Konoha Hospital
Sakura was taken aback by Karin's request. She didn't quite understand why Karin would ask such a thing.
"...Don't you think that's a bit much? We've only just met, and this isn't exactly a small favor." Sakura thought Karin was being pretty brazen, asking her to kill someone right after they'd met, although Sakura was planning to help her.
Karin's faint hope began to crumble upon hearing Sakura's words. I was too naive.
Like a drowning person grasping at any glimmer of hope, Karin wouldn't give up any chance. She had witnessed her mother being bitten to death, and inheriting her mother's ability, she knew her own fate would likely be the same.
Under the threat of death, Karin had clung to the last shred of hope and asked Sakura for help. If she stayed in Kusagakure, she would die within a few years, but she wouldn't be able to survive outside the village either. She didn't know how to do anything.
Sakura was the only person, besides her mother, who had shown her kindness. Karin wanted to escape Kusagakure; this was her last hope.
But it had been too impulsive, a hastily conceived plan riddled with holes. Karin thought, despairingly.
Karin struggled to get up and was about to get out of bed.
"Hey~~~ What are you doing? You're seriously injured, don't move around," Sakura, in the middle of healing Karin, was caught off guard when Karin suddenly sat up.
"I'm going back. Thank you for healing me," Karin said, her voice low.
"Going back? Are you kidding me...? Did you hit your head earlier or something?" Sakura couldn't believe Karin was struggling to get up just to go back. Karin didn't seem like a masochist.
"Um... If I don't go back... they won't let me go..." Karin said, starting to get out of bed.
"You stay put," Sakura forcefully pushed Karin back onto the bed. "They won't bother you again, I promise."
Karin looked at Sakura's concerned and determined expression, and something inside her stirred. She stared blankly at Sakura's caring face, and slowly, the image of her mother's concerned face from her memories overlapped with Sakura's.
"Mom..." Karin murmured softly.
"What...?" Sakura was a little stunned. Was Karin's brain damaged from being hit by that bear? Calling her "mom"? She wasn't even an adult yet.
"Sakura... why are you being so kind to me?" Karin had now regained her composure, her expression a little embarrassed, and she had snapped back to reality.
Karin hadn't felt that feeling of being cared for since her mother's death. Being pushed back onto the bed by Sakura just now had made her a little dazed...
"...Because you remind me of a friend..." Sakura said after a moment of thought.
Thinking about it carefully, Naruto and Karin really were quite similar. No one around them had ever been kind to them.
"What are you so worried about...? Don't worry, I'll report this to the Hokage. You'll never have to worry about those Grass-nin again," Sakura reassured her.
"......" Karin was silent upon hearing Sakura's words. If only it were that simple. Her worry was that the people of Konoha would discover her ability, which would be like entering another cage.
"Oh, right, Karin, do you know anything about the Uzumaki clan...?" Sakura noticed that Karin still looked worried, so she decided to give her some reassurance.
Karin shook her head blankly at Sakura's question. She only knew that her surname was Uzumaki, and she had even had to pester her mother to find that out. After telling her, her mother had warned her not to mention this surname to outsiders.
"Uzumaki... clan???" Karin repeated the words, trying to recall her mother's fragmented words.
"The Uzumaki clan was a powerful sealing clan, masters of all kinds of fuinjutsu since the beginning of ninja history," Sakura explained. "The Uzumaki clan had its own country, called Uzushiogakure, which bordered the Land of Fire."
"Since the Warring States period, the Uzumaki clan had been close allies with the Senju clan. You probably know that Konoha was founded by the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan," Sakura paused. "Therefore, since Konoha's founding, the Uzumaki clan has always been Konoha's ally."
Karin was immediately stunned. She had no idea her surname had such a history. So Uzushiogakure was her homeland? Then why had her mother come to the Land of Grass?
"I know what you want to ask. Just let me finish," Sakura said, not letting Karin speak. "Because the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques were so powerful, they were invaded by surrounding countries. Because Konoha was also at war at the time, they couldn't send reinforcements, so Uzushiogakure was destroyed. Only a few clan members were scattered across various countries."
Karin now understood everything. Why her mother was so secretive about her surname, even reluctant to tell her, and had never mentioned anything about the Uzumaki clan.
"Now you understand, right, Karin? You don't have to worry so much. Just focus on recovering. I'll report the situation to the Third Hokage. He won't ignore it," Sakura said.
"Thank you, Sakura. Thank you for telling me all this," Karin's emotions were complex. She realized that she and her mother weren't from the Land of Grass.
Because Karin was too young at the time, she didn't understand why everyone around her treated her and her mother so badly. By the time she was a little older, she had already been taken in by Kusagakure.
After her mother's death, Karin only wanted to survive. She hadn't even thought about these questions. Having enough to eat was Karin's greatest wish. A defenseless little girl had a hard time surviving in a war-torn country. If it weren't for the ability Karin had inherited from her mother, Kusagakure would have driven her away long ago.
"Then rest well. I'll leave a Water Clone here. It's best to resolve your situation as soon as possible." Sakura said, forming hand seals, and then an identical Sakura appeared before Karin's eyes.
"Sakura... I... I'm afraid... they'll come and take me away..." Even though Karin now knew the whole story, she was afraid that while Sakura was gone, the Grass-nin would forcefully take her away.
"Oh," Sakura slapped her forehead. That's right. At the end of the day, this was still technically another village's business. If she left, and the Grass-nin forcefully took Karin away, her Water Clone wouldn't be of any use.
Although they were in Konoha, the Grass-nin hadn't attacked any Konoha ninja, so Konoha couldn't really interfere.
"Then I'll have my Water Clone go. I'll stay here," Sakura ordered her Water Clone to take the information to the Third Hokage.
The Third Hokage would probably be happy to receive a member of the Uzumaki clan. Not to mention the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques that could suppress tailed beasts, their very constitution was a perfect container for sealing tailed beasts.
As for worrying about whether Karin was a spy, that could be left to Ibiki. It would probably be a bit tough on Karin, but for the sake of a life with enough food, Karin probably wouldn't mind.
____
Join me on Patreon! A free subscription grants you immediate access to 25 chapters!: patreon.com/Shinobi_Scrolls