Apparently, Naruto had nothing in his arsenal that could hurt a transformed Jinchūriki.
He had always had more interest in what he could actually do with chakra, otherwise relying more on his superior speed, strength and Elemental enhancements to keep ahead of his enemies.
…And to be fair, it had mostly worked out, overall.
But when dealing with the strongest shinobi around, there would be people as durable as Fuu. Some, even more.
There would be people faster than him. There would be people stronger than him. Naruto had known this, of course. But seeing it was a different thing altogether.
He had a fair amount of battle experience, but this had been his first real fight in… in… How many years?
He wasn't sure, honestly, but his birthday had passed a little while ago. He was eighteen on the paper, physically and mentally. It always got so confusing, trying to keep track of this.
What did people even do, when they lacked firepower…?
His late father had apparently created the Rasengan, but Naruto knew it would not do much against a transformed Jinchūriki.
Orochimaru had his Sage Mode, but Naruto would rather not sign a contract with the snakes, as it came with a few too many conditions that he would rather not abide by.
The Nine-Tails' chakra… Instinct told him it would be a real last resort option. As in, something that might well kill him.
His most destructive technique at the moment might be his ability to use two elements together. There were a variety of jutsu he could modify to work that way, he thought.
The looming threat of having to fight real monsters drove him forward.
The three of them were still on a mission technically, so the morning after, he went back with Sakura to put the second out of three permanent marks in the Land of Hot Water, before splitting up once more.
Karin was recovering, in the meantime.
Naruto put on a permanent mark near the north of the Land of Canyons, erasing the temporary one they had left yesterday.
Then he jumped to the skies, a blur of blue light bouncing toward the Land of Earth.
Once he was close enough to Iwa, he slowed down, sticking to flying as an eagle, before he glided down.
Then he walked, almost casually, making sure not to be seen as a thread. Because they likely had some sort of scouts, sensors.
He put down a permanent mark a few kilometers away, making sure it wasn't noticeable.
Sakura joined him, and they went to complete their job in the Land of Hot Water.
Night had already fallen.
Tomorrow he'd have to go back to mark the North of the Land of Earth. The rest could wait, according to Orochimaru.
His next priority, and Karin's by extent, would be getting to Konoha. Naruto wasn't entirely sure of how he felt about that.
He was currently walking with Sakura, headed toward the easternmost port of the Land of Hot Water, where she would have to take a boat toward the Land of Water.
"Did you miss it?" Naruto asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Being on a boat."
She snorted. "Not really, last time was enough for me. Well, at least, I can take it."
"You're just talking shit, now… I got better."
"Well, I've heard the Eastern sea was a fair bit rougher than the Northern part, so…" She shrugged. "Might not be so good for you."
"…Yeah. I mean… We don't need two people on the boat, right?" He let out weakly.
She clicked her tongue, amused. "No, I will be enough."
"…Be careful, alright?" He asked.
"Of course. Worst case, I can just retreat to Umi, now."
That was true, but as he had figured when fighting Fū, there were some limits to the ability, mainly the time of uninterrupted focus it took. In times of danger, ten seconds was too much.
He let out a weak smile. "Yeah. I guess."
She laughed, taking him into an embrace. She was so much shorter than him, now, he noticed.
"I'll be fine, promise! Who else will bully you and keep your ego in check, otherwise?" She grinned sharply at him.
"I'm sure you'd still find a way." He said wryly.
He still took her into a closer embrace.
"Midget." He whispered in her ear.
"Asshole." She murmured back.
They smiled at each other.
He watched her boat depart from the harbor.
He covered the Northern part of the Land of Earth over the next two days.
Despite how boring it was doing it alone, he was free to run at full speed the whole time, and the only breaks he took were for eating.
He called it a day, and jumped back home, passing through the main gate.
Naruto hadn't heard from Sakura since she had left, which was not surprising, considering that… she was on a boat. Still, he was a bit worried.
The village was growing at a fast pace, which surprised him, even though he had been the one to allow every settler to come here in the first place.
There were around forty people living on the islands by now, as they had marked a few more in gatherings similar to the first one they had in Haraji.
Which meant around twenty-five houses on the central island, and some very quick-growing rice fields and sweet potato crops on another one. Somebody was herding young calves and chickens, according to what Naruto had heard.
Tomorrow, he and Orochimaru would mark more people. To help the proceedings, the man had taught him how to affix the mark on people by himself, which should help, should he recruit more on the way.
'Damn, but Orochimaru really believes people ready to leave their countries grow on trees.'
"Hey, I'm back." He called, entirely casual after his three days absence.
Karin's apple red head popped through a window on the first floor.
"Where have you been?" She asked, looking pretty worried. Still, she jumped from the engawa, landing gracefully on top of the sand.
He noticed she was wearing her training garb, and was covered in sweat.
"Oh, you've been training, I see." He smiled, happy she had recovered some.
"Hmph. Only lightly, I'm still not good enough to go. Don't ignore my question, though." She puffed her cheeks, making him want to pinch them.
"Were you worried?" He asked, lightly pulling on her cheek.
"Why would I be worried about you?" She countered, but she was looking away.
"You so were!" He laughed, picking her up easily by her waist.
"Put me down! God, you're such a child!" She said, but she was grinning, too, her cheeks red.
"Oh, am I?" He asked, his voice low, but playful.
Karin inhaled a sharp breath, flustered. "Yes. Absolutely."
"Would a child…" He started. She saw in his eyes what he intended to do.
"Don't you dare throw me in-"
"Do thi- Whoa."
He almost managed to throw her in the lake, but she wrapped her legs around his waist, tipping both of them forward. They fell in the sand, laughing.
"Whyyyy?" Karin whined. "Why did you have to do this?"
"You provoked me, obviously. I couldn't let that go." He said, trying to muster some dignity.
"Oh no…?" She panted.
When did she get so close…? They were laying in the sand, his body pressed flush against hers. Karin didn't shy away from it, the opposite even. Her hands rested around his shoulders, caressing his neck.
She was looking at him with a look he had seen before.
She was looking at him as if…
It hit him like a brick wall.
'I'm so stupid. How could I not see it before…?'
Maybe he had not wanted to see it, preferring to believe they were just close friends. But then again… maybe close friends didn't sleep together in the nude. Maybe close friends didn't have the kind of… slip-ups they had.
Maybe he could blame the seals somewhat. Then again, they never made you feel in a way that wasn't there from the beginning.
Karin was attracted to him, at the very least. He wanted to slap his own forehead. And from the way she had acted around him… she might well have developed some romantic feelings as well.
'Ah. That might complicate things a bit.'
…What did he feel toward Karin?
He realized he had never tried to put a name on it. Or maybe he just was bad at understanding his own feelings, when it came to romantic ones.
His relationship with Tayuya had been simple. They were casual friends who played music together… and had sex sometimes. Simple enough. It was something he knew they would likely resume whenever she joined them on the island.
Ino… He had't figured it out at the time. Which he now realized might have been a mistake. Sakura… Same thing. He had deluded himself into thinking being attracted to her had just been a passing thing.
Now, Karin. She was the one he had been around the most in the recent years. He cared for her, a whole lot. And he definitely was attracted to her, he could finally admit.
But this wasn't something that was as clear cut as it had been with Tayuya. You couldn't just start fucking your friends like that and expect that nothing would change. That was common wisdom for a reason, and even Anko had made sure to stress it, when he had asked her for help.
And he definitely wasn't looking for commitment.
Some part of him, the one that had grown starved for maternal affection, was simply too afraid to get this kind of intimacy… with a single person. There were just too many ways it could go wrong, especially in his case.
He had never vocalized it, but he had known that his desire to see everything as simple friendship had come from somewhere.
If it hadn't been for this… Damn. He knew Karin could have been it.
She seemed to notice he was lost in his thoughts.
"Hey, are you okay?" Karin asked. "You seem… thoughtful."
"I…" He hesitated.
How did you even start a conversation like this…?
"Yes." She wondered.
"Karin, what do you think of me?"
"What I think of you…? Ah." She inhaled sharply, cheeks flushed. "I… Uh… I care about you… Ah…"
God. He was such a coward. Why was he putting her into such a position?
"No. Scratch that."
"…What?"
Naruto took a breath.
"It's unfair of me to ask this. Do you… Want to know what I think of you?" He said instead, taking the bull by the horns.
She seemed even more taken aback.
"Yes. Yes, I would love to, Naruto." She said quietly.
"Look… Karin." He grabbed her by the hand, bringing both of them to a seated position. She was hanging on to his lips.
His own felt very dry as he continued. "You are a beautiful, kind, strong woman."
Her mouth hung open a bit, and her eyes were wide.
"You're smart, you're talented, you're… Shit I admire you, really."
"You… really?" She said with a small voice.
"I do." He nodded. "And I am really… really attracted to you."
The cat was out of the bag, now. He felt a bit vulnerable, but it turned out to have been way harder, scarier in his own head.
…Damn, she actually gasped.
"And unless I really misread things… I know you are attracted to me, too." She didn't bother denying it, just nodding once. "I'll skip you the whole speech about us not ruining our friendship, since I now know I care for you in a way that's not just… friendly. Hell, if I felt this way for Sasuke, I think I would have noticed way earl-"
Ah, he was losing direction. She was smiling, though. But she also looked pretty worried.
"…I lost track. Here's the thing. As things stand now, I can't offer anyone a committed relationship. Not you, not anyone. I know how unfair that is. I'm putting you in enough danger as is, now. There are people out to kill me, and I can't afford to drag you into this mess even more. They will use you, and then they will kill you as well. I'm afraid of what looms on the horizon. And… I'm afraid of real intimacy. Of commitment to one person. I… don't think I can do that."
He was surprised it even came out so honestly out of him.
"And the worst part… is that I know I'm being a hypocrite here. Even knowing all of the things I just said to you… Even though you're my closest friend… I would not have been strong enough to reject you if you had tried anything direct during all these nights we slept together or the times we… slipped up." He gave her a guilty smile. "And now, either. I'm afraid that if anything like this happens again… I will accept. But even then… I still can't give you much more. It won't be the kind of relationship I expect most people to have in mind, when they think of the word. Probably never will be."
He stood up, pulling her with his hand, and then let out a sigh.
"With that being said… I care deeply about you. No matter what happens, this much won't change. And I'll always be with you."
He grinned at her, and she did too, after some hesitation. Naruto left toward the house.
Karin said nothing. She just stared at the lake, thinking.
Well… This could have been worse, Naruto thought.
He did feel like the world's shittiest friend, but the way he saw it… Honesty always beat deception, when it came to the people you cared about. Even if it could hurt them.
Naruto had had enough lies in his life, he felt. There was no good reason for him to continue with the cycle. Lying to enemies was another thing entirely, but he would avoid it with the people he cared for.
He joined Orochimaru near his spire, — which was looking even more imposing up close, he did wonder how Hidan was faring — and together they left to pick up more people in Hot Water.
When they came back, late at night, with thirty more people in tow, Karin was already fast asleep.
Tomorrow, he'd have to go to Konoha.
Naruto left very early in the morning, as this might turn out to be a long day.
Scratch this, he knew it would be a long day.
The closest Gate he could leap to was in the South of the Land of Rice, so he started his journey there. Leaping high in the sky, wrapped in Wind and Lightning was second nature by now, something that came to him without any real effort.
People close by would notice, no doubt, but they wouldn't try to stop him… if they even could.
It was a practiced routine. He would jump around at extremely high speeds until he got close to a city, where he would transform into a bird and glide down slowly. Then he'd put a mark.
Once he was far enough from the city, he would start again.
He tried to see it as a form of training, building stamina, chakra reserves and learning how to avoid tunnel vision. And he was learning how to be more efficient, be it in ways of maximizing his speed, or his use of chakra.
The downside was that he didn't see much of the cities… or even the landscapes, sometimes. But he'd have all the time in the world once he was done with this.
He had passed some statues of the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara earlier on. Strange.
Naruto was starting to recognize some of the forests, if that was even possible. He was getting close. In about two hours, he'd be in Konoha, likely.
He was feeling his heart pounding, and he knew it was not just from blitzing around for the entire morning.
When noon came, he was gliding down as an eagle, high up in the sky. Seven hours, or so. Not bad, considering the same trip would likely have taken three to four times as long for most experienced shinobi.
Naruto dropped, five to ten kilometers away from the village, close to a small waterfall, putting a permanent mark here. He might have been able to come closer, but he knew Konoha had a permanent sensor team securing the area, which included Hyūga too. His marks were supposed to be almost invisible, but he was not about to tempt the devil.
Well, he was covered in sweat. Orochimaru had mentioned something about setting the right impression, giving him a white coat, a pair of pants and some — unnecessary — jewelry.
He sighed and undressed, going down into the water.
Less than an hour later, the man named Indra entered the Village Hidden in the Leaf.