A/N: My apologies for being gone for so long, I'll save the excuses and thank you all for your time and patience. No, Empathy, Master's and Chains, and Kitsune Haven, T&I Uzumaki have NOT been abandoned. Though I admit, I have been having difficulty writing the next chapters for them, I am trying my best to get around it.
Thank you all so much for your support and kind reviews. It all means a lot to me and the encouragement really helps and keeps me going. As always, feedback and reviews are always welcome.
Special thanks to Midnight Lost for being my Beta Reader and Soundboard for fic ideas.
Chapter one: Pilot.
Well… this was certainly a fine kettle of fish. First, he had been blasted away by that weird gust of wind, and now this giant ass snake was trying to fucking eat him alive! "Just great… really great. Can't sink much lower, can ya Naruto?" The Uzumaki muttered to himself as he reflected on his past.
He recalled the numerous times he played pranks throughout Konoha, and noted that he had wasted valuable time on those childish hijinks instead of training. All the time he spent fawning for Sakura when her heart was already set for another. His failures and victories, the people he met during his adventures… so on and so forth.
He also reflected briefly on his dream to be Hokage… honestly speaking, he wasn't really in it for the approval of the villagers that long mistreated him. He wanted to make the village a better place for those he cared about and for those suffering similar trials to what he may have suffered in the past. Additionally, it was also a sort of revenge against those who mistreated him.
However… none of that really mattered right now as he felt the Snake's insides slowly crushing him. "I'm not gonna die here… not just yet… I won't!" Naruto promised himself… and for some reason, he couldn't help but smile without fear, even as he glared down at the serpent's dark abyss of a gullet that threatened to consume him.
"If… I can just… move my arms…" Naruto growled as he pushed against the slimy walls threatening to crush him, planning to use the Shadow Clone jutsu to force his way out. Then… without warning… what can only be described as a miracle happened.
Meanwhile, in another part of the forest.
Sakura stared out in horror as Sasuke clashed with a strange Kusa nin that appeared out of nowhere… and found that her crush was actually getting crushed, HARD. The Uchiha was completely powerless in the face of this unknown foe, he even used his entire repertoire of Jutsu to try and drive back the Kusa nin… but Sasuke's opponent either dodged or deflected all of his attempts.
At this point, it seemed like the Kusa nin had just been playing and toying with the young Uchiha… and now Sasuke was on the ground, writhing in pain after the Kusa nin had bitten him on the neck, strange black markings appearing on Sasuke's face. "I suppose you'll have to do Sasuke-kun… someday soon you'll come to seek me out for more power. It is the only way you'll ever hope to overcome Itachi." The Kusa nin spoke, a small part of his/her/their face melting away, revealing some deathly pale, chalky white skin.
"Itaaaaachiiiiiii." Sasuke growled out in rage, cursing himself for his weakness while some images of the Uchiha Massacre flooded his mind. The pale ninja ripped off the rest of the 'face' he was wearing and smiled sadistically towards the Uchiha, then directed his attention towards the form of Sakura who was frozen in terror.
"Doesn't seem worth the effort to kill a gnat like you. For now, I think it best you look after Sasuke-kun. He's not looking so well at the moment." The pale man spoke in a slightly mocking voice… then his face fell as he noticed something odd, the numerous trees began to shake violently and a loud rumbling could be heard.
The ground below began to quake and crack as the trees shook even more violently… then it hit Sakura that this was an earthquake. Taking the momentary distraction as her only chance, she quickly snatched up the fallen Uchiha and took him away as fast as she could carry him, leaving behind the serpent-like man who seemed busy steadying himself.
He grimaced a bit, but decided that this was fine. He accomplished his objective with the Uchiha, once the Curse mark was set in, he'd send some foes in the boy's direction for a more thorough testing. For now though, he would wait until the earth settled… unknown to him, these quakes and many more phenomena were happening everywhere.
In the span of the next few minutes, the Shinobi Nations experienced strange weather and other phenomenon. In Suna, snow began to fall heavily, blanketing the hot deserts and the village itself without any warning.
In Iwa, massive tornadoes appeared and began tearing through the lands with unnatural force. In Kumo, massive tidal waves and typhoons began crashing at their borders.
In Ame, the ever-present rainfall came to a sudden stop with the raindrops suspended in mid-air before suddenly ascending back up into the sky.
In Kiri, a massive thunderstorm appeared as bolts of lightning rained down from the heavens, obliterating a large portion of the village.
And on and on these happenings continued, the universal reaction of the people, as one would expect, was that of shock, confusion, and terror… then just as mysteriously as it all started… it suddenly came to a stop. Once things finally calmed… there was only one question that people could ask, 'What form of power could have caused this to happen?'
Meanwhile. Back with Naruto.
"Ow. Ow. Ow. What the hell happened?" Naruto asked himself as he emerged from the smoldering carcass of the giant serpent that had attempted to devour him. The blonde tried to recall what happened as he racked his brain for an explanation.
He remembered that his body had gotten all hot, then everything went black, then he heard some kind of explosion, and then when he opened his eyes again, the Snake had been fried from the inside-out and split open by unknown means. Choosing not to question his good fortune, the blonde was simply happy to be alive and well.
Now he had to regroup with his team and complete this leg of the exam so he could get the hell out of this crazy forest. He felt himself shudder a bit as a tingling sensation ran across his body, he looked down and noted that the upper half of his jumpsuit had been destroyed leaving his upper body exposed. "Whoa… did I bulk up?" The blonde asked himself as he took note that his arms were much more muscular and he was now rocking a six-pack as well, his new build being similar to that of a swimmer.
"Huh… did I unlock some kind of a bloodline or something? Wonder what it is or does exactly." He wondered aloud as he flexed his right arm, admiring his newfound form. He couldn't help but smile a little since it seemed that the heavens had finally smiled upon him. Whatever this Bloodline was, it just might help give him the boost he needed to advance in his Shinobi career.
He then winced a bit upon noting that his pants felt uncomfortable tight around his lower body, it would seem he would need to acquire a change of clothes as soon as possible. However, that was something to deal with later since he had more important matters to attend to… namely reuniting with his team and escaping from this hell-hole.
His musing was interrupted when he heard a loud scream echoing across the forest, prompting him to look in the direction of the noise since it sounded a lot like Sakura. Off in the distance, he saw a girl with red hair and glasses, running for dear life from a very large and very, VERY, angry bear that was hot on her heels. Naruto in good conscience couldn't bring himself to leave the girl behind to be mauled or potentially eaten, so he decided to rescue her.
Focusing some Chakra to his legs, he launched himself on an intercept course to cut off the bear so he could draw it off or something. Naruto found himself moving much faster than he had ever gone before as he jumped from branch to branch amongst the trees, and in the span of a few short seconds, found himself almost on top of his quarry.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto called out as he summoned a pair of clones who then grabbed his arms, and then like a slingshot, threw him forward in the direction of the bear, causing the blonde to slam into the bear's massive body… and make it fly away which made it collide into a tree with enough force to snap its neck before falling to the ground completely limp.
"Whoa… didn't realize I'd gotten that strong… but I'll still take it." Naruto whispered to himself since he had planned on throwing the bear off balance and distracting it for a bit so that the girl could get away… but this worked better. He could bring the bear back to his team with the help of his clones for food, that way he wouldn't be coming back totally empty-handed.
"Holy crap… you… you killed it." The girl spoke that had been previously chased by the now deceased bear, apparently the sound of it impacting against the tree caught her attention and made her stop upon seeing her rescuer. She was staring at the Uzumaki boy with tearful eyes filled with gratitude for the rescue, her legs shaking beneath her as she slowly sank to the ground, no doubt being exhausted from the run and from sheer terror.
"You okay there?" He asked the girl, at his question the crimson haired girl scrambled to her feet and wrapped her arms around his midsection in a hug as she repeated 'Thank you' over and over again. From what he could tell, he couldn't see any serious injuries, she was probably just in shock for the moment. She'd need a bit to calm down a bit, but otherwise she'd be just fine… though she'd probably have nightmares relating to bears for a long while.
Then, all of a sudden she released him from the hug and recoiled in disgust while exclaiming "Holy crap! You frickin' stink!" For a brief moment, the whiskered teen felt insulted since he took good care when it came to personal hygiene… then he remembered where he had recently been and understood the reason for her reaction.
"Oh. Right. Sorry. Ya see, a snake tried to eat me just a bit ago. You're probably smelling that." He explained while rubbing the back of his head, causing the spectacled girl to nod in understanding.
"Yeesh, looks like I'm not the only one having a bad day, huh? Umm… thanks again. My name is Karin." She spoke and then gave a polite bow as she introduced herself… Then her body went rigid as she stared wide-eyed at her rescuer as some drool suddenly fell from her lips.
"Umm… nice to meet you Karin. I'm Naruto Uzumaki… why are you looking at me like that?" He asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable with her staring, his question seemed to quickly snap her out of her stupor as she wiped the drool from her lips and adjusted her glasses.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't meant to stare or freak you out. It's just… I don't think I have ever met anyone with such enormous Chakra reserves in my entire life before." She answered, her words causing Naruto to gain a better understanding of what she meant.
"Oh. You can sense my Chakra huh? You must be what's called a 'Sensor'. I once read from somewhere that some Ninjas have advanced Sensory abilities and can detect the Chakra signatures of others. Sounds like a useful skill. Anyways, where's your team?" He asked out of curiosity, in response to his question Karin pointed towards the deceased bear, more specifically its massive paws that were covered in blood. By the looks of it, her teammates didn't make it.
"Told them it was a bad idea to mess around, but would they listen? Nooooo, what do I know? I'm just the… never mind." She grumbled as she rubbed her arms a bit, from the sounds of it, there seemed to be a story here, but the blonde didn't wish to pry into it.
"Sounds like you weren't treated all that well, huh? No serious loss then. Anyways… Do you, uhh, wanna come with me? Wouldn't feel right to leave you here all alone." He offered and extended a hand to the crimson haired girl, who quickly took it with a heartfelt smile.
"Thank you again… you're a really nice guy. By the way… where is YOUR team?" Karin asked since the blonde was all alone, had his teammates gotten themselves killed as well?
"Oh right. I got separated from them. I was about to go looking for them, then I heard you screaming. Would you mind helping me out? That Sensory power of yours would be a big help." Naruto requested, earning an eager nod from Karin who now had a bright smile, obviously wishing to help pay back her rescuer.
"It'd be my pleasure… but… before we do anything else… there's something I have to do first. You saved my life, I owe you my life in return. So… I gotta do this." She spoke as she pulled out a Kunai, the blonde was confused as he wondered what she was going to do, but decided to stay quiet and see how this played out.
She pressed the tip of the kunai into her thumb until some blood was drawn, she then took Naruto's hand and looked up at him as if silently asking permission. He gave a nod of assent, prompting her to use the kunai to draw blood from his own thumb. Once that was done, she pressed their bleeding thumbs together and spoke "I, Karin… now formerly of Kusa, hereby swear a life-debt to Naruto Uzumaki, now sealed in blood. Where he goes, I follow. Whatever his goals, I will support. From here on, I am at his service until the Shinigami takes me."
Naruto was silent for a few moments, he had heard of life-debts before and in some cases, the oaths that follow with them. Though he never thought that such an oath would be given to him like this. He briefly thought about Haku and wondered if the ice user had sworn such an oath to Zabuza given Haku's intense and unwavering loyalty to the swordsman.
Now that the oath was complete, Karin gave a satisfied sigh and smiled before speaking "Okie-dokie! I'm all ready now! Is there anything you can tell me about how to find your team? Any clues might help me narrow down my search."
The blonde hummed in thought as he tried to think of anything that might help Karin locate them, he then hesitantly pointed in a general direction and spoke "I think I was last with them somewhere that way, but I'm not sure. They likely moved on since then. Not sure if this helps, but one's a guy and the other's a girl… although I think Kakashi, our sensei, once mentioned that Sakura's Chakra reserves were fairly weak."
"A boy, a girl, one having weak Chakra reserves… I've made do with far less. Give me a sec." Karin spoke as she began to concentrate and began her search for potential Chakra signatures. She found a few that were in groups of three, and immediately ignored them before moving on with her search. As she did this she couldn't help but think to herself 'Huh… he said his name was 'Uzumaki'... but he doesn't have the red hair. Mixed heritage maybe? Well… I'll ask him about it later when we're out of these fucking woods.'
As she did this, Naruto summoned a group of clones to prepare the dead bear for transport, as they began to work together to lift the bear… Naruto took note of a tattoo on their backs that resembled a golden dragon. (A/N: Think Ryuji Goda's tattoo, Yakuza game series.)
He had to admit, the tattoo was pretty badass, but he certainly didn't remember getting such a tattoo… he could only conclude that it must have appeared after his bloodline awakened… he also wondered if it had a different purpose than for aesthetic reasons. He had no time to consider the subject further as Karin called out "Ah-ha! Naruto! I got a hit! I think it might be them!"
At that, the blonde grinned as he cracked his neck and spoke "Okay Karin. Lead the way please." The spectacled girl gave a quick thumbs-up and took off in the direction of the Chakra signatures she detected, allowing for the Jinchuuriki and his clones to follow after her. This had definitely been a trying day… but he and his team weren't out of the exams just yet, and he was dead-set on becoming a Chunin… if only for the sake of breaking away from Team Seven. Until that time, he'd do all he could to pull his weight and carry them to victory.
Later. With Sakura Haruno.
The sounds of loud grumbling could be heard as Sakura clutched at her empty stomach, she made a small whine but shook her head as she watched over the unconscious form of Sasuke. It had been some time now since their encounter with that creepy guy from before, they had lost their scroll to him, and Sasuke showed no signs of waking up. Even worse, he appeared to be suffering from a fever and was mumbling things in his sleep… spooky stuff, scary stuff, awful stuff. The kind of stuff that made Sakura question if her crush had ever been to visit a shrink lately.
Most of it seemed to pertain to either the Uchiha massacre, or about his elder brother Itachi. When the latter came up, Sasuke kept mumbling about the things he wished to do to his elder brother which deeply disturbed the pinkette. While she could understand her crush's intense desire for revenge the things he was talking about seemed so… cruel and unnecessary. Was this seriously the guy she had been crushing on for so long? He was honestly creeping her out right now.
She shuddered and turned her back to the unconscious Uchiha to keep a watch out for any potential enemies… or for their lost teammate Naruto. She kinda wanted to make a joke and say that he was probably 'too stupid to die' or something like that… but deep down, she knew that he was perhaps their best shot out of this mess given Team 7's current state.
She quietly lamented as she couldn't help but admit to herself that she was by far the weakest link in the team. She was smart, sure, but none of her booksmarts could help out during missions, she also didn't have any Jutsu techniques that could contribute either. Sasuke had his Fire Jutsu and Sharingan now, Naruto had his clones and virtually unwavering determination, and what did she have? A whiny and annoyingly shrill voice and not much else. Some days… a part of her believed she was placed in the wrong team.
She quickly shook her head, trying to brush off her melancholic feelings and attributed her sour mood as a result of her current hunger. "Kami, almighty Naruto… where are you when we need you most?!" She called out in frustration then quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, fearing that her voice may have just given away their position to anyone nearby.
Then, as if on cue, a crimson haired girl appeared followed by Naruto himself and a bunch of his clones that were carrying around the body of a bear. "Yo. You call Sakura?" The whiskered teen asked with a cheeky grin, making the pinkette jaw-drop in surprise.
"So this is your team huh? No offense, but it looks like they've seen better days." The spectacled girl spoke, pointing out the unconscious state of the Uchiha and the pinkette's exhausted and hungry appearance.
"Seems they had a rough day too." Naruto noted as he scratched his cheek with a lone finger. Sakura then seemed to shake off her shock and quickly rushed forward towards the blonde, her face a mixture of anger and worry.
"Naruto! Where have you been?! What happened to you?! Who is this girl with you?! How did you get ripped?!" She asked in a rapidfire manner while pointing between the blonde teen and spectacled girl.
"Inside voice please Sakura. Pretty sure you just announced our presence to everyone within a fifty mile radius. Now, take a deep breath and relax. You mind starting first explaining what happened while I was gone?" The blonde questioned, the pinkette had to mentally kick herself for making the same mistake again, she then took several deep breaths to calm herself down and decided to inform Naruto of everything that happened.
"Okay… okay… you remember that creepy Kusa nin with the long tongue at the gates? That person attacked me and Sasuke-kun and stole our scroll and then tore off their own face revealing that he was a really scary guy with pale skin and then he bit Sasuke-kun on the neck. He hasn't woken up since and there's this really weird mark on his neck now." She briefly summed up while Naruto rubbed his chin and Karin had a look of confusion.
She didn't really get all of that, but it sounds like they went through the ringer as well. Without a word, Naruto gently pushed past the Haruno and went to check on the Uchiha, he knelt down next to his teammate and pulled down his collar a bit… only to find a familiar mark on his neck, upon seeing it the blonde thought to himself 'Shit. This looks exactly like Anko's Curse Mark… that can only mean Orochimaru. Son of a bitch. I wanna tell Sakura… but I should probably wait until we're out of the woods. I shouldn't add to the pile of our already extensive list of problems.'
"This looks like serious trouble to me. We should report this to the Hokage ASAP. Now to answer your own questions Sakura, I was blasted away by a gust of wind then a snake tried to eat me alive, I unlocked a bloodline of some sort that must have triggered a massive growth spurt, I saved Karin over there from being eaten by a bear, she swore a life-debt to me, then helped guide me back to you and Sasuke." He explained to the pinkette with the spectacled girl giving a quick two-fingered salute to greet her new comrade.
"Whoa." Was all the pinkette could say as she blinked her eyes she wanted to ask more about his new friend, but her stomach growled loudly which made her blush profusely, at that Naruto simply chuckled and spoke "Uh-oh, growling bellies. I knew this may be a problem, luckily I came prepared. Hope you like bear."
"At this point, I think I could eat almost anything." Sakura whined as she slumped down to the ground and sighed tiredly.
"Me too. I'm getting hungry myself." Karin spoke since she hadn't had anything to eat recently either with Naruto scratching the back of his head as a small sweat-drop formed… he was starting to get hungry as well.
"I'm gonna start getting some food ready. Looks like we could all use a hot meal. We can figure the rest out once we fill our bellies. I'll stay within hollering distance in case of trouble." Naruto spoke as he and his clones carried the bear off somewhere further into the woods, probably so that any blood or other scents don't attract any animals to their campsite.
The girls nodded as they took shelter in the mouth of the small cave that Sakura had chosen as shelter. "You should try to get some sleep while you can. I'll keep watch." Karin offered, at first Sakura wanted to protest since this girl was a stranger to her, but she was too tired to put up any resistance and simply nodded as she drifted off to sleep, having sweet dreams of yummy food.
Time slowly ticked on as they took some time to rest and await Naruto's return with some food… Karin had to suppress a small laugh since she'd soon take an ironic form of revenge against the same bear that tried to devour her earlier. Even in the brief time she had known Naruto, he showed himself to be a kind and caring type of person and had readily accepted her. He was definitely an interesting person.
Not to mention his Chakra… Kami, it felt unnaturally warm and soothing, and there was just… soooooooo much of it. For a long time now, she had a theory that the measure of a person's Chakra reserves may have an effect upon a person's physical development, mainly in terms of endowment. Breasts and asses for women, and penis size for men. She couldn't help but fantasize and wonder how big her new master was below the belt.
Karin giggled perversely as her cheeks became a dark pink color, but her fantasizing quickly came to a halt when she detected the presence of three unknown Chakra signatures. Humans. Two males, one female. She adjusted her glasses and quietly waited, time continued to move ever so slowly as she waited… it would seem that these people were watching them, and they didn't seem to be in any hurry to move on or find other prey.
The crimson haired girl narrowed her eyes and gently shook the pinkette awake "Mmm? What is it? Food?" The Haruno muttered sleepily as she woke up, eager for something, anything to fill her stomach.
"Not quite… someone's watching us." Karin warned, whispering to the pinkette while putting a finger to her lips to signal for her to be quiet. At this news, Sakura almost immediately woke up and stared at the spectacled girl, swallowing a dry lump in her throat as she scooched up closer to the redhead.
"Three people have been watching us for a while. They're up there in the trees." Karin spoke in a warning voice, giving a subtle gesture towards the trees where their enemies were hiding.
"What're they waiting for?" Sakura asked, if these people were going to attack, why not go ahead and do it already?
"Dunno. Probably just being cautious, unsure of what to expect from us. From their Chakra… I'd say they're starting to get antsy. They'll probably make their move soon." Karin spoke, prompting Sakura to draw a kunai as they awaited their enemy to make the first move. They both exchanged a look and seemed to come to a shared conclusion that they could call Naruto for help, but this would obviously show the enemy that they were aware of their presence.
That aside, Naruto should be back soon, so they just had to stall for a bit. At last, their watchers emerged from their hiding places and appeared a short distance away… Sakura immediately recognized them as the team from Oto, recalling how the mummy-like one took a swing at the Kabuto guy during the first stage of the exams.
"Oi, Bring out Sasuke Uchiha. We've got business with him." The mummy-like Oto nin spoke in a menacing voice, even beneath the bandages he wore, it was easy to see that he was giving off a sadistic smile, same as the spiky haired guy. The girl however had a blank face as she twirled a senbon between her fingers.
"What's your beef with Sasuke?" Karin asked with a snarl, her headband gleaming for a brief moment as it caught the Oto nin's attention.
"The hell? What's a Kusa nin doing slumming with some Konoha nin?" The spiky haired Oto nin asked in confusion with his compatriot humming in thought since he was kind of curious about that too. Didn't seem to make much sense for teams of other villages to team up; too great a risk of village rivalries or backstabbing to warrant a potential alliance.
"Doesn't matter Zaku. Our objective hasn't changed. We're here to fight the Uchiha after all, if these girls want to get in our way, then so be it. We'll just plow right through them." The apparent leader of the Oto team spoke as he pulled his sleeve back, revealing some kind of device on his arm.
The one called Zaku smirked as he took on a fighting stance and spoke with a cruel smirk "Yeah, whatever you say Dosu. I can definitely work with that." The girls quickly stood up and adopted readied stances, ready to spring into action. Although in the case of Sakura, she wondered what sort of help she could possibly be… but she wasn't about to go down without a fight.
The Oto nin seemed ready to charge… until a familiar voice spoke from behind them "Yo… something we can help you with?" The air suddenly became cold as a powerful Killing Intent flooded the area, sending shivers down the Oto team's spines as they slowly turned around and were met with the form of Naruto, who seemed quite pissed off.
"Huh? Hey… Dosu? Isn't that the shrimpy loud kid that made that big speech during the first exam? He looks… way different." Zaku muttered as he felt himself sweating, and his hands suddenly started shaking though he couldn't understand why.
"Ah. He's definitely different from earlier. Probably was using a Henge or something to hide his real appearance. Doesn't matter how he looks, he won't be able to…" Dosu spoke until his voice fell silent at the last minute as he heard a crackling noise. He looked down a bit and saw electricity dancing between the blonde boy's fingers… then all of a sudden the whiskered teen vanished in a flash of yellow, much to the astonishment of everyone that saw it.
Naruto then reappeared next to Zaku and kicked him square in the temple, snapping his neck upon impact and sending him flying away. "Not sure what your business is with Sasuke, but I don't really care. What I do care about, is that you just threatened the girls. Now you're gonna have to die for that." Naruto spoke in a cold and detached voice as he vanished in another flash of yellow.
Dosu stood still as he focused Chakra to his ears, trying to predict where the boy would appear. He heard a small pop sound behind him, prompting him to turn around and find a hand gripping his face… then the sounds of electricity crackled loudly which was followed by a loud boom and a flash of light. When the dust settled, Naruto merely huffed in annoyance as he tossed aside Dosu's body which had been charred black.
He looked down at his hands and flicked his fingers a few times, watching electricity dance between his fingertips. He wasn't sure exactly what kind of power he had unlocked… but damn did it feel good. He then turned towards the lone Kunoichi of the Oto team and menacingly raised his hand in her direction as he summoned forth more small bolts of lightning that danced in his hand.
In an instant, the black haired girl threw her weapon away and dropped to her knees and shouted "Please! Please don't kill me! I don't wanna die!" Naruto was taken aback by this, not expecting the girl to start begging for her life, he glanced over towards Sakura and Karin's direction and saw that they too were stunned. Both by how easily he had slain the other two Shinobi, and the girl's begging.
"You don't wanna die huh? Says the girl that was about to attack my teammates." Naruto spoke as he marched towards the Oto Kunoichi, experimentally wiggling his fingers as small bolts of lightning continued to appear.
"No! No! No! I didn't have a choice! You don't know what it's like in Oto! If you're not strong enough to protect yourself there, then you have to live with someone's boot on your neck. I was just following orders… if I didn't, then I'd be killed… or even worse." The girl spoke, her words causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow… then he took notice that her body appeared to be covered in a number of bruises, most of them seemed quite fresh.
In all honesty, Naruto couldn't bring himself to do harm to someone that had no fighting spirit… not to mention it seemed a strange coincidence that after Sasuke was attacked by who could only have been Orochimaru that these Oto nin suddenly showed up and came asking for the self-proclaimed 'Avenger' by name.
Before he could decide what to do about the girl, he heard her offering some kind of prayer. "Kohryu, please, I beg of you. Don't let me die. Please save me and spare my life." the raven haired girl whispered just barely loud enough to hear.
"Oi… what's your name?" Naruto questioned as he knelt down, the girl slowly lifted her head up to look at him, her eyes brimming with some tears as she replied "Kin Tsuchi… please… I'll do anything you want… just please don't kill me. I'm not a bad person. Really. I just want to live."
Naruto thought for a few moments and then spoke "You said that you were just following orders and didn't have a choice. Sounds like your boss isn't a forgiving kind of person… think he'll spare you when he learns you and your team botched the job?"
At his question, Kin paled until she was white as a sheet and quickly shook her head, knowing that if this guy didn't kill her… then 'he' would do worse than kill her. There was only one thing to do that might just give her a fighting chance "No… he won't… I know! Information! I have some information to trade! If you take me to your Hokage and give me protection, I'll tell you everything I know." Kin promised, her eyes filled with a mixture of desperation and hope.
Poor thing looked absolutely terrified… and cutting her loose and sending her on her way would likely be a death sentence. Naruto sighed since it seemed he had no choice in the matter "Fine. Give me your hands." Naruto spoke, prompting the Oto Kunoichi to nod as she presented her hands, allowing Naruto to take some Ninja wire and start tying her wrists behind her back and tying her index fingers and thumbs together to prevent her from using any jutsu.
"You can't be serious Naruto! We don't know this girl! She was going to attack us. You really think we can trust her?" Sakura questioned with a snarl, prompting the blonde to shrug.
"We still don't know Karin all that well, but she's here with us anyway. Plus, I think we can trust that Kin-san wants to stay alive. Now then Kin-san, we'll take you to the Hokage and you can share what you know with him… you try anything and… you can guess the rest." Naruto spoke, directing the last part to the Oto girl who quickly nodded in understanding.
"I got it. I got it." Kin muttered with an exhausted sigh, feeling relieved that she wouldn't be joining those two assholes in the ground.
"You hungry Kin? We were about to have dinner before you guys showed up." Naruto spoke, gesturing to a group of clones who emerged from the bushed, bringing forth varying cuts of cooked meat to the girls. Both Karin and Sakura seemed ready to burst into tears at the sight of food, with their new prisoner's stomach joining the chorus of grumbling stomachs.
"You're… going to feed me?" Kin asked warily, while she was glad that this guy spared her for now… she doubted that he would show her any real kindness… nobody did, except maybe one person.
"I know how it feels to be hungry… I wouldn't wish for anyone to starve to death." Naruto spoke as his clones began passing around various portions to the girls, while another clone stepped up to feed the Oto Kunoichi due to her hands being bound and another left a portion for Sasuke to the side whenever he came around.
"Names Naruto Uzumaki. That's Sakura and Karin, and the snoozing guy is Sasuke, your target. So… why were you after him?" Naruto questioned after introducing himself and the others while taking a large bite of cooked bear meat. He had to admit, he had never had bear before… this was definitely a new experience.
"Can't tell you if I wanted to. We were told to fight Sasuke, so that's what we were gonna do. It's not healthy to ask too many questions in Oto, you see." Kin replied as she snapped up some offered meat while the other girls chewed noisily.
"Sounds like Oto isn't a nice place to live at all. Saw the bruises on you, didn't see anything on your teammates… were they abusing you?" Naruto questioned, which caused Kin to tense up but then nod in confirmation as she chewed on a large bite.
"That's awful… No one deserves to be treated like that." Sakura muttered angrily, while Karin nodded in agreement as she picked at some of her food.
"I was treated kinda like that in Kusa… I know how it feels. Goes to show, not all Shinobi treat their 'comrades' the same way." The spectacled girl angrily spat while cramming another bite into her mouth as she started to chew away at some of her frustration.
Naruto glanced at Karin's arms and noticed what appeared to be a multitude of bite marks, he guessed that must have had something to do with her prior treatment but he decided not to question it at this time. "Hey Kin… who were you praying to before? This… Kohryu?" Naruto questioned out of simple curiosity, he had never heard of a deity by that name before.
Kin chewed on another bite of meat for a few moments before swallowing and answering "A buddy of mine once told me a little bit of the story… it's said that Kohryu is a divine being that can make miracles happen and bring happiness and salvation to those who suffer from abuse and oppression. There was more to it, but she never told me how the whole thing went. I guess I was so desperate that I started praying to some deity that doesn't even exist… silly desperation I guess."
"Huh… I think I might like to hear the whole story some time. At any rate, so long as you behave, you'll be fine." Naruto replied, prompting Kin to nod in understanding as she continued indulging in her meal.
"Hey Naruto… what you did before… with the lightning and that yellow flash thing… how'd you do all that?" Sakura asked since it sounded fairly similar to the stories she had heard about the Yondaime and his signature technique, the Hiraishin.
"No idea… it all just… happened… felt almost like instinct to me. Gotta say though, it felt incredible." The whiskered teen spoke as he snapped his fingers, making some sparks appear once more. Wait… seriously? That was all just from instinct? If that's the case… it'd be terrifying to see what he could do once he got some proper practice in.
"Right… we still have a problem though. That pale guy took our scroll, if we're to have any chance to pass this exam, we're gonna need to find a Heaven and Earth scroll." Sakura spoke in a somewhat discouraged voice which seemed to catch the attention of Karin.
"Oh, right. You mentioned that you lost your scroll. Here, you can have mine." Karin spoke as she reached into her pack and pulled out a Heaven scroll, causing everyone to stare at her wide-eyed.
"Naruto… she had that the whole time?" Sakura asked as she accepted the scroll from the redhead with an astonished expression.
"I had no idea. I never thought to ask about that. One scroll is definitely better than none. Now we need to find an Earth scroll and we're golden." Naruto spoke since this seemed to be a display of potentially good tidings.
Kin then cleared her throat and piped in "If you need an Earth Scroll, my team had one. Dosu has it." She then tilted her head and gestured towards the bodies of her 'teammates' causing the other's eyes to widen even further… could it really be this easy? Could they really be this lucky?
"Which one was Dosu again?" The whiskered teen asked as he got up and ventured outside to collect the scroll, Kin then answered his question "The one you fried extra crispy. The mummy guy."
The Jinchuuriki nodded in thanks as he searched Dosu's corpse and successfully found the Earth Scroll they needed, which was completely undamaged. "Huh. Not a mark on it, not even singed. Talk about luck. What was that you said earlier? Kohryu can make miracles happen? Not sure if he's for real, but if he is, I say he's decided to look after us." The blonde spoke as he held up the Earth Scroll triumphantly with a broad grin.
"Holy shit… we can just pack up and make a bee-line straight for the Tower and move on." Sakura spoke with a smile, very eager to get out of this forest and onto the next stage, not to mention if they get to the tower then they could report everything that happened to the Hokage and get Sasuke some proper treatment.
"Sounds good to me, the sooner we're to the tower, the better. Karin, we'll leave it to you to guide us around any danger." The blonde Uzumaki spoke in agreement, since it wouldn't be wise to linger in these woods for too long.
"Hey… guys? There's something weird going on with this Sasuke guy…" Karin spoke and pointed a shaky hand towards the Uchiha, the others looked to her as if to ask 'what's wrong?' prompting the spectacled girl to continue speaking "That mark on his neck… it's pumping some kind of weird Chakra into him, it feels all dark and twisted and just… wrong. We really ought to get him treated. I'd hate to see the nasty stuff that Chakra might be doing to his body."
"As if we needed any more reason to get the hell out of here." Naruto spoke as he created a fresh group of clones which then proceeded to pick up the girls and the unconscious body of Sasuke. Once everyone was ready for transport, Naruto and his Clones began to run with all speed towards the Forest Tower.
Meanwhile, in Kiri.
"How bad was the damage?" Spoke a female figure who was overlooking the damage that had been done to Kiri as numerous Shinobi began escorting other captured Shinobi around or assisting Civilians in need of help.
"Not as bad as we expected, most of the damage from that freak lightning storm was concentrated around the Mizukage's headquarters. The man himself was crushed to death by the debris before anyone actually knew what was happening." A man with an eye-patch spoke as he assisted in directing their forces.
The woman, known as Mei Terumi nodded as she gave a heartfelt smile. For some time now, she and her rebels had fought long and hard to end the Bloodline Purge and restore peace to Kiri. The Mizukage was holed up and entrenched in his headquarters and his men were dug in deep, it would have taken tremendous amounts of effort and sacrifice to finally break them… but then the lightning came and killed almost everyone inside. What few guards remained were too shell-shocked to even put up a fight. This was nothing short… of a true-to-life miracle.
Now, they could take steps in rebuilding their village and restoring order, in fact, the people were wasting no time at all in preparing for her coronation ceremony to name her as the Godaime Mizukage. A title that made Mei feel quite humbled since it meant that people would be counting on her to guide their village to a peaceful and prosperous future.
"You know Ao-san… this reminds me of what that man once said. Ishikawa… he said that Kohryu's Will would someday reamerge and bring about retribution to the evils of this world." Mei noted aloud as she crossed her arms beneath her bust, her words earning a raised eyebrow from Ao.
"The final words of a thief before his execution. Still… I admit that this incident does have 'divine retribution' written all over it… to think that lightning storm just appeared out of nowhere… Ah well, it doesn't matter really. We still won in the end." Ao spoke with a slight smile, feeling satisfied with their hard-won victory.
"Maybe… but it still feels like there's more to it. Ah well, there are more important things to worry about. After my coronation, we make for Konoha. I'm sure they'll be open to giving us relief aid in exchange for an alliance." Mei spoke with a small smile, once again showing off her leadership skills and determination to lead her village. A new chapter for Kiri, and perhaps the Shinobi Nations was about to begin.
And at the center of it all, one young Genin was about to alter the entire course of fate.
End Chapter one.