Chapter 4

The Lost Temple

"Is this the place?" Naruto asked, as he cleared some rushes that were impeding his path with a swing of his hand. He and his partner had walked quite a ways to get here, a trip that had not taken quite as long as he had initially made it out to be. There was a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead, which he swiped at with his other hand, before craning his head backwards to look for his partner.

"Yep, this is it. We're finally here," Karin replied, emerging a few paces behind the blonde man. Naruto looked at her for a little longer, taking note of the few leaves that were caught in her messy hair, plus the small nips that were at the edges of her tank top. Karin rubbed her hair a little to shake off the dry leaves that had nestled there as they were making their way through the forested area, and also knocked off the leaves that had settled on her bodice as well, before drawing level with Naruto. Before they had set off from the village, Naruto had implicitly asked her a number of times whether she was comfortable travelling in the garb that she had on at that moment. Karin's choice of attire was probably among the most bizarre that Naruto had seen in his life, and he wondered why she even chose that when she was going on what was going to be a possibly long venture, which had prompted him in mentioning what followed.

Once Naruto had posed the question regarding her clothes, she had simply waved him away with a swing of her hand, telling him that she had been used to dressing that way ever since she had become a full fledged ninja. That had not been something that the blonde had expected at all, but even then, it did little to diminish his concerns over the red haired girl.

Of course, Naruto was unsatisfied with that reply, and Karin, taking note of the dissented look on his face, sighed, bracing herself for what she was about to do. She pointed her finger to her bag, something that caused Naruto to tilt his head in confusion. This prompted Karin to spell out to him that she had carried an extra set of clothes in her bag. Upon this sinking in, Naruto nodded satisfactorily, with a bright smile on his face.

After that short exchange between the two travel companions, conversation had come surprisingly short for the two. You would think that they were strangers who just happened to be going in the same direction if you passed by them. The silence that had ensued of course had bothered Naruto to no end, as he had expected slightly more from the girl. Usually whenever he went on missions like this that had the tendency to be lengthy, he would make sure that he would spend as much time as possible bantering with his company. On the contrary however, nothing of the sorts seemed to be going on with Karin, and he was about to protest, but he had to remind himself that he knew next to nothing about his travel companion. As long as he did that, then he would be okay and would not wallow in boredom.

Before long however, all of a sudden he felt the atmosphere around him and his companion grow stale, and for a moment he feared that he was walking alone. He looked behind him with such haste that it even flustered Karin a little, and she stopped walking momentarily.

There was a desperate look of sorts on Naruto's face, although it edged more towards comedic than anything else, something that puzzled Karin a little. She knew almost nothing about Naruto herself, lest for what she had heard Sasuke say absent mindedly from time to time in the company of his teammates, but when someone was walking in the path ahead of you as they were facing you, without paying attention to what was ahead of them, then there was definitely something amiss.

Need it be mentioned, that was how Uzumaki Naruto was walking at that moment.

Karin arched her eyebrows upwards from behind her glasses, and folded her arms across her chest. "Spill. What is it?" Personally on her front, she had not picked up on any anomaly, be it from Naruto or from the vicinity around them, but she could not have anymore of Naruto's current gait at the moment. Whatever he was doing would just draw unnecessary attention to them from passers-by, and Karin was not the type to thrive under such eyes.

Naruto sounded as if he was on the verge of crying when he spoke up, and Karin had to do all she could to refrain herself from reacting to that.

"It's you."

A vein popped on the red haired girl's forehead, and twitched a little. "Huh?"

"You're being no fun at all in this trip!" Naruto protested, his cheeks puffing out and one of his fingers pointing at her, before he threw her hands in the air in protest.

To say that Karin was befuddled at Naruto's antics plus his gestures just then would be an understatement. Her earlier growing irritation was well forgotten by that point, being completely blown away by the astonishment she was feeling at the moment. Of all the things Naruto could be beefing about…..

Well, he is as kiddish as you said he was, Sasuke, so I'll give you that. When the matter replayed in her mind, she could not hold it in anymore. It started out as a small chuckle that escaped from her mouth, which was soon followed by a series of giggles and she had to cover herself to stifle the loudest of them, lest anyone who was passing would think that something had overcome her. As she was lost in her momentary amusement, she made a mental note to tell Sasuke all about this particular part of the trip, as soon as they got back to the village.

For a few moments, Naruto was lost as he watched the girl giggle and chuckle, but he did not say anything, allowing Karin to revel fully in the joy of….something he thought he had done. He was not particularly sure what it was that he had done, but since the last thing that had happened before the girl broke into a fit of giggles was him protesting at her, so he figured that it was something that he had said that had triggered this.

"Er….."

He finally found his tongue.

Karin managed to regain her composure, dabbing at the corner of her eyes from underneath her glasses. She then stretched out her remaining hand before her," Sorry…sorry about that. But damn….you is exactly as Sasuke said you were. And hella hilarious as well." At first, Karin was not exactly sure what kind of a person Naruto was, he certainly wasn't that enigmatic of a character like Sasuke, and he didn't look as if he was that easy a character to read, however, being with him now, Karin finally realized that Naruto was more of a 'what you see is what you get 'kind of guy. Well, that got the first cog out of their relationship well out of the way, and it proved that this trip was going to be well worth it for two different things.

That sentiment by Karin just then captured Naruto's attention, and all of a sudden he found himself curious over what she meant by that. Inching closer to her, he smiled mischievously before asking her in a subdued tone," Hey, hey, so what exactly did Sasuke say about me?" This seemed like an opportune chance to dig up dirt on his best friend, and if it proved successful, he would make sure Sasuke never heard the end of this as soon as they got back.

Unfortunately for the blonde however, Karin was not overly eager to participate in whatever twisted ideas he had at the moment, seeing perfectly through Naruto's ploy. Raising a hand as if to shield her face from him, she dismissed him with the usual curt nature in her voice," That's for me to know, and for you to find out." The manner she said it told Naruto well enough that she had the last of that topic, before she proceeded to walk past him and take her position in front of the man.

Before she completely walked past him, she caught a glance of his dismayed expression from the corner of her eye, and somehow it amused her and satisfied her at the same time. Despite that, however, she was going to remain tight lipped regarding what he had asked earlier, although that did not mean that she would not consider telling him about it later. That would depend on her mood then, however.

The duo walked a fair distance again, and Naruto spoke up again, this time having a general idea of what sort of person Karin was. She seemed not to delve too much into pointless conversation or drabble with anyone, only seeming to speak up when she was spoken to, and even then that wasn't something that happened all the time. Well, he had picked up something of the sorts when he had first made her acquaintance.

"So do you have any idea on how to get there? Uzushiogakure I mean."

"You came all the way here, and this was your idea, without knowing how we're getting there." Karin shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if Naruto had decided to set out solo on this voyage.

That was quite….ridiculous now that she thought over it. But oh well, since she was there, she figured out that she might as well indulge him.

"I do, although a bit vaguely if I'm to be honest. The last time I was there was when I was a kid, and that was a little over 10 years ago. So first, before we actually go there, there's a certain place I want us to go visit first. Well, I want you to see it for yourself.

Naruto chose not to delve further into what she had said in that sentence earlier, regarding her past, choosing to focus on what she had said in the second part of her sentence instead. "What exactly is this place?"

"It's a temple that Sasuke and the others told me about a while back. They had visited it before, and Sasuke had picked on the words Uzumaki once inside, so one day he let it slip that he had found a temple that he thought would interest her." She hoped that she could still remember the route that she had been told to use to get to the temple, lest they would end up wasting most of their energy and conclusively the day.

Little did Karin know, saying something that hinted at a sense of adventure or wonder was prone to trigger Naruto's enthusiast levels and send them off the charts? From the moment she had mentioned talk about a particular temple, Naruto immediately went on the lookout for any building in the vicinity, occasionally asking Karin whether or not they were there yet.

At first, Karin had been tempted to tell him off for bothering her so damn much and making her angry, robbing her the chance to enjoy being outside the village for the first time in a long time, but she had an odd feeling that even if she did tell him off, the warning would just fly over his head. She just had to accommodate his current state; after all, it was bound to come to an end sooner than later.

So it was with that formula for the next ten or so structures they came across, whether they were full buildings or even ruins, they had finally reached the designated place.

The two were still standing outside the temple, Naruto looking at Karin as she studied the outside sections of the temple with a hand pursed underneath her chin.

"What were you all doing in such a place? It's all beat down," Naruto asked, a bit disappointed as he had expected a temple as magnificent in stature as the one he had witnessed at the heart of the Fire Country. Said temple in question seemed somewhat between a fully fledged structure and a shackled down old building. There were visible cracks on the walls outside the building, and the entrance to the building had an arched sign above it with a spiral formation on it, the symbol of the Uzumaki Clan.

"Saving all your asses. Come on, we don't have all day," Karin said, as she crossed past Naruto and entered the temple. She was not particularly sure whether they would make the trip to the Land of Eddies in one day, and the thought of setting up camp at this temple had appealed to her at one point, but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind and decided that she would first deal with what she had come to do at this temple, and any other things would come after that.

The interior of the building had been exactly as Sasuke had described it to her, the walls of the temple were covered in spiral like patterns, similar to what covered the floor as well and was imprinted at the forefront of the building. You could tell that the temple was age old from the way the walls peeled off at some sections while other sections had caved in completely, giving a glimpse of the white inner parts of the building. The floor had small cracks on its surface the more you pressed on, and there was a thin film of dust on the surface, something that both Naruto and Karin picked up on with each step they took sending a trail of dust particles upwards.

For quite a while, nothing out of the ordinary appeared in the temple, but before the blonde man could voice his protest at this being just another ordinary building and calling the entire trip inside here a snooze fest, the path before them widened and became a tad brighter than the dimly lit path that they were walking on beforehand.

The wider room was exactly what Karin was in search for this entire time. At the centre of the wider room, there was a podium of sorts where there were several masks that hung off the walls under three connected symbols of the clans, and underneath the masks were ornate, black flames. The walls of the room too, apart from the usual spiral markings that marked them, were also lined with masks of all shapes and sizes. The masks in the room all had one thing in common; they all seemed like ogre masks, akin to masks that ANBU would be prone to wear. Some of the said masks looked horrendously grotesque, and some, well, were at least pleasant to look upon and didn't seem as if they were about to devour you the longer you stared at them.

Naruto was wowed by the place, it being like nothing that he had ever seen before, and all his earlier notions about the temple being a bore all ebbed away from his mind. His mouth was wide agape, and his eyes had grown to the size of bulbs, as they darted from corner to corner of the room. He had placed one hand over his eyes as he also stared up at the ceiling, as if to shield him from the wondrous nature of the hall.

Before Karin could even blink, the man was already at one corner of the room, his hands on each and every mask within possible reach. His eyes were shining bright by then, and short giggled escaped his mouth every now as he marveled in what he was seeing. "What is this place? It's hella awesome!" Now one thing that needed to be said about Uzumaki Naruto was that whenever he found something that grabbed all his attention, he had a tendency of throwing all caution to the wind.

"Hey! Don't just put on any of those masks on!" Karin warned him when she had caught sight of him handling so many masks at once.

Fortunately this time, Naruto was not alone, and whenever someone used the harsh tone that Karin had used on him just then, he was usually bound to listen. Meekly, he restored the masks one by one to their original positions, and Karin was relieved that he had actually chosen to pay heed to her advice this time. That did not, however, avoid Naruto from craning his head backwards to look at her and also pouting, with a longing look in his gaze. "But….." he started in a weak attempt at a retort.

Karin fervently shook her head, not letting that look even work on her a little. Sasuke had told her about what had happened when Orochimaru had put one of the masks, and even if he had done so intentionally, there was still no way she was going to let Naruto put on one of the masks willy nilly just in his expeditions for fun. She was not about to take responsibility for what was going to happen to him, bearing in mind that it wasn't going to be anything pretty.

"Would you calm down for a little bit? You seem to be in quite a hurry." Karin said to Naruto, once he had finally put down the last mask and she was sure she now had his attention.

He turned his head back to look at her, an unreadable expression of sorts on his face, and Karin was visited by a strange idea just then," Are you that eager to finish this expedition and go back to the village?" One couldn't blame her of course for misreading the situation completely, the only things she knew about Naruto she had been told passively, and even then she could not get the entire gist of things without seeing some things first hand from him.

Naruto understood this perfectly well, owing to the calm disposition he still maintained. He bobbed his head to the side from where he stood, seemingly pandering over something a little, before he responded, "Well, there is that," The pensive look on his face soon melted away into something more typical of him, his usual sunlit smile," But more than that, I guess I'm kind of excited to see where my mom came from."

Well, that is kind of sweet. She sighed a little, feeling a little ashamed of coming out a little stronger than she had intended to when she asked him the question, before smiling in resignation and placing one hand atop her waist. "I understand. Just, don't put on any of those masks. Trust me; you won't live to regret it."

The warning seemed to work when it was delivered this time, sending a shiver down Naruto's spine, and he nodded in affirmation, before turning back to look at the masks, this time with a degree of control in his actions.

"But you know….this place sort of reminds me of the mask stands that are usually set up at festivals in Konoha," Naruto remarked to no one in particular as he took a closer look at the masks.

"Festival?" Karin asked, perking up her head from where she was packing scrolls into her bag a few meters away. Underneath the podium that lay at the centre of the room, it turned out that there was a small compartment that was fitted into the wall, and said compartment had some scrolls that were placed there. The scrolls themselves had all been folded up, and were not in the best of condition owing to the tatters and tears on some of them. This did not deter Karin however, since she figured that as long as she had the scrolls, she could always figure out a way to decipher them on her own later. Besides, that was the primary reason that she had come there, and she was pleased that the trip was already bearing fruits even long before they reached where they were going. She had a feeling the scrolls were part of their heritage, so rather than leave them to rot in that god forsaken place; the best thing to do would be to take them somewhere where they would prove more successful.

Naruto's remark just then had drawn her attention, and the more she thought on it the more she realized that she had never really seen much of the village or its customs ever since she had settled in. Part of it was because she wanted to keep to herself, but a greater part of it was because she was not exactly sure how she would fit in with the other villagers. She had never quite gotten used to the concept of having a settled life as a shinobi, as most of her life had not consisted of well, peace. So the concept of a festival, as bizarre as it sounded, felt completely new and unexplored to her.

"Yeah, now that I think of it, you've never been to any of the festivals ever since you came to the village, right? Oh I know!" Naruto remarked, pressing one of his hands," When we get back to the village we should definitely go to one of the festivals. Sakura-chan and Sasuke can tag along as well. How does that sound?" He asked her genuinely, a warm smile placated on his face.

The red haired girl had not expected such a question to be sprung on her out of the blue. But even so, she could not deny the tingle of excitement that she felt crawling up her spine at that moment. Going on a date with Sasuke was always something worth looking forward to. And well, having Naruto's company to share wouldn't prove as bad as she initially thought, so would there be any harm really?

She nodded. "That would be great!"

Alas, as the red haired girl was caught up in her short lived elation, she forgot that at the moment she was currently handling some scrolls that were supposed to be handled with the utmost care. Consequentially, one of the scrolls in her hand accidentally slipped, and it unfurled quite a ways onto the ground in between her and Naruto.

Naruto guffawed a little," Pfft, who was the one telling me to be careful now!"

Karin flushed a little, before bending over to pick over the scroll. She had the time to read a few of the characters from the scroll, before a flash of light erupted from the scroll.

"Wha-"

A few minutes later, the light from the scroll receded, and a pin drop silence took hold of the room once more.

A/N: A few points to take down, the temple that Naruto and Karin have visited in this chapter are the temple that Sasuke, Orochimaru, Jugo and Suigetsu visited in order to meet up with the Hokages. Although in this case I decided to add a few of my own touches with the scrolls plot, we didn't see enough of the temple save for the masks and I feel as if it could have been more than what we have seen. So I hope that moot point doesn't cause any confusions for anyone, in case it did I hope this part makes it clear.

Other than that, this chapter turned out well, for the most part. I'm actually glad I was able to pen in everything I had in mind for it, so well I also hope that you guys like it!

Till next time then, toodles!