Chapter 56: Karin Uzumaki

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Konoha – Inside the Hokage's Office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was reading through the documents in his hand, but he couldn't stop thinking about the situation Shigenari Shuuzawa and his team were facing. 

Honestly, he had been reluctant to send Shuuzawa on this mission in the first place. That boy was just too good at stirring things up. 

Recalling all the trouble caused during the Fourth Raikage's "visit" to Konoha, Hiruzen already felt a headache coming on.

Sure, capturing the Fourth Raikage had boosted Konoha's morale, but the potential aftermath was a nightmare. 

What if Kumogakure declared war? What if this led to another Great Ninja War? 

Though Shuuzawa had proposed measures to ease tensions and save face for the Raikage, reducing the chances of direct retaliation, Hiruzen knew full well that covert retaliation would still come. 

"If only things weren't so complicated..." Hiruzen sighed to himself. And even beyond the external threats, the internal politics were a mess. 

Danzo was always a problem, but even Tsunade gave him a massive headache lately.

"Old man!"

The doors suddenly burst open as Tsunade stormed in. "Lady Tsunade, please don't be rash!" 

Shizune cried, trying to hold her back, but with her petite frame, she didn't stand a chance against Tsunade's strength.

"When is Shuuzawa coming back?! What's the situation over there?!" Tsunade slammed her fist onto the desk, voice low but burning with anger. 

"He's been gone without a word for so long, and you haven't given me a single solid answer. Isn't that irresponsible?!"

"Calm down, Tsunade," Hiruzen sighed, massaging his temples. He waved a hand to reassure Shizune and then turned back to Tsunade.

"There's nothing major to worry about. I already told you this mission was urgent. You don't need to come here every day—I know you're worried about him." 

"Don't think I'm not. If there were any other option, I wouldn't have sent him either."

The problem with this mission was that Kusagakure leaned heavily toward Iwagakure, and it involved secret experiments. 

Sending regular shinobi was out of the question—they had to dispatch skilled operatives from the Anbu. 

In addition, Onoki had shown open interest in the matter, and the incident also involved the Uzumaki and Senju clans. 

Konoha had no choice but to send an elite team to handle it. Shuuzawa's team was fast, offensive, and defensive.

So, it had to be them. "And with the Flying Thunder God on their side, retreat isn't a problem. Plus, we've got other Anbu units supporting them. I truly believe nothing will go wrong."

"Yeah, yeah," Tsunade scoffed, still displeased. She had finally come across a kid who awakened Wood Release—and not through experimentation. 

She had already started to see Shuuzawa as family and acknowledged him in her heart. 

Now that he'd gone off on such a dangerous mission, how could she not be worried?

"Hokage-sama, urgent report!"

Just then, a ninja rushed into the room but froze upon seeing the atmosphere. "Bring it here."

Hiruzen took a deep breath, then nodded. His eyes widened as he accepted the scroll—it was from the Land of Grass. 

"Looks like it's a report from Shuuzawa's team. Let's take a look."

Tsunade said nothing but walked over to stand behind Hiruzen, making her intentions clear. 

Wasting no time, Hiruzen unrolled the scroll, and both he and Tsunade froze.

"This—what is this?" Hiruzen quickly skimmed through the report, his mouth twitching in disbelief. Tsunade was just as stunned. 

According to the report, Shuuzawa's squad had mobilized the border defense units, which they were authorized to do, so long as they didn't enter Kusagakure itself. 

However, this sudden mobilisation startled Kusagakure, who immediately reinforced their frontlines.

But they didn't stop there—they also moved the backup Anbu units with them and outright attacked Kusagakure, collapsing its weakened defenses. 

They even captured Ohnoki's son, Kitsuchi!

"What the hell are they thinking?!"

Hiruzen's hands shook. He had known Shuuzawa was a troublemaker, but never in his wildest dreams had he expected this level of escalation. 

Do you just not feel right unless you start a war?! "Bring them back immediately!" Hiruzen's voice trembled. "Tell them to release Kitsuchi, now!"

"Hold it, old man—why are you panicking?" Tsunade's stern voice brought him back to reality. She glared at her teacher. 

"You didn't finish reading, did you? Shuuzawa already explained the reasons and proposed solutions in the report."

"...Huh?" Hiruzen blinked, looking down to read further. 

As Tsunade said, there was more. He had panicked too soon. Konoha couldn't afford unnecessary chaos right now.

"Uchiha Obito appeared. A mysterious organization—hired by Iwagakure. Suggest sending Danzo to Sunagakure to pressure Iwa."

As Hiruzen reached the end, he fell silent. That wretched Obito—he showed up again? And even ambushed Shuuzawa's team... all while working with a group of missing-nin?

"So that's what this is about…" Everything started to make sense. 

Shuuzawa's team had originally been assigned to capture Uchiha Obito. 

If Kitsuchi had intel, it would have been natural for them to extract it. Even Hiruzen couldn't deny the importance of any clues about Obito.

Furthermore, sending Danzo to Sunagakure could apply pressure on Iwagakure. As Hokage's advisor, Danzo could represent Konoha's will. 

With the right leverage, they could force Onoki to the negotiating table. 

Then, they could release Kitsuchi and the captured Iwa-nin while quietly securing Konoha's interests in the Land of Grass.

"This brat..." Hiruzen exhaled deeply. 

Shuuzawa was a rare genius—he had considered everything and prioritised the village's well-being. A promising seedling, indeed.

Still, Hiruzen felt his heart could barely take it. Shuuzawa's tactics were simply too extreme.

"So what now?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow, amused at the old man's expression. 

"We're calling them back, right? But... do we let Kitsuchi go? Someone's waiting on an answer."

"Well..." Hiruzen let out a helpless laugh. 

"If he's our guest, then let's treat him properly. Don't keep our guests waiting. Get Shuuzawa and his team back quickly."

If they didn't return soon and started even more chaos, Hiruzen feared his heart might give out.

—Meanwhile, in the Land of Grass—

Shuuzawa glanced at Kitsuchi's frustrated face and then looked at Kakashi. "Everyone alright?"

"We're fine," Kakashi replied with a tired sigh, "but some of the other Anbu members weren't so lucky."

They had made it through unscathed, but the cost of such a large-scale battle was always lives lost. 

It was the fate of shinobi—even if they were prepared, each death still weighed on him.

"This isn't too bad, honestly," Yamato muttered, blinking. "In Root, we sometimes had to kill our own to prevent information leaks. All to protect the village."

Kakashi froze. Even Itachi and Shisui, who had just arrived, looked stunned. Itachi, especially, lowered his head at those words. 

If necessary, eliminate your own allies to protect the village.

"Hey, you idiot, could you not say things like that?" Kakashi snapped out of it and smacked Yamato on the head, making him clutch it in pain.

Shuuzawa, however, quietly nodded to himself. Now he was starting to understand why, during the Ryūmyaku mission...

Tenzou, now renamed Yamato, had just given Kakashi a minor hit—it was purely self-inflicted.

But Shuuzawa didn't pay much attention to that. He glanced at Yuugao, who was still catching her breath and was stained with blood. 

After confirming she wasn't seriously hurt, he looked over toward Shisui. Behind Shisui and Itachi stood a red-haired girl with glasses, timidly hiding herself.

"Who's that?" Shuuzawa already knew her identity, but he still played along and asked.

"We found her in their lab," Shisui replied as he turned around and gently pushed the girl forward. "A pitiful little thing. Most likely, she was their test subject."

The girl looked terrified. Surrounded by corpses and the glares of angry, wounded Grass ninja who were still alive, she began trembling.

"Are you alright?" Yuugao, unable to stand the sight, stepped forward with a frown to comfort her. 

Still, she remained vigilant—after all, a ninja should never lower their guard, even around children.

"What's your name?"

"I-I'm fine..."

The red-haired girl, clearly scared, responded through her tears, her voice quivering.

"M-my name... is Karin. I..."

"Karin, huh?"

Shuuzawa stepped up upon hearing the name and gave her a look.

"We received intel that someone in Grass was performing experiments that could instantly heal critical injuries. That's you, isn't it?"

"I—" Karin panicked. Had she just escaped one hell only to fall into another? She instinctively held her arm.

Shuuzawa noticed. Grabbing her arm, he peeled back her sleeve.

"What are you doing?" Yuugao said, visibly displeased. But Shuuzawa revealed her forearm.

"Bite marks... and needle wounds," he muttered as he inspected them. Her complexion was pale, and her expression was deeply unsettled.

"She's definitely been experimented on. I'm guessing they used her blood," he said.

Only Shisui and Itachi remained calm at the mention of "experiments." Everyone else visibly tensed.

Even Kitsuchi, tightly bound by Shuuzawa, looked genuinely shocked. Seriously? These Grass guys are more inhumane than we are.

"Also, this strange blood power and her red hair... she must be from the Uzumaki clan."

Shuuzawa ruffled her red hair and continued, "Do you have any other abilities? Like sensing things from far away? 

"I do... I can sense things from very far away." Karin nodded, though there were some things she hesitated to say—like how she could sometimes tell if someone was lying. 

Since it wasn't always accurate, she thought it wasn't worth mentioning. "She really is an Uzumaki," Shuuzawa confirmed.

The red hair, the special bloodline, and that powerful sensory ability—it all added up. 

He also knew that this kind of perception could only come from the Uzumaki's unique sensory technique—Kagura Shingan, the most powerful sensory jutsu in the ninja world.

But it likely depended on the purity of their bloodline. Naruto, for instance, had poor sensory ability without relying on the Nine-Tails.

Karin, on the other hand, could not only detect chakra over dozens of kilometers, count enemies, and serve as a mobile radar, but could also sense a person's emotions through chakra.

She once sensed Sasuke's chakra as it sank into darkness, and she had felt the overwhelming shadow of the Nine-Tails hidden beneath Naruto's bright and warm chakra.

Mind Eye of Kagura was practically a god-tier jutsu.

"Uzumaki..." Karin muttered, remembering her mother. At that moment, Shuuzawa asked, "Do you have any family left?"

"N-no... I don't," she replied with her head down, glasses fogging up. "My mother... she was killed by them. I..."

"I understand. Don't worry, that won't happen again," Shuuzawa said, cutting her off with a warm smile.

"We'll take you back to Konoha. Everything will be okay—trust me."

"Konoha..." Karin could feel Shuuzawa's sincerity, and her fogged lenses clouded up even more. This warmth... she had never once felt it in Grass Village.

Shuuzawa patted her on the shoulder, then suddenly turned to look at Kitsuchi, who was still frozen in disbelief.

"Thanks, Lord Kitsuchi," he said with a grin. "If it weren't for your intel, we wouldn't have found this little girl. Really appreciate it!"

Kitsuchi's expression twisted. If he could beat Shuuzawa in a fight, he might've strangled him right there. Seriously, who let this jerk become a ninja?

But Shuuzawa didn't care what Kitsuchi thought. They were already on the road back to Konoha.

The Third Hokage was rushing them, which was understandable—what they'd done had definitely stirred up a storm.

Still, their return trip wasn't as rushed as their arrival. With the "guests" in tow, there were a lot of things that needed discussing.

"So, the organization's called Akatsuki? But you guys don't know much about them?" Hmph. Who'd care about a little group like that?"

Kitsuchi didn't want to answer, but being tied up and uncomfortable, he shared a few non-critical details.

To his surprise, he noticed this group seemed very interested in Akatsuki. "They were just convenient tools," he said. "Nothing more."

"Because they kill without mercy and help you clean up small nations that don't listen?" Shuuzawa tilted his head, teasing.

Kitsuchi instantly snapped. "Nonsense! That's their own choice. We only sent them to suppress rebellions and stabilize the region. What they did was up to them!"

Shuuzawa touched his face thoughtfully. Maybe I'm not as slick as I thought.

Kitsuchi, who seemed so straightforward, could still spin things like that. Ōnoki taught him well.

Kakashi, Shisui, and the others were speechless. As members of the Anbu, they were well aware of Iwagakure's dirty laundry.

Only Itachi, who had just joined Anbu, seemed a bit unaccustomed to such things. But Kitsuchi wasn't done.

He scoffed and added, "Let's not pretend Konoha doesn't have skeletons in its own closet. You've got a secret unit under Anbu that's even worse than us."

"All for the village, right?"

Shuuzawa shrugged casually. Yamato nodded too. "That's right. Some things have to be done for the sake of the village."

"Tch. Acting all righteous, when you're just the same," Kitsuchi muttered, glaring at Shuuzawa and Yamato.

Are these two Danzo's men? he wondered.

"For the village, you'll do whatever it takes—even kill your own. Don't act like you have the moral high ground."

"Did we say we did?" Shuuzawa replied, raising an eyebrow. "We just want intel on Akatsuki. We don't really care what you did."

"Huh?" Kitsuchi froze. Did I just argue myself into a corner? Still, he nodded inwardly.

Only when he mentioned that secret Anbu unit did Shuuzawa and the younger one react.

And they were both very supportive. Which meant—yeah, they were probably Danzo's men. No doubt about it.

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