Chapter 76: Five Uzumaki Children

Arc: The Uzumaki Clan

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As Gaara sensed Orochimaru waiting by the entrance, he couldn't help but shake his head. He wasn't afraid of Orochimaru, but it doesn't make sense to seek trouble when you can avoid them.

'Though I don't think we can avoid trouble this time,' Gaara thought, 'Especially not when a demon by the name of Karin is inside your head.'

'Go! What are you doing going so slow?! Go and show me that I can trust you with my damned life!' Karin yelled out as her figure seemed to be engulfed in flames inside Gaara's mind. 'Okay, we'll go faster,' Gaara replied in his mind.

In truth, he and his siblings were already running as fast as they could toward the exit, which was the same as the entrance. Though, it wasn't possible to run too quickly without hitting a wall face-first. 'Who told them to build a maze with so many twists and turns?'

"That took a while," Orochimaru chuckled.

Gaara and his siblings ran and after a few minutes, they finally arrived at the entrance. As Gaara expected, Orochimaru was blocking the exit. "I can sense Karin's residual chakra around you," Orochimaru narrowed his eyes.

"So her name was Karin?" Gaara said nonchalantly before raising up his arms to command the sand in his gourd to attack Orochimaru.

SHHH…

"Magnet Release eh?" Seeing the levitating sand, Orochimaru licked his lips as he recalled when he fought the Third and Fourth Kazekage. 'It's tempting, but Magnet Release has the weakness of consuming too much chakra at once. Of course, jinchuriki and Kage-level individuals have no problems with this,' Orochimaru thought as he weaved a series of hand seals.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu," Orochimaru yelled out as a gigantic water dragon formed behind him.

"Sand Wave," Gaara muttered.

"After that, we secretly fled from Orochimaru," Gaara said, "I'm sure he could've chased us, but he didn't, for some reason."

Hearing Gaara's tale, Naruto lowered his head in thought. After a few breaths, he shrugged and looked back at his group. "Our next mission is to locate Karin Uzumaki and the other Uzumaki," Naruto said, "Orochimaru is of no threat to us if we are careful."

Orochimaru wasn't only a ninja with dozens of ninjutsu under his belt, he was also a Fuinjutsu Master. Naruto had no idea what Orochimaru could do with his fuinjutsu, but he wasn't willing to bet his life to find out.

The group didn't have any other complaints and they all prepared to head out. That same evening, they went to raid Orochimaru's hideout.

'Hmm, I wonder if it's Orochimaru's hideout or Karin's hideout,' Naruto pondered before shaking his head in dismissal. He didn't care either way. He only wanted to seek out any Uzumaki he found.

As for whether they would follow him or not, he wasn't worried about it. 'It's not like I'm some kind of hero… I can always force them,' Naruto scoffed when he saw Gaara's sand tree. "Is it around here?" Naruto asked after he saw a good bit of sealing chakra gathered on a single tree.

'Come to think of it,' Naruto thought as he glanced at Gaara. When he saw Gaara, he was akin to a shining beacon. 'Fuinjutsu Professors and Masters see jinchuriki as a miniature sun,' Naruto wondered what would've happened if he was able to see sealing chakra before he was able to retract it into his body.

'Well, it's impossible to see sealing chakra without retracting it… Sigh, a shame,' he wanted to see what he would look like to other fuinjutsu professors and masters.

"Yes," Gaara said and used his sand to open the trapdoor. After opening it, they instantly saw Karin.

"So you are Naruto Uzumaki?" Karin asked when he saw the vibrant red hair of Naruto. Naruto nodded, but before he could speak, Karin had already turned around. "Come and follow me. I…" Karin paused, hesitating before letting out a long breath. "I'll guide you to five Uzumaki children. They were all sealed up and Orochimaru has no idea about them," she said.

Naruto chuckled at her sentence. "What?" Karin asked, a bit irked at the mocking tone behind his voice. "How are you so sure that Orochimaru can't sense them?" Naruto asked.

"What do you mean? Knowing Orochimaru, he would've gotten his hands on the 'test subjects' as soon as he sees them," Karin said as she placed her hand on her waist.

"What level are you?" Naruto asked. Karin tilted her head, "What do you mean?"

"What's your fuinjutsu level?" Naruto clarified. "Fuinjutsu level? Do you mean Fuinjutsu Rank? I'm rank three," she said.

"Rank three?" Naruto's brows twitched. "Well, I guess it's not that important. Can you see sealing chakra?" Naruto asked.

"No? I'm not some Hyuga, you know?" Karin scoffed as he glanced at Hinata. Hinata smiled at meeting her gaze, only for Karin to instantly avert her eyes.

"No, as long as you are a Fuinjutsu Professor, you can see sealing chakra, Hyuga or not," Naruto said. His tone had somehow gotten softer, though he didn't notice. Only Hinata did as she narrowed her eyes at Karin.

"Ah? Fuinjutsu Professor? I seem to read something about that. I'm currently a Fuinjutsu Senior," Karin said, "But you mean that you're a Fuinjutsu Professor?" Karin raised her brow at Naruto.

"Yes, I am. Right now, you look like a bright flame in a dark room, and I can sense five other 'flames' in the distance. I assume that those are the Uzumaki children you sealed away," Naruto said. His voice didn't contain any doubts, but Karin was always doubtful about everything.

No, it was better to say that she was curious about everything, and would always question anything she found interesting.

"Why are you so sure? What if you sensed wrong?" Karin asked, even though she knew it was impossible for an Uzumaki to sense something wrongly. They have an innate talent for the art, after all.

"You didn't use any other seals in here, correct?" Naruto asked. "No," Karin shook her head.

"But did you know?" Naruto smiled, "Orochimaru placed a multitude of sealing tags in this place, and at a moment's notice, he can make it collapse," Naruto said without a change of tone, but Karin's skin crawled at the thought.

"That's impossible. I don't sense any…" Naruto cut her off, "Are you a Fuinjutsu Master?"

Karin went silent at the question and she looked at Naruto with a bit of uncertainty. Seeing her, Naruto remembered when he trained with Jiraiya for the first time. 'It kind of feels good breaking other people's pride,' he mused in thought.

'Oi, Naruto. Don't you get any weird ideas,' Kurama chimed in but Naruto ignored him.

"Even as a Fuinjutsu Professor, I can't sense Orochimaru's sealing chakra. I only learned of it because I can see sealing chakra itself," Naruto said. He was a bit relieved at the revelation as at the very least, he wouldn't be helpless against any fuinjutsu masters.

'From what I've learned, you can never fully trust any information. You should at least stay cautious, no matter how certain you are.'

It wasn't like there wasn't anyone talented enough to be a Fuinjutsu Master. Those talents were just rare.

And it was even rarer for them to be egotistical enough to brag about their mastery as most fuinjutsu experts keep to themselves.

"Now, to purge any other doubts in your mind," Naruto smirked, "I'll lead you to the Uzumaki children. If I miss even one of them, then I'll… well, it's not like I'll miss a single one."

Naruto was a man of his word and after ten minutes, the group had five additional members.

'Thankfully, they are real people and aren't puppets,' Naruto was relieved. He feared that Karin found puppets rather than real people, but it seemed that his doubts were not needed. 'I guess the clan won't create children puppets, now would they?'

"What do we do now?" Karin asked, "Will you fight Orochimaru?" Naruto laughed at her questions and answered truthfully. "I'll lead you to Uzushiogakure as promised. As for Orochimaru, we'll fight him when we meet him but don't count on us to kill him. He's a slippery bastard."

'From what I know, his path is Parasitism. I don't know what that means, exactly, but the name suggests that he has multiple bodies. Or that he was living off of multiple bodies,' Naruto assumed.

"Let's go," Naruto said and as they were about to leave, he sensed Orochimaru's chakra standing in front of the entrance. Naruto frowned and considered digging out of the maze rather than exiting through the entrance, but he shook his head a moment later.

'Whatever. If we are to fight, then we will fight,' Naruto nodded his head.

"Let's go."

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