Another chapter is here!
Enjoy!
Karin made her way once more to the Ramen Ichiraku, where Naruto should be waiting for her. She was fairly sure that her cover hadn't been blown; otherwise the Anbu stationed outside her room wouldn't have been content to remain there while she slept. Under that assumption, imagine her surprise when she entered the restaurant to find Naruto glaring and grumbling heatedly at an Anbu officer sitting there.
It was a woman, with purple hair and a porcelain mask that resembled a cat with three stripes. Karin froze in place, wondering if she had been made after all and they were just waiting to get her here for some reason. It was illogical, given how much quicker and easier snatching her from her room would have been, and she knew it. But knowing how unlikely it was didn't ease her doubts.
The fear activated her Mind's Eye on instinct to find there were a few other signatures around her, one being really strong. Like as strong as Orochimaru, more or less. That was less comforting than she liked.
It was only because Naruto greeted her warmly that she didn't run away. "Karin-chan, you're here!"
"Um…" Her eyes darted between him and the Anbu officer. "Naruto, what's going on?"
He pointed at the woman petulantly. "This lady showed up and told me that I had to answer a bunch of questions and stuff before she would let me stay!"
The Anbu officer paid him no mind and instead turned to Karin. "You're not armed, are you?"
She quickly shook her head. "No, I'm a guest in a non-hostile village. I thought it would be inappropriate to walk around armed. In a worst-case scenario, I could simply call for help."
The woman seemed to take that for what it was and rose to her feet. "Make any abrupt movements and I will take the appropriate action to restrain you, understand?"
Karin nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."
She did a gesture, some sort of code that was picked up by one of the signatures. Even with the walls in the way. One of those Hyuuga people in their ranks then? Could they see the seal on her foot?
No, she figured. Orochimaru was many things, but careless wasn't one of them from what she knew. It shouldn't have a noticeable chakra signature or really draw any attention. Not as long as she kept her socks on and didn't try to hide it as anything important, if it came up.
A few seconds later, the larger signature moved towards them and spoke when just outside the restaurant booth. "Really, was that necessary?"
Naruto and the Ichiraku staff perked up at the aged voice. They recognized it. Naruto practically beamed with a smile that stretched wide as he called out, "Hey, Old Man! What's the big idea with the scary masked lady?"
The source of the voice stepped in, revealing an old man dressed in the Kage's robe with a hat that held the symbol for the 'Fire Shadow' on it. "Well, she insisted we follow proper procedure with the Chuunin Exams going on. As if someone would take an interest in an old man like myself?"
Karin's mind briefly blanked. This was the Hokage. The Hokage was the Old Man that Naruto was referring to? More importantly, he called his village's most powerful shinobi that to his face!?
"Naruto, you can't just disrespect your village's leader by calling him that!" She grabbed his head and lowered it with her own towards the Hokage. "I'm sorry for how he addressed you! Please forgive him!"
For a moment, Karin was afraid that the sudden movement would set off the Anbu officer. However, if anything, the woman tilted her head in amusement at the sight. Had Naruto annoyed her until Karin came in?
For the Hokage's part, he laughed softly. "Ah, while Naruto could use a few lessons in manners, he's fine. I've known him since he was a baby. He's like a Grandson to me."
She released Naruto, who rubbed the back of his head and pouted. The files said the Hokage kept an eye on him, but she didn't expect it to be to this extent. If they were like family, which was a contrast to what it said about him being an outcast, it would make her mission much harder when the day came.
The Hokage looked over to Ayame and Teuchi. "Good to see both of you doing well, but can we have some privacy? The matters we're about to discuss are somewhat private and involves their clan."
They complied and darted to the back of the shop. Karin felt one of the Anbu move into a position to intercept them should they try and listen in. She doubted they would though, given how he addressed them as though they were familiar too.
"Should I leave?" Karin asked. She was interested. In fact, it was the main reason she made contact with Naruto to begin with. But didn't want to offend the most powerful person in the village—curiosity was deadly when it came to shinobi.
"The decision is Naruto's," he said, taking a seat. "It has been brought to my attention that you have stirred his interest in learning about your clan, but I am here for Naruto's sake and some of the information may be private. Letting him have the agency is his right."
She didn't even have to ask before Naruto spoke up on his own accord. "Yeah, let her listen. If we're from the same clan then she should know whatever it is."
"… Thank you," Karin said earnestly, which got a smile out of him.
"So be it." The older man then looked down to Naruto and frowned a bit, the wrinkles on his face shifting as he did so. "Now, I'll be honest. What I'm going to tell you isn't a happy story, which is why I've put this off for as long as I have. And I will be keeping the identity of your father a secret. He was a shinobi who dealt with high-profile missions, and you know the rules when it comes to A and S-rank secrets."
Naruto's interest was piqued. He nodded. "Don't ask question, don't say anything, basically. I know. But if we can't talk about him, then does that…."
Karin didn't blame him for trailing off. He had been an orphan and likely hadn't thought much about it. It was easier that way sometimes. She had been fortunate having a mother who could tell her that her father would have loved her unconditionally, but what assurances did he have in a village that ostracized him from what she read?
The Hokage pulled out a card and handed it to him. It was a Ninja ID card with the identification number being 007310. The picture was that of a beautiful woman with long red hair, with a bandana for the village on her forehead and a smile was on her face as she held up two fingers in a victory pose.
"Kushina… Uzumaki…" Naruto brushed the image gently. "So she's my... was my mother?"
"She died the night of your birth," the Hokage said, somberly. "Along with your father, I'm afraid. There were no other relatives left alive, no other members of the Uzumaki left to take you in since their village had been destroyed shortly after she was brought to the Hidden Leaf from the Hidden Whirlpool, during her childhood. That made you a ward of the village, but I promised her I'd look after you…. They both loved you dearly, Naruto."
"I see," he said, looking rather sad at that. He must've known on some level that was the case, but hearing it spoken probably bought up all sorts of feelings he tried to repress.
Karin still felt inclined to put a hand on his shoulder, a means of comfort. There wasn't much she could say, barring the standard condolences. And that wouldn't do him justice given what he'd learned. She knew that she didn't feel any better when others gave them to her when she mentioned her mother's death.
Naruto appreciated the gesture all the same, judging by how he looked up to her with a somewhat forced and fragile smile. "She has red hair like yours," he told her. "Only longer and pretty, like Sakura-chan's before she cut it."
Karin felt a pang of something at the mention of his teammate. A copy of their team photo had been in the scroll, attached for reference with a minor outline of Kabuto's understanding of their group dynamic. It had been mentioned Naruto had a crush on her since their time in the Academy.
She brought her other hand up to her hair and fiddled with the ends as the murmur slipped out on its own. "Give me a few more years and my hair will be long too."
He tilted his head. "You say something?"
A small blush appeared on her face at the slip of the tongue. "Nothing, Naruto. I just mentioned your mother looks very pretty."
The Hokage, watching this with a half-interest, pulled out a map and pointed to a small island between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water. "Here is where the Hidden Whirlpool was located. It's quite distant from where we are—a factor that played a part in their destruction during the great wars. At some point after your mother arrived, they were attacked by an enemy nation and destroyed."
"But why?" Naruto asked. "It looks so… small on this map, so why would they destroy it?"
"Seals can do incredible things, Naruto," the Hokage said. "They act as contracts that allow for summonings, they can bind souls into one another, and they can make distance irrelevant. Even the basics allow for one to turn script and chakra into explosives or contain objects in their own pocket dimension. Sealing Arts cannot do everything but, given the clan's proficiency, they had every right to be feared despite being such a small village in themselves."
And that was without getting into their other abilities, Karin thought as she rubbed her arms. She had long sleeves on for a reason, so that the bite marks wouldn't draw attention. She didn't feel like explaining that to anyone if she didn't have to.
"Sadly," he continued, "this was actually a common practice during those terrible times. Clans with unique bloodlines or artifacts would give the enemy an advantage. If given a chance, the soundest tactic was to either subsume them or eliminate them. That is often why such clans congregate into the larger villages like those found here, for their own protection."
"Have…" Karin hesitated when she drew their attention by speaking. "Have you seen it since then? What's left?"
He nodded. "We were fighting our own battles then, but I did. Like I said, they tore the village down thoroughly. It had been hollowed out, plundered of whatever valuables it had, and remains were everywhere. To see such a longtime ally of our village in such a state was… disheartening. We laid all that we could find to rest in a mass grave before returning to our village, only able to keep their memory alive with the spiral within our village's emblem. Even then, time has robbed most of that memory."
Karin couldn't help but feel a weight in her heart, tears slowly forming at the news. She was no different than Naruto when it came to his mother. She knew logically that it had happened, and should have been prepared, but it still hurt listening to it from someone who had been there.
This time Naruto laid a hand on her shoulder, offering her some comfort in the same manner she had done him. It surprised her at first. Not many people had touched her soothingly after her mother's death. She touched his hand, wrapping her fingers around it and squeezing softly.
The Hokage allowed it, a moment of silence until she calmed herself. "This is why I was waiting until you were older, Naruto. I didn't want to tell you that you belonged to a clan that had been robbed of everything. There is no land to give you, no legacy but what is in history books, nothing but ruins of your scattered clan."
"So it was just luck that I ran into Karin-chan then?"
"To be frank, I was surprised when I heard that Miss Uzumaki here contacted you," he said. Karin figured that meant he didn't personally oversee all of the applicants for the Chuunin Exams then. Some midlevel paper-pusher was responsible, if not a group of them given the sheer number. "Besides your mother, the last time I received a report about a suspected full-blooded Uzumaki had been during Hanzo's reign in the Hidden Rain, and he had been killed by the man himself from what my student told me."
"Even if there were others, it was likely they were sold on the Black Market and lost to the world," Karin added. They both looked at her. "It almost happened to me, after the village I was raised in had been razed by bandits and I went to another. Two slavers recognized my hair and planned on selling me. I managed to get away somehow and joined Grass sometime afterwards."
"You were fortunate." The Hokage looked to a clock on the wall and then to Naruto. "My time is growing short, I'm afraid. I'll have to leave soon. But, before I do, what were you planning to do for the Finals, Naruto? "
"Oh that." Naruto crossed his arms and scrunched up his face in thought. "I was just going to punch that Neji guy in the face until he stopped moving. Why?"
Karin gave him a doubtful look. "Um, aren't Hyuuga supposed to be really good at close-combat? I don't know the specifics, but they do something to your chakra if they so much as touch you."
"I saw what he did to Hinata-chan in the preliminary," Naruto said. "But I swore on her blood that I would get revenge. I won't back down. I'll ask Kakashi-sensei for training."
"I'm afraid he'll likely be busy training your teammate," the Hokage said, rising to his feet. "He's the only one left who can help him with his eyes. However, I've arranged for you to have a personal tutor named Gama. He'll contact you soon for training, so don't skip his lessons."
The thought of receiving a personal trainer seemed to make Naruto grin as brightly as he had when the Hokage first arrived. "Thanks, Old Man. I knew you'd look out for me!"
Karin rose to her feet and bowed in gratitude. "Thank you for telling me all of this as well. It meant a lot to me."
The Hokage smiled. "Thank Naruto. I'm glad he found you, and I hope you two get along for the duration of your stay in the village. He could use someone else cheering for him in the Finals, since I'm supposed to be unbiased."
"Of course," she told him. "I'll be happy to cheer him on."
"Then, I'll see you both at the Finals. Farewell until then."
The Hokage departed with that said, the hidden Anbu doing the same as they trailed him back to his tower in absolute stealth. That left them alone until the owner of the Ichiraku and his daughter came back in. The pair, perhaps seeing their faces in light of the new information, set to making them both a bowl of ramen to lighten the mood.
"You're really going to cheer me on?" he asked as a steaming bowl was set in front of him by Ayame, who proceeded to run her hand over his hair like an older sibling would a younger one.
"Why wouldn't I?" Karin asked. "I'd be happy to see my fellow clansmen become a Chuunin. I'll even help you if I can. I'm not much of a fighter, and what I can do is limited because I'm not a member of your village, but I'm fairly good at chakra control and planning things. At the very least, I can help you study up on strategies and tactics."
He seemed happy at that, but there was still a sense of lingering somberness hanging over them as they finished and said their goodbyes to the kind pair that ran Ichiraku. Naruto came to a stop when they reached the end of the block and turned to her. "Can we pick up on this tomorrow? There's somewhere I want to go since, if my Mom was in the service and died that night…."
She understood, even if he didn't finish. "You want to visit the… Memorial Stone, I think they called it here?"
Naruto nodded. "We can meet up at Ichiraku's, same time tomorrow. I should have my head a bit more clear by then."
"Sure, but first let me do this." Karin took a deep breath and gave him a hug, feeling his body tense in her grasp before relaxing. She pulled away and looked him in the eyes. "If you ever want to talk about it, let me know."
"Okay."
[0-0-0]
Her name was there. Naruto found it strange he didn't notice it before, when Kakashi brought them. He thought he should have been drawn to it through some sort of familial connection, as the son of a fallen kunoichi.
But he hadn't noticed until he was told. That ate at him. Then again, part of him hoped he never had to know anyone on the stone once he had learned what it meant.
It would mean they were dead, killed in the line of duty. It meant that he had failed to keep them safe as a fellow shinobi. Did that mean he failed her the moment he was born as well, too late to act as the seal to hold the Nine-Tailed Fox before it killed her? Or did she die giving birth to him and he was the one who killed her?
Naruto stirred at the sound of someone approaching behind him and turned to see Kakashi there.
"Didn't expect to see you here," the Jounin said. "I take it the Hokage talked to you about your Mother's clan?"
He nodded. "Did you know her?"
"Yes, I did," Kakashi admitted as he crouched down next to him by the stone. "I was acquainted with her when I was a child around your age. You inherited a lot of her personality, you know?"
Naruto looked him in the eye. "You didn't tell me. Why?"
"There are many secrets surrounding you, Naruto," he pointed out. "Both your status as the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox and the situation leading up to it. I couldn't, even if I wanted to. You understand that."
He did know. The only reason he knew as much as he did now was because of a series of coincidences. Mizuki had told him out of spite that he'd been the one to contain the Nine-Tailed Fox, and he was sitting in prison with no chance of getting out if Naruto remembered right. For someone as loyal as Kakashi, he would've kept quiet under torture.
Naruto couldn't begrudge him or anyone else for that. "I guess you're right."
"We can talk about her now, if you want?" Kakashi offered.
Naruto thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, I'd like that."
So they did.