However, just when everyone thought Karin was nothing more than an easily fooled, lovestruck girl, the scene in the sky began to shift subtly.
Uchiha Sasuke's back disappeared completely at the end of the corridor.
Karin slowly withdrew her gaze.
The obedient smile on her face—almost submissive just moments ago—faded like a receding tide.
In its place appeared something utterly twisted, filled with madness and exhilaration… a look of perverse delight.
Her shoulders trembled slightly, as if she were suppressing laughter. A chilling light flickered within her crimson eyes.
"Interesting… interesting…"
She muttered in a hoarse, excited whisper.
"Too interesting!!!"
"Hahaha…"
"Kehehehe…"
The sudden change sent a chill through every viewer.
Karin looked less like someone who had been deceived—and more like someone who had just found a target perfectly suited to her tastes. A new object for her to "cleanse"… or perhaps a new toy.
As the shinobi world watched her bone-chilling laughter, they finally realized they had been completely wrong.
The "Demon Child" Karin had never changed. She had never been truly "tamed."
She had simply chosen a new stage—one more intriguing to her—and a new "protagonist" capable of bringing her greater amusement.
Konoha wanted to recruit her?
Other forces hoped to use her?
In the end, who would use whom—and who would end up on her list for "cleansing"—remained to be seen.
That instant shift—from meek compliance to twisted madness—along with her suppressed, spine-chilling laughter, caused the faces of all who watched the sky to change drastically.
The notion that she was naïve or easy to trick shattered completely. A cold dread shot straight from the base of their spines to the tops of their heads.
"She… she wasn't fooled at all!"
"There's something seriously wrong with her!"
"The way she looks at Sasuke… that's not how you look at a comrade. It's like she's looking at… an experimental subject!"
Even Uchiha Sasuke, who had previously worn a faintly satisfied expression, now grew solemn.
He stared intently at Karin's crazed, eerie smile in the sky, alarm bells ringing in his mind.
He had thought his force of personality—or perhaps his dominance—had subdued her.
Clearly, that wasn't the case.
Karin's danger and unpredictability far exceeded his imagination.
Then, within the sky projection, Karin spoke again—her voice low and clear, as though she had uncovered some earth-shattering secret while facing the empty corridor.
"Uchiha Sasuke…"
Her tone carried the glee of someone who had discovered hidden treasure, along with burning curiosity.
"You… are the most 'fascinating' person I've ever seen…"
"On you… no, within your very 'soul'…"
It was as if she could see beyond the flesh and directly into one's essence.
"There's… another presence entwined with it?!"
"Haha… how interesting! This is too fun!"
Her laughter grew even more warped.
"I absolutely must… observe you up close…"
The implications of her words were enough to make anyone shudder.
But that wasn't the most terrifying part.
Her voice suddenly sharpened, tinged with something almost… greedy.
"And that 'mysterious' soul…"
She paused, as if considering her wording—then let out an even more ghastly laugh.
"No… not a soul… it's 'chakra,' isn't it?! Kehehehe…!!"
Boom—!!!
Her words detonated in the minds of everyone in the shinobi world like countless exploding tags igniting at once.
A soul?
Chakra again?!
In an instant, countless gazes turned toward Konoha.
Combined with the earlier scene—when the projection had mentioned the "disgusting chakra" within Naruto—
A truth so shocking it overturned all understanding seemed to be unveiled through Karin's mad whisper.
Uchiha Sasuke was not "pure" either.
Just like Uzumaki Naruto, who carried within him an ancient and mysterious chakra—one capable of directly influencing his will—
Karin… this so-called "Demon Child"… could actually see such things?
The projection offered no answers.
Amid Karin's chilling laughter, the image slowly zoomed out, sweeping once more past Sasuke's departing, cold figure before dissolving entirely. The sky returned to normal.
The fourth sky projection ended in overwhelming shock, fear, and countless unresolved mysteries.
Yet the bomb it had dropped was only beginning to ferment.
The secrets of the soul. The truth of chakra. The hidden chakra within Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto.
And Karin's ability to perceive their essence—and her mad intentions.
All the threads intertwined, pointing toward something far grander, darker, and more terrifying.
Her whisper about souls and chakra was like pouring icy water into a boiling vat of oil—the entire shinobi world erupted instantly.
But what followed was a bone-deep chill and suffocating silence.
"So… that's the real reason the 'Demon Child' Karin followed Uchiha Sasuke?!"
Someone's voice trembled in disbelief.
"She wasn't tricked. She discovered something abnormal about him—and chose him as an observation target?!"
"Sasuke's body… is also entwined with another presence's chakra?! Isn't that just like Uzumaki Naruto?!"
"Two of them… are they both vessels?!"
The deduction made everyone's scalp go numb.
Originally, people believed Naruto to be a special case—someone chosen or influenced by the chakra of an ancient being, a container of sorts.
It was shocking, but it could be explained as a rare fate… or a curse.
But now Sasuke had been revealed to be the same.
Another one.
That changed everything.
A horrifying thought spread like a plague through every mind:
If there was one… and two… then could there be a third? A fourth? Countless others?
Those prodigies who rose brilliantly throughout history—was their power truly their own? Or did they also carry unseen "passengers"?
Those so-called miracles—were they guided by invisible hands pulling the strings of fate?
And what about… myself?
The will I take pride in.
The dreams I believe in without doubt.
The strength I've fought so hard to obtain—
Have they already been infiltrated, influenced by some unknown will attached to chakra… without my knowing?
"…Am I still… myself?"
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