The loose chakra chain around Kenji's wrist flickered when Karin moved her hand.
She woke with her head still resting against his chest. The privacy spiral glowed beside the locked door, and the weakened chain remained exactly where she had left it the previous night.
Karin watched the faint link for several seconds. Kenji could have broken it without waking her. He had chosen not to.
Karin touched the glowing link with one finger, and Kenji opened one eye.
He noticed her staring at the chain and brushed his thumb against her shoulder. "Did the barrier test finally pass?"
"The barrier passed several hours ago," Karin answered, her voice still rough from sleep. "The chain was testing something else."
Kenji turned his hand slightly beneath the glowing tether. "Did I pass?"
Karin dissolved the chain herself, letting the faint light fade completely into the morning air.
"You are still here," she told him. That was enough.
She pushed herself up and checked the small paper tag resting low above her hip. She confirmed the contraceptive seal had remained fully active through the night, then released the chakra holding it and disposed of the spent paper properly in the small bin beside the desk.
Karin gathered her clothes from the chair and began dressing. Her movements were slower than usual, but when Kenji started to rise, she pushed one hand against his chest and told him she could manage.
She pulled on her trousers, tied them, and reached for her outer top. Only after getting one arm through did she notice the fabric was backward.
Karin stopped and stared at it.
Kenji remained perfectly silent while she removed the top and corrected it.
"Good decision," she muttered.
Karin tied her red hair back, replaced her glasses on the bridge of her nose, and retrieved the fine-tipped sealing brush from the desk. The old scars and the fresh, dark bruise on her shoulder were securely hidden beneath her dark collar.
She walked to the door, leaving the entrance alarm active while lowering the sound barrier.
"I am going to get breakfast," Karin told him. "Sasuke will arrive for his scheduled Curse Mark check soon."
She checked the empty hallway, satisfied, and pulled the door shut behind her.
A moment after the latch clicked into place, a blue system window chimed into existence.
[Karin Route Milestone — Chosen Uzumaki]
[Reward: +4,500 SP]
[Current Balance: 40,990 SP]
[Relationship Privilege Unlocked — Private Sealwork]
[Karin will create private seals and barriers for Kenji without charging for her labor. Rare or expensive materials must still be provided.]
Kenji read through the unlocked privilege and dismissed the notification entirely before Karin returned.
Karin returned with a loaded breakfast tray and placed it on the desk. She poured two cups of tea, pushed the smaller breakfast portion toward Kenji, and claimed the larger one before he could object.
As she sat, her fingers rose to the collar hiding her shoulder.
"Is the mark obvious beneath this?"
Kenji looked over the dark fabric while accepting his tea. "Completely covered."
Karin's fingers remained at the collar for a moment. She looked almost disappointed, noticed him watching, and immediately opened her notebook.
Kenji took a drink and wisely kept his observation to himself.
Between bites of her breakfast, Karin opened her notebook and began sketching an additional warning layer for the window seal, attempting to adjust the formula so it could recognize objects carrying foreign chakra. The improvement was only a rough outline when a sharp knock at the doorframe interrupted them.
One of the estate servants stood in the hallway, announcing that Sasuke had arrived downstairs for his scheduled examination.
Karin shut her notebook, her relaxed demeanor vanishing as her professional focus returned instantly.
Kenji and Karin walked down to the estate courtyard, where Sasuke was already waiting.
Sasuke looked between them as they approached. He immediately noticed that Kenji was emerging from Karin's private wing early in the morning, and was still wearing the exact same clothes he had worn the day before.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, processing the information without speaking a word.
"Keep whatever you are thinking inside your head," Karin ordered flatly.
"I didn't say anything," Sasuke replied.
Karin crossed her arms. "Your face did."
Not wasting any more time on the subject, Sasuke sat on the wooden bench and pulled the collar of his shirt down just enough for Karin to reach the Curse Mark on his neck.
Karin peeled away the previous evening's monitoring strip and examined the faded lines before placing a fresh one beside the Curse Mark.
"Any pain during the night? Heat, strange dreams, voices?"
Sasuke shook his head. The mark had remained quiet after he left the estate, though the muscles around his shoulder still felt sore from the Swift Step burst. He had followed her instructions and had not attempted the technique again.
Karin pressed two fingers near the fresh monitoring strip. Instead of sending him toward the training posts, she instructed him to circulate chakra through his legs without releasing the movement technique.
Sasuke remained seated and gathered the chakra normally used for Swift Step. Before he could build enough to move, the monitoring strip darkened. A thin black line crept away from the Curse Mark and stopped beneath Karin's waiting fingers.
She activated the suppression seal and pushed the line back before it spread any farther.
"That was only the preparation," Sasuke said, looking toward the mark.
"Exactly." Karin removed her hand and began writing in her ledger. "Yesterday's burst left it irritated. Even gathering chakra for another one is waking it up."
Sasuke's expression tightened as Karin set the new restrictions. Swift Step practice would happen only every other day until the mark stopped reacting during preparation. On training days, he was limited to one burst. Kakashi would need Karin's approval before increasing that number, and deliberate Curse Mark activation remained forbidden.
Sasuke disliked every word, but the darkened strip was still visible beside his neck. He pulled his collar back into place and accepted the restriction without arguing.
Karin finished the note, sealed it with her chakra signature, and handed it to an estate runner for Kakashi. It was a training report rather than an emergency, but Kakashi needed to know that the Curse Mark was reacting before Sasuke even activated the technique.
Sasuke left the estate with Karin's restrictions folded inside his equipment pouch. By dusk, he had reached one of the isolated training grounds at the edge of the abandoned Uchiha compound.
He did not gather the chakra needed for Swift Step. Instead, he stretched wire between the trees, practised shuriken throws from blind angles, and repeated the sharp direction changes Zabuza had shown him without using a burst technique.
His first attempts disturbed the leaves beneath his sandals. He adjusted his weight, shortened the turn, and tried again until he could move between the trees with barely a sound.
A row of kunai struck the rear face of a target he could not see directly. Sasuke retrieved them, reset the wire, and began another repetition.
He landed softly on a thick branch, breathing evenly.
Sasuke landed on a branch and immediately felt that something was wrong.
The crickets had stopped. No birds moved through the canopy, and the leaves below him were still despite the evening breeze.
His gaze moved toward the perimeter wire. One section hung loosely between two trees. It had been cut cleanly without disturbing the warning bell attached to it.
A shadow shifted in the high canopy. Kidomaru appeared in the trees, crouched on a branch with a lazy, multi-armed stretch.
Sasuke turned his head. Jirobo stepped out from the brush, heavily blocking the only path that led back toward the center of the village.
To his left, Tayuya sat casually atop one of the old, weathered stone markers of the Uchiha grounds, a wooden flute resting in her hands.
Finally, Sakon stepped from the shadows behind Sasuke. A second face shifted beneath the skin near his shoulder before opening its eyes, Ukon watching from within his brother's body.
They had crossed the border, bypassed the patrols, and reached the heart of Konoha entirely undetected. They were Orochimaru's absolute best covert operatives, and they had flawlessly chosen an isolated part of an abandoned compound to corner their prey.
Sasuke's hand shifted closer to his kunai pouch, but he did not draw. The four strangers had positioned themselves too carefully for ordinary thieves. One controlled the canopy, another blocked the shortest route toward the populated district, and the woman with the flute watched the remaining path. The last man stood behind him, close enough to attack if Sasuke turned toward any of the others.
"You crossed Konoha's patrols to surround one person," Sasuke said, keeping all four inside his vision. "Who are you?"
Sakon stepped farther into the open. "Names can wait. Our master wants to speak with you."
Sasuke's fingers touched the first kunai inside his pouch. "Then your master can come himself."
A dark pattern appeared along Sakon's neck and crawled briefly across one side of his face. At the same moment, the Curse Mark beneath Sasuke's collar became hot. Karin's suppression strip tightened against his skin before the reaction could spread.
Sasuke went still. The strangers were carrying the same foul chakra Orochimaru had placed inside him.
Sakon noticed the recognition in his eyes and smiled. "Now you understand."
Sasuke's Sharingan opened as he looked over the four intruders again. "Orochimaru."
"Lord Orochimaru sent us with an invitation," Sakon said. His smile widened as the dark markings faded from his face. "Whether you accept it politely is up to you."
Enjoying the story? 🔥
You can find advanced chapters, image references, bonus scenes, polls, and extra updates on my Patreon:
👉 https://www.patreon.com/evilUchiha
Thanks for reading and supporting the journey! ❤️