Opening his eyes, Kenshin made a sharp attempt to rise but painfully collapsed onto his side, feeling intense head pain. He belatedly looked around and realized he was in a field tent.
"Father, don't make sudden movements! You need rest." Twenty Second said, rushing over, and received a solid slap.
"Are you a complete idiot? How dare you leave Father alone?!" Ichiro roared, furious at his incompetent younger brother.
"Shut up both of you, my head's splitting already..." Kenshin rasped, assuming a sitting position.
"Report." He said authoritatively, raising his gaze to his eldest son.
"Mission accomplished, everyone's alive. Twenty-First has a skull fracture, Fourteenth has internal organ contusion from an explosive seal." Ichiro reported.
"Then why is he here?! Go help your brothers now!" Kenshin said, nearly shouting, glaring at Twenty Second.
"Twenty-Sixth already took care of them. One iryonin is plenty for that." Ichiro replied.
"Good... So everyone's alive..." Kenshin murmured with a smile, sinking into thought.
"Move it, bitch! If the boss's injuries become chronic because of you, I'll personally pay a visit to your little doll!" a man with a bushy beard yelled furiously, barely restraining himself from striking the woman. Threats aside, a quarrel with her master was the last thing he wanted.
Hearing the threat from the menacing man named Gaku, the woman grew scared and sped up her run. As a Genin-rank, she couldn't maintain acceptable speed and was exhausted from running half the night.
When about five kilometers remained to the destination, Gaku suddenly stopped, noticing a smoke cloud. In an instant, he climbed the nearest mountain and froze in shock.
"I-impossible!" he thought in shock, belatedly realizing he was in plain view. He descended as fast as possible, intending to flee quickly and then scout carefully.
"Follow me fast! Slow down and you're dead!" he snarled at the red-haired woman and shuddered in shock.
"Going somewhere?" Kenshin said in a cold tone, standing ten meters from the unknown pair.
"Wh-who are you?!" Gaku asked in terror, leaping back several meters and drawing a kunai.
"What's your name?" Kenshin asked calmly, eyeing the red-haired woman with incredibly strong chakra.
"K-Keiko..." the woman replied somewhat frightened.
"I see..." he murmured thoughtfully, then asked: "Where's your daughter?"
Hearing the question from this unknown man, Uzumaki Keiko started and grew a bit scared. She didn't understand how this mysterious man dressed all in black knew about her daughter.
"What's going on here?!" Gaku burst out, unable to hold back, to which Kenshin merely grunted in displeasure.
In the next second, Gaku's head fell to the ground with a dull thud. His body stood for a fraction of a second longer with kunai in hand, then collapsed after it, while Ichiro, standing behind him, impassively wiped his blade with spotless cloth.
"Ah!" Keiko yelped in fright and recoiled.
"I think we should continue this talk in a more pleasant place." Kenshin said calmly, forcing a smile and adding: "Don't be afraid. You're in no danger."
Keiko obediently followed the unknown man, praying this would end well and she could reunite with her beloved daughter.
Reaching a small camp, Kenshin leisurely sat on a folding chair, and his facial muscles relaxed slightly. The performance had been very taxing, and his elder sons had urged him to stay in camp, but spotting the red-haired woman with insanely dense chakra, he had to act personally.
After a short chat over hot tea, Uzumaki Keiko relaxed a bit and told him where she was headed. Kenshin had suspected as much, but hearing confirmation from her lips, he couldn't help marveling at fate's irony.
Little Karin and her mother had long been prime recruitment targets for the Nakayama Family, but with only scraps of info, he hadn't risked it—at least not until acquiring five Jonin.
But fate decided otherwise, and after losing one son, he met one of his future wives. He had no doubt this unfortunate woman would become his wife. While he could offer other women a choice, knowing Keiko and Karin's future, Kenshin decided for them.
"I assume you want to reunite with your daughter? Then tell me everything about Kusagakure and where she is." Kenshin said calmly, sipping healing broth carefully prepared by Hitomi.
"Wh-what do you want with my daughter?! I won't tell you anything until I know who you are!" Keiko declared resolutely. Questions about her beloved daughter lent unprecedented courage to the gentle, compliant woman.
"I want mother and daughter together. Think carefully: do you want little Karin to stay in Kusagakure and take your place?" Kenshin asked authoritatively.
"N-no! Not that! Z-Zosui promised!" Keiko exclaimed in fright.
"Zosui?" Kenshin thought thoughtfully, trying to recall names linked to Karin from distant past.
"Don't tell me you believed that bastard for whom you're no more than a living pill!" Kenshin roared furiously, flaring with anger at this extremely imprudent woman who had doomed herself and her daughter to a sorry fate.
"Did I have a choice?! What does a weak woman from the Uzumaki clan do but keep running and hiding?!" Keiko cried in tears. Emotions pent up over time poured out in a torrent under Kenshin's empathic influence.
"Why not flee to Konoha?" Kenshin asked more calmly.
"To Konoha?! That's even worse for all Uzumaki! My girl doesn't deserve the fate of Grandma Mito or Kushina-san..." She sighed sorrowfully, recalling the tragic fates of many from her clan.
"After your death, little Karin faces no less tragedy. That's why let me help you both..." Kenshin said with a sigh, placing a hand on the stunned woman's head.
Foggy visions of the future flashed before Keiko's eyes. The image of Karin in the caring mother's mind took shape as a cheerful, red-haired girl.
In minutes, Keiko saw it all. The little girl crying over her mother's body, left alone. Dozens of bite marks on thin, painfully pale arms, and an empty, vacant gaze.
She saw it all. Including the madness of the grown red-haired girl who, meeting unrequited love, remained little more than a tool and a living field apothecary.
"P-please, help us, lord!" Keiko said, falling to her knees with tears in her eyes and pressing her forehead to the ground.
"Rise." Kenshin said calmly, and ten minutes later, Keiko told him everything needed for her daughter's safe rescue.