Demon Child Karin — the Demon God's favorite child.
Swish—
A crimson figure flashed into existence between the three of them without warning, as if teleporting.
"You were just talking about a monster here?"
Red hair fluttered in the lingering air currents. Her scarlet eyes sparkled with childlike curiosity—and a barely restrained excitement that practically screamed trouble.
"Karin?!"
Naruto and Sasuke spoke at the same time, equally startled.
But where Naruto's shock carried deep vigilance—
Sasuke's held unmistakable relief.
Reinforcements.
Across the Shinobi World
An uproar erupted instantly.
"Karin! It's that Demon Child!"
"She finally showed up?! She's been missing from the projection—I thought some big shot took her out!"
"Wait… why do I suddenly have a really bad feeling?"
"Don't say it—I do too! Think about her personality! She loves chaos! The bigger the mess, the happier she is!"
"Oh no… she heard them mention a monster!"
"I can already picture it—she'll unseal it just because she's curious!"
"Sasuke's happy? Has he forgotten how destructive she is?!"
"At least Naruto looks wary."
Her appearance felt like tossing a gleeful child with a lighter into a room already filled with explosives.
Inside the Crater
Karin seemed oblivious to the suffocating tension—or perhaps simply unconcerned.
She waved cheerfully at Sasuke.
"Yo, Sasuke! Long time no see! You look… mm. Rough."
Her gaze flicked over his missing arm and Neji's battered state.
Then her eyes gleamed brighter as she looked down.
"Wait, you said something about a 'monster'? There's a monster here? Is it fun? Strong? Can we let it out and see?"
Sasuke's fleeting relief froze instantly.
He knew her too well.
Karin possessed a near-pathological fascination with anything new, powerful, or forbidden.
Telling her there was a monster underground was like handing her a gift box labeled Do Not Open.
"Karin!" Sasuke cut in quickly, voice tight. "Where have you been? You disappeared for a while."
She grimaced, irritation replacing excitement.
"Don't even mention it! Some unreasonable old man kept chasing me around—like a persistent pest!"
She rubbed her arm as if recalling lingering pain.
"That geezer hits hard! It hurt! I couldn't beat him, so I had to keep running and hiding. So annoying!"
Naruto and Sasuke both stiffened.
Karin—who could extract the chakra of Indra and Asura with eerie precision—had been chased? Hurt?
Forced to flee?
Who was that "old man"?
Even Sasuke's lips twitched faintly at her complaint.
Unreasonable? From her?
That was rich.
But before they could question her further, Karin crouched slightly, eyes narrowing as she focused downward.
"It's underground, isn't it? I can feel something."
Sasuke's heart sank.
The topic diversion had failed.
"You can sense it?" he asked, clinging to faint hope.
"Of course I can sense some of it!" she chirped. "It's hidden deep, but if you focus, it's obvious."
Her tone confirmed it.
She had already locked onto the sealed entity.
All three of them paled simultaneously.
Neither the Rinnegan nor the Tenseigan had clearly identified the presence below—
Yet Karin had.
Easily.
She looked at their expressions and grinned wider, as though she had just discovered a new toy.
"Sooo~ that's the 'monster' you were talking about?"
Her drawn-out tone dripped with mischief.
Sasuke felt alarm bells scream in his mind.
"Karin. This is not something you can mess with."
His voice was deadly serious.
"That monster feeds on chakra. If it's released, it'll be catastrophic for the current shinobi world. It will devour any living being with chakra."
"Ohhh." Karin nodded thoughtfully.
Then she wrinkled her nose in open disdain.
"That explains it! I poked at it a little earlier, but it didn't react at all. Just sat there like a dead tree. So it only responds if there's chakra to eat?"
Naruto nearly choked on his own fury.
"You really are… incorrigible," he bit out through clenched teeth.
He had seen madness.
He had seen obsession.
But someone who toyed with a potential world-ending trigger out of pure curiosity?
That was a different breed entirely.
Sasuke's face darkened as well.
He knew Karin was unpredictable—but not that she had already tested the seal.
If she had slipped even slightly—
And then—
Just as Naruto fumed, Sasuke tensed, and Neji tried to process the unfolding disaster—
Karin tilted her head and said lightly:
"But…"
BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 + chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789