Faced with the fierce, menacing Kusagakure ninja, Karin shrank back in fear and hid behind Yōsuke.
The ninja glared viciously at him. "Who are you?! Get out of the way!"
"Deidara," Yōsuke called out calmly.
"Yeah, yeah, I know—what a pain," Deidara replied impatiently. He reached into his ninja pouch and fed some clay into the mouth on his palm. A lifelike clay centipede took shape in his hand.
Deidara tossed the clay centipede toward the ninja. It instantly expanded, wrapping itself tightly around him.
"Ha!"
An explosion followed. This time, the blast was carefully controlled—it only blew off the ninja's legs.
The ninja screamed in agony as he writhed on the ground.
Seeing this, Karin clutched Yōsuke's clothes in fear.
Before Yōsuke could say anything, Deidara spoke first. "This time I didn't kill him. You're not allowed to lecture me again."
Yōsuke ignored him and told Karin to keep leading the way to the hospital.
Inside Kusagakure Hospital, the place was packed to the brim. Agonized cries echoed endlessly through the halls.
Karin led Yōsuke from room to room, until she suddenly stopped in front of one.
Inside lay a woman whose face was covered with a white sheet. Her exposed ankles and neck were covered in bite marks. She lay motionless on the bed, completely devoid of life.
Karin's pupils widened. She covered her mouth in disbelief as tears streamed down her face.
"Mom…"
She rushed into the room and yanked away the white cloth—revealing a horrifying sight.
Every inch of her mother, Uzumaki Chizuru's, body was covered in dense bite marks.
Yōsuke placed his hand on Chizuru's forehead, sensing the condition of her body.
"There's no damage to her internal organs. Her life force was drained completely… she was killed alive."
Karin collapsed to her knees, wailing uncontrollably.
Her cries drew the attention of several Kusagakure ninja.
"You're too late! You finally showed up—but your mother's dead!" one of them shouted coldly.
"You have the same ability she did, so you'll replace her and heal the wounded ninja! We took you in—now it's time for you to earn your keep!"
Faced with the threats of the Kusagakure ninja, Karin backed away in terror.
"There's no need to be afraid, Karin."
Yōsuke's calm voice came from behind her.
"Hey! Who are you two?! Don't interfere in our village's affairs!"
Once again, Yōsuke extended his hand toward Karin.
"Karin, there's a choice in front of you now. Will you join us? We'll protect you. From now on, no one will ever be able to bully you again."
"Damn it—get him!" the Kusagakure ninja shouted.
The ninja charged at Yōsuke.
"Blood Demon Art: Dark Binding!"
Ropes woven from blood shot out and restrained the Kusagakure ninja.
With her powerful sensory abilities, Karin felt the ominous, terrifying power within Yōsuke's body. She stared at him in fear.
"Karin," Yōsuke asked softly, "what's your choice?"
Karin looked at the restrained Kusagakure ninja, then at Yōsuke—whose body radiated an unsettling aura despite his gentle expression—and finally at Uzumaki Chizuru's lifeless body on the hospital bed.
She grabbed Yōsuke's hand, shut her eyes tightly, and cried out at the top of her lungs,
"Please… save me!"
Yōsuke closed his fingers.
A series of cracking sounds rang out as the ninja bound by Dark Bind were crushed to death by its overwhelming force.
The violent disturbance drew the attention of even more Kusagakure ninja, who swarmed in from all directions.
Holding Karin in his arms, Yōsuke stared at them expressionlessly.
"I'll give you one chance as well. Retreat—and live. Stand in my way—and die."
The Kusagakure ninja made their choice.
They drew kunai and shuriken and hurled them all at Yōsuke.
"Deidara," Yōsuke said coldly, "this time, I won't stop you."
Deidara's face lit up with excitement. "You said it!"
He quickly molded a small clay bird. With a burst of chakra, it expanded into a massive bird large enough to ride.
Deidara leapt onto its head, and Yōsuke boarded as well, carrying Karin.
Deidara crushed clay into a sphere and hurled it directly at the Kusagakure ninja. An explosion erupted instantly.
The ninja were blown off their feet, and a massive hole was torn through the hospital wall.
Deidara guided the giant bird out of the hospital and up into the sky, overlooking Kusagakure from above.
Yōsuke silently watched everything unfold.
Deidara pulled out a large chunk of clay and molded it into a clay humanoid.
"This is my improved C3—Number Eighteen," he declared proudly.
"It's mixed with my highest level of chakra. This is the strongest art I can create at this stage. My art will transcend itself right here, right now!"
He hurled the clay figure into the air. Its size expanded instantly to an enormous scale.
As the clay humanoid plummeted toward the ground—
"Art is an explosion! Ha!"
Boom.
The explosion roared, the earth trembled, and blinding light tore through the darkness, illuminating the night as bright as day.
Everything at the center of the blast was reduced to dust. Even buildings outside the epicenter were ripped apart and hurled away by the shockwave.
Deidara gazed at his masterpiece with satisfaction.
"Only beauty that lasts for an instant can be called art!"
In Yōsuke's arms, Karin had already been frightened unconscious by the massive explosion.
Yōsuke sighed helplessly. "Deidara… you went too far. Forget it—let's go."
Deidara muttered quietly, "You're the one who said you wouldn't stop me."
He steered the giant bird away, disappearing into the horizon with Yōsuke and Karin.
Inside an inn, Karin slowly regained consciousness. The moment she saw Yōsuke and Deidara, her mind snapped fully awake, and she bolted upright in bed.
In Karin's eyes now, neither Yōsuke nor Deidara were good people.
Tears welled up. She had just escaped a wolf's den—only to fall straight into a tiger's lair. Her luck was truly terrible.
Yōsuke, unaware of her thoughts, asked gently, "Are you hungry?"
Karin nodded instinctively—then quickly shook her head. "I—I'm not hungry!"
Yōsuke sighed inwardly. Deidara had definitely gone too far; no wonder Karin was on guard.
Handling one Deidara was already exhausting enough. Now he had picked up Karin—who was even younger—giving him a headache.
Other organizations recruited powerful shinobi.
Had his group turned into a children's shelter instead?
Start training them from childhood…?
Yōsuke sighed and said to Karin, "You don't need to be on guard around us. We're companions now, aren't we? Get some rest. There's food on the table—eat if you get hungry."
Karin froze when she heard the word companions.
Ever since her country's destruction, she had lived a life of constant wandering. In Kusagakure, she and her mother were treated like livestock—adults saw them as living blood bags, and children her age constantly bullied her.
She had never had companions.
Hearing Yōsuke say the word so sincerely stirred something in her heart, and much of her wariness faded.
"…Okay."
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