Chapter 3.

Please review.

Sorry for the long wait for the 3 chapter.

Karin, in her usual outfit, was sitting on the bed in her room. She had a sad face as she was hugging her knees closely, thinking about her father. It had been a few weeks since Karin has seen her father. Naruto always asked if she wanted to play with him but she said she would play later.

"I wonder why Daddy hasn't come now? Is the mission really that bad or are they traveling?" Karin thought as she hugged her knees more. "Or maybe... they're not done yet and doesn't want to come home yet?"

Time past as she waited in her room then suddenly her head perked up as she sensed her Uncle Minato, Fugaku, and few other chakras coming to the Uzumaki compound.

"Is Daddy suppressing his chakra again?" Karin thought.

Karin quickly got off her bed and to her door then opened it before running in the halls to go outside to see them. She ran outside to the open gates but stopped midway their when she saw that her Uncle Minato and Fugaku clothes were ripped up and had bruises on their body, seeing they had scars on their face. She also saw a couple of Uzumakis and Uchihas behind them had their clothes tattered but not like her uncle and Fugaku, which were worse. She saw that they all had sad faces as they were walking past the gates.

"What happened?!" one of the Uzumaki guards at the gates asked sadly.

Her mother, her Aunt Kushina, and a few Uzumaki clan people came running past her as they ran to the gates. She saw them talking to her uncle and Fugaku but couldn't hear what they were say because she was far away.

Karin slowly walked towards them wanting to know what they are talking about.

"That can't be please tell me it's not him." Uzume said, tears running down her face.

"I'm so sorry, Uzume." Minato said sadly, looking down. "I really wish it was."

"This is really tragic." Fugaku said, sadly.

Kushina made a sad face as she put her hands on her older sister's shoulders. "I'm so sorry this happened."

Karin saw them stop talking as they all looked at her sad when she stopped near them.

"Uncle Minato, where's Daddy?" Karin asked, looking at him. "I don't sense his chakra anywhere."

They all looked down, unable to tell her.

"Did he use the chakra suppression technique to surprise me?" Karin asked. "Why is everyone sad?"

Her mother cried a little more at the questions she was asking then she watched her walked up to her and kneeled to her level.

Her mother hands on her shoulders. "Um, sweetie... I'm afraid... your father is... no longer with us."

"What do you mean, Mommy?" Karin asked. "He wasn't with us for a few weeks."

"No, your father is... gone." her mother said, before more tears started running down her face.

"Gone?" Karin said, her face now turning sad. "He said he'll be back."

"Well, sweetie..." her mother was thinking.

Karin saw to the left of the corner of her eye to someone laying on the ground and was covered by a white and cloth. She noticed her father's shoes, clothes, and hair.

"Daddy!" Karin said sadly as ran over it.

"Karin, please don't look." her mother said, reaching out to her but Karin still ran.

Karin made it to it and was immediately horrified at what she saw. This person was her father's but she sensed no chakra in him. She saw many scars on his body. She kneeled down in front of him and put her hands on the chest of her father.

"Daddy... Daddy, please get up..." Karin said sadly.

But their was no response.

"Daddy, please get up please..." Karin said again, shaking, tears now forming in her eyes. "Daddy." but still no response.

Tears rapidly ran down Karin's face as she put her face on his chest. "Daddy is... dead!"

"Sweetie." a voice said.

Karin opened her eyes and turned around to see her mother walking towards her.

"I'm so sorry about this sweetie." her mother said sadly.

Karin looked at everyone to see that they still had sad faces then got up before backing away from her mother.

"Daddy is... really dead." Karin whispered, still crying. "He promised... he would be back."

"Sweetie..." her mother said.

"Father... lied to me..." Karin said before running off to the house crying.

"Karin, wait!" her mother called out to her daughter as she ran after her.

Karin ran in the house, quickly took off her shoes, and to her room, locking the door behind her as she sat with her back against it as she hugged her knees before crying sadly again.

"Karin, please open up." her mother said on the other side of the door.

But Karin still cried, ignoring her mother's voice.

"Karin sweetie, please open the door." Uzume called out again sadly.

All she heard was her daughter crying in her room. She was about to call again until she felt a hand on her right shoulder, she looked to see her younger sister and Minato standing there and looking at her sadly.

"You have to give her some time, Onee-chan." Kushina said, removing her hand from her sister's shoulder.

More tears started to flow from Uzume's eyes, missing her husband and wanting so badly to comfort her daughter.

...

Half an hour has passed.

Living room.

Uzume was sitting alone on a couch and facing her on another couch was Minato and Kushina sitting together. It felt like hours but it was only a few minutes. Uzume was looking down sadly, her hands together in her lap, trying to find something to say.

"Minato... h-how did... Ryo... died?" Uzume asked, looking at him.

Minato sighed sadly as he looked down for a moment then his head risen and opened his eyes.

"We were in enemy territory and battling them for weeks." Minato said. "We were told that they wanted to sign a peace treaty with us... but that was a lie to just kill us."

Uzume face turned to shock and confused, remembering that Ryo had told her something like that weeks before he left.

"On the last day of the battle, we were winning the fight even in the beginning but then they unleashed a certain jutsu on us." Minato said.

"A certain jutsu?" Uzume asked.

"It was an unknown jutsu but I did see them make the hand signs of it. We're still searching scrolls of it. But more importantly, Ryo saved us all from the jutsu at the cost of his own life." Minato said sadly.

More tears ran down Uzume's face when Minato finished telling her about her husband's death.

"The last words Ryo told me to tell you is that 'I love you Uzume, take good care of our daughter and the clan. Karin needs you more than ever in her life now'." Minato said.

Uzume still cried at what Minato said, she looked down closing her eyes. "Ryo... If you can hear this... I love you too, but our daughter is really sad right now after seeing your corpse... How can I lead the clan, we've always led it together..." she thought sadly. Not even noticing her sister had gotten up from the couch.

Moments later, Uzume suddenly felt a hand on her right shoulder, she looked up to see Kushina was staring down at her.

"Onee-chan.. I know how much you love Ryo right now, everybody who knew him is going to miss him greatly..." Kushina said. "But you still me, Minato, our clans, and especially Karin by your side.."

Uzume felt more tears running down her face at what her little sister said to her just now. She grabbed Kushina's shoulders and pulled her into a hug, crying into her left shoulder.

"T-thank you Kushina for being here with me." Uzume said, holding her tighter. "Thank you."

Kushina smiled a little and softly rubbed her back with her right hand. "We'll always be here with you Onee-chan, you're not alone." she said.

A few hours later.

Karin was still sitting by her door and hugging her knees, she stopped crying awhile ago but still felt sad after seeing her father's death body. She closed her eyes as she began to remember something from the past about her and her father.

Flashback

Daytime.

Ryo and Karin were playing tag in their backyard, Ryo was running after his daughter as they were both laughing happily.

"You can't catch me this time Daddy!" Karin said running.

"Yes I can." Ryo said smiling.

Within seconds, Ryo picked up Karin and held her close.

"I finally caught you." Ryo said.

"You're really good at this game Daddy." Karin said laughing.

"You know what else I'm good at?" Ryo asked his daughter.

"What?" Karin asked.

"Tickling." Ryo said.

He started tickling Karin's stomach, making her laugh uncontrollably in his arms.

Karin put her hands over her face as she cried after she remembered memories of her father. She suddenly stopped crying as she sensed her mother coming towards her room. She turned around as she now sensed that she was behind the door. There was a few knocks at the door.

"Please open the door sweetie." Uzume said softly on the other side of the door.

Karin slowly got up from the ground and turned around then slowly unlocked the door, she turned the knob with her left hand and opened the door. She looked up to see her mother staring down at her.

Uzume looked down to see her daughter still had a sad face and tears in her eyes as they were running down her eyes. Uzume crouched down and hugged her crying daughter.

"I'm so sorry that this happened, Karin." Uzume said, caressing the back of her daughter's head with her right hand.

Karin hugged her mother back as she closed her eyes tightly as cried again into the front side of her mother's shirt.

10 minutes later.

Uzume and Karin were sitting on the bed hugging for awhile as the door was closed. They sat in complete silence until Uzume started to talk.

"Your father was a very kind man even before I met him." Uzume said.

Karin looked up at her mother, who was smiling sadly forward, with sad and curious eyes.

"Huh?" Karin asked.

Uzume looked down at her daughter. "He was the sweetest and gentlest man I've ever met, there will never be another one like him ever." she said.

Karin looked down as she thought trying to think about what to ask her mother then she thought of the perfect one, she looked up at her mother again.

"Mommy, h-how did you and Daddy met each other?" Karin asked.

Uzume was a little surprised that her daughter asked her that question, she turned forward as she blushed a little.

"Even though we are from the same clan, we met when we were 6 years old." Uzume said. "Me and your Aunt Kushina were playing hide and seek outside in the backyard of our house. I was trying to find your Aunt when a yellow ball rolled to my feet, I picked it up and turned to see a boy with short spiky red hair and glasses, who happened to be your father, was walking towards me. He kindly asked for it back, I walked up to him and handed it back to him. I suddenly noticed that he was cute and had the enchanting eyes I have ever seen. I noticed that he was lightly blushing. And that was the day me and your father met one another." Uzume said.

Karin looked amazed at what her mother just explained. "So that's how they've met." she thought.

Karin smiled a little but frowned again. "I really miss Daddy." she said.

"I know..." Uzume said before she kissed her daughter on the forehead. "I miss him too, sweetie... But your father would want you to be happy even if he's not here anymore."

Karin still looked sadly at her mother.

"Even though he sadly passed away, you still have me, your Aunt, your Uncle, and your cousin Naruto with you." Uzume said hugging her close again.

A few days later.

Their was a gray coffin in the middle of the grass as it had a picture of Ryo on the top of it and was surrounded by flowers. There were many rows of people wear black with each having their clan's crests on the back; they all black shirts but the men wore pants and the women skirts. All the people were from the Uchiha clan, Uzumaki clan, Namikaze, and their other clan allies.

Uzume, Karin, Kushina, Minato, and Naruto were standing in front of them as they close to Ryo. Everyone had their eyes closed and their heads lowered as they were praying for the decreased young man. When they were finished, everyone opened their eyes, some people went to lay more flowers on Ryo's coffin before they lower it in the ground, while others chatted with one another.

Karin was standing in the same spot as sadly looked at the picture of her father's smiling face. Her mother, Uncle Minato, and Aunt Kushina were talking to Fugaku and Mikoto about something important a couple of feet away from her. She lowered her head as she looked down at the ground.

"Goodbye... Daddy..." Karin thought sadly. "I will always miss... and love you."

"Karin." a voice said.

Karin looked up as she was pulled out of her thoughts and turned to the right to see Sasuke walking towards her with a bouquet of white roses in his hands, his face was sad.

Sasuke stopped right in front of Karin. "I'm sorry about your Dad, I've brought you some flowers." he said before handing her the flowers.

"T-thank you." Karin said, slowly grabbing the flowers. "Um, c-can I put them next to the others flowers, my Daddy always loved white roses, too." she asked.

"Of course." Sasuke said.

Sasuke and Karin walked over to the coffin, Karin carefully put the roses near her father's picture, she suddenly backed up and started to cry. She suddenly felt a hand on her right shoulder, she looked to see Sasuke, staring at worried.

"S-sasuke." Karin said.

"Please don't cry, you have me as well." Sasuke said softly.

Karin hugged Sasuke tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck, as she silently cried into his left shoulder. Sasuke hugged her back equally as he rubbed her back with his right hand.

"It's okay." Sasuke said softly, comforting her.

They stayed like that for a minute until they suddenly heard Naruto's voice. They pulled apart to see Naruto walking towards them. Karin suddenly realized that she was hugging Sasuke, she blushed furiously as she pulled away from him and backed up, which made Sasuke sad.

"Oniisan." Karin said softly, putting her hands together.

Uzume was talking to Minato, Kushina, Fugaku, and Mikoto about the Uzumaki clan.

"I'm sorry that Ryo passed away." Mikoto said sadly to Uzume.

"It's okay, his soul is in a better place now." Uzume said, smiling sadly.

"But are you going to let someone else lead the Uzumaki clan now that he died or lead it in his place, Onee-chan?" Kushina said.

"I'll lead the Uzumaki clan." Uzume said.

"Then me and Minato will help you." Kushina said smiling softly.

"Thanks, Kushina." Uzume said smiling back.

Itachi was standing a few feet away from his little brother Sasuke was hugging the crying red haired girl affectionately before the a spiky yellow haired boy came over, causing Karin to pull away quickly much to his little brother's dismay, and they started talking.

Itachi smiled at the display. "I really like her, Sasuke." he thought.

"Itachi." a female voice said.

Itachi turned around to see a smiling girl that was 9 years old like he was, she had fair skin, a mole under her right eye, long brown hair that reached her waist with bangs framing the sides of her face, onyx black eyes,

"Hello, Izumi." Itachi said.

"I've been looking everywhere for you." Izumi said, stopping next to him, then something made her confused. "Where's Sasuke? He's mostly by your side." she asked, looking around.

Itachi turned back around. "He's over there." he said, pointing with his left hand.

Izumi looked where Itachi was pointing to see Sasuke talking to a red haired girl and a spiky yellow haired boy, also seeing him stared at the girl worriedly.

"Who is that little boy and girl with Sasuke?" Izumi asked curiously.

"That's Karin and her cousin Naruto from the Uzumaki clan." Itachi said.

"Karin? You mean that's the girl your little brother really likes a lot since he was a baby?" Izumi asked.

"Yes." Itachi said.

"She's has changed since I saw her in the picture." Izumi said, looking back at the 3 children, seeing now that Karin was shyly looking down at the ground while Sasuke was staring at her and Naruto was yelling at Sasuke.

"It reminds me of that day... long ago." Izumi thought.

Flashback.

Izumi, 5 years old, her hair tied in a ponytail that had a red ribbon on it, and in her usual outfit, a long sleeved, high collared purple shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, long brown pants, and dark blue sandals, was quietly running to Itachi's house to play with him today.

As she made it to Itachi's house at the backyard, Izumi saw that Itachi, in his usual outfit, was sitting on the ground with Sasuke, in a light blue long sleeved shirt with the Uchiha crest and dark blue pants, in his arms.

"Hello, Itachi." Izumi said, stopping in front of him.

"Izumi." Itachi said.

Izumi noticed that the baby Sasuke was holding a picture, that had a young man with spiky red hair and glasses standing on the left, a young woman with red straight shoulder length hair standing on the right with a red haired infant girl in her arms, with both hands and was staring at it especially at the infant girl.

"Who are those people in the picture?" Izumi asked.

Itachi looked down at the picture for a moment then looked back up at Izumi. "They are my Parents friends, Ryo and Uzume, and their infant Karin, but he really likes her."

"Aww, your little brother has developed a crush at this age." Izumi said, looking down at Sasuke.

"Seems like it." Itachi said.

Izumi tried to take picture from to see what will happen, only for Sasuke move the picture of her reach and close to his chest as he glared at Izumi.

"He still doesn't like me." Izumi said sadly.

End of Flashback.

"I wonder if those 2 will get married in the future when their older?" Izumi thought, continuing to watch the display.

End of Chapter 3.

Please review.