I Do not own Naruto, If I did I wouldn't bother writing Fan Fiction.

A Price for Peace

Chapter: 10: The Insurmountable Peaks Pt 1

Snow fell heavily outside, freezing cold air was entering the small shack through the door that Naruto and Karin had left open by just a crack. While they both knew it would be much warmer if they had completely shut the door. there was a risk that they would be snowed in, and they didn't want to get trapped inside. While Naruto got to work starting a fire in a small pot belly wood burning stove, Karin left the room to explore the other areas shack they had ignored upon their arrival.

Once Naruto finished lighting the fire he quickly set about preparing a meal. Nothing fancy, just a some rice and a quick one pot curry made with some of the fresh ingredients that wouldn't last the trip. If he was honest with himself he wanted ramen, but he also knew that he now had a finite supply and if he caved in and had ramen every time he felt like it they wouldn't last.

Surprisingly the food was almost cooked when Karin returned with torch in hand. "This place is much larger than I first thought." she said in awe.

"Find anything interesting?" Naruto asked hopefully while stirring the curry.

Karin shrugged and took a seat at the table. "Yes and no. There are a lot of rooms that seem to have no purpose, they are not even large enough to be bedrooms, and they are filled with nothing." she sighed while folding her arms on the table and resting her head.

"Hm sounds like it may have been the armory. It's unlikely that they would have left the weapons behind when they left." Naruto guessed casually giving the curry a final stir before making sure the rice was cooked. He produced two plates from his traveling pack and began dishing up. "Here you go. It's not much but I'm guessing it's better than nothing." he said passing her a plate along with some cutlery as well as chopsticks not knowing which she preferred.

Karin eyed the dish apprehensively. It was not that she didn't trust Naruto not to poison her, he was not Orochimaru or Kabuto. It was more that she doubted his cooking ability, she was half tempted to decline and make herself something. She had always been the one to cook for Sasuke and their group so she was quite confident that she was a good cook despite never getting a compliment. 'It would be rude of me not to at least try some.' She decided eventually, and gingerly took a bite. Much to her surprise it tasted delicious. "Wow Naruto this is amazing." she complimented, happily taking another mouthful.

Naruto smiled and began digging into his own plate. "Yeah Ero-sennin used to make it for us when we were forced to camp out during my training. I like ramen but this is still one of my favorites." he said joyfully in between bites.

"I have to say, I didn't expect you to be much of a cook." Karin admitted.

"Yeah I get that, I lived alone since I was five, so I was forced to cook for myself. Most of the time I went to Ichiraku ramen, but that was mostly because they were the only people at the time that treated me kindly, well other than Iruka-sensei and Jiji." Naruto said a shadow of the old pain he felt crossing his face.

Karin's eyes widened slightly. 'I had no idea he had it so bad as a kid. He's been through so much yet he hasn't let himself be brought down, he could so easily hate everyone for what they have done to him yet he remains so happy and confident. How does he do it?' she questioned herself in awe.

"Yeah that's why when Sasuke's family was killed, I was kind of happy. Not because they were dead or anything, but because I saw someone I thought was like me, all alone." Naruto said sadly, he still hadn't forgiven himself for surviving where Sasuke had not. "Too bad he was such a Teme." he chuckled weakly.

Karin was confused now. 'I don't get it at all, is he still upset at Sasuke's death? Even after everything Sasuke put him through?' "Sasuke tried so hard to kill you, he did such horrible things yet you seem sad, why?" she asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"Yes he did, but I always felt like Sasuke was the first person to ever understand me. He was my first real friend and almost like a brother to me. His life would have been different if it wasn't for Itachi telling him that he needed to get revenge. Still I think Itachi realized his mistake in the end. He wanted to motivate Sasuke to become strong but gave him the wrong message. Maybe that really is just the way that the Uchiha clan thought, that revenge was always necessary. Madara certainly thought that way, and so did Obito." Naruto answered. He held no hostility towards Itachi, in fact as far as Naruto was concerned Itachi was somewhat of a hero. His mistakes with Sasuke just went to prove that even the best of people can make mistakes.

"Who's Obito?" Karin asked slightly confused.

"He was the masked Akatsuki ninja, a former Konoha ninja that was in Kakashi-sensei's genin team. He wanted to put the world in an eternal genjutsu with his sharingan so he could control everyone for the rest of his life." Naruto answered.

Karin nodded then a puzzled look spread across her face. Um if we were all placed in a ocular genjutsu wouldn't everyone just die of starvation after about a week? And even if they didn't there would be no next generation so the world would come to an end one way or another." Karin theorized.

"Yeah, I don't know how well he thought the idea through." Naruto shrugged, he hadn't really thought about the 'Moons Eye' plan in much detail but now he had to admit Karin had a point, he had experienced Itachi's genjutsu and knew he couldn't move when trapped inside, the entire world was Itachi's play thing. Which was the exact purpose of Madara's so called final solution.

"That really doesn't make any sense, why go though all that trouble anyway?" the red haired kunoichi asked still puzzled.

"He lost someone. He loved her, but from what I heard she didn't think much of him." Naruto answered. Upon saying it out loud he couldn't help but think that the situation reminded him a little too much of himself and Sakura, and of Jiraiya and Tsunade. The difference was that Rin died, still he could never imagine seeing his mentor ever being bitter at the world. As for himself, well if you can survive the pain of being a jinchuuriki, then you can deal with anything.

The pair continued to talk over their meal, despite having been traveling with each other for quite some time now they continued to learn more about each other. Despite being one of Orochimaru's subordinates Naruto found her work rather interesting, even if he didn't understand most of it. He always listened with rapt attention, not wanting to miss out on anything. Karin for her part found Naruto's stories similarly riveting, after awhile she began to wonder if Naruto ever had any missions where he didn't run into some form of top class shinobi. She had heard of the first encounter with Zabuza from Sasuke but Naruto's version was more believable. Sasuke made it seem like he had defeated his opponent with ease while Naruto openly admitted they were both well and truly outclassed and only survived out of dumb luck and resilience.

Karin was also the perfect audience, always laughing at the right times and gasping when something shocking was having. Naruto was having a ball, he hadn't had so much fun in a long time, certainly not since Pein had attacked Konoha, after that it had been constant training and fighting. The realization was just now hitting him that he was finally free, he could find a nice place to live out the remainder of his years in peace, at least he hoped. That said he had to admit he would miss some of the adventures he had. Although had he stayed in Konoha there was a chance that he would have been made the next Hokage which would his time of going on missions anyway.

They were so engrossed in their conversation that their food slowly went cold thanks to the freezing wind still leaking into the cabin that was only made bareable thanks to the fire. Still they didn't mind so much the overall flavor of the meal made it bearable even when cold. Once they had finally finished their meal Naruto sighed and slowly began to stand. "We should go take a look at that map, it will make the next few days easier for us if we can find out the locations of all the northern lying outposts. A few more nights like this would be nice." Naruto admitted.

Karin nodded, for her part she could never recall having so much fun, certainly not at any point after joining Orochimaru's service. So she was quite disappointed to be forced to get back to work. 'I still can't figure Naruto out, he's seen so much pain and hardship, yet he's remained so happy. Really he's like a child,but he certainly has a serious side to himself as well. If I am honest with myself this is what I hoped Sasuke would have been like if he relaxed a little more. Although maybe not so much of an idiot as the Naruto in some of his stories.' She giggled at the last thought.

Naruto noticed this and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Uh what's so funny? Did I sit on something?" he asked frantically attempting to see if there was any mark on the back of his trousers.

Karin broke out in a fit of laughter at Naruto's antics. "No it's nothing like that. I was just thinking about something funny that's all." she chuckled.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Oh so what was so funny?" he asked.

"That would be my secret." she teased before walking past the lightly disappointed blond with a smirk. "Now come on, you wanted to check out this map didn't you?"

Naruto nodded and followed after the kunoichi. 'Ah man why do I get the feeling that she is laughing at me?' Naruto thought self consciously.

'Maybe because you are still and Idiot. Regardless it does not matter what that woman thinks, you should not engage her. She's proven herself to be incompetent yet you still keep her around.' Kurama growled in annoyance inside his head.

'Ah come on Kurama, Karin isn't that bad, it's quite nice having her around.' Naruto reasoned.

Kurama let out a feral growl that only the Kyuubi could, filled with malice and anger. 'Despite what you may think Naruto, I hold no love for your friends, or mankind in general for that matter. I am loyal to you and you alone, my only goal is to keep you safe. While that... woman is around you are far from being safe. So do not do anything so foolish as to gain an emotional attachment to her.' the fox warned angrily.

Naruto sighed and slowly nodded. 'Don't worry Kurana, I have no desire to become attached to Karin, once we are over these mountains I am sure we will go our separate ways.'

Kurama couldn't tell for sure but he thought he heard a hint of sadness in his jinchuuriki words, since Naruto had mastered his emotions to take control of his powers reading the blonds mood had become harder. 'I hope you are right Naruto, but remember that you are not the only one that can become attached.' the Kyuubi spoke. Kurama had improved a lot but his natural distrust of humanity would not be worn out over a few months. As far as the giant fox was concerned Naruto was the one human worthy of his respect and protection.

Naruto didn't answer the fox this time as Karin had removed the map from the wall and placed it over a square table that fit the size of the map perfectly. The only indicator to what he was thinking was a slight smile forcing it's way upon the edge of his lips. "This is a really complex map, there are lots of signs I don't even recognize." Karin admitted looking over the ragged piece of paper.

Naruto scratched his head, also confused about what many of the odd signs may mean. "Looks like it's written with a code that Iwa shinobi use." he guessed taking a seat and started poking the map, as if expecting something to change and make it easier to read by touching it.

Karin was almost surprised, as far as academics went she knew Naruto was not exactly the top student, but he deduced that perfectly. Different villages would use special codes on their maps to conceal areas of importance to the individual villages. "I can probably work a basic key if you have another map with at least some of this area." she said after studying the symbols slightly closer. She did have some experience with breaking codes while working with Orochimaru, it was not her strongest area but she was confident she could at least decipher enough of the map to make it useful. "The more detailed the better." she added as an after thought while Naruto began searching his traveling pack for a map.

"Here you go. As unfortunate as having to leave Iwame was I at least got all the equipment we will need before I was attacked." the blond sighed handing Karin folded map. "It doesn't cover the same area and it's not shinobi quality but it's the best I could find." he admitted.

Karin inspected the two maps for a few moments slowly tracing the path that the pair had taken from Iwame on the map Naruto supplied. "Hmm" she hummed with slight intrigue.

"What is it?" Naruto asked. He was hoping that Karin had made a breakthrough.

"I should be able to work with this, there have been some changes in the landscape judging on the two maps. I guess it is to be expected in a part of the world where landslides are an almost daily occurrence. It could take a while but I should be able to decipher at least the locations of Iwa's hideouts up in the mountains." Karin answered.

"Alright, do you need anything? I may not be good at smart things like deciphering maps but I can do other things. I brought some tea when I was out buying equipment, I'm not that big of a fan but I thought you might like it. I can make you some if you want." Naruto said. He didn't like that he was still basically useless at the none physical side of being a ninja. Sure he may be one of the strongest people currently alive, but things like codes and passwords still made him feel like the dead last in the academy.

"Um that would be nice, thanks." Karin agreed. She was once more left bewildered by Naruto. 'He doesn't even like tea much, but he brought some just in case I liked it. How can anyone be that nice? Or is it just because I am so used to being around the wrong type of people? Gah damn you Naruto, how can their be such a big difference between you and everyone else I have met. Well that's not true, some of those guards of my cell in Konoha were quite kind considering I was a prisoner.' Karin was so lost in her internal conflict she had completely spaced out when Naruto returned. "Gah I gotta stop thinking about him." she said suddenly shaking herself awake.

"Uh, thinking about who?" Naruto asked while setting down a cup in front of the red headed kunoichi.

Karin first paled, then went as deep a red as her hair. "Um... I was thinking about the man who made this map... Yeah, just thinking about how skilled he was at code." she lied.

While many wouldn't have believed her, and she fully expected to be called out on it. Naruto was still as clueless as ever, his experiences with Hinata had apparently taught him nothing. "Oh. Yeah thinking up codes must be tough. Well unless you're someone like Shikamaru, he would be able to come up with something perfect in a matter of seconds." Naruto said with his standard foxy grin.

"Sounds like he's really smart." Karin sighed relieved that Naruto had believed her.

"Yeah he's the smartest person I know. The only problem is he's really lazy." Naruto chuckled.

Karin giggled lightly as she returned her attention to the two maps. Silence filled the room as Karin worked, Naruto despite being the impatient type did not want to distract her in the chance that she may make a mistake, that would lead them to become horribly lost.

"I think I've got it! If I am right then we might have a far easier time over the next few days." Karin said, smugly pushing her thin glasses higher up the bridge of her nose.

"Why is that? If it doesn't stop snowing so heavily it doesn't look like we are going to get very far at all." Naruto replied skeptically.

"Iwa have underground passageways that connect all their outposts, or at least most of them. For some reason the paths stop before the outpost that is at the most northern point." Karin replied.

"Wow you're amazing Karin, we could take days, if not weeks off the trip north." Naruto beamed.

"Of course, I was one of the best scientists in all of the Oto bases after all." she said contently.

"So where do you think the entrance to the underground passageway is?" Naruto asked.

"Hm I don't know I would say it's downstairs in the armory. Let's go have a look, the light down there is not so good so two pairs of eyes will be better than one." Karin answered.

Naruto nodded readily and jumped up to his feet. "Alright it's still early, and it will save us some time tomorrow morning."

The staircase that led down to the underground area of the outpost was hidden behind a old false wall, only the decay of time allowed it to be visible, several large holes gave it's position away quite spectacularly. "They went through quite a lot of effort to keep this place hidden. A tiny staircase right up against the edge of the building, if you couldn't see it you would think it was just the outside wall." Naruto marveled.

"Yeah I was hopeful of finding something interesting down here earlier. But I guess Iwa would want to keep their weapons hidden should any invaders ever overrun this place. Not that anyone would ever want too." Karin said taking out a small chakra powered torch.

The stairs were steep, almost straight down. Naruto added chakra to his feet just to be on the safe side, last thing he wanted was to slip and fall knowing Karin was on the stairs below him. One thing Naruto did notice quite pleasantly, was the fact that it was warm down their. Although the comfort that added was small when the area was so dark he couldn't even see his feet, only Karin's torch lit the way. Naruto waited until he made it to the bottom of the stairs before retrieving his own torch. The light instantly illuminated a large room easily as large as the cabin above them although it was completely empty. Some small scuff marks indicated that the room was once filled with furniture of some form. "It's much warmer down here, even without the fire I don't think I need my jacket. They must have used this area more often during the winter to stay warm." Naruto guessed.

"Well the upstairs would be warm as well if we closed the door properly. But I think you are right regardless. The ground is a perfect insulator, regardless of where one of Oto's bases were, anything underground stayed at a pleasant temperature." Karin agreed.

"So any idea's where the entrance to the tunnels may be?" Naruto asked looking around the room with his light. Several doors branched out off either wall but none of them looked like they were large enough to hold a pathway of any sort.

"No idea. Judging by the effort that they went through to hide the staircase down here, I would say it's hidden behind another false wall. Just look for anything that seems out of place." Karin suggested.

"Hm you mean like everything here, this whole place seems odd to me." Naruto said flatly.

"Oh just shut up and get to work." Karin snapped although there was no real malice in her words.

The pair split up each taking separate sides of the underground complex. Every so often Naruto would whine about not being able to see anything different about any of the rooms. 'What about you Kurama? Can you sense anything?' the blond asked after searching his third room.

'No I can't sense anything. But that shouldn't matter all that much at all. I would have found the entrance to the passageway by now if I was in your shoes.' the large fox yawned slightly bored by the current events.

'How?' Naruto asked slightly shocked.

'By doing what you and I do best... By destroying things. Just channel some Senjutsu and knock a hole in each of the walls, the one that gives, or is hollow, is obviously hiding something.' Kurama answered plainly.

'You know Kakashi-sensei would call that reckless and over the top.' Naruto chuckled.

'Well it's a good thing the cyclops isn't here. Now go destroy something.' Kurama ordered.

'Well I can't argue with your logic.' Naruto replied taking sitting down cross legged in the center of the room and began channeling his senjutsu.

'You can't argue with anyone's logic, you need to be smart to be able to do that. Of course I am disregarding Uchiha logic, they go about trying to destroy the world ever time they get a small disappointment.' Kurama laughed.

Naruto deadpanned almost losing his focus in channeling Senjutsu. 'They were not all bad. Surely.' Naruto sighed, he knew that no matter how long he lived Kurama would never see the Uchiha clan in a good light.

Kurama seemed to find Naruto's statement highly amusing and couldn't help but laugh. 'Put it this way Naruto. The only decent, mentally stable Uchiha you met was Itachi. Yet he was the one who killed off his entire clan. What does that say about the clan if the black sheep of their family was one of the biggest hero's in Konoha's history. The only good Uchiha is a dead Uchiha.' the fox declared.

Naruto just sighed, he had no desire to argue with his companion on this topic, for the most part Kurama had lightened up considerably. But you don't lose hundreds of years of hatred and anger over a few months, even with Naruto as your jinchuuriki.

Karin almost dropped her torch, the room began to be saturated in chakra, and it didn't take a genius to figure out where it was coming from. "What is this!?" she gasped breathlessly. She closed her eyes and once more indulged herself in the warmth that was Naruto's chakra. Only this time it was different, not overwhelming and wild like when he was fighting the former Iwa Anbu, this was gentle yet she could tell extremely powerful. 'Amazing, it looks like the chakra is flowing around him like a protective shell. But there is something that feels so familiar about it.' she thought completely forgetting her task to find the hidden pathway.

Naruto opened his eyes, the light from his torch ouncing against a nearby wall illuminating his barlike pupils and the deep red pigment surrounding his now golden eyes. "Heh looks like I don't need to destroy all the walls after all." Naruto said out loud.

'What do you mean?' Kurama questioned somewhat stunned by Naruto's declaration.

'I can feel the exit. Well to be more precise I can feel the air, flowing from upstairs into the wall. Regardless it was a good idea to use Sage Mode, thanks Kurama.' Naruto answered calmly. Regardless of what was happening Naruto always felt more at peace in Sage Mode, it was just something about being connected with all nature around him and being able to sense even the slightest change in his surroundings.

Naruto slowly rose to his feet dusting himself off, the amount of dirt on the floor after being empty for such a long time was monumental, the only clean part was the area Naruto had been dusting with his ass. As the blond exited the room he found Karin standing there looking apprehensive. "Are... are you alright Naruto?" she asked cautiously.

"I'm fine, I know where the exit is, follow me." Naruto replied walking to an inconspicuous doorway in the far corner of the main room.

The light from Karin's torch flicked across his face as he crossed the room and she almost dropped to the floor. She now knew where she had felt this new chakra before. Juugo, when he went out of control it was the same, yet Naruto's was refined, calm. While Juugo was at times a slave to his power, Naruto was it's master. 'He doesn't have a curse mark, but this concentration is far higher than any curse mark anyway. Hell it's stronger than Juugo when he transformed and he was part of the source for the curse marks.' she thought. Her torch hung limply at her side, still unable to walk.

"Are you coming?" Naruto asked in a joking voice.

The question shook the kunoichi from her daze and she followed after him silently cursing herself for acting like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar. She found her resolve when she entered the room however. "How did you get that chakra?" she asked firmly.

"Huh?" Naruto asked clearly puzzled by Karin's accusatory tone.

"You heard me! That chakra, you have saturated your body with it. Nothing good can come of using it. That same chakra drove Juugo to madness." she warned.

"Huh, it's Senjutsu. It can't drive anyone mad... Well maybe if they couldn't balance the levels of Senjutsu, and normal chakra, and they almost turned to stone. It almost happened to me a few times, luckily Fukusaku-sama was there to him me with his cane." Naruto replied, although he winced slightly at the memory of being hit in the head multiple times.

Karin was stunned. "Sen-jut-su... Fuku-sa-ku-sama?" she stammered completely lost with Naruto's explanation. Something that is not easy to do to a scientists, even if they are only sixteen.

"Senjutsu is nature chakra. I convert the energy of nature into my own. It strengthens me considerably. Fukusaku-sama, is one of the great Toad Sages who taught me how to use Senjutsu after Ero-sennin was killed. Trust me Karin, I'm perfectly fine. Now let me show you where the tunnel to the next outpost is." Naruto explained.

Karin nodded understanding the process, she was also incredibly intrigued at the process. "Can anyone learn how to do that?" she asked.

"Well I guess so, but the training needs to take place in specific areas. I think only certain summons have the knowledge and they only teach those that they deem worthy. I was only chosen because Ero-sennin believed in me and the elders had faith in his judgment." Naruto said walking up to the northern wall and placing his ear against it. "This is it." He added confidently.

Karin was a little dejected, she had no summons, nor was it something that she could ask Naruto to teach her. From the sound of it, Senjutsu was a closely guarded secret only given to a select few. She watched in awe as Naruto demolished the fake wall with a single punch revealing a massive tunnel that traveled further than her torchlight would allow. "Amazing." she gaped in awe. She then decided to take this moment to ask another question that had sprung to mind. "When you were fighting with Asahi, you were covered in a chakra shroud, it felt much stronger than you do now, was that a more advanced form of Senjutsu?"

Naruto paused for a moment, he knew she would ask about his fox cloak eventually. He was certainly not ashamed to be the jinchuuriki of Kyuubi, but he didn't know how Karin would react. "That was something else. I'll tell you about it some other time." Naruto said.

'Why not tell her the truth?' Kurama asked.

'I didn't want her to over react. She's basically stuck here with me now, what if she thinks I'm a monster or something. Unlike the people of Konoha I am not a hero to her.' Naruto answered.

'The chances are she already knows. That woman spent a lot of time with that Uchiha, that constantly tried to kill you. Who you called a friend.' Kurama scoffed.

'So?'

'So he would have mentioned that you were a jinchuuriki when they were out hunting the Hachibi.'

Naruto closed his eyes realizing that Kurama was probably right. 'I still don't want to make things difficult between us. I will tell her when we are safely over these mountains and she can go her own way.' he declared.

Since Kurama and Naruto found a common ground and became allies, and friends they had not had many serious disagreements. They would argue but most of the time it was rather lighthearted. But there was tension brewing over Karin. 'I don't like her. She is using you to survive. But it is your life, and I have warned to may times. So this will be the last thing I have to say on the matter. I will not hesitate to kill her should she threaten you. If need be I will warn her myself should she continue to grow... attached to you.' the fox replied. Kurama may be old and used to being alone, but now he had finally found a friend he would not let harm come to him if he could help it.

Naruto couldn't help but smile. 'I truly hope it doesn't come to that Kurama.' his conversation over Naruto's attention returned to the outside world. "Well looks like we have a nice shortcut through part of the mountains. It's getting pretty late, lets get some sleep so we can make an early start in the morning.

Karin gave a weak smile in agreement. 'I hope I didn't upset him when I asked about his fight with Asahi. Kami I'm such an idiot!' she berated herself as they both ascended the steep stairs, before separating into their separate bedrooms.

End Chapter!

Well another chapter done. Not all that much happened, at the moment I am still focusing on the interaction between Naruto and Karin, establishing their characters. Karin is slightly more difficult as her main character trait is the way she pines after Sasuke while alone but acts distant and aggressive with company. I will have to wait to use that until she has come to terms with having a crush on Naruto, and for other characters to enter their part of the story.

Nightfall will be updated Next Week, hopefully before Xmas.

Thanks for reading.