'Karin, let me introduce you: my brother Shikamaru, my best friend Ino, and Choji—my brother's teammate and my old classmate.'
Then she introduced Karin to them.
'This is my friend Karin. She's between Villages right now, so she'll stay with us. Got that, big bro?'
'You're all my dearest friends; please keep this quiet for now—outsiders mean paperwork. Later I'll sort her papers and make her an official Konoha villager.'
They greeted one another and squeezed in. The cart had been built for four to lie flat, but with Naruto and Sasuke unconscious, the other five had to sit cross-legged, cramped. Shikamaru noticed the pair looked pale.
'Hey, what happened to Naruto and Sasuke?'
Ino edged closer to Sasuke, worried.
'Sasuke-kun, are you all right?'
'We were ambushed by a powerful enemy. Both were badly hurt. No danger now, but we don't know when they'll wake.'
'Hold up—those two are wrecked and you're unscathed. Did you ditch them and hide?'
Kano answered the slander with a foot to Shikamaru's face, stamping twice.
'Keep smearing me and I'll beat you, stupid brother! I did the heavy lifting—my Chakra cycled dry twice. That Shadow Ninja you saw? Killed twice over.'
'You must've heard my Requiem—I played it at full blast twice. You know what that tune does.'
'So that skull-splitting noise was you?'
Choji was startled, but Shikamaru—who'd endured a full performance—turned white.
'A whistle version makes me want to die—what monster survives two ear-shredding versions?'
More than survived: after the first round he'd given it five stars.
'Then how did you live?'
'Me? I lured him away, fought till I dropped, and played dead.'
She could hardly admit the fight ended thanks to a deal with Orochimaru.
'Surviving that really wasn't easy.'
Shikamaru couldn't imagine anyone killing that Shadow Ninja twice—even their dad wasn't sure he could. Yet an enemy had done it.
'Kano-chan, you've just lost two teammates—what about the scrolls?'
Ino worried; though Shikamaru's team hadn't snatched any either, they were unhurt and still had a chance, whereas Kano's squad was down to one.
'About that—' Kano produced six scrolls. 'If you haven't got any, pick one.'
Seeing two Heaven and four Earth scrolls, Ino realised her worry was pointless. Shikamaru didn't stand on ceremony—family was family.
They took one Heaven scroll; their set was complete.
After that, Shikamaru's team refused to leave the deer cart. With scrolls secured, staying was safe and easy. And since Kano had handed them a scroll, they wanted to repay her.
They volunteered to nurse Naruto and Sasuke, fetch water and food—whatever helped.
Thanks to the thick fog, few Ninja came their way; the occasional stragglers were driven off by Shikamaru's team.
Near sunset they reached the tower, submitted their scrolls and passed.
Karin used a transformation to mimic a Shadow Ninja; Kano summoned several Shadow Ninja among whom Karin blended, and they carried Sasuke and Naruto to beds in the rest chamber.
Not long after reaching the room, Naruto and Sasuke woke together.
'You're awake? The exam's cleared.'
As they came to, both remembered the moment they'd lost consciousness and were ready to explode with rage—then heard Kano's voice saying they'd passed while asleep.
Am I caught in a genjutsu?
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