Whohooo! Another chapter indeed!

So, to those few who still won't read the Authors notes, THIS IS NOT A HAREM. I REPEAT NOT A HAREM. But just for good measure, THIS IS NOT A HAREM!

Disclaimer: Naruto rightfully belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter 8: Subterfuge


12 Hours Earlier…

Karin awoke to the sound of water. Her head was pounding and felt tightened. She tried to stand, but there were strange seals on her body that restricted her movement and made her legs almost completely worthless. She tried her hardest to get back up, but there were chains wrapped around her arms and legs. The chains went from her limbs and out towards two other people on the other side of the cave.

One was a burly man with a large nose while the other was a shorter and skinnier man. They too were chained together with the chains leading up to Karin's own binds. The redhead looked around quite happy that whoever their attackers were, didn't remove her glasses. She took a deep breath to get a good look of her surroundings. She moved her arms around and felt that the three scrolls that she and Naruto had achieved were still with her.

She bent her head down and pushed the glasses back up her nose and rested them perfectly at the bridge. Her crimson eyes trailed over and throughout the cave system. There was a series of eight tunnels that went for who knows how far. Torches were placed at either side of each opening giving the entire room a slight ambiance of uncertainty.

On the far side of the room, there was a series of cages locked with multiple chains and bars to keep whatever was within, hidden. Karin struggled to keep her consciousness but continued to manage. There was a sickening feeling within her gut that told her that this was no longer the chunin exams; at least this wasn't part of it.

There's no way in hell that this is planned. Karin shut her eyes and started getting a good feel of the entire cavern system. Rooms were filled with strange shinobi and chakra signatures that she didn't recognize. This is something entirely different. If these were shinobi that I haven't sensed before, but were allied with Suna, then why would they be in questionable caves with three genin locked up? No, they have to be bandits or a part of- wait…no it can't be.

Karin's eyes widened when she got to the final signature. She nearly fainted when she sensed the chakra. It was completely explosive and filled with a strange fire, almost as if it were constantly feeding; never ending. She delved deeper and deeper trying to see if she was right or just crazy. Her mind drew closer and closer.

It's Deidara…but…he's…dead.

She looked around with a confused face, as she started to sense more and more familiar chakra signatures that she was sure were gone. Many of whom were a part of the Akatsuki while others were just fodder shinobi that she might or might not have had a role in killing. She struggled in her chains and barely held strong against the binds. She stared off into the dim lighting of the cave as new chakra signatures filled her senses.

There were men and women of all sizes surrounding the room. One thing was certain; they weren't here for the exams, or rather, not for the same reason Karin was. Some people had malicious chakra that seemed to eat away at the air, giving Karin the sensation of tunnel-vision. But nothing would be as bad as the Kyuubi's chakra; nothing.

"Hiro…Akatsuchi…" Karin whispered out towards the two Iwa shinobi chained to the walls on the opposite side of the cave.

The two teammates of Kurotsuchi groaned and looked up at their fellow prisoner. Akatsuchi had a massive cut over his large nose with a dangerous looking gash over his forehead and a black eye. Hiro was disheveled with a few scars on his cheek, but otherwise fine. The two were chained quite loosely, well Akatsuchi was just too damn fat for the chains that these bandits had, so they wrapped chains around his arms and body, completely restraining the fat man.

"Are you two alright?" Karin groaned.

"Just a headache is all…" Hiro replied. "Do either of you remember what happened? Where are we?"

"From what I can tell, it's a hideout for some bandit group…or something of that sort…" Karin replied. "I am sensing a lot of chakra signatures in all directions, many are quite large and probably jounin leveled reserves."

"Are you sure?" Hiro asked.

"Positive." Karin nodded. "From the chakra that I'm sensing, there is a probability that there are at least five shinobi of S class or higher. Maybe, I'm not entirely sure."

"I see…" Akatsuchi nodded his head. "Well, these bandits haven't done their research well it seems."

"What do you mean?" Karin looked at him with a confused look.

"These are wrought Iron chains. They can be easily broken with my ninjutsu." Akatsuchi smirked. "Just watch Karin-san."

The shinobi leaned his head back and quickly shot it down; regurgitating a large flow of rocks and pebbles that merged together forming two golems that quickly wrapped their teeth around the chains and began to eat the metal. Akatsuchi suddenly felt rejuvenated. It seemed that the chains were imbued with chakra. Ironic that the tools used to keep them bound, were the instruments to their escape.

Akatsuchi pushed himself from the wall and limped over to Karin and grabbed the chains from the wall, snapping them from their bases. The redheaded girl gave Akatsuchi a nod and walked over towards the center of the room and started channeling as much chakra as possible, and still be able to suppress it. Akatsuchi went ahead and removed the chains binding Hiro.

Hiro ran over towards one of the entrances of the cave and placed a hand on the rock, only to be stopped by Karin. She looked at him and shook her head slowly, making sure that Hiro got the message. From what she could tell, there were at least thirty men down that tunnel and probably thirteen in the two tunnels on either side of the one Hiro was about to go into.

After successfully saving their lives, Karin spun on the heel of her sandals and walked back and forth, pacing with a thinking pose stretched on her face, she studied the patterns of patrol and the amount of shinobi within each patrol. Hell, even the entire compound of wherever the hell they were. One thing was for certain; they were underground, but most importantly of all, Naruto was gone. She sighed deeply and nearly felt the tears form once again in the corner of her eyes.

Naruto was really gone.

She looked around and quickly pinpointed on one of the tunnels that lead towards a large but thin opening. She motioned for the two men to follow and quickly took off without the use of a flame or light to brighten her path, but instead, she merely relied on her sensing ability. She took multiple lefts and rights, and almost even sprang a few booby traps that she might have forgotten of. But even though there was no light, she could still see as clearly as can be.

She stopped when the sound of rushing water blasted in her ears. There was water nearby; that meant a water source. The rushing sound made her parched throat get dryer. She could sense the rushing waves, but she could not sense where the obstacles were. She looked left and right, trying her hardest to catch on to whatever escape path there is, but it was neigh impossible to do so in complete darkness, even with her special ability.

Suddenly, from behind, Akatsuchi and Hiro showed up with torches and bloodied rock clubs in their hands. Akatsuchi gave her a nod and looked around, illuminating the entire cavern. Akatsuchi narrowed his eyes at one point in the dark horizon and found a dim light at the end of the darkness, directly ahead of them.

Akatsuchi grabbed Karin and started hauling ass through the tunnel, but because of his excitement, the echo and vibration went through the tunnel and joined in with the atrium that the other prisoners were in. From there, the vibrations shot out and entered the other tunnels and led to the defenders. Karin sensed their sudden change in emotion as their once blue chakra turned into a light shade of red to signify their anger or rage or even the readiness to end the life of someone else.

Karin screamed and asked Akatsuchi to drop her. The large shinobi complied and slowly lowered her onto the ground, but just as her feet touched the ground, an arrow snagged just in between her heels, nearly impaling her feet in their power. Karin took a deep breath and sighed. This wasn't what she wanted to deal with so early in her escape.

"We need to get to the end of this tunnel this instant!" Karin roared as she ran farther ahead than Akatsuchi and Hiro.

Shouts and screams echoed through the cave as men and women, shinobi and kunoichi, drew their weapons. Their unsheathing weapons made the hairs behind Karin's neck stand. She didn't dare to look back, but she could sense their intent. They were intending to kill them. What they were going to do with their bodies afterwards, Karin didn't know, nor did she want to know. All she wanted to do was get out of the cave system with the other two shinobi.

It was slightly confusing to her. The last time she was conscious, she and the other two shinobi were in the desert running from the cavern that killed both Naruto and Kurotsuchi. Then, from that point on everything was a blur, almost as if their memories were wiped – almost wiped. Karin still retained some memories, and even some images of the time in imprisonment and the time that led up to it.

She shut her eyes to try and drown out the shouts echoing around her, but she couldn't get the chakra signatures from her head. Every time her eyes would close, the chakra from the shinobi in the other tunnels would funnel into her sensing abilities and completely shroud her field of view, and nearly blind her from all sides. Suddenly, a shuriken whizzed right past her ear, nearly cutting off a few strands of hair from behind her right ear.

The shuriken embedded into the wall in front of her and Akatsuchi. The two nearly froze in their tracks, but Karin was the first to shake herself from their fear-induced reverie. She quickly grabbed the burly shinobi and grabbed Hiro with her other arm and the three high-tailed it from the caver system. As they ran, shuriken and kunai were thrown at them from behind, surprisingly, missing the three every shot. It was almost as if they were purposefully missing. Either that or these shinobi were the shittiest shinobi Karin had ever encountered.

"How fast can you two release ninjutsu?!" Karin shouted as kunai and shuriken clanked and bounced off the rocks and boulders lining the sides and walls of the tunnel system.

"As fast as they need to be!" Akatsuchi replied while speeding through hand seals. "Doton: Doryuuheki!"

The tunnel behind them collapsed on top of the shinobi chasing them. Their screams were the last thing heard before the tumbling rock and bouncing pebbles rung in their ears, drowning out all other sounds. But all of a sudden, one of the wall sections burst off from the wall and shot out blocking the pathway, nearly causing Karin to stumble over the attack, and cause her to fall behind.

Akatsuchi saw this though and channeled chakra into his body and simply bore through the obstacles, showering the walls and those behind and in front with pebbles, dust and dirt. More and more obstacles were shot out at them, but the burly shinobi simply bashed through them, rendering them completely useless.

Karin was grabbed by Akatsuchi and placed onto his back and the three shinobi took off through the cave and out into the open. Akatsuchi punched through the white covering of the entrance of the cave and quickly slowed himself down along with Hiro. In front of them was a beautiful oasis with palm trees and fresh water.

Karin was about to get off of Akatsuchi's back, but there was a sudden disturbance with the normal chakra clouds. There were some really powerful shinobi with chakra reserves equal to that of ANBU commanders and the like. The most powerful of them all was apparently staring at him through his training.

The girl quickly pushed Akatsuchi forward as one of the powerful chakra signatures shot a fire technique at the three. In a sorry attempt to fight back, Karin missed with one of her lesser shinobi attacks while Hiro and Akatsuchi were shooting rocks and boulders in different direction, or at least whatever direction Karin said that the enemies would be in. No one could tell for sure, but since Karin was known for being a sensor, they knew that she was most likely going to be fine.

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10 Hours Earlier…

Scorpions of varying size wandered through the desert sands, picking at different rodents that chose to come out at this time of the evening. The sun was falling and heat was fleeting. Animals rose from their hideouts and began to run over the desert in search for food and possibly, empty holes to lay their young or even eggs. Snakes slithered about, devouring their prey without a second thought.

The desert was quiet for the entire hour, minus the howls of desert wolves and foxes. Rattles at the ends of rattlesnakes shook and jangled, breaking the attention of some of the other more potent hunters of the desert biome. It was relentless, trying its hardest to eat as much as it can before the hawk or eagles can swipe him off the ground.

But everything was converging for one spot. It was a large oasis in the middle of a hole. Up into the air, were walls that were almost as high as the cavern that Naruto and Kurotsuchi fell into. From the edges of the hole, sand flowed over the side, filling the bottom with sand and dirt, making an oasis underground. Rocks were suddenly moved from the rest of the pattern of the hole. Soon enough, the rocks exploded outwards, showering the inhabitants with pebbles and stones.

From the cloud of debris stood three shinobi; two male and one female, the female of the group was a bespectacled redhead. The other two were average men of Iwa. One was a six foot tall boy with a fat build and a nose to match. Next to him was another boy, but he instead was only about five feet and three inches with a normal sized nose and dark black hair.

They were covered in dirt and small scars, but they were managing. Karin took a deep breath and shut her eyes and gasped with surprise. They weren't being followed anymore. It seemed that whoever held them captive gave up on them escaping. It was definitely something she was looking forward to. Karin opened her eyes and motioned for the two Iwa shinobi behind her to follow.

She followed her ears, and soon enough, she found the oasis with flowing water. She and the other shinobi charged for the oasis, scaring the desert animals and creatures back into their hiding holes in the sand and rock face. Karin dumped her face into the water and soaked up as much as she could. She was ridiculously thirsty, especially after being in a cave for an undetermined amount of time. She really needed this.

She looked up into the sky and found that the night was dark and the moon was up. She was in awe of what she saw though; stars. There was an ocean of stars flooding the night sky with their lights and wonderful colors. She could see star clusters and even gas clouds from far in the universe. But what really got her attention was the North Star twinkling in the far distance.

She looked down and looked at the other shinobi with her. Hiro had a massive gash on his back from a fuma shuriken not too long ago and Akatsuchi was still trying to nurse his wound from a bladed trap from within the tunnel. She looked back down at her wrist and found that her watch was still operational. The time was about twenty-hundred hours. Only four hours until the second day of the second stage of the exam.

We were running through the tunnel for about, I'd say, two hours maximum. Karin surmised. So we woke up at about six p.m. How long were we in there?! Naruto and Kurotsuchi fell at around midday, so twelve p.m. to one p.m.

Well that doesn't matter. What does matter though is; who the fuck were those shinobi? And what were they doing with dead nuke nin's? Karin kept thinking but shut her mind off and dunked her face back into the clear water of the oasis.

She shot her head from the water and ran a hand through her hair to help dry it off a bit, but suddenly, a blast of emotion shot through her body. It overwhelmed her at first and nearly caused her to topple over and into the water of the pool. Her eyes were wide. She pushed her glasses up to the bridge of her nose and focused on the emotion.

It was like laughter or even happiness. There was some worry and even some wariness in the emotions, but it was so amazing, Karin couldn't ignore it. She gathered some chakra and soon enough, tears began to fall. She gripped her head and collapsed onto her knees as the emotions grew stronger and stronger. Her chakra fluctuated in a way that said it was excited. The emotions were surrounding her like a warm blanket.

But she continued to cry. She gripped her head tightly trying to make sure that she was fucking up. Her face scrunched up as the tears fell harder and added to the oasis pool. She bit her lip softly and tried her hardest to hold back her hiccups. She trembled and shook. There was only one person who had emotions like that. There was only one person who can cause her to become like this.

Naruto's alive…?

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8 Hours Earlier…

Karin followed the trail of Naruto's chakra as best as she could, while trying her hardest to keep her own emotions from clouding her vision. It's true that when you're emotionally compromised, you are the most dangerous; it's a fact when you're someone like Karin. If she didn't keep her emotions reined in, she might lose track of Naruto's own trail and end up going in circles trying to find her own chakra signature.

She followed the cave systems trying to build an imaginary map of the entire cave and tunnel complex, but ended up finding a lot of dead ends and rooms filled with enemy shinobi. She placed her hand against the walls and sent out a small chakra burst to act as a sonar wave. She sensed the chakra bounce around and wash over rooms and over other tunnels but, there was one that the waves chakra moved faster over and even went around a few times before returning back to her.

If it's moving that fast, there's only one meaning; fire. Karin placed her fingers underneath her chin and went through the informations for a few moments and looked back down at her watch. It was eleven p.m. The moon was almost right above them and was already blaring down onto the hole in the ground and started illuminating the tunnels, making them start to lose their way once more.

This place is a death trap, almost as if it was designed to make unwanted visitors or hell, even prisoners like us, to never make it out alive. Karin groaned. I need to get to the other room and help Naruto and Kurotsuchi. We need to get the fuck out of this godforsaken hole of a trap and get to the Kage's and tell them of what happened.

She followed a path that was barely visible, and almost seemed like another dead end, but Karin motioned for the two shinobi with her to follow anyway. They were nervous, especially since they were burning through nighttime that could be used for sleeping. Akatsuchi was carrying a sleeping Hiro on his back while the three traveled through yet another tunnel.

This was probably the shittiest test Karin has been in. Even memorizing Orochimaru's underground complexes weren't this fucking hard. Karin kept at it though, and led the two shinobi behind her to the best of her abilities. Her crimson red eyes examined each rock and each crevice trying to make sure that she didn't miss any hidden rooms or even hidden switches.

Suddenly, a warm and powerful gust of chakra hit her, making her knees weak. Naruto was smiling. She could sense his dream and how calm it was. Her mind too, became hazy and almost unresponsive, but that didn't matter. She turned back to see Akatsuchi and Hiro plopped against the wall, fast asleep with a blanket over themselves.

I'd might as well sleep too… Karin yawned and yet another wave flowed over her, this time, blowing her from her feet and onto her back.

But, instead of hitting hard rock, she was met with the soft feel of waving grass. The warmth of the sun was perfect for her bare arms and bare navel. The sun though, was suddenly blocked by the silhouette of a man's head. The girl squinted her eyes and soon enough, the shadows became dim and Naruto's face began to take shape. A breeze rolled in, blowing through their hair and through the long grass surrounding them.

He had a small smile as he looked over her features. She was blushing madly, but she too was smiling. Suddenly, she flipped Naruto over and straddled the boy for a good few minutes while keeping their eyes locked; Red and Blue. Karin gulped softly as a ball was stuck in her throat. She didn't know what to say. Apparently, neither did Naruto. The two of them giggled like madmen, before bursting into laughter.

Karin pulled the blond from the grass and placed her forehead against his, making sure that their eyes remained locked with one another. His breath was heavy, but smelled a lot like minty ramen. Karin was about to laugh once more, but Naruto pushed forward and laid her against the grass, but this time, with his lips pressing against her.

Her hands began to roam up and down his chest with her left hand wrapping around his shoulder while the other going for the zipper of his jacket. As their kiss grew hotter, she began to zip his jacket down to reveal a shirtless body underneath with muscles that she always dreamed of placing her hands against. Naruto moaned when her warm hands were placed against his cold chest.

Soon enough, she began to work on her own shirt and zipped it right open, allowing her breasts to pop free of her jacket. The two of them broke their kiss and stared at one another, as they both moved as fast as possible to remove the clothes from their chests. Karin's face was on fire, as was Naruto's. He leaned back in for another kiss.

Suddenly, there was this strange feeling at her side, almost as if someone was kicking her. The image started fading and soon enough, Naruto disappeared. The sun and the grass disappeared, the warm gusts of wind disappeared. The smell of minty ramen vanished. Now, she was left with the dimly lit darkness of the cave she fell asleep in.

Next to her were Akatsuchi and Hiro staring at her with worried expressions. Karin looked up at them and realized that she was blushing quite heavily. Her body was covered in sweat and her hands were in rather inappropriate places. Her eyes widened from behind her glasses. She at least had enough dignity to look away. She growled slightly and the two Iwa boys quickly got the message.

Holy shit…I was that wet?! Karin's eyes widened and her breath hitched. This is not good. I need some alone time with Naruto soon.

She retracted her hand from within her shirt and from her pants and quickly brushed herself off trying to retain any dignity she had left. She stood up with her eyes trailing around in different directions and quickly looked down at her watch.

"It's five in the morning." Karin sighed. "I guess we should just go ahead and continue looking."

She walked over towards one of the walls and started knocking chakra into the stones, vibrating the walls and sending vibrations back towards her. She need to find the two shinobi locked on the other side. She dashed through the stones when she sensed Naruto's body from the vibrations. But there was something that astounded her too.

Two of the three bones that stabbed the boy's heart were removed completely. A smile formed on her face when she found that his heart was completely intact and working perfectly. She looked over to the side to see Akatsuchi gasping for air. Karin tilted her head slightly, but then Hiro came out with a chocolate bar and shoved the candy into the fat boy's mouth.

"That was exactly what I needed." Akatsuchi sighed.

Oh kami…he's exactly like Chouji! Karin said with wide eyes. She shook her head and walked ahead of the two boys knowing that they were probably still tired.

She traced her hands against the walls and followed the trail of chakra she sent out. There was a sudden spark in the back of her mind. She took off into the rocky cavern while calling for the two shinobi behind her to follow. They groaned and stumbled to their feet, but they quickly realized that Karin was way ahead of them.

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Present-time…

Karin was running for almost three hours straight, much to the ire of the two Iwa shinobi. She punched through walls and rocks with strength that she only reserved for when she was pissed off, and she had successfully terrified the two boys with not only her strength, but also her innate babbling. The poor redhead was shouting incoherent words and indecipherable sentence structures, which had the two boys worrying about her mental state.

She jumped up when she sensed that Naruto's chakra was getting stronger and stronger. She cocked her fist back and rammed it into a wall, just a few yards away from the Blond. Once the debris cleared, the girl plowed through the smoke and rolled out into the rocky floor below. Once she gained her footing back, she looked back up through the sky and realized that it was once again, morning. The sun was barely able to light the caver because of how deep it was.

Looking around, she could smell a fire and the remnants of what seemed to be rabbit or some form of meat. She motioned for the two shinobi behind her to follow and kept her back to the cavern walls. She threw up the tiger hand seal, and received a better picture of Naruto and Kurotsuchi's situation. As it was, Kurotsuchi had successfully awoken Naruto from his sleep.

But, there was a shout of pain, and Naruto's chakra rippled and went haywire. The chakra signature went in all directions, almost as if something had just been stabbed through his body. Karin focused as the two shinobi took off for the others. Her eyes widened once more. Tears fell as the pain from the bone seared into her heart.

I have to hurry to him!

"Oh shit, Naruto!" Kurotsuchi cried out. "What's wrong?! What did I do?!"

"N-Nothing…Kuro-chan, it wasn't your fault…" Naruto groaned as a large trail of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth and onto the ground below. "Don't worry about me…I'll be fine…"

"Kushina…the bone."

"Don't tell me…"

"It's pierced the aorta."

"Wait a second…It's that teammate of Naruto-kun's." Kushina replied. "She's gonna heal him!"

Karin slid down on the rocky floor and grabbed Naruto tightly. The boy was quickly losing consciousness and blood. She rolled up her sleeve and forced Naruto to sink his teeth into her arm. The effects were instantaneous. Naruto's once sickly looking appearance, was quickly replaced with that of a tanned and completely healthy looking blond.

Karin struggled to keep from moaning, but she couldn't help it. It escaped her mouth, but only Kurotsuchi could hear it. The redhead was also blushing quite brightly. But within a few moments, Naruto's blood stopped leaving his body and his chakra had returned to normal. His breathing wasn't as rugged, and his heartbeat was nice and smooth.

Karin sighed in relief and laid the boy down onto the ground rest up a bit. She looked up at Kurotsuchi with a nod and sat down against the wall of the cave. Naruto suddenly started snoring. Karin looked off into the cavern trough and sighed in relief.

"Thank you Karin." Kurotsuchi sighed. "I was about to start freaking out."

"Nah, there's no need for that." Karin leaned her head against the wall and pulled out a food bar. "It's been a while since I've been able to eat."

"Akatsuchi! Hiro!" Kurotsuchi cried out. "They're ok! What happened to you two?"

"We don't know Kurotsuchi." Akatsuchi replied. "We need to get a message out to the Kage's; there's something else going on in this desert."

"I almost forgot…" Karin sighed. "We were somehow captured by who knows who, but we broke out about…heh; twelve hours ago."

"What were their ranks?" Kuro quickly asked.

"Many had jounin or higher leveled chakra reserves." Karin replied with a sigh. "We are in no place to be traveling as of yet. He might not be your teammate, but Naruto is mine. If you intend on fighting those guys, you'll need both of our help."

"What makes you think that?" Kurotsuchi asked, slightly peeved by what Karin was implying, or at least what she thought she was implying.

"Naruto-kun and I have the ability to sense where our enemies are." Karin replied. "I am also a great healer, as seen with what I did with Naruto."

"So?" Kurotsuchi growled, knowing that she had lost.

"So we wait for Naruto to wake up, or you three can get killed."


Well this chapter should suffice for now! Well I'll get to writing the next one as soon as possible y'all!

Ja ne!

gottahavekyuubi