I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters of the Manga or Anime. If I did I wouldn't have so many damn fillers.
A Price for Peace
Chapter 17: A Hero's Peace
Karin slowly cracked an eye, as she awoke, it was hard to tell what time it really was, no natural light entered the cave where she was staying, just an unnatural glow that seemed to emanate from the walls. She had jumbled thoughts for a few moments slowly putting together where she was. The events of the day quickly flashed through her mind and she smiled contently.
It was that moment she noticed a weight pressing down on her shoulder as she slept on her side. Slowly gazing down she saw Naruto's arm draped lazily over her, he had been rolling around in his sleep. She almost screamed in surprise but caught herself at the last second. 'He must be still asleep.' she realised, and a small smirk crossed her face. Lowering her head back down she slowly readjusted herself, carful not to wake the sleeping jinchuuriki, and moved closer, cuddling in against his chest, and allowed herself to fall back to sleep enjoying the added warmth of the blonde.
It was another half an hour before Naruto began to stir, his eyes fluttered open and immediately he froze in place, Karin was curled up beside him while he had his arm draped over her back. 'Oh shit... if she catches me like this I'm dead.' He thought frantically. Slowly he removed his arm from around the red head and without taking his eyes off her face in fear of being caught he pushed himself back. Rolling out of bed unfortunately losing his balance and landing head first on the stone floor. "I sure hope nobody saw that." He quietly said to himself quickly glancing to Karin to make sure she was still asleep.
Much to Naruto's dismay Karin was staring wide eyed at the blond while struggling to contain her laughter. "Good morning." she greeted her voice cracking from the suppressed outburst.
"Yeah it's not really the best way to start the day is it." Naruto replied sheepishly it was too late to pretend nothing had happened. "So how long have you been awake?" he asked hoping to take the attention off his clumsiness.
"Just from the moment you fell off the bed. And if you ask me that was the perfect way to wake up." She giggled.
"So I guess you saw that huh." Naruto replied laughing himself knowing how stupid he must have looked. "So what do you want to do today... Oh I know, you just signed a summoning contract, we should work on getting you to summon some of the leopards." he added.
"You mean you will help?" Karin asked.
"Sure why not, it's hard to do on your own. It can't be all that different from summoning the toads, I know Baa-chan used the same hand seals to summon Katsuyu so I should be able to help easily enough. At least I hope I can, I mean I did teach Konohamaru the Rasengan and Shadow Clone, so I can't be that bad of a teacher right?" Naruto answered questioningly.
"How would I know? I have no idea how to use either of those jutsu. But I am sure you will do fine." Karin replied while hopping out of bed. "Shall we have some breakfast and get to work then?"
Naruto nodded. "Sure I'll get the fire started again if you want to go take a bath and freshen up for the day."
"Sure I'll be back in a bit. Oh and Naruto-kun... Thank you for helping me." Karin said happily before heading off to the bathroom, she was quite pleased with how her day was going so far.
(Meanwhile)
The tracking team from Konoha stood in front of a makeshift shrine made from stone and sand, obviously put together by Gaara. All in front of the site sat bouquets of flowers as well as letters from well wishers each addressed to Naruto.
"What the hell is this? How are we supposed to find anything here now?" Kiba asked as he looked at the area, it looked as though almost every shinobi from all of the nations had been waltzing through the area.
"I told you that we were not likely to find anything here, but if you wish to look for a fresh lead then this would be the best place to start now." Sai said emotionlessly.
"All of the leads will have been destroyed by the sheer number of people that have come here, I cannot see anything that would seem useful from here, let's search the area, perhaps the path she took from this place may hold something of value." Neji suggested. The Hyuuga prodigy removed a map and marked areas for the five shinobi to search individually.
"So we investigate the perimeter, that seems like a logical choice in the situation, however without knowing which direction our target was heading we will have no idea how large of a diameter to create. Nor do we know if our target was here in the first place." Shino said in his usual, flat tone.
"So basically we split up and each search an area... this could take awhile." Kiba sighed he knew that there would be no sent for his nose to follow which would make this that much harder.
"True but we have no other options. This is the best we have have so we should get to work." Sai replied and quickly removed a scroll and a brush with black ink and began creating several small ink creatures before creating a large Ink bird. "I'll search from above while they search below." He stated before jumping atop the large ink bird's back and taking off.
"Sure he get's the easy job while we're stuck labouring around down here." Kiba huffed.
"If I am not mistaken you ride around atop Akamaru more than you ever walk, I don't think you have much of a case to complain about Sai's jutsu." Neji stated flatly as he walked off to search in his selected area.
"It's best we just do what we can, it is important that we at least find something to go on before we are recalled. We can't give up, because I know that he wouldn't." Hinata said, sadly gazing at the memorial set up to honour Naruto.
Kiba smiled. "Yeah, and knowing him he would just stumble upon our target out of sheer luck." Kiba laughed knowing how upset the kunoichi was at the death of the young man that she had loved for such a long time.
"Naruto would also take his job more seriously than any of us. Perhaps that is why he was able to defeat enemies that seemed unbeatable. Regardless it stands to reason that the longer we stand here discussing things the less likely it becomes that we will find anything." Shino said. He too felt sorry for his teammate but he was also a professional who believed that the mission came first so long as his comrades were not in danger.
(With Naruto)
The blond and Karin sat face to face on the floor of the giant cave, several of the more intrigued snow leopards were watching the pair with interest but these were mostly cubs. "So when summoning there are three things you need do." Naruto began and quickly bit his thumb to draw a small amount of blood. "The first is a blood offering. The blood reacts with the blood that you signed the contract with otherwise you won't sign anything, unless you have an unusually strong tie to a clan. Ero-sennin was summoned to Myobokuzan as a kid because he attempted summoning without a contract."
"That can happen? I thought reverse summoning needed to be done by the summoned animals and needed different hand seals?" Karin asked in wonder.
"Normally yes, but as I said, Ero-sennin had a unusually strong affiliation with the toads and he summoned himself there by accident. Anyway I am getting off topic. The blood you draw reacts with the blood on the scroll that you signed and signals for the summoned creatures. The next thing you need to know is the hand seals, now watch carefully." He said and very slowly formed each seal in the chain while Karin watched intently, taking mental note of each one. "Then you find the right amount of chakra for the right summon and then." Naruto slammed his hands to the ground and a large puff of smoke appeared.
When it cleared Naruto was sitting atop a large dark orange toad wearing a dark blue shirt. "Yo bro, you called?" Gamakichi said knowing who was sitting atop his head.
"Yeah sorry Gamakichi, I'm teaching Karin how to summon and I needed a demonstration." Naruto answered, hopping off the toads head.
"Oh sounds like fun, I might stick around and watch for awhile. It's gotta be better than listening to Tatsu talk about snacks while the elders keep the lesser summons away from the well connecting Myobokuzan and Konoha." The large toad said before in a puff of smoke it reverted into the size of a small toad no larger than Naruto's hand and hopped next to the blond.
Karin then recognised the small orange toad as one of the ones that saw her, almost naked the night before. "Oh it's you." she said a little cooler than she had intended, she knew it wasn't the toads fault that she had burst in on them enjoying the bath.
"Hi I'm Gamakichi, the son of the boss toad Gamabunta, and Naruto's personal summons pleased to meet you." The toad said with a friendly wave.
"You have a personal summons?" karin questioned.
"Yeah, I'm not sure about everyone but Tsunade-Baachan had the Slug queen Katsuyu, Ero-sennin had Gamaken, my father had Gamabunta even Orochimaru had a personal snake summons. They have an advantage because not all summons will accept to help freely, some expect payment. Most of the toads listen to me as I am the summoner in charge of the summoning scroll and their sage. But Kichi's brother Gamatatsu still works for junk food, and I'm supposed to share a drink of Sake with Gamabunta when I turn eighteen." Naruto explained.
"So how do I get a personal summons?" Karin asked.
"Huh, to tell you the truth I am not exactly sure, I think it's like a personal contract where the two come to an agreement. Kichi was the first toad I summoned... well other than the boss toad." Naruto admitted. 'Well there were all those tadpoles, but she doesn't need to know that.'
"I see, and how do I know what the others will want as payment?" She continued.
"They will usually tell you before they agree to fight for you. Normally it isn't anything major... although I seem to recall the boss snake summons, Manda demanding human sacrifices." Naruto shuddered at the end. 'Seriously Jiji, what were you thinking giving Orochimaru-teme a summoning contract like that?' He wondered.
"Yes I remember Manda. Orochimaru-sama once sacrificed some of our men to appease that giant snake. I half thought I was going to be the one sacrificed when he told me what was going to happen, it was terrifying." Karin admitted.
"Yeah that's why we don't get along with the Snake clan, no regard for life at all. Tou-san is always talking about how he want's to turn Manda into a snake skin wallet, I really want to see him do it too." Gamakichi said happily.
"Well I hope that the snow leopards aren't like that." Karin said hopefully. She was slightly pessimistic however. 'They have killed most if not all of the people that have made it this far north, it is possible that they would ask for something like a human sacrifice. I know I did that sort of thing for Orochimaru, but what would Naruto-kun think if I started doing that.' she thought suddenly very worried.
"It's hard to say, I know that Anko from Konoha also had snake summons but her's were not as bad, but she was still somewhat sadistic, damn crazy snake lady." Naruto said subconsciously rubbing his cheek where Anko had once cut him to lick his blood.
"Anko? Orochimaru spoke of her once, she was his first apprentice. He hand picked her out of the academy. But I guess in the end she too became another experiment." Karin sighed.
"He ruined so many lives it makes me angry just thinking about it. We're waisting time talking about this stuff, try summoning something, now this requires quite a bit of chakra so don't hold back." Naruto lectured.
"Alright so I draw some blood." She said biting down on the edge of her thumb, just hard enough to get a droplet of blood. "Then I perform the hand seals." She said and slowly ran through the seals and a slowish rate to make sure she got them right. When he hit the last seal she placed her palms to the ground and a puff of smoke appeared. When it cleared a small cub around the size of Gamakichi appeared. "I did it." she cheered happily.
"Where am I? Oh it's you, I guess you're learning how to summon us huh." The small cub said in a rather prideful voice.
Meanwhile Naruto was slightly upset. "Uh man, it took me ages to be able to summon something that could talk, I was getting nothing but tadpoles until I summoned Gamabunta." He whined.
"Well snow leopards don't have tadpoles I am one of the smallest of our talking summons." The cub replied.
Karin meanwhile was seemingly caught in what would appear to be a moral dilemma. 'So cute... wan't to hug.'
"So maybe she wasn't that much better than I was when I first tried to summon." Naruto said with a sigh of relief.
"Nah, you were pretty bad bro." Gamakichi laughed.
The blond face vaulted in disappointment. "I'm a good summoner dammit." he pouted. It was at that moment he noticed Karin seemed to be frozen. "Hey is something wrong? You haven't moved since your first summoning." He asked a slight hint of worry creeping into his voice.
"It's so cute." she half whispered in response unaware that she was saying anything at all.
Naruto and Gamakichi broke out in laughter, while the small summoned leopard looked somewhat disgruntled. "I am a member of the snow leopard clan, we are not cute." The young leopard said indignantly. Which suddenly broke Karin out of her trance.
"Are you kidding, you're down right adorable, I bet you would have half the kunoichi population swooning over you, Hell I would say that you could defeat most of them with a cute pout and allowing them to squeeze you." Gamakichi laughed.
"Oh what would you know, I will not lower myself to such a level as allowing myself to be used as a stuffed toy." The leopard said going red in the face from anger.
Before the summons could act further he was picked up by Karin and pulled into a hug. "I think he's right, how could anybody fight against something this cute." She declared.
"I do not have to take this." The leopard said with some finality before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Once more Naruto and Gamakichi exploded in laughter while Karin pouted, upset that the small cub had gone. "Alright, that was great for a first time, but we need to get you summoning the bigger cats, lets go again, this time put more chakra into it." Naruto instructed. With a huff Karin nodded and nodded running once more through the hand seals.
(Konoha)
Tsunade was never known as the most patient person in Konoha, in fact it was quite the opposite. It had only been a few hours since she had found out that Naruto had faked his own death and she was already itching to go out after him. Kakashi's plan was sound however and she knew that Naruto would never have done something like that for no reason.
The Godaime was currently heading to the new Hokage tower. 'I guess it can't hurt to try and speed up the process of getting this sham of a funeral over and done with so I will be allowed to leave and go after that idiot.' she thought as she trudged down the once more busy Konoha streets. Store owners and passers by alike would almost bow in reverence to her, as the former Hokage, one of Konoha's legendary three, and of course as the last surviving member of the Senju clan. There was Tenzo however, he was a genetic clone of her grandfather despite the fact that he looked nothing like the Shodai, still he was every bit a Senju.
"Good morning Tsunade-sama." Shizune greeted her master and best friend as the busty Senju entered the Hokage tower. Shizune had continued working as Kakashi's assistant while Tsunade while Tsunade was in the hospital and she saw no need to quit as she had some experience in forcing a Kage to do their paperwork rather than slack off.
"Good morning Shizune, is Kakashi in?" Tsunade asked.
"I believe he arrived not too long ago, it seems as though becoming Hokage has not improved his sense of arriving anywhere on time." Shizune answered sadly.
"Good then I will be going to see him. Oh and make sure we're undisturbed." Tsunade replied.
Shizune nodded. "Kakashi-sama has no meetings planned this morning so you should have any disruptions."
"Good. Oh by the way how has Sakura been coping with the hospital workload after the war? If you are working here then she must be doing alright by herself." Tsunade asked.
"Sakura has been performing admirably, I think she has buried herself in her work as a means to escape the death of Naruto-kun and the Uchiha." Shizune said. She couldn't bring herself to say Sasuke's name, there was just no way that the kunoichi could forgive him for killing the young man she considered a brother.
Tsunade nodded in understanding and moved on, heading up the stairs towards Kakashi's office. She has a rather nostalgic smile on her face as she pushed the door open to what used to be her office, that smile was soon replaced by a scowl and a tick mark on her forehead however when she noticed Kakashi leaning back in his chair with a copy of one of Jiraiya's books out looking for all the world to see unashamedly interested in the smut. "So even in here you can do nothing but read those damn books, you do realise that there won't be any more right?" She said, the scowl not leaving her face.
"Mah, you can never rule anything out in this world. I take it you wanted to see me for something?" Kakashi replied lazily.
"I was wondering if you had set a date for Naruto's funeral yet. Sticking around here longer than necessary is not sitting well with me, that idiot could be anywhere by now, it's been months since the war in that time he could have crossed the Elemental Nations several times over, especially if he was moving at full speed." Tsunade replied.
"I have taken care of it. I sent a message to the other Kage's and the Land of Iron telling them that Naruto's official funeral will be held in two weeks. last night after receiving a progress report from Sai I sent an order to recall his team from the field, they have been sent after Karin, the member of the Akatsuki that escaped from custody during the war. It seems they think she was hunting Naruto so they are currently checking the scene of his fight with Sasuke." Kakashi informed the former Hokage.
"That's perfect, it will give me both a reason to travel to any of the five Major nations, and a lead to go on. If that girl discovered that Naruto wasn't really dead then chances are she is still looking for him as well. Still she must have a death wish if she is actually intending to try and kill him, he's far to strong to be defeated by that girl. From the reports we took her skills were scarcely higher than a genin, but she had amazing sensory skills. It's possible she was able to sense the difference between the Zetsu clone and Naruto. Even if nobody else could." Tsunade concluded.
"That was my observation on the matter. Still it seems unthinkable that she would have gone after Naruto. We saved her after Sakura attempted to take on Sasuke by herself. Sasuke had stabbed her in the chest only just missing her heart, there is no way that she would go this far for Sasuke after something like that. She would have died had Sakura not been there." Kakashi said, his eyes not leaving his precious orange book.
"She's doing it for Sasuke's sake?" The Godaime questioned.
"It's the only possible explanation that crosses my mind. From the information we received from the kunoichi during her imprisonment it became clear that she was, or at least had been highly infatuated with Sasuke. Ibiki and Inochi both concluded that those feelings had diminished significantly due to the violent end to their partnership, evidenced by her freely giving up information on Sasuke's skills and the location of one of the Akatsuki bases. If she is going after Naruto though, it would seem that the information was wrong, and she is after revenge."Kakashi explained.
"So despite the fact that Sasuke stabbed her clean through the chest and the wound would have killed her had Sakura not been on hand to give significant medical attention, she still runs off after Sasuke? I must say she gives kunoichi a bad name... Scratch that, she gives all women in general a bad name, it just doesn't make any sense." Tsunade thought out loud while taking a seat on the other side of Kakashi's desk.
Kakashi nodded at the busty Senju's assumption. "I agree. But I highly doubt she would be chasing after Naruto based on loyalty to the Akatsuki. From what we have gathered she was only there due to her loyalty to Sasuke in the first place."
"Regardless, she poses no real threat to Naruto, but she may be able to find him. In that case all I have to do is find her first. I Find Karin and I bet Naruto won't be too far away. If not, it will at least be a lead I can follow up on." Tsunade mused.
(Elsewhere)
The late afternoon sun cast an orange glow over the barren landscape that was the sight of Naruto's final fight with Sasuke. There was a distinct lack of shade caused by the trees having been either bunt to a crisp or simply blown away by the force of the two shinobi fighting.
The team from Konoha had spent the entire day searching for any sign of Karin having passed through the area. However the task was proving to be as difficult as finding a needle in a giant pile of different needles. There had been so many people pass through the area to pay their respects that tracks ran in every direction, it had also rained quite heavily at time in the months that had passed since Naruto's supposed death.
Sai, who was still circling high above on his ink bird was quite sure that they were not going to find anything, A sentiment shared by Kiba, Neji and even Shino. Hinata however remained forcefully optimistic, she had to be. This was their last chance to catch a break and find a lead on the whereabouts of Karin.
For this reason Hinata kept heading further and further out from the sight that Naruto and Sasuke's bodies were found in search of a clue. 'Just a little further, if I keep searching something will come up.' she told herself in a form of self denial.
She had been searching a small patch of forrest to the the north when she stumbled upon a small clearing. It was uninteresting enough, save the uneven surface. It looked as though it had been dug up and reburied. What did catch her eye however was a single set of very fine scuff marks that looked like they may have been the remainder of foot prints left in loose soil.
Knowing some loose soil and a few aged footprints were nothing definitive Hinata decided to investigate closer, thanks to her training with Kiba and Shino she was more than adequate at reading tracks, even old ones. Following the correct direction Hinata deduced that whoever it had been that had passed the area had stayed for awhile and had knelt down on multiple occasions, she could also tell by the shape of the marks that it had been from a female.
This had the young Hyuuga excited, it was still a long shot but it was possible that their target had come this way for what ever reason. At the end of the trail it appeared that the person whoever it may be, headed west. 'I should go tell the others.' Hinata thought and turned back in the direction of the sight of Naruto's fight with Sasuke.
She had taken a few steps when she a dull flash of burnt orange caught her eye. She stopped dead in her tracks, on a branch was a thin strip of cloth that she would recognise anywhere, it was part of Naruto's signature orange suit, it had been worn out in the weather and was only a small piece of fabric but she had no doubt on where it had come from.
In the blink of an eye she was at the branch and quickly removing the fabric that it had caught. On closer inspection she was positive that it was indeed Naruto's. 'There is no signs of the fight coming this far north, and the signs of distress on this branch indicate that he must have been highly exhausted when he passed this way. What does this mean?' she asked herself gripping the small piece of fabric close to her chest. "Maybe the others will have some idea." With that final thought verbalised, Hinata took off at top speed back to the rest of the tracking team.
When the Hyuuga heiress arrived back where she had started her search that morning she found the others all gathered around in a circle. "Oh Hinata, we were about to go look for you." Kiba said waving her over.
"I think I may have found something, it's not much to go on but it may be a lead." Hinata replied happily moving to join the others.
"Unfortunately we won't be able to follow up on that I am afraid. We have received a recall notice from Kakashi-sama. We need to head back to Konoha immediately, as the date for Naruto's funeral has been set in two weeks." Sai said blankly.
"But I found something that we really should check out. Look at this." Hinata said handing over the torn piece of Orange cloth.
The other shinobi's eyes widened "Is that?"
"I believe so, this is from Naruto-kun's jacket, but I found it caught on the branch of a tree that had been disturbed a decent way north of here. Near where I found that there was some footprints and handprints from a female, I think it was Karin's." Hinata answered quickly.
The others looked somewhat skeptical at the Hyuuga kunoichi. "How could you tell, it was from Karin? It would have been months since she was here. There has also been heavy rains it's highly unlikely that an open trail would be left behind." Sai said.
"As for that section of Naruto's jacket... it could have blown there in the wind. I see no evidence that suggests that he was ever in that area." Neji added.
"I know that but I just have a feeling, this is the path that we need to follow, it will lead us to Karin I am sure of it." Hinata retorted fervently.
Neji sighed and shook his head appologetically. "I am sorry Hinata-sama, our orders are absolute, you may give your theory to the the team that is sent out to replace us but we must return to Konoha. You wouldn't want to miss Naruto's funeral would you?"
Hinata looked torn, at this point even if her hunch did turn into a solid lead they had been called back to Konoha. Then there was the patch of Naruto's jacket, aged or not it was clear that it had not been wind that carried it there. She was filled with so many questions that had no answers, silently she cursed even returning. 'If I had just spent more time researching for myself then I could have a solid lead and maybe a few answers. I don't want to return just yet, I need to know what really happened here and where Karin is, she might know something about the reason Naruto-kun was so far north.' She thought. Despite a head full of objections and reasons to stay behind all she could muster to say in the end was. "Yes Neji-niisan."
"Good. Now we still have a few hours of light so we should make good use of that time and get as far south as we can." Neji said authoritatively.
"Oh there's a village I heard about thats famous for it's hot spring baths to the south, we should stop there." Kiba said with some enthusiasm.
"Kiba we are not on a vacation, our orders are to return to Konoha as soon as possible." Shino suggested in his usual monotone drone.
Surprisingly Sai put his hand up to voice his opinion. "Actually Shino, that sounds like a good place to stay for the night. I know the village Kiba is speaking of and it will take us a few hours to get there. A night with some relaxation will help rejuvenate us for the remainder of the trip home."
"We will make for the village as Kiba and Sai suggested, but if we arrive with time to spare, then we keep moving. Kakashi-sama's orders were quite clear, we will not be spending excess time on relaxation." Neji reasoned.
The group nodded with Hinata barely listening or caring, her mind was back north trying to put together the rather unique puzzle that had been lain out for her. However when the others started to move she followed.
(Snow Leopard Cave)
"Dammit! I have been doing this for hours and I haven't summoned anything larger than an adolescent cub, I'm exhausted." Karin whined.
Naruto for his part was not all that interested, he was finally experiencing how Jiraiya must have felt when training him how to summon toads. Karin was doing nothing wrong, she simply lacked the experience of how much chakra she would need to summon one of the larger leopards. Still he had said he would help, so he stayed around while sending clones out to train in the mountains and scout the area.
At the moment however he was playing cards with Gamakichi, something that didn't go down particularly well with the red haired kunoichi. "Are you even listening to me!?" she asked with a tick mark forming on her forehead.
"Yeah, exhausted, been at it for hours." Naruto mumbled before looking up from his cards. "Got any threes?"
"Why would I tell you, we're playing poker."
"Hey a summons is supposed to obey their summoner."
"Not when they're playing cards, I don't see any life threatening situation here so you're on your own." Gamakichi laughed but then paused when he saw the expression on Karin's face. "Hm well that might be kind of dangerous." The toad mumbled.
"Huh?" Naruto questioned turning around to see what Gamakichi was talking about.
Karin was red in the face with anger. "Don't ignore me in favour of your toad!" She yelled clearly upset.
Naruto jumped to his feet and quickly started apologising completely oblivious to Gamakichi leaning over to check what Naruto's cards were. 'Oh sweet kami...' "Yo Naruto I fold! I better get going Tou-san is probably wondering where I am anyway, see ya boss."
"Ah man, you went and chased him off." The blond sighed.
Karin simply huffed in response. "Good, it's not like he was doing anything productive." She said moodily. Her expression then did a one eighty and she seemed quite happy again. "I'm too tired to attempt to summon again today, why don't we head back and grab something to eat, you can even have the bath first." she chirped.
"Ah that might be for the best, it would be a bother if you get too exhausted. Oh and you don't need to worry about letting me have the bath first, Namayu has prepared a new room for me to stay in with my own hot spring so we don't have to share anymore. So you will get your bed to yourself again. Thank's for letting me share last night I know it must have made you uncomfortable."
Karin's enthusiastic smile faltered somewhat but Naruto put it down to an unpleasant memory of having to share a bed with him. "No it's alright, it was only for one night in the end." she mumbled. 'That's right, I forgot that he was going to be given a new place to sleep.' "We can still eat together, it doesn't make sense to split up the food when we will only be here a few more days." She said, her previous enthusiasm returning to cover up her disappointment.
Naruto smiled and nodded. "Sure that sounds like a good idea. Seeing as you don't know where my new place is, I'll show up in a few hours for dinner."
"Sounds great, see you then." Karin replied before running off back to her cave. 'It almost feels like a real date, having a boy come over and cook dinner together.' she thought with a blissful smile. It had been too long since Karin had felt that way, but she knew she had to be careful not to fall back into her old fangirl habits.
End Chapter!
Another one down, things will start moving a little bit faster from now, probably include the funeral in the next chapter, and I would say only two chapters max before Naruto and Karin get past the mountains and I can start on the next section of the story.
Spoiler Alert!
Looks like team seven is back together, but I call BS on what ever plot hole jutsu they are going to pull out for, Sakura supposedly hiding her strength, fuck that, she has been useless for 500+ chapters minus the fight with Sasori and now she is going to get some power up that I am guessing will supposedly make her on par with Sasuke and Naruto? that's just a plot hole for the sake of making a character nobody likes slightly less useless. Minato's Kyuubi cloak was interesting was expecting him to transfer the chakra over to Naruto. As for Sasuke declaring he want's to be Hokage? he should still be killed in my opinion, but thats just because I don't like him as a character. If they all forgive him and he returns to Konoha without some sort of punishment I am going to be pissed.
Moral of the story kids, do what ever the fuck you want because all you have to do is apologise and everything is good again. Fuck that!