Welcome back ya'll. Yes, it's Sunday, but I couldn't wait until tomorrow to release this!
Dedicated to @im_to_lazy_to_think and @Magnihoenir for your lovely comments on Chapter 40!
This chapter is starting to speed up, and is like, MUCH LONGER. I don't want everyone to wait so long for short chapters soooo.
I watched Episode 430 of Shippuden again with Killer Bee in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, where he imagines life with the other Jinchuuriki and I screenshot some parts and did some edits to fit my needs hehe. Considering I started writing this story before that came out, I think I didn't do badly at their personalities (maybe, I hope).
~ Wolfie
_____________________________________
It was crystal clear to me back then that the only problems that I could face
Would be the same problems that affect us all
But of course this sense of common existence was sucked out of me in an instance
As if from birth I could walk but I was forced to crawl
So this an exciting time, to be alive
Our generation's gotta fight, to survive
It's in your hands now, our future, our future
Our generation's gotta fight, to survive
It's in your hands now, our future, our future
~ System... by Enter Shikari
The Jinchuuriki Alliance (Naruto Fanfic) Chapter 41 - Surprise Bitch!
RECAP:
With his hands laced together behind his head, Naruto grinned, "You just keep angering people, don't you Orochimaru?"
Ino had strut forward with a look of detestation and placed her hand on his head. "You really shouldn't have said that." She said simply. "You really shouldn't have."
Walking around Orochimaru, Naruto held down his shoulders so that he didn't thrash around. Ino shut her eyes and recited the words that she had practised repeatedly.
"Shin'nyū no Jutsu (Mind Invasion Jutsu)."
~*~*~
"I accept."
Yagura stood and extended his hand, removing his Mizukage hat and handing it over to Mei Terumi, feeling a weight lifted off his shoulders. The new Mizukage took the hat and stood up too, smiling. He smiled at the astonished expression plastered on Mei's face.
"Pleasure doing business with you, Godaime Mizukage-sama."
END RECAP:
With her hands behind her back, Ino Yamanaka awkwardly fiddled with her fingers while staring at the dubious expression of her rival, Sakura Haruno. She sent small glances towards Sasuke's direction, who had rolled his eyes and started flipping through the paper in a small notebook in front of him.
"Come on guys!" Naruto grinned.
He pat Ino's back, who nearly fell forward from the surprising force. She caught herself and then instantly straightened her back and pursed her lips, reminding herself not to look weak, and instead to be strong and confident.
"But why her?" Sakura drawled, the disgust clear in her tone of voice, it made Ino wince as, of course they hated each other, but Sakura had never had that much venom in her words.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted, also not understanding why Naruto wanted to add another person to the group.
Naruto sighed and placed his hands on his hips, "Because~" He practically sang, "I think Ino-chan can help us out, using her family jutsu. Plus, she's been hanging around Shikamaru, so I'm sure her strategy skills have improved too!"
The platinum-haired blonde girl nodded fervently, "Yeah! I can be helpful. Naruto-baka-" Sakura and Sasuke shot a dangerous glare at Ino, who instantly paused and repeated herself. "Naruto, already filled me in on all of the Jinchuuriki stuff, I think it's a great and clever idea. Plus, Konoha is starting to bore me." She flicked her hair.
Naruto noticed the change in manners instantly; of course the last time any of the other Konoha genin knew him properly was in the Academy - and in the Chuunin Exams, but the latter didn't leave much time to have a decent conversation, you know, in between being attacked left, right and centre.
Sasuke placed his notebook down and looked up at Ino with a sharp gaze, "Perhaps she can be helpful." He started. "But she can also bring us down." Ino flinched.
"I don't want her here, but-" Sakura sighed, "I can admit that she can be smart at times. So, how about you guys tell us what happened with Orochimaru, and we can plan our next move."
"You already told her everything anyway," Sasuke grumbled, "You're too trusting, idiot Naruto."
With Ino's curious glance to Sakura, at the fact that Sasuke could insult Naruto but she couldn't, Sakura just waved her hand, mouthing 'that's just what they do.'
Naruto snickered and scratched his cheek, "Anyway, we went to find out where Orochimaru's experimentation lab is, and using Ino-chan's-"
"Please stop calling me -chan. It feels weird." Ino shook her head.
"Alright! Using Ino's Yamanaka family jutsu, we managed to find out where it is." His expression darkened, "There's an Uzumaki there."
Ino nodded sadly while Sakura gasped. Sasuke clenched his fist and bit the inside of his cheek, as a person who only has one family member left, he knew that this was going to be important to Naruto.
Clearing his throat, Naruto smiled again, "So, we need to go. Or, more specifically, I need to go."
"You are not going alone." Sakura snapped.
"I'm not gonna," Naruto replied, he leaned back in his chair and exhaled while he crossed his arms, "I'm taking some of the Jinchuuriki. You guys are staying-"
"Fuck no!" Sasuke slammed his hand down on the table. Sakura scoffed at the thought of being left behind and Ino narrowed her eyes at Naruto.
Taking a leaf out of Kakashi's book, Naruto smiled with his eyes closed, this led a small feeling of killing intent to seep out of his skin as the three backed down and were forced to relax.
"As I was saying, you guys are staying here." Naruto finished, he noticed that his three friends were not happy with his decision so he smiled softly again. "Look, this will be dangerous-" He raised a hand to stop Sakura from interrupting, "-And I know you guys think you can handle it, but I don't know what it's going to be like."
"What are you going to do with the rescued people once you get in?" Ino asked.
Naruto hummed in thought, "Well I was going to ask Gaara, Fuu and maybe Yagura to help me. You're right, it's not like we can bring all of the people we save back to Konoha, so maybe Gaara will take some to Suna, Yagura might take some to Kiri and Fuu to Taki."
"I suppose that is..." Sasuke frowned, "Acceptable." He was beyond pissed off, but Naruto was right; they didn't know whether or not Orochimaru had people stationed at the lab, so they might as well take the Jinchuuriki, who are stronger than any of the Konoha genin.
"Meanwhile, I'd like you guys to continue your work here." The young Uzumaki straightened his back and crossed his legs. "Speaking of, got any ideas so far?"
Sakura perked up and looked excitedly at Sasuke, who sighed with a small smile and motioned for her to start. Ino tilted her head, she had no idea what was going on.
Sakura clapped her hands together. "Okay! We have about a year, so during that time we need to implement a strict training regimen as we are going to need three specialised military groups. Aside from the general population that you're going to get, we need a Tracking & Information Team, a Stealth & Assassination Team and like a," Sakura started punching the air, "a hard-hitting front lines kinda team!"
Ino grinned, "Oooh coming up with the names of these teams are going to be so much fun!" Sakura nodded enthusiastically.
"We need a Daimyo, in order to be recognised as an official country or Hidden Village. So you need someone you trust." Sasuke added calmly, "As for the leader's name, something like Uzukage, or Uzushiokage, or," He rolled his eyes, "I don't know, but I haven't found evidence of the leader of Uzushiogakure being called 'kage' or anything of the sort."
Naruto waved his hand in dismissal, "Names can wait," He grinned, "Let's leave that to the girls, they're way more creative than us." Sasuke nodded in agreement.
Sakura and Ino giggled together. After a second, Sakura paused and realised how natural being back with Ino felt, it had been years due to their rivalry but since she's done with chasing after Sasuke, why couldn't they just continue where they left off?
Naruto stood up and rolled his shoulders back and rubbed his neck, "Ah, I'm tired. I'll go have a chat to the Jinchuuriki, see how soon we can head out to Orochimaru's lab."
He turned around, and as he was just about to leave, he froze. His eyes widened and he ran back to Ino and clenched his teeth at her. "Where did you put the master key?"
Ino blinked and then her eyes widened, "W-What?"
Naruto growled, "Did you leave it in front of Orochimaru's cell?!"
Jumping to her feet, Ino gasped, "Shit!"
"What key?" Sakura questioned in confusion.
Naruto punched his table, "Shit! Come on!" He grabbed all three of the people in front of him and grit his teeth. "Shunshin!" He held his hands in the Tiger Seal and they disappeared in an instant.
It was difficult to use the Body Flicker Jutsu with multiple people, but the jutsu itself depended on the amount of chakra required, as well as the overall distance he needed to travel. This much wasn't painful to Naruto, but as he brought three extra people along without thinking, he was slightly winded.
They opened their eyes as they stood in front of Orochimaru's cell. Sakura let out a sigh of relief as she saw the shadowy figure hunched over inside the dark room, but Naruto's leaking chakra reminded her that something was wrong.
Orochimaru was held up by the shackles, which were chained to different directions of the room so it left Orochimaru with his legs and arms spread, so there was no chance of him making any hand seals. Of course, there were also chakra suppressors.
What was peculiar though, was the fact that he was hunched over to the extent that his knees were almost touching the floor. His feet were limp, and so were his arms.
Naruto walked forward with clenched hands as he grabbed Orochimaru's head, fist full of long black hair.
He pushed Orochimaru's head backwards and was met with cold, empty eyes, rolled to the back of the snake's pale head. Mouth slightly ajar. A blank expression on his face. Neck slit with a sharp kunai, blood was dripping down and seeping through his clothes, leaving a puddle of crimson red around the two figures.
Sasuke's eyes widened, Sakura's breath hitched, Ino gasped and turned to ran down the hall. "Guards! Guards! Someone get here now!"
Naruto stood in a pool of Orochimaru's blood, his shoes slowly becoming tinted with the disgusting red liquid. He dropped his grip on Orochimaru's head and turned to face Sasuke and Sakura.
As he turned, his teammates saw the look of sheer desperation mixed with anger and helplessness plastered on his face. He was angry with himself for making such a stupid mistake; Orochimaru was the source of information for the village, and because of the stupid mistake that Ino and Naruto made, someone had killed him. Someone had killed Orochimaru! Someone-
Naruto's eyes widened. "Of course, many people hate Orochimaru, but it was under strict orders from the Hokage to keep him prisoner, he wasn't going to be killed for a long time. But who would want Orochimaru dead now, of all times?" He gasped, "Fuck! Of course!"
As he hit realisation, he yelled, "We've got an enemy ninja in the village!" He decided to leave Sasuke and Sakura there, because they would be fine, they would be safe. But him, Naruto, would not be.
He used the shunshin jutsu to flicker into the Hokage's office and was greeted with confused expressions from Jounin who were apparently in a meeting with Hiruzen.
"Naruto-kun? This is a private meeting, what's wrong-?"
The young Uzumaki wanted to punch something. "I think the leader of the Akatsuki just killed Orochimaru!"
After discussing everything that just happened with Orochimaru, the village went into lock-down. On the slight chance that the leader of the Akatsuki (who according to Itachi was Obito Uchiha), was still in the village, they would have to be on high alert.
They confined Naruto in his apartment alone, his teammates were sent home. Naruto itched to move around, he didn't do well sitting down and strategizing, that was one thing that hadn't changed.
"I don't know why they are confining you here. I can't sense him at all." The grumbling low voice of Kyuubi exploded in Naruto's mind.
"Kami! You scared me! Where have you been? And why didn't you tell me that Obito was here? Wasn't he the one who released you all those years ago?" Naruto thought angrily, what good was a giant massive chakra-being if it couldn't even inform you of danger?
"... I was sleeping." Yeah, Naruto was annoyed. "Anyway, I sense Isobu close by."
This made Naruto perk up, Isobu being close by meant that Yagura was here. Why was Yagura here? He was going to contact him anyway, but he hadn't had time. He just shrugged and didn't question it, "Maybe it's just a subconscious Jinchuuriki thing..."
Naruto's apartment was under protective guard, but Yagura instantly used shunshin to appear in Naruto's room. The said ex-Mizukage exhaled and looked around, eyes landing on Naruto and he smiled slightly.
"Hello kid, how are you?"
Naruto took a moment to study Yagura's body. He was wearing his usual clothing with his long staff towering over him, the minimal dark circles which usually haunted under his eyes had disappeared, so clearly he had become less stressed.
Naruto stood up and grinned, walking forward to the short boy and engulfed him in a hug. "Yagura! Well, Obito just attacking Konoha to kill Orochimaru, but other than that, I'm great!" He released the stiff boy and pulled up a chair for them to sit. "You look refreshed, how are you?" He paused and then lightly glared, "Also don't call me 'kid'."
Yagura chuckled and leaned his staff on the table. "I have made a move." He explained, eyes flashing and Naruto suddenly felt as if a chess piece from the Jinchuuriki's side was moved forward against the Akatsuki. "I'm no longer Mizukage, I gave the position to Mei Terumi."
Naruto's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "The leader of the rebels?"
"Indeed." Yagura nodded, "I believe that my time in Kirigakure has come to an end, instead, it's my duty to help you prepare your plans."
Leaning forward, Naruto supported his chin on his intertwined hands. "Go on." He motioned.
"You're going to be our leader, so you need to get stronger, and quickly." Yagura shrugged, "You are weak at the moment, in comparison to some of the other Jinchuuriki, namely Killer Bee, Han and I." Naruto frowned but acknowledged that it was the truth. "You are only thirteen. I will teach you in the ways of politics, I shall also oversee your training, but Bee will be the main one teaching you as you have similar styles."
Naruto hummed in agreement, "We need to also go to Orochimaru's lab as soon as possible, there is an Uzumaki there that I need to rescue, and also I want to save the other people that the snake has tortured." He spat. "I was thinking that you could take some of the kids to Kiri and train them."
Yagura nodded, "Yes, I can ask Zabuza to do it."
Cracking a smile, Naruto asked, "How is that sword-loving demon? And Haku?"
"They're my most trusted advisors." Yagura smiled calmly.
Suddenly, a smirk grew on Naruto's face, "Speaking of advisors." He leaned forward and cheekily wagged his eyebrows at Yagura. The ex-Mizukage straightened his back uncomfortably - whenever Naruto had that expression, the Jinchuuriki knew that he was up to no good. It's always a little bit too close for comfort for Yagura, but he needed to get used to it considering Fuu and Naruto didn't know the concept of 'personal space'. "When we fix up Uzushio, would you like to be the Daimyo, and my main advisor?"
Yagura chuckled and visibly relaxed, "Politics is my speciality, after all."
"So?" Naruto pressed.
He tapped the table with his slender fingers, gaze sliding upwards to meet Naruto's eyes with a small smirk of his own. "If my leader requests it, of course I would. I'd be honoured."
After thoroughly searching for 'Madara, or Obito, or whoever the leader of the Akatsuki was!', Naruto furiously thought in confusion, and finding that he was nowhere to be found, the lock down on the village was revoked.
This meant that Naruto and Yagura could start getting ready to leave the village and find Orochimaru's lab and hideout. Through Ino's jutsu, they discovered that it was in Otogakure, which was now in slight chaos after Orochimaru's capture and the invasion.
However, Naruto had a feeling that the Obito - if that's who the leader truly was, as Itachi said - probably tied up loose ends in Oto.
He just hoped that he didn't know about the underground lab. There was a special access code that Naruto also given by Ino, so it just counted on his luck.
"When we are nearing Otogakure, I shall call Fuu and Gaara." Yagura looked up at Naruto and smiled, "Did you hear that Gaara is being trained for the next Kazekage position?"
Wide eyed, Naruto exclaimed in awe, "What?! That's so cool!" He grinned, "I'll have to give him a massive hug when I see him!"
Yagura shivered at the thought and pitied their red-headed Jinchuuriki friend; only Yagura and Gaara were not completely used to Naruto and Fuu's familiarity when it came to human contact.
He smiled falsely and pat Naruto on the back, "Come on, let's shunshin to the gates."
After they did exactly that, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki animatedly described the scene of seeing Orochimaru dead to Kotetsu and Izumo, who were 'woah'ing and 'ahh'ing, hanging onto his every word and interrupting only to ask questions.
When Naruto signed out in the little notebook, and told them to notify the Hokage that he was heading out, they simply winked and gave him a thumbs up.
"Ahh~ I wish we could get some cool gate guards like them, when we redo Uzushio." Naruto chuckled as they started jumping from tree to tree.
They could have kept on using shunshin for short distance travel, but even though they were Jinchuuriki, they couldn't just waste their chakra. Yagura and Naruto didn't really know what they would be greeted by when they arrived in Otogakure, so they couldn't be careless.
"They seem nice." Yagura commented simply.
Otogakure was situated north of Konoha, not particularly far, and Naruto guessed that was why Orochimaru chose to reestablish it and make it his hideout. It must have been easy to spy from there and plan the invasion.
Naruto put his right hand up into a tiger seal and widened his chakra exposure. Uzumaki's naturally were sensory ninja, and on top of his fuuinjutsu skills, he was able to spread out threads of his chakra and locate people who's chakra he was familiar with. This was mentally taxing of course, depending on how much chakra he used, but it was necessary.
He increased his chakra and used the Jinchuuriki mental link to find and speak to Gaara and Fuu.
"Naruto here, can you guys hear me?" He thought, wincing slightly as he nearly tripped on a branch. He was male, he couldn't multi-task well sometimes.
"Affirmative." Gaara's deep voice boomed through Naruto's mind.
"Fuu here!"
Yagura nodded to Naruto and they continued jumping from each branch to another. "What's your ETA?"
"Mmm, maybe ten or so minutes-ssu." Fuu reported, her usual habit of ending her sentences with '-ssu' attached.
Naruto hadn't heard it for a while but somehow he was comforted by it. Perhaps it was just the familiarity of being with his fellow Jinchuuriki just helped him relax - not that being with other people wasn't comfortable, but it was rare to find such a literal bond with other people, much less eight other people.
The only other people he had a strong bond with was Sakura and Sasuke, and Iruka, although he hadn't talked to him in a while. Naruto made a mental note to drop by the Academy and invite Iruka to eat some ramen.
"Let's hurry," Yagura ordered, "We should aim to arrive at the same time to prevent any ambushes."
Naruto agreed and they silently raced towards Otogakure and their friends.
Standing in front of a run down building, Fuu gripped Naruto's sleeve as she frowned.
"It looks so creepy..." She complained, Naruto chuckled and ruffled her hair lightly.
Yagura started walking forward, "Let's go, we have a lot of space to cover."
Naruto, Gaara and Fuu followed the older man, the Uzumaki extending his chakra threads around the complicated maze-like system of rooms and corridors so that he would understand the general gist of the blueprints.
They paced forward, making note of each room and peaking inside individually, thus far only being greeted by silence.
When they had first reached Oto, they found that the surroundings had been flattened and levelled, as if someone had destroyed the other buildings. Naruto thought that this was either due to chaos or rioting, since Orochimaru hadn't come back after the invasion, or Obito had cleaned up Orochimaru's mess. Luckily, it seemed like Obito didn't know the entry code of the experimentation lab.
He really should properly thank Ino for her help, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to do this.
"There are a few strong chakra presences here." Gaara noted, pointing to the left.
Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Like Yagura said, there's too much space to cover, let's split up." Fuu huffed but nodded, "Use the Jinchuuriki mental link, retrieve everyone, let me know if there are any special cases."
Inclining his head in acknowledgement, Yagura shunshinned away while Gaara used his sand to float - it was a good method since no one would be able to hear his footsteps, and he wouldn't leave a trace.
"I've never been on a retrieval mission before-ssu!" Fuu grinned, she mock saluted and her small, thin, reddish-orange wings extended out of her back, the green flash fluttering away, aiding her speed as she disappeared.
When Fuu became excited, or used certain jutsu, she was able to use wings that looked similar to Chomei's wings, The Seven-Tails biju. It was a pretty recent development, as she could control Chomei's chakra better.
Smiling to himself, Naruto shook his head and quietly tread down the left corridor where Gaara signalled him to go. It seemed as if lots of the rooms were empty, and eventually his eyes widened as he stood outside one particular room, with multiple chakra signatures inside it.
He exhaled and tried to open the door - it was locked. Rolling his eyes, he pumped some chakra into his right hand and broke through the lock. Opening the door, his heart almost melted at the sight of six little children, they must have been maybe nine or ten years old. They wore dirty rags and glanced up at him with wide eyes.
"That fucking disgusting snake..."
One little girl smiled, her overgrown brown hair covering some of her eyes. "Onii-san, are you going to take us away?"
Upon further inspection, Naruto saw that all of them were chained to the wall, an empty tray in front of them. He almost felt sick.
"Yes." He strode forward and smashed the chains to pieces, the kids gasped in awe. "You guys going to be alright now."
Naruto grit his teeth; how revolting of a human being does one have to be to kidnap and experiment on children?
He knew that children had the most flexible and moldable chakra systems, as well as the ability to recover from some of the experiments that Orochimaru probably put them through, but it didn't mean that such innocent kids had to go through pain and torture just to be used by a creepy snake.
"Sense anything, Kyuu?" Naruto thought as he broke through the rest of the chains and directed the kids to go towards the exit, but to stay there and wait for the other 'big sister' and 'big brothers'.
There was a brief grunt, "There are too many confusing chakra signatures, like different clan chakras and blood being mixed together, I can't hone in on a specific one."
Naruto sighed and manually stood outside each room to sense whether the person inside held a familiar chakra signature. Uzumaki's, as sensory ninja, had that ability.
"I've got an interesting boy." Yagura spoke, "Maybe around fifteen or sixteen years old, I'm gathering the other children, where should I make them go?"
"To the door that we entered through, but make them wait there. We have a lot to get through." Naruto replied, finding another room full of kids and setting them free.
"There's a cool lookin' boy here! He's like, turning himself into water and then becoming solid again." Fuu's voice giggled through the mental connection. Naruto furrowed his brows, that was a strange ability to have. "He can't get out of the chains though, give me five minutes!"
Gaara's voice instantly scoffed, "Keep him away from me, my sand will become heavy and wet, sand and water aren't going to mix well."
"Such a child..." Naruto chuckled.
"No." Gaara responded, "I'm trying to be smart, what if there's an ambush? My sand will be useless."
"Right." Naruto rolled his eyes with a grin.
"I'm older than you, don't call me a child."
Naruto pouted, "Well I'm the leader..."
"I'm training to be Kazekage."
Naruto grumbled and admitted defeat. Fuu giggled while Yagura sighed, that 'oh teenagers will be teenagers' sigh, you know?
After some more walking around and setting kids free, Naruto felt a small sliver of electricity shoot up his spine. His stomach felt warm and instantly he extended his chakra out so he could find the source of the sensation.
"15 metres forward, turn right and it's the second door on the left."
Naruto cracked a grin and started running, "Thanks Kurama."
As he swung open the door, ready to meet his relative, all he was greeted with instead was a young girl, about his age, in the middle of putting on a shirt.
Naruto paused and blinked, frozen in his spot.
The redheaded girl was turned away, her glasses about to fall off the bridge of her nose in shock. There was an array of half-moon marks on her back, arms and shoulders. There were numerous indents, and they looked like they really hurt. One side of her hair was spiked up, and the other was limp and straight. Naruto studied her for a second, her red hair and crimson eyes were characteristic of a typical Uzumaki, as Kurama had told him long ago.
She yelped and quickly pulled her shirt on and did the top button. Swinging around, she removed a small knife from the side of her glasses and chucked it at Naruto with scarily good aim and speed.
Naruto, still in shock, allowed himself to briefly step to the side and let the knife embed itself into the brick wall behind him. He walked forward and closed the door.
"Who the fuck are you?!" The female Uzumaki yelled and scrambled to get as far away as possible.
Naruto didn't respond and grabbed her wrist, pinning her to the wall and stared straight into her eyes to study her further. Her face flushed and she struggled to get him off.
"Look at my chakra." He said seriously, both hands still pinning hers to the wall.
The girl started shaking; the position was suggestive enough, but this random boy who entered her room was now telling her to do... what?
As per his commands, she shut her eyes for a second and then snapped them open again. All she could see was bright blue chakra, surrounding a red core in his stomach. She moaned as this mysterious boy's chakra overwhelmed her and seeped into her body.
"I can't use medical jutsu, but I can give you my chakra, the marks will heal." Naruto let go of her wrists when he was done and the girl's knees buckled and gave way.
Naruto caught her and set her down on the cheaply made bed. As she gasped to regain her breath, she held her head in her hands.
"W-Who are you...?" She wheezed, ears red from her embarrassing reaction to his chakra.
Grinning, Naruto leaned his chin on his palm. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, I've come to rescue you." The girl blushed when she realised that they were related, "What's your name?"
"Karin." She mumbled, "Karin Uzumaki." She perked up, "How can you be an Uzumaki? I thought I was the only one, Mother said that they were all gone."
Frowning, Naruto exhaled, "No, there are a few scattered around I think. My Mother was an Uzumaki."
Karin's eyes narrowed, "And your dad was Minato Namikaze?"
Raising his eyebrow, Naruto smirked, "Perceptive. Yes, he was." He stood up and extending his hand, waiting until Karin grasped it and also stood.
"What if I don't need rescuing?" She put her hands on her hips, "Orochimaru put me in charge of the Southern Hideout." She boasted.
Naruto grimaced, "So you support Orochimaru experimenting and torturing children?"
Her shoulders dropped and her expression became visibly downcast. Her hands fell from her hips, "No." She shook her head, "No I don't. I want to get out of here."
The blond Uzumaki saw her expression and awkwardly pat her head, he always did that to people who seemed younger than him. He wasn't great at comforting, or emotions in general, but Fuu and Sakura always seemed to enjoy him patting their heads.
Karin stiffened and Naruto realised that it had been a while since she was around friendly human contact. "Then let's go."
She didn't have any chains on her, seemingly because she was the boss here if Orochimaru wasn't present, so they walked out of the room and started freeing the other young children.
"A-Ah, there are some people my age around here too... can they come too?" Karin insisted.
Naruto laughed at her nervous question, "Obviously! Although I think my friends have already found them. Come on."
He motioned for Karin to follow him after they had finished their rounds, but instead simply followed the redheaded Uzumaki as she obviously knew where she was going.
"Is that everyone?"
Gaara was sitting on his sand, eye twitching as about fifteen little children were standing around him, some on top of the sand, some playing with the sand, and one hanging from Gaara's arm and laughing.
Fuu burst out laughing, "You look like a babysitter!"
"I think you found your true calling, Gaara." Yagura chuckled and walked forward from the dark corridor, a tall and muscly orange-haired boy trailing behind him nervously. Next to him was another boy.
"Suigetsu! Where have you been?!" Karin ran forward and clenched her fist, hitting the boy with light-blue tinted white hair.
He groaned and rubbed his cheek where Karin punched. "Gah, quit your bitching, Karin."
Karin's face became the same shade as her crimson locks as she turned and folded her arms. Naruto chuckled. "Let's leave, you all shouldn't have to stay here for another second."
"And who the hell are you?" Suigetsu scowled, sparing a small glance at the orange-haired older boy who was standing next to him. "Hey, Juugo, are you even stable right now?"
Yagura tilted his head to the side, "Young Juugo told me about his condition, he'll be coming with me so I can keep it under control."
Fuu batted her lashes, "Suigetsu-kun, don't be rude to Naru-kun! He's like-" She started punching the air, "-our leader!"
Suigetsu raised his eyebrow, "And the Mizukage isn't?"
"Ex-Mizukage." Yagura quipped. "All will be explained soon."
Naruto threw his arm over Karin's shoulders, who jumped and stiffened slightly for a couple of seconds until she relaxed. Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I'm Naruto, for now, let's get out of here."
They had decided as they left that half of the children would go back to Suna with Gaara, and the other half would go back to Takigakure with Fuu - Yagura would take Suigetsu and Juugo back to Kirigakure with him.
Suigetsu was almost vibrating from excitement to meet Zabuza, who was part of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. It was his dream to join them as a child, but now he wanted to gather all of the swords and create his own group.
Juugo was introverted, so didn't say much except answering a couple of questions about his time with Orochimaru.
While walking back, Karin animatedly talked to Naruto about their family. Naruto answered with just as much enthusiasm and told her about his plan to revive Uzushiogakure. Her jaw almost hit the ground as she yelled "WE HAVE A VILLAGE?!"
One little girl was sticking to Gaara and didn't let him go, so he sighed and gave in to her puppy-dog eyes, he let her float on top of his sand next to him. Giddy, she clapped her hands together and started singing songs with Fuu (who looked completely in her element), and the other kids.
"These are the future residents of Uzushio." Naruto smiled to himself and clutched the front of his chest. "I feel... warm."
He didn't even notice the shadow sinking into the grass behind him.
OMAKE!
"But why her?" Sakura drawled, the disgust clear in her tone of voice, it made Ino wince as of course they hated each other, but Sakura had never had that much venom in her words.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted, also not understanding why Naruto wanted to add another person to the group. "She'll just cling onto me and start hitting on me again." He rolled his eyes.
Ino stared at him for a few seconds and then burst out laughing, "Wow, for an almighty Uchiha, you really are dumb!"
She smacked the table in amusement with one hand and the other was holding her belly as tears started flying out of her eyes.
"Huh?"
Ino wiped a tear away, giggling. She then smirked, "The only reason I hit on Sasuke..." She leaned forward towards Sakura and twirled a strand of pink hair while whispering in her rival's ear, "...was to get close to you."
Sakura's bright red face nearly exploded out of embarrassment. Sasuke and Naruto were left blinking with a blank face.
"Well, I guess that means she's on the team...?"
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Introducing Karin, Juugo, and Suigetsu!
Don't forget to vote and comment your opinions!
Question: What do you want the three military groups to be called?
1) Tracking & Information Team
2) Stealth & Assassination Team
3) like "a hard-hitting front lines kinda team."
Suigetsu is legit my spirit animal like:
See ya next week!