"You never told me. Why did we come here in the first place? As much as the fantasy of a hidden legacy of the clan seems appealing to me, I would like to keep my expectations realistic," Karin asked as Naruto finally reached the entrance of Uzushiogakure. They were welcomed by a huge arch with multiple vines growing all around it and even some trees sprouting near its sides, but it was still as sturdy as ever. That is if the top part of that arch was ignored. It was broken, turning the welcome arch into two separate pillars instead.
"You can allow your unrealistic fantasies to run wild. The village does have a hidden legacy, and we are here to unlock it. The only question is about how." Naruto said while walking into the village with Karin still on his back.
"Do you have any leads, or are we searching for an unknown needle in a haystack?" Karin asked, looking around the somewhat unkept seeming buildings. They only showed signs of wear and tear and didn't seem like foreign forces had attacked them.
"I do have a lead," Naruto said. "We are going to have to dive down to the bottom of a lake for that. I'm not sure what comes after that though."
"So there is water for me to go for a swim!" Karin suddenly got excited. "My swimming dreams are going to be fulfilled today."
"Just don't lose your swimsuit as well," Naruto said. "Otherwise I will chain you up and parade you through the village naked like a heinous criminal."
"You're kidding, right?" Karin chuckled nervously. "It's not a very good joke either, so don't make such jokes, please."
"Not into exhibitionism, got it," Naruto nodded as Karin got weirded out.
"Why would you think such a thing?" She asked, offended.
"I don't know. Maybe your eagerness to show off your body to me made me presumptive. But can you blame me?"
"Yes," Karin said with hints of anger in her voice. "I do blame you for making such a presumption. What I do with you is slightly over-the-top flirting, which is fine since you've essentially touched each and every part of my body, and I feel that I owe you for healing me. What you're suggesting is that I'm okay with any random person doing the same, which I'm obviously not. And to imagine that you would think such a thing is very offensive to me. If it wasn't so damn comfortable to be near you, I would've tried to push you away by now,"
"All right, I got it. My bad," Naruto said, "Now stop hitting me. We have to get to the lake." Naruto could feel Karin's pout as she stopped hitting him and rested her chin on his shoulder, still a little angry, evident by how she was pushing her chin down on his shoulder.
"Fine," She said slightly grumpily. "But don't make demeaning assumptions about me anymore. I'm a loyal girlie, dammit."
…
Soon, they crossed the ruins of the village and reached the lake where Naruto's clone had found the seal in the first place.
"Get off," Naruto said. "We need to dive underwater now."
"Okay~," Karin said excitedly as she got off and stood on the shore of the lake. "This isn't beach sand … it's all grassy and mushy."
"This isn't a vacation, Karin," Naruto said with an amused smile. "We're here on important business. Now jump in and follow me. We need to get to the seal." Naruto got rid of his clothes, leaving Karin to stare at him in awe. "Are you taking revenge of some sort?" He asked her.
"Can I call you an exhibitionist now, Hokage-sama?" Karin asked innocently, making Naruto cough.
"Fuck's sake," He shook his head, leaving his clothes on the shore and jumping in the water. "Now follow me. We don't have time to waste. The sun's going to rise up in a few hours."
"At least let me play around in the water for a bit …" She said, jumping in after Naruto who dove in. "So cold …" She shivered a little but didn't seem particularly bothered by the otherwise icy cold water.
"Hm?" He looked back and saw that Karin wasn't following him. Shaking his head, he swam upward to bring her down. He was splashed with water just as he surfaced close to Karin. "As I said before, Karin. This isn't a vacation," He wiped his eyes and spoke patiently while looking at Karin's amused expression. "Be good and follow me down."
Karin narrowed her eyes and grabbed Naruto's arm with both hands. "Why are you being so patient with me, Hokage-sama?" She asked, pressing against Naruto's arm. "Going along with my whims. Patiently talking to me. Even pampering me in your own weirdly distant yet gentle manner. Why?"
"I already told you, didn't I?" Naruto moved closer to her. "I think you're sexy and don't mind indulging you as long as it doesn't inconvenience me. And trust me, not a lot of things can inconvenience me." He moved his wrist, making the back of his hand rub against Karin's crotch due to the way she was hugging him.
"Even though … even though I'm not ready to give you an answer yet?" She said as a blush rose on her cheeks, but she didn't make a move to pull away.
"Please," Naruto said. "Don't take my actions so seriously. This is just some slightly over-the-top flirting," Having her words thrown back at her made Karin feel a little embarrassed.
"Let's go down now, Hokage-sama," She said, finally letting his arm go. "We don't want to be late." Karin dove under the water.
[You don't even know where we need to go.]
Karin's eyes widened as she quickly surfaced, "You just spoke in my head," She looked at Naruto with surprised apprehension. "Why can you speak in my head?"
"Chakra, Karin," Naruto said, raising a brow at her expression. "You have some of my chakra in that seal of yours. It allows us to communicate telepathically. Why do you seem so scared about that?"
"Because Orochimaru could do the same thing with the cursed seal … It took him a while to develop it, but I remember hearing his slithery whispers in my head very clearly," Karin said.
"Did my voice sound like a slithery whisper to you?"
"No, it was clear and crisp, but that's not my problem. My problem is that you are able to talk in my head."
"Would you feel more comfortable if I didn't talk in your head from now on?"
"Yeah, kinda. It creeps me out a little, to be honest."
Naruto nodded before gesturing toward the water with his head and diving underwater. He moved slowly so that she could keep up with him. Karin soon caught up with him and swam at his side. She gave him a look and extended her hands forward, seemingly to move forward. Instead, she grabbed his hand, making him look at her. She gave him a teasing smile and used her legs to propel herself forward along with her hand while Naruto did the same, allowing them to maintain their forward momentum without getting sidetracked.
[Can you hear me?] Naruto heard Karin's voice in his head.
[Yeah. I thought that you didn't want me to talk in your head.]
[Just … not all the time. Sometimes is fine. Like here. It feels like I'm having a normal conversation with you.]
[You're weird, Karin. Somewhat confusing as well to be honest.]
[I like jumping around in my personality, you see. It keeps you guessing.]
Naruto didn't respond as they continued diving further and further.
[Where's that seal? Do we have to dive all the way down? I don't think I can hold my breath much longer.]
[Just say directly that you want me to kiss you and pass some oxygen to you.]
[No, really. I was never the best at holding my breath underwater. I can hold on for like ten minutes more at max.]
[Seriously?] Naruto gave Karin a look of disbelief as she showed an embarrassed expression. [Fine. Hold on.]
Karin found her movements being disrupted as Naruto pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her. She instinctively held him tightly as well. Moments later, a huge pressure built up behind the duo and exploded, pushing them forward through the water.
[Keep your grip tight. This lake is much larger and deeper than it looks from the outside, there will be a few more bursts before we reach our destination.] Following his words, they received another speed boost from a similar pushing force that threw them toward their destination.
Karin held on to Naruto tightly for a total of a minute before the water around her seemed to calm down and their speed reduced to a snail's pace compared to before within seconds. As she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Naruto's bare chest before her feet landed on the sea bed.
[Ugh. What the hell is that?] She made a disgusted expression as the slimy moss on the floor made her feel a weird sensation on the soles of her feet.
At this point, Naruto was getting a little suspicious of Karin's actions. They seemed a little unnatural to him despite how she'd opened up to him on the way,
'She's a ninja for fuck's sake. Either she's pretending to be this way for some motive, or there's something here that's affecting her, making her speak out so much …'
***
If you like the story, follow it and leave a review and whatever else, it motivates me a lot. I try not to leave any mistakes in the chapters, but if you find something glaring, let me know, and I'll try to fix it.
If you want to support me, check out my Patréon. I post advanced chapters there and do weekly polls to decide the stories that I will be posting for the week. No pressure though, I'm eventually going to post my content publicly regardless.
www.patrèon.com/addyctive
(Replace the è with e)