"Who's there?"
The Kusagakure ninja felt an immediate chill crawl up his spine, his entire body stiffening in fear. He didn't dare move, for a deadly intent had locked onto him. One wrong move, and he knew his head would roll.
The temperature in the hospital room plummeted. The sudden change silenced everyone.
Click. Click.
The sound of slow, deliberate footsteps echoed throughout the room, each step like the tolling of a death knell, making everyone's heart race wildly. It was so tense, some forgot to breathe.
Only Karin seemed oblivious to the change. But following the others' gaze, she instinctively turned toward the door.
There, a figure stood—a figure not particularly tall, but one that exuded an overwhelming presence. He walked in slowly, his heavy steps filling the room.
The man wore a black cloak, his face hidden behind a white fox mask, making it impossible to discern his identity.
"Who… is he?"
Karin felt a strange sense of familiarity toward the man and unconsciously stepped forward.
"Stop!"
The head doctor suddenly shouted, reaching out to grab Karin's hand. His actions were instinctive, as he knew how crucial Karin was to Kusagakure's survival in the ongoing war.
Damn it!
The Kusagakure ninja's heart sank as he realized the mistake. It was clear that the masked figure was here for Karin.
Slash!
Before the doctor's hand could touch Karin, a shadow flashed, and the doctor's entire arm was severed, flying into the air as blood sprayed across the room.
Swoosh!
Naruto appeared, cradling Karin in his arms, his killing intent still focused on the Kusagakure ninja. The ninja wanted to move, to put distance between himself and Naruto, but Naruto was too fast. He was frozen in place, unable to act.
"AAAHHH!!!"
Only now did the doctor realize what had happened, letting out a blood-curdling scream that echoed through the entire hospital.
While the people inside the room remained frozen in terror, the chaos outside grew louder due to the doctor's scream.
"So warm..."
Karin, feeling Naruto's embrace, ignored everything else. She buried her head into his chest, finding solace and safety there. In this moment, nothing else mattered but this sanctuary.
"I'm taking you away from here," Naruto's gentle voice whispered in her ear. "From now on, stay by my side."
Without hesitation, Karin nodded and softly replied, "Okay."
"Wait!" She suddenly remembered something, her voice pleading, "My mother is in the room next door. Can we take her with us?"
"Of course," Naruto agreed without hesitation.
BANG!
Just then, the door burst open.
"What's going on in here?" A group of people rushed into the room.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!
Before they could even take in the scene, flashes of cold steel sliced through the air. In an instant, a dozen people—doctors, nurses, and ninjas alike—collapsed, blood pouring from the slashes across their throats.
Thud, thud, thud…
The sound of bodies hitting the floor filled the room. None of them had even understood what had happened before they were sent to the afterlife.
The survivors in the room gasped in horror, their eyes wide, paralyzed with fear. They clamped their mouths shut, not daring to make a sound, terrified that any noise would draw the killer's attention.
Even the doctor, now missing an arm, clenched his teeth, refusing to make a sound, no matter the pain.
Naruto, still holding Karin, calmly walked out of the room.
He entered the adjacent room and gently set Karin down behind him. Then, he lifted the lifeless body of Karin's mother into his arms.
Swoosh!
In an instant, Naruto activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.
The next moment, Naruto, Karin, and her mother appeared on a mountain outside of Kusagakure, from where they could see the entire village, including the hospital they had just left.
"Such a shame," Naruto sighed as he placed Karin's mother gently on the ground. "If I'd come just one day earlier, she might not have died."
"Mom…!" Overcome with grief, Karin rushed to her mother's side, her tears flowing uncontrollably.
Naruto turned his gaze back toward Kusagakure. He wasn't planning to leave just yet. Not without making sure the village remembered this day, remembered the pain they had inflicted on Karin and her mother.
"Kid!"
As Naruto prepared to move, Kurama's voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
"You're not thinking of stopping me, are you?" Naruto asked coldly.
Kurama let out a snort. "I'm the Nine-Tails, a being of hatred. You think I'd stop you from creating carnage? I'd love to see it. But before you go, I should tell you something. That woman isn't dead yet. But if you leave now, by the time you return, I guarantee she'll be gone for good."
"What?!" Naruto's eyes lit up with hope. "You can save her?"
When Naruto had held Karin's mother earlier, he had felt no heartbeat, her body cold and stiff. She had seemed completely gone.
Kurama chuckled. "She's not injured. She's just exhausted her chakra. Her soul is still lingering. If you don't act, it'll leave in half an hour. But if you replenish her chakra and inject some life force into her, she can be revived."
"Luckily for you, my chakra can do just that."
Naruto recalled how, in the original timeline, his chakra was so potent it even made trees bloom. Kurama's chakra, filled with life force, could definitely save her.
"Thank you, Kurama," Naruto smiled.
"Hmph, let me handle this!" Kurama responded, still sounding prideful.
Naruto didn't immediately hand over control. First, he reassured Karin, asking her to step back. Then, he gave Kurama full control.
"Big brother, what are you doing?" Karin asked, wiping her tears, her expression filled with curiosity. Though she didn't fully understand what was happening, she trusted him completely.
But Naruto was now under Kurama's control, and the Nine-Tails had no interest in answering her questions.
Orange light flared up as the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode activated.
Naruto's hand pressed against Karin's mother's abdomen, pouring an enormous amount of chakra into her.
"This…" Karin's eyes widened in disbelief.
Her natural sensor abilities allowed her to sense the chakra flowing into her mother. As the chakra filled her, it was as if her mother's extinguished flame of life was being reignited. Her once withered skin began to regain color, her heartbeat grew stronger, and her life force gradually returned.
Karin couldn't hold back her joy. Her mother was coming back to life.
"Mom… This is incredible!" Karin cried, tears of happiness streaming down her face.