And I give you the next chapter! I hope you guys all enjoy it and thank you all so much for the reviews, as I said I do read them all even if I no longer reply because it would take hours and the replies would be longer than the freaking chapters! To the person who asked if this would be Sasuke/Karin I cannot say for certain yet, sorry. I have yet to decide entirely and there's still time for votes to change if people decide on other ships. On saying that it is still the most popular ship for Sasuke and I can say she won't have that ridiculous hero worship attitude-in case people haven't realized I hate fangirls lol-and Sasuke won't be saving her in the Forest of Death so she won't form that idolization of him.
Anyways just so you guys know I'm currently writing chapter 49! So I have a good little backlog if I can't write for a while, there's not much news on my nephew for those who've asked.
Also for those who want people to recognize Naruto, I promise people will-I've decided who Minato and Kushina's Genin teams were-though I know the teams are almost 100% not what they were in cannon lol, and that will come up later.

Naruto moved quickly, ripping Gaara's shirt upwards to reveal the seal on his belly, and she got to work, unsealing the ink and brush on her arm, dipping the ink into the brush and carefully tracing the familiar pattern that she'd been spending so much time practicing lately-she'd wanted to get it right after all.
The best way to deal with the seal was to place the new one and activate it right before removing the old one.

Of course that did make it more painful-the seals would interact for a few precious seconds, but Naruto knew she had to do it in order to help Gaara without risking Shukaku bursting free if he was given the chance-the Tanuki didn't have the close bond with Gaara that she had with Kurama she had no doubt that he'd leave the red haired boy in a heartbeat, and that would kill him which was the opposite of what she wished to do.

Her heart was pounding as she moved, tracing the brush just so-she was always lazer focused when she was doing seals, one wrong move could generally blow them up in your face-but this... if it went wrong it could cause a hell of a lot more damage, and she was concerned about Sasuke and Sakura, how they were coping with stopping Gaara's siblings from doing anything stupid.

As she finished tracing the final sweeping curve she took a deep breath and pushed her Chakra into the ink-and it burned a vivid red-and even with the paralysis seal holding his body still, Gaara managed to open his mouth and scream in agony.

Naruto winced as Gaara's old seal glowed beneath the new one and she moved quickly, forcing herself not to shake as Gaara's screams echoed around them and the sand that had been a barrier rushed inwards, undoubtedly an instinctual reaction and not an intentional one.

She could see her teammates now, and Gaara's siblings, who had clearly been fighting with Sasuke and Sakura-all four of them were bruised and cut up-and they all turned when the barrier rushed inwards, she could hear Sakura screaming her name, but she didn't falter, couldn't falter.

She removed the old seal with a gasp, just as the sand reached her and she threw herself forward over the top of Gaara, slapping her hand over the seal on his cheek and removing it-that one was simpler, all it took was some of her chakra to remove it.

As soon as it was gone Gaara had his arms around her and the sand stopped, barely a hairs distance from Naruto's skin, she'd screwed her eyes, shut, but she opened it when the roaring of the sand stopped, and she pushed herself up quickly, Gaara releasing her and meeting her worried gaze with wide awed pale green eyes.

"Thank you." the words were barely more than a whisper as he sat up, and they both sat panting for a moment before Naruto tilted her head back and let herself laugh.

"Now that was a close one." and much to her joy Gaara's lips twitched.

"You truly don't fear me or my sand."

"Of course not Gaara-kun-"

"Did you just ca-"

"I just freaking met your inner demon and fixed your seal I can call you whatever the hell I like." Naruto shot back quickly, which made Gaara laugh. It was a hesitant noise-clearly he was unused to laughing, but it was there, and she heard Kankuro and Temari's confused noises.

She turned her head, raising an eyebrow as she looked at her own teammates "Did you guys get in a fight or something?"

"Just a little." Sakura shrugged, "We did try and tell them you were helping him."

"What-what did you do?" Temari demanded, jerking forward slightly, "Gaara-"

"I am fine." Gaara managed a slightly shaky smile, "I am better than fine. Naruto-san fixed the seal. Shukaku is no longer in pain and no longer screaming
in my head. Will I be able to sleep now Naruto-san?"

"Yep." Naruto nodded, "Shu won't be able to break through and seize control anymore."

"You... you fixed him?" Kankuro's brows furrowed and he stared at Naruto in a mix of shock and fear.

"That's one way to put it." Naruto gave Kankuro a dark look, "I would say I fixed the seal. There was nothing wrong with Gaara himself it was what your shoddy Fuinjutsu experts did that was the problem-that and your villages treatment of him I have no doubt-"

"How dar-" Temari started, but Sakura cut her off by punching her in the face, hard.

"Naruto-chan just helped your brother and stopped him from hurting people in his sleep you treat her with respect!"

"Why you-"

"Temari-neechan." Gaara's voice was sharp, "Stand down." he managed to get to his feet, stumbling slightly as he moved towards his siblings "You will not hurt Naruto-chan's teammates." he ordered, his sand swirling around him softly now. "We will part ways peacefully."

"Of course." Naruto nodded her head, "My team should probably head off and get ourselves some scrolls." she gave the boy a little wave, "See you around." with that she was taking off, Sasuke and Sakura close behind her, and once they were out of eartshot she added, "I don't wanna be there when Gaara falls asleep and doesn't wake up for hours-he's got a lotta sleep to catch up on."

"Guess they'll probably fall behind a bit." Sakura remarked, "Think we can be the first back to the tower?"

"Possibly." Naruto nodded thoughtfully, "All of the groups of clones were supposed to be heading towards the tower so they'll have made good progress, and since they have my kunai that should cut our travel time down dramatically.

"What's our next move?" Sasuke looked towards Sakura, who frowned thoughtfully, biting her lip as she considered things before she nodded to herself.

"We stop in a second to regroup and tend any injuries-I have some cuts and bruises and so do both of you."

"Thankfully they weren't going all out." Sasuke shook his head, "They were too worried about their brother."

"Shame they didn't worry about him when he needed it." Naruto muttered bitterly, shaking her head.

"It's okay Naruto-chan." Sakura glanced at the youngest of the group, "You did something really good today I can feel it."

"Sakura's right." Sasuke gave a quick nod, "He didn't look like he was ready to kill any more."

As he spoke they found a sheltered little area and came to a halt, Naruto pouting slightly as she examined her clothes.

"Awe, they're ruined."

"You're gonna need to buy some more with how fast you're wearing those out." Sakura shook her head, "Do you have a change of clothes."

"Yep."

"Good, while you're getting changed I'll check you over-"

"I heal fast Sakura-chan you should stay with Sasuke."

"Fine." Sakura nodded, and Naruto jogged so that she was behind some trees, unsealing a pack that held some fresh clothes and getting changed quickly-her arms had been rubbed raw by the sand, but thankfully Kurama's Chakra had already gotten to work healing her.

She used a bit of water from a bottle in her pack to wipe away the blood and once that was done she changed into a fresh set of clothes, shoving the dirty ones into the pack and sealing it away into the storage seal on her left shoulder.

Then she headed back out to rejoin her teammates, who were both sat, Sakura leaning over Sasuke, a glowing green hand held just above his arm, the cut healing even as she pulled her hand away.

"You guys okay?"

"Yea-" Sakura started to speak before Sasuke paused.

"How do we know you're Naruto. We should have made a codeword."

"Ugh." Naruto groaned, "You're probably right but it's annoying."

"Tell us something only Naruto-chan would know." Sakura ordered quickly, catching on.

"I'm the one who taught Sakura-chan tree walking. Now you guys tell me something only you'd know."

"We met Haku before the fight at the bridge and we thought she was a girl."

"I po-wait you what?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "You-god you two are such dumbasses-"

"Shut up asshole." Naruto snorted, "I think we can safely say he's Sasuke. How's your arm?"

"Fine now. You're getting pretty good at your medical jutsu." Sasuke gave Sakura a small nod of acknowledgement and she nodded, a proud look on her face.

"I've been training hard with Rin-san."

"You're badass Sakura-chan." Naruto sat down with her teammates, "Want some food before we continue, maybe some ration bars?"

"Sounds good." Sasuke nodded, and Naruto unsealed the pack that was in the seal in her left shoulder-their food supplies, and some water, and she tossed them both some rations bars, "And some water?"

"Duh." Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Naruto obligingly poured them both out small cups of water, and Sakura watched for a moment before her eyes narrowed.

"Naruto-chan. Other than ration bars what do we have to eat?"

"Uh-mom packed us a few lots of riceballs."

"And?"

"Um..." Naruto put on her most innocent expression, hugging the bag tightly as Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"Naruto give me the bag."

"No."

"Naruto." this time it was Sakura, who was almost glaring, "Give us the bag."

"No-" Sasuke lunged at Naruto, as did Sakura, and they tussled for the bag, until Naruto regretfully let Sasuke snatch it off of her, pouting as she did.

"In my defence you left me in control of the rations."

"Oh kami." Sasuke groaned loudly as he pulled out pot after pot of instant ramen.

"Naruto!" Sakura glared, "Did you seriously just pack instant ramen?"

"There's ration bars and rice balls-"

"That's a yes." Sasuke sighed heavily, shoving the ramen back into the pack and throwing it at her, "Right, that's it we're moving now and getting an Earth
scroll as fast as possible-"

"Wait what?"

"I am not spending the next five days stuck out here eating ramen!" Sasuke glared at the blonde.

"I agree with Sasuke-kun." Sasuke looked torn between amusement and annoyance as she shook her head, "You're ridiculous."

"You love me though."

"I dunno why." Sakura declared firmly, shaking her head, "Now let's get going." and once Naruto had resealed her bag they took off again, munching on their ration bars as they made their way through the forest.

It didn't take long for them to come upon a team, one from Kusa, though there were only two of them there.

It was almost laughably easy for the trip to take out the two Kusa nin, both boys were ridiculously easy to take down, they had no awareness of their surroundings, so when Sasuke had sent a hail of kunai at them and Sakura had drop kicked one of them over the head, knocking him out cold.

It had been almost laughable how quickly the boy who was still conscious, albeit cut up from the kunai, had gasped out that they didn't have their scroll, that their teammate had gotten lost with it.

Sakura had knocked that one out too before the trio had been on the move again, and this time they heard a voice before seeing something-a girls voice, screaming.

Naruto took the lead, speeding forward and bursting into another clearing-where a girl with vivid red hair and red eyes was sprawled out on the ground, screaming, a scroll clutched tightly in her hand, with a bear attacking her.

Naruto surged forward out of the trees, kicking the bear in the head and knocking it away from the red haired girl, who scrambled backwards, snatching a pair of glasses from the ground next to her and putting them on with shaking hands.

"W-who are you?"

"Nohara Naruto." Naruto's eyes flicked from the Kusa headband to the Earth scroll, "And I'm sorry but I need your scroll-"

"Take it." the girls voice was panicked as she tossed the scroll to Naruto, "I don't even want to be here anyway! Just take it-"

Naruto caught the scroll, frowning, "Woah calm down. I wasn't gonna hurt you. I'm good enough that I wouldn't need to." her brows furrowed, "What's your name?"

"I-Uzumaki Karin-"

"What?" Naruto's eyes went wide, "Did you just say Uzumaki?"

"Yes." Karin looked away quickly, and Naruto's mouth dropped open in surprise, which was when Sasuke and Sakura arrived.

"Everything okay?" Sakura frowned, "Naruto-chan?"

"You look like you've seen a ghost asshole."

"She's an Uzumaki." Naruto breathed out, her eyes flicking to Sakura-who she'd told her mothers name, and she saw the pink haired girls eyes widen.

"Oh kami."
"

She's family."

"What?" Karin scrambled to her feet, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm... technically I have Uzumaki blood." Naruto swallowed hard, focusing on Karin again, "You... that would make us family-distant though it may be."

"I... I don't.. I thought I was the last Uzumaki-"

"No, no I... I don't go by Uzumaki for.. reasons, but I am one technically speaking."

"What do we do?" that was Sasuke, who was frowning, "I assume she's the girl who's teammates we took out-"

"You took them out?" Karin's eyes widened before she nodded, "Good. They abandoned me."

"Assholes." Naruto scowled, "I... do you want to stick with us for now Karin-chan?"

"I..." Karin hesitated, glancing between the three of them before nodding, "You feel safe-"

"Feel?" Naruto tilted her head, "What do you mean by that?"

"I... I can sense Chakra signatures-"

"Oh wow." Naruto's eyes widened "That's like, super rare."

"Yours is really bright and warm." Karin smiled almost shyly, "It's soothing actually. It... it reminds me of my mother, Uzumaki chakra tends to be more vital than most."

"I... thank you." Naruto smiled, "Maybe the Hokage can find a way to get you to stay in Konoha if you want."

"I'd like that a lot." Karin said quickly, "Please if you can I would like that. I don't have any other family."

"We'll see what we can do." Naruto paused, "It does mean you won't pass the exams."

"I don't care! I just want to get out of here alive." Karin said quickly, "Please I'm scared I don't wanna die here."

"Okay." Naruto took a deep breath, "You won't die, we'll look after you. You're family." she declared firmly, "I'll look after you."

"So we're taking her to the Tower then." Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "Okay, but you're the one explaining to your mom."

"Hah, my mom will be easy, the Hokage might not be." Naruto grinned, "C'mon." she held up the earth scroll and held out her other hand to Karin, who accepted it after a moment of hesitation, "Now let's get going to the Tower."

"Right." Sakura nodded, moving to Naruto's side quickly, smiling warmly as she nodded at Karin.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, he's Uchiha Sasuke, it's nice to meet you Karin-san."

"I... it's nice to meet you too Sakura-san." her eyes moved to Sasuke, who rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"You can't be as bad as the dumbass-"

"I will kick your ass Uchiha." Naruto rolled her eyes, but she was smiling fondly, and together they took off, Naruto half dragging Karin with them.

It might complicate things in the future but Karin was family as far as Naruto was concerned. From this moment on the red head would be under her protection.