Nindō 0047: Unnatural (2/2)

[That's the seal that we've come here for.] Naruto ignored Karin's childish complaints and pointed to the circular slab of stone that had the seal on it alongside the imprint of a palm in the center. The entire slab was still covered in moss, with only the engraved parts having been cleaned by his clone previously. The rest of the slab seemed completely plain. [Put your hand in the center of the palm imprint.] Naruto decided to send Karin as his lab rat.

[No! What if I end up losing my palm or something? You never know with these things.]

[I've already deciphered the texts surrounding the seal. It requires the blood of an Uzumaki with the Sensory ability unique to our blood. You have the Eye of the Kagura. You are compatible with it.]

[So this is why you brought me here …] Karin showed a knowing expression and looked at Naruto.

[Obviously. If I wanted to take a vacation with you, I would've taken you someplace closer to Konoha. Or at the very least, a valid vacation spot like the Land of Hot Springs. Why would I bring you all the way to Uzu?]

[Fair enough.] Karin swam closer to the seal. She didn't delay things any further because she wasn't sure how long she could hold her breath. [If I lose my arm or something, it's on you.]

[I'll get you a prosthetic like mine if something like that happens. No charge.]

Karin gave an annoyed look at Naruto, not saying anything as she pressed her right palm on the imprint in the seal.

[Nothing's happening. I think — Ahh!] She quickly pulled her palm away from the imprint. Looking at it, she saw multiple pin-pricks on her palm, all of them released a tiny amount of blood that quickly dissolved in the water before the tiny holes closed up because of her immense regeneration. [What kind of blood drawing pulls blood from the entire hand? Use a single needle or some—]

Karin's whining thought wasn't completed as Naruto wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back. She didn't even have the time to appreciate the comfortable warmth that she felt from the close contact before the slab in front of her exploded with light, illuminating the entire lake as the beam extended all the way up to the sky. It almost blinded Karin and she was forced to close her eyes to keep them from burning due to the intense heat. She would've been rushing for the surface if it wasn't for Naruto's comforting presence as he held her close to him.

The Hokage, on the other hand, had a frown on his face as he felt something stirring inside him. It was a feeling that he couldn't quite identify accurately. It was something that he'd felt before but somehow it was slipping away from his mind. He couldn't accurately identify what was going on.

'It all feels eerie for some reason … As if there's some kind of unnatural presence that's affecting me.'

As the light started dying down, Naruto examined what was left of the seal. A moss-covered boundary had risen around the slab that held the seal, making him raise his brow. That was when he felt Karin, still in his arms, stirring. She grasped his arm that was wrapped around her waist and tapped.

[I can't hold on much longer, Hokage-sama. Can we surface now?]

Naruto didn't say anything and merely tightened his arm further before using the water all around them to propel himself and Karin directly upward. It took them merely half a minute to surface as Karin took deep breaths to catch up on her oxygen. In the meantime, Naruto sent a clone down to check the boundary that had risen up from the slab that had absorbed Karin''s blood. He ordered it to clean the rest of the slab as well to see if there was anything else to be gleaned from it.

"You okay?" Naruto asked, still holding Karin in his arms as she leaned back and rested her head on his chest.

"Yeah," She nodded. "Just breathless. What happened with that slab? Are we done?"

"I've sent my shadow clone to examine it. It's going to take him a while so we can get out of the water now."

"I can't believe this lake is so huge from the inside. If we swim on the surface, it will barely take a couple of minutes for me to cross from one side to the other without using any abilities."

"It's a special place, most likely made artificially for a singular purpose. You saw the seal and how it seemed to have sent out a beacon."

"Is that beacon going to wake something up that we'll need to fight? That's usually how it seems to work on TV."

"Don't jinx it."

The clone spent almost ten minutes underwater, meticulously cleaning the stone slab that held the seal. Focusing first on the boundary that had risen around the central part of the slab, it noticed that some writing had appeared on the entire circular ring. The text seemed to be from the same dialect that the main character of the seal was written in but somehow different at the same time. It continued cleaning the slab further and examining its contents before finally popping, sending all of its information to Naruto.

As for the duo of Naruto and Karin, they were currently sitting on a patch of sand, overlooking the moonlit lake. Karin was tightly hugging Naruto's arm and had her head resting on his shoulder. There was a thoughtful expression on Naruto's face as he spoke, "Tell me, how do you feel Karin? Right now."

"I feel great. Why do you ask? I wanted to go to a beach and you brought me to one, albeit a bit smaller than I would've expected."

"You don't feel anything unnatural? Something weird … something you feel that you think you shouldn't be feeling …"

"I don't think so," She shook her head stirring and getting closer to Naruto. "If anything, I feel like your chakra has got somewhat warmer and more comfortable to be around. It's great to be near you, Hokage-sama."

Naruto hummed and paused as he processed the information that he got from his underwater clone. He then made a seal with his hands, creating a few shadow clones. Those shadow clones then created more and so on, creating a few thousand shadow clones within seconds. "Go look for the second seal, guys. It should be somewhere around the village."

"Did the seal change or something? What happened?" Karin asked Naruto.

"Yeah," He nodded. "We probably have more seals that need to be unlocked. What they represent or require, I'm not particularly sure of. I've sent my clones for the second seal that must have revealed itself after we activated the first one."

"I'm not putting my hand in any more seals. It stung." She pouted, not seeming to particularly care about how Naruto came to his conclusion.

"Don't be a baby, Karin. You're a ninja."

"Are you saying that babies can't become ninjas?" Karin asked, seeming offended.

"Of course not. I've always despised the practice of sending newly graduated genin into war. Especially the prodigies. They were the ones worst affected by the war. The leaders did it during the second war and they did it during the third, essentially destroying countless talented young ninjas' futures completely."

"It's probably for the best that you are strong enough to beat up anyone who looks at Konoha the wrong way now," Karin said with a little laugh.

"Isn't it?" Naruto smiled. "Tell me, are you interested in meeting with Momoshiki?"

"Who?"

"The alien who invaded Konoha. He's alive, you see."

"Wait, what?" Karin widened her eyes. "How? What? Huh?" She was flabbergasted.

"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "I have him sealed in a scroll."

"A-a scroll? One of those general sealing ones that barely have any sealing power in reality? A child with chakra could burst out of one of those."

"And yet Momoshiki has been obediently sitting there for the past week, not making a single peep," Naruto turned to look at Karin, "He is adequately suppressed, Karin. And the longer he stays sealed in that stroll, the stronger his suppression."

Karin didn't have anything to say in response to Naruto's words. Turning her head a little, she met his eyes. She had an impulse. The action was taken before the thought even completely registered in her mind. Karin found herself straddling Naruto as he held her waist, both of them sitting up and sticking to each other. This time Naruto was the one looking up to meet her trembling eyes.

"This is weird …" Karin said, hugging Naruto and pressing her face in his neck, breathing his presence in.

"What is?" He traced his hands along her skin, giving rise to goosebumps wherever his fingers traced.

"This comfort that I feel with you. You have a warm and comfortable presence, I agree. But I feel that the way you're affecting me now is so much more than usual. It's much more than merely calming. I feel all messed up in my mind."

"It's okay to feel needy at times," Naruto said, knowing full well that Karin's current actions and feelings weren't completely natural.

"That's the thing, though. I feel that this is going far beyond needy. It's all confusing."

"Okay, stop grinding your crotch against me, my clones have found the second seal. We should try to unlock it as well."

Karin blushed as she realized what she'd been doing and abruptly stopped her movements, "I don't want to let go of you …" She pouted.

"You don't need to." Naruto's hands traced down to her thighs and he stood up as she naturally wrapped her arms and legs around him.

***

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