38 BSWS CH-38 The Chunin Exams VI - Saving Karin Uzumaki

Halfway through the Genjutsu, Sakura started to notice something peculiar. With every major wound the boys suffered in the Genjutsu, a part of it was replicated in reality on their real bodies.

Sakura was surprised by this as this was not something she had designed intentionally. She only knew one clan that was capable of this feat, which was the Kurama clan. However, she clearly knew that she was not part of that clan.

After thinking for a while that she theorized that it could be a side effect of combining Genjutsu, her chakra thread linking method and Fuinjutsu.

Fuinjutsu was claimed to have the power to overwrite Life, Death and the very reality itself. So it was possible that the Fuinjutsu she used to stabilize her Genjutsu in her victims was causing the actions of Genjutsu to be replicated in reality to a certain extent once it passed a certain threshold.

While she was thinking about all this, the boys had already suffered enough real damage to be actually drained of majority of their blood, and ended up fainting from blood loss.

Satisfied with the torture they suffered, Sakura buried them below the Earth and destroyed all traces of them ever being there.

Of course she checked them thoroughly before burying them and acquired their provisions, weapons, money and the Scroll they were assigned.

"Well, they do say that karma gets just rewards, but I didn't think it will be so soon." Sakura thought as she looked at Heaven scroll she had just acquired.

"Well, this just ended up as a waste of a long planning session." Sakura mused. She had actually forgotten that she had marked Karin's team as one of the teams carrying Heaven Scroll. But then again, she was monitoring so many teams that it could have slipped her mind reasonably.

"Well anyway, it wont be a complete waste. Those who reach the Tower with our fake scrolls are going to get the shock of their lives." Sakura thought as she made a final check to see of she left any traces.

After removing the last remaining traces of chakra used in the area with a Chakra Draining Seal Tag, Sakura left the place to find Karin.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Karin wiped her tears behind her spectacles as she tended to the food being roasted. She could not afford any more of her so called 'teammates' being brutal to her.

She was already tired after being drained multiple times today. While She did have more Chakra to spare, that rapid healing drained her vitality, which needed some time, food and rest to recover.

So lost she was. in her fear of her teammates and her work, that she didn't notice a low heavy growl coming from her surroundings, by the time she noticed, a large bear was moving towards her, its eyes looking at her like a predator would look at a prey.

Seeing that Karin noticed it, the bear tramped towards her like a speeding van. Recovering from her shock, Karin was barely able to dodge the charge. She threw a bunch of Shuriken to hurt the bear, but they just bounced right of it thick fur and muscle.

Karin then noticed that the bear's focus had not been her at all. While scaring her with its charging body, the bear had taken the time to grab the roasting barbecued meat she was making. It was currently in the processing of eating it, having already eaten nearly half of it in this short while.

"No!!! The Meat!!!" Karin cried out in desperation and despair. When the boys come back, they might actually kill her this time. Tears leaked out from the corner of her eyes as she threw Kunai and Shuriken desperately to try and make the bear leave the remaining meat.

The bear ignored her mostly in favor of enjoying its meal, but when one of her Kunai managed to hurt a corner of its lips, it turned to her with eyes red in rage.

"RROOOOAAARR!!!" it let out a gigantic chakra empowered roar that sent her tumbling with sheer pressure of it. It was then that Karin realized the true identity of the bear. It was not just some animal, it was a chakra beast that had unlocked some amount of its Chakra Potential.

Recognizing that she had enraged a beast she might not able to defeat, Karin tried to get up and run away. However, she realized when she was trying to stand up that when the roar sent her tumbling away, she had sprained her ankle somewhere, probably on a tree root or something.

She looked up shakily and peered at the bear through her tear and dust stained glasses. As she saw it charging towards her, she could see death beckoning her to the afterlife.

Suddenly, a series of piercing noises interrupted her hallucination. She saw numerous thick chakra threads emerging from the ground and stitching through the huge body of the bear. The bear roared in pain but was not able to break through the chakra threads piercing him in a short period of time.

Karin noticed at that moment that a beautiful pink-haired girl was standing on top of the bear. She was dressed in a plain white Yukata with a red Hakama and the Leaf Symbol on a Pink Sash. Her was fashioned into a casual but attractive side-tailed look and she had a look of concentration on her face.

Making a hand seal, the girl slammed her palms on the bear's back and said, "Earth Style: Added Weight Jutsu*5!!"

The next moment, the bear slammed into the ground as if a giant hand had crushed it with force. Its body sunk partially into the ground and cracks spread up to little distance around it.

After taking care of the bear, the pink haired girl jumped lightly from its back and landed in front of Karin. Extending a hand for Karin to grab, the pink haired girl smiled gently to reassure Karin's spirits.

"You know, making a barbecue in middle of such a forest filled with wild animals is not a particularly good idea." Sakura said as she pulled Karin up.

Seeing Karin wince slightly on standing up, Sakura's eyes went to one of Karin's ankles, which seemed slightly swollen up compared to the other.

"Oh, you have a sprain? Hmm, sit here." Sakura said as she supported Karin to lean against a tree and sit on part of its thick root that was above the ground. She asked Karin for some first aid kit and helped patch Karin's sprain tightly so as to not cause her more pain.

"You don't need to do that," Karin said with a nervous smile, "I will recover soon. I always have."

"Nevertheless, this will make your pain lessen. I think that is not something you should refuse." Sakura said with a smile.

"Why did you help me?" Karin asked hesitantly.

"Do I need reason to help you?" Sakura said "But if you have to ask me for a reason, then I would say that I helped you because you were in a situation beyond your capability to handle and I could help you out without putting myself in danger."

"Hmm, thank you anyways." Karin said with a small smile "If not for you I probably would have died."

"No problem. My name is Sakura Haruno. What is yours?"Sakura asked while extending her hand for a handshake, even though she knew the answer very well.

"Karin. My name is Karin Uzumaki." Karin said as she softly grasped Sakura's hand.