After spending more than half a year running missions together, neither of Naruto's teammates nor their jonin instructor had ever seen him this furious.
His voice dropped low, rough with anger. There was something strangely familiar about it.
Sasuke noticed it immediately. The tone tugged at his memory, like a half-remembered echo, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't place it.
If he could have recalled it, he would have realized something.
Naruto's voice right now sounded almost identical to the voice from that earlier vision. The one where there had been no image, only words.
??? : "You never became Hokage. What right do you have to insult the Hokage? And even more than that… what right do you have to insult my dad, the Hokage himself?! You bastard!!!"
It was the same voice.
...
Karin, who had been sitting quietly with her head lowered, jumped in surprise. It seemed to be the first time anyone had gotten this angry on her behalf.
The feeling inside her chest was strange.
So strange she didn't know what to do with it.
Is this what it feels like… to have companions? To have family?
When that pink-haired girl had been injured earlier, Uchiha Sasuke had reacted the same way. Furious. Protective.
Does that mean… Naruto sees me as a companion too?
"Of course he does!"
Naruto suddenly met her gaze and answered firmly.
Only then did Karin realize she had accidentally spoken her thoughts out loud.
"I... I..." She clenched the forehead protector in her hand. "But I'm a Grass ninja."
"What does being from Kusagakure have to do with anything?!!!"
"Huh?" Karin blinked, confused. Of course it mattered if they were from different villages... didn't it?
Naruto shouted again.
"I said, what does being a Grass ninja have to do with anything?! They never treated you like a companion!"
His voice grew louder the more he spoke.
"People like that aren't companions at all! If they start fighting over you just because of your ability, I'll knock every single one of them flying! That's it!"
After yelling, Naruto crossed his arms, plopped down on the ground, and sulked in angry silence.
Mito smiled softly.
"Kushina truly raised a wonderful son."
Sasuke and Gaara exchanged a glance.
"That's Naruto for you," they both thought.
Sakura and Iruka couldn't hide their approval either.
"Well said, Naruto!"
The Second and Third Hokage both smiled faintly in agreement.
"Since the Warring States Era, the Senju Clan and the Uzumaki Clan have been distant relatives," Tobirama explained. "Back then, the Uzumaki lived in the Land of Whirlpools and held a very high status. Rather than joining Konoha, they established their own village, Uzushiogakure."
"But Konoha will always welcome any Uzumaki shinobi."
He looked at Karin.
"Little girl... you understand what I mean, don't you?"
Karin stared at the silver-haired man with wide eyes. She didn't understand much at all. She wanted to shake her head, but she was too nervous to move.
The Third Hokage took a slow puff from his pipe and smiled kindly.
"What Lord Second means is this. When you and your mother ended up in the Land of Grass, it must have been out of necessity. But now that you know you are part of the Uzumaki Clan... Konoha will always be open to you. You can return anytime."
While they spoke, the projection continued playing.
Karin's image reached the point where she participated in the Chunin Exams. During the second stage, she was rescued by Sasuke.
Wait.
Something was different.
In this projection, the first phase of the exam with the written test had never happened.
Tobirama narrowed his eyes.
"This must be from a world where the earlier events never occurred. Another parallel timeline."
In the image, Sasuke still used Lion's Barrage.
But instead of kicking a Grass ninja, he was launching the attack against a massive brown bear.
Naruto puffed his cheeks, clearly irritated.
"Why are you blushing at that jerk Sasuke, Karin?! It's always the same with you girls! Hmph!"
"You jealous, dead last?"
"What did you say?!"
Then Naruto remembered they were still in the middle of a fight and immediately turned his head away, refusing to respond.
Sasuke looked annoyed.
But he had no idea what to do about it, so he simply held the frustration in.
The projection continued.
In that parallel world, Karin returned alone to Kusagakure after being rescued by Sasuke.
Because she had failed to complete her mission properly, she was sent to the front lines.
The Northern Fortress.
"Recently, the Kaguya Clan has been moving through that region. A bunch of lunatics who only care about slaughter. They won't be easy to deal with."
When Karin arrived at the fortress, she froze at the sight of the room.
It was filled with wounded soldiers waiting for treatment.
A medical ninja looked at her.
"With you here, they'll all recover quickly, right?"
Karin hesitated.
"I..."
Naruto slammed his fist down.
"They're trying to work her to death! Those bastards!"
In the projection, Karin had only shown a hint of hesitation before the medical ninja sighed in disappointment.
"Outsiders really can't be relied on."
In that other world, no matter how cruel the Grass ninjas were, no matter how brutally they exploited her...
Kusagakure was still Karin's last place to belong.
They held her weakness tightly in their grasp.
Being labeled "useless."
As long as she remained "useful," the village would let her stay.
But the moment she was judged useless...
The village would discard her.
And if even the village didn't want her anymore...
Who else in the world would?
To protect that final shelter, Karin walked slowly toward the room full of wounded soldiers.
Her eyes were dull and empty.
One after another, mouths sank into her skin, biting down, draining her chakra.
Behind her, the medical ninja's tone changed immediately.
"What incredible dedication! Bring in more injured!"
Then the image faded to black.
The girl's silent back remained on screen for a moment.
As if foreshadowing a long, unchanging future.
Heavy.
That was the only way to describe the atmosphere in the room.
No one spoke.
Was this truly the fate of the Uzumaki Clan?
"I'm going out for some air."
Naruto stood up.
Without waiting for a response, he muttered to himself and left the room, stepping outside the central tower.
Moonlight had already spilled across the training forest.
The truth was...
Naruto had always been sensitive about his parents.
Earlier, during the projection, he had asked why his hair wasn't the same beautiful red as Karin's.
Kakashi had only replied, "Maybe you take after your father."
But why not his mother?
Kakashi knew.
The Third Hokage knew.
They clearly knew who his parents were.
So why wouldn't they tell him?!
Could it be...
That his mother had died the same way Karin's mother had?
...
Inside the room, Sasuke, Sakura, and Iruka were all worried about Naruto.
Sasuke had wanted to go after him, but Iruka gently stopped him.
"Right now... it's probably better to let him calm down on his own."
Mito agreed.
Now that she had learned about Karin, and after noticing Fuso's strange reaction to Konoha ninja, she finally turned to the woman.
"Could you tell me about yourself?"
Fuso glanced around at the Konoha ninja surrounding her before asking quietly,
"You truly won't harm me... or my child?"
"Your child?"
Sadness flickered across her face.
"I don't even know if he's still alive."
"You seem very afraid of Konoha ninja."
Fuso fell silent for a long moment. She sensed the chakra around her. Calm. No hostility.
Only then did she slowly speak.
"My husband and I... were both killed by Konoha ninja."
Everyone froze.
The shock lasted only a moment. After all, everyone present was a shinobi. They had seen far worse.
And they still didn't know the full story.
Fuso lowered her head.
"Our family... were ordinary civilians living in the Land of Rain."
...