Chapter 116 - Benign Sickness
"Naruto, you need to get Ino and her family to the hospital."
Takeru had already been sent to surgery. Sakura had refused to allow Karin to even supervise, not with the amount of damage that had been done to the boy's body, not with the amount of good she could do with the minor injuries in the Emergency Room. They both agreed that this would be less taxing on her body.
(And beyond that, Karin felt hesitant about operating on any of Sasuke's children.)
"But Sakura, they're not-"
Naruto was following Sakura around the Emergency Room as she dashed from patient to patient, assessing and treating them at almost unreal speeds.
"Naruto, right now, my hospital is the safest place for them to be, and I can't keep going without knowing exactly how they're doing, I don't care just do it I don't have time to argue so just go."
And he really couldn't argue with that. The hospital had Sakura and oodles of chuunin and jounin, both inside and around it, and though Sakura could definitely keep her head under stress, doing this for her would allow her to stay focused on more important things.
Besides, Ino had a right to know about what had happened to her son.
(And Sasuke did too. But Naruto would get to him after his family.)
Gaara and Bee and BB were still waiting outside the hospital entrance, on a lookout, waiting for further orders, since Gaara wasn't giving them.
"Hey, Gaara, I'm sorry, but I gotta take care of something," Naruto said, upon regrouping.
"Why, what's going on?" he replied.
"That boy Bee found, the one that got hurt… that was Sasuke's son," Naruto said. He turned to Bee. "You know, Sasuke, my friend?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know 'im," Bee replied.
"He and his family have been targeted by Orochimaru and the guy that's with him," Naruto continued, "and we need them somewhere safer now, y'know. Before his brothers and sisters or anyone else ends up like him…"
"Damn… Yeah, go get his fam'ly taken care of," Bee said. "We can go back to patrollin' if that's coo' with you."
"I'll radio in a position if I can track the targets after I take care of the Uchiha family, but yeah, thanks for understanding, guys," Naruto said.
"I'll be here when you're finished," Gaara said, nodding. "Go."
It had been years since Naruto had run so fast.
He followed the bright, knife-sharp anxiety of Ino to her place in her father's house, and knocked on the door. Inoichi answered. "Naruto-kun?"
"Inoichi-san, hey, is your family still with you?"
"Well, of course—I mean, Takeru's out somewhere," he added, shrugging, "but I expect he's… smart enough to seek shelter, with the sirens going off."
Naruto tried not to wince, and ended up closing his eyes. The skin on his cheeks tightened from the grimace he was trying to hide. "Well, we need to relocate you—I mean, Ino and your grandkids, the rest of your clan should be safe here in the clan compound."
"Does this have something to do with the… threat they're being protected from?" Inoichi said.
Naruto nodded. "We're going to have them taken to the hospital, where Sakura can watch over them until the emergency's over, y'know. S'about the safest place in the city right now, I imagine, there's guards crawling all over the place…"
"I'll go get her," Inoichi said. He paused in turning around. "Do you want me to come with them?"
"If you want to, Daddy." Ino's voice, coming from the living room, was soft. She appeared beside her father with a pale, worried face. "Naruto, are you bringing us there?"
"Yep." He nodded again. "I'll be going off an' getting Sasuke separately, but he'll be safe too, don't worry, y'know."
"But he'll be kept away from my daughter," Inoichi said. His voice was sour.
"Daddy, please…"
"Considering Sasuke, I bet he'll keep to himself for as long as possible, y'know. Even at the hospital." He tried to smile, but succeeded in only bringing up one side of his mouth. "I'll make sure he doesn't cause trouble, though."
"Will you get Takeru, too?" Ino said.
Naruto closed his eyes, again, tightly, pursing his lips.
"…Takeru's… not in trouble, is he?" Ino's voice had gotten much softer.
"…he got attacked, Ino. And he's hurt real bad; he's in surgery right now…"
One of Ino's thin hands covered her mouth. "Oh, no… No, what happened…?"
"The… people that are targeting your family got to him, Ino. I don't know how, but-"
"It's because he was out, wasn't it? No, this is my fault, I should have been able to keep him here, no, no, no, no…"
"Ino, it's not your fault, I should have been firmer with him, Ino, sweetheart, please…"
But Inoichi's hands, wandering to her shoulders in reassurance, could not keep Ino from crumpling into herself, from crying.
Naruto, however, placed one of his hands over Ino's, his pink fingers resting where her pale ones covered her eyes. "Ino, listen to me."
Her head raised, slightly.
"We need to keep you and the rest of your children safe. This is not going to happen again, okay? What happened was nobody's fault, but we can do something to help now, y'know. Okay?"
She sniffed, swallowed. "Okay…"
"When everyone's ready, we're heading to the hospital, and Sakura's gonna take care of you from there. You just let me know when you're ready."
"We can leave now." Hajime, his brows lowered and sturdy, appeared behind them. "I'll help."
"Hajime, get the rest of your siblings together, quickly," Inoichi said. His grandson nodded, and went further back into the house.
Naruto, in the meantime, was weaving signs with his hands, and soon had a small group of shadow clones at his disposal. Most of them would be for guarding the Uchiha family in taking them to the hospital.
But one of them was for Sasuke, and he sent it out in the direction of his house.
He burst in without any caution whatsoever, and ran into the hallway, seeking the bedroom first. Sasuke wasn't there, but instead sitting on the outdoor walkway, looking out onto the backyard and the empty laundry poles.
He opened the sliding door, in approaching him. "Sasuke!"
Sasuke looked behind him with jagged annoyance. "What are you doing here."
"I gotta get you out of here."
"For what reason?"
"There's an emergency, Sasuke—you hear the sirens, right?"
"I'm not deaf." His eyes spun.
"Okay, okay, I know you're not." He raised his hands, shaking them slightly. "The thing is, there are people in the city causing a whole lot of destruction, and they've targeted your family. So we've-"
But Sasuke was beginning to stand. "If this is what my recent guests were sent for then you really are insulting me. I can take care of myself."
"Sasuke, I don't doubt that," he replied, backing away slightly—Sasuke was starting to really stare him down—"but this is—bad. This is really bad."
"If you don't leave in the next five seconds I'm going to make you leave," Sasuke said.
"But Sasuke-"
"I don't care, I want to be alone.
"Sasuke-!"
One of Sasuke's fists was starting to glow and crackle with preemptive chakra.
"Sasuke, they already attacked Takeru, and nearly killed him! And we're sending your family to safety so nobody else has to get hurt, y'know!"
Sasuke's fist silenced itself. He stopped walking forward.
"So, just to be safe, I want you to be there with them, okay? I really don't want you to get hurt, Sasuke…"
A conflicted sneer stretched across Sasuke's face. "So, not only am I too incompetent to protect myself, but I'm not worthy of even protecting my own family now, is it?"
"Sasuke, no, that's not what I-"
"Because that's just fine, really," he continued, "since they want nothing to fucking do with me." He started walking again.
"Sasuke, listen to me!"
"No, you listen. If you can do a better job than me at taking care of and protecting my own clan, then, by all means!"
And he smiled like he was sixteen again. There was hurt and anger and poison in that smile.
"Continue being my replacement! Go right ahead! You'll fit right in!"
"Sasuke! I'm not your replacement, what are you talki-"
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll be going."
Before he could do anything, Sasuke's fist began to sing again, and he thrust it through his body, and the memories meshed with the whole.
Naruto, who by then was en route with the rest of the Uchiha family, groaned, shaking his head. "Sasuke…"
"What is it? Did Sasuke do something?" Ino had dried her face, and walked beside one of his clones with a tense caution in her body.
"He's… being unreasonable. Basically told me to get lost."
Ino sighed. "Sasuke…"
"I'll probably track him down after I get you guys safe. Just to make sure, y'know?" Naruto said.
"Do you really think he needs protection?" Hajime said, from behind his mother.
"Considering what we're up against? It couldn't hurt, y'know," Naruto replied.
Gaara was still at the Emergency Room entrance when they returned, though BB and Bee had gone back to their patrol. The place seemed noisier, more crowded, even though barely any time had passed.
"You get them all right?" Gaara asked.
"Yeah, you seen Sakura?"
Gaara gestured with his left hand. "In the back, but she's been coming back and asking if you and the rest had arrived yet in between every patient."
Almost as if on cue, Sakura's pink head pushed its way through the tangle of nurses and patients and chuunin and towards them.
"Is he here—Ino!"
And Sakura ran forward and threw her arms around Ino's thin body, and she clung tightly. "Ino, I'm so sorry."
Ino held her, wordlessly, back, pressing her head into Sakura's shoulder.
"We're doing everything we can for Takeru," Sakura continued, when she pulled away. "I've had to divert a few people from other departments down here to help with healing, but I've taken nobody from Surgery, so this… mess down here won't hurt his chances."
"Sakura… it's okay. You don't need to tell me." Ino's voice cracked. She inhaled quickly. "Just tell us where you want us."
"The hospital lobby should be fine. Just stay near the entrance, where I can see you," Sakura said. "If any trouble comes here, I'm dealing with it first."
When she clenched her fist, her knuckles cracked.
Naruto followed them into the nearby lobby for a while, so he'd know where they were, just in case.
He didn't expect for Karai to call out, "Masao-sensei! Are you all right? What are you doing here?"
He followed Karai's face, then her eyes, and there, sitting on a waiting bench, was indeed Masao, with Murasaki leaning against him. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, and he was holding her hand.
"Karai-chan?" he replied. "I'm… taking care of Murasaki. She's… in a bad way."
"…please, stop, I told you I don't know…" Murasaki murmured.
"Did her parents call you?" Naruto said, edging forward.
"How'd you guess, Sensei?" Masao said, with a wafer-thin smile. "They're staying home, on account of the civilian lockdown, but they wanted someone to bring her to the hospital before she hurt herself."
"…I don't know what's going on…" Murasaki fussed, squirming against Masao's shoulder.
"Do you know if Sanji-kun and Usui-kun are okay?" Karai asked.
"I'm sure they're fine, Karai-chan," Masao replied. "They're smart kids, they're probably staying inside like everyone else."
Murasaki was beginning to sit up more. "…no, no, I can't ask them, Shusuke, tell them, please, I can't ask them…!"
A winding tightness, like string or rubber, snapped through everyone present, at the name.
(Nadeshiko's eyes, already lowered, closed.)
"…you guys go on ahead, I'm gonna keep talkin' to Masao here, 'kay?" Naruto said, jerking his head sideways with a wink.
"Sure. Ino, you and your family can take these chairs here…" Sakura continued, her voice fading as she began going on about where she would be, if they needed her.
"So I'm guessing she hasn't gotten much better since the chuunin exams, huh," Naruto said, taking a place on the bench so that the girl sat between them.
Masao shook his head. "I've been trying to visit her when I can. Her parents are worried, and they want to see if there's any medicine she can take now to make things better, to at least calm her down, but…"
"…Shusuke, please, tell them to leave me alone…" Her head fell forward; her hair, tangled from lack of combing, fell into her lap.
Naruto pressed his lips together, and put a hand on Murasaki's back, stroking her hair gently, trying to inject as much calmness into her as he could.
"Murasaki, it's okay, just take it easy," he said.
But Murasaki's head snapped up, instead, and she looked back at him with exhausted, heavy eyes. "Sensei…! You're here… Please, please, help me, they keep asking me about what's going on, but I don't know, I don't know what's going on, tell them, please, just get them to leave me alone…!"
And she leaned forward, clinging to his sleeves, digging her head into his chest.
"Please, Sensei, Shusuke can tell them, they'll listen to you…"
Naruto and Masao just looked at each other, exchanging pain. Naruto kept up his comfort, the only thing he knew he could do for her.
After a time, Sakura returned to her work. Gaara appeared under the archway that linked the Emergency Room to the rest of the hospital via the lobby in which they waited. He tapped his wrist, urgently, and Naruto lifted a hand and waved it apologetically back.
"It's okay, Sensei, I can take care of her from here," Masao said, seeing this. He began to pull her away from Naruto, but her fingers were still tightly wrapped into the fabric of his jacket. "Sakura-sensei told me that after the threat's over we can get her transferred to the psychiatric ward, if she hasn't improved."
Naruto began prying Murasaki's fingers off of him, one by one. "Thanks, Masao. I appreciate it." He got to the palm of her left hand, and held it. "Murasaki, listen to me, I have to go now, y'know. Just keep calm, and things will be better soon, okay?"
It took several seconds for his words to reach her. And when they did, she lifted her head further, her mouth open, imploringly. "…Sensei, please, do something to stop this…"
"Come on, Murasaki…" Masao pulled her, slowly, backwards, towards his shoulder, and she began mumbling to him, about getting them to leave her alone, about Shusuke…
But as Naruto was crossing the lobby towards Gaara, something loud and roaring made itself known, and it was getting louder.
For a short time, everything stood still. Breath was held, and nurses stood in front of patients. From the corner of the lobby, Naruto could see Hajime standing in front of his sitting family, Nadeshiko with him.
Naruto's back bent, in preparation. A thin veil of sand appeared behind Gaara from the slim, zippered container on his back.
The noise got louder. And the threat, it seemed, was not from outside the hospital, but within it.
At the peak of the noise, a brown man with orange hair burst into the lobby, and paused for a moment in the center of the room, hunched, almost ape-like, breathing heavily. His eyes were black around their edges, and Naruto immediately recognized him: a Curse Seal victim.
Hajime, of course, went forward, approaching the man, quietly, his hands raised. Protocol.
But a small spark of recognition entered his face, and he lowered his hands. "Juugo-san?" he finally said.
The Curse Sealed man's head whipped toward him, but then his expression softened. "Hajime… Where is the doctor… Where is Karin…" His voice seemed amplified, far deeper than a voice should have been.
"Juugo-san, what's the matter?" Hajime said.
"Where is Karin?" Juugo slammed a fist into the floor of the lobby, and the stone tile cracked. As his arm retreated, however, he looked at his hand with horrified curiosity, and his shoulders hunched further. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, my strength is not for hurting…"
Naruto stood forward, putting his arm up at an angle—Stand down, Gaara, it's okay—and approached him. "Uh… Juugo-san, was it? Karin-san's in the Emergency Room, but I really think you ought to, uh… calm down a bit first, y'know?"
Juugo's movements in facing him were as violent and sudden as before, but the brown muddiness of his skin began to fade slightly. "I want to help protect the hospital. I need to tell her it's okay. That Asaoto is okay."
"Juugo, you should go back to your room." Karin, slightly bent over, a hand on her stomach, appeared beside Gaara, and glared at him severely. "Let the staff take care of you. We don't need any more protection, okay."
(The aura with her, normally so gentle, pulsed out of her in red-harsh, heartbeat-like pulses.)
"Karin-san-" Naruto began.
But Juugo began lumbering toward her, and she toward him. "But, Karin, they told me that I can protect people, that I don't have to hurt anyone or run away any more, I want to help and do good…"
"That's true, Juugo, but…" She exhaled, sharply. "Now is not the time. If you want to protect someone, protect your son, okay? Asaoto needs you most, Juugo."
(Asaoto, who was huddled into a blanket in his room with Shingetsu, stress-born spines easing out of his shoulders, his brother trying his best to soothe him.)
"Can you calm down?" she continued, touching his arm.
Juugo nodded, slowly. The brown, bacterial spread of his skin receded further, one of his eyes returning to normal.
"Then go back to your room, and apologize to the staff for scaring them, okay?" she said. She leaned sideways. "Hajime-kun, do you think you could help him?"
But before Hajime could reply, Karin noticed something behind him, and she sucked in her breath.
Naruto saw it around the same time that she did.
But instead of ducking away, making himself less visible, Ooda stepped out and removed himself from the corner where he'd been watching Juugo. He was still slightly out of breath from chasing him down the hallway, trying to stop him.
(He saw all the people, in bandaged clusters, and the frenzy of the Emergency Room behind his mother, behind Naruto and the man with sand floating around him like a coiled snake.)
(And conversations, once thought dreamed, pressed back into sleep by a kiss on the forehead, oozed into reality, aided by disbelieved photographs.)
Karin cleared her throat. "Well, Hajime?"
"Oh, sure, I'd be… glad to," Hajime said, and he placed a hand on one of Juugo's massive arms, leading him back down the hallway and towards the Curse Seal ward. Rather than keeping his eyes on the floor or on Juugo, however, he focused on Ooda, who now stood against the wall beside his sister, Nadeshiko.
Karin moved with him, and grabbed the blanket around Ooda's shoulders to cover his face better as Hajime passed by them. "Ooda," she whispered, "what are you doing out?"
("Naruto, who is that man there?" Gaara, eyes narrowed with curiosity, said.)
"Something spooked Juugo, I had to follow him," Ooda replied, keeping his voice low.
("Uh, that's… uh, Karin-san's son, y'know," Naruto said.)
"Mom, what's going on here…?" he continued.
(Gaara's eyes narrowed further as he tried to focus, leaning forward slightly. "Her son?")
"Nothing, Ooda. Now get back to your room, okay? It's safer in there."
("Yeah, uh, not much resemblance, huh?" Naruto said. "Gaara, why don't we get back on patrol, y'know?")
But Ooda, unsatisfied, pulled the blanket back from his head and glanced around the room again, his mouth opening slightly.
"…this is because of him, isn't it? He's back. I knew it, I saw those reports you left on the table after you left with Sakura-sensei."
(Gaara's forehead lowered, now, with suspicion. "Are… you okay, Naruto?")
"No, Ooda, just… go, go back to your room." Karin leaned forward, her head lowering.
("Not… really? The city's kinda under attack, Gaara. We need to get going, c'mon." Naruto motioned his thumb over his shoulder.)
"No, I won't. They're looking for me, aren't they? That's why all of this is happening. People are getting hurt because of me, aren't they?"
("Well… all right," Gaara said, slowly.)
But then Ooda pushed past his mother, and the lies he knew he would receive from her, and he crossed the lobby, impervious to every stare, and put a hand on Naruto's arm.
"Naruto-san, please, tell me if this is true or not. He's back, and he's looking for me, isn't he?"
His bangs left part of one eye exposed, and the purple skin that bordered it.
Gaara saw, and stepped back with what was almost a wince. "Naruto, who in the world is this person?"
Karin was almost lurching towards them, anger and desperation in her face.
"Gaara, uh, I told you, this is-"
"I'm a clone of Orochimaru, the Sannin. He made me. I'm one of his last experiments." He looked at Gaara plainly, eyes locking as he pulled the blanket away from his head and over his shoulders. "That's who I am."
(Once again, the room fell silent. Everyone heard.)
(Neither Naruto nor Karin had ever heard his voice so strong or so clear.)
"…and I'd appreciate it if you didn't ask any more questions, it's not a very comfortable subject for me…" he said, in his older, quieter, more shameful voice.
"…and, uh, Karin-san's his mom, like I said," Naruto added, clearing his throat. "She's been taking care of him, and we're taking care of both of them, y'know."
Gaara looked between the boy, his mother, and his friend, and swallowed. "Well, this is news to me."
"Yeah, it's… yeah," Naruto said. "It's definitely news."
"News I did not want spread, okay," Karin bumped in.
"Mom." Ooda spoke before anyone else could. "It's okay, I don't care any more. If people know about me… that's fine. I don't care what they do to me."
"Ooda."
But he continued, as if she weren't there. "Naruto-san," he said, "please, clear this up for me. O-Orochimaru, and… and that man he's with… They're looking for a False Snake. Right?"
"Ooda, stop this right now and go back to your room," Karin said.
"That's… what they said, yeah," Naruto said.
"And the man he's with is a… water-using ninja, unstable, very loyal. He's probably the same man that… found me, my first time here."
"Ooda, stop." Karin jerked on one of his arms, under the blanket.
"We… can't be sure, Ooda-kun, y'know," Naruto said, haltingly.
"No, it's… him. I'm sure of it, I saw the photographs, it's him. I know they're looking for me. This… this is my fault."
"So, what's really going on is… Orochimaru's trying to find a clone he made of himself?" Gaara, arms crossed, said. "And the man he's with is a tracker of some sort, for that purpose?"
"I don't see what else it could be…" Ooda said, his shoulders rising. "There's no other reason he'd be here…"
"Ooda, listen to me, and get back to your room, okay!" Karin—almost snapping—said, her grip firm on his arm.
"No, Mom. I won't." He pulled his arm away from her, and closer to his chest. "I shouldn't hide from this."
"Ooda-kun, you should listen to your mom, y'know," Naruto said. "Gaara and me and a whole bunch of other people are working hard to find Orochimaru an' keep him from hurting you or anyone else. You're safest in your room."
"But he won't stop until he finds me, will he?" Ooda's chin tilted slightly downward, exposing more of his eyes. "Naruto-san, if this keeps going, it's only going to hurt more people and cause more panic. Let him find me. Take me hostage. I don't care, as long as it gets him to stop."
"Ooda, NO!" Karin's glasses almost fell off from the force of her shout.
"Ooda-kun… You're not the only target, y'know," Naruto said. "The Uchiha clan's also been called out, and your mother. And I refuse to let any of you get hurt. It's… a noble thought, but letting him take you hostage isn't gonna help anyone, y'know."
Karin, readjusting her glasses, scowled at the boy. "See, you hear him? This is bigger than you, Ooda. Okay?"
Ooda's chin lowered in thought. "I'm just one person, though. And… and both of them want me, for different reasons. I'm more valuable to them, and less valuable to you. After all," he added, with a humorless smirk, "what does it matter to you, if something happens to me? Uchiha Sasuke and his family are worth far more than me, so they deserve the protection. I don't."
"So what are you suggesting, exactly?" Gaara said.
"He is not suggesting anything, okay," Karin growled.
"I'm suggesting that… you use me as bait," Ooda said. "Draw them out. Let them know you have me, and that they can have me. That'll let you… capture them. Stop them."
"Hey, hey, we are not using anyone as bait, y'know!" Naruto said.
"Then what are we going to do?" Ooda said, his voice rising. "Just let them keep running around, causing chaos? And what about Yakata?"
"Who's Yakata?" Gaara said.
"I'll explain later," Naruto replied, whip-quickly. "Ooda-kun, please, we have a task force looking for them, and-"
"Orochimaru never let himself get caught by anything if he could help it," Ooda interrupted. "He needs to be lured out by something he wants. And that's me. And since we both know that the Uchiha clan's too… precious to risk, I'm the best bait you've got."
"You are not bait, and you are staying here, okay?" Karin's voice was dagger-pointed.
But Ooda continued, untouched. "Naruto-san, please. Let me be of some use to you, and pay you back for… attracting these people to Konoha in the first place."
"If you even consider this, either of you, I will castrate you in your sleep," Karin said, her eyes flicking between the two Kages.
Gaara looked like he'd swallowed something severely unpleasant. "Was that a… threat?"
"It'll be more than a threat if you keep this up, okay," Karin replied, lowly.
But Ooda put a hand on her heaving shoulder, his face creasing with worry. "Mom… please, you don't have to do this. This is my decision, my suggestion. Get mad at me, not them…"
"Oh, I am mad at you," Karin replied, "don't think that I'm not. Why would you even think of this, Ooda?"
"Because I have to take responsibility, Mom," Ooda replied. "They're only here because they want me."
"And Sasuke, and me, Ooda!" Karin said.
"But out of these people, which one is worth the least? I am. I'm… expendable."
"You are not."
"You really aren't, Ooda-kun," Naruto tried to add, but the conversation continued.
"I am, Mom. Nobody… really needs me for anything. I'm just a…" He swallowed, his voice growing thick. "A freak that shouldn't exist. I only cause trouble."
Karin slapped him, and her handprint remained pink on his white cheek.
She hugged him, hard, after that.
"I'm not going to lose you too, Ooda…!" She was holding back tears. "First Suigetsu, and then, if I lost you…! Without you, what am I going to do?"
He was slightly limp in her arms, bent over and weak. "Suigetsu…? Mom, what do you mean…?"
Naruto touched his mouth with his fingers, inhaling sharply.
"I need you here, Ooda," Karin continued. "Not just… because of the clinic, or the children, but because you're my son, and I love you. You're my most precious person, and nothing—nothing—could ever replace you, okay?"
Ooda wrapped his arms around her, resting his head against hers. "I know, Mom…"
"So don't do this, Ooda, please…"
He pulled away. "Mom… I have to."
"Ooda."
"If I don't, then I'm going to have to live the rest of my life knowing that—that goodness knows how many people were hurt because of me. That I let Yakata get… absorbed, lost forever, that-"
"Ooda, stop. Don't… say anything more, okay?" Karin took a deep breath, and crossed her arms, addressing the Kages. "Fine. If you go through with this, then I go with him."
"Mom!"
"What? Karin-san…" Naruto said.
"Ooda's not the only thing Orochimaru wants," Karin said. "Besides, you get me out there, and I guarantee that we'll both be kept safe."
"But the little one, Mom…" Ooda said.
"I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think I could handle it," Karin said, turning her head to speak to him, before returning to Naruto and Gaara. "Well, can we get a plan together?"
"Karin-san, I'm sure we can think of something else we can do, y'know…" Naruto said.
But Gaara said, "How much combat training do the both of you have?"
"Gaara!" Naruto said.
"I've been trained since I could walk in both medical and sensor jutsu, and some combat, but I'm pregnant, so I'm not capable of much right now. Ooda mostly heals but he also knows self-defense, okay."
"Gaara, what the heck are you doing, man?" Naruto said.
"They're offering, and using them to draw Orochimaru and his companion out into the open is the best plan we've got. Otherwise we're just wandering blindly and letting them cause more collateral damage," Gaara replied. "We can place them in an open, enclosed area—the chuunin arena's probably our best bet—and station jinchuuriki and whatever other staff we have around the area for a speedy extraction. If we're careful, nobody has to get hurt, especially not the clone or his mother."
"I'll do it," Ooda said, immediately.
(The only fear in his heart was for his mother, Naruto could feel, powder blue and almost soothing.)
(Karin, however, was red-stressed, spiking more and more with each heartbeat, though she had been like this even before this decision had been reached.)
And Naruto sighed, heavily. "All right, Gaara. If you can get this to work, I'll back you up, y'know."
"It will work," Gaara said, smiling slightly at him before returning to Ooda and Karin. "Thank you, both of you, for your bravery. We'll keep you as safe as we can manage."
"Don't waste too much effort…" Ooda said, softly, earning a nudge from Karin.
Together, the four of them left the hospital, Gaara sending out orders over the radio to the other jinchuuriki to regroup at the chuunin arena.
("Naruto, so who's this Yakata that he mentioned?" Gaara asked him, before they went out.)
("The boy Orochimaru's holding hostage," Naruto replied.)
("Really? How does that clone-man know about him?")
(Naruto tried not to wait too long. "…his family and Karin-san's are close. She's known him since he was, uh, small, y'know. They're worried.")
("Then we'd better not wait," Gaara replied, nodding.)
(Naruto took very little comfort in the jade-green trust that came with his words.)