Scream. Screaming was all Karin could think to do. Cornered with nowhere to run. Her chakra reserves were near empty from fleeing and she was nowhere near naturally quick enough to slip away from the massive behemoth of a bear preparing to devour her. Its jaws were slathered in viscous saliva that spattered against her pasty cheek as it roared again.

She could feel the river of tears sliding down her face from her cherry-red eyes. She did not want to die this young. Karin screamed again. Her teammates were not going to help her, their chakra signatures were nowhere to be found, but she hoped that maybe someone would save her. Someone that looked to not exist.

"Please! Anybody!" The girl cried again.

The bear grew tired of its prey's pathetic wailing and raised a powerful paw to strike. The claws it had were longer than a kunai and twice as sharp. They would rend a girl like Karin in half with one single strike.

'At least it'll be quick.' She thought as she clenched her teary eyes closed. Her whole body still shook against the tree behind her like a leaf in a storm. No one would weep for her. No one would care.

Her mother and father were taken away by sickness and she had no siblings that she knew of. The other Kusa shinobi were not exactly fond of outsiders and that's exactly what she and her family were. Friends were not something she could make easily. Her teammates and sensei still did not care for her even after months of working together.

Karin shed a few more tears.

She tightened her fists and waited for the painful sensation of being torn to shreds to began.

But it did not come. Instead, a foreign shout in the leaf dialect rang through her ears. It was loud, proud, and a little rough around the edges.

Karin forced her soldered sore eyes to open.

She saw a boy, a rather short one, standing over the body of the bear that moments ago clamored to devour her. The bleeding carcass hit the ground with a thud, leaking life from the hole in the center of its chest.

"-now my own strength!" She caught only the tail end of what the boy said.

The boy looked up from the now-dead bear and caught her eyes.

"Hey! Sorry I couldn't get here faster, I got into a tangle with a snake that made that bear look like Tora." He apologized.

Karin did nothing but stare back at him unblinkingly. She could feel his chakra without even opening her Mind's Eye. It was overpowering; warm and bright like a sunny day that never ended. Denser than the forest they both were in and much more inviting. She would gladly let herself get lost in it. Even in all the warmth, something seemed off about his chakra. It did not flow correctly, as if it were sealed in some way.

"Hello? Can you understand me?" He asked while waving a hand in front of her face.

"T-thank you," Karin whispered in a shaking pitch. She threw her arms around his neck and wept into his shoulder. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she repeated, her soft sobs muffled by his bright orange jacket.

He was unsure of what to do. This girl is a foreign shinobi, which was certain by the Kusa emblem on her forehead protector, but she was still a girl not much, if any, older than himself. He settled for hugging her back and hoped that she would not punch him for being a pervert like Sakura would do.


Naruto heard a scream as the massive snake swallowed him whole. Unsure of where it came from but lacking the luxury of time to dwell as he slid down the huge serpent's slimy gullet.

'I'll be turned into snake crap if I stick around here too long!'

The Snake Sannin cackled loudly as the boy was ingested by the snake. He had to be on his way, by now the Konoha Jounin would definitely know something was amiss if they had not found the bodies already, and he could not afford for his plans to be disrupted. It was regrettable he couldn't do as much as he wished. Sasuke Uchiha would have to be retrieved at a later date, the curse mark on his neck would suffice for now.

"C'mon think, think!" Naruto racked his brain for an idea, any idea would do right now. He could feel the serpent's stomach acid start to burn his skin. The Genin suppressed any pain he felt through a guttural grunt through gritted teeth though it was mostly from frustration. He tightened his hands into fists and threw a flurry of wild blows at the slimy, fleshy walls of the snake's insides.

"Pipe down and die with dignity!" The snake hissed.

"You want a piece of me, you scaly son of a bitch‽" Naruto continued to thrash.

"I already got the whole course!" It laughed back.

An idea formed in Naruto's mind. He smirked and formed a cross handsign and a whistling sound could be heard. The snake only got the appetizer.

"Then how about a buffet? Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled.

Dozens and dozens of clones formed instantly in the snake's stomach. They all punched and kicked the giant snake's stomach in unison.

"You like that, scaly bastard‽" Naruto and his clones spat.

The serpent wanted to vomit up everything it had ever eaten. Its whole body felt like it was being torn apart from the inside. Everything hurt and at the moment before it exploded into a giant heap of fleshy chunks, it cursed Orochimaru.

"Ah gross!" Naruto huffed, dispelling the clones in a cloud of smoke. Green gore fell from the air and pelted his head. "I got snake guts on me."

He stopped when he heard another scream. The same voice as the one he heard earlier. It sounded like a girl. It didn't sound like Sakura, thankfully, but he couldn't just let a girl die out here, not if he could help it.

Without any more thinking, the short Genin took off, jumping from tree to tree to chase down the source of the lamentations. His hunch was correct, a girl with bright red hair at the non-existent mercy of a Greater Forest Bear. He recalled the survival courses back in the academy teaching him about these beasts. Ferocious animals they were, capable of fighting off the giant centipedes, insects that grew to the size of a house, alone and without much trouble. These bears asked for no quarter and gave none.

The creature roared again and raised its paw. He had to act now.

Naruto let out a loud battle cry as he launched himself with all his might and a healthy amount of chakra, shattering the branch he was perched on into splinters. His foot struck true, embedding in the chest of the bear. The warm feeling of blood coat his toes and leg. Naruto guessed he crushed its heart.

"I guess I don't know my own strength!" Naruto exclaimed, pulling his now blood-soaked foot out of the dead bear's body.


Karin ceased her weeping a few moments ago and pulled away from her savior. He stood shorter than herself, though not by much and a little scrawny. His physique betrayed the power he radiated and was capable of unleashing.

'Thank you, Kami.' She thought.

Naruto didn't know what to do as the girl buried herself deeper into his wet shoulder. It would've been an odd sight should anyone else stumble onto it. This redhead had a good few inches on him, having to lean down a little to embrace him as she did now. They stood in silence for a minute or so, only the sounds of Karin's sobbing and whatever noises the forest creatures made.

With a deep, calming breath Karin pulled away from her savior, getting a better look at him. His skin was a healthy tan, contrasting her pale complexion, only "blemished" by a pair of three lines on each of his cheeks resembling whiskers. And his eyes. Oh, those deep oceans that stared directly back into her rubies. Much like his chakra, she would lose herself in them if given the opportunity. His lips pulled themselves into a goofy smile.

"Sorry if you smelled snake guts, kinda had a run-in with some creep summoning a real big one." He said. "Anyway, are you alright?"

"Y-yeah, I'm okay." Karin stuttered. "Thank you for saving me." Her leaf dialect was better than the average foreigner, Konoha and Kusa's proximity most certainly was defining factor as their developed tongues were closely related. It gave her and the rest of The Kusa teams an advantage over the other foreign Genin, most of which barely spoke a lick of the local language and relied on their Jounin sensei for translating. She couldn't read the language at all, only the odd word here or there.

"Ah, it was no problem. I couldn't let a girl get killed if I could help it." The boy extended a hand. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, Future Hokage of the Konoha! What's your name?"

Karin froze. Uzumaki? Him? He lacked any sort of resemblance to her, let alone the descriptions she found in history books. Her team left her to die and she would have had it not been for a boy now claiming to be part of her presumed-to-be extinct clan. This had to be some sort of sick, divine joke.

She was tempted to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

"Well, do you have a name?"

Naruto's scruffy voice snapped Karin awake from her silent stupor.

"K-Karin." She answered hesitantly.

"That's a pretty name." Naruto complimented.

The girl's cheeks flushed red as her hair. Compliments weren't something she had been acclimated to. It felt nice.

"You got a last name too or is it just Karin?"

The redhead hesitated. How would Naruto react to sharing a last name with her? It isn't every day you find out the girl you saved turned out to be related to you. Was it a trick? No, how would he even know her last name? In the end, she bit the bolt shaft and answered honestly.

"Uzumaki." She eked out. "My name is Karin Uzumaki."

"Uzumaki‽" Naruto exclaimed. "Your last name is Uzumaki too‽"

Karin nodded.

"Wait, this isn't some weird marriage thing because I saved you like in those cheesy romance books I always see the old women around the village reading, right?" The blond boy flatly asked.

"No!" Karin retorted with a burning blush. "It's the name my parents had!"

"Does that mean we're related?" Naruto asked. His anticipative tone and the bright smile he paired with it were hopeful. He was happy at the prospect of not being alone in the world anymore. The feeling was mutual. Karin felt his chakra swell and shine brighter than it did before. It was intoxicating.

She adjusted her black glasses.

"You don't look the part." she explained. "Blond hair, tan skin, and you're short. You look nothing like an Uzumaki."

The lustrous chakra began to recede. She felt bare without that glistening ocean enveloping her. Karin wanted it back.

"But anything's possible." She added.

"Oh yeah! I saved a cute girl and she's family! Eat that Sasuke!" Naruto couldn't contain his excitement as Karin blushed once again. Two compliments in five minutes, definitely a first for the bespectacled girl.

The chakra tide swept her away again and she welcomed it and the warmth it brought openly.

"Hey, where's your team?" Said Naruto, looking around.

That was a complete conversational U-Turn the girl did not expect. She shrugged dismissively.

"I don't know. They kinda just left me here after they found a heaven scroll. They took them both and split. Probably thought I was dead weight." Karin lamented softly. She didn't care for them nor they for her however it still stung to just be cut loose without a second thought. She shouldn't've been surprised by this outcome if she were honest with herself.

"That means you can come along with my team!" Naruto offered with a massive grin. Karin cocked an eyebrow. "To hell with the bastards that called themselves your teammates. Those who abandon their allies are worse than trash, that's what Kakashi-sensei says. And if you don't have a scroll, you won't be a target!"

She was touched. Nobody had ever done so much for her since her mother passed away and he barely even knew her! Karin wanted to accept his offer, she truly did but she didn't want to be a burden to his team like she was to her own. She couldn't do that. Not to him.

Karin shook her head.

"But I'll just slow you do-"

"I'm not leaving you out here to die alone." The Genin cut her off in a sudden tone shift, clasping the girl's smaller hands in his own. His eyes were determined. Saying no wasn't an answer.

'They're so are warm.' Karin thought. Was everything about this boy inviting?

She suddenly found herself being lifted off the ground and onto his back.

"What are you doing‽" She cried. "Put me down!"

"No can do! If you think you're gonna slow me down, I'll just carry you. You can't slow me down that way. Unless you weigh like three hundred pounds or something."

Karin's fist left a large bump on Naruto's head and her eyebrow twitched.

"I don't weigh that much." She huffed.

He whimpered, rubbing the sore spot on his head. "I never said you did."


The pleas for mercy were cut off by the sounds of bones snapping and flesh being torn. The sands leaked the blood of the poor victims that walked into their trap. Temari and Kankuro winced in unison, cringing at sickening sounds of death. That had been the fifth team Gaara had slaughtered for no reason. The siblings were anxious as their little brother had only grown more and more bloodthirsty the longer they stayed in the forest. It was more disturbing than his usual killings.

"C'mon Gaara, maybe we should get to the tower. It'll get us out of this heat." Kankuro pleaded, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He, and his siblings, were accustomed to the dry heat of Suna, not the sweltering humidity permeating this dense forest. His warpaint was starting to run.

"Kankuro's right. We already got the scrolls, we can be at the tower by sunset." Temari added, cooling herself with a hand fan. It wasn't the heat that bothered the girl so much as the sticky feeling that coated her skin. She just wanted out of this place, and soon.

"Fine." The youngest sibling relented. The bloody sand flowed back into the massive gourd he carried on his back. "Mother will be sated for a while at least."

They leaped away through the massive trees, leaving only the still twitching, crushed bodies of two Kusa ninja.