The Price to be Paid

by Adventreader221

Based off of Freowin A Price for Peace, Naru/Fem.Sasuke/Karin pairing

3. Chapter 3-So Many Steps!

Chapter 3 is up finally. Not many reviews based on the last chapter, I get it, I'm basically just copy/pasting all the chapters with little effort, and while I admit it seems that way, I reiterate; I want this story to remain as close to the original plot as I can have it for as long as possible before I start to change up the story to fit my plans and ideas for later on. As you clearly saw in the 1st chapter, Naruto is so much stronger than any normal canon Naruto so I have to constantly change up dialogue and plot to fit the story.

*Warning, this chapter contains a 80-90% of freowin original excerpt from his story A Price for Peace, I do not own these large portions of excerpts as they belong to freowin alone. Whatever edits are made belong to me, but the chapter is majorly edited to fit this story plot, and I liked the original plot so I want to keep as much of it the same for as long as I can before I start writing chapters my way.*

---

Naruto sighed as he scratched the back of his head, "I'm sorry, but could you repeat that again, I swear I misheard you Karin." Naruto said.

Kiyomi snorted, "Don't act stupid. You know exactly what she said Naruto." she told the blond.

"Yea, and even when you act like you don't get what someone's saying, you're pretty quick to catch on to what they mean, but if that's the case I won't hurt myself explaining it one last time before we set off on our trip. I want to enjoy my last few days in civilization and that means eating well." Karin declared while the female Uchiha snickered to herself silently behind the blond, she was gonna enjoy this very much..

Naruto could almost hear his beloved Gama-chan crying from the hammering it was about to take. True to her word Karin dragged both Naruto and Kiyomi out and easily found what looked like the most expensive place in the whole village, it was several floors tall each with a different style of food. Or as they called it cuisine from around the Elemental Nations. Each of the great nations had a floor specifically designed to match it's scenery. Naruto found the Land of Water most interesting as it was designed like an aquarium, the walls were all large fish tanks filled with exotic species of fish that Naruto had never seen before. "What about this one?" Naruto asked, hoping to have a better look around.

"You think I'm having sea food as my last proper meal? No, that's way too cheap." Karin replied, enjoying the fact that Naruto hadn't even argued and let her take command.

"That's not true, what about lobsters? Those bastards are expensive." Naruto said in a matter of fact tone.

"He's not wrong, he bought us a Lobster meal when we were a couple, the receipt alone shocked even me." Kiyomi agreed, "But right now, it's not calling me." the Uchiha said.

"Well, we don't have to eat a lobster meal, anything based on seafood is a bit more pricey." Naruto said.

"Hm, well as tempting as that is I think I'll still pass." came Karin's joyous reply.

'See what happens when you don't listen to me? I told you that we should have just killed her and the Uchiha bitch back when they found the caravan. And now look, the redhead's being difficult. I say that's a point for me.' Kurama said as they walked past the Land of Water room.

'I can't just go around killing people because they're being difficult. Besides I don't mind so much, from what I can tell Karin hasn't had many people treat her with any kindness or respect so letting her choose what we have for dinner is nothing special.' Naruto replied.

'Gah fine, just don't become attached to her like you have to the Uchiha again. I shouldn't need to remind you that she was once trying to hunt you down and kill you, again.' the fox replied in annoyance.

'Hm where have I heard something similar before? Oh now I remember it was you telling me that you would rip me apart limb from limb. I have no intention of growing attached to either of them. I love Kiyomi, but what we just experienced yesterday was a rush of lust. I may love Kiyomi, but even I know that she knows what we went through was exactly that, but if I can convince you to be my friend and give up on hatred, then I can deal with her.' Naruto replied confidently.

One at a time the trio of ninja silently moved past the other rooms. Each depicting the environment of the individual nation. Finally the redhead came to a stop at a door into a room that looked like a well lit forest floor. The wooden tables looked like tree stumps. Instantly Naruto felt a hint of nostalgia. "The Land of Fire." he said almost longingly. It perfectly reminded him of the forests around Konoha, almost to the point that he thought it may have been some genjutsu.

"We'll eat here, it seems like the room chose us." Karin said, dragging Naruto into the forested room.

"Why did you pick this room?" Kiyomi asked, though she was quite pleased that she did, although a bit surprised by the choice of venue.

Karin smirked at the question, "Well for one the Land of Earth and Land of Fire rarely trade with each other so the food from here will be the most expensive." she informed Kiyomi.

"Oh" Naruto said with a weak chuckle knowing he was going to be significantly lower in pay after this.

"But what made up my mind was you and Naruto's reaction. This was where you wanted to eat, not just out of interest in some stupid fish, that would have distracted you from the food." she added honestly.

"Huh, go figure. I mean it's a bit obvious, but I like it." Kiyomi said softly.

"And that seafood despite the fact we are quite possibly the furthest distance away from water in the elemental nations making it far more expensive than anything else is still too cheap right?." Naruto added with a smirk of his own. A waiter came and took their orders, before exiting without further word.

"I didn't think about that." Karin admitted with a face palm. "Oh well this place is nicer anyway. I think if I was going to settle down somewhere it would be in a place like this. I always secretly hoped that i would find a nice man and he would go back to Konoha and take me with him." she sighed.

Naruto burst out laughing at this. "That sounds just like Sakura-chan and Ino when they were younger. Always chasing after this one guy trying to gain his attention as he was from a prestigious clan and all that stuff. I never understood what they saw in him? I mean he never said anything unless you were a fan of ape-like grunting." Naruto laughed.

Karin had to face palm again. She had had rather similar thoughts about Juugo at times. "I guess I was not much better at all. Maybe I was just a little girl with a crush, I thought his dark attitude was cool. Well that was up to the point he stabbed me in the chest."

"Nothing like a fist to the chest to give you a wake up call." Naruto said subconsciously, rubbing the scar on his chest. A action that made Kiyomi wince, her past actions causing her to clench up inside from what she had nearly done to the blond in her power addicted state.

It was thin and thanks to Sakura healing it almost immediately after the incident, it was all but invisible. In his mind however the image remained, he would often have nightmares of the scene playing over and over in his head.

"Did it hurt?" Karin asked him softly, having never experienced it.

Naruto gave a shrug of the shoulders at the redhead, "I was kinda stunned at what happened that when Kiyomi hit me with her jutsu I didn't even feel anything, well at least I didn't feel any pain." he stated calmly. The attack had crushed him emotionally, that pain had lasted long after the physical wound had been healed, "Admittedly I wasn't exactly myself when I was fighting and I blacked out almost instantly after. I would have died but I have a natural healing ability, and paired with uh... my other gift, allowed my body to heal." Naruto admitted.

"Do you have a healing ability?" Karin asked slightly surprised, she was the only person that she knew with chakra that had healing qualities.

"Yeah I thought for a long time it was just luck or something else healing me so quickly." Naruto said looking down at his stomach indicating the seal.

"It's the fox, no need to beat around the bush dobe." Kiyomi sighed in a hushed whisper being extra careful that nobody could hear.

"I could have guessed it, but I guess it makes sense in a way." Karin said calmly.

Naruto nodded slowly, he had guessed Karin knew about his Bijuu but had decided not to bring the topic up, "Yeah, but it turns out his chakra doesn't heal me at all, it was my own natural ability to heal that was healing me, and when I used Kurama's chakra it sort of super powered the ability." Naruto admitted.

"Huh, I didn't know that."

"Yea, strange isn't it?" Naruto asked and got a nod from the girls.

"Oh... wait, Kurama?" Karin questioned.

Naruto paused and made sure nobody was in earshot before speaking. "The Bijuu all have names, they all told me their names before giving me some of their power to fight Obito and Madara. Kurama is the fox's name." he explained.

"Amazing, every time I think I have you figured out you say or do something that completely stuns me." The kunoichi admitted in awe.

"Yea, don't inflate his ego, he already has a big enough noggin already." Kiyomi said causing Naruto to chuckle nervously.

"Well they did call me Konoha's number one unpredictable knucklehead ninja. Although at the time I thought it was partly an insult." Naruto replied, rubbing the side of his head trying to decide on what Kakashi had meant all those years ago by giving him that title.

Karin for her part giggled at the thought. "I think that it sums you up perfectly." she agreed.

The waiter returned bringing their food and they sat and ate, quietly talking about this and that. The most common topic of discussion was their pasts and often Kiyomi would poke fun at Naruto for his younger year when they had been genin on Team 7 together, especially when she spoke of their mission to the newly named Land of Spring where he got a kiss from Koyuki Kazehana.

After paying for their dinner the three teens walked to the hotel still talking lively about the things they like and dislike. "This was actually quite fun. Thank you for taking us out tonight." Karin said honestly when they began to head towards their own bedrooms.

"It was nothing, what are friends for. Besides, if we're going to travel together we should at least get used to being in each other's company." Naruto replied with his friendly smile. "Well good night Karin, Kiyomi-chan. There is a lot of stuff to do tomorrow." and with that Naruto entered his room and the door closing shut behind him.

"Don't call me Chan, I'm not a little girl Naruto!" the Uchiha's voice called out loudly, though Naruto's laughter from down the hall soon had her chuckling in the end. He'd never change, and that's the one thing she loved about the moron.

---

That night, Kiyomi laid in bed. Karin was in the room next door, and her snoring was as loud as Naruto's own. Memories of the past flowed through her mind. THe day she had met Naruto, the day she had graduated the academy, meeting team seven, her mother, father, brother, cousins. Their smiles all stood at the forefront of the Uchiha's mind. She couldn't shake a feeling of something happening was occurring. Regardless, when sleep took her, she dreamed of Naruto and her,a couple of brats-they were Naruto's of course they'd be brats, but they were also her brats, and surprisingly Karin with a kid of her own. As she slept, she couldn't help but smile at the gentle dream that ensnared her.

(The Next Morning)

Naruto awoke early, he had quite a lot of things he needed to do, not only did he need all the remaining mountaineering gear, he also needed to purchase as much long life food that he could seal into the few storage scrolls he had. He contemplated summoning one of the toads to bring him more sealing scrolls but decided against it. Even if he was the only shinobi present, summoning toads is something that anyone would be able to recall should anyone come this far up looking for Him, Kiyomi, or Karin for that matter.

Naruto slowly got dressed into the new outfit that was purchased. Although they were all civilian clothes and offered no protection what so ever when it came to being struck with jutsu or weapons Naruto had to admit that the all black outfit would be perfect for most Anbu. Once satisfied with his state of dress the jinchuuriki exited his room and into the living area of the hotel apartment he was sharing with the girls. 'Looks like they're not awake yet.' he thought as he quietly crossed the room and moved towards the exit. 'Better let them both sleep, I doubt they'd want me to wake both them up anyway.'

Upon leaving the hotel Naruto briskly made his way towards the town square that housed the clothing store and the restaurant the trio had visited the day before. He found a small cafe that sold breakfast, unfortunately he could not find a place that sold ramen so early in the morning. Once he had finished his meal the Kyuubi jinchuuriki set off to work, looking for all supplies he and the girls would need.

XxX

Several hours had passed and Naruto had collected all of the essentials he and the girls would need for their trip he left the store with a large bag that contained a quick to set up wind proof tent for the coldest climates and several small portable flame heaters that the store owner explained ran on chakra. Even civilians could use chakra if there was an object that allowed it. Naruto grabbed a few, because the heaters were also used to cook on having a small stove top and canister to boil water from snow. Naruto walked slowly back towards his hotel room, the large backpack close to overflowing behind him. 'Naruto, do you feel that?' Kurama asked seriously.'

'Yeah, we're being followed. I can't say what they want though.' Naruto replied. He didn't know what anyone would want with him, he just hoped it wasn't someone who knew who he was or why he was in Iwame.

Kurama grunted in agreement. Their stalker as of this moment had no intent to harm his container, but he knew all too well that that could change in an instant. 'You need to deal with them before we can move on. For what ever reason they know you're not a normal civilian.' the fox warned his jinchuuriki.

Naruto let out a sigh and nodded before turning around slowly. The streets looked deserted, the sun would still have been rather low in the sky so many of the surrounding villagers and tourists were still asleep. "You can come out, I know you're following me!" Naruto said firmly, his voice seemed to echo for a short while bouncing off the thick walls of the surrounding buildings.

For a few moments nothing happened. Naruto was about to call out again when a man in full body armor all in black contrasting a snow white mask that covered his entire face, landed atop one of the nearby building. "You have some talent as a sensor it would seem." the man said, his voice was augmented by his mask making it sound deep and distorted. The effect gave the man a mysterious feel and Naruto could tell the man was well above the level of most shinobi.

"What do you want!?" Naruto asked assertively. He was confident that he could deal with the masked man, after all he had defeated Madara Uchiha. Regardless of this fact he was also well aware that he only had one kunai and no shuriken. He also knew he had no time to collect Senjutsu and the sheer power of his Fox cloak would raise the attention of Iwa, something he had no desire to do.

The masked man didn't answer instead he drew two kunai and launched them both at the blond. Naruto scowled slightly and created two clones without seals that both caught a kunai moments before they hit Naruto in the chest. "So it would appear that you are not just a talented sensor, that is quite some mastery of shadow clones." the masked man said, his voice hiding any surprise that may have been in his voice.

"If you want to do this then can we at least take it somewhere else? Innocents could be hurt if we fight here." Naruto said removing the pack holding all his supplies and handing it to one of his clones. "Take that to the Hotel room." he ordered before taking the kunai from his clones and adding them to his own.

"If you wish, there is a shinobi training area a short way from here, follow me." the Man said. Naruto followed from a safe distance behind, he was not putting the chance of being attacked while traveling. It appeared that the masked man had a similar thought as he made sure to keep a kunai in his hand and one eye on his back as they jumped across the rooftops.

After running for about five minutes they came to a small opening in the cave that led out onto a snow covered field. Naruto instantly was glad that the sweater top that Karin had picked out was warm. The field, if it could be called that was on a steep slope, large rocks scattered the area and at the far end of the training area a cliff dropped down all the way to a small frozen river, Naruto didn't have to look down to know that he did not want to fall off. "Time to show me what you can really do young Namikaze." the masked man declared before peppering the blond with kunai.

'Did he just say Namikaze!?' Naruto wondered as he flipped away from the incoming projectiles. His mastery of Kurama's chakra had increased his speed even when he wasn't using the fox cloak, to control how fast he moved he needed to have almost perfect reflexes and muscle control.

'I believe that he did, chances are this man must know you are somehow related to the Yondaime. That could be troublesome if they are from Iwa and unaware of your contributions in the war.' Kurama replied. The fox already had a fairly good idea of who was behind the mask, but he couldn't be sure.

Naruto continued to dodge the incoming projectiles. Every so often Naruto would double back to collect some kunai to add to his pouch. 'Well that's just great!' Naruto thought sarcastically. 'I might be forced to kill this guy I can't have him returning to Iwa telling everybody about fighting against a relative of the Yondaime.' he added.

Kurama smiled his old sinister smile. He may have lightened up but the giant fox still had a sinister side. 'Then what are we waiting for let's show him what happens when he messes with us!'

Naruto nodded and created several clones without the use of handseals that sped through the mans kunai expertly dodging the blades with ease. As they got close however the masked man withdrew two long chains before spinning to collect the clones as they came within range. The knowledge of the clones dispelling returned to Naruto and he cursed under his breath. The man was far too skilled with those chains to have any hope of defeating him easily, "If you hope to defeat me you are going to need to start trying. I know that you are still suppressing a good deal of your chakra." the man declared.

"Fine if you are so eager for this fight to end then I'll play." Naruto answered the man. The top layer of snow around Naruto's feet visibly moved as he relented from suppressing his chakra and allowed it to flow without restrain.

XxX

Karin awoke with a jump as Naruto's chakra flared, she had been having such a wonderful dream but for the life of her she couldn't remember it. She was awoken again from her musings as her door was thrown open, Kiyomi's shocked face standing in the doorway, "I assume you felt it too?" she asked the redhead and got a not, "Then we need-" Kiyomi stopped when she felt Naruto's chakra flare once more.

Karin didn't even need to use her sensory technique to feel it at the moment. "What is he doing?" she asked in shock as she got out of bed and pulled on a top and some pants.

"He's obviously in a fight, and if he isn't restraining his chakra to stay hidden, then it must be a serious reason." Kiyomi supplied as she rushed to pack the remaining things they had gathered while staying in the village of Iwame.

When Karin exited her room she became slightly worried. Quickly closing her eyes she decided to scan for his chakra signature. Instantly she found Naruto. 'He's fighting someone!' she gasped as she felt the second chakra signature and instantly ran out the door to their room almost falling over Kiyomi who had tripped over the large backpack Naruto had left behind.

XxX

Instantly Naruto's speed and strength increased, the masked man was forced to quickly back away before the blond was able to cross the distance. Only the two chains wrapped around his wrists kept Naruto at bay. Every so often a clone would sneak closer. 'He's tough, but he's still holding back I can feel it!' the man thought before running through a set of hand seals. Once he finished his seals the masked man slammed his right foot into the ground and two large chunks of earth rose from the ground before speeding towards Naruto.

Naruto knew he could avoid the jutsu with ease however he decided to meet it head on. Quickly he held both hands up. The masked mans eyes widened slightly behind his mask as two perfectly formed rasengan sprung to life in the teens hands without any prompting.

The Doton jutsu didn't stand a chance, Naruto's rasengan easily overpowered it and to make matters worse the dust it kicked up obstructed the mask mans vision. 'Where is he?' he asked looking around. At the last second he felt something coming from above and managed to roll out of the way of Naruto descending from the sky with another rasengan in hand. "Not bad Namikaze, for a kid. But you're still holding back, you're hiding something I can tell." the man declared.

"How can you be so sure?" Naruto asked. The truth was if you counted how much stronger Sage Mode, Bijuu Mode, Bijuu Sage Mode, or his Six Paths made him then he was still hiding a mighty large chunk of his strength, and he had no desire to bring any of those technique's out to defeat this man.

"Simple, you're so confident despite failing to land a single hit yet." the man replied.

"Are you sure I can count one hit." Naruto replied his smirk growing.

The masked man puzzled over what Naruto had said for a moment before he felt the armor over his right arm crack and shatter. 'But I could have sworn that I dodged his Rasengan! How did he hit me?' he gasped in shock. "How?"

"I made a second rasengan as I was coming down, and I figured you would dodge so I didn't really have a choice. I wanted to see how durable that armor is. It must have been expensive for it to take so long to break apart." Naruto answered.

'What is this kid. I'm beginning to see why they gave his old man a flee on sight order.' the masked man thought at the same time as the girls burst into the field.

"What are you doing here, get back this isn't safe." Naruto said seeing the two kunoichi out of the side of his eye.

'I wonder, he seems rather determined to keep his true abilities hidden. I need to try something different to coax them out of him.' the masked man thought.

Karin shook her head in defiance "But why are you fighting? That's-" But what ever it was that Karin was going to say was lost in her throat as she saw the masked man move and several kunai shot towards her, his aim was amazing and she was frozen in shock.

Kiyomi's eyes widened and she acted instinctively, seeing that the distance seemed insurmountable and Naruto didn't have enough kunai or the skill with the blades necessary to block them all. As such she was reduced to her only remaining option. Her eyes quickly went from a dark obsidian to a deep ruby red and purple and a aura of purple quickly coalesced around the two young women to protect them as a set of ribs came into being.

Karin had closed her eyes, ready for the pain that was sure to follow. The only problem was nothing happened. She slowly opened one eye to peak out as if unsure that she was still actually still alive. What she saw though floored her. She landed on her knees in awe as Kiyomi stood defensively over her, her body covered in glowing purple chakra that licked around the two of them like flames. Her normally calm face had a snarl of anger. "Are you okay?" she asked Karin calmly.

She looked dumbstruck but nodded slowly. 'This chakra, it's overwhelming, I feel like I am going to suffocate. But it's still so calm and comforting.' she thought barely able to make a coherent thought.

"Naruto that damn Uchiha's action was foolish! Iwa will investigate a spike in chakra like this! The Susanoo conjuring is enough to rival your base Tailed beast Mode!" Kurama said using Naruto's mouth to speak out loud.

"I know Kurama, but if Kiyomi didn't do anything, Karin would have died." Naruto replied defensively.

"That is exactly what you should have done! I told you keeping those two around was dangerous and you didn't listen. If you get caught because of this it will be her fault." Kurama retorted.

Kiyomi, Karin and the masked man watched the interchange with varying levels of curiosity and fear. "Maybe, but I didn't want to see them die. Kiyomi is special to me and Karin's... a friend, and I don't want to see any of my friends suffer because of me." Naruto answered sadly.

Karin felt her heart jump slightly but ignored it, she was far too preoccupied with the conversation Naruto was seemingly having with himself, "Fine, lets just finish this man off. When this is over you can't afford to stay in this village any longer." Kurama huffed. Naruto nodded in acceptance and turned to face the masked man before simply disappearing.

The mask mans eyes shot wide open as he felt a pain in his stomach. He looked down and found Naruto's arm embedded in his stomach, his armor shattered in a single punch. He coughed out blood as he fell to his knees while his mask fell off as he landed face down in the snow.

Naruto cracked his knuckles as he looked down upon the man with his head buried in the snow. He slowly rolled the man over with his foot before stopping in shock, "Asahi! Why would you do this?" Naruto asked in stunned disappointment.

Asahi looked up at Naruto no malice or anger in his eyes. "Because I wanted to know the truth. Why you really left your home. There were so many inconsistencies, how could the son of Minato Namikaze, and a young man trained by both Copy Cat Kakashi and Jiraiya of the Sannin possibly still be a genin. I know you're a Jinchuuriki., but I had to see for myself why you were doing this. Can you forgive me? I had to indulge my curiosity, forgive this old man." he said knowing that most ninja were not forgiving at all.

"I shouldn't you know. I could get caught because of this." Naruto replied.

"I'll take the fall, this was my fault, take the girls and run. It will take Iwa several days to send a team out this far to investigate. Go take them and make sure you are far from here by the time they come. I'll make sure they never get a sign of your trail, it's the least I can do." Asahi said sadly.

Naruto simply nodded and turned back to where the girls still stood in the snow, Karin having a look of awe on her face. "We need to go, I'm sorry we can't wait around for another few days." Naruto said. Karin nodded but her body was being difficult. "Can you stand?" he asked.

"I don't know I think my body is in shock, it's not responding properly." She replied fearfully, she didn't want to be left behind. Her fears were unfounded however as Naruto lightly scooped her up from the ground and cradled her safely as he rushed off back in the direction of their room to collect the supplies they would need if they wanted to survive, Kiyomi silently following behind. Karin relaxed in his arms, she closed her eyes and felt his chakra surrounding her. 'This is nice. I could get used to this.' she thought before she suddenly went very tense. 'Oh no, please don't tell me...I'm starting to have feelings for Naruto.'

Naruto held Karin in a bridal style carry as he kicked open the door to their hotel room. His eyes quickly scanned the room as if he expected to be ambushed at any moment. Once satisfied that the room was empty he crossed the room and placed Karin on the couch, "How are you feeling, you're a little red in the face?" he asked with concern visible on his face.

"Ye-yeah I'm fine." Karin answered quietly. As dense as ever, Naruto once more failed to see that she was blushing. Kiyomi only sighed in annoyance, and if she were being honest with herself; Jealousy.

"Okay sit tight with Kiyomi, I'm going to go grab our stuff, then we need to move, the longer we wait the more chance it will be that someone finds us." Naruto said before taking off around the small hotel apartment and collecting all the essentials that they would need for the journey.

Karin sat on the couch with a silently brooding Kiyomi, her mind racing, the events since she woke that morning were running through her mind. From waking up to Naruto's spike of energy it struck her that when she thought about it she was just in her bedroom less than half an hour ago sleeping and now she was back about to flee from the village. The main scene that played through her mind over and over again was Kiyomi conjuring her Susanoo in front of her preventing the kunai thrown by Asahi from ending her life. The raw power Naruto was radiating off when he struck Asahi with his bare hand had made her knees weak, it was awe inspiring. She had felt weak kneed once before in Madara's presence while she worked in the Akatsuki, but it was more along the lines of fear of his power. Naruto had far surpassed Madara, but despite having all that power it wasn't frightening at all, in fact it was rather comforting.

Karin's heart began to beat faster as she thought about the blond. 'No I can't accept this, I don't like him, I just need him to survive.' she told herself. The problem was no matter how many times she told herself this deep down she knew it was a lie.

Naruto returned around a minute later with a large scroll strung across his back. He approached and bent down to pick her up again and once more her face turned a shade of red almost as deep as her hair. "Wait, I can walk now, it was just your actions that got to me before, I promise I'm fine now." she said urgently.

"We need to hurry, we don't know what's going to happen in the next couple hours." Kiyomi stated, a bit of urgency in her tone

Naruto nodded his head as he sat Karin down on her feet, "Okay, well then we better go. I placed all your clothes in a bag that I sealed in the scroll so you don't need to worry about that." Naruto said to the girls with his warm smile in place despite the seriousness in the tone of his voice.

Karin nodded and jumped to her feet, she let out a small sigh of relief when she found that her legs would support her again, she didn't know if she could handle the embarrassment of asking Naruto to carry her again.

The three of them were staying on one of the upper floors of the hotel and briskly made their way down the flights of stairs until they were once again in the luxurious entrance hall. As if sensing the reason the trio of shinobi were there, the same man that greeted them on their arrival quickly approached. "Are you leaving us?" he asked in a calm voice with the same slightly creepy smile he wore when they first met the man.

"Yeah, it's time for us to move on." Kiyomi replied as calmly as she could manage while in a hurry. She knew that it would be several days before Iwa could hope to arrive to investigate the burst of chakra, however she wanted to be well out of their reach by then. In fact she wanted to be sure there was no trace that she was there at all. The sooner that they all left this village, the better of they would be.

After paying the man for their time at the hotel Naruto and the girls soon found themselves leaving the hotel and briskly walking through the streets just fast enough to not draw any attention to themselves should any questions be asked. Not knowing the layout of the village they decided to double back and head north by heading around the large mountain that Iwame was carved into. Outside of the cave it had clearly been snowing. Several of the buildings had a thick coating of snow covering most of the buildings. The sky was still filled with thick clouds that obscured the sun from the view that along with the tall mountains gave the impression that it was dusk rather than mid morning.

"Wow there must have been quite a lot of snow while we were in the main area of the village." Naruto spoke in awe. Two days ago they had entered and the building was bone dry, but now you could no longer see the thick reinforced stone structures.

"Yeah, but judging from what we have heard about this place the weather can change at any moment, that's why going north into the wilderness into the Insurmountable Peaks is considered so dangerous." Kiyomi replied calmly as she took her surroundings. Whilst Naruto was given the same lectures the words of their former companion simply went over his head. Once more showing that anything not combat related was a real spot for the blond Uzumaki.

What was endearing about the somewhat dimwitted shinobi was his immovable desire and belief that he could do anything. Seeing his expression, Karin couldn't help but speak up about it, "I hope you're not having second thoughts, we're approaching the point of no return and I would hate for you to resent me for having you dragging the both of us along." Karin said with a confident smile gracing her features.

Naruto snorted, "As if. Once I make a promise then I commit to it. We'll survive this journey and come out all the stronger because of it." he told the redhead as he looked at her, " Besides, who says that I want you to go? Having you around is at least someone else to talk to." Naruto replied with a smile not leaving his face.

'What is wrong with you! Are you not in the slightest bit annoyed with the fact that the Uchiha has potentially given away our position. I know you are a kind person Naruto but kindness can only go so far before it becomes idiocy.' Kurama lectured with harshness, licking off every word. Naruto hadn't heard his companion talk to him like that since before the fight with Obito.

'I am annoyed Kurama, but not at Kiyomi. If I took Asahi seriously from the start Kiyomi nor Karin wouldn't have been involved. I didn't need to draw on your chakra to win that fight, but because of my desire to find out why I was being attacked, rather than just dealing with the issue she used against me. I am at fault here, not at the girls.' Naruto replied honestly.

'Well I must say that I am impressed, I almost thought you were too stubborn to realize when you were wrong, I guess miracles do happen.' Kurama mocked. Despite the tone of Kurama's voice he was really quite proud of Naruto. It was one thing to blame others for a situation, but it was another thing entirely to admit your own faults.

'Well I guess I'm still growing, I must be doing something right if I can surprise a ten thousand year old fox.' Naruto taunted back.

'I didn't say I was a surprised fool, I said I was impressed although now I am less impressed it must have just been a fluke.' Kurama laughed.

Naruto nearly face vaulted in embarrassment which almost caused him to trip over himself as he walked, "You may want to watch where you're going. If you can't stay on your feet in the middle of a paved street how do you plan on surviving all the mountains we need to negotiate?" Kiyomi asked in a small laugh.

'Oh great now I have you and Kiyomi both on my back. What did I do to deserve this? Wait never mind, I don't think I want to know what you have to say.' Naruto thought, prematurely cutting Kurama off from his retort. "Ah sorry about that, I was sort of distracted thinking about everything that has happened so far." He finally spoke ignoring the fox laughing at him inside his head.

Kiyomi nodded her head, "It's fine, I know what happened." she knew Naruto was speaking with his Tailed Beast, and the fact he was trying to be subtle about it didn't show he was being fully subtle in going about it.

"Oh. Sorry I guess I really screwed up huh, we could have stayed in the village for a few more days and left in less of a hurry, now because of me we are forced to flee." Karin admitted slightly sadly.

"It's not your fault Karin, you did nothing wrong. You probably just froze up when Asahi attacked because you could tell who was behind the mask." Naruto replied in a comforting tone.

A small blush threatened to cross Karin's face but she suppressed it as best she could. 'Dammit, why is he able to say things that get me flustered so easily. I will not fall for him, I refuse to! I won't be hurt again like I was during the war.' she thought with all the determination she could muster.

Karin was broken from her thoughts as the group of runaway shinobi arrived at the village gates, "This could be a problem." Naruto whispered slightly before coming to a halt pretending to take great interest in one of the larger buildings in the area.

"Why?" Karin asked, clearly confused by Naruto's sudden attitude.

With a sigh, the last Uchiha spoke up, "Think about it, if Iwa shinobi come to investigate the large chakra burst, then they are going to check the list of people who left the village shortly afterwards. They will recognize our pictures even from the fake passports almost immediately, and if they don't when they send the records to Iwa someone there will. The old Tsuchikage may not have survived the war, but plenty of Iwa shinobi were on the front lines where Me and Naruto fought in the war." Kiyomi explained.

The gravity of the situation finally hit the redheaded kunoichi who could only nod darkly, "So we're in no better of a position, the last known surviving members of the Akatsuki. I'm the number two most wanted shinobi in all of the five great nations after Kiyomi." Karin admitted slightly fearfully.

"Yea, but this should be a easy problem compared to some of the things that we encountered." Kiyomi said with a shrug.

"She's right, we just need to find another way to leave the village. It would be too obvious to just go over the wall, someone would see the three of us for sure." Naruto answered with a small mischievous grin crossing his face.

"What are you thinking?" Karin asked rather apprehensively. She had seen smiles similar to that many times and they very rarely meant something productive.

"I know exactly what he's thinking." Kiyomi said with a smirk of her own.

"Ok, please explain to me what's going on, I am so confused right now guys." Karin said in a defeated sigh.

"Oh I was just thinking that it's been quite awhile since I have played a decent prank on anyone. Let's see how these guards fare against the boy who once terrorized the entire Konoha population as the Prankster King of Hell." Naruto replied.

'I knew it.' Karin sighed but decided to wait and see where this went.

Kiyomi's smirk only seemed to grow by his proclamation, "Told ya so." she said.

Naruto sat down in a thinking pose in silence for a few seconds as he studied the gate ahead of them, "There are two guards so a single disturbance won't do. I'll need to divide them, leading them away, which means I need to create a situation where guarding the gate becomes secondary in importance while dividing their attention." Naruto mused.

Karin couldn't help but be somewhat impressed with Naruto's tactical mind, he came up with a plan surprisingly quickly, not as quickly or as well thought out as a certain Nara could, but fast nonetheless.

After a few seconds Naruto returned to his feet and created four clones that quickly transformed into different children that wore civilian clothes. He then reached into his bag and removed one of the black sweater tops that he had brought the previous day. In one swift movement he tore the shirt down the middle to create a single large piece of black fabric, "You know what to do?" Naruto asked to which the 'kids' nodded before dispersing.

"So now what?" Karin asked curiously. She was interested in seeing how Naruto dealt with this type of situation. In the past Orochimaru or Kiyomi would simply kill the men for getting in their way. By now she knew better than to place Naruto on their level.

"Just watch, you'll see." the blond said calmly.

Karin and Kiyomi both watched with interest as two of the clones created a large slingshot out of Naruto's discarded shirt and started collecting snow. "You think snowballs are going to force both guards to forget about their post?" she asked skeptically.

"Just watch." Naruto repeated with a confident smirk.

Much like she predicted snowballs began descending on the two gate guards with deadly accuracy. The 'kids' responsible made no effort to hide themselves. "Hey brats get out of here!" one of them yelled attempting to swat away an incoming snowball only to be hit directly in the head. Much to the guards annoyance the only response he received was uproarious laughter and another barrage of snow, "That's it!" the guard said, stepping out of his booth in an attempt to intimidate the children. Little did he know this was exactly what Naruto was waiting for. In the blink of an eye the other two children appeared and before the guard responded they had taken his keys. "What the Fuck!" the guard yelled quite obviously outraged by the turn of events, "Hey kid give those back, I hope you know that it's a serious crime to steal the gate keys." he said, reaching for a sword he kept on the other side of his belt only to find that it too was missing.

"I don't think you're very good at your job, I mean having your weapon and keys stolen by a couple of kids whatever would your superiors think." one of the laughing clones taunted.

"Hey Honwa, how about a little help here?" the guard asked his partner.

Quite obviously the other gate guard was not pleased in the slightest, at his partner or the children that had made them look like a couple of fools. He wasted little time drawing his weapon and exiting the guards booth. "Alright kids playtime is over, now give my partner his equipment back and nobody needs to get hurt." he said seriously.

His answer was a snowball right to the face. Giving the clones enough time to skillfully remove the man's keys from his belt. "Looks like you both have lost your keys." a clone laughed happily in a fake sweet child's voice.

"Kids give those back this instant or we will be forced to take them by force!" the guard said rounding on the child who had taken his keys.

"Looks like you're going to have to come and get them then." the child said before taking off in the opposite direction. As if on cue the boy who had the other guards weapon and keys dropped the sword and took off as well making sure to split up from his so called partner.

The remaining guard was now left in two minds he couldn't leave his post unattended, but then again a gate guard losing the keys to the city was not something that went down well. 'It's risk getting fired or definitely getting fired then.' he decided before reluctantly leaving his post to chase after the boy.

From their hiding place Naruto appeared holding his sides laughing while Kiyomi simply shook her head with an amused smile forming on her lips. Karin followed soon after shaking her head slightly "I can't believe that worked." she said with a slightly stunned grin.

"Nah, that type of stuff was my way of life before I became a ninja. Besides they were both civilians, guards maybe but they were certainly no shinobi." Naruto chuckled as he casually walked towards the gate pushing it ever so slightly open so the two young women could slip out undetected.

"Come on, we need to move and I'm sure those clones can only distract the guards for so long." Kiyomi said rapidly.

"So where to now?" Karin questioned, the gate doors closing silently behind them.

"We head north, I guess we should follow the road while we can, then we head up into the mountains." Naruto announced taking the road that circled the mountain around the village of Iwame that bent higher up into the mountains.

Karin sighed and just followed after the two Konoha nuke-nin, what did she expect, Naruto had no more of an idea on what to expect then she did, and Kiyomi simply wanted to just get out of dodge while she had the chance. This was territory completely unknown to them, even though Iwa had abandoned their outposts further north of Iwame decades ago. 'Looks like this is the last time I'll see civilization for a good long while.' she let out an audible sigh as more thoughts and questions ran through her head. 'What will we eat? Where will we sleep? Naruto seems so calm and confident, how can he be so sure of himself?' All these thoughts and more raced through the redhead's mind as she followed after Naruto and Kiyomi who were both slowly picking up the pace to that of a genin as they moved out of sight of the village.

Several hours had passed since Naruto and the girls had left Iwame. They had been following a winding road that went north, the last road available for travelers. After about a hour, the once wide and accessible road had descended into little more than a narrow path that offer had steep cliffs on either side. By now the path was in such a state that Naruto guessed one would either need to be a trained ninja or have safety gear to navigate the path safely. And even with their shinobi training, every so often a rock would slide out from under their feet, almost causing one of them to lose their footing.

"You know I'm starting to think it might be safer to simply get off the path." Kiyomi spoke up after a particularly large chunk of earth collapsed down into a deep crevasse to the side of the path not held against the side of the mountain,where she looked down and witnessed a large pile of rocks simply crumbled away down the slope of the collapsing pathway

"I'm thinking you might be right, even using chakra to stick to the ground is dangerous. Still if Iwa has any buildings still standing that we could use for shelter they will be along this path, so we should use them as long as we can." Karin replied to the Uchiha.

The sky was starting to get dark, both from the now setting sun and the increasing thickness of the clouds that had steadily become more threatening as the day wore on. Looking up Naruto couldn't help but agree that it would be nice to have proper shelter for at least one more night. "Well if we don't want to get caught up in the approaching storm I suggest we get a move on, hopefully we can find an old abandoned outpost to take shelter before nightfall." Naruto added in agreement.

The group of teens found themselves beginning to grow more and more desperate around an hour later; there had so far been no sign of any buildings, abandoned, ruined or otherwise. To make things worse, specks of snow began to fall from the sky as the dark clouds closed in, "This is bad, the next area that's somewhat flat we have to set up camp." Naruto said urgently.

"Do you have a tent?" Kiyomi asked. The question had been playing in her mind for quite some time now but this was the first time that she had decided to voice her concern.

"Yeah I picked up a large thermal tent that has two separate rooms, and several chakra powered heaters this morning before I ran into Asahi." Naruto replied.

"Separate rooms? I haven't seen a tent like that before, although I'll admit that I'm only used to single standard shinobi tents.'' the Uchiha admitted.

"Yeah well I figured that you and Karin would probably want your space, especially while we were sleeping." Naruto said a tiny blush crossing his face.

Karin noticed this and couldn't help but tease the poor blond, "What's this? Don't tell me you are embarrassed about sleeping in the same room as two young maidens? We spent several days traveling together sleeping in the back of Asahi's caravan already Na-ru-to." she spoke seductively which made Naruto blush more and began mumbling beneath his breath, "Sorry what was that?" she teased.

"We, ugh we weren't alone then." Naruto whispered quietly, but loud enough for the kunoichi to hear him. Then the reality of it struck Karin, the three of them were all alone. Nobody is around for close to a hundred miles. There was nothing, only them. Now it was her turn to blush picking up on what Naruto may have been thinking that caused him to blush. 'He's been thinking about me.' She mused, finding the thought somewhat pleasing before quickly scolding herself once more. The last thing she wanted was to have romantic feelings towards anyone, least of all someone who was so closely connected to Kiyomi.

And did she forget, she had already felt their chakra when they had been... intimate.

The blond was quite relieved to discover that he could keep some of his thoughts away from his inner companion. It was never anything overly important, he would trust Kurama with most things, he was however a nineteen year old boy who couldn't help but have several indecent thoughts that the large fox would discourage, certainly considering that he disliked their red headed companion and more importantly; the Uchiha he seemed so infatuated with.

But, Kurama had also been keeping a close observation on Kiyomi. He wouldn't admit it,but he had found her chakra to be more calm and relaxed when she was with Naruto, though there was... something off with her chakra these last few days, he couldn't pin what though. Ah well, he didn't really care, that was Naruto's problem.

"Thanks I guess. You really thought this out didn't you?" Karin replied eventually.

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, "Uh not really, I'm just making it up as I go if I'm being honest." Naruto spoke somewhat reluctantly. Why he was somewhat ashamed to admit he had no plan he couldn't say, he had rarely gone into any conflict with a clear plan so why was it that this time he was almost embarrassed to admit his lack of a clear plan. 'I guess after all I have been through I'm starting to realize that running into things head first is not always the best idea.' he contemplated.

'Maybe, but everything that way hasn't ended out all bad has it? Granted you make a fair amount of mistakes, but in the end you always came out on top.' Kurama assured the runaway Konoha ninja.

Naruto was about to respond to the large fox when he was distracted by Kiyomi speaking up, "Look over there!" she yelled pointing to a point around two hundred yards ahead of them.

Naruto squinted to see through the snow that was now steadily falling from the sky. It took a few moments for his eyes to become accustomed to the poor visibility. But after a few seconds, he saw it, a small stone building protruding from the side of the mountain, looking as though it was carved out of the earth itself, "Let's go, we can save camping for another night. Plus there might be information on where the other outposts are, maybe even a detailed map of the area." Naruto said happily.

The trio moved faster than they had all day, whether that was because they were relieved to find shelter and the weariness of the day's travel had been forgotten, or that the snow was coming down faster and faster. None really could say.

The old Iwa outpost built into the mountainside was far larger than it had appeared from a distance, Naruto could already see that from the moment they arrived at the front door that like the rest of the building was made of stone. It also surprised him that the stone was warm to touch. "Wow it's not even remotely cold." he said, voicing his surprise.

"I don't care, let's just get inside already, it's freezing out here!" Kiyomi chorused before pushing past Naruto and sliding the door open. Yea, even back when they were Genin working on that mission for Koyuki Kazehana, she had said she had hated the cold just as much as she did. Unsurprisingly the room was pitch black, only the fading light from the open door illuminated a large room. Naruto quickly unsealed a small lamp that ran off chakra before closing the door behind him.

The light from Naruto's lamp filled the room. Despite the fact that it had quite obviously not been used in many years the building was not in a bad shape at all. The stones seemed to radiate warmth that allowed the three teens to remove their jackets. There was a large table in the center of the room with only two chairs and several candles sitting on the table. Naruto wasted no time lighting them to add extra light to the room which helped their impaired visibility immensely. They could now see that on the back wall was a large detailed map of the Land of Earth, several points were marked that peeked Naruto's interest but decided that he would come back once they had finished exploring the area. Either side of the map were doors and led to bedrooms each with nothing but a small single bed and a small bedside table holding a lantern and a few candles.

"Well it's not much but it is more comfortable than a tent in the middle of a snow storm." Naruto sighed out once he finished lighting the lamp and candles in the room.

"Yeah, but I would hate to be positioned out here for months at a time." Karin replied, shuddering at the thought.

"That's true. I would be so bored, but at least one could train properly." Kiyomi chuckled.

"There would be nothing to do but train and sleep." Naruto answered with a small laugh of his own.

"We haven't found the kitchen yet, with any luck they might have a stove that works so we can eat, I take it, did you remember to bring food?" Kiyomi asked him.

"What do you take me for an idiot?" Naruto asked to take out a scroll from within the large packed scroll that had a large supply of long life food sealed inside.

"Well I would always call you Dobe, you don't get a nickname like that by being smart, so yea, yea I do." Kiyomi jokes.

Naruto face vaulted grumbling about 'Stupid Teme's' as he opened another door and went off in search of a kitchen.

---

Snow fell heavily outside, the freezing cold air was entering the small shack through the door that Naruto had left open by just a crack. While they all knew it would be much warmer if they had completely shut the door. there was a risk that they would be snowed in, and they didn't want to get trapped inside. While Naruto got to work starting a fire in a small pot belly wood burning stove.

When Naruto had finished lighting the fire he quickly set about preparing a meal. Nothing fancy, just some rice and a quick one pot curry made with some of the fresh ingredients that wouldn't last the trip. If he was honest with himself he wanted ramen, but he also knew that he now had a finite supply and if he caved in and had ramen every time he felt like it they wouldn't last. Kiyomi was busy trying to ensure that she didn't freeze and sat close to the fire, her heavily blanketed form shaking like a leaf in the wind.

A fire user did not mix with the ice AT ALL.

As this was happening, Karin left the room to explore the other shacks they had ignored upon their arrival. Surprisingly the food was almost cooked when Karin returned with a torch in hand. "This place is much larger than I first thought." she said in awe.

"Find anything interesting?" Naruto asked hopefully while stirring the curry.

Karin shrugged and took a seat at the table. "Yes and no. There are a lot of rooms that seem to have no purpose, they are not even large enough to be bedrooms, and they are filled with nothing." she sighed while folding her arms on the table and resting her head.

"Hm sounds like it may have been the armory. It's unlikely that they would have left the weapons behind when they left." Naruto guessed by casually giving the curry a final stir before making sure the rice was cooked. He produced three plates from his traveling pack and began dishing up the food, "Here you go. It's not much but I'm guessing it's better than nothing." he said, passing Karin a plate along with some cutlery as well as chopsticks not knowing which she preferred.

Kiyomi managed to pull her arms free and accepted a bowl and a spoon for her own meal and quickly began to eat so she could wrap herself up like a cocooning caterpillar to retain her warmth. She hated the cold, and she could only hope wherever they went was a lot warmer.

Karin eyed the dish apprehensively. It was not that she didn't trust Naruto not to poison her, he was not Orochimaru or Kabuto. It was more that she doubted his cooking ability, she was half tempted to decline and make herself something. She had always been the one to cook for Kiyomi and their group so she was quite confident that she was a good cook despite never getting a compliment. 'It would be rude of me not to at least try some.' She decided eventually, and gingerly took a bite. Much to her surprise it tasted delicious, "Wow Naruto, this is amazing." she complimented, happily taking another mouthful.

Naruto smiled and began digging into his own plate. "Yeah, Ero-Sennin used to make it for us when we were forced to camp out during my training. I like ramen but this is still one of my favorites." he said joyfully in between bites.

"I'll be honest, I didn't expect you to be much of a cook." Kiyomi admitted, "But I guess even idiots like you can have their uses." she said before shivering again and she went back to ravenously devouring her food to retain her fleeing heat.

"Well, don't take this the wrong way, but it's a lot better than what I was expecting." Karin said honestly.

"Yeah, I lived alone since I was five, so I was forced to cook for myself. Most of the time I went to Ichiraku ramen, but that was mostly because they were the only people at the time that treated me kindly, other than Iruka-sensei and Jiji." Naruto said a shadow of the old pain he felt crossing his face.

Karin's eyes widened slightly. 'I had no idea he had it so bad as a kid. He's been through so much yet he hasn't let himself be brought down, he could so easily hate everyone for what they have done to him yet he remains so happy and confident. How does he do it?' she questioned herself in awe.

"Yeah that's why when Kiyomi's family was killed, I was kind of happy. Not because they were dead or anything, but because I saw someone I thought was like me, all alone." Naruto said sadly, he still hadn't forgiven himself for allowing Itachi to die the way he had when he could have saved him.

"Well, I'm glad my clan's passing brought you some form of understanding between us." Kiyomi sighed as she sat her plate down and wrapped her arms back up in the blanket cocoon, "But, admittedly, I'm kinda glad too. If it hadn't happened, who knows how this world would've turned out." she sighed.

Karin was confused now. "I don't get it at all, Kiyomi tried so hard to kill you, she did such horrible things yet you aren't mad at her, why?" she asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

Kiyomi's gaze dropped and she remained silent, she couldn't bear to recall the many attempts to kill Naruto while in her self proclaimed quest for vengeance against Itachi.

However, Naruto's words surprised her even more, "Yes she did, but I always felt like Kiyomi was the first person to ever understand me. She was, and still is, my first real friend and one of the most important people in my life. Her life would have been different if it wasn't for Itachi telling her that she needed to get revenge. Still I think Itachi realized his mistake in the end. He wanted to motivate Kiyomi to become strong but gave her the wrong message. But you know what, I wouldn't change how she went about doing what she did no matter how many times someone asked me. And you know something, I'm glad she came with us on this journey, cuz this is where we can all find ourselves and see what life has in store for each of us." Naruto answered.

He held no hostility towards Itachi, in fact as far as Naruto was concerned Itachi was somewhat of a hero. His mistakes with Kiyomi just went to prove that even the best of people can make mistakes. Naruto chuckled, "And despite his flaws, Obito did do one thing right in the end. He helped unite the world through his own pain and suffering, and it helped me usher in a era of peace after Madara killed him to revive himself. Though he could have planned his Infinite Tsukuyomi idea out a bit more." he said scratching the side of his head.

"Who's Obito?" Karin asked, slightly confused.

"He was the masked Akatsuki ninja, a former Konoha ninja that was in Kakashi's genin team. He wanted to help Madara to put the world in an eternal genjutsu with his Sharingan so he could control everyone for the rest of his life." Kiyomi answered as she used the blankets to subtly wipe her tears away. She wouldn't admit it aloud, but Naruto's words comforted her more than he could ever realize..

Karin nodded then a puzzled look spread across her face, "Um if we were all placed in an unbreakable ocular genjutsu, wouldn't everyone just die of starvation after about a week? And even if they didn't there would be no next generation so the world would come to an end one way or another." Karin theorized.

"Yeah, I don't know how well he thought the idea through." Naruto shrugged, he hadn't really thought about the 'Moon's Eye' plan in much detail but now he had to admit Karin had a point, he had experienced Itachi's genjutsu and knew he couldn't move when trapped inside, the entire world was Itachi's plaything. Which was the exact purpose of Madara's so-called final solution.

"That really doesn't make any sense, why go through all that trouble anyway?" the ebony haired kunoichi asked, still puzzled.

"He lost someone. He loved her, but from what I heard she didn't think much of him." Naruto answered. Upon saying it out loud he couldn't help but think that the situation reminded him a little too much of himself and Sakura when he had returned, and of relationship between Jiraiya and Tsunade. The difference was that Rin died, still he could never imagine seeing his mentor ever being bitter at the world. As for himself, well if you can survive the pain of being a jinchuuriki, then you can deal with anything the world threw at you like it was nothing.

The trio continued to talk over their meal, despite having been traveling with together for quite some time now they continued to learn more about each other. Despite being one of Orochimaru's subordinates, Naruto found Karin's work rather interesting, even if he didn't understand most of it. He listened with rapt attention, not wanting to miss out on anything. Karin for her part found Naruto's stories similarly riveting, after a while she began to wonder if Naruto ever had any missions where he didn't run into some form of top class shinobi. She had heard of the first encounter with Zabuza from Kiyomi but Naruto's version was more entertaining. Kiyomi openly admitted they were both well and truly outclassed and only survived out of dumb luck and resilience.

Karin was also the perfect audience, always laughing at the right times and gasping when something shocking was happening. Naruto was having a ball, he hadn't had so much fun in a long time, certainly not since Pein had attacked Konoha, after that it had been constant training and fighting. The realization was just now hitting him that he was finally free, he could find a nice place to live out the remainder of his years in peace, at least he hoped. That said he had to admit he would miss some of the adventures he had. Although had he stayed in Konoha there was a chance that he would have been made the next Hokage which would have been his time of going on missions anyway.

They were so engrossed in their conversation that the food slowly went cold thanks to the freezing wind still leaking into the cabin that was only made bearable thanks to the fire. Still they didn't mind so much the overall flavor of the meal made it bearable even when cold. Once they had finally finished their meal Naruto sighed and slowly began to stand. "We should go take a look at that map, it will make the next few days easier for us if we can find out the locations of all the northern lying outposts. A few more nights like this would be nice." Naruto admitted.

Karin nodded, for her part she could never recall having so much fun, certainly not at any point after joining Orochimaru's service. So she was quite disappointed to be forced to get back to work. 'I still can't figure Naruto out, he's seen so much pain and hardship, yet he's remained so happy. Really he's like a child, but he certainly has a serious side to himself as well.' She giggled at the last thought.

Naruto noticed this and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Uh what's so funny? Did I sit on something?" he asked frantically, attempting to see if there was any mark on the back of his trousers.

Kiyomi broke out in a fit of laughter at Naruto's antics. "No it's nothing like that. She was just thinking about something funny, that's all." the Uchiha chuckled.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Oh so what was so funny?" he asked.

"That would be my secret." Karin teased before walking past the slightly disappointed blond with a smirk. "Now come on, you wanted to check out this map didn't you?"

Naruto nodded and followed after the two kunoichi, 'Ah man why do I get the feeling that they're laughing at me?' Naruto thought self consciously.

'Maybe because you are still an idiot. Regardless, it doesn't matter what that woman thinks, you should not engage her. She's proven herself to be incompetent yet you still keep her around.' Kurama growled in annoyance inside his head.

'Ah come on Kurama, Karin isn't that bad, it's quite nice having her around.' Naruto reasoned.

Kurama let out a feral growl that only he could, filled with malice and anger, 'Despite what you may think of Naruto, I hold no love for your friends, comrades and allies, or mankind in general for that matter. I am loyal to you and to you alone. My current and only goal is to keep you safe and alive through this stupid journey you want to go on. While those... women are around you are far from being safe. So do not do anything so foolish as to gain an emotional attachment to the redhead as you have to that damned Uchiha, and don't deny you haven't allowed her back in like I know you will. The mere fact you slept with her is enough to make me wanna puke.' the fox warned angrily.

Naruto sighed and slowly nodded, 'Don't worry Kurama, I have no desire to become attached to Karin, once we are over these mountains I am sure we will go our separate ways.'

Kurama couldn't tell for sure but he thought he heard a hint of sadness in his jinchuuriki words, since Naruto had mastered his emotions to take control of his powers reading the blond's mood had become harder, 'I hope you are right Naruto, but remember that you are not the only one that can become attached.' Kurama spoke. Kurama had improved a lot but his own natural distrust for humanity would not be worn out over a few months. As far as the fox was concerned, Naruto was the one human worthy of his respect and protection.

Naruto didn't answer the fox this time as Karin had removed the map from the wall and placed it over a square table that fit the size of the map perfectly. The only indicator to what he was thinking was a slight smile forcing its way upon the edge of his lips. "This is a really complex map, there are lots of signs I don't even recognize." Karin admitted looking over the ragged piece of paper while Kiyomi walked up and stood next to the table, standing like a upright breakfast burrito as the only thing visible on her was her face, and even then he could tell she was still cold as hell.

Naruto scratched his head, confused about what many of the odd signs may mean, but he chalked it up to being a old fashioned coding system used by the Iwa native ninja's back in wartime, "Looks like it's written with a code that Iwa shinobi use." He guessed taking a seat and started poking the map, as if expecting something to change and make it easier to read by touching it.

Kiyomi was almost surprised, as far as academics went, she knew Naruto was not exactly the top student, but he deduced that almost perfectly. Different villages would use special codes on their maps to conceal areas of importance to the individual villages, "I can probably work a basic key if this place has another map with at least some of this area." Karin said after studying the symbols slightly closer. She did have some experience with breaking codes while working with Orochimaru, it was not her strongest area but she was confident she could at least decipher enough of the map to make it useful, "The more it is detailed the better." she added as an afterthought while Naruto began searching his belongings for a map.

Pulling out a modern dated map he said standing backup, "Here you go. As unfortunate as having to leave Iwame was I at least got all the equipment we'd need before I was attacked." the blond sighed, handing the redhead the map, "It doesn't cover the same area and it's not shinobi quality but it's the best I could find, considering our circumstances at the time." he admitted.

Kiyomi gave a snort, "At least it's better than having no map to go off at all in this situation. If anything this might make the trip easily two times as more easy to get through." she said looking over the map by leaning over it to try and study it.

Karin ignored her as she inspected the two maps for a few moments slowly tracing the path that the pair had taken from Iwame on the map Naruto supplied, "Hmm" she hummed with slight intrigue.

"What is it?" Naruto asked. He was hoping that the redhead had made a breakthrough.

"I should be able to work with this, there have been some changes in the landscape judging on the two maps. I guess it is to be expected in a part of the world where landslides are an almost daily occurrence. It could take a while but I should be able to at least decipher the locations of Iwa's hideouts up in the mountains." Karin answered honestly as she continued to look over the two maps.

"Alright, well do you need anything? I may not be good at smart things like deciphering maps but I can do other things. I brought some tea when I was out buying equipment, I'm not that big of a fan but I thought you might like it. I can make you some if you want." Naruto offered. He didn't like that he was still basically useless at the non physical side of being a ninja. Sure he may be one of the strongest people currently alive and a well renown ANBU operative, but things like codes and passwords still made him feel like the dead last in the academy.

"Um actually that would be nice, thanks." Karin agreed. She was once more left bewildered by Naruto, 'He doesn't even like tea much, but he brought some just in case I liked it. How can anyone be that nice? Or is it just because I am so used to being around the wrong type of people? Gah damn you Naruto, how can there be such a big difference between you and everyone else I have met. Well that's not true, some of those guards of my cell in Konoha were quite kind considering I was a prisoner.' Karin was so lost in her internal conflict she had completely spaced out when Naruto returned. "Gah I gotta stop thinking about him." she said, suddenly shaking herself awake.

"Uh, thinking about who?" Naruto asked while setting down a cup in front of the red headed kunoichi.

Karin first paled, then went as deep a red as her hair. "Um... I was thinking about the man who made this map... Yeah, just thinking about how skilled he was at code." She lied.

Kiyomi was doing her best to not burst into laughter. Karin may have been trying to lie to Naruto, but she could understand what the redhead meant. To be honest, she fully expected to be called out on it. However, Naruto was still as clueless as ever and his experiences with romance had apparently taught him nothing about women, "Oh. Yeah thinking up codes must be tough. Well unless you're someone like Shikamaru, he would be able to come up with something perfect in a matter of seconds." Naruto said with his standard foxy grin.

"Sounds like he's really smart." Karin sighed, relieved that Naruto had believed her.

"Yeah he's the smartest person I know. The only problem is he's really lazy." Naruto chuckled while Kiyomi simply shook her head at the blond, he was to dense for his own good it was actually kinda herself had to ambush him when they had graduated to ask him on a date.

Karin giggled lightly as she returned her attention to the two maps. Silence filled the room as Karin worked, Naruto despite being the impatient type did not want to distract her in the chance that she may make a mistake that would lead them to become horribly lost, "I think I've got it! If I am right then we might have a far easier time over the next few days." Karin said, smugly pushing her thin glasses higher up the bridge of her nose.

"Why is that? If it doesn't stop snowing so heavily it doesn't look like we are going to get very far at all." Naruto replied skeptically.

"Iwa has underground passageways that connect all their outposts, or at least most of them. For some reason the paths stop before the outpost that is at the most northern point." Kiyomi stated.

"Wow this is amazing, with these notes, we could take days, if not weeks off the trip north." Naruto beamed.

"Of course, I was one of the best scientists in all of the Oto bases after all." Karin said contently.

"So where do you think the entrance to the underground passageway is?" Kiyomi asked.

"Hm I don't know I would say it's downstairs in the armory. Let's go have a look, the light down there is not so good so two pairs of eyes will be better than one." Karin answered.

Naruto and Kiyomi nodded in agreement and jumped up to their feet, "Alright it's still early, and it will save us some time tomorrow morning if we find some type of passage downstairs." Naruto stated.

The staircase that led down to the underground area of the outpost was hidden behind an old false wall, only the decay of time allowed it to be visible, several large holes gave it's position away quite spectacularly, "They went through quite a lot of effort to keep this place hidden. A tiny staircase right up against the edge of the building, if you couldn't see it you would think it was just the outside wall." Kiyomi marveled.

"Yeah I was hopeful of finding something interesting down here earlier. But I guess I would want to keep their weapons hidden should any invaders ever overrun this place. Not that anyone would ever want too." Karin said, taking out a small chakra powered torch.

The stairs were steep, almost straight down. Naruto added chakra to his feet just to be on the safe side, the last thing he wanted was to slip and fall knowing Karin and Kiyomi was on the stairs below him. One thing Naruto did notice quite pleasantly, was the fact that it was very warm down there. Although the comfort that was added was small when the area was so dark he couldn't even see his feet, only the light of Karin's torch lit the way. Naruto waited until he made it to the bottom of the stairs before retrieving his own torch while Kiyomi simply held up a hand with a small ball of flame resting in her palm.

The light instantly illuminated the room easily as large as the cabin above them although it was completely empty. Some small scuff marks indicated that the room was once filled with furniture of some form. "It's much warmer down here, even without the fire I don't think I need my jacket. They must have used this area more often during the winter to stay warm." Kiyomi guessed.

"Well the upstairs would be warm as well if we closed the door properly. But I think you are right regardless. The ground is a perfect insulator, regardless of where, anything underground usually stays at a pleasant temperature." Karin agreed.

"So any idea where the entrance to the tunnels may be?" Naruto asked, looking around the room with his light. Several doors branched out off either wall but none of them looked like they were large enough to hold a pathway of any sort.

"No idea. Judging by the effort that they went through to hide the staircase down here, I would say it's hidden behind another false wall. Just look for anything that seems out of place." Karin suggested.

"Hm you mean like everything here, this whole place seems odd to me." Naruto said flatly.

"Oh just shut up and get to work." Kiyomi snapped although there was no real malice in her words.

The pair split up, each taking separate sides of the underground complex. Every so often Naruto would whine about not being able to see anything different about any of the rooms, 'What about you Kurama? Can you sense anything?' the blond asked after searching his third room.

'No I can't sense anything. But that shouldn't matter all that much at all. I would have found the entrance to the passageway by now if I was in your shoes.' the large fox yawned slightly bored by the current events.

'How?' Naruto asked, slightly shocked.

'By doing what you and I do best... By destroying things. Just channel some Senjutsu or knock a hole in each of the walls, the one that gives, or is hollow, is obviously hiding something.' Kurama answered plainly.

'You know Kakashi-sensei would call that reckless and over the top.' Naruto chuckled.

'Well it's a good thing the cyclops isn't here. Now go destroy something.' Kurama ordered.

'Well I can't argue with your logic.' Naruto replied as he began channeling his Senjutsu.

'You can't argue with anyone's logic, you need to be smart to be able to do that. Of course I am disregarding any Uchiha logic, they go about trying to destroy the world every time they get a small disappointment.' Kurama laughed.

Naruto deadpanned, almost losing his focus in channeling Senjutsu, 'They're not all bad. I mean Itachi saved the village from a civil war after all.' Naruto sighed, he knew that no matter how long he lived Kurama would never see the Uchiha clan in a good light.

Kurama seemed to find Naruto's statement highly amusing and couldn't help but laugh, 'Put it this way Naruto. The only decent, mentally stable Uchiha you met was Itachi. Yet he was the one who killed off his entire clan. What does that say about the clan if the black sheep of their family was one of the biggest heroes in Konoha's history? The only good Uchiha is a dead Uchiha.' the fox declared,though he did agree that Itachi was the only decent Uchiha that had lived.

Naruto just sighed, he had no desire to argue with his companion on this topic, for the most part Kurama had lightened up considerably. But you don't lose hundreds of years of hatred and anger over a few months, even with Naruto as your jinchuuriki. Karin almost dropped her torch, the room began to be saturated in chakra, and it didn't take a genius to figure out where it was coming from. "What is this!?" she gasped breathlessly. She closed her eyes and once more indulged herself in the warmth that was Naruto's chakra. Only this time it was different, not overwhelming and wild like when he was fighting the former Iwa Anbu, this was gentle yet she could tell extremely powerful, 'Amazing, it looks like the chakra is flowing around him like a protective shell. But there is something that feels so familiar about it.' she thought completely forgetting her task to find the hidden pathway.

Naruto opened his eyes, the light from his torch bouncing against a nearby wall illuminating his bar-like pupils and the deep red pigment surrounding his now golden eyes, "Heh looks like I don't need to destroy all the walls after all." Naruto said out loud.

'What do you mean?' Kurama was somewhat stunned by Naruto's declaration.

'I can feel the exit. Well to be more precise I can feel the air flowing from upstairs into the wall. Regardless, it was a good idea to use Sage Mode, thanks Kurama.' Naruto answered calmly. Regardless of what was happening Naruto always felt more at peace in Sage Mode, it was just something about being connected with all nature around him and being able to sense even the slightest change in his surroundings.

Naruto calmly exited the room and found Karin standing there looking apprehensive, "Are... are you alright Naruto?" she asked cautiously.

"I'm fine, I know where the exit is, follow me." Naruto replied walking to an inconspicuous doorway in the far corner of the main room.

The light from Karin's torch flicked across his face as he crossed the room and she almost dropped to the floor. She now knew where she had felt this new chakra before. Juugo, when he went out of control it was the same, yet Naruto's was refined, calm. While Juugo was at times a slave to his power, Naruto was it's master, 'He doesn't have a curse mark, but this concentration is far higher than any curse mark anyway. Hell it's stronger than Juugo when he transformed and he was part of the source for the curse marks.' she thought. Her torch hung limply at her side, still unable to walk.

"Are you coming?" Naruto asked in a joking voice.

The question shook the kunoichi from her daze and she followed after him silently cursing herself for acting like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar. She found her resolve when she entered the room however, "How did you get that chakra?" she asked firmly.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, clearly puzzled by Karin's accusatory tone.

"You heard me! That chakra, you have saturated your body with it. Nothing good can come of using it. That same chakra drove Juugo to madness." she warned.

"Huh, it's Senjutsu. It can't drive anyone mad... Well maybe if they couldn't balance the levels of Senjutsu, and normal chakra, and they almost turned to stone. It almost happened to me a few times, luckily Fukusaku-sama was there for me with his cane." Naruto replied, although he winced slightly at the memory of being hit in the head multiple times.

Karin was stunned. "Senjutsu... Fukusaku-sama?" she was completely lost with Naruto's explanation. Something that is not easy to do to a scientist, even if they are only eighteen.

"Senjutsu is nature chakra. I convert the energy of nature into my own. It strengthens me considerably. Fukusaku-sama, is one of the great Toad Sages who taught me how to use Senjutsu after Ero-Sennin was killed. Trust me on this, I'm perfectly fine. Now let me show you where the tunnel to the next outpost is." Naruto explained.

Karin nodded understanding the process, she was also incredibly intrigued at the process, "Can anyone learn how to do that?" she asked.

"If they have the chakra for it then yea, but the training needs to take place in specific areas. I think only certain summons have the knowledge and they only teach those that they deem worthy. I was only chosen because Ero-Sennin believed in me and the elders had faith in his judgment." Naruto said, walking up to the northern wall and placing his ear against it, "This is it." He added confidently.

"Naruto, why are you channeling Senjutsu chakra?" Kiyomi's voice traveled down the hall where she quickly walked up to the blond and placed a hand on her hip.

"We found the hidden wall that'll lead to the tunnel. I was about to bust it down when Karin came and asked me how I was able to use Senjutsu, and then you showed up just as I finished explaining it to her.

"Well, I guess that makes sense to me. Just don't act stupid alright." the Uchiha demanded.

Karin was a bit confused and slightly jealous. From the sound of it, Senjutsu was a closely guarded secret only given to a select few. She watched in awe as Naruto walked a couple steps away and simply demolished the fake wall with a single punch revealing a massive tunnel that traveled further than her torchlight would allow, "Amazing." she gaped in awe. She then decided to take this moment to ask another question that had sprung to mind. "When you were fighting with Asahi, you weren't covered in a chakra shroud like you are now. This chakra, it it feels much stronger than you do now, is that the difference between regular chakra and that of Senjutsu?"

Naruto paused for a moment, "I'll tell you about it some other time." Naruto said, they had other things to worry about at the moment.

'Why not tell her the truth?' Kurama asked.

'I didn't want her to over react when I have to explain I can do more than just use Nature energy. She's basically stuck here with me now, what if she thinks I'm a monster or something. Unlike the people of Konoha I am not a hero to her. The only one who can relate is probably Kiyomi, and even then that's stretching it.' Naruto answered.

'The chances are she already knows. That woman spent a lot of time with that Uchiha, that constantly tried to kill you. Who you called a love interest.' Kurama scoffed.

'So?'

'So at some point she would have mentioned that you were a jinchuuriki when they were out hunting the Hachibi.'

Naruto closed his eyes realizing that Kurama was probably right, 'I still don't want to make things difficult between us. I will tell her when we are safely over these mountains and she can go her own way.' he declared.

Since Kurama and Naruto found a common ground and became allies, and friends they had not had many serious disagreements. They would argue but most of the time it was rather lighthearted. But there was tension brewing over Karin, 'I don't like her. She is using you to survive. The damn Uchiha I can understand as you're infatuated with her, but hey it's your life, and I have warned you many times. So this will be the last thing I have to say on the matter. I will not hesitate to kill her should she or that Uchiha brat try and threaten you. If need be I will warn her myself should she continue to grow... attached to you.' the fox replied. Kurama may be old and used to being alone, but now he had finally found a friend he would not let harm come to him if he could help it.

Naruto couldn't help but smile. 'I truly hope it doesn't come to that Kurama.' his conversation over Naruto's attention returned to the outside world, "Well it looks like we have a nice shortcut through part of the mountains. It's getting pretty late, let's get some sleep so we can make an early start in the morning." Naruto said with a yawn.

Kiyomi gave a weak smile in agreement, 'At least we can all agree on one thing, it's been a long day and we're all dead tired right now!' she told herself as they all ascended the steep stairs, before separating into their separate bedrooms.

---

When morning came, Karin woke up with a loud yawn. Hopping out of bed Karin wrapped a blanket around her body to escape the cold and exited the room. The sun had not made its appearance yet but she could tell from the small windows in the cabin that it was not far off, a small pale light crossed the sky indicating the day was upon them. As Karin slowly made her way down the steep stairs she didn't need her sensory ability to feel Naruto's chakra anymore, and Kiyomi was still asleep in her own room. Calm and restrained, yet powerful, like a horse in the gates before a race, just waiting to explode.

She felt the effects of Naruto's chakra almost immediately, the anxiety she felt was gone, in its place was a feeling of security, like nothing bad could go wrong while he was around. The feeling was intoxicating. While she was in her tired state the scarlet eyed kunoichi didn't even attempt to shy away from the young jinchuuriki as she slowly approached the room in which his chakra was emanating. Naruto had woken an hour earlier, knowing he wouldn't get any more sleep he decided the best use of his time would be to train with Kurama. He wanted to let his traveling companion sleep as long as she could, he knew that despite the convenience of the underground tunnel system it was still going to be a long day of traveling.

His solution was to increase the distance between himself and Karin to avoid waking the sleeping kunoichi, that way he could train without restraint. The blonds spar was not going well. By his own suggestion Naruto had decided to fight without the use of Senjutsu and this was proving to be a rather poor decision to make. Time after time Kurama simply swatted him away, his regular Rasengan did little to no damage to the giant fox and despite the numbers advantage gained by his now expert use of shadow clones every exchange ended in the same way.

Naruto lay beaten on the ground.

"You're still one hundred years too early to fight me without Senjutsu. Although I do commend your willingness to try." Kurama said, catching Naruto with one of his tails as he fell after yet another failed attack.

"Yeah I guess I still have a lot to learn. I wish Kakashi-sensei was here, he would know what I needed to improve on. Granted he would do a half assed job and spend more time reading his porn than actually training me. But he always knew the best way for me to improve." Naruto sighed.

"Don't look to the past Naruto, those who do that are always filled with regrets. Focus on what you have now, look to the future." Kurama lectured.

"Big words coming from someone who has held a grudge for over a century," Naruto laughed jokingly.

"Shut it brat, I could kill you right now and take your body." The giant fox said threateningly.

Naruto wasn't convinced however, they had become close friends and now the blond could always sense the difference between Kurama's fake anger and the full might of rage that the Bijuu could produce. "Aw don't get upset, I was only joking." he replied playing along.

"I was not upset, I was simply stating a fact." Kurama replied in a far more relaxed tone.

Both parties were startled by a loud and worried yell, "What was that?" Naruto asked while wondering if that came from inside his mind-space. For most people that would be an absurd thought, but Naruto had already had two people show up out of the blue and he had long since denied the possibility that his father may have left him one more surprise for him to find in his own time.

"It was outside. I swear your brain is becoming slower by the day. Maybe Madara hit you on the head one too many times?" The large fox scoffed. He had wasted little time in discovering the source of their interruption.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and came face to face with a shocked and very worried Karin, "Uh, hi." Naruto greeted slowly, he was slightly confused with the look on the kunoichi's face.

Karin opened her mouth to speak but the words seemed to be lost in the back of her throat. All that came out was audible gibberish.

"Karin are you alright?" Naruto asked, now slightly concerned for the state of his travel companion.

"Am I alright? What about you!?" Karin yelled, finally finding her voice.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked curiously.

"You're all cut up and bleeding, what happened to you?" Karin said tossing the blond a small pocket mirror so he could see the state of his face.

Naruto was still puzzled as he picked up the mirror but he soon understood. His face was bleeding from several areas, in fact it was a miracle that he was even able to see, "Whoa how did this happen!?" he yelled in disbelief.

Karin looked at the clueless jinchuuriki with a sweat drop, "You mean you don't know? Kami it looks like you have been run over by one of Orochimaru's snake summons." she deadpanned.

Naruto scratched his head trying to think how he could have ended up in such a condition. 'Kurama why am I in such bad shape? I haven't moved from this spot since we started training.'

'It would appear that you are not as indestructible in your mindscape as we predicted. While the damage done is considerably less, your physical body is still affected. It is a good thing that we have found this out now, should you have died during our spar your physical body could die. It's a shame, as far as training goes nothing is better than fighting with your life on the line, it is a shame we will not be able to exploit this for our gain.' The large fox assessed.

Naruto nodded in understanding. Then he realized that Karin was still looking at him expecting some sort of explanation, 'Say, what do I tell Karin?'

'The truth of course. I see no reason to hide the fact you were training with me.' Kurama replied simply. 'With any luck it will scare her off. If she knows Naruto has backed up anything she may be planning to do to him will be abandoned.' he added to himself.

Naruto began to rub the back of his neck in slight embarrassment as his wounds began to heal, "I guess I hurt myself training with Kurama." he said sheepishly.

"Kurama?" Karin questioned half expecting someone to pop out of nowhere having followed the pair in secret for weeks.

"Kurama, is my Bijuu. You know him as the Nine Tailed Demon Fox or Kyuubi." Naruto said simply.

If this was a simple explanation it didn't show for Karin who gawked while looking completely lost, "What do you mean by Kurama? You train with a Bijuu!?" she stammered slowly.

"Yeah, he's not a bad guy, or should I say fox. He can be grumpy though, and if you even think the word Uchiha he destroys something. That might just be me though as our minds are linked." Naruto mused.

"Are you serious? Why are you so calm about having contact with your Bijuu? Jinchuuriki are supposed to keep their Bijuu inside and not become friends with it." Karin exclaimed flatly.

"Why not? If people took the time to try and understand the Bijuu then maybe they wouldn't have such a bad attitude towards humans. Kurama is a friend, no different than anyone else... Well apart from the fact he lives in my mind and when released is the size of a small mountain." Naruto replied.

"You mean you're really friends with the Kyuubi, the strongest Bijuu?" Karin asked skeptically.

"Yeah. I can't say we have always seen eye to eye. But we needed to cooperate during the war, and from that we began to understand each other. He's even started to lighten up a bit." the blond answered as if the topic in question was no weirder than Karin asking the time of day.

The kunoichi took a seat on the ground, it appeared that the conversation had made it to a point where the kunoichi could no longer stand, "I don't believe this. You're talking about the Nine Tails, the strongest of the Bijuu, like it was some delinquent child that was simply misunderstood."

"Well he's certainly not a child, but I would agree that Kurama is misunderstood. If we were further away from Iwa I would let you meet him. But when I use my Fox Cloak the chakra is so strong it can be felt for miles." The jinchuuriki agreed casually.

Karin opened her mouth to ask what his 'Fox Cloak Was, but she decided against it. If Karin was being honest she had been slightly worried that the fox had been manipulating Naruto into this quest to leave the elemental nations. Then she was reminded of when she first met Naruto two years ago when he first started to become a well known ninja after his victory over Pein the Rinnegan Wielder of the Akatsuki, 'That darkness, it must have been his Bijuu. Naruto was able to tame and befriend something so dark... Amazing.' she realized. "Alright I think I get it, but you're still hurt. Here, bite down on my arm. It will heal you up good as new." she said, quickly exposing her arm, that was still riddled with slowly fading bite marks.

This time it was Naruto's turn to gasp, "What the-What the hell happened to your arms!?" he asked in concerned horror.

"It's alright the bruises don't hurt. Well not anymore." Karin admitted seeing the look on her companion's face.

"This is why Kiyomi wanted you in his group?" Naruto asked. He had never felt hatred towards Kiyomi, sure he had been angered by several things the Uchiha had done but despite all this he still considered the Uchiha as more than a friend and lover. Seeing Karin's arms bruised in such a way however was pushing him close to wishing the Uchiha was right in front of him just so he could kick her ass again.

"No Kiyomi wanted me for my tracking skills, this was just a bonus. Orochimaru however found my ability very useful, most of these marks are still left over from me healing his experiments." Karin answered hesitantly.

"How long do the marks last?" Naruto questioned quietly.

"A few months, these have almost fully faded. Each time I use the technique the other marks darken slightly. It's been almost a year since I had arms without bite marks." she admitted.

"Don't use that ability anymore. Not unless it's an emergency. See I am perfectly fine now, I heal fast, something about being an Uzumaki plus having Kurama in me makes me heal from minor wounds in a few minutes." Naruto said, wiping the blood away from his face to reveal unblemished skin, "I won't need to use that medical ability of yours. Besides, you're far too pretty to have such bruises all over your arms." Naruto said without thinking.

Karin paused and blushed slightly. 'Did he just call me pretty?' she asked herself blissfully unaware that her heart had skipped a beat.

Meanwhile in Naruto's mind Kurama was far less pleased about Naruto's compliment, 'I warned that fool not to get attached to this girl, I can only see this ending badly. Either she dies on the journey and Naruto is upset, she betrays him in some vain attempt to capture me. Or Kami forbid, she ends up as his mate. I can see it now, a bunch of full blooded Uzumaki kits running around inventing new seals to make my life miserable. Oh the horror that'll be if they ever become as good as the idiot I'm sealed inside of right now. I think I would rather die than endure that kind of hellish torture.' Kurama thought apprehensively. It was needless to say that Kurama had not warmed up to Karin and she would not be the foxes first choice when it came to Naruto's partner.

In fact, he would rather choose Kiyomi over the Uzumaki if it came down to a choice of mates, and he LOATHED Kiyomi with his entire being.

Once Karin's blush subsided she slowly found her feet and grabbed Naruto's arm to pull him up, "Well if you don't want me to use my healing jutsu I am going to have to look at your wounds the old fashioned way. There is a first aid kit upstairs." she said while pulling the blond to his feet.

x

x

x

x

"I've almost healed, that's not really necessary is it?" Naruto asked.

"Probably not but it's better to be safe than sorry. Besides, like you said yourself, we have a long day ahead of us. The last thing we need is you collapsing and getting injured." Karin replied slightly smugly.

"Uh, fine I guess you're right." Naruto admitted and slowly made his way towards the stairs. They moved in silence focusing on the steep steps softly illuminated by their torches. They stayed silent as they entered the living area of the cabin. Karin grabbed the old field medic kit that the Iwa shinobi had left behind. The contents were a lot like any normal first aid kit. However there were some rather advanced looking additions. A chakra scanner that simulated a standard diagnostic jutsu while a second instrument applied an advanced healing salve to heal most minor wounds.

"I guess you should probably lie down on a table. I know enough medical jutsu to not need these instruments but I might use them anyway to be on the safe side." Karin mused.

Naruto paused before nodding. He slowly lay down on the large dining table. "Uh, do I need to take my top off?" Naruto asked reluctantly.

Karin paused as a small pink hue spread across her face while she nodded quickly. "Yes, I'll need to check to see if you have any broken ribs." She said in almost a whisper. 'What the hell is wrong with me? I have seen countless people without their shirts on, hell I have dissected a fair number, I cant fall apart because of something so simple.' She lectured herself to regain some composure.

Naruto removed his top slowly and soon came to realize just how cold the room really was, almost immediately he began to feel goosebumps on his skin. He didn't complain however and closed his eyes waiting for the kunoichi to begin her work. He was confident that he was no longer injured at all, still he would humor Karin rather than be stuck in an argument about if he was hurt or not. "You don't seem to be out off or surprised that I have Kurama sealed in me, or that I talk to him, why?"

The question sparked Karin back into reality, whether she had realized it or not she had been in a daze exploring Naruto's bare chest. "Huh? Oh, well I already knew you were a jinchuuriki. Kiyomi told me and so did that masked man in the Akatsuki, so I knew for quite awhile. As for you talking to the Kurama, well to tell you the truth, that was a shock. But I can tell it's still you in control, so I don't mind in the slightest. I have no right to judge you on anything, not with some of the horrible things I have been forced to do in my life. Besides you didn't have a choice in becoming the Kurama jinchuuriki so how can anyone think less of you for that?"

Naruto opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow. "You are far more accepting than I would have thought," he admitted.

"Is it really that surprising? Look at the people I have had as teammates and my leaders. Juugo became a bloodthirsty monster, Kiyomi had an unquenchable thirst for revenge. I don't think I need to go into all the twisted things that Orochimaru would do. When you have spent a life with people like that a small thing like someone being a jinchuuriki isn't really all that overly shocking or disturbing." Karin answered. By now she was tracing the diagnostic equipment over his body very slowly.

Kurama was now very lightly pumping a small amount of chakra through Naruto's body to keep him warm as the intense snow storm that had started the night before was still raging outside making the room almost at freezing point. "I guess if you see some of the worst of humanity there is always less to shock you. Well for once I am glad for that fact. It took me a long time to win over the people of Konoha. So it's nice to know that you have accepted me for who I am." Naruto said honestly.

Karin smiled in response but turned her focus to the medical scan she was performing. The red haired kunoichi was in disbelief that no injuries had shown up. When she walked in on Naruto's training he was so badly beaten he looked like he had replaced one of Lee and Gai's training posts. Yet no matter how careful she was with the scan it had failed to pick anything up. "I must say your healing rate is truly remarkable. I can't find anything wrong with you." she said, admitting defeat.

"Well I rushed the process by channeling a small amount of natural chakra through my body and Kurama can accelerate it with his chakra. It's really useful because I hate hospitals." Naruto admitted with a slight shiver.

Karin giggled at the last statement. "Please tell me you are not afraid of hospitals. Or are needles you can't stand. Either way I find it funny that someone so strong could feel uneasy about something like that."

Naruto shook his head. "I am not afraid of them, I just hate the waiting that Tsunade Baa-chan and Sakura-chan always forced me to endure, it was so damn boring! Are we done? It's freezing here without my top on. Besides, the sun is starting to rise so we should get a move on. We should be able to cover twice as much distance through the tunnels as we would in all the snow."

Karin nodded and passed the blond his shirt and jacket. "Yeah, I'm ready to go, just need to get changed and then we can be off after we wake Kiyomi and eat some food." she said as Naruto nodded and they split up into their separate ways to do what they had to in order to get ready for the next stage of their journey.

~XxX-(Later that Day)-XxX~

Currently a group of Konoha shinobi sat around a long table, several objects sat in front of them, "So they were both definitely here then?" Neji asked the group.

"No doubt about it. Kiyomi and that Karin chick must have used this base as either a staging ground or stayed here until the supplies ran out." Kiba replied.

"I do not think they stayed here for long." Sai said calmly.

"Why is that Sai?" Neji questioned.

The stoic Anbu pointed at a large map that was built into the wall, "She came to this specific hideout for a reason." he explained. On the map several points were marked, if they were marked by the two girls or not they couldn't tell. But what they could see was the exact location of the Joint Shinobi Army headquarters in the Land of Lightning. The skeleton graveyard that Obito used to stage his attack and also other locations that Naruto had been including the Turtle island. "Kiyomi was either hunting Naruto or marking areas to avoid. But if it was the second one why would she and her accomplice risk coming this close to the Land of Lightning?" Sai answered.

"You think they were hunting for Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked. She was less than happy, to put it lightly, of the thought that someone might still be hunting the blond.

Sai nodded, his usual fake smiling mask was discarded but rather than the fake smile the former Root shinobi showed nothing, "I would say the information points that way. The only question is do they know that he's died and how close to the Joint Shinobi headquarters did she travel? Orochimaru had a base in the Land of Lightning, that would be the best place to start the next stage of the search, but we are running out of time." he spoke as casually as the highly trained Root Anbu that he was.

"What do you mean we're running out of time? I didn't think this mission had a limit." Kiba questioned.

"Of course it has a limit. It was not given because it will last until we are recalled to the village." Neji explained.

"Then how do you know that we are running out of time?" Kiba asked.

To Inuzuka's surprise it was Hinata who answered first, "That's because Kakashi-sama did not know how long it would take to arrange Naruto-kun's funeral. He let us go until they were ready but we will be called back so we do not miss it."

"Hinata-sama is right, Sai was on Naruto's team. I have been expecting to be called back for the past week. Hokage-sama must be delaying the funeral for some reason. My guess is that Tsunade-sama will wake up soon." Neji agreed.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get moving. It'll take a few days to get to the Land of Lightning." Kiba replied. The small group from Konoha nodded in agreement before briskly heading for the exit.

(Meanwhile)

"Wow this tunnel is so long." Naruto spoke as the underground passageway opened for the three teenage ninja.

"It makes sense. They built one hell of a straight path to save time in moving from outpost to outpost. It's dark but with a path like this we could cover the same distance in one day rather then wasting three outside. It is also considerably warmer down here." Karin mused.

"I guess that makes sense. Did you get a copy of the map?" Kiyomi asked.

"Of course I did. Last thing I want is us getting lost down here." the red haired kunoichi answered.

Naruto nodded and took several steps forward into the dark tunnel. "Then we're all set for the next stage of our journey. Too bad things will become far more difficult after this."

XxX

It had been a long day for the three young ninja. They may not have had any issues with difficult terrain that may have occurred crossing the mountains, but it was pitch black in the tunnel. They had to make extra care not to get turned around, fortunately there were maps carved into the wall whenever they found a junction. Even so, all they could tell was that they were heading north. They guessed that the fastest way through would be to go as far north as they could in the tunnels before they traveled the rest of the way over the insurmountable peaks.

"How long have we been walking for?" Karin asked, with a weary sigh.

Naruto shrugged the truth that in the pitch black passageway there was no way of telling what the time of day was, "I don't know. It could be two minutes, it could be two days, we have traveled pretty far north so with any luck we should be getting close to the end soon." he said once he realized that Karin couldn't see him shrug.

"Well my guess is you have been walking for at the very least a full day now. If you were by yourself and moving at top speed you could have been far further north by now, I would say you could have hit the halfway point in the mountains." Kiyomi said casually.

"Maybe, but I wouldn't have found this underground tunnel." the blond retorted.

'Oh lets rejoice we have a tunnel. I would rather be safe in the knowledge that your so-called travel companions aren't trying to kill you. But what do I know, I'm only a few thousand years old.' The fox scoffed.

'Just because you're old, doesn't mean that you're smart.' Naruto replied.

'This coming from someone who has failed almost every written exam in his life.' Kurama laughed.

Naruto's face vaulted in defeat, 'I may not be book smart, but I can tell when someone is trying to make up for their mistakes. This journey is far more dangerous for the girls than it is for me. Thanks to you I can't freeze to death, I wont get sick from some disease. Despite this she decided to follow me anyway.' Naruto reasoned.

'The choice between a big risk and certain death isn't very difficult.' Kurama said sternly.

Naruto was confused by this statement, 'What do you mean?'

'You remember why they decided to join you right? No matter how long the Uchiha hid it was only a matter of time before shinobi from one of the five great nations found her and her accomplice. When that happened she would have been executed faster than she could deny the fact that she was a member of the Akatsuki. Given the choice it's no wonder they decided to follow you. You were on the run as well, and unlike you; the two of them had a plan. So now put yourself in their shoes, you either risk traveling over a mountain range that has never been crossed before, or you hide and hope that you are never discovered by a shinobi for the rest of your life in which more than likely you'll be discovered sooner or later.' Kurama explained.

Naruto was about to reply when he was brought back to reality by Karin, "Hey, looks like we're at the end of the line." she said pointing to where a small light seemed to emanate in the distance.

Naruto let out a silent sigh of relief that the light was dim and still far away, because after being in the pitch black with only torchlight for the last twenty four hours his eyes were not accustomed to light making the small speck of sunlight difficult to look at directly, "Shouldn't there be an outpost here?" Naruto asked.

Karin nodded in agreement, "Yes but it seems that something has happened to this one. The Insurmountable peaks are considered extremely dangerous for a reason. It's not that hard to believe that a landslide or a storm could destroy one of the buildings." she noted.

"I was kinda hoping for one more night in a bed, looks like it's not to be, still at least we have a tent and thermal sleeping bags so we will at least be warm. But we will be postponing our stop until we find somewhere to set up a camp." Kiyomi sighed.

"Then why not just rest here?" Karin asked.

"I'm sure we've all had enough of this darkness. It would be nice to see some sunlight. Besides, we shouldn't stop here just because it's convenient. It would be best to at least see what time of day it is." Naruto answered.

"I guess you're right. It will be too dangerous to travel at night time from now on so it's best to make the most of the light we are given. That said, to be on the safe side we should remember to find a campsite early so we're not forced to set up in the dark." Karin replied.

The three of them approached the edge of the source of light, that seemed to be blinding them from it's brightness. So much so that when they reached the edge they couldn't see the edge of the tunnel, but someone could, 'Naruto stop!' Kurama yelled.

Naruto did as he was told and grabbed Kiyomi and Karin's arms as they stepped in front of him. Karin screamed as she almost pulled him along with her as she fell but Naruto's body strength saved them both, channeling chakra into his feet to prevent sliding. And Kiyomi felt her heart stop, but managed to control her movements as Naruto pulled her away from the edge, "Whoa, easy there." he gulped in nervousness 'Thanks for that Kurama. You really saved us.' He sighed.

'Don't mention it. Just wait for your eyes to adjust before you move on.' the large fox said calmly.

Naruto pulled the girls up to safety and Karin immediately clung to his jacket shaking from the shock, "It's alright, let's just calm down and see what we're dealing with." he said lightly squeezing the kunoichi to help calm her down.

"H-h-how did y-you know." Karin stuttered.

"Kurama told me, looks like he saved all of us." Naruto answered by taking a seat on the ground, his own heartbeat still racing from the fright. Slowly his eyes began adjusting to the light, the white blur starting to take some noticeable shapes he could see the outline of several mountains against the white background. After that the world came into view quickly, at the edge of the tunnel where Naruto, Kiyomi and Karin were sitting still panting heavily a massive gorge stretched out in front of them. At the far side they saw what remained of a small hut and end of the tunnel, "What the hell happened here?" Naruto gasped in wonder.

"It looks like the mountain collapsed taking the tunnel with it." Karin replied looking equally stunned.

"So what do you think our options are?" the blond asked. He looked over the edge of the crater but he could not see the bottom.

"It's way too far to jump, we could always walk around against the wall, it's bound to end at some point." Karin suggested.

"Well I have one idea, but it's a bit of a risk. If I channel some Fuuton chakra into my kunai and wrap a rope around the handle I will be able to anchor a rope to the other side of the gorge. We tie the other end to this side and use the rope as a bridge." Kiyomi suggested.

"Nah, how about this, what if I use the Hiraishin no Jutsu, it's simple, easy and it'll save us a lot of time if we simply teleport over." Naruto offered.

"Or you could just point out you know one of if not the most deadly technique in the Elemental Nations." Kiyomi grumbled before she looked to her ex... lover? Boyfriend? Friend with Benefits? She crossed her arms, "And since when did you know such a technique anyways?" she asked.

"It was when I was seventeen, I decided to pick up fuinjutsu and I learned they were pretty simple once the mechanics were broken down into their basic components. I recreated, perfected, and refined both the Second Hokage's original version and my fathers perfected version and simply improved and refined the both of them from there." Naruto admitted with a clam shrug.

Karin paused, she was silently weighing up the positives and negatives as well as how much she trusted Naruto to be able to pull this off successfully before speaking up, "It is the fastest way across and there is no telling how far we would have to go out of the way to get to the other side otherwise. But if we had went with the rope bridge idea and it wasn't able take the weight then we would all definitely die." she let out a frustrated sigh before nodding. "Alright I'll go along with it. I hope you know what you're doing." she said eventually if not somewhat reluctantly.

"It will work. I'll cross first and leave a couple of clones behind, that way I'll be on both sides and able to teleport the two of ya across without anything happening." Naruto said reassuringly.

x

x

x

x

The girls both nodded in acceptance as Naruto pulled out one of his kunai and spun it in his hand a couple times while looking for a suitable place to throw the knife, 'I am going to use a little bit of your chakra to enhance the strength of my throw, we should be far enough away from civilization by now right?'

'I would think so, there is a gap around the size of the Land of Fire between where we are and Iwa so my guess is that a small amount of my chakra won't be felt.' Kurama guessed with a shrug.

Naruto stood up forcing his Fuuton chakra through the kunai, he silently noted how much more difficult the process was than when attempting the same thing with Asuma's chakra blades, 'Must be the difference between this and chakra conducting metal.' Naruto sighed as he looked for a stable looking target to anchor the rope.

'Aim for the roof of the tunnel on the other side. It is the best bet on not collapsing from the weight and it won't stab into the ground under the ledge of the tunnel over there.' Kurama informed his host.

Naruto nodded silently thanking the fox for his suggestion while taking aim. At the moment he threw the blade Naruto's eyes glowed a slitted red color for the smallest of seconds but that was enough for the girls to feel the overwhelming presence of the oppressive chakra. Even knowing that Naruto was fully in control and the Bijuu would not try to escape and kill them didn't make the experience any less terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.

The kunai crossed the gap in under a second and embedded deeply into the rock of the other side, "Alright, one shot, one kill. That's how ya do it!" Naruto cheered before he flashed away in a blitz of yellow.

'This place smells vile, it was not caused by a natural disaster. Something or someone caused this destruction. But it was done such a long time ago I cannot tell what it did.' Kurama informed the blond when they reappeared..

"Well here's hoping we don't run into whatever it was." Naruto replied. As he was on his own he didn't mind talking to the Kurama out loud.

"Alright guys, it's safe come on over, ready to receive you guys here when your ready." He called out. Unfortunately thanks to the howling wind and darkness of the cave the girls and clones could barely see Naruto let alone hear him. It took him longer than he was proud to admit to realize that she couldn't hear him. Upon making that realization he made a clone letting it dispel instantly.

On the other side of the valley Naruto's clone received the information from his clone dispelling it on the other side. "Alright, we'll send Karin over first. Boss made it to the other side." the clone said. Karin nodded and wrapped her arms around the clones own arm and closed her eyes as they vanished in a second flash of yellow. Seconds later the clone grabbed Kiyomi's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze of reassurance where she looked at him with a small smile of her own, "You ready?" the clone asked.

"As ready as one can be when it comes to teleportation, let's just get it over with, I'd rather not stay out in the open for longer than necessary." the Uchiha stated. And with a shrug of the shoulders, the clone flashed the both of them over to the other side where Karin and Naruto stood patiently.

'I still say you should have left her. I'm sure she would have found a way to catch up.' Kurama grumbled.

'I would rather not be on the receiving end of her anger thank you very much. Remember the last time we pissed her off, she had us walking around blind for nearly a week thanks to that genjutsu she put us in and that was before we started dating the first time.' Naruto said to the fox in return.

'I know, but I don't care. As I said once before and said a thousand times, the only good Uchiha is a dead Uchiha, regardless if they are nice or not.' the fox grumbled.

---

So yes, this Naruto knows how to use Sealing Jutsu and the infamous Hiraishin Tobirama built and Minato perfected. No I will not be divulging all of what Naruto knows on the Hiraishin currently, but will definitely spill some beans on this later on.

On a sidenote, I have only watched a total of 5-10 of the Boruto episodes (all concerning our residential 'gods' aka the Otsutsuki) and I am actually pleased to say I liked the Baryon mode Naruto presented in the Manga but I was so much more pleased with the nostalgic bits they brought back from the first fight between Naruto & Sasuke when they were teens at the Final Valley when Sasuke first went rogue. Definitely did our boy Naruto right in this episode 217 of the Next Gen, sad to say I may not watch any other episodes cuz I know what happens next in 218 so I'll just leave the series alone for the foreseeable future and look into some of the fights I read about online through the fandom/wiki.

Anyways that is all for now for this update for The Price to be Paid please give this story a LIKE/FAVORITE/FOLLOW if you wish to see more content and don't forget to type up a nice lengthy REVIEW/COMMENT to tell me what you think of this update and the story thus far. I spent all day litterally writing/editing this content to give you and cut down the 40k word chapter to a 20k word chapter which is how it's going to continue to be for the time being until I decide to lower that count down to 10k words or even 15k words for the future chapters once I run out of actual content written up by freowin him/herself.

Again Reading RDK is about to come out, the final edits are killing me, and I forget that the number of words practically doubles with each first completion and then hardly changes THAT is why you haven't seen a RDK update for almost a entire year, but I promise you that IS and WILL be my next update. But until then, peace out and much love to each of you.

SORRY FOR RANTING!~