Chapter 201: Healing Karin, a Bite Mark for a Souvenir
Uzuki Yūgao was instantly stressed. She knew Akiyama Makoto had been the one to take down the Chūnin. But now, how was she supposed to clean up this mess?
"Big Sister Yūgao, it's simple. Just show them Konoha's strength. They're just the Hidden Grass. Do we really need to reason with them?"
He condensed his spiritual power and used his Formless Wave to transmit his voice to her ear. If she couldn't do it, he would just have to do it himself.
Konoha's ninja had been at Hiruzen Sarutobi's side for too long. They no longer had any awareness that Konoha was the strongest hidden village. Of course, the people of Konoha knew that their village was currently strong on the outside but weak on the inside. But the more this was the case, the more they should be showing a strong front, shouldn't they? They had been extorted by the Cloud Village a few years ago. Were they going to be extorted by the Grass Village now?
Yūgao seemed to understand. She dropped the man's hand onto the ground. "You few, carry him back to your lodgings. Remember, you are only here to take the exams. You are not qualified to lay your hands on Konoha's civilians."
"Otherwise, even if you're not from Konoha, the Military Police Force will not show mercy."
The few Grass-nin quickly rushed over, helped up their leader, and were about to flee.
"And your packages."
He threw the packages from Karin's back one by one into their arms. This group of terrified genin didn't dare to say a word. They picked up their leader and the packages, and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Now Karin, who had been silent, became anxious. "Wait, I'm still here—"
She wanted to rush after her companions, but was held back by him.
She then looked at him with terror in her eyes. At first, she had been grateful to him, but after he had driven her companions away, she didn't know how to face him. The Grass-nin had indeed abused her, and had even bitten her mother to death. But at this time, she had nowhere else to go. Without this group, she had no idea how to survive. She naturally still saw them as her comrades.
This was the ninja world, not the peaceful and stable modern world. If a little girl walked alone in the wilderness, unprotected by a group, she would probably be dead in three to five days.
Faced with such a panicked Karin, he knew what to do.
He just had to smile.
That's right. He just had to show his face, which was even more handsome than Sasuke's, coupled with the affinity from his spiritual power and active life force, and it would be enough to move her.
"Don't panic. No matter where they are in Konoha, I will help you find them later."
He first made it clear that he had no intention of destroying her greatest support system. Then he said, "I just saw that you have a lot of wounds on your body. I happen to know a little medical ninjutsu. Let me help you treat them."
Karin was already immersed in his friendly smile, and a blush had appeared on her cheeks.
But then his words made her face turn pale. The thought of the bite marks all over her arms... an intense feeling of inferiority and humiliation welled up in her, making her want to shake off his hand and run away.
But how could she possibly escape his grip? She could only let him drag her towards his home.
"Makoto... kun."
Yūgao couldn't watch this anymore. "Let her go. She's very reluctant."
"No, Big Sister Yūgao, you're mistaken. She's very willing, isn't she?"
His fingers moved slightly, and a trace of life force was injected into Karin's body.
Her body, which had always been the human "milk bag," trembled. She felt a warmth, like a mother's embrace, fill her entire body. The wounds on her arms began to itch, as if they were already healing.
She looked at him in shock. He put a finger to his lips in a "shushing" gesture.
This made her heart tremble, and a guess she didn't dare to say out loud formed in her mind. She stopped struggling. She looked at Yūgao's questioning gaze and nodded.
Yūgao was speechless. He really was popular with girls!
For some reason, a ripple was stirred in her long-stagnant heart. It was probably because the Chūnin Exams were imminent, and the unease in her heart was growing stronger. She could no longer pretend that the dream didn't exist.
"Fine. You can take her away. But if the Grass ninja ask, I will tell them your address. Is that acceptable?"
"No problem."
Since he had said so, she couldn't say much more. She decided to report this matter to the Third Hokage.
After she completed her report, she quickly received his instructions: continue to protect him, and don't worry too much about these "small matters."
Seeing this reply, a rare trace of anger rose in her heart.
If these are small matters, then what counts as a big one? The upcoming Konoha Crush, does that count as a big one?
But she still had no intention of reporting her memories, because she had no proof. She decided to find a chance to have a showdown with him and then decide what to do.
On the other side, Makoto had already brought Karin back to his home.
He had her sit down. "Can I see your arms?"
Karin bit her lip, her face full of hesitation. Finally, he said, "I can close my eyes. I can still treat you that way."
Only then did she relax a little and nod.
He then closed his eyes and rolled up her sleeves.
Under the infusion of his life force, the bite marks on her body had already faded a lot, but they were still there. Some had even become scars. To remove them, he would have to use medical ninjutsu to first break them down and then heal her skin anew.
Normally, a few scars wouldn't matter to a ninja. No medical-nin would go to the trouble of using the Mystical Palm Technique for a few scars, let alone having to guide the regrown cells to not form new scar tissue. The difficulty was almost on par with the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique.
But Karin's body had an extremely strong recovery ability, he had life force he could draw upon, and his Mystical Palm Technique was, in itself, equivalent to the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique.
Therefore, he easily completed the scar removal work. The process was a bit painful, but she bit her lip and didn't say a word.
When he opened his eyes, she was already looking at her arms with shining eyes. Not only were there no scars, but her skin had also become as fair as Ino's.
Now, when she looked at his smile, she no longer had a single trace of resistance. She blushed and said a shy "thank you."
This Karin made him feel a little unaccustomed. Where was the girl who was as boisterous as Sakura, who would even punch you if she disagreed?
Indeed, it must be because I saved her early.
The current Karin had no chance to follow Orochimaru. Although she would still be doing cloning research and the like with him in the future, he wouldn't treat her as a consumable, but as a wife.
"Is a 'thank you' all?"
"You know, I just used my life force to make you recover so quickly."
He put on a straight face, and even made his own face turn pale.
Karin panicked, wondering what she could do. Finally, she held out her arm. "Then... then you can bite me to recover your strength!"
He frowned. "I just healed you. If I bite you again now, wouldn't that be a waste?"
"No, that's different!" she quickly explained. "You healed all my wounds and scars. If you just leave one mark, it won't hurt, and I won't blame you. I'll just... I'll just keep the scar as a memento."
She lowered her head, nervously fidgeting with her fingers.
She felt that she had to leave in a little while. When she returned, she would be abused by the Grass-nin again. But she would remember everything about today. This boy in front of her was the most unforgettable person in her life.
He saw her anxiety, but he wasn't in a hurry to persuade her. "Alright then—it's just that, I don't want to bite a place where others have already bitten."
"Ah!"
She froze, then looked at her body. "They've only ever bitten my arms! I've only just recently started this job."
"You can bite me somewhere else—"
She looked at her thigh... that was an inconvenient place.
Then she looked at her calf and her foot... it seemed a little impolite to make him bite there.
After thinking it over, she pointed to her shoulder. "You... you can bite me here! Don't worry, the effect is the same no matter where you bite."
"Then I'm biting?"
"Mm!"
He lowered his head. Feeling his breath get closer and closer, her face slowly flushed red.
She closed her eyes, pulling aside the collar of her clothes, and waited for the moment his teeth would bite into her collarbone.
That would probably be a feeling she would never forget for the rest of her life.
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