"You… you're even more despicable than your mother!"
The power of this slap wasn't much, but it made the ninja from the Grass Village feel deeply humiliated.
"I'll teach you a good lesson today!"
Covering his face, the male ninja pulled out a kunai from his ninja pouch, then looked at the girl's tightly wrapped chest.
"Aren't you trying to protect your body? I'll just make a few scars on your chest and see if you still want to protect it!"
"No… I don't want that!", Seeing her enraged companion, Karin shut her eyes in fear and fell to the ground, then desperately propped herself up and moved her body to get away from the Grass ninja in front of her.
"You don't get a choice!", A Grass ninja forcefully tugged at the collar that Karin was desperately trying to protect.
The other Grass ninja just watched from the side.
"Don't ruin her too badly. If someone holds a grudge when we get back to the village, we're screwed," There were others in the village who wanted to bite this girl too.
"Heh, we'll just say the scars were made by the enemy. Who would know?"
"Help!!"
Looking at the ferocious man before her raising a kunai, Karin screamed desperately.
Even though deep down, she knew yelling wouldn't help even if she screamed her throat out, but just maybe…
This might be her last struggle and resistance, before becoming like her mother…
"So noisy. You want to attract enemies? You troublesome bitch! I'll cut off your tongue first!"
"Hey, wait, I think someone's really coming..."
Just as the male ninja grabbed Karin's chin and was about to stab her mouth with the kunai, the companion beside him suddenly reminded him fearfully.
In this Forest of Death, the ninjas from the Grass Village were too weak, clearly just there to be cannon fodder.
So they were basically scared of anyone they saw.
"Wait... it doesn't look like a genin from another village. It's a proctor from Konoha?"
After seeing the outfit on the newcomer, this Grass ninja sighed in relief a little.
Still, he let go of the crying girl in his hand.
Even though proctors generally wouldn't interfere in fights between examinees, bullying a teammate wasn't exactly something to be proud of. Better to wait until the guy leaves before making a move.
"Uzumaki clan's bloodline?"
Didn't expect this surprise.
At that moment, Uchiha Kage, who had just finished dealing with the Sand Siblings, was on his way to rendezvous with Ino and Samui at the tower.
He just didn't expect to run into this red-haired girl by chance.
He had almost forgotten about this girl.
"Your name is Karin, right?"
Completely ignoring the two Grass ninjas, Uchiha Kage walked straight toward the girl still lying on the ground.
"Y-Yes… I… You, you know my name?"
'Is he here to save me?'
A ray of warm sunlight finally shone into Karin's heart of despair.
Even if it's just temporary safety, she was willing.
"Then I'm not mistaken."
Uchiha Kage glanced at the girl's arm.
There were two faint bite marks left on it, seemingly from this Chuunin Exam.
"Y-You're here to...", Karin subconsciously hid the arm with the bite marks behind her back. In front of this overly handsome boy, she really didn't want to show any flaws.
She didn't even have the courage to ask, "Are you here to save me?"
"From now on, follow me."
Uchiha Kage reached out and pulled the girl, who was hiding one arm behind her, from the ground.
"Hey, what do you mean? Is Konoha trying to steal our Grass Village ninja?"
"So what if I steal her? You think you'll live to see the sun tomorrow?"
Uchiha Kage turned back coldly. Just one look made the two Grass ninjas fall into immense panic and fear.
Genjutsu – Technique of Naraku's Sight!
"You… ah!!!"
The two Grass ninjas who fell into the illusion collapsed on the ground screaming.
"F-Follow you?"
'This has to be a dream, right?'
'Or is this Konoha ninja also interested in my ability and plans to take me back as a tool for Konoha?'
'But no matter what, following this handsome Konoha boy is definitely better than those two Grass ninjas.' [T/N: If an ugly guy does it, it's harrasment but if a handsome guy does it, it's flirting]
Karin didn't even glance back at the two fallen Grass ninjas.
"Unwilling?", Uchiha Kage pulled the girl's arm from behind her, then rolled up her sleeve and looked at the two bite marks.
"N-No! I… If you want to bite, this arm is better..."
Karin tried to pull back her left arm and offered her flawless right arm instead.
But she couldn't pull it back.
"If you want to be bitten by me, at least grow to jounin level. It's still too early now," With his current chakra levels, a weak girl couldn't possibly handle it.
"But I guess, a healer really can't heal themselves, huh?", Uchiha Kage gently used Mystical Palm Technique to heal the bite marks on the girl's arm.
"You…", This was the first time Karin had seen a ninja holding her arm not to bite her, but to heal her.
And under his careful healing, the two bite marks on her arm really started to fade, almost disappearing.
"Let's go. From now on, you'll work under me," After storing the two Grass ninjas into his Dream Realm Space, Uchiha Kage finished healing Karin and handed her a set of Konoha ANBU uniform.
'Samui, Karin… not bad. My ANBU squad has gained another member.'
"Yes!", Looking at her arm, now white and flawless again, Karin nodded happily while tears of joy streamed down her face.
Even if she was to be treated as a tool of Konoha in the future, she was willing.
This was the first time someone cared for her, healed her.
'And he… is so handsome…'
Forget being a tool, even being a slave, she'd do it willingly.
"Don't cry anymore. From now on, only I'll bite you. I won't let anyone else do it," Uchiha Kage thought the girl was crying because she assumed he'd throw her into a pile of Konoha ninja as a medical blood pack, so he comforted her a little.
"How's that?"
Otherwise, having her cry all the way while following him would be too attention-grabbing.
"Ugh… Mm! From now on… I'll only let you bite!"
But Uchiha Kage didn't expect that after he said that, the girl's tears fell even harder.
Even her sobbing became much louder than before.
Then, whether due to being too emotional or just tired, she directly fainted onto the ground.
"…"
'Damn, is letting only me bite her still making her feel so wronged?'
'Or should I have rescued her from a bear's mouth?'
No choice, Uchiha Kage could only store the possibly tear-exhausted, fainted girl into his Dream Space too.
———
"What's up with Sasuke?"
They easily obtained the Heaven and Earth scrolls, and passed through the earlier powerful enemies unscathed.
Now they were about to leave the Forest of Death. It should have been a happy thing.
But Sakura noticed Sasuke seemed like a completely different person.
The confident guy who used to say "weaklings," "trash," and "none of you can satisfy me" was now like a frosted eggplant, gloomy and dispirited.
"Ignore him. Sasuke always gets like this after being beaten up. Wasn't he the same in the Land of Waves? Just get used to it..."
"Naruto!!", Hearing Naruto say that, Sasuke couldn't hold it anymore.
'What do you mean "being beaten up"? When did I get beaten up?'
'Ninja battles—how can you call that being beaten?'
"But that masked guy from earlier was definitely a good person. Thanks to him, we escaped from Orochimaru."
Naruto ignored Sasuke's furious outburst and remained curious about that masked man claiming to be Uchiha Madara.
"Hmph, that guy just looked down on us."
What was depressing Sasuke now was that even after awakening the three-tomoe Sharingan, he still wasn't invincible.
Especially after hearing that Uchiha Itachi defeated Orochimaru...
When Orochimaru fought him, he didn't even go all out, but Uchiha Itachi handled Orochimaru as easily as today's "Uchiha Madara" did.
'Mangekyo Sharingan… Looks like only with that eye can one truly be the strongest Uchiha?'
'But how to evolve into Mangekyo?'
'Orochimaru, Uchiha Madara… It all feels so unreal...', If not for both Naruto and Sasuke confirming the story, Sakura would never have believed that during the time she fainted, the Legendary Sannin and the infamous Uchiha Madara had appeared.
And right before their eyes.
"Wait, we should report this to Lord Hokage!", After the shock, Sakura suddenly realized an important point.
"Seems like it…"
Sasuke also kind of forgot he was still part of Konoha.
"Hmph! Finally, time for Team 7 to shine!"
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/ZenonTL
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.