Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Karin raced through the trees, Ino, Hinata, and Shizune following her. The three tails was near, she could sense its massive reserves of chakra. Quickly adjusting her glasses, she finally stopped at a Misty Lake.

“We’re here,” she declared, stopping near a cliff overlooking it. The others stopped behind her, staring at the massive lake in front of them, “So where is the three tails anyway?” Ino asked, overly exaggerating as she scanned the lake itself. Karin nodded to Hinata who activated her Byakugan, scanning beneath the surface.

“The lake’s very deep,” she said, her voice steadily filling with disappointment, “I-i can’t see anything besides the traces of chakra,” Karin placed a supportive hand on her shoulder, offering a small smile, “It’s okay, I can barely sense it either.” she said, her voice softening as it did for Hinata and Hinata only.

“So we just need a way to draw it further up from its hiding place,” Shizune concluded, analyzing the lake and its contents, “But how?” Ino whined, out of the 4 women, Ino was definitely the least skilled at sealing, to Karin, Ino had been put in the sealing team because she had slightly better chakra control then the others.

“No clue,” Karin briefly responded, focusing her chakra to try and pinpoint its location to no avail, “It’s clearly using this fog to hide from us, tailed beasts are smart. I think it senses its in danger,” she said. Shizune nodded, “That’s probably correct Karin, meaning there’s also probably danger for us as well,”

Of course there we are. You humans act like tailed beasts are bloodthirsty monsters. We’re smarter then you’ll ever be. The nine tails growled in her head. She wanted to reply but Jiraiya had taught her that the 9 tails was just trying to get a reaction out of her and she couldn’t let it win.

‘Oje Foxface, how do I draw out the three tails? Since you’re so smart you must know,’ she asked, Karin had long since learned to get answers out of the fox by placing a strategic compliment somewhere in the question. She didn’t know if the 9 tails knew it was being tricked or not but it was giving her answers so she didn’t care.

Hmph, of course you’d need answers from me. If you use my chakra, you might be able to draw him out of hiding.  It explained, Karin paused briefly, why did the 9 tails refer to the 3 tails as a boy? Karin was certain they were all genderless. 

Over the years, despite never saying it, the 9 tails had grown to respect his jinchuriki and her hotheaded attitude. He helped her with information more because he was intrigued to see what she could do with her power.

“What are you thinking about Karin?” Ino asked, leaning closer to Karin, her hands on her hips. 

Karin shrugged, “Nothing important, I have an idea,” she said, her glasses gleaming in the Sunlight. The girls looked at her, expecting an answer, “I was thinking that if I used my 9 tails chakra it would draw the three tails to the surface in curiosity.” she offered.

Stealing my ideas are you. The 9 tails grumbled in her mind, ‘Nobody can know I’m in contact with you, they’ll think you’re slowly taking over my body,’  she reminded. She honestly thought that entire sentence was a bunch of BS, but it gave her a slightly valid excuse so it didn’t really matter.

Wouldn’t that be nice. Was all the 9 tails responded with, ‘Shut up dingus,’  she thought back.

“That sounds risky,” Shizune pointed out, “It would also draw attention to where we are, we don’t know if there’s any Akatsuki on top of Orochimaru’s henchmen in this area.” she made a good point, if she flared enough chakra to reach the depths where the three tails was hiding, it would also reach most of the surrounding region. 

“What if she channeled her chakra through the water, it would use less chakra and would be more likely to stir the 3 tails,” Hinata piped up, her hand slightly quivering by her mouth. 

“That might work,” Shizune mused, tapping her pointer finger to her chin, she turned to look at Karin, “Do you think you can do that Karin?” she clarified.

“Hah, of course I can.” Karin scoffed, jumping down to a mist-covered beach. 

“Did that 9 tails tell you that?” Hinata whispered as Karin knelt down beside the deep pool of water, swishing the tips of her fingers in it. Karin nodded but said nothing, too busy analyzing the water. It wasn’t like normal water. This water was strange, denser, there was a lot of the 3 tails residual chakra that the leaf could make a proto-jinchuriki if they really wanted to.

‘This is light work,’ she thought confidently, bringing up two fingers to her lips as she closed her eyes. A deep rumbling was heard from the deep as she began channeling the 9 tails chakra through the lake.

“I-i see it, it’s coming up!” Hinata announced, her voice racing with a timid excitement only Hinata could have. Karin smiled to her, her smile strained. Karin would never admit it, but the 3 tails chakra was swarming around her and it was getting difficult to keep her concentration.

“Everyone, get to your places! We need to prepare the seal!” Shizune ordered standing above where the three tails was slowly emerging.

~~~

Naruto watched from the trees as the four Leaf Kunoichi carefully brought the seal above a large shadow below the surface. In the distance, as noted by Deidara, there was a battle between other leaf ninja and another group of people. 

“We should act now, they’re getting close to finishing the sealing process,” Naruto noted, his blue eyes fixed on the 9 tails jinchuriki. Something about her felt odd, that hair was familiar, but he didn’t know where from. 

“Hmph, already on it my man,” Deidara scoffed, molding his clay in his hands, “I’m going to show them my art,” he dropped the fish into the lake, detonating it by their feet.

~~~

Violent waves crashed around them, it was getting hard to maintain the seal, “ARGH!” Ino screamed, her hands breaking the seal as she fell below the surface.

“INO!” Hinata shrieked hoisting her up back under the water and un to her back. She had a determined look on her face but carrying another person on her back was clearly straining for the petite girl. 

Karin stumbled, nearly losing her footing. Maintaining it only because of her chakra control.

‘That wave wasn’t natural, it was forced,’  she concluded, scanning the area. She could feel multiple chakras clashing on the other side of the lake. The remaining ninjas from the Leaf were fighting Orochimaru’s henchmen. But nearby, scarily close to them, was a dreadfully familiar chakra signature.

The pyromaniac artist from the Akatsuki, the one that took Gaara. Besides him was another person. She vaguely recognized the signature but it wasn’t from any akatsuki members she had encountered. It couldn’t have been the puppet creep, Hinata had killed him.

“AKATSUKI!” She shouted, alerting the three other kunoichi. Hinata was back on land, Ino shaking herself off beside her. Shizune had landed on the beach where they stood, staring as the shadow of the three tails grew smaller and smaller.

“Mobilize and get ready to fight,” Shizune instructed, bracing herself into a battle stance, “Karin, get help from the others!”

Karin nodded, sprinting into the direction of the others.

~~~

“Damn, the 9 tails is getting away,” Deidara cursed, narrowly dodging a kunai shot by the purple girl. He jumped onto a clay bird soaring high above the sky.

“Naruto my man, make sure the 9 tails never reaches the reinforcements.” he said sculpting a small clay bird for Naruto to place his seal on before sending it away. Naruto nodded, eager to get into the action. His first mission as an akatsuki, “All right!” he responded enthusiastically.

~~~

Karin’s face morphed into one of shock as she saw the strange white bird flying overhead, ‘God damnit, i’m being followed. Wait, is that a seal on the bird? I swear I’ve seen it before.’ she pondered, increasing her speed.

You’re in trouble, the 9 tails thought almost gleefully, refusing to elaborate further. Karin rolled her eyes, ‘If you’re not going to help, just be quiet in your cage,’ she retorted, irritated.

“Gotcha!” A loud voice shouted from behind her as she felt herself pushed through the ground. Above her stood a boy, no older then her. He had bright blonde hair and blue eyes and wore the akatsuki cloak. 

“GET OFF ME!” Karin shouted, bringing her leg up, preparing to kick the boy in the stomach. Before she could, he disappeared in a bright yellow flash , “Fire style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!” he shouted, appearing behind her as small flames began to shoot out of his mouth.

The flames pelted Karin as she yelped in pain. She wasn’t a fighter, but there was no way she could escape this akatsuki, so she’d just have to give it her all. Her skin sizzled, steam beginning to erupt from it as she felt the burn wounds disappear.

“Who are you anyway?” she asked, bracing a kunai for an attack, there was nobody remotely nearbye, she was alone with this guy, “I’m the newest member of the Akatsuki, Naruto!” He introduced with a smile, taking out a marked kunai. Karin’s eyes widened as she finally recognized the seal on it.

‘Flying Rajin,’ she realized, the blood draining from her face, this shinobi was proficient in the 4th Hokage’s jutsu, the one used to terrorize the enemies of the Leaf during the war. 

In a blink, Naruto was gone. Karin whirled around frantically looking for him, her gaze barely catching the shadow of his figure above him slamming down on her. In a quick substitution she avoided it, charging at him, pulling her fist in a punch.

“Too slow!” Naruto teased, teleporting behind her as she stumbled to the ground, unable to catch her footing. Her back burned as she felt the familiar feeling of his fire style pelting her again. She stumbled to her feet. 

She needed a plan, and fast. She knew she wouldn’t be able to take him on in a physical fight, but maybe she could take him with a strategy, ‘I need time, so as long as I focus on avoiding his attacks, I think I can come up with something,’ she thought, using her massive reserves of chakra to focus on evading or tiring him out.

‘He’s not getting tired, we’ve been fighting for awhile now. Any normal ninja would be exhausted, especially from using all that complex of a jutsu consistently.’ she thought, growing more nervous. She knew she could keep going, but she didn’t know if she’d be able to outlast him.

She needed a plan, Naruto had once again attacked her from behind. This time however, she dodged his attacks. She had started using her sensory skills to read his movements, she had a plan.

The next time he teleported behind her, ready to attack, Karin sprayed him point blank with her poisoned perfume, jumping out of the way as to not inhale it. Naruto started coughing, he wasn’t able to teleport from the confusion.

“DIE!” Karin shouted, charged him, ringing him across the face multiple times before he collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

Karin stared at the young akatsuki as he slept. She could kill him right now, and she would’ve taken out an akatsuki who would’ve posed a massive threat to them in the minute. But as she stared at him, she felt something wrong with killing him.

The boy couldn’t have been older then her and she felt maybe they could change him, teach him, he was strong, if they could convince him to leave the akatsuki, they’d have a powerful asset on their side. At least for now, he was more useful to them alive rather then dead.

With a heavy heart, Karin bound the boys hands and feet, before hauling him over her shoulder, bringing in the leaf’s first ever akatsuki prisoner.

Chapter Text

Naruto woke up in a blur, where was he? How did he get there? Was this an Akatsuki hideout? Naruto felt his chakra bound and his gaze pitch black. Memories slowly started to get back to him, finding the three tails, facing off against the nine tails…the putrid smell of the perfume that lost him the fight. Naruto gagged at the thought.

Beside him, he heard the hushed murmurs of people talking. He picked up a few words like, ‘akatsuki’, ‘captured’, ‘teleporting’, and ‘sensei’? What did the word sensei have to do with any of it?

“HEY!” he shouted, loudly announcing his presence to all those who thought he was asleep, “GET THESE THINGS OFF ME!” there was a pause from the voices, as if taking in the realization that their akatsuki prisoner was awake now. 

Without another word, he felt himself slung over a large ninja’s shoulder and begun to be carried off, “HEY! PUT ME DOWN!” he protested, flailing his arms and legs weakly in desperation.

“No can do kiddo, you’re going to meet the esteemed 5th Hokage Lady Tsunade,” the voice of the man carrying him spoke, he sounded giddy almost.

“Lady Tsunade has some questions for you,” the calm voice of a man beside him spoke up.  It sounded almost bored yet also kind of intrigued. 

“Well I’m not telling you anything,” Naruto said stubbornly, crossing his arms with a ‘hmph’. He was not going to abandon his uncle and teammates like that.  

“You say that now, but I think Tsunade will convince you to talk,” the man carrying him laughed out loud. The man beside them let out a chuckle but remained silent.

“What’s so funny?” Naruto questioned skeptically, his eyes narrowing under the blindfold. He stopped flailing, not like it would get him anywhere. There is no response, just the quiet sound of their feet walking beneath them.

Naruto squinted as light finally hit his eyes for the first time in a long time. He blinked once, twice, three times as he took in his surroundings. He definitely wasn’t in the dungeons anymore. He was in what seemed to be an office, overlooking the great stone faces(or at least that’s what he thought they were called). Sitting behind the main desk was an attractive blonde woman with amber eyes and a blue diamond atop her forehead, to her right was another woman, this one with short black hair and eyes. To her left were two tall white haired men, one significantly older then the other. He assumed the older one was the one carrying him, the great toad Sage Jiraiya, and he recognized the younger one as Kakashi Hatake. He didn’t know much about him but whenever he heard about him his uncle turned barely sour. 

As much as Naruto hated to admit it, this was the first time he was in a room with more then one woman. The woman behind the desk, the one with the blonde hair looked as though she had seen a ghost, “Uh Lady? Why are you looking at me like that?” Naruto asked, snapping her out of her trance. She was creeping him out, even as an Akatsuki member. 

“WHO ARE YOU CALLIN’ LADY?!” she shouted, slamming her fist hard against the table, staring up at him with a look of pure rage, “Lady Tsunade, perhaps we should be more respectful to our guest if we want answers,” the Hatake man spoke up.

“Believe me, I have my own ways of getting answers besides being respectful,” Tsunade said, cracking her knuckles threateningly. Naruto gulped before speaking up again, “You’re not getting anything out of me,” he declared as he swung his head to the side in defiance.

Jiraiya shook his head disaprovingly, “Listen, what’s a kid like you even doing in the Akatsuki in the first place, we can’t find any records of you previously living in any of the villages so where did you come from?” he asked, his voice revealing a hint of confusion and maybe concern?

“Well I didn’t come from any villages,” he said, his voice sharp, giving out as vague information as he could.

“You don’t say,” Kakashi said sarcastically, “but that wasn’t the question we asked, we asked where  you came from, not where you didn’t,” his eyes glued to some ‘Make Out Tactics’ book that Naruto didn’t recognize, then again he was never one for reading.

“Well I’m not telling you where I came from. I’m not telling you anything!” he shouted angrily, he wasn’t selling out his uncle, not now not ever.

“Who raised you? You showed Mastery of the Flying Rajin, a technique perfected only by the fourth hokage, how?” Tsunade asked, trying to make another opening to get information, one that wasn’t going to work, “My uncle taught and raised me,” Naruto answered vaguely, his gaze focused on the fourth great stone monument behind them. Something about him looked familiar but Naruto couldn’t place where.

“Who is your uncle?” Tsunade pressed, leaning towards him, her eyes piercing his own. Naruto shook his head, “None of your beeswax grandma,” he retorted, unwilling to answer any questions.

“WHY YOU–!” 

“Lady Hokage, please, let me handle this,” Kakashi spoke up, cutting her off. His only visible eye drifted up from his book, landing on Naruto, “Listen here, you look a lot like the 4th Hokage, and your age matches the one of the son who suspiciously went missing before he died, do you know anything about that?” he bluntly asked, his voice eerily calm.

“My p-parents are dead, uncle said my mom was a civilian” he stammered, at a loss for words. He knew next to nothing about this village’s history and never cared for it, “It’s probably just a coincidence,” he shrugged it off, his uncle would tell him if it was true. His uncle wouldn’t lie to him.

“When’s your birthday?” the black haired woman interrupted, finally stepping into the conversation.

“October 10th, why?” Naruto asked, why would they even care about his birthday, what knowledge would that bring to the table.

“I-it’s you, it really is you,” Kakashi gasped, his eyes widening. Jiraiya’s jaw dropped in shock, “After all these years, you’ve been with the akatsuki all along,” he murmured.

“What are you guys even talking about?!” he asked, all he said was his birthday and now they were speaking of him like he was sent by god to save them.

“You are without a doubt, the son of the late fourth hokage and his wife,” Jiraiya explained, joy filling his once serious expression.

“This here was him,” Kakashi said as he pulled up a folded picture from his pocket, it was a picture of four people posing together: on the right was a younger version of Kakashi, a sour expression plagued his face, in the middle, was a girl he didn’t recognize, with brown hair and purple face markings, above them was the fourth hokage(probably a younger version though). He did look a lot like Naruto but it couldn’t be possible, Naruto got his spiky hair from his mom’s side, not his dad’s. That’s what his uncle told him.

Finally, on the far left, was undoubtedly Naruto’s uncle Tobi, he was definitely younger but Naruto would recognize the man who raised him, taught him, and protected him anywhere. 

“No, he can’t be my dad, I can’t be his son! Uncle told me I got my spiky hair from my mom, not my dad!” he said, a desperate attempt to defend his uncle despite the overwhelming evidence.

“Naruto,” Jiraiya begun, placing a large hand on his shoulder as he stared into his eyes thoughtfully, “The man you call your uncle is not who he seems, he killed your parents and took you to raise for himself, I’m sorry you had to find out this way,” he explained slowly, as though he was carefully unraveling Naruto’s life with each word.

“No! That’s not true! He’d never lie to me! That’s not true!” Naruto screamed as his hands clutched his head, he felt tears forming as the others in the room looked at him with pitying expressions. 

Naruto felt like he had been hit by his own jutsu, his own uncle, the one most important to him, lied about everything. Did he even care about Naruto? Was Naruto ever anything important to him? Or was he just a pawn, a means to an end? 

He wanted to be alone, to cry in shame, but here he was, crying his eyes out as he found out his life was a lie, in front of many people he had never met.

~~~

“Lord Madara, Naruto was captured by the Hidden Leaf village, we need to expect an intel leak from him,” Pain said in his usual monotone.

Obito felt like screaming inside, his precious little nephew was back in the hell that was the leaf village. Of all the villages, he had to be captured by the one that would ruin his lie in the worst way possible.

“Lord Madara, is everything okay?” Konan’s worried voice rang like music to his ears. Obito wanted to run and hug her, to just receive her comfort but he knew he couldn’t, knew he had a role to maintain. He couldn’t just break down crying on the spot or else they’d lose all respect for him.

“I am fine,” he nodded, taking all his might not to crack into his(much less intimidating) real voice, “I will personally bring him back, continue with the sealing of the three tails,” he ordered, regaining his composure.

“Very well then, we should get started immediately, the lower amount of members we will have actively sealing will slow the process greatly,” Pain said, in other words telling him to get out. Obito nodded, not saying anything else before he warped away back to the mountain graveyard.

As he came into view of the now empty Narutoless Mountain Graveyard Obito screamed. A scream of pure anguish and agony, he should’ve kept Naruto where he could safely monitor him. He let Naruto help him with his plans and look where that got him. 

Obito took a deep breath, he was going to have to take a trip to the hellhole he used to call home and just hope that they hadn’t ruined Naruto’s perspective on him too much. Hopefully

Chapter Text

“Hey, Akatsuki guy,” Karin called, entering the boy, Naruto’s, holding cell. He barely looked up, all that fire in him gone, like someone had blown it away than threw it in the Three Tails’ lake. 

“What do you want?” His voice was hollow, depressing really, he was curled into a ball in the corner. It was astonishing, this boy, the one who tried to kill her, was her cousin, her only living relative.

“Are you okay?” Karin asked, her voice softening, she placed her chakra into the seal, disarming it. She entered the cell. 

You’ve just given a teleporter an easy way out, alone as a jinchuriki.

‘Shut up, look at the poor guy, he won’t do anything, we’re family’

Family means nothing if you weren’t raised together, we’re closer to family than you are with him.

Karin chose to ignore the fox after that, turning to face Naruto, “Hey, do you hear me?” she asked, leaning in close.

“Leave me alone, let me rot in this place,” he said glumly, refusing to make eye contact. Karin rolled her eyes, “Cut the depressing act, last I checked you don’t have a say in who raises you,” she told him, entering the cell despite the warnings in her head.

If this is a trap, there’s no one to save you. You’ll need my help. The 9 tails said almost gleefully into her thoughts. Karin ignored him.

“Besides,” she whispered softly, sitting down next to him, “It’s good you have someone who took care of you” she added longingly. It felt unfair that Naruto had gotten someone who at the very least spent time to raise him. 

“And how’d that turn out,” he responded, his voice sullen and his words mixing together like they had been shoved into a blender, “He lied about everything. He isn’t even my uncle,”

“So what if he’s an asshole,” Karin offered, “Clearly he cared enough to give you a good upbringing. I can name a many people who’s caretakers don’t even pretend to love them. She’s the nicest girl I’ve ever met”

‘Hinata,’ Karin thought solemnly of her teammate, her best friend. She felt the song of the 9 tail’s lazy voice rumble through her thoughts, If you’re trying to get him to regain faith in his guardian and kill you, I’d say you’re doing a splendid job. 

‘I don’t recall asking for your opinion,’

I don’t recall asking if you wanted it. 

Naruto stared blankly at her, her words doing nothing to pierce his dreary mood. Karin internally groaned, ‘Why do I always have to be the one who gives the speeches. Everyone already knows I suck asscheeks at it.

“Omigod,” she muttered under her breath, “Listen cuz, what I’m saying is that who raised you has nothing to do with you are and can be. There are people here who have been mourning your supposed disappearance on the night of your birth for years! They’d definitely be willing to let you atone.”

‘They wouldn’t even let me atone for something I didn’t deserve,’ she thought biterly

Naruto blinked, finally responding, “People…missed me?” the words tumbled out in surprise. 

“Of course people missed you dummy! You’re the last living relative of the late 4th Hokage!” she said pridefully, she wasn’t related to him by blood but by marital status, he was her uncle. “They miss my real father huh?” he repeated, Karin’s smile faltered but she nodded nonetheless.

“You just told me parents have nothing to do with who I am. They shouldn’t miss me, if the 4th Hokage was as you’ve said than people should loathe me. I’m everything my dad stood against,” the words sounded dry and emotionless as they escaped his lips.

‘Shit, that’s not what I meant,’ 

You’ve really messed up this time. The fox’s voice was a sing-song in her head and if she could, Karin would’ve glared at it.

“No! That’s -ugh! Not what I meant!” she stammered. Naruto raised a brow at her, “Then why did they miss me?” 

‘I did not think this through,’ Karin frantically searched for any explanation, doing her best to hide her panic from Naruto’s blue orbs. “There were people close to the Former Fourth Hokage, who were excited to meet you. You’ve actually already met some of them, Jiraiya and Kakashi both held Lord Fourth very dearly so losing you on the same day as him and your mother Kushina was like a triple loss,” she explained though it sounded terrible, even to her.

For a while, there was silence, the only sound was the Demon fox’s mock-snoring it had done often to rile her up, “Will people ever accept me? I-if I rejoin?” his voice was hesitant, like he wasn’t sure of his decision yet.

They’ll accept him faster than they’ll accept you. 9 tails mocked, ‘Shut your bitch ass up fox,’ she snarled back. 

“Of course they will, they’ll accept you immediately!” she said quickly, probably too quickly. ‘Fuck, what if I sounded to fast,’ she fretted and for once, the 9 tails didn’t respond, likely just taking a nap.

“Naruto listen,” she sighed when he didn’t respond, “There’s nothing wrong with you. If you’re worried about the Akatsuki thing, you were barely a member long enough for anyone but the people who actually saw you to know you’re past. All they’ll know is that the Fourth Hokage’s long lost son is back.” she reassured

“It’s not right to lie to them,” he countered.

“Ugh, I’m really not good at this kind of thing Naruto. So let me put it in words that you’ll understand. Either you can rot away in this dump for the rest of your life, or you can make a new one, with new friends who aren’t mercenaries. And besides you can tell people when you feel ready for them to know, no one will judge you for it,” so that last part may have been a lie but Karin was sure he’d be able to get a real friend who won’t care.

Naruto blinked, surprised with her brutal honesty, “T-thank you for that,” 

Karin smiled beside herself, “Your welcome,” she said proudly, “Well, I’m probably going to go now, just tell the guards when you’re ready to make your choice,” she explained, walking towards the exit.

“Wait!” Naruto called, he was finally standing straight again.

“Yes?” Karin urged, excitement bubblying beneath her.

Naruto took a deep breath, preparing himself, “I’ll do it. I’ll rejoin the village,”