Both Karin and Sakura seemed to have an off day today. Team 11 wasn't planning to take any missions for the rest few days, while Team 7 had entirely lost that option until the Chunin Exam's end.
The only saving grace might be that they had already completed the quota needed to participate in the exam themselves.
The boys seemed to be gone somewhere without them, most likely training. And the other girls of their team, they didn't feel like talking to them much. The major one being Kiyomi Uchiha.
Both girls seemed to have certain unsavory things to say about the Uchiha girl. Karin was understandable, seeing the recent closeness shown by her two teammates, at least in her mind.
But Sakura, no one knew why, but the pinklet also didn't seem to have anything praiseworthy to say about the sister of the boy she liked.
In this situation, they had nothing else to do but spend time together. This sparring could have been with a certain Yamanaka girl; however, due to a certain curse king's butterfly wings, things had changed quite a bit.
The bond Sakura once shared with Ino Yamanaka, now she shared with Karin Uzumaki. Needless to say, they were the bestest of friends.
Even the original rivalry over a boy couldn't be a case this time, since Karin liked Sukuna.
Right !
"WRONG !"
"This is so wrong. How come he be so dense…" Karin grumbled with irritation in her tone.
"He's an idiot…" Sakura mindlessly added, not quite actually listening to her friend's rant.
"Second that." Karin pouted.
"A huge dense idiot." Sakura doubled down, because that didn't take additional brain power.
"Agree."
"Why can't boys understand us…" Karin chipped.
"I wonder every day, sister, every single day." Sakura sighed, her own thoughts moving toward a certain duck-haired boy and his complete aloofness toward herself.
What else had she not done to attract his attention, but Sasuke ignored her like heaven themselves had put some sort of restriction on their relationship.
"If only Sasuke was a bit like that idiot…at least he cares…" Sakura murmured.
"Like which idiot ?" Karin blinked.
"Heh… I said that out loud ?" Sakura asked, startled.
"Not loud, but you definitely said it." Karin smirked, the kind of smirk which told everyone that she was expecting some gossip.
"No one."
"Oh come on, you definitely meant someone. Who, who… tell me ?" She asked eagerly.
Sakura sighed. She didn't intend to say that. 'All that idiot Onii's fault.' Her face crunched up.
In an attempt to change the topic, she brought up the same person who caused this. "Forget about me, why you're so whiny today ?" She asked.
Karin just pouted at that, clearly seeing her friend's attempt to change the topic. Would it be wrong to say she suddenly found herself more interested in her friend's love life than her own problems ?
Well, not like Sukuna was going anywhere. He could wait. Right !
A certain Uchiha girl's image sprang up in her mind, raising her anxiousness, but she, with much youthful vigor, suppressed it down as deep in her subconscious as possible, so that besides her nightmares, that thought wouldn't come to harass her ever again.
"Come on, tell me already !" Karin grinned, already right next to Sakura, planning to pester the answer out of her.
Sakura felt pressure. She knew the girl was going to pester the life out of her if she didn't relish her curiosity. So what to do ?
"Naruto… you know he is an idiot, but he at least gives me attention. Like I exist. Sasuke, on the other hand, completely ignores me outside mission-related work. Sigh, at least in this case, Naruto—I want him to be a bit like Naruto..."
Karin scoffed hearing this. "You're the only one that idiot gives that much attention to. Why can't you see that idiot likes you."
And here she went again, poking another hornet nest she shouldn't have. Of course she knew Naruto liked her, and it wasn't even like she was not aware of her own likings. She had made it clear to her blond idiot teammate that she wasn't interested in him. What else was she supposed to do ?
"In a way, you act toward Naruto exactly like how Sasuke acts toward you." Karin pointed out, almost knocking all the air out of her lungs.
"What ! Wh-when did I do that ?" She was taken aback at the sudden accusation.
"Think about it..." Karin pointed. "He's always doing something to get your attention..."
"He's looking for everyone's attention, period..." Sakura shot back even before Karin completed her line.
"True, but not like how he wants your attention. Like how you want Sasuke's." Karin immediately said, shutting the pinklet up.
"And what do you do, you completely ignore him. Not to mention you randomly used to beat him...."
"Oh come on, he is annoying. And I don't do that now, at least not until I get a good reason for it." Sakura defended.
"Well, on that point I really can't argue, the idiot could be annoying at times. But think of this, do you think Sasuke could find you annoying as well, since you act just like Naruto in front of him ?" Karin pointed out.
Taking Sakura in complete shock...
'A-Annnoying ! And me ?' She froze on the spot. 'That can't be possible, right ?'
Karin didn't give her friend time to reboot before continuing. "Look, all I'm saying is try to understand his feelings and answer it honestly for once. Cause where I stand, you have no right to complain about how Sasuke treats you if you are doing the same to that idiot." Karin added.
"You should talk to him once. Naruto is an idiot, doesn't understand much about love. However, he really cares. You're my friend, but still I won't forgive you if you break his heart." Karin's tone just for a second there got serious.
Yeah, for her and everyone, almost the knucklehead was an idiot, but he was a lovable idiot. She didn't want someone playing with his feelings.
'Where did that come from ?' Sakura pursed her lips. Weren't they talking about her love life ?
"I-I'll think about it." Sakura mustered all the energy to answer.
"Good, that's all I'm asking."
"Now let's go back to my problems, shall we." Karin chipped, making the pinklet sweat-drop at the sudden mood shift.
"Where was I before ?"
"Kiyomi..."
"Ah yes... you know, I found him treating that sissy to ice cream. Can you believe it. He never treated me to ice cream..." She complained.
"Because you always choose ramen over anything else on the menu. He was complaining about that last time he came back from a mission." Sakura shot her an annoyed look.
Karin had the decency to look a bit sheepish there. "That's not the point... the point is that he was with her."
Sakura, just for the sake of it, wished to retort. However, the image her mind generated about her idiot brother spending time with that Uchiha grated on her nerves. Somehow, it annoyed her more than Sasuke ignoring her.
"What a bitch..." both girls muttered under their breath, their distaste for the Uchiha Kiyomi usually apparent.
---<>---
"Achoo.....
Kiyomi rubbed her cute little yet very cold nose with irritation. The sneeze could be the cause of that cold nose due to the unusually cold climate today. However, she had a feeling that someone was bad-mouthing her behind her back.
"Ah, feeling under the weather? Should we postpone the meeting ?" said another pink head sitting right across her. She just grumbled but didn't reply to his words.
They finally decided to meet in their off time. It was actually Kiyomi who pestered him, and only now, after knowing that she, or Izumi for that matter, wasn't related to Kenjaku in any way, he decided to show up.
Before that, he was just too busy. Or at least that was the excuse.
"No way, you're teaching me how to improve my technique today, even if that's the last thing we do." Kiyomi chided, completely agitated by the boy's constant dodging whenever she wished to even bring up the topic of getting help.
"Okay, okay, geez, take a chill, girl. This way you'll never be able to learn jujutsu." Sukuna half-mocked and half-exaggerated his reaction before reaching out for the drink they ordered.
They were meeting in a café. Strange that Konoha even got one of those, but surprisingly they did, even when the concept itself was more western in this eastern setting.
Sukuna always found it fascinating how the entire world was a big complex mess of traditionalist east with some borrowed concepts and habits from modern west. Not only the place being a mixture of regions from his past life, but also connecting two different time periods on top of that.
"So tell me, what do you wish to know." Sipping his juice, since the owner refused to serve drinks to a 13-year-old, he asked with a relaxed tone.
"My technique..." Kiyomi felt like banging her head against the wall or something. Why couldn't this man be a bit more serious.
If he wasn't the only one who could have helped her, she never would have asked him for help. And even now, there did exist someone who could indeed help her, Kiyomi didn't wish to ask for Izumi's help.
On the outside, they both kept away from each other's way and worked together. But still, there was underlying tension over Yuki Tsukumo taking over a deceased Izumi Uchiha's body. Especially for Kiyomi.
"Ah yes... yes. I remember." Sukuna nodded.
"Good, then tell me." She eagerly asked.
"Not so fast, I clearly recall that I agreed to help you with a condition, if I'm not wrong." Sukuna grinned. Kiyomi's face stiffened.
He indeed showed his desire for something. But what ? She couldn't remember. Kiyomi gave it a hard thought and recalled what happened back then.
Just before the boy could even say what he wished for, a certain red-haired menace interrupted.
'Tch...' Kiyomi muttered suspiciously along the side of 'red menace...' but Sukuna could have been wrong. It seemed that the dislike was mutual.
"Tell me what you want." She barked, just wanting to get it over with as soon as possible.
"So eager, very well. I want a very simple thing actually.
I want access to your brain."
"..."
That brought a pause in the conversation. Kiyomi tried to digest what he just said, while Sukuna schemed how to get the most leverage from his deal..."
"What does that even suppose to mean ?" Kiyomi asked, now on guard. The request was both alarming and confusing, that she instinctively didn't wish to agree.
"Exactly what I said. I need access to your mind. I can promise I won't harm you or anything. Just need to get in that pretty little head of yours and get something out." Sukuna grinned.
The ease with which he said that made Kiyomi shudder. What kind of evil plan was this man cooking now ?
Just as she was about to ask further about why she would ever allow that, she noticed someone coming to their seat.
"Nice to meet you, Haruno-san, Uchiha-san." She saw a boy with glasses say to them.
"Ah, you're finally here. Good, I almost thought you wouldn't make it on time. Nice, nice..." Sukuna smiled, motioning the boy to sit beside him.
"Kiyomi, you remember him, right..."
"NOPE... who is he ?" She immediately replied, blinking as if asking if she was supposed to know him.
The effect was immediate. A gloom covered the boy with glasses. Sukuna himself had his face stiffen a bit.
'He really is easy to forget...' he grumbled.
"Ahem... he is Shino Aburame, was our classmate in the academy..." He pointed out, to her utter bafflement.
'Classmate ! But when ? I never saw him ?'
"Don't worry, Haruno-san... I'm used to it." Poor Shino replied with a choppy voice.
"Ah... it's fine, fine, no need to call me Haruno-san. Just call me Sukuna. We are all friends here." Sukuna smiled back, trying to change the topic.
"Anyways, I called him here since we need his help if you're planning to learn more about your technique..."
"My technique... he can help ?" Kiyomi looked even more lost. How would this boy help ?
xXx
A/N: Ah, Last chapter before the Chunin exam. Hope you guy are excited just as I am.
Throw those stones over, and perhaps we find crowd throwing stones over the Konoha F4, at least those who are left.
Maybe...
Stones !
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