"To forcibly implant two high-order energies—completely opposite in nature yet sharing the same origin—into rival 'vessels' and observe rejection, fusion, mutation, and the erosion or reshaping of the host's ego…"
Orochimaru's golden eyes gleamed.
"Karin, as expected of you. You always bring me delightful surprises."
He was praising her purely from a researcher's perspective.
"Hehe~ Of course!" Karin puffed out her chest proudly, chin raised high. "It's not like I only know how to fight! I just don't like thinking too much!"
Standing silently nearby, Kabuto watched Orochimaru's pleased expression, then glanced at Karin's smug face.
His lips twitched violently.
"She's not conducting some rigorous 'experiment' at all…" Kabuto ranted inwardly. "She just thinks stuffing the sun into an ice cave and throwing ice into a furnace sounds fun. This is playground logic!"
But wisely, he kept that to himself.
Orochimaru, meanwhile, continued in an encouraging tone.
"This spirit of exploration is admirable. Keep it up, Karin. I'm sure you'll continue to do things that astonish me."
Karin nodded repeatedly. "Orochimaru, you've performed well today. I'm pleased!"
Watching the two interact, Kabuto's eye twitched again.
"As expected of Orochimaru-sama… In the art of encouraging unruly children… I, Yakushi Kabuto, acknowledge you as the strongest."
The Sky Curtain continued.
Before long—
Another change occurred.
On the ground, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha—who had been unconscious the entire time—both trembled slightly.
Their eyelashes fluttered.
Slowly, their eyes opened.
The fog of awakening was instantly replaced by throbbing pain, spiritual exhaustion, and fragmented memories.
They instinctively tried to push themselves up, attempting to orient themselves.
Then—
As their vision focused—
The first thing they saw was not allies.
Not enemies.
Not ruins.
But a face.
Very close.
Smiling brightly.
Red eyes studying them with undisguised interest.
Karin.
"Yo~ You're awake?" she greeted cheerfully, as if talking to old friends. "Sleep well, Little Sun? Little Ice Cube?"
Naruto: "...?"
Sasuke: "...?"
The two boys, still mentally scrambled, stared at the woman who had nearly killed them not long ago—now smiling warmly.
Their minds stalled completely.
"Why aren't you talking? Head hurt? Want me to rub it better?" Karin leaned closer.
That was enough.
Naruto and Sasuke sprang backward on pure instinct, muscles tensing, chakra surging reflexively as they created distance.
"Karin?! What are you planning?!" Naruto demanded, clutching his aching head.
His memories were blurry—he remembered being controlled, then darkness.
Sasuke said nothing.
But his Sharingan had already activated, locking onto Karin with cold intensity.
He remembered more.
Especially the ancient will within him being forcibly stirred.
Facing their hostility, Karin didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she stepped back, crossed her arms, and tilted her head.
Her crimson eyes scanned them like a diagnostic device.
Seconds passed.
"Hm. Doesn't look like anything obvious changed," she muttered with mild disappointment. "There's no way there's zero effect… Maybe it's just too soon?"
She nodded to herself.
"Doesn't matter. The influence must be there—maybe deeper, maybe latent. I'll observe you over time."
Then, without waiting for further questions, she gave a wildly simplified and heavily personalized summary of events.
According to her—
She had kindly "checked" their bodies.
That exposed two ancient "old ghosts" named Asura and Indra.
They were strong—but not as strong as her.
They tried to seal her and failed.
She nearly wiped them out.
But at the last second, some coward who wouldn't show his face used weird spatial tricks to rescue them.
Now she was interested in that coward and planned to catch him.
She left out:
Abyssal aura.
The chakra system critique.
"Ingredients."
Six Paths: Planetary Devastation.
All omitted.
Sasuke listened in silence.
Her explanation was chaotic, self-centered, and missing critical context.
But combining it with his fragmented memory, he could reconstruct the outline.
The "old ghosts" were clearly the ancient wills within them.
And there was indeed another being intervening.
He maintained outward calm—
But his thoughts churned violently.
Naruto, meanwhile, stood frozen.
His expression slowly went blank.
He looked like someone whose worldview had been shattered, reassembled incorrectly, then shattered again.
Asura inside him.
Brother of Indra inside Sasuke.
They fought Karin.
Almost died.
Rescued by a mysterious being.
Karin wants to catch that being.
The information load was catastrophic.
Naruto's mental CPU had officially overheated.
Finally, Sasuke spoke.
He was the first to claw his way through the confusion.
"So," he said coldly, eyes fixed on Karin, "aside from those two ancient beings… there's someone else watching us. Or rather… watching the things inside us."
His tone was sharp.
Controlled.
But edged with unmistakable danger.
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