The Land of Grass, a small border town.
Lin Ze stood on a hillside outside the town, overlooking the crude streets below.
At his feet, a gray-green snake emerged from the grass, flicking its tongue and hissing softly.
It was a messenger snake from Ryūchi Cave, sent half a year ago to secretly protect Karin and her mother.
"The mother and daughter with red hair, in that wooden house in the southeastern corner, right?"
Lin Ze asked quietly.
The little snake nodded, then vanished in a puff of white smoke.
Lin Ze looked toward the southeastern corner of town. Several dilapidated wooden houses stood there, and outside one hung a few garments washed until they could not have been any whiter.
He did not head over immediately.
According to the intelligence provided by the White Snake Sage, Kusagakure had recently noticed the mother and daughter with their unusual chakra as well.
To ninja, the Uzumaki Clan's constitution made them excellent "power banks" and sources of healing. In the eyes of a small ninja village short on resources, they were undoubtedly precious "resources."
Because of her powerful recovery abilities, Karin was treated as a mobile medical kit by Kusagakure.
Her mother had even died from having too much chakra extracted from her.
Those experiences later left Karin deeply wary and resentful of Kusagakure, and even the entire ninja world.
Now, Naruto had only just been born, so Karin should have been a little girl of just one year old as well.
Night gradually fell.
The town grew silent, and Lin Ze continued to wait quietly.
Sure enough, roughly two hours later, three figures quietly appeared in the woods on the edge of town. They were Grass Ninja, their strength at Chunin level.
They had clearly come prepared and crept straight