A Nugget Of Advice, Interlude
They came in the evening, scoping out the village's gigantic valley without worry. Thanks to her chakra suppression technique, they would be fine so as long no one saw them visually. She had gotten better at it; she could apply now separately to others while she kept her chakra. Her reserves were, in her opinion, minuscule compared to the reserves of people she knew but she was still of Uzumaki heritage. Her chakra was still abundant compared to the average shinobi. Suppressing her chakra enough so she could use chakra but not stand out too much, she opened her mind's eye with the Kagura Shingan.
Moving past the modest chakra level of guards in Sunagakure's front gates, and of the other signatures that sat on the walls trying to be hidden, she moved mentally into the city-like village, peering through hundreds of chakra signatures. She focused on the more powerful signatures. A group of them sat together near what she assumed was Suna's council. There was no Kazekage, so she didn't sense that chakra which she would assume would be powerful and nearly overwhelming.
She attempted to find him, but then she gasped as she felt something else – a signature that confused her great. What? Was that their target? But it didn't feel like it should belong to him. This chakra signature felt warm, enticing even. Like a warm flame during a cold night. And she wanted to follow it. She wanted to stick her hand in it-
"What do you see?" A baritone voice snapped her out of her stupor. "Karin-sama?"
Karin shook her head, trying to focus. "I found one chakra signature that looks like it belongs to a jinchūriki. It dwarfs everyone else's in this village, even the jōnin. It could be him."
"Alright. Let's go in now then, Yumi."
"Heh." A black-haired, older teen grinned and sat from her place on a desert rock. "No problem, Tatsuya-shishō."
"Karin, lead the way," said Tatsuya, leader of their squad. He towered over the two kunoichi with his large, burly body.
The redhead Uzumaki kunoichi nodded, moving with her team in tandem with her adjusting the chakra suppression technique. It was so they could climb the sandstone walls of the valley with chakra and move into the gigantic village. Once in the city, they still probably had to worry about sensors but less likely than the ones who made up the outside walls. Once they stepped inside, they could probably be okay with dropping the technique since they would be like dropping a bucket of water in an ocean.
The only one she could not fully drop the technique on would be Tatsuya, whose chakra was gigantic compared to everyone else.
It took them not too long to find the signature. On the other side of the village, and approaching what seemed to be a training grounds, they had found their target and Karin now knew who it was that was outputting such a large chakra signature. He had blond hair the color of hay, a focused look in his blue eyes as he held a curious-looking spherical chakra orb in his hand, and had that warm flaming power inside him. A flame that still needed a bit more kindling but still strong. Karin knew exactly who this was.
"Naruto Uzumaki," Tatsuya announced in her stead as Karin merely stared at the boy. "So, that's who you sensed."
"What's he doing here?" Yumi questioned. "We're not supposed to go for him."
"Does it matter? He isn't our target. Karin-sama," Tatsuya called, turning to the redhead who almost didn't hear her name. "Try finding our target. Our information says he's here and not out of the village on a mission. He must be somewhere close."
Karin nodded, swallowing. Man, is this what she was warned about when she started sensing chakra? Sensing something like Naruto's chakra was enticing and it was all she wanted to focus on. Her Kagura Shingan fired up again and she moved past Naruto's flame and to the colder desert where nothing for a mile showed up until she felt another chakra signature, one that was almost as cold as the sands.
"I found him." Karin pointed out of the village and to the desert. "He's just a bit away."
"Let's go."
Karin could only grit her teeth and leave. She didn't know the boy in front of her at all, only his chakra. Why was she so damn drawn to it? All she wanted to grasp at it and keep it to herself. Perhaps another time they would meet. After all, they were both Uzumaki and it was only a matter of time before they all came together.
End.
A/N: It's a snippet, but it's to show y'all that I'm still alive.
Before you say anything, I know.
I know I took a long time to do this. In between my grandmother passing, and the effects of coronavirus happening, this story hasn't seen some updates. And while I didn't get actually sick with covid-19 or anything, I just felt very uninspired to do any sort of dedicated writing. That, of course, caused the next chapter to be severely delayed. I was going to make the chapter much different but ended up scrapping a bit of it because of the execution was iffy. It's done now though.
Truth be told, I'm trying to resist the urge to rewrite this story. I shall resist for a bit longer.
Anyway, we got some new characters and an old one. OCs aside, why is Karin here and all? Well, you shall find out. She's a bit different than her canon counterpart but not by much. The next chapter, or the real chapter, is coming up. Didn't feel like I could really include this snippet into the chapter so that's why it's getting a separate part.
Still, I'm back.
Technique List:
Kagura Shingan – Mind's Eye of the Kagura