AN: LOL so the traffic chart started working after I bitched about it. I'm just glad people are reading the story, and tbh I'm not even sure how good it is for ya'll since I know I ain't one of the greats like VFSnake, Kenchi618, The Engulfing Silence or Third Fang. Hell the one of the most memorable fics was Assassins Among The Elements. If you haven't read it go do so. Doubt I'll ever be that good, but hey to each their own and I am happy with this story so far. Ya'll enjoy.
Spark681: Yeah its rough for em, thanks for the pep talk I am trying my best.
"Welcome" – Normal
'Welcome'- Thoughts
"Welcome"- None living entity
"Welcome"- Living entity
(Started 9/22/22 Finished 9/29/22)
Taking hold of the hand extended to her Karin pulled herself up onto the bank of the river. It had been a few hours since they started walking again. She could sense people on the edges of her senses meaning that the port town they were supposed to be head was less then a day away.
"You know you've been quiet since this morning, what cat got your tongue?" her companion asked her.
"No more like I wanted to get to flatter ground before I started talking to you, I ain't got the best of cardio like you do."
"That and the boom stick you have on you back doesn't help either, tell me again why you wanted that thing again."
"Its a Rifle Naruto, R-I-F-L-E, and I wanted it because its the only thing I have that I could use to protect myself with." she told him shifting the weight of the rifle once more to the other shoulder.
"Well if its anything like the guns on my bracers then you only have one shot before you need to reload and these things ain't quick to reload. That's especially true when you have a shinobi breathing down your neck." Naruto told her.
"If I can hit what I am aiming for all I need is one shot."
Naruto didn't have a comeback for that because he knew it was true. These guns were scary in the hands of someone who knew how to use them, but like he said you fire off one shot and your going to need some considerable time to reload.
"You know you said you were going to tell me about your past since I told you bout mine yesterday." just now remembering that she said she was going to tell him.
"I did didn't I, where do you want me to start?" she asked him climbing over a log.
"Well you said the beginning is the best spot to start right?" he said with a cheshire grin earning him a light punch to the arm since she had said the same thing to him yesterday.
"Smartass, I wasn't asking you I was trying to figure out where the best spot for me to start was." she walked up beside him wondering where to even start her story. It wasn't near as bad as the blonds, at least not until the end, but it was one that wasn't easy for her.
"I think the best place for me to start is three years ago when a border skirmish between Kusa and Taki leveled the village that me an mama live in. We fled to Kusa, since we were citizens of Grass Country at the time, hopping that the village would take us in. At the time the shinobi of Kusa were suspicious of us since the village we lived at before was right on the border."
"I see where this is going they thought you were spies because of the Uzumaki charka reserves." Naruto told her.
"Yes and no, mama was part way through the academy when the siege of Uzu happened, so she had a little of shinobi training, enough to be able to use the academy three." she was of course referring to the Clone Jutsu, Substitution, and Transformation "The few sensors that Kusa had could tell she had enough charka to be at least a chunin, making us both possible threats. The only way we got inside was because she offered to heal the wounded they had using our healing ability."
"I was wanting to ask you about that but I didn't know how to bring it up. I know my mom has charka chains, so I was surprised to find out that you didn't have them. I figured it was just an Uzumaki trait like our seal prowess."
"No, my mama once explained it to me. The Uzumaki clan was really just a bunch of sub clans that all had similar traits like our red hair and the ability to understand seals on an intimate level. You had the main family which were the leaders of the Uzumaki, they had the ability to use charka constructs, I'm guessing your mom was part of that branch, then you had the sensors which was supposedly the branch of the family…my father belonged to." she had to take a breath for a second.
"We can take a break if you want and talk about this later." Naruto told her rubbing her back.
"No its fine, I'm just mad at my father." she half smiled at Naruto and started walking again. "He was a genin at the time of the siege and was one of the ones who directed the evacuation efforts. Mama use to say a single Uzumaki genin was equal to a team of genin from another village because of our seals."
"I wouldn't know I never got taught seals or really any of our family history so you got me there."
"With what you told me about your family so far I don't care for them that much, maybe your sister is about the only one I could deal with."
"Doubt your ever meet any of them if I was being honest." the part that Naruto didn't mention was that he was going to someday kill his father, so there was at least someone in his family that he would see again.
"Never know, but I know for a fact I don't want to meet your father just like I really don't want to meet my father again." she responded once more shifting the weight of the rifle on her back "Anyway I'm getting sidetracked here. There were two other minor families, my mama was part of the medical branch, they were mainly field medics during times of war since we can transfer part of our life-force to someone to heal them. We try to keep from doing that since it does shorten our lives each time we use it. They mainly tried to use medical jutsu but always had that as a backup."
"Please don't ever use it on me, I don't want to take your life from you."
"I will use it if that is the only thing between life and death for you!" the thought of losing him once more nagging at her "Mama gave the last of her life to heal you, and I tried to use it on you when you were in a coma for five days but it never worked." she felt a hand hit the back of her head. "Oi what was that for?!"
"For being an idiot." Naruto told her "I don't want you using that end of story."
'I will use it on you even if you don't want it, I cant afford to loose someone else I love.' as soon as the thought crossed her mind she blushed. Shaking her head she continued on "The last family was the historians, they were mainly the teachers and scholars they guarded the vaults and were in charge of diplomacy for the clan. That was all that my mama taught me about the clan. Of course there were people who just lived there, most of them were just villagers but mama also said some of them joined the shinobi corps."
"I figured as much with the villagers, but now you have me interested in the historians. I wonder if any of the Uzushio vaults survived the war." Naruto pondered hopping that they could make it there after his pit-stop south of Uzu.
"I don't know its something we can look into though." Karin replied "Mama healed the Kusa nin using our family's healing ability and once they learned that she could heal people just by letting them touch her, or bite if it was life threaten, they forced her to continue to heal their forces until she would collapse from exhaustion. Even after the border war they continued to force her to heal their trainees."
"And she just let them?"
"She didn't have a lot of choice since neither of us had lot of training in the shinobi arts." Karin told him "It wasn't until they wanted to use me to 'Restart the Uzumaki clan' that she started to try and find a way to get out of Kusa."
The way she said restart got under Naruto's skin more then he outwardly showed. Kyūbi on the other hand could tell what the blond was thinking even if he didn't want to admit it. He was protective of Karin.
"We were able to escape because I was able to make some poison that made the guards that watched us constantly have seizures. I don't think it was enough to kill them but it was enough to give us a chance to run." she said running through the chemicals she used again and grimaced.
"Whats wrong?"
"Using what I know now if they weren't pulled out of the house quick enough they would be brain dead right now." she chuckled sheepishly "I basically made a low grade nerve gas…"
"Then here's to hopping that no one ever remade it or better yet even figured out how to make it in the first place."
"I hope so."
The Creed Reborn
Looking over the medical reports from the test run of the Croatoan Agent Minato liked the results he had in front of him. It would be a long time before the chemical agent could be produced with enough concentration to be used like it was last night, and that was fine with him. The gas performed as well as he had hopped. It stayed low in a confined space, it lasted for the better part of an hour ensuring that those effected died in it, and with the tweaks that one of Danzo's benefactors made it had the added effect of making those effected rabid to the point of killing each other.
Which means once the gas dissipated in an hour it looked whatever target they used it on killed each other and not an outside party.
The two issues he had was the delivery system needed to be better, and it needed to use no charka. The last issue he had was that neither the body of Shisui or Itachi had been located during the clean up efforts.
While the efforts were still going on by both Templar and regular shinobi forces, none of the hour by hour lists had either of their names on it.
Sighing and leaning back into the chair he thought about his next move. With the test run successful they could move into the next phase of their plans, but because of the refinement needed to make it as potent as they did it would be three years before they could use it. So that left them three to four years to work on their side projects.
Who would have thought that a child's attempt at a gas bomb would be the breakthrough that they needed for one of their own plans. The Templar agents that were in Kusa had found this after a pair of Uzumakis had escape.
At the time the Order as a whole was pissed about loosing two Uzumakis since either one of them could have held the ancient blood they were seeking, but when they found the gas one of them had made in order to facilitate their escape the bloodline quest had been put on hold to further study it.
A knock on his door drew Minato out of his thoughts. "Enter" he said pushing the notes under a folder to hide them from unnecessary eyes.
Danzo and the newly instated Uchiha clan head entered the room. Unconsciously breathing a sigh of relief at the fact that he could speak openly around the two, but looking at the pairs faces he could tell that whatever they had to said was not good news.
"Itachi Uchiha still lives…" Kae spat out.
"I wouldn't have put it quite like that dear, I would have said that there is a strong possibility that he still lives." Danzo rebutted. "Pardon her but we found the body of her fiance Shisui at last, it was in an escape tunnel that was under the main house. One of my own was down there as well and because of that we had to collapse it lest the Hyūga find out that we had one of their own."
"We should have pulled Shisui out of there before we did! He deserved a proper burial at least!"
"And the second we did that the rest of the people who weren't part of this operation would wonder why there was not only Shisui down there but a Hyūga that went missing almost twenty years ago! What would we do then huh?!"
"Enough!" Minato yelled making the both of them clam up. "We will recover his body when we are able and ensure he has a proper grave, until then you are to calm the fuck down. Danzo what makes you think that there is a possibility that Itachi lives?"
"We found his arm in the tunnels, there was too much disturbance to see if which path he took, and sending a team down each tunnel turned up no results." Danzo pulled out a photo of the arm as well as a photo of both bodies. "Without sending trackers to locate him there is nothing else we can do but assume he is still alive."
Looking over the photos Minato knew Itachi had survived the ambush they had set up for him, he didn't know that the tunnel system was there and apparently Shisui knew yet failed to tell his superior. Thanks to that blunder one of the most dangerous ANBU Operatives that wasn't part of the Templars was on the loose somewhere in the world, and any ANBU could be in another country in the time that had passed since the chemical test.
"List him as a Missing Nin, S class just so that way someone will look a little harder for him. Place whatever amount you want on him just make it look believable." turning his chair towards the window he smiled as an idea came to his mind "Itachi Clan Killer, has a nice ring for a soon to be dead man, make sure you stress the fact that he is at best upper A class and that we just want him dead because he killed his family."
"It will be done." Danzo bowed slightly.
"How goes the release of the "Coma Patients" from the hospital, I trust people are asking them too many questions?"
Kae was the one that spoke up at this point "No so far from the three members of our order that we have released from the bunker they have not had many questions, and the few that had asked were mainly directed at us in a way that the official story we released covered all of the questions."
"Good because officially you were the only Uchiha who was out on patrol when this occurred hence why you are the face of the Uchiha clan right now." shuffling his papers around the pair understood that this meeting was over and started walking towards the door.
"A moment Kae." Stopping and closing the door, the new Uchiha matriarch turned back and stood before the desk. "I wish to speak to you about Sasuke."
"As a Hokage, or as a Master of the order?"
"Both." he turned back round from the window and faced her "I understand that during Danzo's initial talk with your youngest member he didn't know who checked my daughter out during the day yesterday. I want you to push him into trying to befriend her and figure out how much she knows about our little group."
"Even with the Trigger gone you still want to try and use her?"
"Yes even with out the use of the Kyūbi I fully believe she can become one of the best fighters this world has seen. I already took steps to ensure that what happened with the trigger wont happen with her. Given time I think we can locate that little bastard and we will have the full strength of the Kyūbi back under our control."
"Your not worried about the Trigger meeting up with her?" Kae asked him.
"He has no training as a shinobi, but his weapons are of interest to the Order. I'm also counting on the fact that she wants to find him to lead us to him." turning back to window he looked out over the village that was under his control. "That is all Kae."
"Then may the father of understanding guide us." Minato didn't even bother to respond as he heard the door open an close leaving him in the room alone.
The Creed Reborn
Finishing the rest of his lunch Naruto and Karin looked down at the small fire he had made. Between his and Karin's estimations he had figured that if they could push it they would arrive tomorrow morning. Watching Karin filled their water bottles in the creek he pondered what to do once they got out of the country. His goal was to still get to the Assassins bunker south of Uzu no Kuni but the question was how was he going to get there.
No sane person would take a pair of kids to some remote island, and there was no guarantee that any ship they were able to sneak onboard to would even come close to the island he was trying to get to.
Tossing the idea to the side for now he thought back to Karin's story, he remembered that she said they had been chased since Kiri. Naruto wasn't the best with world geography but even he knew that Kusa was clear on the other side of the continent from Kiri.
"I never told you how me and mama ended up in Hi no Kuni did I?" Karin asked almost as if sensing his thoughts "After we escaped Kusa we managed to find a river village that done trade with other villages in Taki."
"I take it from there you just hopped from river boat to boat until you got to the coastline." Naruto said taking his water bottle from her extended hand.
"Yeah that was the quickest way to put distance between us and Kusa, when we got to the Taki coastal ports mama was able to secure passage for us both on a trade ship headed for Kiri. She was hopping that some of the Uzumaki had survived and settled down in Kiri under a new name."
Kicking dirt on the fire Naruto pulled out his map and compass and got his directions down all while listening to her tale. "I thought Kiri was one of the three countries that participated in the siege of Uzu?"
"They were but since they were also the closest many of the refugee ships that left Uzu ended up there due to lack of just about everything. Based off of that mama thought that there had to be some of the Uzumaki left there either in hiding or just living in a village."
"What happened?"
"Almost as soon as we landed we realized that clans were even less welcome in Kiri than almost anywhere else we had went so far. There was what the locals called a bloodline purge and just about any of those who were part of a clan were being hunted down and killed just because they were different."
"I had heard something like that was going on in hushed talks back in Konoha, but I never got the full story behind it." Naruto said before jumping over a log "Allow me." he joked holding his hand out to help her over the log.
Half blushing half laughing she accepted the hand before continuing. "Since we boarded the vessel in Taki we hadn't hidden the fact that we were both Uzumaki's. By the time we had landed in Kiri it was too late for us to go into hiding since the ships captain was born there he turned us into the local militia almost as soon as we landed. To him he was getting rid of another pair of stains, that was why he gave us basicly free passage."
"I take it that was when you both took off running back towards Hi no Kuni hopping that Konoha would be a safer for you because of old ties." Naruto concluded.
"Yeah well you see how well that worked for us." Karin stopped dead and looked around wildly "Naruto we have someone incoming at shinobi speed!"
"Shit there's no where to hide come on we have to run!" he yelled grabbing her hand "How many are there?!"
"Just one and closing in on us fast!"
The pair ran as fast as they could but with the woods being the way that it was anything faster then a light jog got them nowhere since they had to push brush out of the way.
"KIT Stop running!" the Kyūbi yelled making Naruto almost trip.
'What do you mean stop running if I get caught I'm getting taken back to Konoha and by extension Karin!' Naruto yelled back at the fox "Don't you get it you over grown fuzz ball I ain't letting a person I care about get taken by those bastards back in Konoha!"
"NARUTO/NARUTO" both Karin an Kyūbi yelled.
"I'll let the vixen talk first. But after you are telling her about me!"
"Its that ANBU again, I remember his charka from when we met him last. His charka is all over place though so I cant make heads or tails of what is going on with him." she had chosen to ignore the outburst he had until after they figured out what was going on.
"Itachi was his name right?" Naruto asked trying to figure out if they should run or if they should wait.
"I think so I mean he did help us out, but even you said you didn't know if we can trust him." she remembered thinking that the ANBU was going to kill the blond. "Its a gamble but I think we should meet up with him, I mean he didn't turn us in when we parted ways."
"Its sound advice kit, I have my own issues with the Uchiha monkeys, but that one didn't have the same aura as the rest of their ilk."
Each option had pros and cons, at least with Itachi he could trust the man to some degree since it had been almost a week and no other ANBU teams had come near them. The downside to meeting with him was simple, they would be exposing themselves to someone that may or may not be on their side. The pro was that they could use this to gain info or supplies like they did last time.
"Karin you head on ahead an find a place to hold up if something happens to me take these supplies and head towards the port. If everything seems fine then you can come back and we can see what Itachi has for us." he told her placing his pack on the ground. "I'll use the signal flare that was in his kit to flag him down once you get out of site."
Nodding her head she picked up his bag and took off into the brush. Counting down from sixty he pulled the ring at the end of the flare tube sending it well into the air above him with a high pitched screaming sound.
"Now all that is left is to wait." he mumbled and sat down on a nearby log. He didn't have the sensor ability like Karin did, so his only option was to rely on the Kyūbi if he could even sense him in the first place. 'How long until he gets here?'
"Kit I'll be honest I don't know, but there is one thing I do know the closer he gets the more malice I feel coming off of him. I don't know what that's about but just stay on your guard."
'That part was already a given, he's an ANBU.'
The Creed Reborn
Itachi was starting to fade in an out of consciousness. A combination of the blood loss, pain, fatigue and a near certain case of infection put him with nearly one foot in the grave. It was only thinks to his anger and training that he hadn't killed over yet.
Jumping from another branch he watched in a near trance like state as a signal flare got sent into the air. Knowing that in the fourteen or so hours since he emerged from the escape tunnels Minato didn't have time to notify the patrols to look out for him, he assumed it was the pair he was looking for. That or his mind was playing tricks on him which also was a very real possibility.
It wasn't until the sharp whistling sound that accompanied it that he knew it was real.
Changing his course towards the flare he started having doubts about who it could be. By now the pair should be on a ship and if they weren't on a ship then they should be in the port, or near it. He couldn't afford to run into another shinobi team not in the state he was in.
Passing over a creek he smelled the faintest smell of wood smoke from a fire that had been put out confirming the fact that it wasn't a shinobi team but someone else since no shinobi would ever use a fire for anything other then survival in the harshest of conditions.
He could see darkness starting to enter his vision again. 'I can't go much further.' he thought landing on another branch. As he moved to push off again his body failed and he watched as he fell from the tree in slow motion.'Is this how it ends?'
Hitting the ground his vision finally gave out and he succumbed to darkness. He couldn't be certain but he thought he felt the someone grab him seconds after the world around him grew dark.
Karin opened the raven haired mans mouth an placed her forearm between his teeth. She didn't know if this would work or not since everyone that her mother had healed was still awake enough to bite and when she tried it with Naruto when he was in a coma it failed. But she had to try she couldn't just let this man die and not try.
She felt as her body weakened and tried to not pass out from the feeling of being light headed. Every fiber of her being was yelling at her to stop but she had neither the strength nor the willpower to remove her arm.
"Enough Karin." she heard as she felt a arm grab her an pull her away from Itachi "I told you to never use that, but you used it to save a man that already has one foot in the grave." she looked up and saw Naruto standing over her.
"If I didn't he would have died…" she said weakly. Her mother could do it multiple times a day but just doing it once took almost everything out of her.
"And if you would have continued you would have died. I highly doubt your healing could have rebuilt his arm unless it took something of equal value from you."
She hadn't even noticed his lack of an arm when she tried to heal him she was so focused on trying to be fast enough to heal him. "Sorry.."
"Yes I'm pissed at you, not for trying to heal him but for not thinking before acting. You failed to notice the fact that he was missing an arm." Naruto told her "I don't want to loose you. Do you understand me?"
Nodding slightly she tried to hold back the tears in her eyes, both from happiness at the fact that she was important to him, and from the scolding she was receiving from him.
"There's nothing we can do until he wakes up and with the way he looks now there's no telling when that will be. Might as well make camp here tonight since we cant move him and we weren't going to make the port today anyway." he said before walking away.
"I'm sorry Naru…" she mumbled.
"Did you say something Karin?"
Standing up quickly and putting on a strong face she turned to face him "Nope."
"Could have swore I heard something…."
The Creed Reborn
"during this time the clans fought…." Iruka said with nearly everyone watching him teach.
Naruko was sitting in class, but her mind wasn't on the history of the warring clan era. It was with the rumors she had heard on the way to school, the one about almost the entire Uchiha clan being wiped out by one mad man, Itachi.
Sure she was sure he was strong, ANBU had to be, but she knew there were people in the Uchiha clan that was his equal. There was another thing that bugged her, at no point in the time that they had been together did he ever show any signs of insanity.
She knew what insanity was since her mom finally snapped.
Her father, if he could be called that anymore after seeing that side of him last night, left last night and wasn't back by morning when she left for the academy. Everything she knew about the group Minato was part of pointed at the fact that he or someone he knew was behind the massacre that happened last night.
Grinding her teeth she tried to ignore the phantom pain that came from the tracking seal on her back. Sadly there wasn't a thing she could do to disable it. To disable it meant she would have to first see it, second understand it, and finally come up with a counter to it.
The first was out since she couldn't get a good close up of it.
Her mother was a seal master of the highest order, even better then Minato, so understanding it was also out at her current skill level. Sure she was better then ninety percent of people in the village but her mother was sure to have set some fail safes of some sort.
And because of the other two factors there was no way she could even begin to make a counter to the seal.
At the end of the day she was a prisoner who was free to do what she please, just within the village.
RING
Hearing the bell that signaled the end of class she picked up her notebook and sealed it away in her school scroll. "Remember class read pages 210 to 256 tonight and there will be a quiz on the importance of the Uzumaki clan during the Warring clan era!" she heard Iruka yell as she ran out the door.
'At this point I could care less about what my ancestors did back then…' she thought running through the halls. She had more important reading to do if she was to understand the full scope of what the Templars were capable of.
She hadn't been able to properly hide the scrolls containing the info she had gathered from the bunker, and if she was honest she doubted she would be able to even let herself hide it here in this village so long as that man was in charge.
'I doubt he could read them, hell I don't even know how I can read them, but on the off chance that he can I cant leave them anywhere that anyone could even have the smallest chance of finding.'
Opening the door she saw the only absent student Sasuke standing with another Uchiha while talking to the headmaster. She could sympathize with him since in a manner of speaking they were the same. If you excluded the fact that it had been before her life that her clan was destroyed.
"...Yes of course we will be more then happy to send his school work to him." she heard the headmaster say as he approached.
"Thank you, with everything that has happened we will be taking him out of school for an extended period of time, maybe even until team placements." the Uchiha said.
At this point Naruko was confused she didn't know that it was possible to even be pulled out of school while still attending it. Sasuke noticed her and turned his eyes to her, they were cold nothing like the life they had in them not even twenty-four hours ago.
"Ah its young Namikaze, tell me how goes your classes?" she heard her name and looked towards the man who said it.
"Its going we…." she began before she saw a red cross stitched into the mans robe. Eyes panning to the Uchiha she saw the same cross on her flack jacket. "Well…"
"Good you have big shoes to fill after all can't let both the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans down, I mean you are the last loyal one left of this generation." fingers twitched in restraint to keep from trying to kill the man standing before her.
"I know I do that's why I strive to be the best I can." she told him trying to keep the strain out of her voice.
"I have no doubt you do, Kae I will make sure everything is sent your way. Excuse me." he said nodding to the Uchiha before walking off.
"I think its time we left and began some real training Sasuke. Take care of yourself Namikaze." the woman said before walking away as well. "Next time you see Sasuke he will be well on his way to being strong enough to kill Itachi and avenge his parents."
'I wish next time I see you I will be strong enough to kill you.' Naruko thought as she watched the pair retreat. 'that's a pipe dream for now and you know it…'
"Oh one last thing. I need to clear it with your father first, but I want to extend training to you as well since Sasuke's mother and yours were good friends. I think it would do the both of you good." Kae said turning back to Naruko.
"I'll… think it over. I need to get home now bye." Deciding to just call it a day before she does try to kill someone she took off running towards home. She knew her mother would be there but she was hopping her father wouldn't be, after seeing two Templars was two too many.
Unlocking the door to her house she walked in an almost immediately smelled the spices of ramen being made. Her mouth watering at the smell she hadn't smelled in nearly two weeks. Making her way into the kitchen she saw Kushina standing in front of a pot that she assumed was full of ramen.
"Ah your home from school I could feel you getting close, you dad said he wouldn't be in until late tonight. Naruto must be out training, that boy he never comes home anymore just like his father." it almost made Naruko want to cry at how far her mother had fallen, the lines between truth and fiction blurred for her all caused by the man she loved. "I'll make sure to leave your brother some ramen."
Naruko didn't even know how to respond to her mom last night she was broken today she almost acted like her old self. Sitting down at the kitchen counter she picked up her chopsticks and slowly ate the ramen she had been offered by her insane mother.
Naruko's only thought was 'How long until I finally break as well?'
The Creed Reborn
'Who's cooking fish?' Itachi thought as he opened his eyes and tried to clear his vision. He could blurrily see a fire going and two figures around it. He tried to push himself up but failed and fell back onto whatever bed he was on.
"Easy there, you might be healed but you ain't in any shape to move yet." he heard a somewhat familiar voice tell him. Looking up he saw a hooded figure standing over him. "Karin managed to heal you, but the loss of your arm will take time for your body to recognize."
"Karin?" Itachi mumbled trying to remember what happened.
"Yeah my traveling partner, you remember her right red hair same age as me, tried to protect me because she thought you were going to kill me." the figure said. Itachi's vision slowly becoming accustomed to the low light.
Standing above him was a blond haired man.
"Minato…" and like a sledgehammer it all came back to him. The murder, the fight, the loss of his arm "YOU BASTARD!" he shot up and tried to swing on the figure but found his arm restrained "YOU KILLED MY FAMILY AND NOW YOU WANT TO SILENCE ME! FUCK YOU TEMPLAR!" Itachi yelled frantically as he tried to find a way out of his binding.
He felt a punch land itself hard on his cheek.
"ITS NARUTO YOU RAVING LUNATIC!" Naruto yelled before shaking his hand "FUCK MY HAND!" Itachi's face was harder then he thought.
Those words snapped Itachi out of whatever state he was in. He remembered that he was on his way to meet up with Naruto and Karin, the flare must have been him. "Naruto?"
"That's my name." he said as he tenderly held his hand. "Sorry about tying you up but we didn't know what happened and to be honest didn't know if we could trust you."
"I guess it was a good thing you didn't." Itachi mumbled.
"Sorry Itachi after I healed you Naruto insisted we restrained you." Karin said picking up a skewed fish and walking over to him. "Here eat you have to be starving."
Naruto bent down and untied the rope holding his hand to the side before he tried to grab the fish with a phantom limb. "Does it hurt?" the question had been bugging him since he saw Itachi again.
Taking the fish in his hand he blew slightly on it "Honestly I still feel it." he took a bite of the fish, it was bland but given the fact that the pair had been out here for two weeks at this point he doubted they had any spice. "I didn't know you were a healer Karin, I thought you were a sensor."
"Technically I'm both, they are both Uzumaki traits." she said sitting down "I would explain but it basically would require me to tell you everything I know about the Uzumaki clan as whole and that would take most of the night."
"Based off his response when he woke up I would say we will be traveling together for while, huh Itachi?" Naruto said tossing the stick of his fish out into the woods "Given the fact that I know I didn't tell you about the Templars when we parted ways last I guess you found out about them some other way. I guess Minato killed you family didn't he?"
"Try my whole clan." told them his eyes gaining what was known as the thousand yard stare.
Karin just about dropped her fish at that statement. "Did you just say your clan?" Naruto asked as Karin tried to catch her fish again.
"Yeah he used my cousin, a Templar by the name of Shisui Uchiha, to plant the seeds of a rebellion, and when I found out and attempted to kill him he decided the best course of action was to kill everyone not aligned with him and his Templar underlings."
"And how exactly did he manage that?"
"Some form a chemical, he said he was going to originally use it as a 'Riot Control Agent', but when I made a move to try an stop the coup he used it on my whole clan." Itachi told them "I'm guessing those that were part of his group he got out of the compound before using it, so if you want to be technical I guess the whole clan isn't dead."
"No but if they are part of the Templar Order then they might as well be." Naruto said before sitting down and looking down at his bracer. "I have two questions, one how much do you know of the Templars? Secondly, how did you find out about them since it sounds like you knew this Shisui was one before you confronted him."
"You left behind a letter telling your sister, well more like warning her, about them. She was the one who first told me about them, I was able to put the rest together on my own based off what I had heard and other info I had been able to gather." Itachi said.
"That tells me who told you and how you found out your cousin was one, but that doesn't tell me how much you know."
"To be honest not a lot since everything that was in the bunker you found was unreadable to me. Naruko had to basically explain all of it in layman terms since we were both running short on time."
"Why was that I could read it all with ease." Naruto said scratching his head.
"It might be because of your eye, just like my Minds Eye could translate all the Isu info back in the archive." Karin said finally gathering her thoughts after hearing Itachi's story.
"Wait what is the Isu and what is a Minds Eye?" At this point Itachi had his own set of questions. He had to wonder what all had happened to them since Karin was carrying a long metal and wood object with he, and even if he hid it well Naruto walked with a limp that he was sure wasn't there last time they met.
"Its a long story, one that honestly I'm still trying to learn it all, but if you want to travel with us I'm sure that I we can tell you about it." Naruto told him hopping that he was right about the Uchiha traveling with them.
"Well you sister did give me a message to tell you if I ever found you. She said that she would never become the pray. That was before I destroyed the bunker to keep Minato from getting his hands on the stuff within. Even unreadable to me I couldn't take the chance that he couldn't find someone that could."
"So you done the same thing we did to the Isu Archives at Oni Lake." Karin said before standing up and stretching. "I'm going to go ahead and lay down its been a long day for me, night Naru goodnight Itachi."
"Goodnight Karin I wont be far behind you." Naruto said before turning back to Itachi "I wish I could of done that before I left but I had very little in the way of heavy explosives when I left. Please tell me that there is no way for anyone to recover anything from it?"
Itachi thought about that for a minute, "Unless you get there fast and have people who can breath underwater. Now what did you do at Oni Lake?"
"Me I didn't do anything Karin on the other hand basically turned the whole southern side of the lake into a crater. I'm hopping that once we get to where we're going we can get you further up to speed on the facts."
"You know you never told me where you were going when we first met, plan on telling me now?" Itachi had been wondering ever since he met the runaway blond where he was planning on going.
"I'll only say where if you say you'll travel with us. I mean you cant go back to Konoha and you still haven't given me an answer on if you will or not." Naruto said hopping once more that he would agree to travel with them.
"I thought that was a given since I sought the both of you out."
"Then its off to Uzu for us, well an island south of it." Naruto told him. "Here's to hopping that we can find a charter ship to take us there at the port. Until tomorrow try an get some rest, or if you want to take first watch since you slept most of the afternoon be my guest."
Itachi watched as Naruto got up and walked away headed to second shelter he had built for the night. His mind was all over the place from the events that had happened over the past two weeks. A month ago he would have followed Shisui into the depths of hell, he would have stood beside Minato in battle, he would have begrudgingly followed orders from Danzo.
"Now all of them need to die…" he watched the campfire burn not unlike the one in his heart.
The Creed Reborn
The now trio walked in silence as they neared the main road that lead into town. Karin was the only one not wearing a hood since both Naruto and Itachi were wanted by Konoha. They knew that as soon as they entered the port town that it would be like Arakawa and they couldn't afford to drawn attention to themselves less they be caught by Konoha.
Thankfully Karin was able to tell that there wasn't anyone in the port that had a charka pool larger then the standard civilian.
Hiding in the brush before stepping out into the road they surveyed to make sure there was no one one the road that might see them come out of the woods. Karin was good at telling where people were but with that many people in her sense range and all of them having roughly the same size charka pool even she couldn't tell if there was someone on the road or not.
"As soon as we enter me and Naruto will find a place we can use to hold up while Karin can ask around for either a cargo freighter headed past Uzu or a charter ship that can take there." Itachi said before turning to Karin "I trust that once we are in there you can find us again when we separate?"
"I should be able to, at least I will be able to track you down to the point that I can tell which building you both are in." Karin said before taking off her rifle. "I hate to do this but can you take care of these for me since I would stand out carrying it around town."
"Sure." Itachi said taking the rifle and ammo off of her. "Only if you take this with you, it will be easier to get people to talk if you have cash on hand."
"Thanks, we used the last of the cash getting supplies."
"It might be a little hard for him to shoot something that long, ya know with one arm and everything." Naruto joked before feeling the cold glare of Itachi on his head. "Too soon?" he said sweating bullets.
"Way too soon…" Itachi said coldly.
"I think its time we get a move on." Karin said breaking the two out of whatever ideas were going through their heads. "I'll cya soon, and Itachi make sure ya watch over Naruto please."
"Make sure you take care of yourself, we have some experience fighting after all." Naruto told her "Make sure you come back safe…"
Only Itachi heard the last part as he followed the blond out on to the road. Karin would wait for a few minutes before headed out herself. It was all so that neither group would show up as one, and if somehow one group was found the other, mainly Karin, would be able to get away without anyone realizing they were one.
Sitting back and using a kunai to whittle a stick Karin waited well past the time Itachi recommend. Tossing her stick aside she walked out of the woods and onto the road.
She wasn't but maybe a mile or so from the edge of the city and she was sure no one could see her. So she took her time walking into the town.
The town had seen better days but since it was a semi major stop for trade vessels headed either to Mizu no Kuni or Chi no Kuni, or that's what Itachi said.
Since it wasn't a major port and more of stop for supplies there really wasn't any guards other then the town militia who dealt with any bandits, the bonus to that is that it wasn't a hot spot for shinobi teams either.
Walking down the streets she watched as people went about their day. The man at the stall selling fish, the woman selling woven baskets, or the mother an daughter who was buying produce at the general goods store.
'I wonder if this is what life could have been like for me?' she mused looking at the family. The daughter wasn't much older then she was when they arrived at Kusa. 'Maybe it could have, but this is my life now and Naru and Itachi are counting on me.'
She decided the store that the family was in was the easiest spot to start asking around.
"Thank you come again!" she heard the man yell as she entered the store. Hearing the bell ring again he looked around to the door and saw her standing there, instantly his expression grew colder. "We ain't got nothing here for street urchins like you, so get lost!"
Pushing her anger back down to keep from snapping at the man Karin took a calming breath. "I ain't a urchin, me and my...brother just got here in town and we are looking for a charter vessel." Karin told him before walking up to the counter, "While he is outside getting dried food, he sent me In here to ask about the ship and get some other items."
"If your buying I need to see cash first, I still don't believe ya ain't an urchin." Karin just help up a small roll of ryo "Aye that'll do, so whatcha need?"
"Matches, half a pound of coal, two salt shakers, quarter pound of sulfur, a pound of lead, and pancake mix please."
"Awfully odd shopping list, but who am I to question it. Buckwheat mix, or white flour mix?"
"Buckwheat please. Back to my question is there a person we can talk to for a charter?"
"Aye, head down the street and there is a pub on the corner, one of the nicer ones in town, and ask for a Captain Shiro, he does charters to just about anywhere." the shopkeeper told her pulling her order from the shelves behind the counter. "Make sure your brother is with ya this town might be safe for the most part, but your hair stands out and the few slavers that are here love exotics like you."
"And the town militia doesn't take care of them, I mean they are slavers."
"Nah, more like they tolerate em, so long as they don't target a member of this little community they leave em alone." he told her placing the order on the counter. "That'll be 816 ryo please."
"Here's 825 a few extra for the information and warning." Karin said taking the items and putting them into her bag.
"Thank you, I would say come again but you look like you and your brother are headed a long ways. Where's home for you anyways youngin?"
"Since my mom died, wherever Naru is." Karin said before lifting the bag.
"Sorry to hear that but still take care."
"We will, thank you." she told him walking out of the shop and looking down the street. "He said captain Shiro right, down the street on the corner."
Walking down the road she looked around trying to find the pub that the shop keeper had told her about. Finally seeing a sign that had a pair of sake cups she walked up and looked at the sign.
"The Drunken Sailor…" she mumbled before hearing a loud commotion coming from inside. She turned just in time to avoid a man getting tossed out.
"I told ya dam slavers to stay out of here, kami damit will ya take a hint!" she heard a woman yell from the door way, "Next time ya dumbasses come in here I'll do more then then break a dam bottle over yer head!" her eyes met with Karin for a second before she closed the door and stomped off leaving the half conscious man laying in the road.
Unsure of what do Karin walked up to the door and decided to take a risk. Walking in she looked around and saw sailors everywhere. None of them were even paying attention to the kid that just walked in.
She saw another lady behind the counter and decided she was her best bet at finding this captain Shiro.
"We don't serve kids unless you have a shinobi id card get lost." she told Karin not even taking her eyes off the glasses she was cleaning.
"I ain't here for a drink, and even if I did have a shinobi id I doubt I would get a drink of this stuff." Karin said sitting down at the bar.
"This swill ain't good enough for ya?" the bar maid asked defensively.
"No that isn't it, I'm here looking for a charter captain, someone by the name of Shiro."
"Ya just missed em lass turns out your 'charter owner' was nothing more then a slaver. Ole Gretty threw him out cuz his last charter was supposed to be 2000 ryo, an here he comes back not even three days later bragin bout making three times that." she told her sitting the glass down "Where you headed anyways, I don't suppose your alone since I doubt a girl like yourself is old enough to travel."
"I'm with my brother he's still out getting supplies and asked me to find a ship for us. We are trying to visit our family home." Karin said hopping she would leave it at that.
"An where might this family home be?" she heard a voice ask from down the bar "Go on Yura, Fuku needs help in the kitchen orders are coming up faster then he can make em."
"Sure Gretty." Karin watched as the bar maid she was just talking to walked away.
Gretty leaned in on the counter and looked at Karin in the eyes, she was an imposing middle aged woman who gave off an equally imposing aura. "Been a while since an Uzumaki was last in my bar. Hell I would say its been at least since ma still owned the place back when I was young girl about your age."
Karin stiffened and slowly reached for her only defense a kunai, stopping when she heard chuckling coming from the lady.
"Lass you are twenty years too early to even try that, hell snot nosed genin from Konoha have tried that before and I did the same thing to them I did that jackass Shiro." Gretty told her pouring a shot for herself "Its fine your heritage is safe with me, hell if Konoha knew you were here I'm sure they would love to send a team to just pick you right up."
At this point Karin was curious, she had never met a person who wasn't glad to help Konoha. It was half the reason that Itachi and Naruto were on the other side of the city from her.
"So I take it you ain't fans of Konoha either, well that makes two of us. My father died before I was born some shipping accident, my mom didn't ever remarry per say but if she would have it would have been to an Uzumaki. Konoha never helped the Uzumaki, one of them was basically my dad. Hell I remember his face to this day, when word got out there was a siege he rushed back to help his family saying if he didn't go he would never be able to face the rest of his clan if he didn't. Needless to say he never came back, hell none of them did." Gretty took another shot of sake. "Ma never remarried, she held onto hope that he would someday wash up. So here it is nearly thirty years later and another red head shows up, at first I didn't think you were an Uzumaki till I got a good look at ya."
"I don't think sorry would cut it, I just lost my mom and I still ain't fully over it. If it wasn't for Naru I wouldn't be here either." she watched as Gretty pulled another glass and poured two shots this time. She couldn't stop her in time before she sat one down in front of her.
"Here's to lost loved ones then…"
Karin starred at the small cup before hesitantly picking it up and taking a small sip. The burning sensation that it sent down her throat made her cough uncontrollably. "How… do you ...drink this stuff?"
"Years of practice lass, years of practice." she told her sitting the glass back down "Now down to the brass tacks, based off your answer a few minutes ago you want to go to Uzu correct?" her answer was silence "Well I'll take that as a yes, there ain't a cappin crazy enough to take you near those shores, and all the ones that could died during the siege or went into hiding after."
"There has to be…" Karin got cut off by a hand being held up.
"I said there ain't a cappin, not that there wasn't anyone." she rested her elbows on the bar and pointed towards an old man sitting in the corner face down on the table "That old coot there, he use to run a shipping lane from Uzu to here back before the war, his wife wasn't an Uzumaki but she did live on the island. If you can persuade him I would wager he would be able to take you and your friend to the shores."
"But if he isn't a captain how does he have a ship?"
"More like a fishin trolley, he heads out once a month comes back with a load of fish and then spends the rest of his days tossin ryos at the bottle." Gretty told her before walking away towards the end of the bar. "Come on lass I'll introduce ya."
Following her to the corner of the bar Karin got a better look at the man Gretty was talking about. Even from this distance she could smell the sake on the man, and that was saying something since most of the bar smelled like the rice wine.
"Oi ya old coot!" Gretty yelled kicking the chair he was sitting in.
"Huh wat ch'ya want ya old dam bat, did ch'ya bring me nother bottle?" he said slowly raising his head and leaning back in the chair. His gray hair matted and oily from sweat. He was wearing a faded blue and patched pea coat. His boots were stained red from the guts of fish and she was sure that if his pants weren't black they would be red as well.
"No, I brought ya someone that only you might be able to help." Gretty said before standing aside to let the man see Karin.
His eyes widened slightly at the sight of her. "What's an uzu.." he stopped and belched "..maki doing here?"
"Sir I need your help, Gretty here said your the only person who might be able to get us to Uzu." Karin said hopful that he would agree. "Please…"
"You tell this brat I knew how to get there?" he asked completely ignoring Karin "You know I ain't been back there since she died."
"I know that, hell that's the reason ya drink. Its time to go back ya old coot make the trip once more before ya croak, at least pay yer respects."
"I ain't gonna croak yet ya old bat, theres still plenty of time to make the dam trip." he tried to pour another cup but all he got was drops "AN GET ME NOTHER BOTTLE!"
"Nope ya had enough." Gretty told him "An ya ain't getting another less ya help these Uzumaki…"
"Fine I'll go to another fine establishment."
"So they can what, point you an your ship out to the next Kiri ship cappin. You'll be sleepin with the fish before month's end ya Chiha bastard."
The old man turned on her with eyes of a six sided pin wheel. "Come again bat…"
AN: And that's all this time folks. Leave a review letting me know how I did this time, I think I'm getting ahold of this writing shit.
Cyall