Seeing Gaara being captured Baki was about to make a run for it but before that could happen he was welcomed by a voice from behind him.

"Now where might you be going." Asuma said as he knocked him unconscious.

"Detain all the sand ninjas present for further investigation." Hiruzen said after a while.

Temari and Kankuro wanted to put up a fight but when they saw the already large number of Jonin ninjas being increased with the arrival of the Anbu members...they lost hope and gave in.

As they were being escorted by the Anbu members to their respective cells, Temari thought of Naruto's words and bit her lips in regret.

Naruto wanted to help Temari at that moment but he knew that his status was not that high in the village that Hiruzen would listen to him on matters relating to village's security.

____

The rest of the participants were told to book an inn in the leaf village or to go back to their village till the situation in the village goes back to normal. Needless to say all of them decided to book an inn.

After reaching home Naruto freshened up and then sat on his desk. He took out a sheet of paper and started writing a message which he would be sending to the Hokage anonymously. After finishing it he made a clone of himself and then made it change its appearance to an average face just in case he gets caught.

He soon sent his clone to place the message in the Hokage's office. He has confidence in being able to sneak in but if he fails then still the chances of that message reaching the Hokage was quite high.

With all this done Naruto could finally relax. After a while Naruto finally remembered about a memory fragment which he received from one of his clones.

"It's not like I have anything else to do so I might aswell check on that person. With how injured she was she should be in the hospital now." Naruto said to himself as he prepared to go towards the village hospital.

While on the way Naruto thought that it would be too inconsiderate to go empty handed so he went to a sweet shop that was on the way and bought a box of dango dumplings.

After getting the room number from the receptionist he soon reached the the door.

*Knock Knock*

"Come in," a feeble voice came from inside.

Naruto walked inside the room and after looking at Karin who had a bandage over her head smiled and said "You seem to be almost recovered."

"I-It's you-u.... I mean y-yes, thanks to you." Karin was took in by surprise when she saw the person who saved her from that wild bear came to visit her.

"Sorry for the sudden visit but I wasn't sure when I would get time later so I decided to come now." Naruto said as he placed the box of dango dumplings on the table beside her. "Some sweets for you. They're pretty good and might help you pass your boredom." Naruto said.

He wasn't lying because he indeed tried them before getting them packed in the sweet shop.

"Thank you..." Karin blushed and wanted to thank Naruto when she realised that she didn't know his name.

Catching on to that Naruto soon introduced himself. "Sorry about that...I almost forgot to introduce myself I'm Naruto Uzumaki. How about you."

"It's alright..we didn't get the opportunity to introduce ourselves earlier...I'm Karin." Karin said.

"Let me help you open the sweet Box" Naruto said and started opening the dango dumplings box. With the opening of the box the colorful dumplings entered their vision following by the sweet fragrance of the dumplings entering their nostrils.

Seeing them Karin couldn't help but gulp her saliva that was about to come out of her mouth. 

Naruto soon placed the box on Karin's lap and gave her an encouraging gaze. Karin slowly picked up the stick containing the dumplings and take a bite of it.

"So tasty~" Karin said as she completely ate one dumpling in the next move. She suddenly remembered about Naruto watching her and became embarrassed. "It's really tasty!" Karin emphasized by bringing the stick closer to Naruto. 

When he saw Karin bringing the stick near his face he leaned forward and took a bite aswell. "It really is tasty. No doubt." Naruto said expressively as he gobbled one dumpling.

Karin suddenly paused seeing his actions but soon when she realised what exactly has happened her face started heating up. 

'Oh my goddd did we just kissed indirectly!!!!' Karin thought inwardly while hiding her blushing face from Naruto.

Naruto seeing Karin avoid his eye-contact couldn't help but ask worriedly, "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes I'm fine..absolutely fine" Karin replied and ate the last dumpling on her stick. They both soon started talking casually about random stuff about their villages while eating the rest of the dumplings.

By the end of it Naruto asked her "So what are you planning to do after recovering?"

"Well, I'll be going back to my village...but well I'm not sure how they will treat me when I go back their after losing." Karin said uncertainly.

"Do you have any loved ones in your Village?"Naruto asked to which he was met with a slow shake from Karin's head.

"How about staying in the leaf village then?" Naruto asked her.

"I can?!" Karin replied filled with vigour.

"Yeah ofcourse, I'll just need to talk with the Hokage after a while and you will become a citizen of the leaf." Naruto said.

"Thank you Naruto Kun" Karin said while smiling. 

"You're welcome, as your friend it's something I ought to do." Naruto said and continued " Anyways I've been here for quite some time now. Rest well Karin Chan I'll come to meet you again later, bye." 

It was already late in the evening by the time Naruto left the hospital so he staight away went back home.

Horny_Gentleman

Sorry for the late release..I was not planning to write the chapter for few more days but changed my mind in the morning.

*Ranting start*

Well life has been shitter than the normal shit for me recently which resulted in the delay. First I wasn't able to write because of shifting then when I got time to write...my practical exams started...when I was able to find time to write in that slot then another thing happened I along with my few coursemates got punished for disobeying orders of seniors...and after getting rogered till midnight they assigned us for guard duty of our campus gate for two days..after all that I got two-three days of respite cause of practical exams but then our seniors decided to call us all for Fall-in five times a day and each one of those was about an hour or more... leaving me exhausted...but when I got used to it another shit happened many people in my batch started falling sick and my roomates were among them aswell so they sent us all to quarantine and took out covid test...well my result came  out negative even though I have( still have) fever. One of my roomates tested positive.

So now here I am writing this from my old hostel room where I'm currently being quarantined.

I read this proverb "when it rains it pours" a lot of times but this is the first time that I felt it from the bottom of my heart. Thanks for listening to my venting :P 

As for the next chapter it should come before next week. Thanks for still reading my fanfic .

*Ranting end*