Exploded

Uzumaki Reikawa watched as Karin sobbed, her face a mess of tears and snot. Having never encountered such a situation, he felt momentarily awkward, his hands hovering in the air, unsure of where to place them. Yet, if he let her continue crying like this, he would likely attract more people.

Subconsciously, he took a deep breath—though he didn't actually need to—and slowly crouched down. He raised his hand, placed it on Karin's head, and gave it a gentle rub. "You're safe now. Everything is going to be alright."

Karin clearly understood the implication. "Mm-hmm!" she nodded vigorously, hurriedly wiping her tears away with her sleeve.

However, after the outburst, she found it difficult to stop the hiccups that kept interrupting her. Her cheeks flushed a faint red, and she felt a touch embarrassed.

Uzumaki Reikawa, however, showed not a hint of impatience, simply watching quietly as she calmed herself down.

Until...

"Where are they? Why haven't they brought that damn woman over yet? There are so many warriors here who need healing; what are we supposed to do if time is wasted? If you ask me, we shouldn't have let her rest at all. If she dies, she dies—isn't she just a 'medical kit'?"

Hearing this, Uzumaki Reikawa's eyes narrowed as he looked toward the ninja who had spoken.

Karin's expression turned frantic. She didn't know the extent of Uzumaki Reikawa's strength, and even if the person before her was strong, she didn't believe he could face a siege from so many ninjas. She grabbed Uzumaki Reikawa's hand, trying to pull him into the room to hide.

Uzumaki Reikawa let Karin pull his hand, but he didn't move. Instead, he stared fixedly into her eyes and asked seriously, "Do you want revenge?"

Meanwhile, while searching, Kakashi suddenly spotted the signal left by Uzumaki Reikawa. His tense expression relaxed instantly; the next step was to figure out how to spirit her away secretly.

The Land of Grass was effectively a vassal state to the Land of Fire. If they took action against them, the political fallout would be too great. As Hokage, Tsunade had many concerns, and in situations like this, it was hard to determine right from wrong—after all, the fact that a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan would rather be in Kusagakure than return to Konoha was already a significant issue.

The best way to handle it was to take Karin away quietly. Even if Kusagakure realized later that she had been taken by Konoha, they wouldn't find evidence, and they certainly couldn't force Konoha to return her.

Arriving at the rendezvous point, Kakashi saw that Uzumaki Reikawa had already brought Karin out. He nodded. "Since the target is secured, let's head back."

When Karin saw Kakashi suddenly appear, she shrank back, hiding timidly behind Uzumaki Reikawa while clutching his sleeve. She peeked at Kakashi, but Uzumaki Reikawa patted her head, signaling her not to be afraid.

Kakashi: "..." In just this short time, they'd already become this close?

On the way, Kakashi suddenly frowned, thinking of something. "No one saw you when you brought her out, right?"

"Hmm... some people saw, but they're all dead now." Uzumaki Reikawa smiled brightly, looking as if he were waiting for praise.

Kakashi felt a headache coming on. He could understand the reasoning, but if traces of ninjutsu were left behind, there would undoubtedly be a lot of bureaucratic wrangling later.

"And also..."

"?" Kakashi had a bad premonition.

"Boom!" Uzumaki Reikawa made a sound effect with a mysterious expression.

The next moment, a series of explosions rocked the Kusagakure outpost! Cries and wails erupted amidst the blasts, and the high temperatures from the explosions set the buildings ablaze.

Seeing Kakashi's grim expression, Uzumaki Reikawa had already prepared the follow-up. He comforted Kakashi, "Don't worry, Orochimaru attacked the place and took Karin. We just happened to be passing by, rescued her, and as allies, we'll be the ones taking care of her."

Kakashi was dazed. If that were the case, what was the point of his infiltration earlier? Wait! "Orochimaru is here?!" Kakashi suddenly grasped the main point.

Uzumaki Reikawa nodded. "I don't know why he came, but he arrived at just the right time."

Thinking of Orochimaru, who had intended to kidnap a child only to find no one there and likely get caught in the explosions himself, Uzumaki Reikawa couldn't help but want to laugh.

However, that smile felt inexplicably uncomfortable to Kakashi, as if the person's aura had changed. "Reikawa, your state seems a bit off."

"Hm?" Uzumaki Reikawa frowned at the remark, then suddenly seemed to understand. He scratched his head. "Sorry, I might have been too angry."

After he said this, Kakashi felt the previous Uzumaki Reikawa return and let out an involuntary sigh of relief. It seemed that the things Uzumaki Reikawa had experienced during his time wandering were not so simple after all.

In truth, Uzumaki Reikawa did feel that his emotions were a bit off; after killing those people, he had actually felt a surge of immense, vengeful pleasure...

Upon returning to Konoha, Uzumaki Reikawa dispersed his Shadow Clone, passing the memories of this period back to his main body. About ten minutes later, he received news from the main body; progress on both sides was going well.

It was just that his chakra was running low, and he needed to find an opportunity to swap with the main body.

Kakashi reported the mission summary to Tsunade, explaining how Uzumaki Reikawa had blown up an entire outpost and informing her about Orochimaru's presence.

Tsunade rubbed her temples. Although she had warned him, things had gone wrong after all, hadn't they? Pinning the blame on Orochimaru seemed—well, it was certainly feasible.

However, this move effectively confirmed that Uzumaki Reikawa hadn't known about Karin's situation; if he had known earlier, he likely would have started the explosions much sooner.

On the other side, after little Karin arrived in Konoha, she was immediately surrounded by Naruto. After circling her, Naruto looked dejected. "Ah~ so it really is red hair?"

Seeing Naruto's behavior, a vein popped on Sakura's forehead, and she gave Naruto a "loving" strike to the head. "Naruto! Be polite to girls!"

Karin, who had been quite outgoing in the original story, was still a bit shy at the moment. Seeing Uzumaki Naruto examining her, she had been nervous, but seeing this scene, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Hey? You're actually pretty cute when you laugh," Naruto said, rubbing his head in a daze.

Suddenly being complimented, Karin's face turned red again. Sakura liked her too and volunteered to show Karin around Konoha.

After a few days of rest, Sasuke had fully recovered. Hearing that Kakashi had returned to the village, he immediately sought him out, intending to have Kakashi continue guiding his training.

On his way to find Kakashi, Sasuke suddenly caught a glimpse of red hair, seemingly talking to Sakura.

Seeing this, Sasuke frowned. Uzumaki Reikawa? Had he turned into a girl this time? Thinking of this, Sasuke felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

It wasn't until Karin felt the gaze and turned around that she saw Sasuke. Her voice, which had been normal just a moment ago, suddenly hitched. "Sa... Sasuke?"