether you want it or not. Starting with that ramen," he added belatedly, nodding absently to himself.

Slowly Temari's heartbeat slowed to normal as she took in the weird, whisker-faced boy. He really sounded like he cared. He really, really did… and it made no sense to her.

"…Why?"

It was all she could say.

Naruto looked at her and she was struck with what she saw there. Sadness. Pity. Disappointment. He moved close to her so that he was well within her personal space as she froze in fear. Softly he spoke so that only she could hear.

"I'll be honest, Temari-chan, if you actually understand it then things probably wouldn't be like this in the first place."

Xxx

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned as he dismissed the reporting Anbu. Signs of his most infamous student had been spotted around the Forest of Death. Orochimaru anywhere near the village was not a good thing, but to have him lurking during a chunin exam was several orders worse.

"Neko."

She appeared from nothing, ready to serve as ever.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Bring Jiraiya here please."

A short bow of her head was all she gave before vanishing and he couldn't help but be impressed. Since Kakashi's sudden one-eighty after he began training Team Seven, the ever stoic Yugao Uzuki had seemingly tapped into even further levels of "If senpai can do it, so can I!" Not that he was complaining, she was rapidly becoming one of the most capable Anbu that he commanded.

It certainly also didn't hurt that she had a killer figure and-

"Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama is here to see you."

The old man coughed as another of his office Anbu delivered the message. He quickly returned to his seat and relaxed into the comfortable worn leather.

"Send him in please."

Jiraiya walked in, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hey, Sensei, you needed something?"

"Only to inform you that your old teammate is in town."

The Sannin froze, mid neck stretch.

"This isn't a joke, right?"

"Unfortunately no," Hiruzen confirmed. "It appears he's been in the Forest of Death. We're investigating further but I have little confidence he will be found."

"Any idea what he's after?" Jiraiya asked.

"I have some theories…" Hiruzen raised an eyebrow slightly and immediately Jiraiya pulled a strip of seal paper from a pocket before letting it drop to the floor. The faintest pulse of chakra moved through them as it landed. Hiruzen recognized the privacy seal at once.

"You think he's involved in the upcoming attack."

"What else would he be here for after all this time?"

Jiraiya scratched his chin in thought, leaning against the desk. "I can think of a few things, but he could get them without needing to aid an invasion."

"True enough…" Hiruzen lit his pipe, drawing on it before letting out a long trail of smoke. "Still, the threat looms ever greater with his potential involvement…" His voice faded as his gaze moved to the Hokage monument in the distance.

"Something on your mind?"

Hiruzen let out a sigh, taking off his hat and placing it on the desk. He really was losing his touch if he was that obvious.

Curse you Minato, you should still be here…

"I am old, Jiraiya. Konoha needs a new leader."

Desperately so. He'd been far too old for this for decades. The village needed strong leaders, yes, but change was essential. New perspectives kept the village growing, adapting to the ever developing world. It also meant that old men like him could take a damn break for a change.

War was not so considerate.

"We've been through this. I'm not right for it," the Sannin said.

"There is a difference between not being able and not wanting to do it," Hiruzen countered. "Also, it's not just you. I'm recalling Tsunade."

Jiraiya's eyebrows rose in clear surprise.

"Really? You think she'll actually come?"

"If I insist."

"I think you underestimate how much she really doesn't like being here."

"I think you underestimate how convincing I am when I need to be."

Jiraiya grumbled under his breath.

"I get that you want to retire, I even get that you think you could still convince me somehow, but you think Hime will take the job?" Jiraiya looked at him blankly before regarding the pipe apprehensively. "What did you put in that thing?"

Hiruzen ignored the comment, pressing further. He'd get his knuckle headed student to understand one way or another.

"It is less that she will become the Godame, and more that we need someone new to take the hat. I have merely been holding it to give someone time to rise but it is doing more harm than good at this point." Hiruzen frowned at the pipe in his hands. "You or Tsunade are the best options in the short term."

"She'd sooner stop gambling."

"Will you do it then?"

"That desk isn't where I belong."

"If you'd ever listened to me when I taught you, you'd know that the desk is the least important part of it. It's the people. They matter the most."

Jiraiya gave his old sensei a disgruntled expression but didn't object. Hiruzen continued without pause.

"Kakashi will be able to take over in a few years. He's turned around his mindset with this team and we both know he's a credit to Minato's teaching. More, even. Until then-"

"We need someone, I get it, I get it," Jiraiya said tiredly. "Just one thing."

"What?"

"If I become Hokage I'll have to stop writing my books. Research takes time, and I don't send clones to do it."

Hiruzen stopped moving as a shadow seemed to fall across the office. Slowly he turned to face Jiraiya.

"As I've said, Tsunade is the only real choice. I'll call for a council meeting."

Xxx

Karin was currently sweating. Not actually sweating, of course, the forest was actually far cooler than one would expect. Besides, she wasn't someone who easily sweated anyway and thank Kami for that, there were some people back in Kusa who she could locate by scent alone on a hot day-

"Karin, are you listening?"

"Yes? Yes!"

For much of the travel that they'd been doing, Sasuke filled the silence with random information about the Uzumaki clan. Of their vitality, longevity, and chakra that often held special properties. That their knowledge of fuinjutsu went beyond that of anyone else in the world.

Of their signature red hair.

She knew all of this. Her mother told her similar things before they'd become stuck in Kusa.

Sasuke also told her things she hadn't known. How the Uzumaki were allied with the Leaf for generations, that despite having all but disappeared from the world they were still honored with their clan symbol emblazoned on all flak jackets. The first Hokage was married to an Uzumaki, and though Tsunade Senju carried on her own clan name, she was still a quarter Uzumaki by blood. This and more, she couldn't help but be privately fascinated at the connection her clan held with what was often considered the greatest of all hidden villages. Not that it helped in any way to get rid of the way her nerves were fraying at the way the boy was dancing around his unsaid accusation. Seriously, it was kind of driving her mad.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Karin asked, gaze lingering on a small pack of wolf-like creatures that were walking beneath them. More than a few of them tracked her steadily as she moved ahead to another branch, but a low bark from the lead one kept the group moving out of sight. "Having red hair doesn't make me one of those Uzumaki people you're talking about, you know."

Very convincing, Karin.

Sasuke paused as he made it to the next branch, motioning her to follow him as he returned to the ground. It appeared the wolves had fully vanished into the brush, not that the boy seemed worried about them in general.

Considering what he did to that bear he could probably handle it anyway…

A second later she joined him on the ground.

"You're right," Sasuke said with a nod, leading her further. "Healing a teammate by letting him bite her… That's a little more curious though. It fits right in."

He got no further as the tip of a kunai poked the back of his neck.

"What do you want from me?" Karin said in a low voice. She was amazed at how steady her voice and hand were considering how hard her heart was racing. He saw… which meant he'd been tracking them for at least a day. He probably let the bear kill her teammates before swooping in to save her.

And didn't that make her gut twist uncomfortably.

Yet despite this she still couldn't shake the passive feelings of ease he gave her. It was both aggravating and confusing to absurd levels.

"To meet a friend of mine," he said, clearly unperturbed by the kunai. "I'm not forcing you, you know, but I do think you'll be interested."

"What choice do I have, I doubt I'll survive this place on my own," she grumbled.

"Come on then, I don't know about you but I'm hungry."

With that he continued on, leaving Karin feeling rather silly with a kunai in her hand pointing at nothing. She put it away with a huff and made to follow, wondering what was going to happen to her now.

Xxx

"Sasuke! Welcome back!"

"Hey, Sasuke!"

Naruto grinned as he gave his friend a wave, mimicking Sakura who was seated at their small camp. They both pulled up short as a red haired genin followed him into the clearing, the look on her face one of apprehension and nerves.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked automatically as they approached. Obviously she wasn't a threat but as their scout he was the go to person for this kind of stuff.

"She's the girl from the Kusa team Sasuke tracked down."

And she's really familiar now that I'm looking at her this closely but where…

What he didn't realize was that Sakura on the other hand made the connection instantly, barely hiding her surprise. What the heck the Sasuke obsessed Karin of all people was doing at her chunin exam was anyone's guess. Naruto on the other hand just continued his report.

"I thought they would have been gone by now, that team had no chance of getting past this stage. Same scroll by the way."

Sasuke stopped at their circle of seats and motioned to his side. "Sorry for the sudden intrusion. This is Karin."

Karin! Naruto mentally snapped his fingers. Of course, I thought she looked familiar. She was in our chunin exam? Small world.

"She's from Kusa," Sasuke continued. "Her team was killed by a bear, I only managed to save her."

Neither Naruto or Sakura missed the narrow eyed glare she shot the Uchiha, but it didn't seem her heart was in it. She hesitated before taking a seat, shoulders falling with weariness.

"Hi, I'm Karin, nice to meet you," she said automatically, perking up at the sudden offer of a warm drink from Sakura.

"Hi, Karin, I'm sorry about your team. I'm Sakura Haruno," she said, unbothered by the questioning look that Karin gave the cup. The pinkette drank some of her own which seemed to ease the worry of poison. Not about to be left out, Naruto automatically held out one of his nutrient bars.

"Same, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Nice to meet ya."

Taking the food, Karin's eyes widened, shooting Sasuke a lightning quick glance before locking back on Naruto.

"Like from the clan?"

Naruto frowned, caught off guard. No one had ever really given him that kind of reaction.

"Yeah totally. Only one around here, but that's life I guess."

"Who are your parents?"

"Ah, well I don't know who my dad was but my mom was Kushina Uzumaki. The old man said she was from Uzu and was sent over to be a Konoha kunoichi when she was a kid."

And be a jinchuriki but we can skip that part.

"Old man?"

"The Hokage," Sakura helpfully explained. "Don't think too much about it, he does that."

"Right…?"

"Yeah so anyway, she survived the clan getting wiped out by being here. She died when I was born though, so it's just me now."

"Oh, I'm sorry I brought it up," Karin apologized. "It's just… your hair…"

"My hair?" It took Naruto a second to understand what she was getting at. "Oh yeah, my dad was probably the blondest dumb blonde in the world for me to not get the red hair," he said with a laugh, enjoying the inside joke while simultaneously not noticing the amused reactions he got from his teammates. "Everyone gets the red hair."

There was a moment where both Naruto and Sakura's gaze slowly moved from Karin's face to her very, very obviously red hair. A few seconds later her face was just as red.

That's… there's no way, right?

The older Karin never spoke about her past. Heck, the only thing she ever was interested in talking about was Sasuke, and that got old really quick. They rarely interacted at all after everyone stopped trying to kill one another. But if she was… why wouldn't she…?

"Just… just curious," Karin mumbled, looking away.

"What's it like in Kusa?" Sasuke asked, changing the subject.

"Ah, it's fine I guess. A bit warmer than it is here." Karin broke off before noticing that they were clearly expecting more. "Sorry, I spend all of my time working to be honest, I don't go around the village much."

The members of Team Seven each processed that piece of information in their own way, but if asked they'd have all agreed Karin's expression was one of poorly hidden discomfort. "It has been nice to visit somewhere else for a change, short as it was," she added.

She didn't need to elaborate. With her teammates dead, there was no way for her to pass the current test, even if she managed to get all three scrolls.

"You sound like you don't really like it there."

Karin lowered her head as Sakura glared at Naruto.

"Sorry, sorry…"

"No, it's okay…" Karin shook her head, eyes still on her feet without really seeing them. "I wasn't born there, just kind of ended up there. Um, excuse me…"

She stood up and walked to the edge of the clearing, deep in thought.

"Poor girl," Sakura said sadly, turning her attention to her teammates in annoyance. "Her team just died you know, no need to make her feel worse."

"Her team was not nice to her, Sakura," Naruto complained. "They both shouted at her a lot and ordered her around. I could hear it so easily and I wasn't even trying where I was."

"He's right," Sasuke added with a frown we Though I doubt she'd admit it, Karin clearly feels less burdened with them gone. If this is how she is treated out in the field, how might it be back at her village? Not to mention…"

They continued to talk in low voices. Meanwhile, Karin had her eyes shut tightly, unable to rid herself of the image of her temporary jonin sensei's inevitably angry face at her failure. No doubt with this she'd never get to leave the ward again. They wouldn't want to risk losing their healing chew toy.

Those two jerks… was she really sad they were dead? Nabutoshi and Ryo never considered her anything more than a disposable asset.

Sakura's nice. They're all nice. I wish I had friends like that.

A snort of derisive mirth bubbled up uncontrollably. She didn't have any friends to compare them to, who was she kidding?

"…"

Was it so bad to want something more for herself? To try something for a chance at something… anything?

The three cut off as she rejoined them, regarding her with mixed but curious expressions.

"I'm sorry… let me reintroduce myself."

Her heart pounded. Her breath shuddered. Hope had taken root in her, and it held on with wild abandon, warming her chest in a way she'd long forgotten. Who knew where this could go, but more than anything she wanted to try. She looked at the three genin, settling finally on the blonde.

"I'm Karin Uzumaki. Nice to meet you… cousin."

Xxx

Naruto blinked as the word echoed in his head.

Cousin.

Cousin.

"You… what?"

Karin was an Uzumaki?

"Um, yeah, I'm pretty shocked too," she said, an edge of shyness to her voice. "I never thought I'd meet another Uzumaki."

Kurama? She's not lying right? Please?

She's not.

A part of him still couldn't process why the old Karin he knew hadn't said anything, but it was rapidly losing ground to his excitement of having found a surviving member of his clan.

Immediately he looked at Sasuke.

"How the heck did you know?"

"That's a good question," Sakura said after a second, regarding Sasuke with a mix of curiosity and suspicion.

"Clan education," he said with a shrug. "We get taught a lot about the important clans of the village, including how to recognize them, so we don't look ignorant. It's a thing," he added tiredly. "Mother was very strict about the Uzumaki too, despite there only being one in the village."

"Yeah but…"

"By chance I noticed Karin during the first test and have been spying on her since. I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want to get Naruto's hopes up in the event I was mistaken." He let a hand rest on the blonde's shoulder. "I know that if there was a chance someone of my clan was still alive I'd take the chance no matter how slim. There wasn't even a question about what to do."

Yeah. He did understand.

Sasuke turned to Sakura and gave her a grin.

"Besides, Naruto would do the same for me."

There was a moment of comfortable silence before a beaming Sakura gently placed both hands on Sasuke's collar and lifted him in the air, shaking him thoroughly.

"You think you're the only one who cares about him, you smooth talker? The next time you leave me out of something like this I'll make you regret it, you hear me?!"

"Ye-e-e-e-s-s-s-s m-a-a-a-a-a-a-m-m-m-m…" Sasuke managed to get out as he was manhandled.

She then pointed a finger at Naruto who froze, half afraid and half impressed that Sasuke didn't drop a hair despite now being held and shaken by a single hand.

"The same goes for you!"

"Yes ma'am."

"Great." Sakura placed Sasuke back on his feet before dusting her hands off. "Good talk, team. Anyway, let's plan this out."

"Plan what out?" Karin asked, still blinking at the explosive pinkette.

"Your death, obviously."

Naruto suddenly found himself being used as a shield as Karin moved behind him, looking at Sakura with wide eyes.

"My death?!"

"Phrasing, Sakura," said Sasuke, who was still straightening himself back out. "But you are right, of course. It's the only option."

"Come on guys, you're scaring her," Naruto said reproachfully. Leaving the two to their thoughts, Naruto turned to his newly discovered clan member.

"This is pretty crazy," he admitted, drawing her eyes. "I never thought I'd meet another member of my clan, but life is random like that I guess. It'd go against everything I stand for to not help you if you need it." He paused, feeling unsure for a second. "You do need it, right?"

Alarm bells rang in his head as his instinctual sense of danger screamed for his attention. Karin's eyes were blinking and getting kind of… shiny? She sniffed once.

No.

And again.

Please no.

"Yes…" she said shakily. "I do."

It's okay… just don't say anything too over the top and it'll be fine.

Naruto flashed her his patented smile.

"Then I'll save you no matter what. Believe it."

To which Karin immediately began crying. She tucked her head behind an arm automatically to hide her face. Naruto only barely kept from slapping himself.

I did the opposite!

"Wow, Naruto." Sakura's soft accusing voice carried all too easily to his ear. "Making two girls cry in a single day. You're something else."

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Karin took a deep breath as she looked to the canopy above before exhaling and giving her head a little shake. "There's a lot going on in my head right now. Sorry, I'm okay."

"The Naruto Effect," Sasuke said shortly, nodding to himself. "As powerful as it is ridiculous."

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto said tiredly, waving a hand in his friend's direction. "I've always dreamed about rebuilding the clan. There's got to be more of us out there, hiding like you were. It would be nice to give them all a place to come back to, right?"

"Yeah, it would," Karin agreed with a smile.

"Anyway, they're both right about what we should do. If your entire team dies, the jonin will just leave. Unless they're going to want your body…"

"Kusa is growing but they're behind in the medical field. Having a corpse wouldn't do them much good," Karin said. Considering that their best solution to a lot of problems was "go bite the girl", yeah they could use some improvements.

"Then we'll do that. Kakashi-sensei can get Karin to Ji- the Hokage," he corrected for Karin's benefit, "and we'll go from there.

"Wait, wait, wait. You're telling me that your sensei will just go along with a defecting shinobi plan? The Hokage too? With no discussion? We can't communicate with them until the test is over! This could cause a huge incident!"

"Yes," the three genin of Team Seven chorused.

"Unless you're lying about being an Uzumaki," Sakura said slowly.

"I'm not!"

"Then there's no issue."

"But-"

A slight rustling of nearby leaves caused them to all break off as a very familiar team of genin dropped into their clearing.

"Sasuke Uchiha, step forward, we are here to kill you," said Dozu, a kunai raised and pointing to the genin in question.

"Wait, why are there four of them? Who's the red haired girl?" asked Kin, a senbon with a bell softly ringing in her hand.

"Doesn't matter, we'll wipe her out too if she gets in the way," Zaku growled, small ripples of wind forming around his hands. "We're not here for the rest of you losers, so stay out of our way and we might let you live."

Silence fell on the clearing for a moment before…

"Pfff-"

Naruto doubled over, unable to keep it in as he held his gut.

"Naruto!" Sakura tried to scold him but also covered her mouth as she began to shake.

Karin looked in worried confusion between them both and then to Sasuke who, while maintaining a look of impassivity, had the corner of his mouth twitching.

"You got something to say!?" Zaku demanded.

Naruto gasped desperately for air before letting out a bark of laughter, pointing to the angry boy.

"Why the fuck are you bald?!"

This sadly caused his teammates to lose their composure, Sakura leaning on the blonde for support as she laughed and even Sasuke crossing his arms as he chuckled. It also made the highly embarrassed recently bald sound genin lose his shit.

"I'll fucking kill you!"

He raised both arms, palms facing Team Seven.

"Go to hell! Futon: Dai Taiho!"

A cone of wind pressure blasted out, carving out everything in front of it without prejudice. The entire camp vanished in a moment with the brush around and behind it. The trunk of the nearby tree was gouged away to the point where if not for its colossal size it would have easily toppled.

Zaku panted as his arms dropped to his sides, hands twitching in pain. He'd pushed his air tubes nearly to the point of internal damage in his anger.

"What the heck, Zaku, a little warning next time," Kin complained in annoyance, still recovering from the blast.

"Indeed," Dozu agreed, ears still ringing.

A low whistle from beside them drew their eyes. Sasuke and Sakura were looking on at the destruction with some interest while Naruto, who was holding a very frazzled Karin, nodded appreciatively.

"You gotta respect the effort," he said, and his teammates nodded. He turned to the surprised sound genin and continued, "You missed though, sorry."

"Y-you…!"

"What do you want to do Sasuke? Seems they're after you."

"Doesn't matter, they saw too much."

Realization and grim expressions were exchanged as the three leaf genin looked at Karin. He was right.

"I will handle it."

Naruto and Sakura hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"We'll start for the tower then."

With that they departed swiftly, unsurprised that the Sound team made no move to follow them. They had a mission after all.

"So…"

Naruto looked curiously at Karin who was expressing a mixture of both displeasure and embarrassment.

"How long are you planning on holding me?"

Xxx

Sasuke sighed as his teammates took Karin and moved on. That had gone about as well as he'd hoped, despite the interruption. While his clan being more or less wiped out was not a net positive, they sure did make a handy scapegoat for anything he needed to hand wave an explanation at.

"You've got some confidence taking us on alone. I'll give you that," said Dozu. "Unfortunately for you-"

He cut off as Sasuke simply faced the opposite direction.

"Hey, asshole, don't ignore us," Zaku snapped, hands extended aggressively.

Sasuke didn't turn around, instead delivering a single line.

"Omae wa mo… shindeiru."

"Nani?!"

Like puppets with their strings cut, the three genin dropped to the ground, dead.

"Always wanted to try that one," he chuckled, disappearing in a shunshin to catch up with his team.

Xxx

Kabuto cursed under his breath, grinding a plant under his shoe as he waited impatiently. Yoroi crouched a few meters away, idly poking at an ant hill. Misumi was off taking a dump. Again.

Four days. It had been four whole days since the start of the second test and they hadn't found a single team. It was inexplicable. He also couldn't help shake the feeling that they were being followed, but he chalked it up to paranoia. He was a damn jonin level shinobi pretending to be a dumb genin. Who in the exam actually had the skill to stay out of his notice?

Nobody, that's who.

Well, it wasn't like they really needed to make it to the next round of the exam, but he'd been planning on at least interacting with some of the rookies, particularly Team Seven.

Those brats didn't even like my Ninja Info Cards ™! If they'd just paid attention they would see how awesome they, and by extension I, am!

"Kabuto, what's the plan?" Yoroi asked, not looking up from the ant hill.

"We'll just stalk the tower area, maybe pick up a straggler," he replied. It wasn't the priority anymore, plain and simple. Instead, he'd need to think of a way to survive his next meeting with Orochimaru. From the message he'd received via snake summon, it appeared his information regarding Team Seven was so inaccurate that "his ass was grass" the next time they met up.

"Got it. Misumi, you hear that?"

The only response he got was a gurgling surge and a groan.

Kabuto cursed again.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Delivery for the fandom, hope you enjoyed digging in.

Obviously when it comes to Karin, there's a couple things I've made executive decisions on. For one, I've committed to her actually being an Uzumaki. I've also gone with Naruto and Sakura not knowing that she was an Uzumaki before this. Pretty sure that's all accurate but I don't pretend to know (or much concern myself with) pinpoint canon accuracy. In my eyes, canon Karin basically cast her clan name aside to become who she was and didn't have regrets after so many years. She could live with what she chose. Only Sasuke who knew her intimately would have really known something like this. Also, Sakura doesn't know a thing about the Uzumaki clan, and Naruto is more or less of the belief that the clan has been wiped out, though with this those gears really start to turn.

As always, love to hear what y'all are enjoying and what you're looking forward to next. Next chapter starts after the FoD has ended so no more dragging this thing out. Looks like I'll actually have to write a fight or two. No promises on long ones but I'll try for something entertaining. See ya :D