Ever since returning to the village, Karin's spirits had been persistently low. The deaths of Mebuki Haruno and Kizashi Haruno had affected her no less than the death of her own biological mother in her childhood. She had thought she could find some solace in Konoha; here, she had Sakura, who cared for her like an older sister, and an aunt who was both as gentle and strict as a mother to her. But the accident a week ago felt like a nightmare.
After returning to the village, she seemed to have been forgotten. Because Sakura was unconscious, Master Tsunade had remained by her side without leaving for a moment. And Shizune-senpai, having to handle village affairs that Master Tsunade should have been dealing with, couldn't spare any time. So, no one cared how Karin was doing.
This feeling… Karin felt as if she had returned once more to that indifferent Kusagakure. For several days in a row, she had repeated her previous routine like a walking corpse. Her world seemed to have lost all its color.
Karin had wanted to visit Sakura, but Shizune had stopped her, saying that without Master Tsunade's permission, no one was allowed to go. Helpless, Karin had to give up.
Beep, beep, beep…
Smack!
Karin reached out and accurately slapped the alarm clock. Then, rubbing her sleepy eyes, she sat dazedly on the bed, in a daze. In the past, at this time, she would hear Mebuki Haruno making breakfast outside. But now, there was only a deathly silence…
Bang…
"Hmm?" Karin dug a finger in her ear, thinking she had misheard.
Bang… Clang…
The crisp sound of a wok and spatula colliding drifted into Karin's ears from outside the room.
"Huh?!" Karin's eyes flew wide open. That sound… there's no mistake, it's the sound of cooking! Could it be…
An impossible thought surfaced in Karin's mind. She threw off the blanket violently not even bothering to put on her slippers, and stumbled out of her bedroom door, running towards the kitchen.
Closer, almost there. When Karin reached the kitchen and saw the small figure busy inside, she froze.
Sakura Haruno heard a sound from behind, stopped what she was doing, and turned around. Seeing Karin standing at the kitchen doorway with disheveled hair and no shoes, she smiled. "You're up? Breakfast is almost ready. Go wash your face."
Karin looked at Sakura, and that impossible thought in her mind instantly shattered. Her nose tingled, and her throat felt as if it were blocked, unable to utter a single word. A mist formed in her red pupils, and soon, it filled her entire eyes.
Karin didn't leave. With heavy steps, she walked up behind Sakura Haruno and hugged her from behind, resting her head gently on the young woman's back.
"Sakura…" Karin choked out Sakura Haruno's name.
"Hmm?" Sakura Haruno, embraced from behind by Karin, silently continued preparing breakfast.
"We… we…" Karin's choked sobs grew louder, making it impossible for her to form a complete sentence.
"Woo… wooo… ahh… S-Sakura… wooo…"
Gradually, Karin's crying intensified, eventually turning into loud wails. Tears flowed like water from a broken dam, and soon, the back of Sakura Haruno's clothes was completely soaked.
Sakura Haruno listened to Karin's cries from behind her without stopping her, simply waiting in silence. With her parents dead, besides herself, Karin was probably the one suffering the most. As for her own tears, they had long since run dry. What she had to do next required no tears…
A full quarter of an hour passed before Karin's crying subsided. Sakura Haruno turned and gently embraced Karin in return, softly stroking her disheveled hair. "Let's eat…" she said softly.
"Mm…" Karin nodded, sniffling.
The two of them ate very slowly, each seemingly lost in their own thoughts.
"Sakura, I… I don't want to go to the hospital or the sealing class today…" Karin said, stirring the congee in her bowl.
"Okay, if you don't want to go, then don't…" Sakura Haruno said, then asked, "By the way, how are your studies in the sealing class? How many sealing techniques have you learned?"
"I've learned a few sealing techniques… but… but I'm not as proficient as I am with medical ninjutsu…" Karin said uneasily.
"It's alright, learn slowly. Put the hospital matters aside for now. You need to learn more sealing techniques. In the future… in the future, they might be useful…" Sakura Haruno said after a moment's hesitation.
"Yes…" Karin bit her lip. Hearing Sakura say she needed help with sealing techniques, she secretly regretted not having studied them diligently before. Then, her expression turned somewhat uncertain. "Um… I have a technique. It might be related to sealing techniques, but I'm not quite sure."
"What technique?" Sakura Haruno asked, curious. All the techniques Karin had learned were Konoha's ninjutsu. What other technique could there be that she wasn't sure about? Even if Karin didn't know its effects, someone in the sealing class should.
"It's hard to say. I'll demonstrate it for you later," Karin said, somewhat hesitantly.
"Alright, then show me at the training grounds later." Sakura Haruno didn't think much of it. Perhaps it was some technique Karin had learned secretly. After all, she was also the Hokage's disciple; it was possible for her to access materials ordinary ninja couldn't.
After breakfast, Sakura Haruno and Karin went to the Konoha training grounds, one following the other. Looking at the wooden training posts in the field, a nostalgic expression appeared on Sakura Haruno's face. Although only a little over a year had passed, her state of mind was vastly different from before.
"Alright, let me see it," Sakura Haruno said, standing opposite Karin.
"Mm," Karin acknowledged. Then, without any visible hand seals, she simply stood there and closed her eyes.
Sakura Haruno was wondering why Karin wasn't forming seals when, suddenly, a change occurred. With a continuous clatter-clatter sound, several thorny iron chains erupted from Karin's back, instantly filling the entire training ground.
Sakura Haruno's emerald pupils constricted, her heart pounding.
"This… this… this is the Adamantine Sealing Chains…" Sakura Haruno murmured to herself, a look of joyful surprise erupting in her eyes. This… perhaps this is fate…
"Retract them," Sakura Haruno said to Karin.
After another clatter-clatter sound, the chains that had filled the sky vanished without a trace. Karin, however, closed her eyes, her body went limp, and she began to fall towards the ground.
Without any visible movement, Sakura Haruno appeared beside Karin in the blink of an eye, as if she had been standing there all along. Even the grass on the ground showed no signs of being disturbed by the wind from high-speed movement. Everything seemed so natural and harmonious.
Cradling Karin in her arms, Sakura Haruno checked her and found that she had collapsed due to excessive chakra consumption.
"Mmm…" After a moment, Karin slowly opened her eyes and looked at Sakura Haruno. "…Wh-what is this technique?"
"This technique is… the Adamantine Sealing Chains…" Sakura Haruno said. "Do you remember when I told you that you have Uzumaki clan blood?"
"Mm," Karin nodded weakly.
"This technique is the innate sealing jutsu of the Uzumaki clan…" Sakura Haruno said slowly. "This technique… can even seal Tailed Beasts…"
"T-Tailed Beasts? What are those?" Karin asked. All her knowledge came from what she had learned after arriving in Konoha, but Tailed Beasts were not within the scope of her studies.
"They are… a hope…" Sakura Haruno said softly, gazing at the sky, her words incomprehensible to Karin.