Karin

West of Takigakure.

The two small countries ahead were the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain.

The map didn't clearly mark where Ryūchi Cave was.

It only showed the routes inside Ryūchi Cave.

After leaving Konoha,

Chuan Yu arrived alone at the border of the Land of Grass.

Since he couldn't be sure where Ryūchi Cave was,

he could only start looking from here...

Chuan Yu knew a little about the Land of Grass.

It was a country that survived by selling information about other nations.

Perhaps he could get the information he wanted here.

But to avoid attracting attention,

he still had to be careful.

Hidden Grass Village.

A ninja village under the Land of Grass.

Its streets were in utter disarray.

Gambling dens and bars were everywhere.

There were even people selling all kinds of contraband from the Ninja World.

How had a country ended up like this...

Was it an internal problem...

Suddenly, the sound of fighting came from nearby.

When the people in the street heard it, they hurriedly packed up their stalls and belongings and fled.

Chuan Yu didn't think much of it.

"Byakugan!"

Frowning, Chuan Yu slipped into a shop and hid.

The once-bustling street fell silent in an instant.

Chuan Yu had just arrived in the Land of Grass. He hadn't expected it to be invaded already.

Suddenly, a large group of people charged down the street.

From their clothing and appearance,

Chuan Yu recognized them.

The Kaguya Clan...

Also known as the Kaguya Clan...

They were a twisted, bloodthirsty people.

The Kaguya Clan loved fighting and relished battle. They loved killing and had become utterly brutal.

It seemed the Land of Grass had sold some very important information.

I need to find a chance to get the information I want...

Chuan Yu quietly left the shop.

The entrance to the city had already been breached by the Kaguya Clan.

If Ryūchi Cave was somewhere near these two small countries,

then the Land of Grass surely had information about it.

But everyone from Hidden Grass Village had retreated to the main city.

Getting inside the main city would be tricky...

After all, he wasn't from here, and he had no right to enter.

At the entrance to the main city, everyone from Hidden Grass Village was lining up to get in.

"Got it..."

Chuan Yu brushed a ninja's shoulder in the crowd.

He had already left his space-time mark on the ninja.

Once the other man entered the main city,

Chuan Yu could simply use the Flying Thunder God...

The Kaguya Clan soon reached the walls of the main city.

But the gates were firmly shut.

The defenses on top of the walls were also formidable.

So they halted for the time being.

They set up camp below the walls.

Though they were on opposing sides,

the Land of Grass had already sent out pleas for help to the surrounding countries.

The only one nearby was Takigakure.

It had once benefited from information provided by the Land of Grass.

Naturally...

As long as the Kaguya Clan could be kept busy long enough...

Using the Byakugan,

Chuan Yu tracked the ninja he had marked into the main city.

After checking that no one was nearby,

Chuan Yu used the Flying Thunder God.

After knocking the ninja out, Chuan Yu began searching the area for relevant information.

For a country that survived by selling information,

there must be a place dedicated to collecting it.

The information stored there held far too many secrets of the Ninja World.

A place like that shouldn't be hard to find.

Having the Byakugan really was useful.

Chuan Yu soon found the tower where information was collected.

He entered the tower.

The first thing he saw was the Five Great Nations' information archive.

Next came information on the neighboring small countries.

Last were all kinds of reports from across the Ninja World.

"Let's call this a little outing..."

Sighing, Chuan Yu began searching the archives on neighboring small countries for information about Ryūchi Cave.

Outside the city,

the Kaguya Clan prepared to launch a full assault.

It would take at least three days for reinforcements from Takigakure to arrive.

But if they only defended,

the city gates wouldn't last a day.

The gates would fall.

The Kaguya Clan were brave warriors and bloodthirsty by nature.

In the end,

the Land of Grass chose to send out ninjas to engage the Kaguya Clan.

This would at least buy them some time.

After searching through a great deal of information,

Chuan Yu still hadn't found anything about Ryūchi Cave.

This left him frantic.

"Strange..."

"If there's no information even here, could Ryūchi Cave not be anywhere around here at all?"

With no results,

Chuan Yu decided to leave.

After passing the tower,

a sight nearby suddenly made Chuan Yu stop in his tracks.

There was a small house straight ahead.

A long line stretched from its entrance.

They looked like the ninjas who had gone out to fight earlier.

But they all seemed to be injured.

What shocked Chuan Yu was that

the injured ninjas who had gone in earlier soon emerged from a side door, barely a minute later.

Their injuries had also mostly healed within that minute.

Suddenly, the wretched sobs of a woman came from inside.

Chuan Yu's brow furrowed.

Before long, several ninjas carried a woman's corpse out of the house.

Bite marks covered her entire body.

Everywhere...

Her wide-open eyes spoke of her unwillingness to die.

The tear tracks at the corners of her eyes hadn't yet dried...

The ninjas casually tossed the woman's corpse into the grass beside the house.

Then they continued filing in and out of the house.

Karin...

That was the only person Chuan Yu could think of.

Before he had transmigrated, he had learned about Karin's background from Naruto.

He just hadn't expected to meet her here.

The ninjas walked out of the house, laughing among themselves.

Their injuries healed again and again.

Chuan Yu sighed and prepared to leave.

The Ninja World was cruel.

There was no need to break its rules out of pity.

He had no connection to her, either.

But just as Chuan Yu was about to leave,

a voice suddenly reached his heart.

"Save me..."

"Please... I'll do anything..."

"Save me..."

Chuan Yu stopped and turned toward the house.

Mind's Eye of the Kagura...

It was an ability Karin had possessed from birth.

Was it because she was so gifted?

It was a useful ability...

Perhaps she could help him find Ryūchi Cave...

Inside the house, on the floor,

red-haired Karin lay there, barely conscious.

Several clear bite marks showed around her arms.

It seemed the woman who had just died was her mother.

And Karin had only just been shoved inside.

The bite marks on her arms were fresh.

She stared lifelessly at the ninjas who came in.

Her mother's death had plunged her into utter despair.

The hope of living had become a luxury.

Her fate would be the same as her mother's.

She would eventually be bitten to death here...

Suddenly, the ninjas outside let out agonized screams.

She opened her despairing eyes.

A young man holding a long sword stood before her...

"I'll carry you out of here."

As soon as he stepped out of the house,

ninjas from the Land of Grass had already surrounded them.

The bodies of several ninjas Chuan Yu had just killed still lay on the ground.

The atmosphere grew tense in an instant.

When Chuan Yu revealed the Sharingan in his left eye,

the ninjas from the Land of Grass grew even greedier.

They all charged forward recklessly.

"Watch out!"

Karin clung tightly to Chuan Yu's neck from behind, then squeezed her eyes shut in fear.

Chuan Yu smiled faintly...

In an instant, a sea of flames swallowed the entire inner city of the Land of Grass.

"So this is what it means to master a technique completely..."

His ninjutsu had surpassed its original limits.

Some techniques had even grown more than tenfold stronger.

They had been enhanced with powerful chakra and expanded in scale.

The Great Fireball Technique had grown as huge as a meteor falling from the sky.

Its power had increased by an incredible amount.

He could do the same with any ninjutsu from the five chakra natures.

He had mastered them all completely.

With Karin on his back, Chuan Yu leaped onto a rooftop.

Then he used the Flying Thunder God and vanished from the spot.