Chương 174: Karin — From Now On, This Lady’s a Konoha Citizen Too

Kusagakure was small, and far from prosperous. Unlike Konoha, whose nights blazed with light and life, this village sank into darkness once the sun went down. In a shabby wooden house tucked away on the outskirts, the furniture was battered, the furnishings sparse. A dim yellow lamp cast weak light across the room, draping the interior in a dreary, almost haunted gloom. A young woman sat there in silence, numb, as though awaiting the judgment of fate itself.

Yet whenever her gaze drifted toward the child clutched tightly in her arms, worry resurfaced in her eyes. Her hair was red—cropped to her neck, the same vivid shade Kushina once carried. But hers lacked vitality, dry and faded at the edges. Like a crimson flower left too long beneath a merciless sun, wilting day by day. She was the "miracle healer" Kusagakure had stumbled upon by sheer chance. The cruel irony was that she knew no medical ninjutsu whatsoever. Her method of healing was far more grotesque.

Wounded shinobi bit into her flesh and drank her blood. That was all. A living blood pack. One woman sustaining an entire village's war effort through the abnormal vitality of the Uzumaki clan. But no matter how extraordinary her constitution was, she remained human—not the Sage of Six Paths. Her chakra would eventually run dry. And when that day arrived, she would die. Death itself didn't frighten her. If anything, it sounded like release. The only thing she couldn't abandon… was her daughter.

The child had inherited the same cursed body. She already knew what awaited the girl after her own death: the same torment, the same endless consumption, the same fate passed from mother to daughter like a hereditary sentence. And if Karin someday bore children with the same gift... Then this hell might continue forever. An endless road with no dawn in sight. Kusagakure had launched itself recklessly into war. Shinobi returned injured almost every day.

Every few nights, she was forced to endure the agony again—feeling her life slowly siphoned away beneath gnashing teeth. The village's sole "kindness" toward her was simple restraint. Only capable shinobi were permitted to feed on her. Genin weren't worthy of the privilege. Had they not rationed her like livestock, even an Uzumaki's vast chakra reserves would've burned out long ago. She could not sustain an entire village by herself. Even so, she knew she had only a few years left at best.

Not enough to watch her daughter grow up. Certainly not enough to free her from this curse. And there was nothing she could do to resist. By now, she understood the pattern. Tonight, they would probably come for her again. Sure enough, before long, footsteps approached outside. Bang! The door was shoved open violently as a Kusagakure shinobi barged in.

"Time to earn your keep again. Move." He sneered at her expression.

"And wipe that look off your face. The village took you in. Let you survive. You owe us this much. Learn some gratitude."

"…I understand." Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. The young woman gently lowered the child from her lap. Children in the shinobi world matured quickly. The little girl had already learned a few simple words, though she still understood nothing about the special blood she carried. She merely tugged anxiously at her mother's sleeve.

"Mama…"

"Karin, be good. Wait here for me, alright? Mama will come back soon." The Grass shinobi clicked his tongue impatiently.

"Hurry it up already, stupid woman." After soothing her daughter and placing her on the bed, the woman suddenly noticed something strange. The shinobi had gone silent. He stood frozen in place, eyes vacant and unfocused. Kusagakure was no Konoha. There were no supreme barrier techniques protecting its core district. To Dongye zhen's four-man squad, the village might as well have been wide open. Before they even entered, Dongye zhen had already sensed two chakra signatures brimming with life force.

Similar to Kushina's… yet fundamentally different. He immediately knew who they belonged to. Once they infiltrated the area and saw the Grass ninja arriving to escort the woman away for another "healing session," a single genjutsu had been enough to drop him where he stood. As members of the Fourth Hokage's guard unit, everyone present understood Kushina's uniqueness. And now, before them stood a woman with the exact same vivid red hair. Of course, red hair alone proved nothing in the shinobi world.

Plenty of villages had red-haired ninja. Even the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had red hair. But theirs tended toward darker crimson or rusty shades. Kushina's brilliant scarlet was different. And Dongye zhen had led them straight to this woman's house without hesitation. Given how absurd his sensory abilities were, that alone said everything. Genma pointed at the woman's hair.

"Captain… is she…?" Dongye zhen nodded.

"Exactly what you're thinking. She's the reason Kusagakure's shinobi recover so quickly." The woman stiffened immediately. From the moment Dongye zhen spoke, she realized these masked shinobi were not from Kusagakure. Instinctively, she shielded her daughter behind her and pleaded softly,"My lords… I know you're here to kill me. But could you spare my daughter?" Dongye zhen glanced over. Little Karin looked barely one or two years old. Hiding behind her mother, she peeked out curiously at him.

Her talent far surpassed her mother's—especially her sensory potential. Though still too young to use it consciously, she could instinctively tell these people carried no malice. Unlike the monsters who always came to drag her mother away. Dongye zhen removed his mask, revealing his face and Konoha forehead protector.

"Ma'am, we're shinobi from Konoha. We're not here to harm you."

"…Then why are you here?"

"Would you like to leave Kusagakure? If you're willing, we'll take you out of here."

"No. I refuse." When Uzushiogakure fell, she'd been too young to remember much. Her parents had never taken her to Konoha afterward. Her knowledge of Konoha amounted to fragmented childhood memories and vague complaints from her parents long since forgotten. But the real reason she refused was simpler. She couldn't trust them. What if these were Kusagakure shinobi testing her loyalty? If she answered wrong, both she and her daughter would suffer for it. She couldn't gamble with Karin's life.

Dongye zhen rarely resorted to force against non-hostile people. As long as he dispelled her doubts, this would resolve itself naturally. He spoke calmly.

"My name is Dongye zhen, a shinobi of Konoha. Maybe you've never heard of me. But the woman who taught me fuinjutsu… her name is Uzumaki Kushina." He paused.

"Does that name mean anything to you?"

"Kushina…" The woman froze. A moment later, she murmured softly,"So she's still alive…" Kushina was older than her by several years. Back in Uzushiogakure, she'd been the undisputed ringleader among the children—a little tyrant dragging a crowd of followers into trouble everywhere she went. At the time, she herself had been too young to understand much. She only remembered trailing behind the older kids now and then. But after Uzushiogakure's destruction, everyone scattered. None of them ever met again.

And now, after all these years, that long-buried name resurfaced from the depths of memory. If she chose to go… Then perhaps they could even reunite someday. Dongye zhen looked at her steadily.

"So. Will you come to Konoha with us?" The young woman glanced at her daughter behind her. At last, resolve settled into her eyes.

"…I will. Please take us away from this place."

"No problem." Dongye zhen paused briefly before asking,"And the child's father?"

"He's dead."

"… Understood. Please hold your daughter tightly." The woman lifted Karin into her arms. Dongye zhen stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. Behind him, Genma and the others rested their hands on him in turn. The Flying Thunder God Technique activated. In an instant, all six figures vanished from Kusagakure without a trace. After they disappeared, the Grass shinobi trapped under genjutsu crumpled lifelessly to the floor. His death was peaceful.

Outside Kusagakure, the young woman stared in disbelief as the scenery changed in the blink of an eye. Behind them, the village that had imprisoned her and her daughter for years loomed beneath the night sky like a lurking beast. She held Karin tightly against her chest.

"We really escaped…" Tears welled in her eyes.

"My little Karin… you won't have to live like Mama anymore." If Kushina truly was in Konoha, then she believed their future couldn't possibly be worse than what they'd endured here. In Kusagakure, she had never been treated as a person. Only a tool. Dongye zhen looked back at the dim lights flickering within the darkened village.

"If you want," he said quietly, "I can erase this village from the shinobi world." The woman fell silent for a long while before shaking her head.

"… No. This is enough. I only wanted to leave." Dongye zhen didn't object. If even the victim herself harbored no desire for revenge, he had no interest in slaughtering an entire village on her behalf. Most of Kusagakure's shinobi were scum, true—but ordinary civilians still lived there too. He hadn't rescued Karin and her mother out of some sudden moral awakening. This was simply a convenient side objective during the mission. More importantly…

He wanted to find a companion for his hopelessly scatterbrained teacher. Someone who could make Kushina happier in Konoha. Dongye zhen was the sort of man who remembered kindness. Kushina had taught him everything she knew about fuinjutsu without reservation. And he had never forgotten it.