I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

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Dedicated to: RoseyArchlightRain

                          HeloiseFabricante

For the ideas I am using in this chapter! :)

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So, you guys want Sasuke to have a lover. Damnit I don't care I'm not making up an OC - for the people who wanted SasuKarin it's gonna happen eventually, but very late into the story. Probably at the last two or three chapters. For now, they are going to be nothing more than just very good friends. Karin is also less annoying.

Also, information on members of Team Hebi were from Narutopedia, they are not my own words. So generally. . . disclaimer for the information?

Enjoy~

"Ke, mind telling us a bit about Karin Uzumaki?" Sakura asked her Uchiha teammate as they jumped from tree to tree, travelling eastward to the Hidden Grass Village.

"Karin was a subordinate of Orochimaru and a former kunoichi of the Hidden Grass Village. She assisted Orochimaru in his experiments, and was left in charge as warden of his Southern Hideout while he was away. I later recruited her into Team Hebi."

"Background?"

"Apparently she and her mother were allowed to stay in the Hidden Grass Village on the condition that her mother would heal the wounded. After the village suffered huge casualties from a surprise attack, her mother was forced to overuse her abilities and died after healing too many people. That duty was then passed down to Karin."

"Hmm. . . did you meet her before Orochimaru?"

"Yes, in the Chuunin Exams she was attacked by a large bear in the Forest of Death. I rescued her, however her team didn't make the prelims because they didn't get a scroll before the fifth day. Soon after there was a war in her village. Karin sensed them and hid while they attacked. After the village burned down ad everyone was killed, she was approached by Orochimaru who asked her how she survived and then led her back to the Hidden Sound Village. During her time with Orochimaru, Karin's healing abilites were studied by Orochimaru and Kabuto. Kabuto managed to replicate it. After being involved in experiments with Jūgo and Kimimaro, Orochimaru made her in charge of the Southern Hideout."

"Geez how do you know so much. . ." Naruto muttered under his breath.

"Hmm?" Sasuke looked at him. "Oh, there's this thing called "Narutopedia" and it has the background of every single person on this planet. At least I think it does. It lists their background as I said before, their personality, their appearance, their abilities and their relationships."

"Why the hell is there a website named after me?!" Naruto yelled.

"The question is, why didn't they name it after ME?" Sasuke wondered aloud. "Also, how do you even know what a website is?"

"I'm not an idiot, Ke."

"I beg to differ."

"Boys, boys. Ke, did you memorize all that stuff?" Sakura asked in amusement, smiling faintly.

"Well sort of, most of the stuff I already knew anyway."

"Moving on, what about Suigetsu?"

"Ehhhhh, I couldn't be bothered researching on him. All I know is that he can turn his body into water, he's obsessed with the swords belonging to the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and he and his brother Mangetsu trained so they could one day be a part of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Only Mangetsu actually got into the group, but he's dead anyway. Or used to be."

"How blunt," Naruto chuckled. "And Jūgo?"

"A shinobi from an unnamed clan, and a friend of Kimimaro's. He used to live in caves until he went to Orochimaru with Kimimaro. He's a pretty gentle sort of person, but his rages can be uncontrollable and random, which makes him very dangerous. He went to Orochimaru on his own free will in hopes he could cure him of his rages."

"Obviously that didn't work out."

"Obviously."

"Boys, please. Naruto, have you reached a conclusion on who we are recruiting first?"

"Well let's see, since they haven't been brought to Orochimaru yet, Karin would be in the Hidden Grass Village, that much is obvious. Suigetsu would probably be training with his brother in the Hidden Mist Village, since Ke said they both wanted to be a part of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Jūgo is a mystery. . . he lives in caves but that's not very helpful. It could take us years to search all the caves, and we don't even know which village he came from."

"He was held in Orochimaru's Northern Hideout. Maybe he's hiding somewhere in the north."

"Well, what do you know of Kimimaro? Maybe that could help."

Sasuke frowned before whipping out a black box and reading aloud. "Kimimaro is the sole survivor of the Kaguya clan, and leader of the formerly named "Sound Five" until his illness forced him to leave. Blah blah blah. . . the Kaguya clan attacked the Hidden Mist Village with no reason other than the desire to kill wanting to show off their ferocity. However they underestimated their opponents' defences and were slaughtered."

"Reading from Narutopedia?" Sakura grinned as Naruto groaned.

Sasuke winked. "Yup. Narutopedia is very useful, I had no idea you were such a treasure trove of information Naruto!"

"Shut up," Naruto muttered with reddening cheeks.

"Anyway, since Kimimaro found Jūgo in one of his caves, I think he's either in the north or in the caves around the area of the Mist Village, since that was where the Kaguya clan was slaughtered, and were Kimimaro wandered around."

"Great deduction, so for now we search for Karin, since she's the easiest."

"Yeah, let's go."

"Huh, I wonder what our family is doing now. . ." Naruto wondered aloud as he gazed up at the sunlight peeking in through the thick canopy of leaves.

"Probably worrying themselves to death," Sasuke said casually making Naruto snort a laugh.

"Silly Billies, I put a note on the table with a brief explanation," Sakura smiled.

"Oh, did you tell them when we'd be back?"

"Yes, around three years or so."

"Oh okay. . .  WAIT WHAT?!" The Uchiha boys screamed as Sakura nearly fell off her branch laughing.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I never said when we'd be back, I only said we'd be gone for a while."

"Oh we're gonna get it from Mom when we get back," Sasuke muttered under his breath, Naruto shivering at the thought.

"Sometimes Mom can be scarier than. . . my mom and that's saying something," Naruto shuddered.

Sasuke snorted at the use of words but agreed nonetheless.

"Oh by the way, I may or may not have mentioned "ten years" in the note as a little joke," Sakura added as an afterthought, making both boys snap their heads to her.

"SAKURA!"

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Back in Konoha, Itachi sighed as a breeze ruffled through his hair. Beside him sat Izumi, who was swinging her legs lazily in the lake. They were both sitting on the pier where they used to eat dango together when they were children.

Itachi thought about what happened that morning, and his thoughts drifted to his troublesome little brothers.

{Flashback no jutsu! }

"Good morning Mother," Itachi said as he walked downstairs.   

Mikoto did not respond.

"Mother?" Itachi was slightly worried why his mother was just sitting in the kitchen. She hadn't even acknowledged his presence.

He then noticed her shoulders shaking.

"Mother, are you alright?"

Still Mikoto did not respond, and Itachi quietly went around the table and peeked at her face.

Mikoto was holding a small piece of paper in her trembling hands, and her onyx eyes were wide as tears trickled down her cheeks in a never-ending stream. 

Itachi cursed quietly as he ran to fetch his father. For the first time in a long while, he found himself helpless at the situation he was currently finding himself in. He was never a great one for comforting people.

Fugaku was working home that day, luckily, so he came down the minute Itachi popped into his home office. 

Unfortunately, just like his son, he was awful at comforting people, and the sight of Mikoto crying made him want to grab his youngest sons to deal with her. However, Sasuke and Naruto would probably freak out when they saw their mother crying, but on the other hand they were awfully mature for their age.

"Mikoto-chan," Fugaku tried awkwardly, "what's wrong?"

He sat down beside Mikoto and noticed the paper in her hands. Before he could say anything else Mikoto grabbed him and started crying onto his chest.

Fugaku looked at Itachi for help, and the latter stifled his chuckles as he picked up the paper his mother had dropped.

"Dear Mikoto-san, Fugaku-san and Itachi-kun,

We (Team 7) have decided to go on a little personal mission. Fun, right? Don't worry about us too much, we'll only be gone for a long while. . . retrieving some of the most dangerous criminals on earth.

Just kidding~! :)

Oh, an don't be surprised if we come back after ten years! Don't search for us! Enjoy the peace while it lasts, those rowdy boys will be back before ya know it!

Geez I sound like Naru. . . curse his verbal tick.

Love,

Sakura-chan."

Itachi's eyebrow twitched, his vice-iron grip on the paper tightening so much it was starting to crease. What the hell were they thinking, running off like that?! And what was with Sakura's writing style?! She made it sound so dangerous and so worrying, no wonder his mother was crying! Ten years, what are they thinking?! 

He then spied a "P.S." at the bottom.

"P.S., No one knows where we're going. And we may never come back. 

Just kidding :P"

Itachi facepalmed. This little girl was seriously sadistic. . . and her jokes were very worrying. He hoped the boys would come back quickly and safely so his mother would stop worrying.

Itachi sighed. This was gonna be a loooooooong day.

{Flashback no jutsu - KAI! }

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"Sorry boys," Sakura stifled a laugh as she was subjected to two intense Uchiha glares.

"Sakura, you know we don't like it when you write notes. Your writing style is so sadistic!" Naruto complained as he folded his arms.

"Yeah, our mother's probably crying her eyes out right now with worry," Sasuke grumbled, also crossing his arms over his chest.

"So, do we go home as fast as possible or as slowly as possible?" Sakura asked with an innocent smile, however her bright green eyes held a devilish gleam.

An evil, sadistic smile slowly spread across Naruto's and Sasuke's faces.

"Why, my dear sister, what other option do we have?" Naruto smiled in a sickly sweet way. "Of course we're going home. . . as slowly as possible."

'And they call me sadistic,' Sakura chuckled internally as she smiled at her boys. "Well? What's going to be our first delay?"

Sasuke looked up. "Well how about we travel until we're halfway to the Hidden Grass, and then set up camp for the next five days."

"Five days? It's going to take us five days to get halfway," Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"That's ten days getting "halfway", another ten days of rest and travelling to reach the actual village, meaning it'll total in twenty days to reach it. However we'll be spending another five days just touring the village before we get to our mission."

"Twenty-five days spent doing literally nothing but travelling and sight-seeing," Naruto deadpanned.

"Yup!" Sasuke grinned.

"Mom's gonna kill herself worrying."

"Ah well, she can scold us when we come back. Although, come to think of it, Dad and Itachi-nii would probably scold us too."

"Yeah well, we'll deal with it when we get home. And we'll think up of stuff to improvise when we have our "rest"," Naruto shrugged dismissively.

"Hmm, but what are we going to say when we find Karin? We don't know what stage of her childhood we'd be reaching her at," Sakura said thoughtfully.

"If we're lucky, her mother would've been taken away already to heal the people. That means, before the shinobi comes to take her to replace her mother, we have to jump in and take her to the Leaf. Naruto can do the talking, because he's the best at convincing people," Sasuke summed up the plan, his teammates nodding along.

"Great, now what would we be doing for the first five days waiting for nothing?" Naruto asked.

"Well we've literally wasted an hour talking," Sakura said, looking at the sky. "We could always play games, go fishing, spar, plan, lots of things."

"But five days. . ." Naruto sighed. "Fine, I'll be inventings seals then."

Sasuke grinned. "Alright, it'll take us twenty days before we reach Karin. Once we get her, we travel as fast as we can home."

"Fast?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Well without five days of resting, it takes ten days to get to the Leaf, right? If we rest each night, we should easily be there in said time. But we'd be slowed down by Karin. . ." 

A gleam was in his eye once more.

"What a wonderful excuse," Sakura chuckled darkly. "However, we travel according to Karin. And my dear Uchiha, who said we were going straight home after retrieving her?"

"Oh I see," Sasuke smiled evilly. "We're heading to the Hidden Mist Village, are we dear sister?"

"Indeed we are. If we can get Jūgo, then perhaps we should fetch Suigetsu as well, although it depends on his state of childhood as well," Sakura summed up.

"While we're wasting five days doing nothing," Naruto continued, still clearly irked, "could you perhaps come up with something to help Jūgo with his rages? It might help us convince him to come along with us."

"Oh yes!" Sakura cried eagerly. "Of course! Sasuke, provide me with necessary information, if you please, and I'll see what I can do."

"Great, now let's get going!"

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On the first day of the "delay", Naruto sat on the tree branch and sighed, wondering what his family was doing. He honestly hoped his adoptive mother wasn't worrying too much, and he also hoped his father wasn't sending out a search party for them.

A search party!

Naruto jerked up and screamed, "Sakura, Sasuke! Come here quickly!"

The two dashed out of their tents as Naruto jumped to the ground. "What is it, what is it?!" they cried.

"Search party!" Naruto exclaimed frantically. "What if our family sends out a search party?! We have to shake them off if they do come, and we can't do that while we're lazing about for extra five days!"

Sasuke cursed violently. "What do we do?"

They were all silent as they thought hard.

Naruto finally spoke, a lightbulb above his head. "Right, I'm going to try conjure up a seal that we can place on ourselves so they can't track our chakra or scent. But first, we need to pack up and seal our stuff in our storage scrolls just in case. While I'm conjuring the seal, you two keep at the cure for Jūgo. Once I've done the seal, we'll go and create an obvious trail for the pursuers, if we sense any, and then move off for another campsite. For now, just mask your chakra. Sound good?"  

"Yes sir!" they both saluted, momentarily going back into their ANBU Captain and Head Medic mode before rushing into their tent to continue the cure. 

Naruto jumped back up onto the tree and summoned Kurama, who poofed in front of him in the size of adult Akamaru with only one tail for the attempt of normalcy.

"What's up Kit?"

"Sorry to ask this of you, Kurama, but do you mind standing guard for us while I make up the seal? Your sensory abilites far outclass all three of ours. . ."

"Of course Kit. I know exactly the predicament you are in, and I'll be glad to help out."

"You're acting strangely. . ." Naruto commented as he brought his notepad up to hide his face.

Kurama sweatdropped. "I'm aiding you on a mission, and I don't exactly like the idea of going home so quickly without accomplishing your mission. That aside, I'm liking your sadistic natures."

"Of course," Naruto sighed before he started drawing.

Kurama huffed a laugh before lying down beside Naruto, his tail swishing around as he spread his senses around.

For at least ten minutes, all was quiet as there was only the faint murmuring in the tents, the scratching of a pencil on paper, the breathing of the kids in the campsite, and the large fox's tail sweeping the ground back and forth.

Naruto leaned into Kurama as he drew, sketching ideas and notes as he went. He felt his seal expertise returning in full force, his Uzumaki genes guiding his hand as he thought and made the seal that would keep him and his teammates safe from pursuers.

Kurama's ears pricked and he raised his head.

Naruto, noticing the fox's movement, got up and telepathically called for Sakura and Sasuke. A second later, they were both by his side.

"Kurama, what is it? " Naruto thought to the fox as he quickly sketched three more versions of his final, completed seal.

"Chakra signatures heading straight to us. Looks like it's the Konoha search party you were worried about, and they have an Inuzuka dog with them. . . sketch those seals and apply them, quickly!" Kurama barked in Team 7's minds.

Naruto had just finished the fourth seal, and channelled chakra into it immediately, applying to his teammates, then to Kurama and finally, to himself. 

Sakura and Sasuke breathed a quiet sigh of relief when they didn't have to focus on hiding their chakra.

"To the trees, now! " Naruto mentally ordered as he swung a leg over Kurama, the fox bounding away in giant leaps.

Sakura quickly sealed her notebook into her storage seal on her wrist before both she and Sasuke took to the trees. Kurama was already ahead of them, waiting on a bough, and Sasuke thought to himself how unfair it was that Naruto got a ride while they didn't.

"Stop," Naruto said. "I want to see our pursuers. The seals should stop them from tracking our chakra, and also help us blend in to the surroundings to protect us from any dōjutsu. It will also stop the dogs from sniffing our scent. If they were following a scent trail, then it should end by the campsite. If not, we run for it."

"Gotcha," Sasuke nodded as Sakura crouched on the branch, peering down.

Five shinobi jumped into the clearing and looked around. 

"Well damn," Sasuke snorted a laugh, "they recreated Team 8! And then some! "

Naruto snorted mentally. The search party consisted of Tsume Inuzuka and her dog, Kuromaru, Shibi Aburame and his insects and Hiashi Hyuuga with his active Byakugan. The two other shinobi were Kakashi Hatake and Itachi Uchiha.

The latter making Naruto and Sasuke curse filthily, creatively and violently in their minds. 

"The scent stops here," Tsume was saying.

"Why the hell are the clan heads here?! Why didn't they send Hana or something?! " Sakura was yelling out. 

"Good question," Naruto sweatdropped.

"I can't see them with my Byakugan, so they wouldn't be around here," Hiashi informed them.

"Naruto! Do the seals protect us from the Aburame bugs spying on us? " Sasuke questioned hastily.

"I think so. . . keep your guard up though, and be prepared to take off and create Shadow Clones at a moment's notice."

"Um, wouldn't that be ineffective against the Byakugan and the Sharingan? " Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow as she observed Kuromaru sniffing the area and Shibi's bugs swarming around.

"No, the seals put on the originals will prevent them from realizing which one is which, as it protects us and, by extension, our Shadow Clones from any dōjutsu," Naruto explained.

"Great, but why the hell is Itachi here?! " Sasuke yelled mentally, obviously unnerved by the fact that their brother was in the search party.

"No idea. . . no idea Sasuke," Naruto sweatdropped.

"It looks like they stayed here for a night or so," Itachi observed the sticks that were carelessly left as a tell-tale sign of camping.

Up above, Naruto sent a thumbs-up to his teammates, who grinned back. They purposely made it seem like they camped there and forgot to clean after themselves to give their pursuers the impression of carelss kids that would be easy to track. It would also throw them off when they created a fake trail of typical tell-tale signs.

Just then, Kakashi looked up and somehow spotted them through the thick, leafy foliage. Naruto stiffened and at his body language, Sasuke and Sakura backed up slightly, prepared to run.

However, Kakashi gave them a brief eye-smile before looking back down as he summoned Pakkun.

Team 7 let out a quiet breath of relief.

Unfortunately for them, they underestimated the sensitivity of the Inuzuka dogs' hearing, and that one breath of relief sent Kuromaru into a barking frenzy.

All heads from the search party snapped up to the foliage where Team 7 was hiding.

Naruto gave the small signal, and Kurama quietly poofed away to avoid suspicious questions. Immediately, Sasuke and Sakura jumped into their "roles".

"There!" Tsume shouted, pointing upwards.

"Damn!" Sasuke yelled, though it was muffled by the thick foliage. They made a great show of shuffling sounds, their bodies almost completely hidden by the leafy canopy.

"I'll distract them! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted out.

Kurama was laughing wildly within Naruto. "Oh Kit, you three are such great actors! They'll definitely follow your fake trail now!"

'Shut up,' Naruto smirked as he jumped after his teammates.

Tsume scoffed before jumping up onto the branch. "Come on!" she barked out to the remaining members of the search party.

Itachi gritted his teeth as he jumped up, chasing after the three kids who were already so far away he couldn't see them. 'Naruto, Sasuke, what are you thinking?! Our mother is practically dying with all the worry you're putting her through! And Sakura, what is with that note?! '

Far ahead, Naruto nodded to Sakura and then placed a hand on Sasuke before flashing the two of them to the next campsite. Sakura smirked sadistically as she placed a short note on the tree branch she was previously on and then jumped onto Kurama, who had been summoned for her. Two leaps and she was miles away, on her way to the next campsite to regroup with her team.

Tsume Inuzuka growled as she reached the bough the pink-haired kunoichi was previously on. Where did the brats go? She noticed a white piece of paper by her feet and picked it up. It was addressed to "Itachi Uchiha-kun".

Tsume growled in annoyance before jumping back.

"The little runts are gone," she announced. "They left this. It's for you, Itachi."

Blinking, the Uchiha took the note and opened it before his eyes were immediately shadowed by his hair, hand holding the paper shaking. 

Everyone looked at him in confusion.

Kakashi, who was standing next to him, took the paper from Itachi. The moment the piece of paper left, Itachi's hand turned into a trembling fist.

Kakashi's eye twitched when he read it, and continued twitching.

"Hello Itachi-kun~

So you disobeyed us. Tsk tsk. Well we're not coming home, we have a mission to complete! A Team 7 mission! Yep, you guessed it! Retrieving the most dangerous criminals of the world.

Haha just kidding, they're friends of ours! Well, sort of.

See you in ten years, and tell Aunt Mikoto not to worry, I'll make sure the boys don't get killed! :)

Well. . . I'll try anyway. There's no guarantee both boys will come back to you alive and in one piece! If either of them at all. . .

Love,

Sakura-chan."

Kakashi scrunched up the ball of paper. What the hell was with the girl's writing?! It was so sadistic and worrying!

Itachi was shaking. "Kakashi-senpai. . . who taught her to write like that?"

"I guess she found a sadistic side that none of us knew about. Except Naruto and Sasuke, of course, since they're so close."

"Sadistic, huh? She's making my mother cry," Itachi deadpanned as Kakashi sweatdropped.

Tsume impatiently snatched the note from Kakashi, who didn't object in the slightest. After reading it through, the Inuzuka clan head started laughing. "Haha, that runt's got a nice writing style. I like it."

Hiashi sighed, deactivating his Byakugan. "Well, if they're gonna play hard-to-get, then we might as well head back and devise another plan. If not, well we're just gonna have to wait for them to get back and explain."

The search party nodded in agreement as they all retreated back to the Hidden Leaf Village.

However, what they didn't know, was that if they only travelled to the left of the previous campsite, they would've found a smirking raven, a beaming pinkette and a blonde who was trying his hardest not to laugh.

The minute the trio sensed the search party's chakra signatures disappearing, Naruto burst into laughter.

"Your messages are so sadistic Saki! I love it!" he laughed. 

When a beaming Sakura had arrived at the campsite, she immediately told them what she had written on the note.

Sasuke smirked. "The only thing that makes me feel regret is that our mother is probably dying with worry."

"True," Naruto gasped as he sat up, wiping a tear from his eye. "Well, seeing as we've been running around the whole afternoon, why don't we get some rest?"

Sasuke and Sakura smiled in agreement.  

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After they had their two five-day rests and five days of actually travelling, Team 7 arrived in the Hidden Grass Village.

The boys decided to cut off the five-day touring and instead spent two days scouting and gatheirng information before on the third day, they headed off to Karin Uzumaki's house.

Team 7 hid behind or in a tree as they watched a Grass shinobi, obviously one of high status, forcefully trying to drag a child with him. She seemed to be a year younger than Naruto, and had a slightly chubby face, red eyes covered by glasses and red hair that barely brushed her shoulders.

"Sh-t," Naruto hissed, "we arrived a day late."

"No problem," Sasuke smirked, "we jump right in and rescue her! Then she'll come with us!"

"Ke, would you please stop for a moment and think -"

Naruto was cut off when Sasuke dashed out of the tree they were hiding in and attacked the man, shouting, "LION'S BARRAGE!"

Naruto facepalmed. "That idiot!"

Sakura smiled slightly at him. Did he even realize that was how he acted in the former future? That had always been Sasuke's reaction when Naruto dashed out like that.

"Come on!" Sakura grinned, grabbing Naruto's forearm as they both dashed out. However, the man was obviously not very skilled because he was knocked out the minute Sasuke used the last move in his Lion's Barrage.

"Aw, Ke, did you have to steal the fun?" Naruto complained.

Sasuke threw a smirk at him. "You guys were just too slow. What, were you stunned by my awesome moves?"

"You wish," Sakura snorted.

"W-Who are you people?" a quiet, timid voice spoke up, and the three ninja immediately looked down to where the redheaded girl was lying after the man had thrown her.

Naruto gave her one of his famous grins. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! And you're Karin Uzumaki, right? We're from the same clan!"

"C-Clan?" 

"Yeah! The Uzumaki clan were known as Seal Masters, and it was because of that they were feared and destroyed in a war. Survivors of the clan are scattered throughout the world," Naruto explained, never losing his sunny grin.

"D-Do you want something from me. . .?" Karin asked fearfully, shrinking back a bit.

"Come with us," Naruto said simply.

"I-I can't. My mother is coming back soon, I can't just suddenly disappear."

"Karin, your mother isn't coming back," Naruto said softly. "That man, he was taking her to heal people with that special ability Uzumaki's have. She must've overworked herself in the process, and that's why that man came for you. Please, believe us and come where it's safe. I don't want him to take you to do the same thing your mother is doing."

Kairn seemed to think for a bit. 

Naruto sighed mentally. "Karin, have you ever heard of the name "Kushina Uzumaki"?"

"Kushina?" Karin stared at him. "That's my mother's distant cousin."

"Kushina Uzumaki was my mother," Naruto smiled a little sadly at her. "She died protecting me, and so did my father. I was adopted by the Uchiha family. This is my adoptive brother, Sasuke Uchiha, and my teammate Sakura Haruno."

"Now that you mention it," Karin said, "my mother did say that Kushina was taken to the Leaf. I can tell you're from the Leaf since you have a Leaf shinobi headband."

"Do you trust me now?" Naruto asked, blue eyes locking with red eyes.

Karin held his gaze before slowly nodding. "I will go with you. Just. . . let me get my stuff together, and then we can go." 

Naruto smiled. "Great! But we have to go quickly before this guy wakes up."

"Come inside," Karin offered, staring at the knocked-out man. "If he wakes up, we can escape through the back door."

Sasuke smirked as they all went into the small house. "Karin, ninja's don't go through doors. We go through windows."

Karin's eyes widened slightly. "O-Oh, that's right. Thank you for saving me," she said, quickly bending the upper half of her body over.

Sasuke blinked, a barely noticeable shade of pink dusting his pale cheeks. "I-It's okay. . ."

He hastily turned around and locked and bolted the door, just in case they needed time to escape. 'Man, she's a lot less annoying than last time. I think I might actually like her this time around.'

Just as Karin came back into the main room with some extra food, there was harsh pounding on the door. Naruto and Karin exchanged looks, the latter picking up her backpack and both stood up immediately. 

Sasuke and Sakura were already at the window.

By the time the door was broken down, the four of them were already out of the village and running into the forest. Halfway in, they stopped for Karin to catch her breath, Team 7's breathing only slightly laboured.

"Karin, are you feeling alright?" Naruto asked carefully, watching his self-established cousin bend over, panting heavily.

"I'll be fine. I just. . . need a break. S-Sorry. . . for causing you so much trouble," Karin gasped out through her pants.

"It's alright, take all the time you need," Sakura reassured kindly. "We're rather far into the forest, they won't find us here. Once you're ready to go, we need to travel the Hidden Mist Village."

Karin stood up and adjusted her backpack, a determined gleam in her red eyes. "I'm ready."

Naruto smiled. "Good, let's get going then. It'll take us five days to reach the Mist, which is good time. If we're lucky, we'll be able to retrieve two more people before heading back home to the Leaf, where you will find a nice home. Maybe you'll even be living with me. That is, if the Uchihas let you, that is. . ."

Sasuke smirked. "As long as you're related to Ruto, and you're not annoying, I'd say my family would take you in, I guess."

Karin smiled at him. "Thank you, Sasuke. And I don't really mind about anything, as long as Naruto's around to keep me safe."

Naruto blushed slightly but grinned at her. "What are cousins for?"

Karin's smile grew into what Sasuke and Sakura had dubbed "Uzumaki Grin". 

"Yeah!" she smiled happily, and with that, the four of them headed on their way to the Mist, where Karin would meet what would become her two best friends.

This is THE longest chapter I have ever written in my entire life. 5378 words, phew!