On the second floor of an inn in a small town in the Land of Fire.
Karin was lying on the windowsill, resting her chin on one hand, staring blankly at the unfamiliar street outside the window.
She had been staying in this small inn for a while now. Every day, besides going downstairs to buy some food, she would return to her room and wait. She didn't feel impatient, she just missed Naruto a little.
Swish!
Just then, a flash of golden light appeared in the room, and Naruto's figure appeared in front of her out of thin air.
"Naruto, you're here!"
Karin's face beamed with a bright smile, and she pounced towards him.
"Yeah, I've come to pick you up. The Fifth Hokage Tsunade has already agreed to give you a legal identity in Konoha. From today on, you can freely choose to be a ninja or a civilian." Naruto nodded with a smile.
"Tsunade? The granddaughter of the God of Shinobi? Is she really willing to let an outsider like me live in Konoha?"
Naruto said, "Although Tsunade is the granddaughter of the First Hokage, her grandmother, Uzumaki Mito, was a princess of the Land of Whirlpools and also a member of the Uzumaki clan. Tsunade, just like us, is a distant relative of the Uzumaki clan."
Karin's eyes lit up, and she nodded vigorously. "I'll go wherever you go. Anyway, I don't have any other relatives."
Naruto first removed the Sensory Suppression Barrier he had set up in the room, then started packing Karin's few belongings, and finally went downstairs to check out.
After finishing all this, he took Karin to an empty corner in the back courtyard of the inn and reached out to hold her hand.
The next moment, the two figures disappeared from the back courtyard of the small town inn.
Meanwhile, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shizune were standing in place waiting.
Swish!
With a flash of golden light, Naruto and a red-haired girl appeared in front of them out of thin air.
Karin instinctively hid behind Naruto. Since birth, she hadn't had much contact with ninjas outside of Kusagakure, and facing two of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha all at once made her a bit nervous.
"This space-time Ninjutsu that allows one to come and go freely is enviable. With this technique, going anywhere is just a matter of an instant." Jiraiya sighed as he looked at Naruto's figure.
Tsunade bent down to bring her line of sight level with Karin's, and said in a gentle voice, "You must be Karin, right? I am Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage of Konoha. Although I haven't officially taken office yet, it's just a matter of these next few days."
"Naruto told me about your situation. From today on, Konoha is your home. If you want to be a ninja, I will personally teach you Medical Ninjutsu. If you want to be a civilian, I will arrange the best school and civilian household registration for you. Choose for yourself."
Karin looked up at the blonde woman in front of her, then turned to look at Naruto.
Naruto nodded at her.
She took a deep breath and nodded. "I want to be a ninja. Thank you, Tsunade-sama."
Tsunade ruffled Karin's hair. "You're welcome. If you want to thank someone, thank that kid Naruto. It was he who brought you out of Kusagakure."
Then she waved her hand. "Let's go, back to Konoha. There are still many things waiting for us to do."
— — —
Konoha.
The moment Naruto and Jiraiya appeared at the Konoha gates with Tsunade, the news quickly spread throughout all of Konoha.
After experiencing a series of heavy blows, such as the death of the Third Hokage, Orochimaru's invasion, and the betrayal of Sunagakure, Konoha finally welcomed some good news that allowed everyone to temporarily put aside their grief.
One of the Legendary Sannin, the granddaughter of the First Hokage, Tsunade, had returned.
And she might take over as the Fifth Hokage.
The entire Konoha was plunged into a long-lost ecstasy.
The news of Tsunade's return to the village also caused quite a stir among the younger generation of ninjas. Especially among those female ninjas who idolized Tsunade.
When Tenten heard this news in her family's ninja tool shop, the shuriken she was wiping in her hand dropped onto the counter.
Ino was in the flower shop helping her mother trim flower branches. After hearing the news, she clasped her hands together, and her eyes lit up.
"Tsunade-sama... I can finally see her in person."
Upon returning to Konoha, Tsunade took Jiraiya and went directly to the Hokage Building to meet with the Advisors.
She needed to hold a formal Hokage succession talk with the two Advisors, Koharu and Homura, and also deal with a series of headache-inducing power handover matters.
Jiraiya, as the recommender and witness, also went along.
Karin didn't have a place to stay in Konoha yet, so Naruto temporarily brought her back to his apartment to settle her in.
Pushing open the apartment door, Karin curiously looked around at the tidy house.
Naruto gave the bed to Karin, while he dug out a spare set of bedding from the closet and laid it out on the living room floor.
Just after settling Karin in, he learned a piece of news that left him speechless.
Kakashi and Sasuke had both been hospitalized, the reason being that they had both been beaten by Itachi.
He immediately set off for the Konoha hospital.
***
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