Chapter 44 - Danzou 02.

Note: Karin and her mother were originally from Kusagakure... But Danzou managed to give this information to Orochimaru, who then kidnapped them from the village, placing them in the Sound Village, aiding her mother and planning to use Karin in the future as an exchange for this.

[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]

Third Person POV

The Land of Sound.

...

...

Above the village, Naruto continued to glide past everyone without needing to worry about sensors due to his lack of chakra, heading toward the southern part of the village. He passed the main building where he had read the documents and descended the village where he sensed the presence of two women in an apparently ordinary house, while at least 8 guards patrolled the area, indicating someone important to the village, especially the older woman.

In that house, in a specific room, a debilitated woman lay in her bed, while candles around the room also illuminated a girl kneeling beside the bed crying and holding onto the older woman.

"Mom," the 11-year-old girl with red hair said, gripping the hand of the older red-haired woman firmly. Despite appearing to be a typical 36-year-old homemaker, she looked extremely tired as her body displayed hundreds, maybe thousands, of bite marks from ninjas of this village. As a member of the remaining Uzumaki clan, she possessed some unique abilities, like sensory ninja skills and a healing power that works when people bite parts of her body.

This woman had been used over the years by Kusagakure, but someone kidnapped her and brought her to this village, despite her being weak from being used over the years. Even now, with no one biting her to take her chakra here, she was nearing the end of her life, and that moment was approaching.

"Karin..." the woman said weakly.

"Mom," the girl cried even harder at that, after all, her mother didn't seem to have much longer to live.

"Karin, stay strong," she said, touching her daughter while her hands trembled.

"Please, mom, don't go," Karin screamed, tears streaming from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, daughter... There's nothing I can do... As much as I want to, I'm losing strength more and more... I feel like I'm dying soon..." She admitted, as sad as it was to say that to her own daughter. Still, she wanted her last moments to be sincere, even though she had always lied, saying everything was okay, while more and more people came every day in recent years asking for her healing. At least her daughter would be better off here than in Kusagakure, according to the man who took her from the land of grass.

"Karen, I'm very sorry I can't survive another day to protect you..." She said in the same weak tone, touching her daughter's tearful cheeks.

"No, mom. You can't leave me!" Karen lamented.

"I'm sorry, daughter. I can't continue... I don't want you to just be strong, that man promised me you won't have the same fate..." She said.

"No, I don't want that to happen." Karin continued trying to deny that her mother would die there, in front of her.

"Listen, Karin," she said with tears too. "I'm so sorry, so sorry for not being with you anymore, but this is the end of the line for me," she said as her daughter hugged her, both beginning to cry together.

"You are..." They stayed like this, but suddenly a new voice emerged in the room, making both the debilitated mother and daughter turn around as a blonde boy appeared wearing a mask covering his face. At this moment, Karen immediately stood in front of her mother, not knowing who this stranger was, but not wanting him to harm her mother, as had happened in Kusagakure.

"You're not from the Village," Karen's mother immediately accused, recognizing anyone there by their chakra and she couldn't even notice the man approaching; in fact, she couldn't detect him even seeing him in front of her, almost as if he were an illusion due to her overreliance on her sensory abilities.

What made her believe this man was not an illusion was her natural instincts telling her that this man was dangerous. Karen looked at her mother, confused, as she turned her attention back to the boy.

"What happened to the guards?" she asked with tears in her eyes, yet cautious, as the scene shifted back outside the house, showing all the Sound Village guards either collapsed on the rooftops or strewn on the ground, unconscious.

Naruto didn't respond; he just observed and analyzed the woman's body, knowing exactly what was happening there, despite not being familiar with this type of healing. The woman reminded him so much of his own mother, which in some way connected Naruto to her, making him want to help. However, the only one who could do so was Tsunade, and he would never reach her in time with the woman nearing the end of her life. Naruto sighed and began, "I entered this village looking for someone. I found some papers on this person, including a request to take your dead body, since you're an Uzumaki who will die soon..." Naruto spoke.

"You invaded this village... But I don't mind... as long as my daughter is safe..." She said weakly, although a bit surprised by the woman's initial statement.

"What you don't know is that they are poisoning you..." Naruto revealed.

"What?!" Karin screamed, and her mother looked quite shocked by this revelation.

Naruto continued, "You shouldn't be dying this quickly... But they want to speed up the process, so they're trying to kill you without anyone suspecting. It seems they want to use your daughter and need her to be very loyal to that target or Orochimaru..." Naruto spoke, recalling the papers from his target asking about Karin and her mother.

"..." Karin was at a loss for words.

"No... this can't be happening... he told me Karin would never be used..." The mother said sadly.

"I don't know who talked to you, but if they're doing this to you, why wouldn't they use your daughter as well...?" Naruto commented.

"Why are you saying this, why are you here, and who are you?" The older woman spoke again. She had acquired many natural abilities over the years, especially knowing when someone was lying, which wasn't the case with Naruto.

"You remind me of my mother; she's from the Uzumaki clan too..." Naruto spoke with a melancholic tone, as he missed his family.

"An Uzumaki?" she asked, quite surprised by this.

Naruto didn't respond and looked at Karin, who was watching him cautiously. "My sisters are like you too..." Naruto also commented.

"Tell me..." The woman began again. "What should I do then?" She asked, as she was running out of options and would die soon.

Naruto, feeling her life force reaching its limit, offered a suggestion, although he wasn't used to doing this, but with these women, he felt differently. "I can take you with me; you'll be safer." Naruto spoke.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Karin exclaimed immediately.

"The choice is yours... If you want to live here, that's fine... I just thought I could take you to a better place..." Naruto said, willing to leave the decision to the girl and her mother, even though he disliked the idea of the daughter ending up as a laboratory experiment as he had read in the reports, something that made him hide his powers from the village for many years.

"..." Karin didn't respond, and her mother seemed conflicted.

"I'm leaving." Naruto declared, seeing this.

"Wait!" Karin's mother finally spoke, catching her daughter's surprised look.

"Can you really help her, take her away from here?" She asked with a bit of hope.

Naruto stopped and turned his face. "Yes, I can take her to the Leaf Village or keep her with me, but the latter isn't very safe, as I'm hunting S-rank ninjas." Naruto spoke sincerely. He could leave her at his parents' house with a letter; he knew they would take very good care of her, as his mother would never fail to welcome someone from her clan.

The woman seemed very thoughtful. It might seem crazy to listen to all this and decide to trust the life of her daughter to a stranger who appeared out of nowhere. But the woman didn't know if it was because she was so close to death and had no other choice, or because this man had an Uzumaki as a mother, or because she should follow her instinct to trust this strange boy...

She made her decision while holding her daughter weakly. "Please," she began, "can you take my daughter away from here? Will she be safe, not used as a tool?" she asked, hoping Naruto was exactly what her instincts said he was.

"Mom, what do you mean by that?" Karin asked, worried.

Naruto heard this and nodded. "Yes, I can take her away, but if she wants to stay with me, the only way for her to survive is through rigorous training," he said, looking at the girl who reminded him of Mizu and Sora.

"Then... please, take Karin, take her away from here," she implored, her voice so weak that it grew fainter with each word.

"No, mom, I don't want to go!" Karin looked at her worriedly.

With an increasingly weak voice, she said while gripping her daughter's hand tighter than she could in that state, "Listen, Karin, I think we should trust this man. I'm dying and I don't want you to end up like me; I want you to be free. That man only deceived me... But for some reason, I believe this boy can finally take you away from here so that you can live your life freely and not be bound to the same life I had..." She spoke, as tears began to flow, no longer knowing what to say.

Karin was at a loss too, her mother turned back to the boy. "Take her and protect her, that's all I ask..." she said.

"Alright, I will take her away," Naruto responded.

"Thank you," she finally thanked him, understanding his intentions.

"Mom...?" Karin noticed her mother's voice growing fainter and looked down to see her hand falling limp.

"Mom!" She screamed as she saw that her mother had finally passed away.

Karin began to cry and scream at that moment, and Naruto couldn't help but feel some emotion from it.

"Why... Why did they poison her?!" Karin demanded with tearful eyes and anger in her tone.

"Because they wanted to use you and your mother's body, but it seems she was deceived..." Naruto commented with a slightly melancholic tone. He felt some anger about the situation and even wanted to destroy the village for it, but he couldn't follow a path that would kill innocent people here; after all, he would be no different from Itachi if that were the case.

"What do you think I should do...?" It had been 20 minutes while she cried the whole time. She was a girl filled with anger, grief, lost.

"I can take you from here, I don't want to harm you, you decide what you want to do... but I recommend you go to the Leaf Village... I can ensure your safety there," Naruto commented sincerely.

"I can take her... I don't want her body going to those who killed her! I want to bury her..." Karin demanded.

Naruto nodded finally, and then left the house, leaping into the air, with a very surprised Karin on his back, but still very sad due to the death of the woman that Naruto carried in his arms. Then, they departed from the village at that moment, to meet Kimimaro and Akame before heading to the mission.

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Raccoon here: What do you think, was it convincing that Naruto managed to take Karin?

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