Continued, sorta, from Chapter 15.

"Ugh...wha?" Were the first intelligent words to escape Uzumaki Karin's mouth since she had first lost consciousness, then it all came rushing back to her and she jumped to her feet only to lose her balance and fall flat on her face. She groaned and made to push herself back up when someone scoffed behind her causing her to freeze.

"You know, I've never before seen such a clumsy and weak Uzumaki before." 'Well, maybe myself when I was younger but that's in the past.'

Karin gulped as she rolled over slightly, hoping with all her might that it wasn't him that was standing there looking down at her. Her hopes died a brutal death upon seeing the tanned, whiskered, face of the blond who had so suddenly appeared before Team Hawk and had then proceeded to ruin them.

An hour earlier.

Team Hawk, led by Uchiha Sasuke, were currently making their way towards the Land of Waves. Sasuke had learned of his current subordinate, Suigetsu's, desire to obtain all of the infamous swords of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri. He only knew the location of one and used that information to bribe the former Kiri-nin to follow him. Despite his complaining about wanting to retrieve the sword right away, Sasuke was set on gaining the other two members of this little squad first. Juugo had been first and, after a rather short and disappointing fight in order to subdue the beast, the orange-haired young man had agreed to follow Sasuke for no other reason than Sasuke being able to keep Juugo "under control".

Karin had been next. She hadn't even been aware that Orochimaru was dead and so she was still acting as a warden for one of the many prisons the Snake Sannin had kept. She was even easier to convince to join the team than the other two. Sasuke wasn't very comfortable, or tolerant, of the fact that the girl seemed to be just another fan-girl and it was only made worse by the fact that her hair reminded him of Sakura which would immediately remind him of Naruto. It was inevitable that Sasuke had grown to increasingly dislike the redhead and her constant attempts at wooing him. He already had envisioned exactly how he was going to rid himself of her once she had led him to Itachi; over the course of their trip to Wave, that vision had become decidedly darker and lengthier.

Then, everything changed. The team of four had just arrived on the outskirts of Wave when Juugo fell to the ground; his head bouncing once on the ground before rolling to Sasuke's feet. The Uchiha only allowed a moment of surprise to flash across his face before he composed himself; Suigetsu had yelped in shock and Karin had screamed.

"Wh-wh-wh-what the fuck!" The wannabe swordsmen had shouted as he pointed unnecessarily at Juugo's decapitated head. Karin on the other hand was currently over on the edge of the path puking up everything she had eaten in the last week, or so it seemed.

Sasuke grit his teeth when Karin's noises ceased and her body rolled over a few times to the side. He wasn't sure yet whether or not she was still alive but from where he stood she didn't have any visible wounds. The Uchiha's temper was kept at bay only because Suigetsu had finally regained his senses and was now standing behind his leader with his back to him prepared for any assault.

"Come out, whoever you are. Only a coward would attack while his opponent's back is turned as well as striking at a weak female. Have you no pride?" Sasuke usually wasn't one for words, unless he was mocking someone like Naruto but that was an entirely different situation, but right now he needed something to soothe his frayed nerves. Even with his Sharingan activated after Juugo's death, he hadn't noticed a thing when Karin was struck next. Even now, there was nothing besides the surrounding trees; the dirt path; and the sound of waves lapping at the shore behind them.

That all ended when the sound of chirping birds filled the air causing Sasuke to launch himself forward, spinning in mid-air, his hands flashing through several hand-signs and ready to unleash a Katon jutsu at whoever was there. He faltered however when he saw a figure standing in front of Suigetsu, the person's hand wreathed in lightning and protruding from Suigetsu's back. Even with the boy's ability to change his entire body into water, it would've only done him more damage and still resulted in his death.

Sasuke's Sharingan spun as it took in the figure's appearance. ANBU, that was all that needed to be said. A plain white mask; the familiar gear that all black-ops soldiers wore; the hilt of a tanto sticking up from behind the operative's right shoulder and that was all. Whoever it was had been smart enough to cover their hair and neck with some sort of cloth. Sasuke couldn't even tell if the person was male or female. Still, whichever it was, successfully attacking his three subordinates was one thing, now the ANBU had an angry Uchiha to contend with and Sasuke was more than sure of how that was going to turn out.

Karin wasn't sure why she wasn't crying. She wasn't sure why her eyes weren't even the slightest bit watery. The person she held such strong feelings for was lying at her feet, eyes unblinking, skin morbidly pale and he was completely unmoving. The only spot of color, other than his clothes, was the vivid and precise line of red going across Sasuke's neck. The wound was cauterized and so it hadn't bled, at least not externally. No doubt Sasuke hadn't even been able to choke on his blood when his throat was sealed shut.

The girl shuddered as she turned away to look at the man that had so easily decimated her teammates. She had spared only a passing glance at Suigetsu and Juugo, she hated the former and had been frightened of the latter, they didn't mean even a tenth of what Sasuke had meant to her.

"So...is it my turn now?" She asked bitterly, staring from her place on the ground at the blond who was simply staring at the face of his mask that was currently being held in his hands. She hadn't known what to think, still didn't, when the man took off his mask and revealed his face to her. She didn't think she would honestly care if he explained why he had done so. Sasuke was dead and she had no reason to live, or so she told herself.

"Look at the names on this." He suddenly spoke and a thrown, folded up, piece of paper smacked into her face.

"WHAT THE FUCK! CAN'T YOU HAND IT TO ME LIKE A CIVILIZED PERSON?!" She screamed at him, momentarily forgetting that her life was currently held in the blond's hands.

"I could always kill you instead." He replied flippantly, not looking up from the mask. Karin gulped at this and then frowned as she begrudgingly unfolded the paper and righted it so she could read it properly; 'It's a list' was her first thought.

Her next thought wasn't so much a word or a sentence but rather an intense feeling of emotion. Absolute and utter revulsion mixed in with a healthy dose of fear. The list was composed of names. Uzumaki, names. There were a good two dozen of them, though only a few remained that were not crossed out. She didn't need a clarification to know what that meant. She suddenly understood and that understanding only increased her fear as well as filled her with regret.

"Sasuke-kun died...because of me. You came here to kill me and he died simply because he was with me." She looked forlornly at the list, specifically her name on it. Before she was allowed to sink further into depression something flicked her forehead and the list disappeared from her hands.

Looking up she saw the blond folding the list up again before sliding it underneath his gear over his heart.

"Perish the thought, cousin. Actually, I wasn't even searching for you when I came across your little team. I only stopped because I recognized Uchiha Sasuke. You do know that he is a missing-nin of Konoha, do you not?" His voice was bland as he nonchalantly spoke of how random-chance was the reason that Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Juugo had lost their lives.

"If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a Konoha-nin. Seeing such a high-profile traitor of my village was something that I could not ignore. Actually, I'm kind of disappointed. I use to remember Sasuke being stronger, or at least, a challenge. He didn't even last a minute. Really, all I had to do was take off my mask and he froze in shock. That was all I needed to slit his throat. Now, I'll take his body back to Konoha and claim the bounty that Hokage-sama placed on him. I'll more than likely just burn the other two."

Karin simply stared up at him with dull eyes. She recognized the man now. Uzumaki Naruto. Sasuke had spoken of him once, way before his had planned on killing Orochimaru. She, in her curiousity to learn more about the 'handsome Sasuke-kun' had asked Kabuto about it; after all, the white-haired teen had spent a long time in Konoha acting as a spy and had even fought against Naruto once. The blond before her had been described as a bleeding-heart; a naive child who didn't know what it meant to be a shinobi but counter-acted that with his strength and fierce determination. There was also the fact that he was a jinchuuriki.

Karin recalled that at one time, she had wanted to meet this Uzumaki Naruto. He was family after all, in a way. She wasn't exactly sure where their family lines crossed so it was safe to do as he had done and just refer to each other as "cousin". The man before her now though, was nothing like he had been made out to be. He had taken out Juugo without being detected and then had taken her out as well. From the looks of it, he had used a lightning attack on Suigetsu and, by his own words, used the surprising appearance and past with Sasuke to take out the Uchiha before the fight could be drawn out.

Her entire team, wiped out in a matter of minutes. She shook her head and slowly rose to her feet.

"I wont ask why you're killing off all of our family because I doubt you'll tell me, or at least I doubt you'll tell me the truth. So, just get it over with." With that said she closed her eyes and turned her head. A flick of her ear forced her eyes open and she was once again staring back at him.

"Idiot, if I was going to kill you I would've done it already. By the way, don't act so high and mighty in regards to me killing all those Uzumaki. For one reason or another they had it coming and I wont shed a tear for their deaths. It's not like you ever tried to get in contact with our extended family anyway, right?"

Karin glared at him and turned away with a huff. Even if he was right, it didn't mean she ever wished harm to befall her relatives. Even if she didn't know them; even if she never got to know them, they were family and that's all that mattered. The sound of footsteps brought her attention back to Naruto.

"You might want to move out of the way." He stated as he stood at the feet of Juugo and Suigetsu's corpses, his hands already flying through hand-signs. Karin yelped and quickly jumped out of the way as a white-hot ball of flame blew out of Naruto's mouth, increasing in size the further it got from him, and slammed into the two bodies. Naruto released the jutsu and walked over to Sasuke's body and without delay, hoisted the dead teen's body over his shoulder. He then turned back towards Karin causing her to freeze up.

"Well, see ya later." 'Simple as that and he just starts to walk away?!' Karin screamed in her mind before she quickly ran forward and jumped in his path.

"What the hell? I thought you were going to kill me!" Naruto quirked a brow and shifted Sasuke's body slightly.

"Do you want me to kill you?" He asked which prompted Karin to stumble backwards a few steps as she shook her head furiously.

"N-n-no!" Naruto shrugged as he side-stepped her and resumed walking, raising his mask to his face.

"Then get lost, cousin." Karin could only gape at the bastard who had killed her team, killed her crush, revealed that he had killed a lot of their family, made her think she was going to die next and was now just walking away.

"Hey! If you want me to get lost then you're going to have to kill me instead cuz since you took away Sasuke-kun, you're going to have to take his place!" Karin blinked, even as the words flew from her mouth and her brain tried to catch up, she wondered just what the hell she was saying.

"Guess you're going to die then." The blond had dropped Sasuke's body on the ground like it was trash and had closed the distance between them so fast that she had blinked and missed it all.

Blood sprayed and Karin's eyes widened as she watched the world go topsy-turvy, her head sailed through the air and she watched as her body slumped to the ground.

"Oi, stop that." Again, a flick, this time to her nose. Karin startled badly and she realized now that she was, in fact, not dead and her head was still firmly attached to her shoulders.

'phew'.

"You're not coming with me. At best you'll be executed right away for consorting with two well-known traitors of Konoha...that is, of course, after torture and interrogation; at worse, you'll be placed in a breeding program to give Konoha a few baby Uzumaki, and when there are at least three males, you'll be killed. Get lost."

"Ya-you have to take responsibility for me!" She declared and wondered, yet again what she was talking about and why she was taunting death to it's face.

"Excuse me? Those words are to be used on someone who had just gotten you pregnant after a quickie. I killed your team, I didn't knock you up." Naruto once again had the dead Uchiha on his shoulder and was now staring back at Karin with a slightly confused expression. The girl had been floundering for a response when the middle part of his reply entered her thoughts and she flushed angrily.

"Hey! I'll have you know that it takes a lot more than a 'quickie' to get passed this body!" At this she struck a pose made to emphasize her lithe figure.

"You're a virgin aren't you?" The blond shook his head as he turned and began, once again, making his path away from Wave.

Karin had slumped over in shock and rejection. 'How could he know?' She then regained herself with 'He's bluffing!' With that she rushed forward to catch up and proceed to maintain five yards behind him. She didn't care anymore about anything. Orochimaru was dead. Sasuke was dead. She had no family or friends. All she had was her familicidal cousin. Even if he was right about Konoha's reaction to her, she always had the pill hidden in one of her teeth. If it came to it, she'd take the pill and be gone from this world but if not...

Naruto tried again and again to convince the redhead to leave, he didn't care where she went, however he was rebuffed just as many times. His mission was over, as far as the Uzumaki's went. He didn't know why, nor was any reason given. He didn't really question it either but now, despite him heading back to Konoha, there was another Uzumaki following him and he could not bring up the willpower to kill her.

He had killed so many of his extended family. Cousins, uncles, aunts...most were married into the family and simply gained the status but, in one way or another, they were Uzumaki and they had perished. He had even killed his own mother as well as his half-brother. All of this, without hesistation. Yet this girl...

Well, they would both see what the Hokage's reaction to her would be once they arrived in Konoha, hopefully for the girl, she would be given a swift death. He had seen what can happen to a bloodline carrying female that landed itself on the wrong-side of Konoha.

and that's all she wrote! I'm thinking of making a few "sequel" chapters to some of the other one-shots. Any requests as to which should be next? I have quite a few ideas for each of them but if there is one that someone wants to see continued, please let me know.