Karin arrived that morning to her workplace as usual, she put away her phone inside her purse and placed it on top of the surface where her computer awaited for her to get to work on her coding, the company was currently on the development of a new game and she was part of the team rendering the character models for it, the project itself was very big and according to some of the employees, it would be their biggest breakthrough that year. Karin knew however the truth, their monetization tactics was all that mattered nowadays, nobody would care about the quality of it in the end, at least not the executives, they did not understand the time or effort a programmer puts into their work however none of this mattered to her. Once she joined Naruto full time her life would be a thing of the past, goodbye to her job, her apartment, her bank account, everything would go away as soon as she joined the ranks of the shinobi, she was certain part of it would be missed but her family was more important than material things at the moment.
Soon her break time arrived and as she was accustomed to, went to the roof of the building where a cafeteria was placed, she purchased an orange juice and walked to one of the corners to take a look at the city, she was still figuring out how to approach the person she had mentioned earlier to her guests, although they were coworkers neither one ever talked to the other, Karin was not a quiet or shy person unlike the other individual, this made things difficult for her as she had a hard time approaching the quiet types.
She noticed from the corner of her eye her target, he actually found his way over to the cafeteria as well, despite wearing a large black hooded jacket and sunglasses she recognized him, it was just her luck the software engineering team was also on the same break time as her. The man proceeded to buy just a bottle of water and take a seat in one of the benches placed in the area, this was the chance she needed. Karin casually walked over to where he sat and also took a seat next to him without a second glance.
"Hey, it's Shino right?"
The man slightly moved his head to her direction when she spoke his name, he did not acknowledge her question but Karin continued.
"Listen, so I kinda know who you are and I'm sure you kinda know who I am at this point..."
"Karin Uzumaki, cousin of Naruto Uzumaki, one of the most hunted men in Japan at the moment..." Karin's heart almost stopped when he said it, thankfully his grave tone of voice was also low and nobody else was around to listen "Yes, I know quite well who you are and no, I cannot help you."
"W-wait! You haven't even let me talk!"
"Whatever it is you're going to ask of me I cannot do it, it involves helping your cousin and in doing that I will be helping a wanted fugitive which means I will become a wanted fugitive as well, it is not something I desire."
Shino stood up and started to walk away, Karin's mind rushed to say something, anything to make him stop an listen to her so the first thing that occurred to her was to strike a nerve.
"So what I heard about the Aburame clan is true then?"
Shino stopped for a split second, Karin knew her words had worked in a way, at least she got her attention now and was ready for anything he would throw back at her. He slowly turned and faced her, his eyes visibly upset behind his shades, not wanting to be intimidated Karin also stood from the bench to meet Shino face to face.
"You don't know anything about the Aburame clan..." His tone was menacing but Karin would not back down.
"You think I didn't do my research? The Tokyo airport attack perpetrated 2 years ago by a terrorist group, everyone thought it was sarin gas all over again but I know the real cause, Phosphorus Destruction Insects or Rinkaichū as you call them, given by none other than a member of your clan, Torune Aburame-"
"What do you want?..." Shino quickly cut her off before someone else could hear her.
"Your help, and in the process maybe I can lend you my help as well..."she said more calmly adjusting her glasses like she always did.
Shino remained quiet, he did not expect to find himself cornered like this, he was sure he had studied everyone he worked with and despite knowing she was also a shinobi he never thought he would be researched as well.
"... How can you help me exactly?"
"By helping you clean your clan's honor to start, I'm probably the only one outside of your clan and maybe even Konoha who knows the truth, I have ways to prove these were the actions of one man only."
"... Will my clan be able to return?"
"Return?"
"The shame of that event forced us to leave Konoha and live in the cities as regular people, we'd be glad to go back to our roots if they permit it."
Karin thought perhaps she would be making a deal that she could not be able to uphold, then again she was not even sure she would be accepted into the village despite being sure about leaving this life behind and follow Naruto from that point.
"Well... it's not up to me to decide, I'll need to talk with my cousin and see what I can do, deal?" She offered a handshake.
Shino remaining silent but extended his hand to meet hers in acceptance of her words "Deal..." Karin smiled but soon wondered why he did not let go of her hand, to her horror she saw what seemed like a swarm of insects coming from under the sleeve of his jacket, one of them quickly reached her skin and bit her, in panic she pulled away from his hand but right a second later she started to feel the tip of her fingers go numb, soon the hand and then the whole arm, a feeling of wooziness overwhelmed her head.
"W-what... what did you...?!"
Then her world went black, the stoic face of Shino was the last thing she remembered.
She was not entirely sure what woke her up, perhaps the continuous sound of water droplets hitting the ground or a dog's barking sounds somewhere in the distance, her eyes were blurry and felt heavy, her surroundings lacked enough light to see where she was, all she could tell at that moment was that she was sitting in a chair and both her hands were tied behind it as well as her feet. Karin's head was a bit woozy still, she tried to remember what had happened to find herself in that situation, then she heard footsteps approaching from an obscure corner.
"You're finally awake..."
"You...!" If looks could kill, Shino would have been dead right there "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" Karin rocked the chair in anger.
"Forgive me, I did not intend to do this, however..." Shino walked around her "The Rinkaichū are a forbidden technique known only within the Aburame clan which means that is top classified, no one outside my clan knows about this..." He stopped just behind her, Karin felt uneasy "So how is it you know about it?"
"Tch... You think we're gonna have a conversation after this?! I'm gonna beat you to a pulp!"
Karin called forth her chakra, her plan was simple, cut loose her restraints and use her own jutsu against her captor, she did not count however with the fact that her chakra was gone at the moment, Shino noticed her expression of disbelief.
"I placed several bugs inside your blood stream, they feed from your chakra which means your chakra points are blocked right now, you can't use any jutsu."
Karin froze in terror more from the fact that actual bugs were inside of her body than her inability to use chakra, the thought creeped her very soul.
"Y-you WHAT?!"
"I will release them once you tell me where you got the information about the Rinkaichū..." Shino walked once again in front of a now troubled Karin, he knelt down to meet her face to face "Who are you working for?"
Karin stared incredulously at his dark lens, she could not believe she had trusted this individual for the sake of helping Naruto and now she found herself at the end of an interrogation due to her lack of caution, at least she could deduce he was not one of the bounty hunters actively looking for her cousin.
"You gotta be kidding me! LET ME GO NOW!" She almost spat in his face but could barely more at that point, Shino stood up.
"I should mention the more my bugs feed from chakra the more they'll grow inside the host, do you understand what that means?"
Now Karin was truly scared, she mentally prayed Naruto or someone from his team would come and save her from this predicament, the idea of death by bug infestation ripping her apart was not pretty.
"If you kill me you better hope Naruto doesn't find you or you'll wish you'd be dead!"
"Your cousin does not scare me, again, how do you know about the Rinkaichū?"
Karin just stared at him with a mixture of anger and fear but silently in her heart she felt a small ray of hope when her chakra flow suddenly started to be felt again, this immediately allowed her to understand her body was not being invaded by any external agents, for the moment she decided it was best to play along and see where this would lead.
"Why do you care so much about that jutsu...?"
"How would you feel if someone found out a member of your family was responsible for the deaths of innocent people?"
"That chapter is already closed! People believe what the media shows them!"
"Indeed they do, but if the truth got out, how would you think they'd react?"
He had a point, there was no way his clan would be safe if the public became aware of this, just like with Naruto's case they would also become hunted men.
"People will understand-"
"You and I both know that is not true, one single person is smart enough to understand, the people are not, they're dumb, erratic and dangerous..." Shino took a few steps back and continued "Your cousin triggered a domino effect that cannot be stopped, our kind is now officially on people's agendas, soon new ways to track us and distinguish us among the rest will exist, we'll be hunted like animals unless we're in luck and die at the hands of one of our own first..."
Shino's words made sense, Karin had not realized the magnitude of her cousin's actions just yet, all she kept thinking about was how to cover his tracks the only way she knew, with technology which in this case and if she was reading the same hacked report Shino did a year ago, would soon act against them once they figured how chakra worked. She lowered her head faking defeat.
"... I have... I'm a special type of sensorial shinobi, my chakra allows me to identify other readings within a certain range, not limited to other shinobi... The first time I stepped foot into that airport where everything happened I felt the true nature of the attack in the air just by... being there."
"How did you come up with the name of the user?"
"His chakra signature, it matched that of the Rinkaichū..."
"... How is it possible you could match both chakra signatures?"
"Because I've met him before!"
Shino's calmed demeanor changed immediately, for whatever reason this woman actually knew the perpetrator of the attack yet she did not try to conceal the fact at all, perhaps she thought by letting him know this he would change his mind about keeping her captive, she was not wrong. Right away Shino went behind her and with a kunai cut the ropes restraining her hands, as Karin rubbed her wrists surprised by his actions he went to release her bound feet as well, however as soon as this happened Karin used on of her legs to kick him straight in his chin sending Shino flying back against the floor, she now felt her full chakra was actually flowing naturally inside of her and figured her next move. From her back four blue chakra chains sprouted and wrapped themselves quickly around Shino who was now being slammed against one of the walls, she picked up the kunai he dropped and went over to him placing the tip on his throat, a small drop of blood escaped his skin at the contact.
"My turn asshole!"
"Y-you... realize my bugs... are still inside... your bloodstream..." he was still stunned by the kick.
"Nice try but I know you're bluffing! My chakra is flowing without restrains, besides if anything within me was wrong I would be able to feel it." She added a small pressure, Shino grunted "Now I make the questions! Where are we?!"
Shino did not have much of a choice at the moment but to answer, his alibi was discovered. "We're...*cough*... this is an old... warehouse, just... three blocks away... from our workplace..."
"For how long was I out?! What did you do to me?!"
"An hour at most... the bug that bit you releases a nonlethal toxin that *cough*... slows the brain function for some time... you clearly are no longer under its effect..."
"An hour?! People will be suspicious if we're not at work!"
"I placed bug clones in our work stations... we're covered..."
"Bug clones?..."
"Yes, just like it sounds, they're exact copies of us, as long as my chakra flow works they won't... dissolve."
Karin lessened the pressure she was applying on Shino's throat with the kunai but continued keeping a tight grip with her chains, her rage was still present but at least for now she did not want to crush him to death.
"Why did you ask me about Torune?!"
Shino grunted again when Karin slightly tightened the chains, she switched the weapon's hold to back hand and instead placed the sharpened edge close to his neck without actually touching him "Ever since the attack... our clan's been looking for him for questioning, when you mentioned his name I thought you'd know where he is..."
"I don't, and quite frankly after this stunt I'm thinking you'll never know, perhaps I should just get rid of you..." It was Karin's turn to intimidate, only her threats were real.
"But... the cover I placed will be blown..."
"I could care less about your cover, I don't intend to remain in that place much longer anyway, if anything meeting you was a way to speed up the process, it's too bad we can't trust each other and work together which means I only have one choice now and that's to get rid of you!"
Karin applied some additional pressure with her chains which made Shino let out a painful groan, to her shock his figure started to dissolve into tiny insects that dissipated into the air leaving her nothing to grasp on, she turned he head slightly to see a figure walking calmly into the light revealing himself again, Shino was intact, not one scratch on his body.
"I assume that was a bug clone...?"
"Correct, which is why I said we are covered."
Karin turned around fully and prepared to launch herself at her captor but she stopped when he lifted his palm in a sign to stop.
"Wait! There's no need for us to fight anymore, I'll help you."
Karin was confused at this change of attitude "Huh?! First you try to torture me and now you want to help me?! What gives?!" her chakra chains tensed ready for an attack.
"Torune is my step brother..." Karin's expression changed the next second into surprise again "While it is true my clan wants to find him I personally want to ask him why he did what he did, the man I once knew would've never done something like that. It makes me think someone else had a hand in his actions, all I want is to get to the bottom of it and hopefully clean our clan's name, that is all..."
"... And what makes you think I'll help you even after telling me that?"
"We all care about our families do we not? I can't make any promises to you about cleaning your cousin's name, that's beyond my skills and his case is different because he's a person of known interest now, but I can make sure whatever place he goes to he's a ghost, same goes for you, his master and those other two girls from Konoha."
He was referring of course to Jiraiya, Sakura and Ino, Karin had no clue how he managed to find out about them but now she was definitely impressed with his abilities, she slowly retracted her chains back into her body until they were gone and relaxed again, perhaps there was more to this man than she initially thought, Shino offered his hand to her.
"Deal?"
"You won't use your bugs on me again?"
"I won't, you have my word."
Karin slowly walked towards him and shook his hand, this time however it was Shino's turn to wonder why her grip was so tight suddenly, he discovered it just one second later as she pulled him into a punch directly on his stomach that took the air from his lungs, then she released his hand and walked past him.
"That was for putting me through this... And we have a deal."
She left Shino on his own as he grabbed his abdomen and coughed trying to regain his composure to no avail, he placed his other hand against a wall and took a few deep and loud breaths, he was still breathing hard.
"I... suppose I deserved that..."
Anko was bored to death, her wound was healing faster than anticipated but the doctors would still not give her clearance to leave the hospital, she was tired of laying on that bed watching the news about the same topic over and over, she was literally begging to go out and continue her investigation, she could now stand on her leg which meant slowly but surely moving around, the inspector did not require the nurse's help to bathe at least, good relief, in her thoughts she would save that for the time when her body would become old and wrinkled, that would give those poor nurses something to have nightmares about. She suspected her lack of clearance was not coming from the hospital but rather someone inside the department, had she gone to intensive care the story would be different but her wound was not severe, not even counting the fact that thanks to her chakra a shinobi can heal faster than a normal person regardless of their physical constitution.
She turned off the TV and right after a knock on the door followed, she was not expecting anyone that afternoon so following her policeman's instinct she grabbed her gun hiding under the pillow and put it under the blanket just next to her right leg.
"Who is it?"
"It's Iruka senpai, may I?"
"Sure..." she eased up and put the gun back under the pillow just as her partner entered the room carrying a small lunch box full of dango dumplings, her favorite meal. He also carried the folder where the new case against the Uchiha was being created.
"Thought you might want some of these." Iruka handed the lunch box to his mentor, like a child she excitedly grabbed it and opened it to smell the content inside.
"Ahh... fresh dango!" She proceeded to grab one by one and stuff her mouth happily. Iruka chuckled.
"The chief paid me a visit, he's quite angry one of the local newspapers caught a picture of Naruto jumping away in front of us, believes we let him go on purpose."
"Awd dwat we dwid..." Anko said with her mouth still full of dumplings looking for another one.
"Senpai this is no joke, he said we could be under investigation for what happened and that we needed to clean this mess before someone's head rolled."
"I swee..." she licked her fingers as she gulped more of the dumplings down her throat, taking a moment talk understandably again "What is there to clean thought? I gave the kid a head start for his cooperation and last I checked..." she grabbed another dango "That's not a crime." then she devoured it.
"But the tabloids..."
"The tabloids can go to hell Iruka, if they're looking for a culprit in this story then they should start with Fugaku Uchiha and not us."
"Speaking of that..." Iruka handed the folder under his arm to Anko, she put the dango box aside and opened the file quickly scanning details inside.
"Anything useful?"
"Unfortunately no, the company runs very smoothly inside out, no traces or evidences of any suspicious activity."
"There's always a trace Iruka, we just gotta look more carefully."
"So you believe Naruto then..."
"I do." She continued looking through the file "If there's one thing I'm good at is telling when someone is lying, and he wasn't."
She closed the folder at the same time both detectives could hear a nurse yelling at someone just outside the hallway, they looked at each other in confusion and Iruka placed his hand on the gun holster around his waist, he took a few steps back as Anko once again reached for her gun under the pillow, they could both still listen the nurse arguing with another person outside, a young male voice, Iruka slowly approached the door as the voices became louder each time.
"Stay put senpai."
He opened the door and saw two young men approaching the room, one of them was arguing with the nurse behind them about not interfering in important affairs while the other one kept walking calmly to where he was.
"I'm looking for detective Anko Mitarashi, is she in this room?"
"Who's asking?" Iruka tightened the grip on the gun, the other noticed but remained calm.
"Detective Mitarashi, it's Sasuke Uchiha, I need to speak with you..." he said raising the volume of his voice enough so she could listen.
Anko felt uneasy about the younger Uchiha's presence in the hospital so she immediately put the folder away, Iruka kept looking between her and Sasuke not knowing how to proceed next, they were not prepared for a visit of this magnitude, Anko finally signaled Iruka to let him inside, he stepped aside as both Sasuke and Suigetsu entered the room, the nurse was about to follow them but Iruka stopped her and assured her everything was fine, she reluctantly left after a minute.
"Pleased to meet you detective." Sasuke said politely.
"Why are you here?..." Anko's tone of voice was not friendly "Did your father send you?..."
"My father?... Quite the contrary, he doesn't know I'm here and I'd appreciate it if we can keep it that way..."
"Really? And why exactly?"
"It's very simple, Naruto Uzumaki... I know my father is after him and nobody seems to be able to tell me why, I came here because I need answers and last time I checked, you're one of the persons he last spoke to..."
Anko felt uneasy about the conversation's direction "What makes you think I'm sharing sensitive information to you of all people?!"
"Because whatever my father is planning, I want to stop him as much as you detective..."
"Sorry if I don't take your word for it boy, now please leave."
"Will this convince you?" Sasuke motioned Suigetsu to hand him over a briefcase he was carrying, then he presented it to Anko who still looked distrustful, her eyes went to Iruka who also kept a cautious eye over both boys.
"Are you trying to bribe me?!'
"I know you're not corrupt detective, that's why I took a chance coming here, open it and see for yourself."
Anko took a second before taking the briefcase, she opened it and was surprised it was paperwork instead of money, she searched through it and saw also pictures of the Uchiha corp owner apparently talking with people she recognized from from other sectors.
"What is this...?"
"Proof of my father's side activities, for the past months he's been having meetings with top rank officials from the government, the military and even the police, bribes, taking out competition, assassination plots, you name it..."
"Where'd you get this?!" Anko was shocked the more she looked at what seemed like solid evidence against Fugaku.
"I live with him, it's not difficult to gather information that way honestly."
"Why though? Why are you giving up your father like this?" Iruka asked as he went over to Anko to take a look at the evidence as well.
"You guys don't know my father like I do so let's just say I have a personal interest in this, that's all." Sasuke motioned Suigetsu to follow him to leave the room, he obliged.
"Wait!..." Anko exclaimed, Sasuke stopped and looked her way "You're just letting us have this?!"
"Call it a gesture of good faith, you should have enough dirt there against the people involved, including shinobi..."
Iruka's expression changed immediately, his body tensed an a small drop of sweat ran down his forehead, Anko however kept a stern look, instead of feeling intimidated by his words, she felt rather curious as to what he was trying to accomplish by mentioning them. Sasuke noticed this change but continued to make his exit as Suigetsu followed, once both parties were no longer in the same room the tension was lifted.
"Are you sure that was a smart move Sasuke? That was a lot of secret information you just gave away for free..." Suigetsu asked while they walked through the hallway.
"Those two have a good reputation within the police department Suigetsu, they're the incorruptible type, if there's anyone that can put a stop to father's plans its them."
"Heh, if you insist... did you see their faces when you mentioned... you know..."
"Perhaps they know more about it than we do, I prefer to let them dig for us, then we'll see."
"Speaking of digging... you know where your father plans to bury us when he finds out what we're doing?"
"He won't get the chance, he's too busy to even notice me, let alone you, plus Naori is keeping his eyes away from us for now."
"So what now?"
"Now we wait..."
"Wait for what?" Suigetsu had a confused look.
"For inspector Mitarashi to make a move."
"Senpai..."
Anko continued looking through the evidence the Uchiha heir had freely left for them, there was enough material to put behind bars several political and military figures, from white collar to human trafficking and forced disappearance, this was perhaps the break she was looking for, what worried her was how she was going to execute such a plan to take down what in her eyes looked like a well enforced criminal organization led by Uchiha Corp. If she did this without careful consideration a lot of people could get burned, including Iruka and herself, she needed to move one step at a time.
"He mentioned shinobi... why?"
Anko showed Iruka photos of several men being trained outside in the open field with firearms just like a regular army did.
"They look like mercenaries to me senpai, you think he was trying to tell us something?"
"Perhaps, this is bigger than I thought which means this cannot fall into the wrong hands..." Anko placed her own folder with the report she had started within the briefcase and closed it "I need to corroborate this Intel before we make any move against those bastards, Iruka, I need a favor, find an untraceable phone and sim card, our phones are probably tapped already and I really need to make a call"
"Wha-? Wait... you don't mean to call 'her' right?"
"I do, she's the only one that can help us..."
"But senpai!... If you call her we'll be in her debt for the rest of our lives!"
"Then we better hope old friendships still mean something to her don't we...?"
"Naruto calm down please!"
He could not do it, he kept pacing back and forth across the apartment as he waited for Karin to arrive with good news, at that hour her shift had to be over so technically she was supposed to be back already, in his mind the worst scenario had already formed, perhaps someone found out about her plans and was questioning her somewhere in the city, maybe she was hiding from someone sent after her. Sakura was getting sick of watching his behavior like it would do any good.
"I can't, she should be here already!"
"Maybe she stopped by the grocery store, she mentioned she was low on a few things remember? Plus with us here her stock of supplies will run out fast, why don't you just sit?"
"You don't get it Sakura, she is never this late, ever! Something happened, I'm sure..."
Sakura now had a worried look on her face, she understood Naruto's worry for Karin, after all she was the last known family he had left, she wanted to try to find appropriate words to tell him everything would be all right but her heart felt heavy and clouded, she would not get the chance to say anything as the sound of the door's keyhole made both teenagers turn their heads in alert, the door slowly opened and to their relief Karin was the person behind it, she was indeed carrying a set of bags filled with groceries.
"You took your sweet time..."
"Naruto... not now, I had a rough day, here, help me put these in the fridge."
He went for the bags but as he was about to grab the first one his shinobi instinct kicked in, he felt another presence just hiding outside the apartment, Sakura also noticed his change of demeanor and soon understood there was an uninvited guest with them.
"Naruto, no! Wait!" Karin tried to stop him but he was having none of it, he pushed past her making the groceries she held hit the floor, a mix of milk, eggs and some vegetables made a puddle on her carpet. Naruto paid no attention to that, instead he focused on the tall, shadowy figure who slowly came out of the corner it was hiding from, he immediately went for a punch to the face but was stopped by what seemed like a swarm of small bugs around half of his arm stopping just centimetres away from Shino's face.
"Is he always this impulsive?"
"Who the hell...are you?!" Naruto tried to free his arm from the swarm but was not able to break free right away, these bugs seemed to interrupt his chakra flow hence affecting his movement.
"Naruto that's enough! He's the person I told you about, he's here to help!"
Naruto's angry expression changed immediately, his tensed muscles relaxed suddenly as the swarm of bugs slowly dissipated from around his arm and found their way into Shino's sleeve, he removed the hood from his jacked unveiling his spiky dark chocolate hair and a pair of dark round sunglasses covering his narrow eyes.
"I'm Shino Aburame, Karin here tells me you need help..."
-o-
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Hello again guys, apologies for another late update, making a lot of progress in other projects that I almost forgot about the story, almost... on a side note I did have to change some of my personal accounts' information as someone tried to blackmail me last month and I had to contact the police about it, for security reasons I kept away from social media all together for a bit until this was resolved which eventually it was!
I'll push for more chapters constantly now that the ideas are flowing again, catch you soon!