Chapter 624: Warmhearted Karin
"That."
Just as Naruto was telling Obito that he was hungry, a voice came from behind them.
Both Obito and Naruto were startled.
After all the bad things they had done these past few days, they had naturally kept their senses on constant alert.
Yet with the strength of the two of them, they had completely failed to notice the person who had approached them.
When they turned around, Naruto wore a puzzled expression.
This person seemed to have appeared in the original body's memories before, but the original body had not remembered her name.
"She's from the Uzumaki clan."
Seeing the woman's iconic red hair, Obito immediately recognized her origins even though he did not know exactly who she was.
"Uzumaki? Isn't that..."
Dark Naruto instantly became wary.
After all, although he was the son of the Nine-Tails, he had also been influenced by the Uzumaki bloodline. Compared to the original body, he knew far more secrets about the Uzumaki clan.
He had to be careful!
"Um, I heard you two saying that you were hungry just now. I happen to have a rice ball here. I'm not hungry yet, so you can have it."
The red-haired Uzumaki girl extended the hand holding the rice ball and offered it to the two of them with a friendly smile.
Gulp.
Naruto swallowed his saliva and accepted the rice ball.
But instead of eating it first, he broke it in half and handed half to Obito.
It wasn't because he was thinking about Obito being hungry too. He wanted Obito to test it and see whether it was poisoned.
Over the past few days, he had forgotten to eat for two reasons. First, he had only become a physical being a few days ago and had not yet developed the habit of eating. Second, Obito, his companion on this journey, had been possessed by Black Zetsu after being seriously injured. His life was currently being sustained entirely by Black Zetsu, so he didn't need to eat either.
Obito understood Naruto's intention. After taking a symbolic bite, he handed the rest back.
"Eat."
The meaning was obvious—there was no poison.
"Hello. My name is Karin, and I'm a villager of Kusagakure."
"I often help travelers who are passing through."
"My village is pretty big, so you're welcome to come and visit. If you get tired from playing, you can just stay the night. It's no problem."
"..."
Naruto felt that something was getting stranger and stranger.
But that one rice ball had done absolutely nothing to fill him up.
He had originally been so hungry that he was almost used to it, but after eating something, he actually felt even hungrier.
"If you don't want to come, that's fine too. But if you do, I can ask the villagers to make something delicious for you later."
Karin pushed up her glasses, pretending not to care.
"There'll be food? Then let's go."
Naruto ultimately couldn't resist.
Besides, he figured that with his strength, he had already wiped out so many small ninja villages. What difference would one more, Kusagakure, make?
Even if they had bad intentions, what could they possibly do to him?
"Then let's go."
Obito agreed.
He had his own little scheme in mind as well.
Dark Naruto was ultimately his competitor.
He had Kamui, so he wasn't afraid of being ambushed.
And with Black Zetsu possessing him, he wasn't afraid of being poisoned either.
If something happened, Naruto would be the only one suffering.
It would be perfect if he could weaken Naruto or delay him a little. Even making Naruto capture one less Tailed Beast would be a good thing.
And so, Karin led Obito and Naruto toward Kusagakure.
"Um, Karin..."
"Everyone calls me Karin-nee."
"Oh, Karin-nee, I wanted to ask, does the Takigakure next door have a Tailed Beast?"
Naruto asked with an innocent expression.
"Yeah. Why? Are you curious?"
"Yes. Because I'm the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, and I want to make friends with the other Jinchūriki. So, Karin-nee, do you know where Takigakure's Jinchūriki is?"
Naruto looked completely sincere.
"Make friends? That's no problem. As it happens, the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki and I are best friends. She should be coming back to visit me today. I'll introduce you to her later."
Karin waved her hand casually.
"Really? That's great!"
Naruto looked delighted.
And that happiness came from the bottom of his heart.
He had originally thought he would have to spend some time traveling to the Land of Waterfalls, gathering information, and then searching for the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki.
He never expected things to fall into his lap so easily.
He had only come to Kusagakure for a meal, and he could complete his objective along the way.
If the number of tails was used to judge the amount of chakra, the Seven-Tails was second only to the Nine-Tails and Eight-Tails.
As for the Eight-Tails and Killer B, Dark Naruto had already given up on them.
Killer B knew that the original body had been to the Waterfall of Truth and knew that he was Dark Naruto. There was no way he could deceive him.
Besides, the Land of Lightning was celebrating the New Year right now, so its military forces were concentrated.
He might even run into some of the previous Raikage returning from the dead.
It was better not to go there.
Therefore, the Seven-Tails would be Dark Naruto's first target.
"Here, try this. It's a specialty from the neighboring Takigakure—the Hero's Water. Drinking it greatly increases your amount of chakra."
Karin brought over two bowls of something that looked like cream of mushroom soup and placed them in front of Obito and Naruto.
"Hero's Water?"
Both Obito and Naruto had heard of this stuff before.
The Hero's Water in the real shinobi world increased one's chakra while reducing one's lifespan.
The Hero's Water in the Limited Tsukuyomi reduced one's chakra while increasing one's lifespan.
So what effect did the Hero's Water in this world have?
Karin had said that drinking it would increase their chakra. Did that mean it had the same effect as the one in the real shinobi world?
Afraid that it might be poisoned, Naruto hesitantly looked at Obito.
Obito did not hesitate. He picked up the bowl and drank it all in one gulp.
His life was currently being sustained entirely by Black Zetsu. If this could restore him, then losing some of his lifespan didn't matter.
Besides, this was only a genjutsu world.
What did the length of his lifespan in this genjutsu world have to do with his lifespan in the real world?
"How does it taste?"
Karin asked with a mysterious smile.
"It's pretty good. It's quite sweet. Thanks, Mommy—"
Obito awkwardly covered his mouth.
Ever since he had been possessed by Black Zetsu, he couldn't help calling every woman he met "Mommy." He had absolutely no control over it.
"Can you feel your chakra increasing?"
Karin pressed.
"Let me see... Huh? It really increased?"
Obito looked stunned.
His chakra had really increased. She hadn't lied to them?
And he didn't feel any sensation of his lifespan being drained.
Or was it because he was already on the verge of death, so there wasn't any lifespan left to drain?
"Naruto, you try it."
With that doubt in mind, Obito pushed the bowl in front of Naruto toward him.
Gulp.
Naruto also drained the entire bowl in one go.
"My chakra really increased?"
Naruto was stunned as well.
The amount of chakra he had gained was almost comparable to what he obtained from devouring the chakra of ten shinobi or fifty civilians!
And all of that came from the nutritional value of a single bowl of water?
And...
There didn't seem to be any side effects.
Naruto didn't feel any sensation of his life force being drained either.
Naruto fell into confusion.
Could this Uzumaki Karin really be a genuinely kind and helpful person?
No way, right?
"Um, I'll go check whether the food is ready. You can't just drink water, after all."
Karin left the room after dropping that sentence behind.
The two confused men were left alone.
"Right! Uncle Obito, can you try asking Black Zetsu about this? He should know more than we do. Maybe he knows what's going on here!"
Naruto suddenly thought of something and spoke to Obito.
(End of this chapter)