Ryūran looked wary.
He figured that anyone who could make Masahiko and Yoshino, two Jonin, willingly withdraw from the competition had to be no ordinary person. He had even wondered if the masked figure in front of him, clad in a black robe, was an Elder who had somehow escaped with his life.
Just then, the person in black took off his mask, revealing a youthful face.
"It's you?!"
Ryūran was startled, his eyes full of surprise.
He had never imagined that the person in black was the Uzumaki Remnant he had once helped out in the village.
There was no doubt about it.
The masked figure in black robes inside the cave was Karin, who had hurried all the way from Konoha to the Grass Country at Shinji's behest.
"It's been a long time, Ryūran!"
Karin smiled.
Because of her identity as an Uzumaki Remnant, she and her mother had held a very low status in Kusagakure. They had been nothing but tools, and hardly anyone in the whole village had treated them as one of their own.
Ryūran and his sister, Ryūsetsuna, were among the few Kusagakure shinobi who hadn't looked down on her, so she had a good impression of them.
Ryūran looked puzzled. "Didn't you defect from the village and then get taken in by Konoha?"
Just then, Misawa, the ramen shop owner who had been working undercover, entered the cave as well and explained, "Karin didn't defect from the village. She was secretly sent to Konoha by the Elders to learn its secret techniques. She's a peerless genius unanimously recognized by the Elders, and the hope for the revival of our Kusagakure!"
Ryūran's expression changed. "You're still trying to revive Kusagakure?!"
Jonin Masahiko stepped forward. "Shouldn't we?"
Jonin Yoshino chimed in as well. "Ryūran, don't