AN: I uploaded the last chapter before I read the manga chapter 579, the one where they say Karin is an Uzumaki. That gave me a new idea for the story, my last chapter mentioned Karin and Naruto restarting the Uzumaki clan together. That has been rewritten to they both start their own separate families in the process of rebuilding the Uzumaki clan. I choose Karin in this story for Naruto because she had read hair, go figure that the red hair made her an Uzumaki.
The main gate of Konoha was buzzing with excitement and trepidation. The Mizukage and her escort would be arriving today. Tsunade stood tall watching over her ninja. She had to send over a dozen chunin and genin away who had been there to drool over the Mizukage. The welcoming comity was made up of the Hokage, Shizune, Shikamaru and Danzo. Tsunade had picked Rock Lee, Kiba, Hinata and Neji to stand guard. Lee was there for his rapid speed, Kiba for his ability to smell suspicious scents and Hinata and Neji for their byakugan. It was a nervous time for Konoha. If they could add Kiri to their alliance they would be part of a majority power in the ninja world.
"I see them!" A ninja screamed from a guard post.
Tsunade looked and saw Mei's red hair appearing over the horizon. The team from Kiri had arrived. Tsunade made a mental note; of the seven hunter-nin, four wore masks. The Hokage nodded to the two Hyuga. Neji and Hinata activated their byakugan but they failed to see through the masks. The masks were infused with chakra to prevent exactly that. Being unable to see to through the masks they decided to check for anything else suspicious but everything checked out.
"It is nice to see you again Hokage-sama." Mei smiled as she bowed.
"I'm glad we are meeting on such peaceful terms." Tsunade bowed in return. "We have arranged quarters for you to rest in before we get to the peace talks. Although it was very crafty of you to not give me a chance to accept your offer."
"Well, in times of crisis time is a valuable asset." Both the Kage smiled.
Mei nodded politely as Tsunade led the way. The hunter-nin formed a protective circle around the Mizukage. Naruto made sure he was close to Karin. The Konoha ninja took up a similar formation around the Hokage. Naruto used his sharingan and picked up many other ninja who were hidden all around them. As they walked through the street people were being kept away by chunin. They all wanted to get a look at the woman dubbed as the most beautiful Kunoichi in the world. Naruto was hoping one of them would make a run towards the Mizukage and he could act. But no such incident happened.
They were being led to a hotel. It was the biggest one in Konoha. If it had to rated it would be given four stars.
"My assistant Shizune will come in two hours to escort you to the meeting. You will be allowed to bring your guards but you may only bring three with you into the meeting." Tsunade said hoping the Mizukage would agree.
"That sounds like an acceptable condition but may I ask for the meeting to begin in three hours." Mei smiled.
"Three hours is fine. Shizune will be here in three hours." The Hokage bowed.
Mei returned the bow before being led by an old woman to the room reserved for her and her ninja.
It had been close to three hours since the Mizukage and her party arrived in Konoha. Tsunade sent Shizune to escort the visiting Kage and was now waiting. They were in the largest conference room in the Hokage tower. There were four equally sized tables in the room, all set across from each other. There was a very large space between the tables in case things got out of hand no one would be able to reach someone else.
The table furthest from the door was occupied by the Hokage, Koharu, Homura, Danzo and Shikamaru. The table to the right was occupied by Asuma, Shikaku, Choza, Inoichi and Hiashi. The table to the left was occupied by Suna council members. They were there for the sole purpose of observing. They wore long cloaked hoods with the symbol for Suna on them.
The doors opened and the Mizukage and three of her guards joined her at her table. It was Ao, Karin and Naruto or as he was being called Kai. Mei wanted Chojuro to be there but Naruto didn't want to leave Karin alone. Mei caved and allowed Karin to be her third guard.
"Mizukage-sama, these are delegates from Suna who are here just to observe proceedings." Tsunade gestured to the four hooded figures.
Mei nodded. "Hokage-sama, we are grateful that you accepted our offer to have peace talks seeing as we kind of forced you into it." Mei laughed. "As a sign of good faith we have brought you a gift." Ao pulled out a scroll from his sleeve and handed it to the Mizukage. Mei bit her finger and unrolled the scroll into the open area while trailing blood onto it.
Once the scroll was completely unrolled a cloud of smoke appeared. Once all the smoke was gone it revealed two coffins made of pink crystal.
"Is that?" Tsunade stammered.
"We believe that to be Kakashi Hatake and Jiraiya the toad sage." Ao confirmed.
"We intercepted a bounty hunter trying to move these bodies on our way to Konoha. Our team medic has told us they are in a comatose state, trapped in that crystal." Mei continued.
Tsunade tried to control her emotions. She waved her hand and a dozen ANBU appeared and removed the coffins, taking them to the hospital. "You could have used them as bargaining chips but you just gave them to us." Tsunade questioned.
"Like I said, it is a sign of good faith." Mei smiled.
"What off the bounty hunter? Did you capture him?" Danzo wanted to know about Naruto.
"No, he fled using a time-space jutsu." Ao admitted. He was just repeating the story Mei told him too.
The ninja of Konoha hadn't been overly convinced. They first had to confirm the bodies were indeed the two captured ninja. Even if they proved to be, this act proved to increase tension.
"Now that this is out of the way we should begin the talks." Mei tried to get things moving again.
"Yes we may. Is there a threat of a civil war in Kiri?" Danzo stole the spot light from Tsunade making her furious.
"That is no way to begin peace talks." Ao erupted thinking that Danzo was being disrespectful.
"I apologize for the words spoken by my council member." Tsunade diffused the situation.
"To answer your question, Kiri is stable as ever. Over the past two years we have grown as a nation and a ninja village. My offer to make peace is an attempt to ensure the long term survival of both our villages." Mei kept the smile on her face as she answered.
"I see the growth of Kumogakure and Iwagakure has not escaped your radar." Tsunade acknowledged.
"I would like to discuss the possibility of forming an alliance with the small non allied nations." Mei suggested as she pointed to certain nations on a map that Ao had in his sleeve.
"There is a reason no ninja village forms alliances with those small nations. They don't have any worthwhile resources or are too poor to afford ninja services." Hiashi was the first member of the jonin elite to speak up.
"With time and money those nations could be built up." Ao said.
"The plan you are describing is one that would take more than a generation to complete." Shikaku added.
"As expected from the Nara clan. Yes and during that time the standard terms of an alliance would be applied. Both the villages will assist each other in times of war or crisis. We will share the ways in which we run our education, health and civilian sectors." Mei went on.
"What exactly does Kiri have to offer in those terms?" Koharu questioned.
"Our education system is nothing special but it is our medical division that one of the best in the world. We start training our medical ninja from the time they are in the academy. There are several islands around the land of water which Kiri has claimed. On these islands medical herbs that normally grow rarely grow in abundance." Mei threw a small bag filled with herbs across the room.
The bag was intercepted by ANBU who examined it and made sure it was safe before handing it to the Hokage. Tsunade examined the contents of the bag. "These are very rare indeed. What are you proposing?"
"We supply herbs and you supply medical ninja techniques to help with our academy program."
A silence filled the room. The first big decision point was raised. Konoha could use the herbs but supplying their medical knowledge to another village could be dangerous.
"We will make the deal if you supply us with both the herbs and sealing techniques." Koharu spoke up much to Tsunade's frustration.
"Sealing techniques? Is this some kind of joke, Konoha is known for the Sannin being masters of sealing jutsus." Ao was a bit surprised.
"The sealing jutsu we seek is more to do with the sealing of Biju." Homura added.
"So you fear the S-class missing-nin Jinchuuriki." Mei tried not to laugh. Naruto grinned widely under his mask.
"I'll add the Biju sealing jutsu to the treaty if you share the secret of the yin-yang release." Mei proposed knowing she would get a no.
"That I cannot do, in exchange for the sealing jutsu we will improve your academy program." Tsunade countered.
"When I said our education system is nothing special I didn't mean it was completely useless. I'd say our academy is on par with yours." Mei retorted.
"I can't believe that. After Zabuza killed all the students in his class, and your village canceled the program that earned it the name blood mist, I heard there was a sharp decrease in the level of your ninja." Asuma mentioned while taking a pull of his cigarette.
"If these weren't peace talks I would take that as an insult." Mei smiled through a peaceful façade but inside she was cursing. "This is Kai Momochi, he is the youngest member our team at twenty. Let us have a simple sparring match, him against one of your academy graduates of the same age group."
'Damn, Asuma attacked Kiri's strength and that pushed Mei's buttons. I hope this doesn't ruin everything.' Naruto thought to himself.
'If he goes through with this I just hope he can hold back in the sparring match.' Karin thought.
"So we have a relative of Zabuza here. If Asuma has offended you I apologize." Tsunade hoped the mask hunter-nin took no offence. "Although these are peace talks, gauging our ninja strength would be fine. In one hour we will have a friendly sparring match between Kai Momochi and Neji Hyuga. Shizune will show to training ground five."
Shizune, accompanied by Hinata and Lee, was leading the Mizukage and her party through the streets of the village to the training ground. They were still in the same defensive formation as when they arrived but now Ao was standing next to the Mizukage.
"Are you sure it is wise to have the new guy fight a Hyuga. Even if he is related to Zabuza this could affect the talks and our plans." Ao whispered.
"Trust me when our ninja wins it'll put Konoha in their place and give us the upper hand in the talks." Mei replied softly.
"The Mizukage is hungry." Naruto announced. Mei was surprised because she wasn't hungry.
"Excuse me?" Shizune was taken aback by the declaration.
"The Mizukage's favorite food is ramen." Naruto continued. Mei and Karin caught on. Karin held herself back from admonishing the Jinchuuriki.
"Well there's Ichiraku Ramen, they have the best ramen in the land. I'll get one our ninja to get some for you." Shizune responded with a smile.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to go with them to make sure nothing happens to food." Naruto put in.
"Of course, Hinata please show the ninja to Ichiraku Ramen and then to the training ground." Shizune gave the jonin the order.
"I understand Shizune-sama." Hinata set off in the direction of Ichiraku followed by Karin and Naruto.
"The two of you are going?" Shizune pointed out.
"Yes, I am a sensory type ninja. I will make sure nothing is done by the chef." Karin answered and continued to follow.
It had been so long since he walked these streets. In his younger years he was always subjected to stares of hatred and disgust and now people were looking at him in awe. He occasionally caught Hinata trying to use her byakugan to see through his mask. Karin also picked up on the spikes in the Hyuga's chakra.
"If you're wondering how handsome he is all you have to do is ask me." Karin teased. "Or are you seeing other things."
Hinata blushed at the comment. Karin made it sound like Hinata was being perverted. "I'm sorry. So you are going to have a sparring match against my cousin." Hinata was trying change the topic.
After a while of uncomfortable silence they reached the restaurant. Naruto rubbed his hands together as he prepared to place a big order until he realized something. He couldn't remove his mask; he wouldn't be able to eat. In his mind he was cursing himself because the smell of ramen was entering his mask.
"What can I get you?" Teuchi asked not looking at the person in front of him.
After no reply he looked up and was surprised to see a foreign ninja. "You must be with Kiri. Please help yourself to anything on the menu. It's free of charge."
Naruto was now crying under his mask, free ramen and he couldn't have any. "Just plain ramen in miso soup, take away."
Teuchi rushed into the back and began preparing the meal. He wanted to help with the peace talk but wasn't allowed to so making ramen for a Kiri ninja was his way of helping.
"Please come again." The old man waved goodbye as the three ninja left to head to the battle ground.
"Hinata do you have a boyfriend?" Naruto asked. After he told Karin about his life in Konoha the red head reprimanded him for never noticing that Hinata had a crush on him.
"Ah." Hinata was a bit stunned by the question. "I don't think it's appropriate to talk about things like that."
"So that's a no on the boyfriend." Karin chimed in.
"Being a jonin and trying to maintain a relationship is different. There was someone a long time ago but now there's no chance." Hinata mumbled but loud enough for the others to hear.
Karin picked up on the fact she still had a thing for Naruto after all this time. "You should forget about that person. A pretty young thing like you can get any guy."
"I don't know about that. My father would kill anyone who tried to ask me out. He wants me to marry my cousin to keep the byakugan in the family." Hinata covered her mouth. She couldn't believe she just said that to complete strangers and worse foreign ninja but there was something calming about the masked one.
"Don't despair, it's not like your father will live forever." Naruto smirked under his mask.
Hinata didn't pick up on the underlying threat against the head of the Hyuga clan. After a while they were at the training ground. Neji was already standing in the middle of the battle field waiting. Tsunade and Mei were seated under umbrellas on opposite ends of the field.
"Don't use any of the swords." Mei whispered to Naruto before sending him onto the field.
"I am Neji Hyuga of the Hyuga clan." Neji announced.
"Hi, I'm Kai Momochi." Naruto announced languidly.
The two combatants bowed before taking positions on the opposite ends of the field.
'I can't use my swords. I can't use any jutsu that would give away my true strength.' Naruto was lost in thought.
Neji saw that his opponent wasn't going to move and decided to make the first move. "Eight Trigrams Air Palm." The Hyuga performed a high-speed palm thrust releasing a powerful vacuum of wind from his palm in the direction of his opponent. The powerful wind blasted Naruto in the chest, causing him to explode into water.
"That was amazing speed. He cast a water clone and substitution jutsu in a split second." Neji muttered under his breath.
Most of the spectators shared Neji's sentiment. They didn't even see the hands signs being cast. As they searched for the real Kiri ninja a puddle of water formed from the beaten water clone. Ripples spread through the puddle before a large dragon spewed out from the puddle and charged at Neji. As the water dragon closed in Neji began spinning rapidly as he released chakra from his body creating a rotating shield of chakra around himself. The water dragon hit the rotating shield and dispersed the dispersed water then formed into six water clones.
"He seems to be a very capable ninja." Danzo commented.
"He is a member of their hunter-nin." Inoichi replied.
"One thing's for sure, the speed he cast hands seals is incredible." Shikaku noted.
Back on the battlefield Neji used his byakugan and searched but he couldn't find his opponent.
"Where are you?" Neji yelled. "I see, you're hiding amongst the water clones."
The six water clones then rushed Neji who assumed the Gentle Fist stance and begin to attack. Neji hit the first with two consecutive strikes and yelled "Two". The second clone received another two consecutive strikes "Four". The third got four hits "Eight". The fourth was hit with eight consecutive attacks "Sixteen". The fifth received sixteen consecutive strikes "Thirty two." The final one got thirty two consecutive hits "Sixty four". After he was done all the clones but the last burst into water. "Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms."
Neji walked over to the downed Naruto or Kai as he was called.
"I didn't expect him to put up a fight." Koharu laughed.
"Now with this win we should have the upper hand in the negotiations." Asuma mentioned.
"It appears Konoha's academy program is better than Kiri's." Tsunade smiled.
As the Hokage got up the ground beneath Neji cracked and Naruto erupted out. Catching Neji of guard he got behind him and placed a kunai behind Neji's neck.
"How? How did you do it? I checked the ground with my byakugan." Neji questioned as the two separated.
"I didn't cast two jutsu in the beginning. I cast four; water clone, substitution, a genjutsu and hidden mole jutsu." Naruto answered before going to the Mizukage's side.
"An exceptional ninja you have there." Tsunade complimented trying to hide the disappointment of losing.
Danzo was busy planning a way to acquire the Kiri ninja he just saw battle. "Let us head back to the conference chamber and discuss the conditions our treaty." The old war hawk was trying to work an angle.
"Right now I think we should take a break. I do have a request. Would you please give me a tour of the village?" Mei requested.
"A tour?" Tsunade was a bit unsure.
"In your proposal you mentioned your academy. Before I hand over secret sealing jutsu I would like to know what I am getting in return." Mei rephrased.
"If that's the case then allow me to escort you myself." Tsunade agreed.
"Would you also arrange a separate tour to show Kai and Karin your medical ninja and what they would bring to the alliance? These two are medical experts and would be able to give an accurate report." Mei smiled. She wanted to get Naruto more access to the village before the big night.
"I suppose so. I'll have the heads of the hospital show them around." Tsunade nodded before whispering to a member of ANBU.
The ANBU disappeared. Another ANBU stepped forward to show Naruto and Karin to the hospital. Naruto was cautious but followed. Even though there were three ANBU escorting them he could sense several more hiding.
When Naruto and Karin arrived at the hospital there were two people waiting for them. The first had her long blonde hair in a ponytail with bangs covering the right side of her face. She wore a short, purple, sleeveless blouse with an open purple apron-skirt over a shorter, black skirt, with short fishnet shorts underneath. The second had has bright pink hair. She wore a basic red top, with black gloves, black boots, black shorts and a short grey apron skirt.
"Hi, I'm Ino Yamanaka." The first greeted.
"Hello, my name is Sakura Haruno. We are the heads of the hospital." The second added.
Naruto felt his blood begin to boil. He was well informed of the girl's actions during the years he was away. It took every bit of will power he had not to cut them down where they stood.
"We are part of the team from Kirigakure. We are here to check out the hospital." Karin took over the talking not wanting Naruto to say something that would give him away.
Sakura laughed at Karin's choice of words. "We were told to show you our medical school first before letting you check out the hospital." Sakura nodded and the ANBU disappeared.
The pink haired girl and the blonde led the two Kiri ninja away from the hospital.
'Danzo wants us to try and get this guy to fall for our womanly charms. I never felt so degraded in my life.' Sakura thought.
As they walked Ino spun around and stopped in front of Naruto. She had her arms close to her body pushing her chest out. "You're a big, strong ninja. It must be pretty awesome being a hunter-nin." Ino was using a very seductive voice.
Karin picked up on what was happening. She wanted to beat the crap out of the blonde in front of her but didn't want to spoil the plan.
"I guess to use your words it's pretty awesome." Naruto backed away as Ino got closer.
Karin positioned herself between the advancing blonde and Naruto. "Ahem, I don't know if there is a shortage of men in your village but show some decency."
Ino face contorted as she tried to hide the fact she took offence from the comment.
"Should we get on with the tour?" Sakura tried to get things moving again.
Ino turned around and winked at Sakura signaling the pink haired girl to take over.
"So Kai I heard you were a medical expert and a very strong fighter. That's really cool, most guys can't do both. Your chakra control must be amazing. I heard you beat Neji in no time." Sakura was trying to compliment herself into his good graces.
'These two are angling for something. I better keep an eye on them and have Karin keep track of ANBU.' Naruto thought before whispering the same idea into Karin's ear.
"Fine just make sure they keep their hands to themselves." Karin muttered back.
"I don't know if you know this but I fought against Zabuza when I was just a genin." Sakura boasted.
"Fought against? You just stood by the bridge builder while Kakashi Hatake did all the work." Naruto sneered.
"How do you know that?" Sakura asked feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Zabuza was a missing-nin from Kiri; we made it our duty to know what happened there." Naruto replied coolly.
"He he, busted." Karin snickered.
A brief silence followed as Sakura and Ino finally led them to the Hokage's main building.
'This is definitely suspicious. I'm sensing close to fifty jonin level ninja's hiding.' Karin thought as she brushed against Naruto while walking in front of him in a specific way to signal how many enemies were up ahead.
Once in the building they were led to the same training room Tsunade had used to teach Ino and Sakura medical ninjutsu.
"We used to practice our chakra control on fish here when we were kids." Ino reminisced as she glided across the room. 'Danzo wants us to make this guy get hands on so we can arrest him. If it wasn't for that red head he would have fallen for my charms. I'm going to have to pull out the big guns.'
"Did you have to have to do these?" Sakura asked as he pulled a fish out of the water and placed it on a scroll with seals. "Would you mind demonstrating some of your techniques?"
Karin stepped towards the fish confidently with a wide smile brimming on her face.
"We want to see how the relative of Zabuza does not some no-named red head." Ino scorned.
Karin stopped and ball up her fist. She was about to lose control until Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder. She began breathing deeply and calmed down. Naruto slowly approached the fish and placed his hands over it. Karin waited to see what would happen; the only way she ever saw Naruto heal was through his crystal release. A light blue energy emitted from his hands and the fish began moving again.
"This is too easy. You should practice on living people, that way you can weed out the weak immediately." Naruto scoffed.
Sakura and Ino took offensive to that. They had spent many hours practicing with the fish. They were starting to give up but they knew Danzo hated failure.
"We should return to the Mizukage." Naruto stated as he could sense desperation in the air.
With those words Sakura and Ino knew they had failed. A few ANBU appeared in the room and escorted Naruto and Karin away.
"This is truly an amazing academy." Mei complimented as Tsunade led the tour.
Before the Hokage could respond a member of ANBU appeared next to her and whispered something to her ear.
"Mizukage please excuse me. Something urgent has come up in the hospital. I request that we begin talks a fresh tomorrow." Tsunade bowed but asked firmly.
"It is good to see that you value your duty. I will accept and we shall meet again tomorrow." Mei smiled as Shizune led her party away. 'I can't believe Naruto was right. Tsunade actual dropped everything to see the pervert. Now we can stay for three more days till the night of the red moon.'
In a large special room of the Konoha hospital there were two beds both occupied by recovering ninja. Kakashi sat in bed overlooking the person in the bed in front of him. Jiraiya was lying still under the blanket. The toad sage was awake but heartbroken.
"Jiraiya you idiot!" Tsunade shouted as she burst into the room and ran to his bed.
"Is that how you greet me after I overcame certain death?" Jiraiya laughed.
"I'm doing fine." Kakashi mumbled.
Tsunade stood over Jiraiya's bed with tears welling in her eyes. "Lord Fukasaku said you were dead."
"That's only because he couldn't reverse summon me. That crystal technique left me in state of suspended animation, neither alive nor dead." Jiraiya explained.
"Tell me, was it really Naruto? Could he have really done this?" Tsunade sobbed as she placed her hand on the bandaged stump of where Jiraiya arm was.
"Ey, it was the boy. This was his way of punishing me for being perverted." Jiraiya joked.
"He turned himself into Sasuke's avenger. I don't know what happened but he blames Konoha. When I fought him he didn't use any of his own moves, just Sasuke's." Kakashi added.
"I declared him an S-class missing-nin for killing you. I guess I should revoke the classification." Tsunade wiped away tears.
"No, leave it. He is an extremely powerful ninja and should not be engaged one on one. Order a flee-on-sight unless in a team with two or more jonin." Jiraiya said getting serious. "He could have killed me but choose not to."
"That's because he was moving your body to cash in the bounty until he was intercepted by Kiri." Tsunade explained.
"We have to be weary of Kiri. I don't fully trust them." Kakashi spoke up.
"Kakashi did you feel it when you were trapped in the coffin." Jiraiya asked to which Kakashi nodded. "That crystal was infused with Naruto's positive chakra. The chakra slowly healed us. I could feel the warmth of the boy we once knew but behind it was something darker."
"The Nine Tailed Fox?" Tsunade was intrigued.
"The fox's chakra is destructive and wouldn't have worked. It was Sasuke's chakra. Some of the Uchiha's chakra must have been stored in the eyes when they were transplanted. It must have grown over the years with his hate." Jiraiya continued. "The fact that he spared me means that something is preventing him from completely losing his humanity."
"If we hope to stop him we have to appeal to whatever shred of humanity is left. As the teacher who failed him, should he attack I will take that responsibility." Kakashi dropped his head.
"No, you are the future of Konoha. I was, no I am his godfather and a complete failure. I should have been here all those years. It will be my responsibility!" Jiraiya slammed his left hand into his chest above his heart.
"You're both wrong." Tsunade wiped away all signs of tears from her face. "I am the Hokage. Minato wanted the village to regard Naruto as a hero and they failed him and his son. I am the head of the village and will shoulder the responsibility and bare Naruto's wrath. I will face him."
"That is madness. The village will never go for it. It is suicide." Jiraiya pled with the Hokage.
"If we want any chance of bringing back the old Naruto we will have to appeal to his childhood dream, a battle to prove he is stronger than the Hokage. If I fall in battle against him I would hopefully have done enough to make it possible to seal him away." Tsunade explained.
"Hokage-sama what if you fall and the sealing fails. Then what?" Kakashi couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Kakashi is right. I saw Naruto's power. If he unleashes all of the fox's fury he will wipe out the entire village. He isn't the same kid, his smart now. There's no way he would agree to a one on one battle even if it was a chance to prove himself against the Hokage." Jiraiya scolded his old friend.
"If Naruto does kill me in battle he will die along with me." Her words rang out into the now silenced room.
