Born Anew

Chapter 15

Karin POV

After Kakashi leaves for the day, I decide to do something useful. So I dress up and go in search of Naruto. When I find him, he's in the training grounds, training intently on what looks like an air ball. A man is sitting facing Naruto, his hand out with the word Sit written on it. He's wearing a happuri-style forehead protector mask with the Leaf symbol on it over his brown hair.

Behind Naruto, there are two people watching him, standing off to the side, in the shade of the surrounding trees: Sakura and a pale guy, with black hair, which contrasts sharply with his skin color.

When Sakura sees me, she waves me over. "Hey, Karin!" she calls as I approach the pair.

The guy looks at me warily but doesn't say anything.

I give her a thin smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, Sai and I were watching Naruto practice. Doesn't he look so serious?" She sounds like a proud mother.

I look back at the blonde haired boy, who does seem to be more serious than usual. Curiously, I ask, "What's he doing?"

"Well, since we're going to get our friend back, Naruto wants to be at his best," the pinkette replies. "He's got it in his head that once they see each other, he will automatically come back with us."

My whole body turns into ice when a name rings vaguely in my head. Why does that name sound familiar? And where did it come from? I try to dig into my annoyingly closed off mind but for the life of me, I can't seem to remember where I heard that name. First, the name Kushina rang a bell in my head, then the last name Uzumaki and now this name? Why wouldn't my memory just come back already?

"Do... Do I know this guy?" I ask slowly.

Sakura looks surprised, then guilty. "Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. Lady Tsunade will kill me."

"So I do know him?" I press.

She looks worried that she'll spill more "forbidden" information.

"Sakura," I say firmly. "Do. I. Know. Him."

She glances at the pale guy beside her and nods. "Yeah. Before you lost your memory. You worked with him and our enemy."

Vaguely, I remember Kakashi saying something like that last week so I nod. Then my eyes swing over to the pale guy, who's watching me with eyes glittering with curiosity. The guy himself looks shady beyond belief and that deep gut feeling that everyone is hiding something seems to be stronger around him. His aura, his stance, his eyes- everything reads suspicion.

"Who are you?" I ask, not bothering to hide the suspicion from my voice.

"Sai," he says plainly.

Sakura gives me a strained smile. "This is Sai. He's a new member of our three-man squad. Naruto, me and Sai."

"What happened to your old member? Aren't all teams made of three people?"

The smile slips from the girl's lips and now she just looks pained. "Um, well, that's the guy who we're going to get tomorrow."

Oh...

Sakura changes the subject when her eyes widen in the direction of Naruto. "Wow! Look at that!"

I turn to look at the blonde kid and his airball looks bigger than before. There's a look a deep satisfaction on his face and I can't help but smile too.

Naruto's eyes find us and he grins widely, waving at us. "Hey there, guys! Whatcha doin'?" He ambles toward us, his hands folded behind his head.

I smile at Naruto. "Nice job, Naruto."