Naruto and Karin Uzumaki sat across from the Sandaime Hokage, the red haired girl still had the white iryonin fatigues on but the blonde boy had been allowed to change his clothes after another shower before the meeting.
Also present was Anko Mitarashi for reasons Naruto did not understand yet, he actually couldn't even guess the reason unless it was something to do with the fact he'd met and 'adopted' Karin during her phase of the chunin selection exams.
Hiruzen tapped ash from his pipe into a wooden ash tray, "First of all, I commend you Karin-san, you did well during your probationary period for the preliminaries." he praised, "I must confess, an Uzumaki with medical experience is quite the boon, and for Naruto-kun I imagine this would be quite a boon, however there is a matter of security." he lectured, "Therefore for any medical check ups I ask that another iryoninja be present."
Naruto tensed and shook his head subtly, Karin picked up on it, "There are clan secrets to consider." she pointed out.
Hiruzen sighed deeply, "I do not wish to get into this, but the Uzumaki do not actually hold clan status in the modern era." he reminded the kunoichi, "We're willing to accept you, but there must be compromise here for Naruto-kun's sake."
Naruto scowled, "I'm right here, and I want privacy, family privacy." he clarified, "I don't care about clan stuff, but I won't let any secrets hurt Konohagakure no Sato." he said firmly, his meaning deeper than the current topic of discussion.
Hiruzen shook his head, "Privacy will be allowed of course, but I will not authorize Karin-san to prescribe anything or perform any surgery or treatments related to normal injuries without an iryoninja of my choosing present." he insisted.
Naruto considered that, he healed injuries naturally so those situations would likely never come up, plus he didn't think he needed any prescriptions, "Okay." he agreed, although Karin was still frowning at the lack of prescriptions.
"Now then," Hiruzen continued, "the next matter is of Kusagakure no Sato. Your team were less than thrilled, and treaties are being threatened by this." he warned, "I will try to play mediator, but what can you say of your former Shinobigashira?" he asked.
Karin frowned but had expected it, "He's scary and vicious," she said bluntly, "but I think he'd do anything to keep his village afloat." she assured.
"Very well," Hiruzen nodded at the description, "I can work with that." he decided before he began packing his pipe, "I believe Anko-san had a question as well." he mused.
Anko's entire body language went from passive observer to interrogator like a switch had been flipped, "Why did your blood taste so good and why do I want more?" she asked bluntly.
"Uh," Naruto panicked, "because you're crazy." he decided on the answer.
"I had a headache until after I had your blood, I was planning on treating it with dango," Anko began to explain, "but your blood fixed it." she insisted, which didn't help argue against the idea she was crazy.
Karin's eyes lit up with inspiration, "That's an Uzumaki thing," she clarified, "some of us can impart some of our vitality through blood." she explained, then she hesitated and showed the faded scar of a bite on her shoulder, "That's what Kusa had me using my abilities for as an iryoninja." she confessed hesitantly.
Naruto bristled at the implication and subconsciously filed Kusa under 'distrust' and 'dislike' in his brain. Hiruzen frowned for similar reasons.
Anko just looked confused, "You can just heal people with your blood?" she asked incredulously.
"It's not as simple as that," Karin snapped, "and also you aren't supposed to crave it, and just licking up some of his spilled blood shouldn't do it." she confessed and Naruto's heart sank, "So that must all be kitsune magic right? Which means we should avoid using Naruto-kun's healing blood?" she asked then she turned pale, "I'd rather not use mine either, it really drains me." she muttered.
Hiruzen nodded, he was wise enough to guess that such an ability was derived from the overflowing life force of the Uzumaki and that overusing such abilities would only lead to shortened lifespans, "Very well, Anko-san please keep your blood cravings to yourself." he ordered.
Anko pouted and crossed her arms contritely but nodded in agreement, Naruto never thought he would be so uncomfortable to have an older woman lusting after him but he supposed he never expected the older woman to be lusting after his blood specifically. The blonde immediately mentally corrected himself that the thought of older women lusting after him had never occurred to him, not even when practicing Oiroke no Jutsu. He was getting better at lying to himself too.
Karin sighed with relief, "Thank you, Hokage-sama." she said gratefully, "It is an honor to join Konohagakure no Sato and rejoin with what is left of my splintered clan." she added with a formal bow.
Naruto scratched his cheek and wondered if he was supposed to bow too, he noticed the Hokage glance at him, "Thanks for this, Jiji." he said sincerely, Hiruzen smiled without taking offense since he could tell how genuine the boy was.
"So do you think it actually is kitsune magic?" Naruto asked quietly, the term they'd coined for the weirdness of him being the Kyuubi Jinchuriki had stuck. The two Uzumaki were walking and the redhead had mentioned no one was nearby, her chakra sensing was very useful and it set a precedent for Uzumaki having it.
"No idea," Karin confessed, "either that or your iryokinjutsu but we're keeping that to ourselves right?" she asked rhetorically, the blonde nodded anyway, "So that's going to have to be our excuse for everything, the issue is Mito Uzumaki probably knew and talked with the Sandaime so we have to keep it to real Uzumaki abilities." she warned.
Naruto nodded as he lead them towards the hospital, "Yeah, it sounds like that might not be an issue." he guessed, from the way he'd heard it he basically had three things enhancing his vitality. Innate Uzumaki physiology, jinchuriki enhancement, and his 'forbidden medical technique' as he called it with Karin.
So the blonde Uzumaki had his innate preternatural fortitude, and two supernatural healing factors keeping him alive. Yet he still got splattered against the walls by that large monster with the antlers, also Gaara would probably crush him if he caught him in that sand.
"Hopefully anything else can be explained by the Kyuubi." Naruto muttered as he recalled how bestial the monsters could be, how he had grown claws.
Karin frowned, "I hope that specialist doesn't take too long to find us." she muttered under her breath, Naruto gave her a confused look, "I mentioned Orochimaru hit you with fuinjutsu while explaining myself and Hokage-sama said he'd send word for a specialist, which was like two days ago." she clarified.
The two grew silent as listening ears came closer, the Uzumaki pair went up, Karin leading the way now to the floor those who had been injured in the preliminaries were held. On the way up Naruto heard frantic muttering followed by a sudden silence, when they got there he saw why.
Every member of the rookie nine who hadn't been injured was already there, Sakura and Ino were being interrogated by Kiba while Shino watched impassively. Ino's expression and the fact she'd been looking where Naruto and Karin would arrive clinched it.
"Well now, must have known we were asking about you." Kiba muttered, "So what's the deal, Naruto?" he asked, "You smell like blood, you got slit pupils now, and Ino was glancing at you the whole preliminaries." he listed off, "We all know Ino can sense chakra, and as much as I'd love to tease her you're more of a mystery right now."
Naruto was baffled that of all people it was Kiba heading this investigation, "I'm the Kyuubi Jinchuriki." he decided it was his secret anyway and it was the best excuse he had. Most of the people in the hall knew anyway.
Sakura's eye twitched since she'd been trying to keep that secret for him, Ino was similarly exasperated. Shikamaru just sighed.
Kiba was a bit taken aback, "Wait what?" he asked, he did not know the context of those words.
"Yondaime-sama couldn't actually kill the kitsune," Sakura clarified, "so Naruto is like a scroll. It's super advanced fuinjutsu." she explained.
Kiba frowned, "That's hardly fair." he grumbled.
"We're ninja." Naruto retorted, "Life isn't fair." he added.
Sakura silently agreed as she guessed why Naruto was there, "Sasuke-kun isn't ready for visitors yet." she recited what she'd been told.
Naruto shrugged, "Where's Hinata-chan's room then?" he asked casually, Sakura blinked since she'd forgotten about that part of the preliminaries. Shino pointed to a door silently while Kiba was still mentally recovering from learning one of their group of nine rookies was a literal living super weapon.
Naruto entered Hinata's room and saw Kurenai seated next to the girl, "Uh, hey." he greeted, then he realized he wasn't sure how to continue, "I must look kind of prophetic, saying I want to stab Neji and then getting matched up against him in the first round." he mused jokingly to break the ice.
Sakura realized the blonde was capable of romance then, not the kind she liked though but that didn't bother her. Ino watched with a smug smirk, prepared for the exchange to be entertaining even from the hallway.
Hinata flushed in embarrassment and averted her eyes, "Uh, well, that is," she muttered, stammering over her words as she struggled to pick the right ones. She took a breath to steady herself, "Please don't hate Neji-niisama, he has his reasons for being like that." she pleaded.
Naruto tensed as he agonized over the request before he finally sighed, "Alright, fine," he agreed morosely as he pulled out her kunai, "I'll find a non-lethal way to destroy that smug bastard." he promised instead as he flicked the kunai to hold it by the blade in a display of dexterity none of the other Konoha genin expected before he offered the handle to the original owner.
Hinata accepted it with a nod, "Thank you." she said gratefully, more for the promise than the returned tool. After that however an awkward silence fell as the kunoichi stared at her kunai, the blonde noticed he hadn't done the greatest job cleaning it unfortunately.
Naruto scratched the back of his head, he got the feeling there was more he should say but he was a little bit socially inexperienced and unsure of what to say or do next. He wanted to go train or hunt but he got the distinct impression he shouldn't do that yet.
Ino rolled her eyes at the shy Hyuga and the socially inept Uzumaki, "Nice jacket by the way, much nicer than your old one." she commented to break the silence and see if she could get Hinata to speak up.
"It is not!" Naruto denied vehemently, he liked the jacket with the big ruff on the neck and he would repair it.
"It really is." Sakura agreed with Ino, despite their rivalry they both agreed the jacket had been bad.
Naruto slumped at the insults, "Well I like the jacket and I'm going to fix it." he grumbled.
"Just get new clothes!" Karin exclaimed, "You should be training or resting not sewing." she reminded him, the blonde wondered if she realized he literally did not rest yet.
"They don't sell that jacket anymore!" Naruto exclaimed the problem.
"Um," Hinata spoke up and everyone went quiet, the eyes on her had her clam up but she managed to continue after a moment, "I could repair Naruto-kun's jacket." she offered shyly.
Naruto nodded, "Hey, that works." he agreed, "You saw the damage, how much ryo should I give you?" he asked.
Hinata deflated a little, "Ah, that's fine, I have spare supplies." she denied, she hadn't meant as a service.
Naruto blinked as he realized she was offering to fix his jacket for free, "Eh? Seriously?" he asked, the blonde was socially uneducated and stunted from his upbringing, but he had also become more observant and supposedly the blood was helping make him smarter somehow.
So when the blonde Uzumaki realized Hinata had a crush on him he almost had a heart attack and struggled to control his reaction, "Sure, I'll have some time off anyway, I don't mind." the kunoichi assured her offer was genuine.
Naruto controlled his breathing, "Wow," he muttered, "thanks Hinata-chan, you're really nice." he said with a smile, he did not want to lead her on. His own heart was racing now, the girl was cute but there was one issue. Naruto Uzumaki was a deathless monster, he wasn't even sure if he could have a normal relationship, the fact he was a jinchuriki only added to this insecurity and had him play the blind oblivious fool to avoid confronting Hinata's budding feelings for him.
Ino and Sakura both felt some pity for the other rookie kunoichi, they all fell for Naruto's oblivious act as they had no reason to think of him as insightful despite the recent revelation he held the Kyuubi no Yoko in his chakra.
Hinata seemed pleased with just being called nice though and smiled shyly, "It's fine," she assured again, "um, should I come and pick it up tomorrow?" she asked.
Naruto nodded, "Sure, I live on the second floor of the apartments two blocks north-west of Ichiraku Ramen," he directed and all the rookie's were pretty sure there were other landmarks around there, "my door is on the end opposite the stairs." he clarified.
Sakura belatedly realized she was only now learning where Naruto lived and it was because she was overhearing him giving directions to Hinata, she decided not to verbally comment on that.
"So, I guess we're going to be neighbors." Karin mused, the Hokage had set her up in the same apartment block as Naruto, same floor even. It was oddly a vacant floor besides the blonde himself apparently.
Naruto nodded, "That does make things easier." he mused as they walked down the streets of Konoha towards said apartment building. Then the blonde realized something, "So, you can sense my chakra?" he asked.
Karin frowned at the unexpected question, "Oh that, yeah, I have no idea if that's an Uzumaki thing or just me, Okaachan never mentioned it." she answered quietly.
Naruto felt guilty for bringing it up even though he had no way to know, but he realized the other Uzumaki had known family. Another way he was completely different, although him being a ward of the Hokage did make a lot more sense with the whole jinchuriki thing.
The issue with Karin being able to sense Naruto and living nearby though was that he wanted to teleport to the depths through the dream again, that was basically how he trained. So the blonde boy would need to come up with something, "Uh, I like to disappear at weird hours." he said, "I, uh, don't sleep well." he excused lamely, "Just so you don't freak out if I'm not there y'know, or if I appear or disappear suddenly." he was talking too much, "I'm really good at stealth." he insisted, unable to help himself.
Karin raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "That sounds sketchy, but fine, if you insist I'll leave you alone after hours even if you wander off after midnight." she agreed.
Naruto opened his eyes in the dream and sighed with relief, "I need to think of a way to beat Neji." he muttered to himself. His biggest issue and hurdle was the fact that he had gotten perhaps too used to fights to the death with beasts who did not care one bit about honor, shinobi associated with the Godaikoku were supposed to have a semblance of honor and those from clans held it to a higher pedestal.
Naruto had no idea how to defeat Neji non-lethally, he was confident that in a straight fight he could just overwhelm with sheer ferocity and tear the Hyuga to shreds with Nokogiribocho. But the thought of doing that in front of a crowd of spectators made the blonde feel sick, and his stomach tied in knots as he imagined how Hinata would react.
"I need to fight him like a ninja, not a ryoshi." Naruto muttered to himself without actually bothering to get up, there were no bugs in the grass in the dream and the ground was soft, the grass wasn't even sharp so it was comfortable.
Naruto mentally went over the jutsu he knew, immediately he discounted nokogirijutsu, that was something he'd made up to cover his weird hunting weapon. He obviously knew taijutsu, shurikenjutsu, and he was confident in his stealth.
Genjutsu was a weakness he'd need to figure out, but Neji didn't seem to use them. None of the finalists for the chunin exams did actually, not even Sakura. As for ninjutsu he could henge with a good eye for detail, his Oiroke no Jutsu was proof of that, his kawarimi worked sometimes, and he had kage bunshin. Technically he also had Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu but that was kinjutsu, then again Kakashi had not explicitly told him not to do it and Lee used kinjutsu in the preliminaries.
Naruto sat up and attempted to make a regular bunshin, it worked but it was still static and it didn't move quite right, "Why is this one ninjutsu so damned hard for me." he grumbled to himself, the doll watched silently since he was doing ninja things she knew nothing about.
The blonde genin looked at the gauntlet on his left arm, the Kyomei Supika, a shinobi tool devised by Otogakure no Sato and stolen by Naruto. Now that he thought about he stole a lot of the things he used, technically he was pretty sure no one actually owned anything he took from the depths.
Naruto had tried to practice his chakra control in the dream, but he had eventually grown restless and decided to explore the depths. He avoided the antlered monster that killed him more than any other so far and explored the area around that depth level.
Naruto considered testing his Kyomei Supika too but he recalled how much gunshots echoed in the tunnels beneath Konoha, he was not going to risk bringing every bloodthirsty thing in the depths hunting whatever sound his chakra would make going into it.
The sounds of fighting caught his attention, the blonde knew the monsters hunted each other as much as he hunted them. It was a hellish and bloodstained place but there was still an ecosystem, however it was rare for the sounds of metal scraping on stone to echo without any rhythm.
Naruto followed the sounds to find the old man who had first found him in the depths using the cane he carried to proper effect, the bladed whip lashed through the air as some kind of tension in the device pulled the blades through the right shoulder of his target to spray the old man in blood and stagger the beast towards him, then he slammed the end of the cane into the chest of the staggered desiccated thing and transformed it back into a cane as he impaled his prey.
The old man exhaled deeply and his breath fogged up the cold underground air, "Yaju, everywhere I look nothing but yaju." he muttered to himself as he turned, he halted as his eyes fell on Naruto. There was no recognition there, "Another one." he grumbled as he retrieved a firearm from his cloak, much bigger than Naruto's pistol with a wider barrel.
The blonde dived but still felt pain explode in his left shin, he winced but managed to roll to cover and assess the damage. Naruto did not know what kind of gun it was, but it turned the bullet to shrapnel as far as the genin could tell.
The fact that there was probably mercury currently in his body, melting into liquid form in his very blood, was a serious concern to the young blonde, but he figured that the old blood probably made him resistant or something.
Naruto heard footsteps, the old man was approaching him, apparently blood crazed. The blonde felt a chill go down his spine at the idea he might one day end up like that. Then the footsteps stopped and a spray of blood spurt past his hiding spot.
The blonde peaked the corned and saw a cloaked woman with a mask reminiscent of a bird over her face, her cloak was even feathered now that he looked closer. The woman had stabbed the man through the back of the neck and out through the throat, "Find your peace without dreams." the woman prayed, her voice giving away she was probably old under the mask.
Naruto had never encountered anyone else in the dream and the old man had mentioned not dreaming anymore, so he presumed he was the last in a line or something but there he saw another ryoshi, an older woman who killed the old man.
"What caused him to stop dreaming?" Naruto wondered and the woman jolted in surprise, a testament to the stealth of the young genin.
"A child? Down here?" The woman asked incredulously as she approached, she caught sight of his injured left leg, "Oh dear," she muttered as she crouched down only to cock her head to the right as she watched the injury seal shut, "who made someone so young a ryoshi?" she asked.
Naruto frowned, "I'm not too young," he denied, "I'm a shinobi and everything!" he insisted.
The woman sighed in defeat, "Ah, so the idea of those Senju truly was doomed to fail." she muttered.
Naruto didn't understand that, but he could answer the other question, "You, uh, kind of killed the guy who gave me the old blood by the way." he added.
The woman tensed, "I see, I apologize then. I knew his life had become tragically long but I didn't realize how far gone he truly was." she said sorrowfully.
Naruto was nervous and hesitant on his next question, but he needed to know, "Are we becoming yaju?"
"No," The woman denied sternly, "not so quickly at least. It is a sickness of the mind, related to the blood but we're certain it can be overcome." she insisted.
Naruto didn't know what she meant, but he realized those things that looked human, they probably were human once, "Everything down here used to be-?" he began to realize slowly what he wanted to continue to deny.
"No!" The woman barked insistently, "Whatever their history, a yaju is just a yaju." she lectured before she deflated with another sigh, "Well, if you've already dreamed, then you must hunt." she added with an air of defeat, "Here, a bit of my own fuinjutsu," she said as she lifted a scrap of paper.
"You know how to use chakra!?" Naruto interrupted, the doll had known nothing of it.
The woman laughed, "Of course! I used to be a kunoichi in my youth, ah, but I just hunt now. I was never from an important clan or hired on by anyone, so I found my way down here eventually." she explained, "I believe most ryoshi still around at least know about chakra." she added, "Now, this fuin when pressed to your head will activate the part of your brain that dreams, a temporary REM state that will pull your body to the last place you dreamed, to safety." she explained.
Most of that explanation went right over Naruto's head, but he got the gist that the fuinjutsu would magically teleport him to the last place he rested, "Thanks, Obaachan." he said gratefully, he could tell the old lady was trying to help him because she viewed him as a child but he was still glad for the help.
The woman chuckled at the affectionate title, "Apologies for my rudeness, little ninja, call me Maboroshi." she introduced politely, "What shall I call you?"
Naruto thought the wording was weird but he answered anyway, "Naruto." he said honestly.
"Nice to you meet you, Naruto-kun," Maboroshi said with a nod before she stood up, "I mustn't dally, but next time I dream I shall ask the doll deliver something to you, the shisha should be able to do that much." she explained.
"So, we all get different dreams?" Naruto asked curiously.
Maboroshi shrugged, "I know not for certain," she confessed, "but we never occupy the same mental space, the graves, trees, and the shack are always there, as are the shisha and the doll." she explained.
The way the woman spoke, Naruto realized there were probably other ryoshi besides just them, maybe others who weren't blood crazed. Then Maboroshi picked up the corpse of the man, "I'll dispose of this, help yourself to those." she said in regards to the two weapons.
Naruto considered the cane and the bigger gun, he decided to at least take them to the dream and figure them out. He doubted he'd get much use out of them during the chunin exams though.
The doll had informed him the gun was a blunderbuss, and that it did indeed turn quicksilver bullets into quicksilver shrapnel. The blonde wondered if getting shot too often would cause health problems, the journals seemed to think ryoshi should be immune to mercury poisoning but a foreign liquid metal in his bloodstream still sounded worrying.
Naruto had gone to the depths to help clear his mind but that had just given him more to think about, after dedicating what Chi no Isshi he had left into his arcane he decided to try cataloguing the final phase. Most of the contestants were just ninja, Gaara was the only real monster there.
Neji, Hanbei, Temari and Kankuro were jerks, but they were still just shinobi at the end of the day. That being said four of the other Konoha shinobi were all from major clans, Hyuga, Uchiha, Aburame, and Nara. Plus the Suna genin were all rather brutal in how they fought, the blonde could tell Gaara was the real one to be wary of among them.
However Naruto did not have a single way through the sand unless he just trained extra hard physically to try and reach the level Lee had been at, but the blonde was getting ahead of himself. Neji was first, and then Sasuke would be fighting Gaara.
The blonde Uzumaki worried about his teammates, Sasuke had been a bit off since the encounter with Orochimaru and as much as he had once had a crush on Sakura he could tell she had barely scraped by against Ino using a trick that wouldn't work twice, or on anyone else.
Naruto sighed and tried to focus his thoughts, he needed a way to beat Neji first. From what he heard the Byakugan could see whatever angle he attacked from and Neji might actually be fast enough to match him in close quarters, and getting his tenketsu locked up in the first round would be crippling regardless of if he won or lost.
However Neji only had two arms, Naruto could create physical bunshin. Naruto could create a lot of physical duplicates of himself and his weapons now that he thought about it, which meant the blonde could outnumber his opponent in any one versus one engagement.
The realization his kage bunshin carried duplicates of his weaponry hit Naruto like a a bathtub full of ice had been dropped on his head bathtub first and the blonde suddenly was hit with the possibility of carrying around more shinobi tools and having his kage bunshin spam them for him.
Naruto rushed to the tombstone that lead him to his apartment, showered, got dressed for the day, and rushed out his apartment into the sunrise and almost literally ran into Karin, the girl was carrying a mug of tea and dressed more like she had been when the blonde first met her but was lacking her hitai-ate and shuriken holster.
"So you don't just disappear like that." Karin muttered with narrowed eyes, "Full disclosure I felt your chakra disappear, you didn't go anywhere." she explained, "I don't care how stealthy you are, what'd you do?" she demanded to know.
Naruto had not thought this far ahead and decided that with Karin, some honesty would be best, "I can kind of teleport in my sleep, it's related to the kinjutsu, I can't explain it very well." he explained poorly and quietly.
Karin raised an eyebrow, "That's absurd, but at this point I believe it." she retorted dryly, "Where are you off to anyway?" she asked.
"I'm going to buy chains, bolas, and a kusarigama." Naruto responded with a wide grin, he was proud of himself for coming up with such a human ninja solution to his problem. Well one of his problems anyway.
Karin narrowed her eyes as she tried to figure out her blonde relative, she was smart and had medical training but she was still young and inexperienced, even then she knew something was up with him. Given his circumstances it made sense he'd have issues, so she guessed him being so proud of going to get such basic tools and being so happy to go on a basic shopping errand was actually a sign he was getting better, she hoped.
"What about Hinata-chan? Shouldn't you wait for her to come pick up the jacket?" Karin asked instead of voicing her other thoughts, from the wince she guessed the blonde boy had forgotten.
"Oh right, I guess I should." Naruto muttered hesitantly, scratching his cheek nervously.
Karin smirked, "She's cute, huh?" she teased.
Naruto flushed, "What does that have to do with anything?" he deflected immediately.
"Cute girls make boys your age nervous." Karin said with a smirk, then she frowned, "I guess that only really clicks when we aren't in survival situations." she muttered for reasons the blonde boy did not understand at all.
Naruto frowned, "I am not nervous." he denied, he was always on edge so if his default state was above nervous then he could never be nervous. His internal logic seemed flawless to him.
Karin rolled her eyes at the lie, "Uh huh," she said, "hey Hinata-chan." she greeted and watched with a smirk as Naruto jolted in alarm and turned to where she'd looked only to turn back with a betrayed and irritated expression when the Hyuga girl was not actually there, "You should ask her out." she encouraged teasingly.
"No." Naruto denied firmly and Karin's expression dropped to a surprised one with wide eyes at his tone, the blonde hesitated on a good explanation, "I shouldn't." he said vaguely.
Karin pursed her lips as she considered that response, "Hyuga right?" she guessed and the blonde shrugged, "Well, I still say you should anyway." she insisted, "But I guess saving it until after you avenge her honor against her lesser clansmen in front of the entire village and visiting dignitaries is so much more romantic." she sighed.
Naruto decided not to break the news that he didn't intend to do it then either, "Maybe." he said with a shrug, but he had other things to worry about. The idea of asking Maboroshi for advice occurred to him if he ran into her again, but he wasn't sure when that would be, he'd run into her by chance because she'd been hunting a beast he ran into. A beast that had definitely been a person once, a ryoshi turned yaju.
The blonde turned sharply towards his door, "I might as well grab that jacket." he decided, he needed a distraction. He needed action, movement, something to hunt or at the very least something to do.
Karin shrugged and sipped her tea, soon enough the blonde boy returned with a blood stained and torn jacket, "Wow," she muttered, "it'll be a miracle if she gets this done at all." she warned.
Naruto pouted, "I really like this jacket though." he insisted, he learned the red spiral was even a memorial thing. The whole jacket was symbolic and his favorite colors. Karin didn't fully get it, but she recognized both symbols as clan symbols and nodded without further comment.
When Hinata did finally arrive it was with Kiba as an escort, who had raised an eyebrow at the two, "Who even are you anyway?" he asked her suspiciously.
"Karin Uzumaki." Karin answered blandly, surprising both the genin of cell eight with the news and the other Uzumaki that she'd revealed it so casually, "I just met likely my only living relative and decided to drop everything to come be his personal physician." she explained.
Hinata nodded in dumbfounded understanding, "An iryoninja already? That's impressive." Kiba noted but his eyes were still narrowed, "So why were you two out here?" he asked.
"I was enjoying my tea and I noticed Naruto-nii about to run off, so I reminded him Hinata-chan was coming today." Karin explained honestly and the blonde flushed in embarrassment, "So I reminded him to get the jacket before he ran off on whatever epiphany he had regarding weaponry." she added.
Hinata looked at the ruined jacket, "Wow," she muttered, the fact the person wearing it had survived those injuries was beyond impressive, "I'll, um, do what I can." she promised with no confidence, she'd forgotten exactly how bad it had been.
Kiba couldn't resist the urge to ask, "So is you not being dead after that an Uzumaki thing or a Kyuubi thing?" he asked curiously.
Naruto frowned since he wasn't sure, he glanced at Karin who met his eyes, "Both." they said at the same time a moment later.
"Huh, so that kitsune like, enhances inborn abilities or something?" Kiba wondered, "Sorry if this is weird to talk about casually, but shit dude you made it to the finals, for all I know you might actually pass." he pointed out, stunning the blonde with the show of confidence, "If that happens and you make chunin, you might wind up in charge of me for some mission, and since we're not competing I'm curious." he finished with a shrug.
Naruto was not entirely sure when his mouth had opened, "Uh," he vocalized as his brain struggled to keep up with the blend of praise and interest, "I have no idea what I'm capable of." he confessed bluntly.
"Are the eyes a Kyuubi thing?"
"Yes." Naruto answered quickly.
Kiba nodded but frowned, "Why is that still happening anyway?" he asked.
"Good question," A new voice interrupted and startled the genin, "before I find out could you kids explain why you're casually discussing Konohagakure no Sato military secrets in public?"
Karin shivered, she hadn't felt the man coming. Naruto hadn't heard a thing, neither had Kiba smelled anything and Akamaru whined to let the Inuzuka know even the canine hadn't detected anything. Hinata had not had her Byakugan active, so she was as surprised as anyone.
They all looked at the tall middle aged man, with waist length white hair pulled back into a pony tail, two shoulder length bangs framing his face, a hitai-ate with the kanji for oil on it that had two small horns to it over his forehead, a small silver piercing in the left side of his nose, wearing a short green kimono, matching green pants, a black belt mesh armor underneath visible at his wrists, ankles, and chest. On top that the man wore a red haori with two yellow circles on either side of the chest, and on his feet were a pair of geta.
The man had a raised eyebrow at them and had his arms crossed as he waited for an answer, "In my defense it got revealed twice by others before I gave up, technically three times if you count the time Mizuki told me." Naruto answered, he left out that he had not believed a word of it at first.
The man scoffed, "Alright, from what I hear of what happened and what I see of that jacket, fair enough." he said with a shake of his head, "Well, I guess I might as well get this over with, I'm Jiraiya, of the Sannin, I'm here to undo the work of that snake." he explained.
Truthfully Jiraiya would have liked a few days to relax first, but his old sensei had been insistent he check since Orochimaru had apparently done something to the fuin containing the Kyuubi.
Naruto frowned, he was about to protest and say that Orochimaru had mentioned his fuin suppressing the kitune further, but he knew that would be a bad thing to say, "How do I know you're telling the truth?" he asked instead.
Jiraiya blinked, his mouth opened in surprise before it snapped shut into a grimace, "Alright, fair point." he confessed, "Tell you what, would you feel more comfortable if Kakashi was present when I remove the fuin Orochimaru placed over the fuin?" he asked.
Naruto considered it as what Jiraiya said clicked in Kiba's head and the Inuzuka finally got over being star struck, "Some nukenin messed with the fuin!?" he snapped once he realized what had been implied.
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, I think Kakashi-sensei should be present." he decided.
