Kushina looked at Karin's red hair, sensing the Chakra within her, and believed this child must be one of her clansmen.
Number 001 gently pushed Karin, who was timidly tugging at his clothes, forward, and said, "Don't be afraid, everyone in this room is family. Tell us about yourself, how did you end up in the Hidden Grass Village? Were you treated well there?"
Jiraiya, hearing Naruto classify him as family, smiled happily beside him.
Kushina looked at Karin with concern, "That's right, I might even be your aunt!"
It had been a long time since Karin had received such care and concern. So she slowly recounted her story—in her memory, she had been wandering with her mother since she was very young. Her mother said that their homeland had been occupied by bad people.
They wandered to the Land of Grass and were taken in by the Hidden Grass Village. But as outsiders, the village wouldn't support them for nothing. They were barely given a place to live, and even getting food was a problem.
Until one day, the Grass Ninja discovered Karin's mother's special ability—as long as they bit her and absorbed her Chakra, even critically injured people who were deemed untreatable could recover quickly.
From that day on, her mother often went to the hospital to help, in exchange for food. And from that day on, no matter how hot the weather, her mother never wore short sleeves at home again.
Little Karin always thought her mother was just working a normal job. This went on for a long time. One day, Karin was waiting at home for her mother to return as usual, but she didn't expect to find only a cold corpse. Karin watched her mother's arm hang down from the bed, covered in teeth marks.
Karin cried, she was terrified, but the Grass Ninja didn't let her go. Instead, they took her to the hospital as well. Unfortunately, Karin also possessed the same ability as her mother.
So Karin was reduced to the same fate as her mother, day after day, being bitten by different people in turns to heal them. Even when she was asleep, she worried that someone would suddenly carry her to the hospital. It was as if this was her purpose in life.
The Grass Ninja also said so, you mother and daughter are just outsiders. The village has supported you for so long, you should give something back.
Now Karin's arms, shoulders, and legs were covered in dense tooth marks.
Karin was very scared, because her mother's miserable appearance was still vivid in her mind. She didn't know when she would die so miserably. She hated her ability more than anything.
As she spoke of these things, Karin's shoulders shook, and she was already sobbing uncontrollably.
Jiraiya silently looked out the window. He had seen many tragic things, but to do this to a child, the Grass Ninja...
Minato clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white.
Kushina's eyes flashed with tears. She understood the feeling of wandering in a foreign land, helpless and alone. She had also experienced the heart-wrenching pain of sealing the Nine Tails when she was young, but she already had her own home, and the ability to protect herself, but this child...
Kushina hugged Karin and comforted her, "Good child, from now on, I will be your mother, and you will be my daughter. No one will dare to bully you again!"
Karin was terrified of the Grass Ninja to the bone, "But if they come looking for me again..."
"They dare!" Kushina's red hair flew, "I'm going to settle the score with them. If they dare to say another word, I'll blow their dog heads off!"
"I will take care of the Hidden Grass Village. Don't worry, you are my daughter now, and your dad is the Hokage." Minato gave Karin a reassuring smile.
Karin looked at Kushina's flying red hair and Minato's warm smile, and suddenly gained an unparalleled sense of security. She threw herself into Kushina's arms, "Mom—waaaaaah..."
Karin cried her heart out, as if she wanted to vent all the grievances, pain, sadness, and fear she had suffered over the years all at once.
Kushina held her in one arm and gently stroked her bright red hair, which was the same color as her own.
Time seemed to pass for a long time. Karin's voice became hoarse before she slowly calmed down, and her cries turned into soft sobs.
Number 001 looked at the calmed-down Karin and asked Minato, "Dad, do you know how many Grass Ninja have entered the second round in total?"
Minato looked at the report Ibiki had submitted to him and said, "Including Karin, there are nine in total."
"Which means there are six left."
"What are you going to do?"
"Of course, I have to collect some interest. My sister was bullied, how can I, as her brother, not show some kind of reaction?"
However, Minato pulled out Karin's file from the candidate information submitted by Hidden Grass Village, and said, "But according to the information, Karin is older than you, Naruto."
"Huh?" Number 001 froze on the spot, "So I'm the younger brother?"
"There's also one more thing." Minato also intended to ease the atmosphere, and pulled out another report, "Explain to me, how did you get a zero on the written test?"
"Ah, this—"
Kushina watched Karin's emotions calm down, and teased Number 001, "You actually got a zero, Naruto, call Karin 'elder sister' and I might spare you for Karin's sake, otherwise..."
Ah, this, Number 001 looked at Karin, who wiped away her tears and put her glasses back on, and reluctantly opened his mouth: "E-elder s-sister—"
"Well, take care of the younger brother who got a zero." Karin replied with a deliberately serious expression, and then looked at Number 001's tangled expression, and "puchi" laughed out loud.
"Hahaha..." Everyone in the room laughed along, only Naruto's world was hurt.
"Then I'll go first, send a message to the main body." Number 001 suddenly saw the light, I'm just a clone, let the main body be embarrassed, and then decisively dispelled himself.
...
The clone's memory returned, and about an hour had passed.
Along the way, Naruto and the others defeated a team of extra Rain Ninja and extra Waterfall Ninja, and solved a tiger and a bear along the way, and continued on their way.
Naruto, who had just finished teaching Sasuke the famous saying "Starting a fire in the mountains leads to a life in prison," stopped and looked up at the sky:
"So I'm destined to be the younger brother?"
Kimimaro was one thing, even Sasuke was older than him, and now Karin came along, still older than him.
Naruto said that he was just being a little cheeky when he was three years old, it would be nice to have a younger brother to bully, or a younger sister to dote on...
Sasuke looked at Naruto's kaleidoscopic expression and asked, "What's wrong?"
Sakura also stopped, "Did you sense an enemy?"
"No." Naruto regained his thoughts and said fiercely, "I'm going to make trouble!"
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