"It's somewhat like the legendary Garuda, isn't it?"
Garuda, also called the Golden-winged Bird, was what was most commonly referred to as the Golden-winged Great Roc.
The original form of that legendary creature among the three demon kings of Lion-Camel Ridge who claimed to be Buddha's uncle was this magnificent being.
In certain mythological traditions, Garuda originated from Buddhism's "Eight Legions of Devas and Nagas," with legends describing its ability to devour dragons.
Whether in the pirate world or the ninja world, there were actually Buddhist elements present throughout both cultures.
Consider Fleet Admiral Sengoku's fruit ability, as well as the monk Chiriku, who died at the hands of the Hidan duo in the original timeline.
Therefore, it wasn't strange for the well-traveled Jiraiya-sensei to deduce the true identity of this fruit from Karin's current transformed appearance.
Compared to Jiraiya, who was attempting to find commonalities between the giant bird and ancient legend, Naruto's reaction was much more straightforward.
"So cool!"
His eyes were practically sparkling with stars of admiration.
Honestly, there weren't many things that Naruto found genuinely cool anymore.
He used to think being Hokage was cool, but after experiencing so much, that "filter" for the position had been completely removed.
Later, he had thought the protagonist and combat suits of the evil organization Germa 66 from the North Blue manga "Sora, Warrior of the Sea," serialized in the World Economic News, were impressive.
And today, Naruto thought the golden-glowing giant bird that Karin had become was absolutely magnificent.
Huh? Garuda? Whatever it was called didn't particularly matter to him.
"Hey! Karin!" Naruto seemed to find standing on the ground and watching her insufficient, so he simply stepped into the air and flew directly in front of her transformed form.
"So cool!" He let out another heartfelt exclamation, looking nothing like a middle-aged man who had already lived thirty-seven years.
It could only be said that staying in the pirate world for so long wasn't without benefits. At least Naruto had maintained a genuinely childlike heart.
Being observed by Naruto with such intense admiration, plus being inexperienced with her first transformation, Karin immediately fell into panic.
That bird face, which had already lost human contours, somehow managed to display an embarrassed expression.
Truly a biological miracle.
This wasn't specifically referring to the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, who became expressionless after transforming into an immortal phoenix.
"Naruto-san..." Karin instinctively spoke, but her voice transformed into a terrifying sound wave after leaving her beak.
The sound wave was substantial, directly knocking Naruto flying backward through the air.
If not for his "Naruto moment," Observation Haki suddenly activating, he might have genuinely been caught off guard by this surprise attack.
Karin herself was also startled by this unexpected result, almost continuing to speak in panicked inquiry. Fortunately, Naruto, who had been knocked back dozens of meters through the air, flew back in time and made a "shush" gesture with his finger.
"Karin, don't be afraid."
Since his body was thick-skinned and resilient, Naruto showed no visible injuries. He instead focused on comforting her.
"This should be one of your natural abilities. You can learn to control it."
Indeed, after calming down, Karin felt a special sensation in her throat. It seemed like she could activate a certain switch with just a focused thought.
"This way, it's fine!" This sentence carried the same clear, ethereal voice but no longer caused devastating sound wave attacks.
"Really amazing, Karin." Naruto didn't mind the earlier incident at all and instead approached, gently stroking the golden feathers covering the Garuda's body.
Those feathers were flexible at their roots but hard and razor-sharp at their edges. Even with Naruto's current enhanced physical strength, his fingers would be cut if he didn't use any special power reinforcement.
But he paid no attention to the rapidly healing wounds on his fingertips and continued looking at Karin with glowing eyes of fascination.
"Karin, do you have any other special abilities you can sense?"
This question snapped Karin out of her near-embarrassment from Naruto's gentle touch.
She carefully examined her body's various new instincts, then said to Naruto with growing confidence:
"Naruto-san, please move away a little bit."
Who would have thought Naruto would display Rock Lee's signature enthusiastic smile and give an encouraging thumbs up?
"No problem, come right at me!"
"But..." Karin still hesitated, clearly concerned about potentially hurting him.
"What? Doesn't Karin trust me?" Naruto asked with mock hurt.
"Besides, if I can't confirm you're strong enough, I won't be able to take you along on the mission."
With things stated so directly, Karin couldn't refuse his logic.
"Then Naruto-san, please be very careful."
After speaking, she suddenly flapped her massive wings to create distance, then beat them powerfully in coordinated motion.
In an instant, fierce winds mixed with hardened feathers shot rapidly toward Naruto like golden projectiles.
"Iron Body!"
The principle of Iron Body from the Six Powers was to enhance muscle density by accelerating blood flow, giving the body steel-level defensive capability.
Its essence was purely advanced physical martial arts.
Although he didn't know which well-meaning person had spread the rumor that "using Iron Body guarantees defeat," for Naruto, Iron Body definitely possessed extremely strong defensive properties.
Combined with his already considerable Armament Haki coating, even if Orochimaru personally wielded the legendary Kusanagi sword, he probably couldn't pierce through such protection.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Golden feathers formed a glittering torrent, almost instantly engulfing Naruto's form in their brilliant assault.
After using this technique, Karin was also afraid of seriously injuring Naruto and didn't continue the attack.
But seeing that Naruto's figure hadn't stopped using Moon Walk and fallen to the ground, this bombardment obviously hadn't threatened his safety.
"Phew... quite a nice attack!" After the feather storm passed, Naruto's form reappeared with an impressed grin.
From his torn sleeves and the small healing cuts visible on his skin, the relentless feather barrage had obviously been effective against lesser defenses.
Karin saw this evidence and immediately folded her wings to descend, absolutely refusing to continue attacking Naruto under any circumstances.
Seeing her concern, Naruto didn't insist on further testing.
Steel feathers, hurricane winds, high-speed aerial movement, and devastating sonic attacks.
Just the four abilities Karin had demonstrated were completely sufficient for effective self-protection in dangerous situations.
Now Jiraiya had no reasonable objections to bringing Karin along to the Land of Rain.
After all, Karin's attack just moments ago would have injured him as well. If he wasn't permitted to use Sage Mode enhancement, he honestly might not be a match for this transformed young girl.
Were Devil Fruit abilities truly this dramatically powerful?
Thinking this, Jiraiya looked down at the Ink-Ink Fruit still resting in his palm with new respect.
Meanwhile, Karin, who had successfully landed again, graciously accepted the admiring gazes from the residents of the newborn Uzushio Village.
These people weren't like residents of certain prejudiced villages. Having experienced cruel fates themselves, they knew who to thank for their salvation and wouldn't easily treat capable people as dangerous monsters.
"Naruto-san... how do I change back to human form?!" The Golden-winged Great Roc let out a somewhat helpless little girl's voice, creating quite an amusing contrast.
"Don't rush it. Just relax and try to control your body naturally."
Generally speaking, Zoan Devil Fruit users should be able to easily master basic animal transformation instincts from the very start.
But some younger users couldn't control the transitions well initially.
Just as Karin was about to follow Naruto's guidance and calm herself down, she heard him suddenly shout:
"Wait! Don't change back just yet."
Suddenly, an interesting thought appeared in Naruto's mind.
Then, under Jiraiya-sensei's somewhat shocked and puzzled gaze, he pulled out a summoning scroll from his equipment pouch.