Disclaimer: I own the OCs in this fic, the rest is Masashi Kishomoto's. Sorry for any spelling mistakes.

Character age:

Akane, Itachi: 18

Naruto, Sasuke: 12/13

Shisui: 21

Kakashi: 27

Kiri was separated from the continent. As much as the four other Great Shinobi Nations didn't know a lot about what was happening on the many islands constituting the Land of Water, we did not know a lot about what was happening on the continent. Because of that, ever since the foundation of Kiri, the Mizukage regularly sends shinobi to be informed of any new conflicts and if it would be interesting for us to join or not.

Right now, we were going near Kusagakure. No reports had been sent for the past two weeks and Yagura wanted to know why. Last time we heard from the team, they were near the Hōzuki castle. The surroundings of Kusa were peaceful until you reached the border with the Land of Earth.

We didn't waste time in the Land of Fire, running through it with barely any break.

We stopped in the grass, the famous prison visible in the distance. I looked up at Naoto, who probably had the most serious of faces under his white and red mask.

"I can't feel anyone around," he informed me and I started to search for any clues about what happened to the team. We spent the rest of the day rummaging through the area, my wolf friend coming to help us at some point. There was nothing to be found, but Naoto and Seihitsu stopped from moving when the sun was starting to set.

"You have something?"

"It's faint, but there are traces of chakra in the air," Naoto told me before Seihitsu growled dangerously.

"I smell blood. They must have gotten rid of the bodies already."

"We confirm the deaths and then Dad will deal with the rest. There's no reason to pick up a fight with the Hidden Grass."

"We would be the bad guys anyway," I added, stretching my arms in front of me. "We're the ones with basically spies here. Seihitsu, you can go home now, thanks for your help." He nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Let's find a place to rest."

"Hum..."

"Something else you wanna say?"

"I smell chakra in the air, lots of it. Like a fight or something."

"I've heard there were still fights in this country, but at the border with Iwa. Are we far from it?"

"Not that much. We don't have good relations with Iwa either, we better be extremely careful."

We didn't rest a lot, but it was enough by shinobi standards, so the next day we tracked down the faint lead we had, making us go to the north more and more. I put my chakra concealing seal on when Naoto told me there was more and more chakra around. We soon found ourselves looking over a field of dead bodies rotting in the sun. We jumped down and I turned one of the corpse, pulling a face at the smell of decay in the air. He was wearing Kusa symbol though.

"Found them!" Naoto stated and I ran up to him, looking over the three chuunin wearing Kiri emblem, or more like the rests of the bodies. I raised my head and scanned the area. Further away from us, I could spot some Iwa shinobi on the ground. Fights...were as murderous as ever. "Akane, there is someone watching at eight o'clock."

I grabbed a marked kunai and threw it to teleport to it once it stopped. I took it and placed it on the person's throat and my brows almost disappeared in my hairline behind my mask when I was met with terrified crimson pupiless eyes. That...from the crimson hair, it was Karin, wasn't it?

"Pl...please don't..." she stuttered weakly, her knees shaking. Geez, wasn't she a kunoichi? Why would they send her on the field with that kind of behavior and clear lack of skills? I looked at her from head to toes and my question was answered when I saw the bite marks of her arms. So, she could do the Heal Bite, no wonder they sent her here then. "Don't kill me..."

"Are you doing that willingly?" I asked her coldly and I kept myself from sighing in exasperation at her puzzled look. "The Heal Bite, are you doing that willingly or is Kusa exploiting your Uzumaki blood?" She widened her eyes and I put my kunai away, firmly grabbing her shoulders when she tried to escape. "I won't hurt a relative of mine, even if they're distant ones. I'm an Uzumaki too."

"Really?" she inquired in a shy voice. I nodded and moved my mask enough for her to see the left side of my face. She blinked uncertainly and I put my mask back.

"So, you're doing it willingly? There are risks about doing that too often and..."

"Mom died," she cut me off with wide eyes, tears threatening to spill at any moment. "They...she used to say she had to do it because they let us stay but I...I saw her body and the bite marks and since then..." I felt frustration and anger bubbling inside of me. Fucking assholes, they sucked her mother dry. "I'm gonna die too."

"If this continue, probably. The fights aren't gonna stop any time soon. What's your name?"

"Karin." Ah, I got her name right.

"I'm..."

"Akane what are you doing? I've already disposed of the bodies." Naoto pipped up appearing next to me. "An Uzumaki?"

"Can I bring her with us pretty please?" I asked him with my hands clapped together.

"Are you crazy or..."

"Not Kiri itself, but..."

"I don't think..."

"Please?"

"Isn't Haku enough?"

"Pretty please?"

"Seriously you can't bring every kid you see..."

"Come on!" I whined and he sighed.

"She has to defect Kusa."

"Karin, do you want to come with us and leave that shitty rat hole that's exploiting you?"

"I..." She must have felt my expecting eyes because she flushed a deep crimson red, like her hair, and absently nodded. "It won't be as bad as here?"

"Kiri forced me into their ranks because I'm an Uzumaki too, I don't have the Heal Bite but they saw potential." I heard Naoto facepalming against his porcelain mask but I couldn't care less. Yeah...I really despised it when people were used like tools. Hence why I was one of the biggest hater of the shinobi system. It was legit bullshit.

"I'll come then," she whispered quietly, clenching her fists on the fabric of her shorts. A genuine smile appeared on my face, even if she couldn't see it. One of the thing I liked when I was pulled out of Kiri by Shisui in my past life was how I was glad to turn a blind eye to every injustice the shinobi system caused. I was aware, but didn't do anything. Now...I was trying, and helping Karin could be helpful for later.

"Let's go home then!"

As Karin was only going at genin speed, I ended up giving her a piggyback ride. The journey was going on smoothly until the border with the Land of Fire, where Karin told us there were at least three high level jounin around, one going straight to us. I gave a marked kunai to Naoto and he scrammed with Karin, leaving me to deal with the incoming. I barely had the time to widen my eyes when I recognized the red eyes and black curls of one Uchiha Shisui. I jumped down before he could hit me.

I couldn't look at him in the eyes. Would he even recognize me with my ANBU mask on?

"What's Kiri doing here?" he asked me coldly and I bit my lower lip. He...never talked to me like that, it was the shinobi I had in front of me. And I was the enemy.

However, I had to block him one way or another. He was great in genjutsu though, and it was the one field I was not that comfortable with.

So I used the Hiding in the Mist Technique and summoned Nuibari. I couldn't take any risks. I checked over the Hiraishin tag on the blade. It was still there, good.

Let's go over what I knew about Shisui's fighting skills. He was on Itachi's level.

Okay, it was a very bad way to start.

Shisui was a genius too, very powerful Mangekyou and more than good at genjutsu. He had the Sharingan, he could see through my moves but not through the mist. He could use Katon and the body flicker. I could use Hiraishin and the body flicker, because I had to learn how to use it before jumping straight into the Hiraishin speed. I still broke my ankle when I finished the formula but hey, nobody's perfect. Back to Shisui, he could use a sword, great at taijutsu and shurikenjutsu.

Fuck, I hated being on the opposite side of an Uchiha.

I ducked quickly when Shisui appeared in front of me, his sharingan spinning fast in his eyes, and he tried to punch me. I threw Nuibari under his arm and teleported to it, throwing it again quickly when Shisui followed the string. However, mist was around us. He was too fast for my Hyōton, but I could use my Hyōton to slow him down by dropping the temperature around us through the humidity of the mist.

So I did, and felt a wave of pride going through my body as Shisui was successfully being slowed down, Nuibari having made a beautiful maze of very sharp strings. Shisui wouldn't be too hurt by it, but it would be enough to trap him. At least I hoped, because the element of surprise was my biggest weapon right no...

"Hyōton?" he said out loud, making me raise a brow. Already? "I thought all kekkai genkai users were hunted down in Kiri, yet you're an anbu. Strange." Fuck you and your brain Shisui! "You're still going to tell me what you are doing in this country, that you want it or not." Talk about hostility. I didn't have the time for that, especially with the green rib cage that stopped my sword. "I don't have the patience to deal with Kiri."

I growled and teleported to my sword, put an explosive seal on the green bone through my feet because I needed a big explosion to destroy that Susanoo's bone. I jumped down, took my sword and teleported to another marker as my seal exploded, the mist disappearing at the same time.

Fuck me man, I didn't think that through.

Now I had a fucking giant fireball aimed at me. I went through hand seals fast and used the Big Waterfall Technique. The two techniques collided, creating vapor in the area. Shisui took this opportunity to body flicker in front of me. I watched his kunai going down to my throat, with the intent to kill, and I pretended to stab him in the head. He tilted his head, cold emotionless eyes looking down on me and I grinned.

I teleported behind him, put my hands on his eyes and used my Pupil Seal to block his sharingan as my knee pushed in the center of his back to drag him down.

Wait a minute...Shisui's body, even if still tensed, relaxed a little under my weight and I cursed my stupidity in my mind. Carefully, he craned his neck to look at me, onyx eyes blinking slowly at me almost as if he was trying to see me through my mask.

I was the only one who used that seal, I was the one who fucking invented it and Shisui was the first one to know about it in this time!

Dai was right, I wasn't good at fighting and not killing.

"ANBU?" he whispered to me, almost as if he needed to hear my voice to really, truly believe it.

"I had a promotion when I went back," I replied as quietly as him and he pursed his lips. I sighed.

"You can't kidnap a kid like that," he said, still not moving under me.

"I can't let Kusa use her like they do, like they did to her mom until it killed her," I hissed angrily at him, a veil of of understanding and turmoil covering his eyes.

I put an Immobility Seal in the middle of his back, where my knee was, and moved away from him. I left the two seals long enough for me to localize Naoto. Between the moment I stopped them and the moment I used Hiraishin, I, very maturely, gave Shisui the finger.

It reminded me too much of the Chuunin Exams against Yasuo, and childishly, my pride couldn't take it. Fucking Uchiha genius.

"So?" Naoto asked me when I appeared next to them, not twitching even a finger because he must have felt the slight surge of chakra in my kunai.

"Let's get out of here, it's..." I looked back at Karin when she yelped, the sound muffled behind her hands. Her eyes were wide with shock and terror. "What?"

"Your chakra..." Oh fuck me, again! "It's...it's like Death itself."

"I won't hurt you, try to ignore it."

I ignored Naoto's suspicious eyes on me, or how he muttered how my chakra stank rotten corpse.

That was predictable. I even felt heavier now I had more souls in my seal, even if I didn't hear from any of them.

It was starting to be disturbing.

"You need to stop that Uzu, seriously," Mangetsu deadpanned at me, annoyed purple eyes not even looking at the shy redhead behind me. I innocently grinned at him and Utakata-senpai rolled his eyes and left the room.

"Come on, I won't bring her to Kiri until we win!"

"You barely can take care of yourself!"

"Now, you know it's not true."

"Right now, with what you've got on your plate, you can barely take care of yourself. How many times did Haku have to remind you to eat?" I didn't respond. You're busy doing fuinjutsu and suddenly you can't take care of yourself.

"Kimou!" I yelled as the whitish blond hair of the kunoichi appeared in the hallway. She turned her head, saw me and grinned, running with her arms wide open to me. "Please do me a fav..." I rolled my eyes when she kissed me on the lips. I was usually good at avoiding that much display of affection, but well.

"What?" she asked me huskily, snuggling against me, her arms around my neck.

"Would you take care of Karin for me as you're always here unlike me?" She blinked and her deep purple eyes looked at Karin. She tilted her head and nodded.

"Sure, one more Uzumaki can't hurt us."

"You need to tell sensei though."

Needless to say, having Terumi Mei staring sternly at you with her arms crossed and her lips pursed was not a pleasant thing to have.

"We are not an orphanage," she reminded me and I could see a tint of annoyance in her eyes. "Do you even realize what could happen if Kusa discovers we took her? It could ruin everything." I bit my lips. Right, I had not thought about that. How...stupid could I be...fuck, I was such a moron! "Now, what's done is done and I understand why you would take her with you. Karin-chan," She knelt in front of the slightly scared redhead, "would it be okay for you if you explain why Akane said Kusa was using you? We won't do the same thing, I promise. I don't want to lose my student a second time." I scoffed but it was ignored by them.

"I..." Karin raised her eyes to me and I smiled, trying to reassure as much as I could. I was the same when I arrived at the age of eleven, only it was Yagura and not Mei in front of me. "Heal Bite." Mei-sensei raised a brow and I cleared my throat to get her attention when I spotted her confusion.

"A trait some Uzumakis possess, we bite them and we're healed, even from life threatening injuries. Our stamina is restored but the user's chakra is quickly emptied, even if said user can bite themselves. However, the biting marks never leave." Yeah, I'll forget the image of Mom's stomach and the biting mark on it.

"Kusa has never stopped fighting, that explains...I understand Akane, I truly do, I'm not mad just..." She sighed but I knew what she meant. It would be harder to handle but she'll manage. I complained in my mind about the part I was playing but how stressed was sensei knowing she was handling everything? She gave orders, of course, but in the end we reported everything to her. I had a delicate and important job, but it was just a part of the Resistance. "Fine, did they give you a basic training in the medical field?" Karin slowly shook her head and I cursed under my breath. "They directly went for the easy way. Listen, soon we should have a medic here permanently. Once he's there, I'll have him teach you the basis and the technique to diagnose injuries. It is a formidable technique you can use, however it's stupid to use it for everything, and make you use it against your will. I want you to be able to tell by yourself if someone truly needs it, do you understand?"

"I..." She licked her dry lips, eyes wide with surprise, even if a slight trace of fear was still in it. "I could do that? Have...a choice?" Sensei smiled warmly at her.

"Of course, everybody should be able to choose for themselves. That's why this place exists." At Karin puzzle face, sensei seemed surprise. "Oh, that's right, I didn't properly introduce myself. My name is Terumi Mei, I'm the head of the Resistance of the Hidden Mist."

In the following week, I had a night out with Dai and Mangetsu, and Dai designated himself to be the sober one. Needless to say, Mangetsu was drunk way too fast because of his weird metabolism and I foolishly fell into his trap of a drinking game when he provoked me. Dai dropped the both of us to my place and, the two of us completely smashed, slept together. Not sex, but he crashed in my bed next to me and drooled on the mattress. Naturally, my brain, in its drunkenness, ignored the sound of my front door being almost destroyed in my living-room, or Haku's chakra fluttering way too fast.

"Uzumaki!" My eyes snapped opened and I sat up in my bed, fighting to keep the alcohol in my stomach. I rubbed my eyes, thinking the small man in front of me would disappear, but no.

"What...Yagura-sama? But...why? You're...in my bedroom and I don't live with you anymore and...what?" I stuttered with frantic eyes. I shook Mangetsu's shoulder but he just groaned whereas Haku stood stiffly at the entrance of my room.

"You're both drunk," he stated sternly. "Who were you with?"

"Dai," I replied with a puzzled look on my face. Yagura never came here, but once when I was too tired from a mission to go training. The Mizukage frowned thoughtfully.

"Drugged..." Mangetsu mumbled next to me, struggling to sit. "It wasn't just alcohol, there was something else too in our drinks I think..."

"Wha..."

"Your dear teammate drugged you and made sure you'd be drunk." I tilted my head and twitched my arm when Yagura narrowed his eyes at my behavior and utter ignorance. "There was an explosion, an attack, at the ANBU quarters. There were residues of lava."

"Lava?" Mangetsu repeated in disbelief whereas I was left speechless. Lava? Like...

"Funny enough, the Terumi siblings are nowhere to be found plus a dozen of shinobi from genin to ANBU level, including Naoto." Yagura was pissed. "Get up now, go to the lower districts and put people back in their places." Mangetsu got up and immediately bent over, throwing up everything in his stomach. I pinched my nose at the smell and fought the bile from coming out with the noise my friend was making.

"I..." I started, trying to use chakra to clear my head. But nothing. "I can't use chakra?" Yagura glared at me, and at Mangetsu who was dangerously swaying closer and closer to his vomit. I could taste alcohol in my furred mouth when I heard the squishing sound of his foot in his vomit. He slipped and fell backward. Yagura growled.

"Two of the most powerful shinobi of the village useless in a time like this, you're pathetic!" he screamed at us in anger and frustration. "You're useless as long as you're intoxicated with alcohol and drug, stay here, but tomorrow you'll be interrogated, got it!?" He stormed off and Haku glanced at us. I waved him off, making him understand to go back to sleep as I laid down on my bed, towering Mangetsu's face from the foot of the bed.

"You're cleaning that bastard, learn to hold your liquor."

"Shad'upp!" He fell back asleep, his feet covered in a brownish smelly liquid. I looked daggers at them and grabbed a paper and a brush. I drew a seal and put on my nose. Yeah, I wasn't going to clean his mess, I'd just suppress the smell for my nose. It would be enough.

I fell back asleep right when my head touched my pillow.

Hey! Thanks for reading! Please review so that I know you liked it :) Thanks to Ederisu, Tonegawa Rie, BiancaGracePotterEverdeen and sarana154 for their reviews :) I've just started my third year of college, the hardest one, so if I don't post regularly, don't worry, it's just my studies that are taking a lot of my time :)

Bye