Chapter Text
Four days ago, when the second part of the Chūnin Exam started, the tower that rested peacefully in the middle of Training Ground 44 had been little more than a bunch of lines on a map – a goal to be achieved. Now, as it loomed over Team 7 and Team 10, it was a tangible promise of safety.
Sakura walked toward the nearest door, with Naruto's hand on hers – he had stuck to her side ever since she woke up the second time – and her other arm interlaced with Ino's. Sasuke trailed behind them, his hands in his pockets. Shikamaru and Chōji followed from further back, the latter eating the last bag of chips he'd managed to save.
Karin was still weak, and guilt stabbed at the bottom of Sakura's stomach every time she'd looked at her. The red-haired girl was on Naruto's back, her arms firmly around his neck – he had offered to carry her once it became clear she wouldn't make it to the tower on her own, and the Kusa girl ended up accepting it, since they were family.
There was a piece of paper attached to the door, with numbers listed on it, and a small explanation. The numbers corresponded to the gates around the Forest of Death, and the gate through which a team had entered dictated which door to use.
Ino pulled Sakura into a tight hug, while the pink-haired genin's hand remained stuck in between Naruto's. “I'll see you later?” The Yamanaka whispered close to her ear, and her arms did not feel as if she was going to ease her hold anytime soon.
“It's a deal.” Sakura replied and, finally, Ino let go of her.
The blonde-haired kunoichi exchanged a stiff nod with Sasuke – those two had come to some sort of understanding while Sakura was asleep, and she still didn't get it –, stuck her tongue to Naruto and waved at Karin. Finally, she grabbed Shikamaru and Chōji and walked away to search for her own door.
Team 10 soon disappeared from view, and Naruto turned to the rest of his own team. “Us, does... does anyone remember our gate's number?” He tried to smile as his cheeks turned bright red with embarrassment.
“Twelve.” Sasuke replied, and, at that, Team 7 started their own search.
It didn't take long for them to reach the correct door, and Naruto pushed it open without a care in the world. Sakura stiffened as she walked inside the room to find it quiet and empty.
“Nobody's here.” Naruto frowned, looking around in confusion.
“Naruto.” Karin called, and the blonde-haired genin looked at her over his shoulder. “I think I am alright now. Thank you.” She offered him a soft grateful smile, which Naruto met with his familiar grin.
“Okay.” He helped her to her feet and kept a hand on her shoulder to make sure she wouldn't fall. When she didn't, he finally allowed his attention to drift to Sakura, whose hand he still held in an iron grip. “So, what should we do now, dattebayo?”
But Sakura's gaze was no longer on him. “Look at that.”
She pointed at the enormous board which hung on the wall in the opposite end of the room. There was a message written on it, but a few empty spaces told Sakura that it was incomplete.
“Without... heaven...?” Naruto read, his confusion increasing at each word that entered his mind. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It looks like it's missing words.” Sakura replied. Her hand traveled to her pouch, where she kept the Heaven scroll that she'd acquired from Karin, and she took it out. “This is probably about the scrolls. I think it's time for us to open them.”
Sasuke nodded and took the Earth scroll that the Oto shinobi had left behind out of his own pouch. He handed it to Naruto, who finally released his painful hold on Sakura's hand.
“Alright. Let's open them up, dattebayo.” Naruto looked at Sakura, and she inclined her head.
Both opened their scrolls at the same time, and a small cloud of smoke started to exhale from the inside of it. Sakura's eyes widened, but Sasuke voiced her thoughts before she could.
“Naruto, Sakura, let go of the scrolls!” The Uchiha commanded.
The duo threw the scrolls to the other side of the room, and both landed together, with their inside facing up. The smoke continued to leave the paper, until it exploded into a thick cloud. The shape of a person appeared in the amidst of it, and Sakura's body fell into a familiar fighting stance.
“Hello.”
Wait a second, she knew that voice.
The smoke started to disperse, and a familiar person came into view – a woman with unruly raven hair and bright crimson eyes and a small, gentle smile on red lips.
Sakura's mouth fell open both in surprise and in relief. “Shishou.” She breathed out, still not quite able to believe her own eyes. Kurenai-shishou nodded, as if she could see her doubts on her face. “Shishou, what... not that I'm not glad to see you, but what are you doing here?”
Was this another trick? Another test?
Kurenai-shishou stepped out of the scrolls, toward Team 7. “At the end of this second test, chūnin are supposed to greet the participants who passed.” She explained when, finally, she stood in front of Sakura.
The genjutsu specialist looked at her apprentice and smiled in that familiar way that made warmth blossom in Sakura's chest. The pink-haired girl threw all caution to the wind and hugged the jōnin, whose arms then pulled the genin closer.
Sage, she had missed Kurenai-shishou so much.
“But...” Naruto broke the silence, his confusion seeping into the room. “But I thought you were a jōnin, dattebayo.”
Kurenai released Sakura and took a step back, her hand still on her apprentice's shoulder. “I am.” She stated, her attention settling on Naruto. “I asked Hokage-sama to allow me to greet you. Team 7 has officially passed the second test. Congratulations.”
Relief bloomed in Sakura's chest, and she allowed herself to exhaled the weight which had found a home in her chest since her encounter with Orochimaru.
“Oh, and Naruto...” Shishou went on. “Iruka asked to pass on a message to you. He said he'll buy you a round of ramen once this is all over.” Her gaze then drifted to Sakura. “And I'll buy you all the dango you can eat.”
The pink-haired girl couldn't help the grin that spread across her face, so big that her cheeks hurt, and Naruto's booming voice filled the room. “Hell, yeah! We did it, dattebayo! We did it! We did it!” He jumped and jumped in the same place; his excitement contagious.
We really did it, Sakura thought to herself, sort of stunned. Against all odds, against Orochimaru even, Team 7 had passed the second test. It felt almost too good to be true, but, when her shishou pulled her closer again, Sakura found that she didn't care.
“I'm glad to see this exam hasn't drained your energy, Naruto.” Kurenai commented over Sakura's head, chuckling at the blonde-haired boy's antics.
“I wonder...” That was Sasuke's voice, and at the sound of it, Sakura turned to him. He was staring at the jōnin with that somewhat begrudging respect he seemed to harbor toward her – perhaps due to the fact that her genjutsu was said to rival that of an Uchiha, Sakura guessed. “If we had opened the scrolls during the test, what were you going to do, Yūhi?”
The woman in question smiled at him. “This exam's rules are set up to test your ability to perform missions correctly. So, if you were to break these rules and open the scrolls...” She trailed off.
Sakura frowned. “What would have happened?”
“I would put you in a condition of unconsciousness for the remainder of the test period.” Kurenai-shishou explained. Then, she looked at Sakura and winked – the pink-haired girl shuddered at the thought of whatever genjutsu her teacher had planned to use. “Now, shall we go?”
That would be great. Sakura couldn't wait to have some actual rest. But there was still something bugging her, and so she turned her attention to her teacher.
“Uh, shishou. What does that mean?” She pointed at the message on the wall. “It seems like there are words missing. I can't figure it out.”
“Who the hell cares?!” Naruto yelled a bit too close to her ear, leaving behind an insistent ringing, and Sakura elbowed him. The blonde-haired boy wasn't deterred, though. “We passed!”
Kurenai-shishou breathed out a chuckle through her nose. “Well, I'm also here to explain that. It's the motto of the chūnin, written by Hokage-sama.”
“Motto?” Naruto repeated, confused.
“Yes.” The genjutsu specialist retorted, not unkindly. “The heaven in this paragraph refers to the human mind, and the earth refers to the body.” She explained. “If you lack heaven, seek wisdom, be prepared. If you lack earth, run in the fields, seek advantages. If your weakness is your mind, gain knowledge. If it's stamina, train hard. And, if you have both heaven and earth, you'll succeed in even the most dangerous mission.”
“And the part with the missing word?” Sakura asked.
“It's chūnin.” Kurenai-shishou smiled at her. “The last sentence is these rules will guide a chūnin's decisions. This survival test was to assess whether you have the abilities needed to become chūnin, and the three of you have passed. Chūnin is the rank of squad captains. You have the responsibility of guiding a team, and for that you will need knowledge, strength and inner wisdom. You should keep this in mind when the third part of the Chūnin Exam comes.”
Sakura nodded, as did Sasuke.
Naruto saluted in excitement. “Roger that, Kurenai-sensei!”
The genjutsu specialist smiled at him. Then, her hand moved to form a seal, and another cloud of smoke revealed a door just under the board with the Hokage's message.
“Now...” Kurenai-shishou lifted an eyebrow. “Can we please move on before Rin has a stroke?”
Nee-san?
“Wait, you mean...” Sakura attempted to speak.
Naruto beat her to it, loud as ever, with his megawatt grin on his face. “Nee-chan is here too?!”
Kurenai-shishou smiled. “She's in charge of the participants' medical treatment. You're supposed to check in on the infirmary now. Rin is waiting for you.” She then pointed at the door in the back of the room, the only other way in or out.
“Nee-chan!” Naruto squealed, his entire body vibrating with energy. He took one step toward the door before he halted and turned around, to the crimson-haired girl who had not said a word since Kurenai-shishou showed up. Naruto grabbed her hands. “Karin, let's go! You've got to meet her, dattebayo!”
He did not wait for a response before he pulled her to the door, but Karin did not fight him either. Sakura shook her head as a smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
“Karin?” Kurenai-shishou's voice caught her attention, and Sakura turned to the woman again, to see her dark eyebrow raised in curiosity. She hadn't said a word about the Kusa girl, but something told Sakura that it had been intentional – shishou had a right to be suspicious of a foreigner, since she didn't know what the red-haired girl had done for her apprentice.
“Uzumaki Karin.” Sakura explained, and shishou's eyes widened in surprise for a quick moment. “We found her in the forest. Her teammates were killed, and she was alone. Naruto, Sasuke and I thought it would be safer to bring her with us.”
The pink-haired genin left out the part in which Karin might have saved her life, at least for now. That particular piece of information would produce a bunch of questions that she did not feel like answering at the moment.
Kurenai-shishou narrowed her eyes, as if she knew Sakura was hiding something, but, in the end, the genjutsu specialist merely nodded. “Well, I'm proud.” She placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder and squeezed a little. “Now, c'mon. I wasn't kidding about Rin. She's been driving me insane. The sooner I take you to her, the better.”
The raven-haired jōnin pulled Sakura closer, and the duo made their way to the door, with Sasuke trailing behind, silent. The corridor that greeted them was long and filled with doors, and shishou guided them past each one.
“How are you doing, Sakura?” The walls threw back the echo of Kurenai-shishou's words just as they did the sound of their steps, and the pink-haired kunoichi looked at her own feet.
The words slipped past Sakura's lips before she could think much about them, as if on automatic. “I'm fine.” Thanks to Karin and Ino, she really was – physically, at least. But a treacherous voice continued to purr in the back of her mind – “finally she tossed you away, like a broken toy” – and her heart tightened.
Kurenai-shishou looked at her like she didn't quite believe her. “I was worried.”
“I missed you.” Sakura stated in return, and, as much as it was also intended to change the subject, it wasn't a lie.
The hand on her shoulder squeezed it for a brief moment. “I missed you too, kid.”
Sakura opened her mouth – to inquire whether her shishou's own genin team had reached the end of this damned second test – but another voice swallowed the silence.
“Uh, Kurenai-sensei!” Naruto came running from down the hall, with Karin behind him. His face burned red with embarrassment, and his usually unrestrained grin turned sheepish. His hand went to the back of his head, scratching. “Where's... where's the infirmary, dattebayo?”
Kurenai-shishou chuckled, amused. “Follow me.”
The dark-haired jōnin took the four genin through the maze of corridors, until she stopped in front of white double doors which resembled the ones Sakura had seen in the Konoha Hospital. Shishou pushed the doors open and walked in, with the children closely behind.
Sakura blinked, and, suddenly, she was swept in a nearly suffocating embrace. Rin hugged her as if her life depended on it, as if she could not believe Sakura was even real, and, when she hugged her Nee-san back, the pink-haired girl felt like she could breathe for the first time in days.
Home. At last, Sakura was home.
She didn't want to let go, and, for what felt like forever, she didn't. Nee-san did not, either. “I was so worried.” The medic's voice faltered a bit, and she pressed a kiss to Sakura's temple before she put some distance between herself and her little sister. She pushed strands of pink hair away from Sakura's sweaty forehead. “Are you okay? Are you...?”
Brown eyes zeroed in on Sakura's shirt: on the hole that had been torn through it, on the red fabric around it which was now stiff with dried blood.
“I'm okay!” Sakura rushed to speak when she saw terror spread across Rin-nee's wide, unblinking eyes. “I am, see?” She pulled her shirt up just enough that the medic could see her stomach, which didn't have as much as a scar to show from what had happened, thanks to Karin. “I'm fine.”
But Nee-san was still frowning, her mouth open to inquire further, when another voice dismantled the tense silence.
“Nee-chan!” Naruto squealed when he threw himself at her.
Rin caught him, and her arms tightened around him the same way they had around Sakura. Naruto hugged her just as tightly, and his smile when Rin buried her face in his blonde hair was brighter than the sun.
“Naruto.” Rin-nee breathed out, voice filled with so much relief that it was nearly tangible. “Sage, I missed you so much.” Then, she took a step back in order to look at him from top to bottom. He didn't have much to show, other than dirt and a few blood stains on his clothes. “Any injuries that I need to know about?”
The blonde-haired genin shook his head. “I'm okay, dattebayo! But you need to check on Sakura-chan. She...” He looked down, and his hands balled into fists. “She got hurt pretty bad, dattebayo.”
Nee-san's eyes snapped to her again, full of alarm, and Sakura elbowed her brother. “I'm fine now, Naruto.” She said, a little annoyed that he'd just made Rin worry even though she'd told him there was nothing to worry about anymore.
At least, they care.
She shook her head to get rid of the thought that crept into her mind, but it all it did was bring out another, a memory – “a poor, foolish soul chasing after someone who doesn't care about you”.
Damnit, she wished she could just stop thinking about this.
Rin-nee seemed to notice her discomfort, because she didn't pry. Instead, she turned to the raven-haired boy behind Sakura and Naruto who hadn't said a single word in quite some time. The medic smiled that warm smile of hers, the one that felt like home.
“What are you doing all the way there, Sasuke-kun?” Nee-san asked, not unkindly. “Come here.”
For a brief moment, Sasuke looked so surprised that he didn't even move. He stood still and stared at Rin-nee as if she'd grown a second head, until finally, he relaxed. The Uchiha walked up to the Nohara and didn't stiffen when she wrapped him in a hug.
Rin knew him well enough not to trap him in a hug for to long, and so she soon took a step back. “How are you doing?” She asked, with her hand on top of his head, ruffling his hair with affection.
Sasuke didn't seem to mind. “I'm fine.”
“Looks like the punks really passed.” The abrupt voice came from somewhere behind Rin. Sakura looked over her Nee-san's shoulder to see Kakashi-sensei leaning against a wall. His usual orange book was in his hand, but it was closed, and the white-haired man stared at his genin with a crinkle in his eye, the shape of a smile on his mask. “You guys made your old sensei very proud.”
“Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto threw himself at him.
His arms wrapped tightly around the man, and, this time, Kakashi-sensei didn't fight him. Instead, he patted Naruto on the head, and, with the blonde-haired boy still hanging on his neck, made his way to Sasuke and Sakura in ruffle their hair too.
Naruto let go of him, and Sakura swept their sensei in a quick hug. “It's good to see you.”
“Yeah.” Kakashi-sensei replied. “I didn't expect it, but I kind of missed you guys.”
“And you are...?” Rin-nee asked, her gaze on someone who stood behind Team 7.
Sakura looked at Karin, who looked like she was about to bolt, but Naruto beat her to the crimson-haired girl. “Oh, Nee-chan! This is Karin, dattebayo.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward Rin-nee. “She is my cousin! Or something. I don't know. But she's an Uzumaki, dattebayo!”
Nee-san's eyebrows shot to her hairline. “You are?”
Karin swallowed, visibly nervous. “Yes, ma'am.”
Perhaps it was the way Karin tried to shrink away from Rin's gaze, or her stiff body, or her visible reluctance to meet the medic's gaze, but Rin offered the Kusa kunoichi that warm smile of hers – the one Sakura loved, the one that made her feel as if there was nothing wrong in the entire world.
“It's a pleasure to meet you, Karin.” Rin-nee stated, her voice soft and sweet. “I'm Nohara Rin.”
“I-I know.” Karin replied, her cheeks turning bright red. “Naruto... he's told me a lot about you.”
The medic turned to her little brother, a playful look in her brown eyes. “All good things. I hope.”
“Sure I did, Nee-chan!” Naruto smiled his megawatt smile. “You're the best!”
Rin-nee let out a chuckle. The mirth which filled her face died soon, though, even if the gentleness remained. “Now, I need the four of you to come with me for a check-up.” The four genin opened their mouth to retort, but the medic beat them to it. “No, no complaints. This is standard procedure. And did you really think I'd see all that blood and not want to check for myself if you're fine?”
Yeah, that had been too much to hope for when it came to Nee-san.
“And this is our cue to leave.” Kakashi-sensei spoke up, already heading to the door. He had some weird relationship with hospitals – Sakura had noticed that he seemed to run from them like a bat out of hell, but she couldn't figure out why.
“We'll be right outside if you need us.” Kurenai-shishou stated before she closed the door behind herself.
Rin turned to the four genin. “So, who's going first?”
“Sakura.” Naruto, Sasuke and Karin said at the same time.
“Traitors.” Sakura hissed at them.
Naruto offered her a cheeky grin in response, and Sakura was almost certain she could see a ghost of smirk at the corners of Sasuke's lips. Karin at least had the decency to look apologetic.
The pink-haired girl sighed and walked to the bed Rin gestured toward, and the medic soon joined her. Nee-san stood in front of her, a bright coat of green chakra around her hand when she placed it on Sakura's stomach.
“What happened?” Rin asked, her voice stiff, worried.
Sakura shrugged. “A guy from Oto. His jutsu had something to do with air pressure, I don't know.” At her response, Rin stiffened, her jaw clenching. Sakura frowned, confused, but, before she could ask, the medic was speaking again.
“Nothing else?” Brown eyes pierced through Sakura as if their owner already knew the answer to that question, and the pink-haired girl swallowed.
There was so much she had to speak to Rin about. She had to tell her about Orochimaru and what he knew about her, what he had done to Sasuke and planned to do to Sakura herself. Sakura knew she had to tell Rin about Oto's involvement, and so much more.
But, now, all she could focus on was the secret she'd kept from Rin and Naruto both. She just had to tell them before she could deal with anything else.
“I need to talk to you.” Sakura stated, anxiety burning within her chest. “And to Naruto, too.”
Would Rin-nee be mad that Sakura had kept this from her? Sage, would Naruto be mad? He didn't even know about her mother, about her being a Senju – she had asked that Sasuke, Ino, Karin and Shikamaru didn't mention it to him until she had the chance to tell him herself.
This was all a damn mess.
“Okay.” Rin-nee nodded, a slight crease in her brow. “Other than the fatigue, you're okay. Except that your chakra flow is a bit disrupted. Did you happen to take any soldiers pills?” The displeased look in her eyes told Sakura that she knew, and the pink-haired girl looked away. “Sakura.” There it was, the worry, the disappointment, the horrifying lack of suffix.
“Two.” Sakura grimaced as Rin's frown deepened. “I was desperate and running out of chakra.”
The medic sighed and shook her head. Then, she walked over to her desk to open one of the many drawers, from which she took a small jar of homemade white pills. Rin took two out of it and put it back in its original place before she returned to Sakura.
She placed the pills on the pink-haired girl's hand. “Take these. It should help.”
Sakura did as she was told and got up from the bed to join the other three genin. Rin-nee wrote in a chart before she, too, turned her attention to the group.
“Who's next?” The medic asked.
Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who replied. “I think it should be Karin.” He looked at said girl when she turned to him with wide, frightened eyes. “You fainted after you healed Sakura.” He explained his reasoning, all too nonchalant.
Karin looked at Sakura and Naruto, and both offered her enthusiastic nods. Then, the Kusa genin made her way to the bed Sakura had occupied barely a minute before, and Rin-nee turned to her.
“Oh, you know medical ninjutsu?” The medic asked, genuinely interested.
“Something like that.” Karin mumbled, hesitant.
Rin looked at Sakura, and something she saw in the pink-haired girl's face must have told her the information she sought, for she turned to Karin with a sympathetic smile. “Look, whatever it is, I don't need to know unless it affects your health, or Sakura's. Does it?”
Karin chewed on her bottom lip, crimsons eyes darting to Team 7 and then back at Rin. No words made their way out of her mouth, and Rin-nee let out a soft sigh.
“I can ask them to leave, if you prefer.” The medic offered, but Karin's eyes widened in alarm, so she backtracked. “Okay, they can stay. But, if you believe what you did could have an impact on your health, or Sakura's, I need you to tell me. Do you know about medic-patient confidentiality?” Karin hesitated. “Whatever you tell me will not leave this room without your consent.”
The Kusa kunoichi looked at Sakura again, and the pink-haired genin offered her a nod she hoped would be encouraging. Then, Karin took a deep breath, and the words spilled out of her mouth.
“My chakra has healing properties, or something like that.” Karin rolled a sleeve up, so that Rin-nee could see the multiple bite marks which marred her skin. “Sakura's chakra was so weak and... I thought she was going to die, so I made her bite me. It healed her, but I fainted.”
To her credit, Nee-san showed no reaction during Karin's explanation. At the end, though, a kind look settled in her chocolate-brown eyes. “I think I have read something about that. You must be a direct descendant of the Uzumaki's main family, then. Perhaps of Mito-sama's sister, Ai-sama.”
Karin's eyes widened. “What?”
“What do you mean, Nee-chan?” Naruto asked, curious and alert. He took a step toward the medic, his gaze never straying from her.
Nee-san's hand glowed green and, finally, she started her check-up on Karin. “Immense longevity, vast chakra reserves, vitality. These were common traits in the Uzumaki clan.” She explained, her voice soft and patient. “Their life-force was said to grant them powerful healing abilities. It wasn't exactly common, even among the clan, but it wasn't as rare as, let's say, the Senju's Wood Style.”
Despite herself, Sakura stiffened. She knew Rin-nee didn't mean it as anything other than a small anecdote, a practical example, but all her brain could focus on was that she had to talk to Nee-san soon, before she could find out from someone else. And damnit, so many people knew now.
This was neither the time, nor the place, though, and so the words which made their way past her lips weren't the ones she wanted to say. “How do you know that?”
“I'm a Nohara.” Rin-nee shrugged, her attentive gaze still scanning Karin for injuries as the green chakra that coated her hand did its own search. “My clan comes from Uzushio too, and my family inherited some scrolls from Mito-sama after she passed. I still have them at the manor.”
The crease in Sakura's brow deepened, as did her confusion. “Don't you mean the apartment?”
“No, I mean my family's manor.” Rin-nee replied. The medic looked away and took a deep breath before she made herself continue. “When my grandparents moved from Uzushio to Konoha, Mito-same gifted them a manor right beside the Senju Estate. Technically, it is still mine, even though I didn't step a foot in it again after Obaa-san died. The scrolls should still be there. Nothing about jutsu, though. Just some stories, bits of information. Everything else that the Uzumaki's left behind is property of Konoha, as far as I know.”
“Nee-chan, can I...” Naruto's eyes darted to Karin for a quick moment. “Can we see the scrolls?”
Rin averted her gaze, clearly uncomfortable. Not at the idea of Naruto and Karin seeing the scrolls, Sakura knew – but at the thought of going back to a house full of ghosts. Still, the medic managed a little smile when, finally, she looked at the pair of Uzumaki's again.
“Of course.” She said, and both Naruto and Karin responded with bright smiles. “I'll take you two to see them once this exam is over. This test is supposed to last five days and this is still the fourth. You'll have to wait here until the time is up.”
“Thank you, Nee-chan!” Naruto hugged her from behind, and Rin-nee laughed.
“Naruto, I'm working.” She replied, not really upset, and he stepped away from her, although his smile had yet to vanish. Then, the medic's gaze turned to her patient. “You should avoid strenuous activities for a few days. Have plenty of rest. Other than that, you should be just fine. I'll let your sensei know.”
Sakura had brightened at the mere sight of Kurenai-shishou, and Naruto had swept Kakashi-sensei in a tight hug as soon as he saw the white-haired man. But at the mention of her own sensei, Karin stiffened, her crimson eyes immediately filling with tears.
What the...?
“Hey.” Rin-nee placed a hand on the red-haired girl's shoulder, and Karin looked at her with wide, fearful eyes. “I don't have to call them now. The exam isn't over yet. Where are your teammates?”
“Dead.” Karin muttered, averting her gaze to her own feet.
“Technically, you didn't pass the exam, then.” Rin said as soon as the word crossed Karin's mouth. “I have no obligation to report your arrival. But, since you didn't pass, I can't give you your room. There should be space in Team 7's room, though.” She looked at said trio, and all of them nodded. “Then, it's settled.”
Karin mumbled a quiet thank you to Rin-nee before she walked toward Team 7. The medic didn't say a word for quite some time, her lower lip stuck in between her teeth and a thoughtful look on her face.
Then, finally, Rin turned to the four genin. “So, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, which one of you now?”