Chapter 08
Akira was stunned for a moment at hearing the Uzumaki name before he noticed the slightly afraid expression on Karin's face.
"Don't worry, I will not hurt you and your mother here." He tries to reassure Karin, but the only answer he got was a slight nod with a guarded expression. Then suddenly, he can hear a loud grumble from her stomach, and when he turned his attention to her, he could see a small blush on her face.
Akira took out a storage scroll from his pocket quickly and sending his chakra to the scroll, takes out a lump of huge boar meat from it.
"Wait a moment, I will prepare food for us." Karin nodded slightly, still unsure about what to do. Meanwhile, Akira used a fire jutsu to create a campfire inside the cave and started to grill the meat.
"Wow, the smell is great. Can I have some?" Aoki's voice comes from behind, startling Karin for a bit.
"Don't worry, he is my friend." Akira's assurance calmed her down. "As for you, wait for a bit. The girl hasn't eaten anything yet." Akira chided his friend who just smile sheepishly. However, he was glad that Aoki showed himself in a clean condition without a trace of blood in his clothes.
"So, who are you, little girl?" Aoki asked with a friendly smile. Seeing as Karin didn't know what to answer, Akira decided to save the little girl,
"Aoki, this girl is Karin Uzumaki. And Karin, this is my friend, Aoki Yamanaka." Right after he introduced Aoki, Akira could feel a fright coming from Karin.
"A-are you a Konoha ninja?" She asked cautiously. Well, seeing as Akira introduced him as Yamanaka, Aoki could not fault the girl's assumption.
"I was born as Yamanaka from Konoha, but don't worry. I am not a ninja from Konoha, and just like my friend here, I will not hurt you." Karin nodded as she lowered her shoulder, dropping her guard. Right after that, she smells something that makes her stomach grumble once again.
"Karin, come here! The meat is ready!" She quickly comes to Akira and grabbed the meat, starting to devour it.
"Wow, you must be really hungry." Aoki whistled at how Karin ate her food, making the girl blush,
"I-I am sorry!" She shrieked in panic. But Aoki and Akira chuckled at her reaction.
"Don't worry, Aoki is just joking. You can eat as much as you can." Karin hesitated for a moment before she faced Akira's face,
"C-can I save some for Okaa-san?" She asked meekly. Akira gives her a warm smile before she replied,
"You can eat all of the meats here. As for your mother, we still have a lot of meats to eat, so you don't have to worry." A single tear could be seen from the corner of Karin's eyes as she stopped eating and said,
"Thank you!"
Akira and Aoki smiled as Karin started to have a more comfortable conversation with them, even though she was still shuttered while speaking. After eating more pieces of meat, she started to yawn and decided to sleep beside her mother.
"Poor girl. She has already suffered that much and she has not even reached 10 years old." Aoki nodded at Akira's mutter. "I mean, look at her. She is too thin for a nine-year-old. Hell, she is basically just skin and bones. And look at how she ate the meat as if she hasn't eaten anything for a week. What kind of life has she lived before?" Akira took his time to rant.
"Do you want to know what kind of life she has lived?" Aoki muttered lowly, but not low enough for Akira to hear it clear.
"So, you found out about the girl and her mother from those five, huh?" Akira asked while referring to the ninjas who attacked Karin.
"Yeah, and I could say that they didn't have a good life. Her mother's name is Mana Uzumaki, and she is Kirigakure's prisoner since she was twelve years old. Kiri wanted to use her as breeding stock to breed loyal Uzumaki for their village." Akira growled furiously as he heard about that and leaked his conqueror haki.
"Akira!" Aoki shouted, "Control yourself." He said that sternly, making Akira dropped his haki. "Sorry about that one," Akira muttered apologetically.
"You better control yourself as it will get worse." The atmosphere inside the cave is getting colder as Aoki said about that. After spending a minute in silence, Akira took a deep breath and said, "Okay, I want to hear the rest."
"Well, she was captured as Uzushio's lone survivor by Kirigakure, and going with that timeline, I can guess she is about 30 years old right now. She was basically living a hell life, getting raped almost every day. Honestly, I admire her will to live and not commit suicide." They both took a moment of silence as they looked at the mother, Mana Uzumaki, sleeping peacefully even without a bed.
"What I don't know is, if she is Kiri's breeding stock, why didn't she have more children? From what I peek inside those five ninjas, they only know Karin as her child." Akira widened his eyes in realization as he heard what Aoki said.
"I can make a guess about that one." He said in a hushed voice. "While I checked her body, I found a lot of scars on her stomach from blunt weapons. But when I checked out her stomach thoroughly, I can feel a destroyed womb inside her body. It seems Kiri didn't only rape her." Aoki was speechless when he heard what Akira said.
"Do you think they can join us?" Aoki asked cautiously. Akira smiles as he knows Aoki always had a soft spot for women and children. That didn't mean he could not fight them, but if he had to, he would just end the fight as quickly as possible.
But his smile didn't last long as he realized the problem with Karin and her mother joining.
"You do know the problem with that, didn't you?" Aoki nodded seriously.
"One of us has to find a better place to stay for her as this cave is not suitable for the injured person to recover, and we need to stay in one place until the mother recovers well enough. Then, we will have to protect and train them on how to survive. I know it would need a lot of work, but I want to do that." He said firmly.
But before Akira could say anything, they could hear a cough from their back, noticing them that the mother is awake.
"Relax, you and your daughter are safe here. We will not harm you." Akira said, trying to assure Mana to stay calm. He is surprised to see her awake as at first, he thought she would gain her consciousness at least not before twenty hours.
He could see Mana wanted to say something, but nothing comes from her mouth. Then he realized something as he moves quickly to take a glass of water which Mana drinks within a second.
"Thank you." She said with a raspy voice, resulting in Akira filling more water in her glass.
"It's okay. Your daughter is also safe, sleeping beside you." When she noticed Karin snuggled in her body, she let out a small giggle before she coughed once again.
"Don't push yourself. You are still recovering, so don't speak too much." Akira quickly reprimands her. She only nods dumbly before they could hear a small grumble coming from her stomach.
'Like mother like daughter, I guess.' Akira muttered inwardly before he turned his attention to Aoki.
"She is too weak to eat something like meats right now. Do you mind visiting the nearest city to buy something like porridge or chicken soup for her to eat?" Aoki shrugged,
"Sure, I don't mind. We also need to know the latest news to decide our next move."
"Don't take your time too long, she needs to eat as quickly as possible." Akira reminds his friend, which results in Aoki's snort.
"The nearest city is only 2 miles from here, so it would not even take three minutes with our speed. I will probably go for 15 minutes, so you better explain the situation here and what we said before she awoke." It seems Aoki really wanted to take care of Mana and Karin. Not that Akira didn't mind though.
"Okay, see you again." He said the last thing before he vanished with his soru, leaving Mana gaping her mouth in shock.
'Just like Aoki-san said, let's start the explanation.' Akira hummed.
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Author note:
You can also read:
- Transmigrated Into Anime World as Kiyoko Shimizu's Older Brother up to chapter 42
- Naruto: Ashigaru up to chapter 13
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