The Lost Heir

5

"It's the least I can do for my son's girlfriend."

The words continued to stick with Naruto for the rest of the day and he couldn't focus on anything. Not even his own training. That fact that his Aunt had called him 'son'. It was something he'd always wished someone to call him, and to hear it coming so casually from a woman he'd met recently, it surprised him. He felt the sharp pain of a punch connect to his stomach as he missed the block and Karin's fist hit him hard. He stumbled back a bit and coughed. Karin stopped immediately.
"Naruto? What's wrong?" She asked. Naruto looked at her.
"Nothing's wrong." He replied.
"But I've never been able to land a hit on you before in training. Something is distracting you" she replied in kind. Naruto shrugged.
"Maybe you've just gotten better." Naruto said simply. Karin shook her head.
"Spill! What's the deal?" Karin asked as she sat down on the grass.
"Ok. So -" Naruto began but his Aunt cut him off.
"Naruto! There's someone here to see you!" Aunt Mito's shout echoed through the mansion and Naruto sighed before he got up and left. Karin grumbled. She'd been close to finding out what was distracting him. Groaning in annoyance, Karin went and took a shower in her bathroom.

Feeling refreshed, she put on a red dress before she walked down the stairs.
"Mum! I'm going out!" She shouted and left before Lady Mito could say anything. Karin hummed to herself as she walked out of the gates of the Uzumaki mansion and decided she'd head to the shops. She wanted to look around as she hadn't been given much of a chance to look around and she was still admiring the views. After all, spending a lot of time scavenging for Uzumaki relics and other items in Uzushio was not particularly exciting, especially when your mother was always in a bad mood due to the destruction of her birthplace and home. Unknown to her, she'd already caught the eyes of multiple men, and if she'd been observant, she'd have noticed their glances, and the unrestrained lust in their eyes. There was something exciting about having their way with a beautiful, royal foreigner, according to them. Thankfully, they say ignorance is bliss, and it certainly proved true as Karin never noticed and hence it didn't detract from the beauty she found in Konoha. She did notice the massive discounts given to her by all of the shopkeepers however. She simply chalked it up to generosity. Karin was in a good mood. If she'd actually analysed the situation, she might have realised that they were simply trying to gain good favour from her for their own reputation and gains. She struggled to lift her shopping bags and gave a short laugh. I should have asked Ashina or Uru to come and help... she gave a yelp as she tripped over a rock. Expecting to land on her face, she closed her eyes. Instead, she was caught by someone who managed to catch her. Her eyes widened.
"Sa-Sasuke?" She managed to speak out. He gave her a stare.

"Hn." He said, pretending to not care. But in truth, he was pretty curious about her. She was beautiful, and he knew that she was strong from her clan training. It made him want to know her personally, unlike the useless banshee on his team. Sure, Sasuke would constantly put down Naruto, but they both knew it was Sakura who was really the useless one, the one who was always scared and the one who always needed help. There was an awkward silence as Karin picked up her bags. Sasuke was never good at conversations anyway.
"So... uh... what are you doing here?" Sasuke asked. Karin facepalmed.
"I was killing some innocent civilians... isn't it obvious?" She said sarcastically. She lifted the shopping bags in front of the shocked Uchiha before continuing to walk. It took the Uchiha a full 10 seconds to realise that she was being sarcastic. He then determined that he couldn't let Karin walk all over him. He had to live up to the Uchiha name, because of his Uchiha pride (more like arrogance) and also because if his father or his brother found out, he'd never hear the end of it. He huffed in annoyance.
"Karin! Wait up!" He said as he ran after her retreating figure.

-----

Naruto smiled as he sat down beside Gaara. They'd become best friends almost immediately, and now, Gaara had invited him to a picnic on one of the less populated training grounds. He saw the way Temari and Kankuro fussed over him, and it pleased him that another jinchuriki was receiving love and attention.
"So, what do you guys think about the Chunin exams?" Naruto asked. He was eating a sandwich and so failed to notice the shared glance between all three Sand siblings.
"I'm sure we'll have to fight other participants for most of the exams." Temari said. Gaara suddenly stood up.
"Oh Baki sensei wants to talk to me." He said as he waved good bye and hurriedly walked away. Naruto and Temari stared at him weirdly.
"I got to restock my puppets..." Kankuro said nervously as he dashed off. Temari realised with a jolt that they'd left her all alone with undeniably the cutest guy in the Chunin exams. Not that Sasuke wasn't cool and all, but he was definitely NOT her type. If there was one thing she didn't want, it was an arrogant prick chasing after her.
"So um..." Temari said awkwardly. There was an awkward silence where the both of them couldn't look each other in the eye.
"Ah... I really l- like spending time with you." Naruto said awkwardly.
"Uh yeah same" Temari replied. There was another silence that followed. It seemed to stretch on and on until Naruto finally stood up.
"I gotta go training. Thanks for the picnic!" He said as he gave her a wave. Suddenly he swooped in a gave her a peck on the cheek, grinning with his usual cheeky grin before he dashed off. Temari sat there, blushing intensely. She wasn't not expecting that. She didn't even see it coming. Literally.

-----

"Alright!" A voice boomed across the courtyard to the Academy.
"It's been a week! My name is Iruka and I will be overseeing the entrance into this academy. Once you enter, make your way to the third floor by the large staircase at the end of the hall, where you will hand in your completed admission slips to whatever Chunin or Jonin are standing there, and proceed into the examination room 3-A." Iruka opened the doors and all the participants went inside in their teams of three. Naruto stood there awkwardly with Sasuke and Sakura, both of whom only acknowledged his presence. He caught the eye of the Sand siblings as they entered and he gave Temari a wink, to which she responded by poking her tongue out. Sakura and Sasuke noticed this.
"Dobe?" Sasuke said.
"Naruto! Why are you interacting with the enemy?" Sakura screeched.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I don't have to answer that." He replied. He made his way to the staircase. They walked up the stairs to find a whole bunch of Genin being barred entry by two kids who looked barely older than them. Naruto scoffed. It's probably genjutsu... I've only walked up one flight of stairs, and I know the Academy back to front - due to a lifetime of pranks... Naruto walked up to the next flight, not even bothering to wait for Sasuke and Sakura, who had exposed the genjutsu, thinking themselves to be superior. He found the examination room 3-A where Kakashi was standing there.
"Hey Naruto! Where's your team members?" Kakashi asked with a smile.
"They are too slow." Naruto said as he handed Kakashi his slip. Kakashi smiled.
"Well, you can't enter until they arrive and hand in their slips." Kakashi explained but just then, a slightly bruised and scowling Sasuke entered with Sakura right behind. Kakashi could faintly hear the shouts of
"LEE!"
"GUY SENSEI!"

He shivered, suddenly feeling rather cold.
"Ok, you may enter." He said as he took the slips, and watched the team enter. Not a moment later, a crying Lee and Guy walked into the hall with Tenten and Neji. Kakashi smiled, but on the inside was feeling relieved. He didn't have to witness the extremely awkward and cringeworthy dubbed 'Guy-And-Lee' show.

Inside, Sasuke was bombarded by Ino and the other rookie 9 Genin approached them.
"Alright! You made it!" Kiba hollered. Then they noticed that the orange ninja wasn't there.
"Where's Naruto?" Kiba asked.
"Was he too scared to come?" He continued. Sasuke looked away and Sakura pointed at Naruto. Kiba and the others took a step back and admired his outfit.
"Wow..." Kiba said.
"Did you think I'd be wearing orange my entire life?" Naruto asked sarcastically. He already knew the answer. He looked to his left and noticed Temari giggling with her brothers while sneaking glances at him.
"Temari!" He said loudly, waving to her before he walked over to join her and her brothers. Meanwhile, a Leaf Genin with glasses approached the rookie 9 (minus Naruto).
"You need to keep it down!" He reprimanded.
"And who are you to talk?" Kiba retorted.
"My name is Kabuto Yakushi. This is my seventh try of the Chunin exams, so I guess you could say I'm a veteran." He replied. Sasuke snorted.
"Of course, being a veteran, I have some information to help you rookies if you want. I can find some info on whoever you want with these info cards." Kabuto explained as he held out a deck of orange cards. Sasuke stepped forward.
"Give me information on Rock Lee, and Gaara." He paused for a moment. Then added.
"And also Naruto Uzumaki." The rest of the rookies crowded around him. They'd be lying if they said they weren't interested in Naruto and Gaara.
"Rock Lee... he's about a year older; 11 C ranks and 20 D ranks. Squad leader is Guy sensei and his taijutsu has improved tremendously. His team mates are Neji Hyuga and Tenten." Kabuto placed another card down.
"Gaara... he's done... 8 B ranks and an A rank! But he's never been injured before... not even a scratch..." Kabuto rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Well I don't know much about Sand ninja... so Naruto Uzumaki was it?" He asked and Sasuke nodded intently.
"Naruto Uzumaki..."