Karin

I got up right when the sun came up the next morning, said my goodbyes and left. I had finished everything I came to do in the Land of Iron, learnt as much as I could and was surely content with my gains.

Flying high in the sky I thought about the talk I had the day before, as well as my short and long term plans I had made last night.

'While I don't mind changing this whole plot thing a bit, some things are simply too good for me to give up with my future knowledge, otherwise I wouldn't waiting for another 4 years. *sigh*

Anyways.. for now I should go and get myself the Shadow Clone Technique, so that my training speed increases. I also haven't devoured anyone with lighting affinity yet, which I should do. Afterwards I definitely need a good and remote place to stay for a while, my space and time manipulation should be my main focus for now.'

Traveling through the Land of Earth didn't take long this time around. I wasn't enjoying the views, neither was I training. I kept out of the way of anyone I sensed, not desiring to devour some low life civilians that don't benefit me much anyway.

Getting closer to the border between the Land of Earth and the Land of Grass, I decided to pay Kusagakure a visit while crossing through the Land of Grass into the Land of Fire.

Arriving close to the village, I slipped into the ground to avoid any unnecessary attention. The village itself was a rather good looking place. It didn't consist of houses made out of wood, but everything was built with smooth stone.

The architecture was relatively modern looking and it surprised me quite a bit, especially since this land was always used as a battlefield during the ninja wars.

I remembered very little about this village from my memories, probably because it wasn't really all that important.

I did however remember that Karin Uzumaki lived here with her mother before she died. Some time after that Orochimaru took her, but I was curious to see whether she was still here.

Opening my senses wide to feel for a child with larger than average chakra reserves, it didn't take me long to find what I was looking for at all.

Karin seemed to be on the outskirts of the village, walking in a specific direction. I reached her and observed from underground. Everywhere she walked and passed, people shot her condescending looks, some even swore at her to get out of their sight. She avoided eye contact and just kept walking.

She looked to be about 4-5 years old, really poor and malnourished. Her clothes covered her whole body, but it was easy to see how thin she was through those tattered pants and shirt. Despite all that, her hair reached just above her shoulders and it was bright red, sticking out like a sore thumb

She kept her head down, but every once in a while she turned around, seemingly looking for something.

I knew she had the Mind's Eye of the Kagura later in the show, but I didn't expect her to have already awoken it. Even with her extra-sensory perception she wouldn't be able to pinpoint what she was sensing though.

I was too skilled in cloaking my chakra, and when using the Mayfly Technique I was fused with the Flora in the ground making it even harder to sense where I was.

Eventually she reached a dilapidated building. It stood all alone, looked to be falling apart any time soon and was extremely small. I kept observing her, thinking that perhaps I should take her with me and make her a future subordinate of mine.

{POV: KARIN}

While I was walking back to my house after another day of getting bitten by people to heal them, I got depressed again.

'I miss mom, why did she leave me so early? Why did we even come to this village to look for refuge if they only used her to heal others and made her die so soon? Why do I have to be the one to keep being used by them. Why must only I feel all their negative emotions towards me? Even if they force me to be used as a healing station, why can't I be treated normally?!

Huh? What's that?'

Suddenly it felt as if there was a gaze on me. I didn't know where it came from, but I clearly felt their emotions. There was no hatred towards me, no greed, only intrigue and curiosity...but why can't I sense where their chakra is?

While walking back to my house I concentrated on the emotions I was feeling from that gaze. It was clearly following me, and while I was nervous about being followed, I thought it was perhaps one of the ninja of this village.

Once I arrived at my house, I started making myself something to eat with what little I had left. I only had enough left to make myself two rice balls, but that would do.

As I was about to start eating, I heard a knock on my door. I was nervous but still went and opened the door, seeing an older child staring at me with a blank look.

I was astonished by their appearance. A beautiful face, white unblemished skin, long grey/white hair that reached the lower back and sky blue eyes that almost looked like they were shining.

I took another peek at the clothes this person was wearing, they looked very nice. A white long sleeved zip-up top, black pants with the lower part covered with bandages where they reached some black sandals.

I thought that it was perhaps a Genin from the village, but I saw no headband, so I lowered my guard a small bit, especially since I didn't feel any negative emotions. I still couldn't sense the chakra of this person though.

"W-what d-do you wa-want?" I asked timidly.

He just looked at me for another 3 seconds before answering: "Can I come in for a talk?"

I nodded, feeling slightly uncomfortable. I closed the door behind him? and motioned for him to sit down on the only chair I had.

He obliged and sat down, while I awkwardly stood in front of him.

"Your name is Karin yes?" He asked me.

"Y-yes and w-what is yo-yours?

"You can call me Akio." He said in a calm voice.

"W-what d-do you w-want?" I asked quietly.

Looking me straight in the eyes he asked: "What do you think of this village?"

I didn't know how to respond. 'Why would he ask me that? Should I answer truthfully or lie? Where is he from anyway and why is he here?'

Questions started filling my mind and I simply couldn't find the right words to answer with, so I didn't.

He stared at me, making me feel really uncomfortable and I didn't know what to do.

"What do you think about leaving this village?" I was shocked at his next question. 'Leaving the village? Of course I want to leave but I can't! They will kill me... and he might just bring me to the next village to be used.'

I again didn't know what to respond, so I continued to stay quiet. He gave me small smile and said he had a deal for me.

"If you want to leave, you can leave with me. Even though I may not look it, I am powerful enough to destroy this village, and I also want to train you. I see that you have a lot of potential and it is wasted by being used as a healing station in this village. If you come with me, you won't be forced to be bitten by anyone ever again!

Once you come with me, I shall teach you to be strong. However, it is up to you."

I was a bit sceptical.. how could a boy who doesn't look to be that old be that strong? I couldn't feel any lies with my Mind's Eye, and I trusted my abilities so maybe he was here with good intentions?

I looked closely at Akio again, before coming to a decision.

Still nervous and unsure I said: "O-okay I w-will go with y-you."

He nodded, seeming satisfied. Then he asked: "Do you want to take revenge on this village?"

I thought about his question and didn't know the answer myself.

"Have you already forgiven them for what they did to you?" I grimaced at his question. Me? Forgive them? Of course I haven't, but I still don't want to be the reason other people die...

"My first lesson to you is that from now on the only thing important to you should be me, my instructions and yourself. If you can't forgive them for how they treated you, then it is only natural that they need to pay."

He seemingly read my thoughts and I thought for a short while longer. Then a look of determination came upon my face since I had decided.

"Y-yes. I want revenge!" I told him.

With a satisfied hum he thought for a bit, before responding: "Very well, I shall deal a bit of damage to the inner part of the village. If you want to take real revenge in the future, you should do it yourself. For now it would be a good distraction, since nobody would think you ran away and they'd probably just assume you died."

Then he actually gave me a kind smile and ruffled my hair a bit. "Have you even flown in the air before?" he asked.

I blushed at his gesture but quickly shook my head.

Then he touched my shoulder, I started to feeling weightless, and quickly found myself floating a few centimetres of the ground. It was a weird feeling, not being connected to the ground.

"I assume you don't need to take anything with you?" He asked and I gave him a short no for an answer. I didn't have anything valuable, no pictures no nothing. And the only clothes I have are the ones I had on.

He held his hand out, and out of it came quite a bit of water. It then quickly transformed into a clone of himself and without saying another word, the second Akio lifted me up and put me on his back.

I held on tight as we rose into the air, with the real Akio behind me. The feeling was one of pure freedom. Looking down at the village that was getting smaller below, it made me nervous to be so high in the air, but it was also exhilarating. I couldn't help the genuine smile coming on my face.

At this point we were high up in the air, just below the clouds. The real Akio then said to me: "Watch closely. With real power, you can be free to do whatever you want."

Me and his clone stayed high in the air, unseen, while he went a bit lower.

He released his chakra and I felt my eyes almost pop out of my skull. A red haze surrounded him. The chakra felt incredibly dense, like I've never felt it before. It had a dark and cruel feeling to it, but it wasn't one that felt like hatred or inherently evil.

Within a few seconds alarms started blaring down below, but he seemed not to care. He clasped his hands together and a short while after pointed his right hand to the centre of the village below.

Nothing happened at first, quickly however, the village centre below seemed to be blown away by something. Starting in the middle, buildings, shops, normal people and even the ninja were all shooting outwards.

I couldn't make out much details, but it seemed like a shockwave that destroyed everything in it's path kept spreading outwards. The sounds of the alarm died down, while the only thing I could hear were the sounds of crashing rubble and screams of pain.

I was horrified by all the emotions I felt from what used to be the village, but it somehow still felt good to have someone stand up for me and defend me.

'I will also get as strong as this, and then nobody can ever force me to do anything again!' I thought with fierce determination.

The centre below had become pure chaos, people that survived running about, screaming for help or the names of their loved ones, while other ninja came rushing over from other places in the village that hadn't been destroyed.

I was happy I didn't have to see every details happening below, since the emotions and sounds already made my stomach churn a bit.

Akio nonchalantly flew back up towards me and his clone and just asked: "Ready to leave?"

{POV: MC}

Looking at my new minion, I was quite pleased with the look on her face. 'It's good that I could ignite a desire for power in her, otherwise she wouldn't survive what I have planned for her!'

And just like that me, my water clone and Karin flew away, leaving the little destruction I just caused behind.

'I should think about how to start her training in the coming days.. but before that she needs to get some more weight on her body. And I need to find a good way to get my long awaited Shadow Clones.'