Chapter 4: Sasuke and Karin
January 24th, 64 AFL
As one orb of Sasuke's chakra headed toward the classroom where Ino and Naruto were currently residing, another headed outside the borders of the Leaf Village, directly north of Konoha.
It traveled through the great forest outside, through the massive trees that protected the Leaf from outside attacks and then soared over the heads of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. It finally made it way to a wooded area and was guided into a cavern, which the entrance looked suspiciously like that of a snake.
As the ball of chakra quickly made its way down the cavern, the smell of blood and decay increasing with every inch, it passed a pale skinned man with golden eyes who saw the orb and quickly followed it, looking like he had won the lottery. "That's Uchiha chakra if I've ever sensed it, must be because of the Fourth's Soul Seal Jutsu perfect, If I have Sasuke's soulmate I can use her as bait and I'll finally have my sharingan." Orochimaru thought to himself.
The ball eventually stopped in one of the test subjects cells, Orochimaru quickly looked at her cell name "Karin Uzumaki, interesting," Orochimaru couldn't contain a sadistic laugh "Perfect, she'll do nicely." Orochimaru watched with a sick grin as the orb of Sauske's chakra entered the unconscious Karin who was asleep on the floor of her cell.
Karin had nightmares that day more tramitiazing than any before, like Ino she saw the Uchiha massacre and how Itachi placed Sasuke under genjutsu. She was trapped in the Tsukuyomi for what felt like days and in time she grew to hate Itachi too, almost as much as she hated Orochimaru.
She then saw the kind young boy he had been before that and how much love he had in his heart before the massacre and how it was still inside him buried deep somewhere under that broodiness he always emitted. She saw how strong and handsome he was, how he always seemed to want to help people who were weaker than himself, and then there was his chakra. His chakra felt so warm, so powerful, but also so gentle and pure, she subconsciously accepted it along with all of Sauske's memories, emotions, and thoughts as the last of his chakra merged with her chakra and soul. She awoke with a fright as she extended her hands and an orb of Sasuke and Karin's combined chakra shot out of her hands and headed straight back to Konoha.
"What the fuck was that Orochimaru?" Karin asked him looking extremely pissed off, she assumed she had just been experimented on again and in her sleep no less. Orochimaru began laughing sadistically.
"Oh don't worry Karin-chan, I'm sure you'll learn everything you need to soon enough." He left the poor girl their still in her cell as she began to cry about her predicament and the loss of the utter bliss that the dream had provided her just a few minutes before.
'That boy is just like me, his clan was butchered just like mine and he's gone through so much suffering at the hands of a sadist.' Karin looked at her arms and legs that were covered with bite marks and bruises as she continued to silently weep.
'I wish I could see him again, I wonder if he's even real?' Karin thought as she struggled to find comfort on the dirt floor and tried to fall back to sleep in a vain attempt to relive her last dream.
The orb of Karin and Sauske's chakra quickly found its way back to Konoha and re-entered the room where the Hokage, Kakashi, and Sasuke were waiting. Sasuke had just had the Yamanaka and Uchiha symbols sealed on his right hand when he noticed the ball of reddish black chakra enter the room.
"Ready for round two Sasuke?" Kakashi asked him barely holding himself together due to his fits of laughter that had been caused by Sasuke's various facial expressions during his previous Soul Seal Jutsu. Sasuke groaned.
"Yeah, let's finish this," he stood up and touched the orb chakra with his hands and it slowly started to merge with his body the seals on Sasuke's left hand started to form. Sasuke saw nothing but black and thought the memories were still processing until he heard the sound of a girl crying. He looked down and saw a redheaded girl with ruby eyes and glasses.
"Why am I still here?, Why can't he just kill me already?" Karin slammed her bruised hands on the ground in frustration. It was then that he saw the door open and the only vestiges of light leaked through but it was enough for Sasuke to get a better look at her. She was definitely pretty from what Sasuke could tell but what he saw next pissed him off.
Karin was in nothing more than what one could at best call rags and she was covered in bite marks and bruises from head to toe. She had several infections all up and down her legs and arms, and from what Sasuke could tell if she moved even slightly blood and pus would ooze out of them. Sasuke then looked at man, who opened the door with such hate and malice it may have even scared Itachi.
In Sasuke's sights, a pale skinned man with golden eyes "Karin-chan it's time for today's experiments!" he said to her with a sick grin. Karin started shaking uncontrollably and began hyperventilating, Orochimaru just looked at her with a frown before it was replaced with another sick grin.
"Well, I was curious about this new muscle relaxer, apparently it freezes the body stiff, while it makes the brain think that it's on fire." Orochimaru slowly walked up to Karin and jabbed a large needle into her neck.
"Alright this should last about twelve hours, a normal person would probably die but your Uzumaki chakra should keep you alive, if not oh well," Orochimaru laughed sadistically and left Karin alone in the dark one again as her body went limp.
Sasuke tried to soothe Karin the best he could but realistically he wasn't actually there so helping her was out of the question, at least for now. It wasn't long before this memory faded and Sasuke saw the rest of Karin's memories.
He saw the girl lose her mother to enemy shinobi when she was younger and then her life as an orphan who had to steal just to survive. He saw her first meeting with this, Orochimaru and how he promised he would be like a father to her and take care of her. Karin had cried in true happiness for the first time in years, Sasuke could feel that through her emotions and it just made him hate Orochimaru even more. The last few memories he saw where all of the times she had been experimented on and tortured, being bitten over and over as well as being used as a guinea pig for his dangerous new poisons because her Uzumaki blood would keep her alive longer.
As the Soul Seal Jutsu finally ended the last of Karin's memories, emotions, and thoughts were transferred to Sasuke and he slowly began to open his eyes. His black pupils had been replaced with a one tomoe sharingan in each eye, the sight of Karin's torture at the hands of Orochimaru had allowed him to reawakin his sharringan for the first time since the night of the massacre. He wore a sickly, almost insane looking grin as he thought to himself.
'Congratulations Orochimaru, you've been added to my dream right next to my brother.'
Sasuke had added Orochimaru to his must kill list, second only too Itachi, for what that bastard had done to his 'Karin-chan.' Sasuke's creepy looking grin and newly acquired sharingan vanished instantly realizing he had added the chan honorific to her name, it was then that he noticed the odd looks he was getting from the Hokage and Kakashi.
"Did you find out who your second soulmate is?" Kakashi asked him. Sasuke huffed and showed the two the piece of paper attached to his left hand. In thick black ink it read.
"Sasuke Uchiha husband of Karin Uzumaki Uchiha"
Location: The Village Hidden by Sound.
"Another one from Otogakure huh," the Hokage said with an annoyed tone "Ok, Sasuke you're dismissed," Sasuke nodded and exited the classroom with one thought dominating his mind.
"I'm going to save you Karin, and then I'm going to make your torturer suffer a fate worse than death, nobody fucks with the Uchiha clan and gets away with it, I just need to find a way to get into the Sound Village." Sasuke laughed coldly and sadistically at the thought of Orochimaru's blood and organs scattered at his and Karin's feet as he slowly made his way to the training fields.
"Naruto Uzumaki,"
Naruto jumped from his seat as he finally heard his name called and rushed over to the Hokage and Kakashi, almost knocking them over in the process.
"Calm down Naruto and follow us or better yet I'll just carry you myself since you seem to want to be so close to me." Kakashi said with a smirk as he lifted Naruto by his collar and walked him to the sound sealed classroom. Naruto was kicking like a child in timeout trying to break free from Kakashi's grip but when he felt his but land in a chair and he saw his sensei and the Hokage's serious expressions he straightened up.
"Ok Naruto-kun tie these two pieces of paper around your wrists, one on your left and one on your right." Naruto complied and he asked "What now Oji-san?" "Just give me your right hand Naruto and we'll be done," Naruto complied and heard the old man shout "Sacred Art - Soul Seal Jutsu!"
Like Sasuke before Naruto felt most of his chakra leave his body all at once but unlike Sasuke he was able to remain conscious. Two blue orbs were ejected out of his body and he saw them head towards whatever direction Sakura and Hinata might be.
Meanwhile Sakura and Hinata where having a discussion about their new husband and ways to make his life happier.
"I really like your idea Sakura-san, although I don't know if Naruto-kun is going to be too thrilled." Hinata giggled at Sakura's plan for their Naruto-kun and Sakura looked back at her smugly.
"He may be cute and funny but he's going to need us if he's gonna be Hokage and it's a necessary step in the right direction," Sakura replied with an air of confidence. "Although Hinata your idea for our baka is really good too but how are we gonna afford that?" Sakura asked the Hyuga princess with genuine curiosity.
"Don't worry Sakura-san I'll take care of that, I have plenty of ryo but remember nothing but the best for our Naruto-kun." Hinata said to Sakura strangely seriously.
"Of course Hinata don't worry I'll take care of it and can you stop using the -san suffix with my name where friends and co-clan matriarchs now, there's no need to be so formal," Sakura said with a smile.
"Ok Sakura," Hinata returned her smile as the two blue orbs of Naruto's chakra reached the two girls.
They held hands and smiled at each other and at the sight of Naruto's chakra. They held out the hands that contained their clan symbols and quite quickly this time Naruto's chakra merged with the two girls. After a minute or so two mixed orbs of chakra had formed in front of the two girls, one cyan colored and one dark blue with purple streaks.
Both orbs quickly darted back to Naruto but Hinata's was the one to reach him first and it quickly merged with his body forming two seals on his right hand. The first was the Hyuga symbol and overlaying that a symbol Naruto didn't recognize, it had a square with a lighting bolt inside of it.
He didn't have time to question this however because as soon as Hinata's seals had formed, Sakura's orb shot right into his chest merging with his body as well. It didn't take long and the seals on Naruto's left hand set in place with ease as he gazed at it. The Haruno symbol was engraved into his left hand along with own symbol, a circle with a swirl in the inside, which had been laid overtop of Sakura's.
He smiled and didn't bother looking at his name tags or saying goodbye to Kakashi or the Hokage as he sprinted through the door at full speed in search of his Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan. He didn't need to search for long as he opened the door, he almost ran over the pair of them.
The two looked startled for a minute but smiled and Sakura said. "Naruto do you mind taking Hinata to Ichiraku's for a bit, I'd come too but I have something really important to do, I'll see you two at the meeting with the Hokage later, Ok?" Sakura half asked half told the blonde haired boy leaving him and the young Hyuga princess alone as she walked away to perform some unknown task.
"Well that was a little weird, Come on Hinata-chan I made a promise to never let you feel neglected again." Naruto stated with pride and before she could answer he grabbed her by the arm and basically dragged her to his favorite restaurant. On the way Hinata sighed and thought.
'Sakura's right, he's definitely gonna need some training in manners among other things but he still the boy I know and love and together we'll mold you into the greatest Hokage ever, that's my promise to you Naruto-kun.' Hinata looked back at her soulmate and was surprised when her gaze met his, she knew that look, only Sakura ever got that look but now it was for her. That look in his eyes could make any girl faint from the utter love and devotion it emitted, so for Hinata who was just starting to come out of her shell, it was of course to much. She fainted, lucky for her Naruto noticed and picked her up into his arms, "Huh, she must be tired or really hungry if she's just collapsing randomly," the blonde idiot smiled confusingly and carried the Hyuga princess over the rooftops, finally coming to a stop right outside Ichiraku Ramen.
"Ino Yamanaka,"
The final graduate heard her name called but rather reluctantly got up from her seat and started following her sensei.
'It's strange,' Asuma thought, 'Ino always been so loud, I wonder what's gotten into her? And what about dad making all of the Soul Seals this time confidential, I understand the reasoning behind Sasuke and Naruto but he's never made an entire class keep their unions a secret? What the fuck is going on?' Asuma's line of thought came to an abrupt end when the three of them entered the classroom, without saying a word the three took their seats and the Hokage started.
"Alright Ino take this paper and tie it around your right hand and then give your hand to me." Ino compiled without saying a word which both adults in the room noticed but chose to say nothing "Sacred Art - Soul Seal Jutsu!" the Hokage shouted for what he thought would be the final time today. The jutsu refused to activate and the Hokage sighed while Ino looked at him puzzled
"Just switch the paper to your left hand, we had to do this for Hinata too." Ino compiled once again but thought to herself, 'This means Sasuke-kun has a second soulmate too, I wonder what she's like, thank Kami it's not forehead.' This time when he activated the jutsu it worked.
An orb of Ino's chakra quickly formed and found its way to Sasuke who was reentering the academy after a quick test of his new eyes. He saw the orb and let it enter his body with no resistance and it quickly merged her chakra with his own. He lifted his hand with the Yamanaka symbol and another orb of their chakra formed and quickly rushed back to Ino's location.
The orb soon entered the sound sealed room and Ino waited patiently for the orb to make contact with her. It eventually did and the seal on her left hand quickly formed as Sasuke's chakra merged with hers. She looked at her left hand and saw the Uchiha symbol sealed into it, she then turned her wrist and read her name.
"Ino Uchiha wife of Sasuke Uchiha"
Location: The Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Ino exited the classroom after saying her farewells to the Hokage and her sensei and made her way out of the academy. She was surprised however when she saw Sasuke standing near the exit.
'Is he waiting for me?' Ino thought hopefully. She finally regained some of her energy at the idea but decided to calmly make her way over to Sasuke. "I'm sorry, if I kept you waiting," she told him with sincerity.
"Don't be, you didn't, now come on let's go" Sasuke answered her honestly and without any malice or broodiness in his voice. Ino would have normally been up Sasuke's ass, jumping on his back and telling him how to shower her with affection but after she saw all the shit he had been through, she realized that it was best to gain his affection slowly.
She also felt genuine sympathy for him and wanted nothing more than to see Itachi Uchiha dead. She struggled to find what to say to him as they made their way through the leaf village but before she realized it they were at her parents flower shop. Ino looked at Sasuke and was surprised when she saw a small smile on his face.
"Thank you, for your roses Ino, I never got the chance to tell you that when we were younger." she blushed and he turned and started walking away.
"Can we train together tomorrow, after missions I mean?" Ino was able to blurt out before he disappeared from view. Sasuke turned around and gave her that small smile again.
"I'd like that but don't hold back, remember the Uchiha are the strongest clan in the leaf village and we don't lose to anyone." Sasuke stated and smirked.
"Especially to baka-uzumaki's or in your case forehead-uzumaki's," Sasuke actually chuckled a little as he finally made his departure. Ino looked at him fondly until he disappeared from view and then entered her family's flower shop to reflect on everything that had transpired today.
When Hinata finally regained consciousness she found herself in the arms of her new husband Naruto Uzumaki.
"You're up, good were here." Naruto stated with happiness in voice and ordered ten bowls all at once while Hinata only ordered one. She began eating but saw Naruto's table manners and the noodles protruding from his nose and she sighed once again.
'I hate that I'm going to have to be Sakura when she's not around but it has to be done.' Hinata did something she never thought she would do, she gave Naruto a good bonk to the head.
"Oww, what was that for Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked her with a hurt look she almost cried from his expression but regained her composure and quickly explained, "Naruto-kun, the way you were eating, well it was just disgusting, please watch me, if you really want to be Hokage you need to learn how to act with respect once in a while." she finished and smiled at him but he had a confused frown so she added.
"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, just think of it as training ok, all Sakura and I want is for you to be the greatest Hokage you can be," she subconsciously brought her hand to his whisker marks and started petting them. Naruto began leaning into her and purring as a small smile formed on his face.
"Ok Hinata-chan," he finally said with a smile and proceeded to finish his remaining four bowls of ramen at a much slower pace.
"Do you want to hangout after missions tomorrow Hinata-chan?" Naruto suddenly asked her. "I'd love to Naruto-kun but Sakura's gonna get jealous if you keep only taking me out." Hinata said with a blush in her cheeks.
"Don't worry I plan on asking Sakura-chan tomorrow as well, we see each other everyday now after all." Naruto explained, "Well Hinata I'll see you tomorrow I'm beat," Naruto threw enough ryo down for his and Hinata's meal and started walking towards his apartment but before he could even exit the ramen stand he was confronted by Kakashi.
"I figured I'd find you here Naruto, and Hinata as well, come on you two have a meeting with the Hokage," he picked Naruto up like he had earlier in the day and Hinata followed the pair laughing along the way at her husbands feeble attempts to escape the jonin's hold.
When the three finally arrived in the Hokage office Naruto was surprised to see all of the people that were gathered. On one side of the office were Sakura and her parents Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno and on the other, Hinata's father Hisahi Hyuga.
The hokage motioned for Naruto, Hinata and Sakura to sit in front of them while the adults stood behind them wondering what all this what about. "Alright everyone as you know thirteen years ago the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked our village and the Fourth Hokage killed the beast sacrificing his own life to do so." The adults in the room nodded uncertainty and the Hokage continued.
"This was a lie you see the Nine-Tailed Fox has always been a part of the village it has been passed down since it was first sealed into Mito Uzumaki, you may know her as the wife of the First Hokage. When Mito was near the end of her life the village decided it needed to find a new jinchuuriki so we acquired a girl from the whirlpool village someone you knew quite well if I remember correctly Mebuki, Kushina Uzumaki." Sakura looked at her mother in shock but Mebuki just put a hand on her shoulder and lipped "We'll talk later, promise" Sakura huffed but turned away and the Hokage continued.
"She was trained in the leaf as a shinobi and acquired quite a name for herself along with her husband, many of you knew him as the yellow flash or Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage." Everyone besides Mebuki, Kakashi, Hinata and Sakura's jaws dropped
"So what your getting at is, that this boy, no Naruto is their son?" Hisahi questioned in disbelief. "Yes thirteen years ago Kushina was pregnant with Naruto and someone leaked the information to an unknown party whom took advantage of the Nine-Tails seal's only weakness."
"What weakness?" Sakura couldn't help but question. The Hokage smiled an odd smile and said simply.
"Childbirth, the seal weakens considerably whenever a female jinchuuriki is about to give birth and that's how they were able to extract the Nine-Tails from Kushina. Unfortunately once a Tailed Beast is extracted from its host the jinchuuriki... dies."
All the females in the room gasped in horror and Naruto looked to the floor with tears in his eyes realizing the truth about his mother and her death. Sakura and Hinata both held on to him closely trying to give him some semblance of comfort. Once everyone calmed down a little the Hokage continued.
"Minato had no choice but to seal the beast into the closest living thing in order to save the village from the Nine-Tails's destruction. He had no choice but to use his very own son."
Naruto and his two wives looked at him with anger but the Hokage quickly explained "Please Naruto try to understand your father couldn't ask the villagers to do something he wasn't willing to do himself." Everyone stared in shock at the Hokage until the blonde baka's expression changed from one of anger to one of happiness, "I'm the son of the Fourth Hokage, believe it!"
The tension in the room seemed to lessen a little as Hiasashi spoke, "So I assume you told us all this because my daughter is Naruto's soulmate." "Yes both Sakura and Hinata have been chosen by Kami-sama to stand by his side so I wanted both of their parents to know the whole story. However this conversation never leaves this room. Sakura, Hinata I expect you two to make sure Naruto-kun keeps his mouth shut." "Right" Both girls said in unison with smiles on their faces, "Alright your all dismissed."
Naruto returned to his apartment that night happier than he had ever been before. He slowly reached into his cupboard but noticed something a miss. He quickly began searching through every drawer and cabinet searching frantically for his precious.
He suddenly opened the fridge in anger at the thought of his cup ramen hiding itself in the fridge but what he saw instead he couldn't believe. His refrigerator was stacked with fresh food and vegetables, along with several different juices, fresh milk, eggs and pounds of different cold cuts. He could also see dozens of different condiments on the side of the door. He shut the fridge and opened it again to make sure he wasn't dreaming and then checked the freezer as well.
Inside were various pieces of frozen food, packages of ground beef, chicken and fish were organized into their own piles and Naruto even saw some fat free ice cream in the back. He shut the freezer and began to cry tears of joy wondering who would do something so kind and that's when he spotted a single cup ramen sitting on his kitchen table. He picked up the sealed package of ramen and saw the note underneath it and began to read
"Dear Naruto,"
"Thanks to the Soul Seal Jutsu I realized you really don't get reallly get enough healthy food into you, you baka so I decided to do a little grocery shopping for you although, I've taken your sucide ramen hostage sorry but that and the sour milk you love so much are the cause of your potty issues, Cha!"
"With affection, Sakura"
Naruto didn't know whether to cry at Sakura's kindness or at the loss of his cup ramen so he simply decided to do both.
AN: There is an in story reason as to why Naruto and Sasuke have two soulmates and it will be explained if I ever get far enough into the story but no one else ever will that is all that I am saying.
This will follow the Naruto canon with differences based off of the new relationships that have been developed because of the Soul Seal Jutsu although I may add a filler ark or a short ark of my own creation if I feel inclined
Thank You.
