Chapter 6.

Pairing: Naruto x Uchiha Mikoto.

THIS WILL NOT BE A HAREM

A/N: I post updates regarding the story on my Twitter. So, if you want to be prepared for when chapters come out, I'm always announcing how far I am with the stories in good time. My Twitter: Skairipa1337.

Warning: The main character's age has been adjusted.

The forests between Konoha and Kusa.

Dusk finally arrived as the woods darkened around them. Naruto had moved them to a more secure location and started a fire, along with creating about twenty clones to create a perimeter of security as they hid about the forest.

They would have to get out of there soon. It was only a matter of time before Ryujin would have the woods swept for their presence, and he needed her location to treat Akari. While Naruto loved his village, the medical scene had taken a turn for the worse after the slug sannin, Senju Tsunade, had left the village in sorrow.

Opening his eyes that he had been resting for a few minutes, he looked down beside him to see Akari still out cold, looking somewhat better but still in a bad shape. Her fever was going down, but the bite marks on her arms kept getting a worse and worse appearance.

Looking down beside her, he smiled softly at the sight of Karin tucking her small form up against her mother's side, under her arm. Hearing a soft sound from the bushes in beside them, the blond looked over with a raised brow to see Gamakichi who had finally returned.

Standing up on his feet, Naruto quietly walked in between the bushes and crouched down in front of the toad, "What do you have for me, buddy?" He asked in a quiet tone to make sure he didn't wake the others up by accident.

Gamakichi held up a sealed scroll with a proud grin, "Location delivered as requested bro." He responded as Naruto nodded gratefully and grabbed the scroll.

Upon unsealing and rolling it out, he mentally sighed in relief. The location was near Yu no Kuni, the lands of hot springs, tourist attractions, and gambling. No wonder she was over there, the nightlife was probably quite entertaining. Yu no Kuni was about as far away as Konoha was from this location, and while she wasn't out of the country, she was in one of the few cities that had a lot of influences from its neighbor.

"Was that all bro?" Gamakichi yawned, making Naruto chuckle as he nodded gratefully toward his summon.

"Yes Gamakichi, thanks for the help." Naruto thanked him, but the toad just waved him off before disappearing in a cloud of smoke, returning back home.

Waltzing back into camp, Naruto sighed softly. He didn't want to stay in hostile territory longer than he needed to, but Akari was sick and every minute could be important. He had already waited longer than he wanted to.

Crouching down Naruto pulled the blade off his back and sealed it into a scroll that he tucked away into his Shuriken pouch. He'd have to carry them both, and the sword would be in the way.

Gently shaking Karin's shoulder, he smiled apologetically at her as he held a finger up to his mouth, signaling her to be quiet.

Karin yawned as she sat up tiredly, looking confused up at the blond Uzumaki who was putting the fire out, "A-Aniki it's still dark…"

"I know, I'm sorry. I've gotten the location I need, and I don't wanna waste any more time. We'll travel by night." Naruto explained softly and turned around with his back toward her, signaling for her to get on.

Karin blushed slightly and looked a bit uncertain. After taking a deep breath she swung her smaller arms around the blond's neck and climbed onto his back, holding her body in place by wrapping her legs around onto his stomach.

"Comfortable?" Naruto asked quietly as he crouched down beside Akari and started to seal away his cloak that he had been letting her borrow as a pillow.

"No…" Karin pouted at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" Naruto chuckled a bit amused before scooping Akari up in his arms again. The woman was so light that it really made him quite uncomfortable. She needed a proper meal soon.

Time was ticking, they had to leave now. "Hang on tight Karin, it's going to be a long trip," Naruto warned before jumping off the ground and into the woods, using the branches of the trees to increase his momentum as they disappeared into the night, the clones he had created traveling along with them in the shadows, guarding them against any attack that could come.

As the sunrise started to show, Naruto started to slow down as the noise of a city started to get closer to his ears. Landing on the last branch of the forest, he started to look over his destination. A gambling hub for travelers going to and from between the Hi no Kuni and Yu no Kuni.

The village was indeed a nice sight. It was filled with high-class luxury gambling halls and hotels. Placing Akari down for a second on the branch, he heard Karin yawn softly on his shoulder with her eyes opening and closing from sleepiness.

Reaching into his pocket, he looked at the address that the Hokage had gotten him. Luckily for him, he had been here before on a mission and had stayed at the exact same address, to, you know, practice his luck at gambling while he had some time to kill. Sighing, he pocketed the note again and lifted the woman up again before using the shunshin to get there faster whilst avoiding prying eyes.

Landing at the front entrance, Naruto sneaked in past the lady at the front desk and started to slowly make his way up the stairs. Luckily for him, there was no one in the hallway to give him funny looks. Slowly walking down the hallway, looking at all the numbers on the doors, he got to the end and finally got the number he was looking for.

"B213" He whispered and crouched down to let Karin get off his back, which she hurriedly did. Yawning loudly she stretched with a sleepy look, black bags under her eyes as she could barely keep herself awake.

"Can you knock for me?" Naruto asked with a smile, to which Karin just nodded without saying a word before knocking a few times on the door as they heard shifting on the other side of the door.

A loud yell of frustration was heard from within the room, making Karin seek out a hiding spot behind Naruto's legs. Naruto sweatdropped at that and watched the door with interest.

"I swear to god I'll skin alive whoever dares wake me up so early in the morning!" Came a loud roar from within, as the door was flung open to reveal a fair-skinned woman with brown eyes and straight blonde hair. She was an above-average height and had noticeably large breasts. She stopped at the door's opening for a moment and narrowed her eyes before smirking with a small grin.

Without saying a word to him she left the door open and walked back in, "Shizune! Blondie is here! And he is carrying a woman with him." She shouted without a care in the world.

"What're you talking about Tsunade-sama?" Came a tired groan from within a few seconds after.

Naruto sweatdropped more at that and heard more footsteps coming as a teen a bit taller than him with shoulder-length black hair, and onyx eyes came into the doorframe, "Naruto-kun! What a pleasant surprise, what do we owe the pleasure? And, umm… Why are you carrying a redheaded woman?"

Naruto frowned at that and motioned with his head down at the kid behind his legs. Shizune looked down curiously and her eyes widened at the sight of a young redheaded girl hiding behind the blond's legs.

"I need your assistance. This woman is Akari Uzumaki, and this young one is Karin Uzumaki, her daughter. I was on a mission to Kusa to retrieve these two from an abusive environment, but Akari passed out and have been out cold for what I would guess is ten to twelve hours. It looks serious, and I don't think Konoha's hospitals have what it takes so I came here. Please help me." Naruto whispered, looking into the older girl's eyes with a rare pleading look.

Shizune opened her mouth to answer when the slug sannin yelled from within the room, "Bring her in here and lay her on the bed and I'll take a look, but you know the deal blondie!"

Naruto smiled with relief and hurriedly got inside with Karin in tow. Getting to the bed, Naruto laid Akari down and placed a pillow under her head.

Tsunade yawned and stretched with a groan as she spotted the kind behind Naruto's legs, "Since when did you become a dad?"

Naruto started coughing wildly as he choked on his own spit, "N-No! As I said to Shizune-chan, this is Karin Uzumaki, she is the daughter of Akari here." Naruto said as he pointed between the two female Uzumakis with his index finger.

"Calm down gaki, I'm just teasing you." Tsunade roared with laughter as she walked over to the woman on the bed. She was hiding her interest with humor, but she had been willing to help ever since he mentioned who he had with him.

It was no secret that her grandmother was Mito Uzumaki, and she had been friendly with Kushina Uzumaki before she passed. She had thought Naruto was the only one left, but here he was, dragging two more to her doorstep.

"Shizune, take a look at the girl. If she is from the same place she might be sick too," Tsunade ordered, and Shizune quickly nodded and moved toward the young girl who kept hiding behind the blond.

Naruto patted the top of her head, slightly startling her as she looked up at him, "It's okay Karin, these people are friends. Tsunade over there has Uzumaki blood too, her grandmother was an Uzumaki. You can trust them, they'll make your mother better in no time."

Karin still uncertain slowly made her way out from her hiding place, looking up at the dark-haired woman who slowly extended a hand down to her, which she looked up at Naruto before grabbing.

"We'll do what we can, but in the meantime, you're going to take a shower blondie. You stink." Tsunade snorted while pulling Akari's sleeves up with a horrified look. Those marks on her arms were beyond disgusting to look at. Where had Naruto found her again?

Naruto pouted at that and started to walk toward the bathroom, "Yeah, yeah, you try fighting the leader of Kusa without starting to sweat."

As he was walking past Shizune who had placed Karin on a chair, the older girl looked down at his arm that was swaying by his side as he walked. Standing up she grabbed his wrist making him look at her funnily.

"What?" He asked confused as she pulled the hand covered in bloody bandages up to her face.

"You're injured." She states simply and starts to unroll poorly done bandage off his hand to reveal a completely healed palm. "But there was so much blood…" She notes with a beyond confused expression.

"Come on now, you know what I house and who I am, the hole was gone hours ago. I just didn't have time to remove the bandage because I was on my way here," Naruto smirked a bit at that as Shizune huffed and threw the bandage into the trashcan.

"I'm still going to have you go through a check-up when you're done showering," Shizune said with a small pout as she crouched down before Karin again.

Naruto couldn't help but sweatdrop again, waving her off as he entered the bathroom and started to unseal some fresh clothes and seal away his dirty ones. Turning on the hot water, he sighed and stepped into the shower. Washing away the blood, dirt, and sweat from the day before.

After wiping his face dry with a towel, Naruto threw it up on a rack in the bathroom before starting to get dressed. Pulling on his clothes slowly, Naruto yawned a bit before finally putting his ANBU armor back in place, feeling his sore body everywhere. " Great job moron, you really shouldn't have gone easy on him…" Naruto mutters, but mostly to himself as he opens the door into the hotel room, watching Tsunade busy working on Akari with her palms glowing green around her arms.

"Took you long enough, had a fun time with yourself in the shower?" Tsunade teased with a smirk, making Naruto's cheeks turn light pink as he huffed at her. Shizune on the other hand almost choked on her own salvia, her cheeks rosy red as Karin looked beyond confused at them.

"Don't be ridiculous…" Naruto muttered with an embarrassed look. Glancing over at Akari, Naruto frowned a bit as he looked over at Tsunade expectantly.

Tsunade sighed a bit at his glance as her hands stopped glowing green, and rested her palms on her thighs, "She was suffering from a severe case of chakra exhaustion, the marks on her arms being the source of the infection. She had been exposed to far too many chakra natures, may I ask what the reason behind these marks are?"

"People heal from biting her." Naruto stated simply with a dark look before shaking it off his face, "Will she be okay?" He then asked, Karin also looking at the blond woman as Shizune finished her checkup on the girl.

Tsunade gave a soft smile and nodded, "She will be, but her body has been fighting to survive for a long time. It's a miracle she hasn't passed out from chakra poisoning months ago. If you hadn't brought her when you did, she could have died in a few days, but as it seems now, she will, with enough rest and following checkups, be okay. I don't know when she will wake up, though I'm assuming a few days."

Naruto sighed with relief and slumped down in a chair as he ran a hand through his damp hair, "Thank god. So, I guess this means we have a lot of time to kill."

"You look tired gaki, go relax at the hot springs on the other side of the border. They are quite famous for a reason. We'll look after these two, right Shizune?" Tsunade sighed and shifted her gaze to her young apprentice who just nodded with a smile as she prepared a bed for the young tired Karin.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama. You can rest assured that these are in safe hands." Shizune quickly agreed as Naruto sighed, deciding that his armor wasn't needed anyway as he started to pull off his forearm guards and ANBU vest to lay in the corner.

"But remember our deal gaki, this isn't free." Tsunade reminded him with a smirk. Naruto just sighed at that and waved her off, knowing what she meant.

Without saying another word to her, Naruto waltzed over and crouched down in front of Karin as he carefully placed a hand in her hair to ruffle it gently, "I'm going to go out for a bit, you can rest here. Shizune-chan over there has prepared a bed for you so you can rest, and hopefully, your mom will be awake soon."

Karin could only nod sleepily. Her brain was not able to go much longer before she would pass out on the floor.

Naruto smiled softly at the girl and picked her up to gently place her under the covers of the bed, pushing a pillow under her head as he tucked her in, "Comfortable?" He asked and stood tall again.

"Y-Yeah… When will you be back, Aniki?" She asked sleepily, making the two older women that were awake in the room chuckle a bit. When did he say he saved them? She already called him Aniki.

Ruffling her hair briefly he sighed, "In a few hours, I should be back by the time you wake up." He whispered and pulled the blanket up to cover her form.

"Hai…" She mumbled tiredly as she started to doze off. The sound of light snoring following soon after.

Naruto sighed again and walked over to exit the hotel room after that, leaving the safety of the two Uzumaki in Tsunade and Shizune's hands.

Two hours later - Yu no Kuni.

Naruto was waltzing through the busy streets of Yu no Kuni. The hot springs had been nice, but he felt like it had been overexaggerated when people told him that it was a legendary place. Yeah, maybe it was nice and relaxing, but it didn't feel any different than taking a dip in the Konoha hot springs. Well, one exception being the possible lurking of his godfather Jiraiya.

Sighing he walked down a few stairs and found himself at a beach. He had only seen the actual ocean a few times, most of his missions didn't really go no near it, but when he could he would stop by to enjoy the sight. That reminded him of an embarrassing moment in his life.

Mikoto had been telling him and Itachi about how much she wanted to see the actual ocean and go to the beach. They had started this talk when he and Itachi had returned from a mission near Mizu no Kuni, but that wasn't the embarrassing part. No. Mikoto had to go as far as to tell them in great detail that she had to live with skinny dipping in the Naka River instead.

And as a teenager, it wasn't hard to figure out what kind of images he got in his head. As the thoughts and images started to creep up in his mind again, he started gaining a pink blush as the image of a topless Uchiha Mikoto in the water appeared in his mind before he punched himself in the nose to make it disappear.

"Son of a bitch!" He cursed and grabbed his nose. Well, at least the images were gone now. He really had to kick Kakashi and Jiraiya's asses for showing him the great world of Icha Icha Paradise. Mikoto would surely kill him... and them too if she knew.

Speaking of Mikoto…

"And my mother is okay with that?" Itachi asked in shock.

Naruto chuckled bitterly, "I wouldn't say that…"

"Oh, the silent treatment?" Itachi then questioned.

"It's more like she left after she heard all that she needed to hear," Naruto said and shrugged.

Itachi gave a bitter laugh at that, and placed a hand on his hip while patting Naruto's shoulder with his remaining hand, "I suggest you come back with a souvenir."

"Why?" Naruto asked, his brows flying upon his forehead.

"Let me just say it in a simple way. This is the first phase of my mother starting to give you the silent treatment. So unless you want to live through phase two and three of her being mad at you, I suggest getting her a gift, as that might be an option for getting her into a good mood again." Itachi finished, and Naruto mentally noted this down as the largest amount of words he had ever heard Itachi say in one go.

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind while I'm there."

"I'm dead…" Naruto muttered to himself with a sweatdrop. He had totally forgotten about that while being in Kusa.

Getting an idea Naruto looked around him and thought with a small hum, "If she really wants to see the beach, I could bring it to her. No, that wouldn't work. I doubt I would have enough scrolls to seal the sand and water. And where would I put it? Ahhh…" He groaned in frustration.

"You seem troubled young man." An elderly voice called from beside him.

Raising a brow he let go of his hair that he had been pulling out in frustration and turned around to face a seemingly buff old man who was looking at him curiously. "Yeah, I guess you could say so."

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with yourself, seems like you're in the dog house." He joked lightly with a dry chuckle, making Naruto sweatdrop.

Shrugging slightly, the blond ran a hand through his golden locks, "I guess you could say so, I have someone at home that is mad at me for taking another job so quickly after getting home."

"It means she cares, overworking yourself is bad for your health. Tell me about it, I've been married for long enough to know a few tricks to get out of the so-called dog house." The man kept chuckling as he sat down on a bench behind them.

Groaning in frustration, Naruto slumped down on a bench beside him and looked toward the ocean, "It was an important job, I can't tell you much sorry. She's mad I'm never home and taking so many jobs, and my friend told me that it would be in my greatest interest to essentially get her a souvenir."

"Quite the coincidence, I'm here for a job too. I've been building the bridges leading to and from the new hot springs. And you said she liked the beach? Why don't you bring her here then, and take her on a vacation?" The old man asked in a gruff tone.

Naruto seemed to think about that for a bit and shook his head, "It's a bit too far I'm afraid, and I need something a bit more meaningful I guess."

"Well if she like the idea of the ocean, then why not make something for her yourself? There's a bunch of seashells here, you could make a wristband or a necklace perhaps." He then asked curiously, poking a few of said seashells with the tip of his sandals.

Naruto blinked at that and reached down to pull a colorful seashell out of the sand, inspecting it between his fingers before smiling, "You know what, that sounds like a great idea."

"I know it is. When you have lived with the same woman for as long as I have, you start to realize that the handmade gifts beat anything that you could ever by in a store." The old man laughed a bit louder at that and rested back against the bench.

"So how long have you and our wife been married?" Naruto asked and looked toward the man curiously, fidgetting the seashell around in his palm.

The man sighed and looked a bit down into the sand at that, "My wife passed away some years ago now. A bit before my grandson was born actually."

"I'm sorry to hear it. I hope she died painlessly?" Naruto quietly asked.

The man quickly nodded and smiled, "She slept in. It might have been a bit early, but she had lived a long good life. I never actually go to know your name kid?"

"Oh, how rude of me. Uzumaki Naruto, at your service." Naruto chuckled as he extended his hand that was met by the older man's strong grip.

"Tazuna here kid. So, about this woman of yours. You going to take my advice?" Tazuna asked and Naruto nodded with a blush.

"She's not exactly my woman. She's my best friend's mom, and she is married." Naruto blushed and waved his hands around.

"Hooo, that's some serious homewrecking you got going on there kid. And at such an early age too!" Tazuna roared out laughing while clutching his stomach, the glasses on his face almost falling off.

Groaning Naruto slapped his forehead, "No, it's not like that. I basically grew up with her, she's my aunt figure if anything else. And you don't know my age."

"Tell that to the smile you had on your face when you picked up that seashell. And to me, you look young as hell." Tazuna couldn't help but tease as we wiped some tears out of his eyes.

"Whatever…" Naruto grunted with a twitching eyebrow.

Looking on the watch on his arm, Tazuna sighed and shook his head, "Looks like my break is almost over. It was nice meeting you kiddo, tell me, where you from by the way?"

"I'm from Konoha, Tazuna-san," Naruto responded politely, making Tazuna raise a brow at him before he jabbed his shoulder slightly.

"Konoha? I guess you are Shinobi then. You look way too fit for someone your age." Tazuna chuckled as he stood up from the bench with a stretch.

Naruto chuckled and stood up as well as he summoned a few sparks of lightning in his palm, "You got a good eye Tazuna-san."

"Pf, that's what it takes to be a master bridge builder!" Tazuna beamed with pride.

Naruto shook his head and pocketed the seashell while extending his hand toward the man again, "It was indeed nice meeting you Tazuna-san, thanks again for your advice. If you're ever in Konoha, just ask for me."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Tazuna nodded and shook the blond's hand before turning around to leave.

Barely a few steps away, Tazuna turned his head and smirked at the blond boy, "Good luck with your homewrecking kid!"

"Oh, you got to be kidding me…"

Konohagakure no Sato - Uchiha Compound.

"Kaa-san, I think you should relax. That much stress isn't good for you." Itachi sweatdropped as he watched his mother furiously wash the dishes off with great velocity. The plates looked as if they'd break if she continued.

Mikoto dropped the plate back into the sink as she turned around to face her son, "If you want to get rid of my stress then go and get that blond idiot home!" She sighed and dropped her towel onto the kitchen counter.

Itachi blinked slightly at that and put his cup of tea down onto the table. Sasuke who had been watching flinched slightly. It had been like this for the past few days since Naruto had been deployed again.

Hell, Mikoto had even thrown a fit about going to the Hokage to tell him to let Naruto relax a bit instead of sending him on constant missions.

Itachi grunted and took another sip, "Naruto is ANBU like myself, it's part of the job description to be busy."

"Yes, I know that Itachi but you're at least home taking a break right now. He isn't. That Naruto never takes a break." She sighed sadly, turning around to start finishing the rest of the dishes.

Fugaku who had been listening in as well put down his papers and looked with a blank face, "Naruto is a grown-up in the eyes of the law, he'll be fine." He said in a monotone voice before raising his papers again.

"Oh, I'm sure you are more than thrilled that he is away." Mikoto spat at him, making Fugaku raise a brow as he lowered the papers yet again with narrowed eyes.

Itachi palmed his face and stood up, motioning for Sasuke to follow him with the promise of some training. He didn't want Sasuke around for what seemed to be the start of yet another argument.

He quickly placed a few Shuriken in Sasuke's hands and told him to go throw them at the training dummies. Sasuke more than happy to agree, leaped down from the porch and down to the grass, and started to train. His Nii-san was finally helping him train again.

Itachi kept standing right next to the door into the kitchen and listened, as Fugaku mumbled out, "I'm not thrilled that he is gone."

Mikoto snorted at that and crossed her arms under her chest, "You aren't? That little annoying smirk that seemed to grace your usual stoic frown told me otherwise when he mentioned how long he'd be away."

"Why does my mood always have to be associated with him?" Fugaku grunted back with a small scowl.

Mikoto threw her arms into the air and laughed, "Maybe because it looks like you want to paint rainbows on the compound walls whenever he's gone!"

'Here they go again…'

Back in Yu no Kuni.

Naruto who had been busy trying to put together a necklace of seashells sneezed and dropped a seashell at that. Someone had to be talking about him, he mused and kept fidgeting around with the shinobi wire, seashells and the senbon he had been using to poke holes in the seashells with.

After around an hour, he tied the wire together and held up the necklace he had made. He smiled at the result and quickly stored it away in a small seal for safekeeping. He'd be seriously dead, or painfully alive if something happened to it before he came back to Konoha.

Standing up and stretching his muscles, he yawned slightly. It had been a long night with little to no sleep. He hoped Akari and Karin were doing better. The former would hopefully wake up soon so that he could bring them back to Konoha.

As he stood up, he groaned and looked out over the water. His eyes widened at the sight before him. A woman skinny dipping in the waters with dark hair and pale skin, quite like a certain woman he knew.

As he watched her, her body seemed to change before his eyes. As she turned around, Naruto's eyes widened dangerously at the face he thought he was seeing. Why was she here? Blinking a few times he looked again, her entire exposed naked front toward him as she yelled.

"Throw the ball back, Naruto-kun!~" Almost choking on his own salvia he rubbed his eyes harshly before looking back down. She was gone. She had never been there. In her place was just a middle-aged dark-haired woman having fun with her boyfriend or husband.

"Oi! Konoha gaki! Stop peeking at my daughter!" He suddenly heard the yell of a now-familiar person. The old man from earlier.

Shaking his head clear with an immense blush, he went through the hand seals for the shunshin and disappeared in a swirl of leaves in a panic. He landed a few feet away from the hotel and yawned again as he snuck up to the hotel room again. Waltzing down to the door, he quickly opened it and walked in.

Karin was still sound asleep on the bed, and Akari seemed as passed out as he left her. Sighing slightly, he looked over to see Shizune and Tsunade mixing together some medicinal herbs, and quietly walked over.

Tsunade tilted her head in his direction and gave a quiet chuckle, "Never learned to knock gaki? What if we had been naked in here? Then you would have gotten an eyeful." She teased, making Naruto roll his eyes at the female Sannin.

Shizune giggled a bit at the bickering duo and grabbed the medicine they had been making, moving over to start smothering over the bite marks on Akari's arms.

Naruto took the seat that Shizune had been using and groaned as he looked at Tsunade who still gave him that teasing smirk, "Perhaps you wanted an eyeful? You could just have said so gaki."

The blond ANBU blushed heavily at that and smacked his forehead again, "Could you stop it?" Naruto groaned and propped his head on his hand, his elbow on the table as he watched Shizune treat Akari.

Tsunade faked a pout as she nudged him in the side with her elbow, "Don't be like that, aren't they big enough for you?"

Naruto almost choked on his own salvia as she said that and scowled at her, "There's a kid in the room!"

"So? She's sleeping." Tsunade shrugged, clearly enjoying the teasing of the blond boy.

Shizune snorted at her master and looked toward Naruto who looked beyond tired and bothered, "Why don't you take a nap Naruto? I'll wake you up when Karin is awake or if something is up."

Shrugging a bit Naruto grabbed his cloak and folded it together. Scooting down on a spot on the floor, he used his cloak as a pillow and slowly closed his eyes. Deciding that getting some rest might as well be a good idea.

"So no eyeful?"

"Tsunade-sama!"

"God damn it…"

Two days later - Yu no Kuni.

The next few days had been passing really slow. Shizune had brought Karin with her to the hot springs to try them out and also for shopping after new clothes.

So now, instead of wearing ragged clothing, Karin was wearing green pants paired with a red blouse. After a shower, haircut, and getting her glasses cleaned as well, she actually looked like how a girl her age should.

Naruto had been bored out of his mind most of the time. Sure, he had been looking after Karin and Akari the entire time, but there was only so much he could do while sitting on a chair day in and day out.

So this chilly Saturday night he was sitting by the table and writing in a scroll, working on some new seals. Shizune and Tsunade had rented a new room next door because Karin and Akari were now occupying their former beds.

Having his head propped on his palm as he wrote casually with his right hand before yawning slightly and looking over to the beds. Both of them were sleeping soundly, making him smile. Turning back to his current work in progress, he tried to come up with a way to make stored food stay fresh longer.

When he had returned last time he had stocked up his entire kitchen, and unless he was lucky, he had to throw it all out and buy another stocked up kitchen by the time he returned from here.

So, in order to limit any future loss of food, he figured that he could try and use seals to come up with a way to make the food stay edible for a while longer. So far it didn't look promising. He had scrapped around fifteen works so far and was now ripping up his sixteenth try in half with a quiet groan.

As he was pulling out another piece of paper he heard a soft grunt. The sound of the grunt being too deep to be from Karin, he quickly turned his head with wide eyes. To his pleasant surprise, Akari was sitting up in the bed.

"Akari-san!" He called quietly and rushed over to her, putting a hand on her back as she groaned and coughed, tapping her throat a bit with her finger.

Naruto blinked and smacked his forehead as he rushed out to fill a glass with water before returning, carefully handing her the glass filled with cool liquid. Akari smiled weakly up at him and started to lift the cup to let the cool liquid clear up her throat as Naruto supported her back and hand.

"Thank you…" She muttered lowly and looked around. As her eyes settled on Karin, she relaxed again. Her baby was safe. And so was she, apparently.

Naruto who had noticed her confused look sat down on the edge of the bed, "You passed out as you were running. You were having a severe case of chakra poisoning and infection, so I brought you to some friends. We are currently at the border between Hi no Kuni and Yu no Kuni."

"How did we get here?" She asked tiredly, her eyes half-lidded with dark bags under her eyes as she tried to stay awake.

Naruto chuckled softly and pointed a finger at himself, "I carried you two here."

"Wait, we were being chased… what happened? Are you unharmed? I couldn't sense you for a while…" She groggily mumbles, remembering the moments before she had collapsed on the bridge.

Naruto blushed a bit and nods at her, "I'm perfectly fine, don't worry about it. Ryujin got his ass kicked and we got here safely. Now just rest, it's the middle of the night."

"R-Ryujin? You fought him?" Akari mumbled with worry, her eyes looking him up and down to see any noticeable wound or damage to him.

"Yeah, but I won. Now sleep, we can talk in the morning." Naruto reassured and gently pushed on her shoulder to get her to lay down again. As Akari settled under the blankets, Naruto helped tuck her in and moved to turn the light off he had been writing seals under.

As he was about to flick the light switch he heard a soft, "Thank you." It made him smile, and he turned off the light a second later. Letting the darkness overtake the room as he settled down on the floor again, using his cloak as a pillow.

Konohagakure no Sato

Crouched down in a meeting before the Hokage and his three advisers, Shisui sighed as he lifted his head to look at the four figures before him, "...So as it stands, the coup is still in motion."

Hiruzen lowered his gaze with a saddened look, "I see." He answered in barely a whisper.

Danzo who had been listened in calmly so far leaned forward in his seat and turned his head toward Hiruzen, "Hiruzen, what's your plan now? If we remain idle for any longer, then it's going to be too late."

"Hm…" Hiruzen just hummed out, no response coming from his lips as he closed his eyes and seemed to be deep in thought.

Danzo took this as his chance to speak again, "Look. As the head of the village, sometimes it's necessary for you to make hard decisions. Isn't now the time to do just that?" Danzo finished, his eyes narrowing slightly toward Hiruzen.

"Please wait." The surprising sudden interference was from Shisui.

Hiruzen and the other advisors looked surprised at him as they raised their gazes to look at the young Uchiha prodigy.

As the attention was fully on him, Shisui lifted his head with determination in his eyes, "If I may, I think I have an alternative. There's a plan I'd like to try if you'll let me."

A new hope seemed to shine through in Hiruzen's eyes as he looked with at Shisui with wide eyes "A plan, you say?-" Hiruzen started but was never able to finish as Danzo moved in to interrupt.

With his eyes narrowed, Danzo butted in, and spoke through a seemingly stressed tone, "This is a waste of time. There are no other options right now."

Completely ignoring Danzo's protest, Hiruzen kept his focus sorely on Shisui as he spoke, "What is this plan, Shisui?"

What Shisui spoke next in an alarming calm tone made the entire room gasp with wide eyes in surprise.

"I will use my Mangekyo Sharingan on the clan."

I apologize a lot for the wait. As my followers on Twitter know, I had planned on releasing this a few days ago now. Stuff came in and was in the way, my beta was unable to process the chapter on the intended date of release, and then the next day I was unable to write a single word. I managed to finish today though.

Question of the chapter: Do you think Shisui will be able to go through with the plan this time, or will Danzo stand in his way? Will Naruto make it in time to save his friend?

Well, let me know your theories until next time. Also, I hope you had fun reading about the slightly perverted content.