THIS IS ORIGINALLY FROM A PLANNED STORY OF THE SAME TITLE: Tragedy strikes in the Land of Waves when Kakashi Hatake and Sakura Haruno fall on Team Seven's first C-Rank Mission. On their way back to the Hidden Leaf Village, the surviving members of Team Seven encounter a girl from the Hidden Grass Village named Karin Uzumaki. Seeking a new home to start over anew, Karin returns with them to the Hidden Leaf Village. As the demise of two former Leaf shinobi leads to the addition of a new Leaf-nin, the teams are changed up with the changing teams...
Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha walked down the road leading back to the Hidden Leaf Village in sorrow and anguish. Just over the last few weeks, they had first lost their sensei, Kakashi Hatake, and then their pink-haired teammate, Sakura Haruno on their very first C-Rank Mission. A C-Rank Mission that had quickly escalated itself into an A-Rank Mission.
When they faced the Demon Brothers, they had lost Kakashi-sensei. He was a Jonin, they were Chunins, so shouldn't he have been able to substitute away in time? Unfortunately, he wasn't. And he was shredded right then and there in front of his students. In retaliation, Naruto and Sasuke brutally defeated and killed Gozu and Meizu there in front of Sakura and Tazuna.
It was something that would probably scar all four of them for life.
There should have been another death when they went up against Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist Village and one of the Seven Swordsmen, for the first time. However, they got lucky when Zabuza's...companion...a boy named Haku Yuki decided to lend them a hand against his master, having been reminded of a time back when he was outmatched.
Team Seven, despite being down a sensei, protected Tazuna to the best of their ability and trained together. Naruto taught Sasuke the Shadow Clone jutsu and attempted to teach Sakura, but her low chakra reserves, compared to Naruto's, prevented her from learning it just yet. Sasuke taught the both of them the Great Fireball jutsu, proving for once that he wasn't always a supreme jerk. And, in return, Sakura taught her teammates some chakra control exercises.
It seemed like it was going to work out, their Will of Fire being strong enough, they thought, to survive a second encounter against Zabuza and Haku. Unfortunately, it did not go this way. Zabuza killed Sakura during the Battle on the Bridge, and it was not pretty. Naruto had flipped out and channeled some of the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra to strike back at Zabuza...
...Naruto would have killed Zabuza, but got really hurt in the process, if it weren't for Haku, who stopped the pair of them. Gato and his men showed up, and Zabuza for once sided with the kids, and helped them to take down the corrupt businessman and his small army. Afterwards, having been stabbed and brutally beaten, Zabuza succumbed to his injuries and died.
Haku lived, and stayed long enough to help with the bridge's completion, as well as to bury his former master and the remains of Sakura Haruno. Neither Naruto or Sasuke felt like dragging Sakura's body back to the Hidden Leaf Village, or being the one to explain to the Hokage or even Sakura's parents about her death. It's not that they didn't want to, it's just that...it would have been too difficult. Physically and emotionally...for both boys.
And now, here they were, two Genin-ranked shinobi back on the road and headed home. They had succeeded in their mission, but in their hearts and souls, both boys felt like failures.
"So...Sasuke...what's it like having one less fangirl now," Naruto spoke up at some point during the walk, trying to not wallow in his misery. He wasn't happy that Sakura was dead, not by a long shot, but he couldn't miss the perfect opportunity to taunt his rival.
"Hn, shut up...loser," Sasuke retorted, glaring daggers at the Uzumaki boy.
"Sorry, not funny, I get it, ya'know," Naruto conceded, giving a sigh. "I just...I don't know..."
"Trying not to be depressed," The Last Uchiha inquired.
"I guess so."
"Hn." There's nothing now preventing me from getting the Mangekyo Sharingan...neither Kakashi-sensei or Sakura could get in the way... But still, I'm not sure now is the right time...
Just then, both ninjas heard hurried footsteps coming from the woods to their left and rustling in the bushes and branches. Naruto and Sasuke both tensed, drawing weapons from their tool pouches as they turned to face the potential coming threat.
What now, Sasuke wondered. Another Missing-nin...maybe here to finish us off...?
Now I'm hoping that this time it is just a cute, defenseless bunny, Naruto thought, gulping nervously.
Instead, it was a girl about their age. A redhead wearing glasses and brown clothing, seemingly running for her life. But from whom? Neither boy could see any pursuers in the distance. However, they couldn't afford to drop their guard. Not now...not after everything that they went through...
"Hey, stop right there," Sasuke commanded, catching the girl's wrist as she got too close, stopping her in her tracks. The girl yelped in surprise and tried to pull away.
"H-hey, let go of me," The glasses-wearing girl said. That's when Naruto and Sasuke noticed something rather...interesting...about the girl. She wore around her forehead a headband much like their own. However, it had the symbol for the Hidden Grass Village engraved on it.
"Who are you," Sasuke demanded, tightening his grip. "And what are you doing in the Land of Fire?"
"U-uhh..." The girl was at a loss for words as she stared into Sasuke's cold, dark eyes. She seemed frightened, as if she was afraid that Sasuke was going to attack her.
"Sasuke, stop that, you're scaring her, you jerk," Naruto scolded his teammate. But then, he noticed something really weird...the girl's arms...were covered in bite marks. What in the...?
"Sorry, I guess that was a little out of place," Sasuke conceded, letting go of the girl's wrist. "Anyways, what is a Grass ninja doing all the way out here in the Land of Fire?"
"Th-that's...that's fine, I...I guess," She said, rubbing her wrist a little. "Sorry that I startled you guys. But, if I may ask, what are two Leaf ninjas doing out here on their own?"
"We were returning from a really dangerous mission," Naruto explained. "But, we lost our third teammate and our sensei..."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," The kunoichi replied. Then, she held out a hand. "Anyways, I'm Karin, Karin Uzumaki...and you two are...?"
"Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke greeted, then narrowed his eyes. "Uzumaki, huh? I didn't realize that this loser over here had any relatives..."
"Why you..." Naruto grumbled, glaring at Sasuke. Then, he turned to Karin. "But, yeah, I didn't realize that there was anyone else with the last name Uzumaki, either. Anyways, I'm Naruto."
"You're...an...Uzumaki...?" Karin Uzumaki stared at Naruto for a second, as if analyzing him with those red eyes of hers. Then, she took a step closer towards Naruto, making the boy tense a little, before she suddenly grabbed his arms and yanked down the sleeves. Completely clean...
"Uh...what...what are you doing," Naruto asked, feeling uncomfortable as Karin gazed at his now bare arms with amazement, as if she was seeing a piece of gold or something.
"Your arms...they're completely...clean... How is that so," Karin asked, letting go of Naruto's arms. The Uzumaki boy quickly lowered his sleeves back down. Could it be that he's...? No, that's impossible! There's no way!
"What are you talking about," Naruto asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
"Naruto, look at her arms," Sasuke pointed out, pointing to Karinn's arms, which were covered in bite marks. Human bite marks...and ones too big to be from her own jaws. "Those bites don't seem to be self-inflicted...how did those get there...?"
"Well...if I tell you...can you promise you won't drag me back to the Hidden Grass Village," Karin asked hopefully. "I finally just escaped from that place...and I don't want to go back..."
"Then why are you still wearing their headband," Sasuke asked curiously.
"Because I don't want them to have a way to track me," Karin explained, which made sense. "Anyways, these bite marks are because of a rare kekkei genkai that my mother and I have. It's a healing kekkei genkai that allows me to heal someone if they bite me."
"Whoa...that's really weird...no offense, ya'know," Naruto remarked, rubbing his left arm sub-consciously. "Man, that'd be weird having something like that...maybe a little cool, though."
"It's not cool, trust me," Karin said quickly. "My...mother died because of that..."
"Oh, I didn't know, I'm sorry..." Naruto replied, his expression softening a little.
"Sure, whatever," Karin sighed. "Anyways, I ran away from the Grass Village because of this. I...I don't want to be their slave...not anymore. I don't know if I'm being chased..."
"Huh, well, there's one thing we should do, I guess," Sasuke said, his expression grim. Expecting the worst, Karin stared down at her ninja sandals. He looked from Karin to Naruto and back to Karin. "We take her back to the Leaf with us, Naruto."
"Sasuke...you're not thinking of..." Naruto glared at Sasuke, fearing that he wanted the Leaf to be able to use Karin, who might not be all that distantly related from Naruto, for the same purposes as the Hidden Grass Village used her for.
"No, don't get ahead of yourself, dead-last," Sasuke scoffed, rolling his eyes at Naruto. "Naruto, do you remember Kakashi-sensei's first lesson to us...?"
"Huh, what are you...? Oh!" Naruto smiled sadly as he recalled what Kakashi had taught them that day when they had officially become Team Seven. "Oh, right, I remember! It was something like, um, 'those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum,' right!?"
"Right," Sasuke agreed, smiling a little at the dead-last's ability to at least remember something important. "And for now, I guess we can extend that to family members."
"Oh, okay," Naruto said, chuckling a little, and then turned to Karin. "Karin, what do you think?"
"Well, I'd like that, thank you," Karin said gratefully. "Anywhere that's not going to treat me like the Grass did..."
"We can't guarantee that the Leaf won't do it," Sasuke interjected, receiving an evil glare and a small burst of killing intent from Naruto. "But...we'll do what we can to help you."
"Okay, I understand. Again, thank you very much, I appreciate it."
"Hey, no problem," Naruto said, giving his signature grin. "You won't regret it, ya'know!"
All Karin Uzumaki could do is smile. Now, at least, she had hope of potentially a brighter future than the one she would have endured at the hands of the Hidden Grass Village. They would have used her as a human battery...and like with her mother...forced her to have children to simply ensure that the kekkei genkai survived for future generations to use and abuse it.
But now, Karin had something she never had before. She had hope.
On the way back to the Hidden Leaf Village, Naruto told Karin all about the Leaf and the people in it. One may ask, shouldn't they be worried about Karin potentially being a spy for the Grass? Simple answer, no, they shouldn't. Karin was just as old as Naruto and Sasuke, and never really treated as anything more important than a human battery to the Hidden Grass Village.
When the gate guards saw Naruto and Sasuke approach with the now ex-Grass villager, they were a bit wary of the guest, but quickly gave up and let her pass when Karin willingly handed over her Hidden Grass Village ninja headband over to them. She wanted to meet the Hokage with a clean slate, not with something that could potentially hinder her attempt at salvation.
Speaking of the Third Hokage, when they did arrive in the Hokage's office, Iruka Umino was there alongside the Hokage, just as he had been when Team Seven was given their mission.
"Ah, Naruto, Sasuke, welcome back," Iruka said, but then his cheerful smile faded. "Wait, where's Sakura...and your sensei...? And who's this girl you guys brought back with you...?"
"An Uzumaki by the looks of it," Hiruzen Sarutobi said calmly, casually giving a puff on his pipe. "This is most interest... Naruto, Sasuke, how did you encounter this young girl? I would also like to know how come you have returned without the rest of your team?"
"Well, um, Lord Hokage..." As soon as Naruto called him "Lord Hokage" instead of "Old Man" or "Gramps," Hiruzen knew that there was something very wrong. "...Kakashi-sensei and Sakura didn't make it...they...they were killed by Missing-nins."
"It turns out that Tazuna was hiding some pretty significant secrets from us," Sasuke added. "And this unfortunately caused the deaths of two of our comrades."
"And what, you didn't think to contact the Leaf about this beforehand," Iruka snapped, momentarily using his "Big Teacher Head jutsu" (if such a thing actually existed).
"We didn't want to be pulled from the mission," Naruto admitted. "We thought that we could finish it ourselves...but...I guess that didn't work out too well."
"I understand," Hiruzen said, chuckling as he looked at the two Genins before him. "When I was your age I would look for ways to prove my potential to my elders, especially Tobirama-sensei."
"Tobirama-sensei... Wait, wait, your sensei was the Second Hokage," Naruto gasped excitedly. He couldn't remember if he had ever learned this information before, but it was really fascinating to hear that the Second had taught the Third. "Wow, that's so cool, Old Man!"
Hm, there's his cheerful spirit back again, Hiruzen thought, seeing the excitement in the young Jinchuriki's eyes. "Yes, and my squad was among the first in the Leaf. Anyways, what about this Uzumaki girl you brought with you?"
"My name's Karin," Karin spoke up, stepping closer to the Hokage's desk. "I was originally from the Hidden Grass Village...but I was treated really terribly there...so I decided to run away. The Grass is such a small, unstable village...I thought...I thought that maybe they wouldn't count me...as a Missing-nin."
"I see, I see...and...if I may ask, what exactly prompted you to leave Grass," Hiruzen inquired.
"Well...you see...I have a kekkei genkai that..." Karin shivered as she thought about it. Telling it to Sasuke and Naruto...it had felt comfortable and easy. They were her age, and Naruto was probably a cousin of somesort, so she didn't mind. But the Hokage...was a different matter. "It's...not something I like talking about, Lord Hokage..it's kind of embarrassing..."
"That's understandable," The Hokage said, nodding. "If I were to guess, it was one that you felt against using...but the Hidden Grass tried to force you to use it?"
"Th-that's...that's the gist of it, yeah," Karin agreed, nodding.
Wow, well, they don't call him 'the Professor' for nothing, Iruka thought.
"Hey, Old Man, do ya think she can stay here," Naruto asked excitedly.
"I don't see why not," Hiruzen answered, then nodded to Karin. "If that's what you'd like."
"Yes, please! That would be nice, thank you," Karin cheered, smiling gratefully.
"Awesome, glad to hear it," Naruto exclaimed, smiling at his cousin. He was happy that he was finally going to have a family member in the Leaf. "I know you'll love it here, Karin!"
"Thank you, I hope I do," Karin replied, smiling in return.
"Sasuke, what do you think," Naruto asked, looking at his rival. "Isn't this great!?"
"Hn. Whatever." Sasuke turned away from the two excited Uzumakis.
"Hmn, party-pooper," Naruto groaned, then turned away from Sasuke as well.
"Onto other matters..." The Third Hokage turned to Iruka. "Iruka, I'd like you to go and inform the Harunos about the passing of their daughter. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that a body was brought back, so we'll have to make due with a memorial ceremony."
"Yes sir, of course," Iruka agreed, nodding before quickly leaving the office. Then, Hiruzen turned his attention back to the three twelve-year-olds before him.
"Karin, were you a ninja back in the Hidden Grass," Hiruzen asked the red-haired girl.
"Not officially...they were going to send me to the upcoming Chunin Exams...just so that my team could use my kekkei genkai," Karin replied, rubbing her scarred arms.
"I see," Hiruzen said. He had noticed the Bite Marks, and being as knowledgeable as he was, Hiruzen was already beginning to realize what this kekkei genkai was, and why Karin wouldn't want to talk about it. "Well, would you like to become a Leaf ninja, Karin?"
"That'd be nice, I guess," Karin said. "Would I...would I actually get to be a ninja, then?"
"Of course, no need to worry about that," Hiruzen assured her. My goodness, just what did the Hidden Grass Village do to this girl? It's thanks to the Leaf's alliance with the Uzumaki Clan that's probably saved Naruto from a similar fate as to Karin...
"Okay, great!" Karin smiled. "So, Naruto and Sasuke's team has an opening...will I be with them?"
"Potentially, but I'd like to evaluate your skill first before I place you on a team," The Hokage informed her. "Besides, due to curiosity, I looked into something...and...well, I found something rather disturbing about the recent graduation exams, especially concerning you, Naruto."
"What, why me," Naruto asked, beginning to get confused. "Wait...are you going to completely rearrange the teams!? That's crazy! The other teams probably are already too much bonded!"
"I know, however, it must be done," Hiruzen said. "Well, Naruto, Sasuke, I'll let you too leave for the afternoon. The re-evaluation will be tomorrow morning at the academy at eight, alright? And Karin, I'll get somebody to find you a place to stay for the time being."
The three pre-teens nodded and they left. Sasuke was going to go home and train until he collapsed. Naruto...he wasn't sure what he was going to do. Karin, meanwhile, went out to the hall to wait. All three were anxious about what the evaluations the next day would bring...
On his way out of the Hokage Tower, Naruto decided to go to Ichiraku's Ramen Shop to eat and try to put his mind at ease. Ramen always did that for him, which is why he ate it so much. And with the loss of his pink-haired teammate and his sensei was really hitting him really hard.
It just didn't seem right to him that...on his first "real ninja mission," as he had put it, that he would lose not just a teammate, but their squad leader as well. It was insane. If only the three Genin hadn't let Tazuna guilt them into continuing after Kakashi had been killed...
"Naruto...?"
A small voice broke him out of his solemn state, and he stopped to turn and face whoever it was who had just called out to him. He wasn't too far from Ichiraku's now, and standing nearby a bench was a girl with dark-blue hair and pupiless lavender eyes, wearing a bulky cream-colored jacket, black pants, blue ninja sandals on her feet and a Hidden Leaf ninja headband around her neck. It was Hinata Hyuga, one of his former classmates from the Ninja Academy days.
"Huh, Hinata? Hey, what are you doing here," Naruto asked, closing the distance between them. If he didn't have good hearing, he probably would've missed her calling out to him so softly.
"I was...I was in the area, and saw you coming this way...and I...and I..." Hinata's cheeks began to turn pink as she pressed her index fingers together in a nervous manner. She tried to meet Naruto's gaze, but it was so hard. "Well...you...you looked upset, and I...I wanted to see if you were alright."
"Oh, thanks, Hinata," Naruto said, a smile forming at his lips. "That's nice of you."
"You're welcome, Naruto," Hinata replied, smiling a little as well. "So, I guess your team is back? I heard that you went on a C-Rank mission...how did it go?"
"Not well..." Naruto admitted, sighing and his smile fading. Hinata noticed this and took a step closer to Naruto, as if thinking to reach out to comfort her long-time crush. "Kakashi-sensei and Sakura...they...they both died... There were Rouge-nins...who were too powerful for us..."
"Oh, Naruto...I'm sorry that happened," Hinata said honestly. She didn't like Sakura that much because of the way that she treated Naruto...but Hinata wouldn't wish ill on any of her comrades. And to lose a sensei, that was a big blow to the team. "What will you do now?"
"I don't know... Sasuke and I found a girl who ran off from the Grass Village who just joined the Leaf," Naruto explained. "She'll probably be joining Team 7...but...the Old Man is apparently thinking of changing up the teams tomorrow."
"He is? Did he explain why," Hinata asked, surprised by this sudden decision.
"Something about needing to re-evaluate all of us," Naruto said with a shrug. "I don't know..."
"I see..." Inside, Hinata began to feel hopeful that maybe that she and Naruto would end up on the same team now. However, part of her also felt sad for Naruto because of these recent events. Also, she wondered who this new girl from the Grass could be...
"Anyways, I was just going to Ichiraku's to get some ramen," Naruto said, suddenly changing the subject. Then, he smiled as he thought of something. "Hey, Hinata, wanna come with me?"
"You...you want me...to come with you...?" Hinata's eyes went wide at this suggestion, her face turning red as the gears in her head spun and her mind comprehended the request. Then, she swallowed and nodded eagerly. It'd be like our first date! "Yes, please, that'd be nice!"
Besides, though it wasn't her first or second favorite food, Hinata still did really like ramen. In fact, unknown to Naruto and most others, she was currently the record holder for the most bowls of ramen eaten in one sitting at Ichiraku's...which so far was about twenty-seven bowls.
"Sweet, awesome, lets go," Naruto exclaimed, grabbing Hinata's left hand in his right and pulling her along as he ran down the street towards Ichiraku's and Hinata did all that she could to not faint.