In a sense, casting Hikari Uchiha to play Madara Uchiha wasn't really "playing" a role.
Because in the original canon, Hikari had been designed almost as a gender-flipped version of Madara Uchiha, at least a lot of the time.
On top of that, she carried elements from Sasuke and various other Uchiha characters, practically a best-of compilation of everything "Uchiha."
And in the real world, though the girl beside Hanabi wasn't some "knockoff" or "counterfeit," she really did share a genuine resemblance with the originals she was based on.
Though it was also fair to say that practically every Uchiha worth naming shared a lot of traits in common anyway…
After Sasuke and "Madara Uchiha" had made contact, the scene shifted again—this time to Naruto.
At this point, Naruto was still talking with "Sasuke."
"Sasuke, do you think Hanabi'll see the note we left?"
"Mm."
"I've got a feeling we're gonna get chewed out by her later…"
"Mm."
"Wait! Naruto!" Kushina suddenly barked.
"Huh? What what?" Naruto looked bewildered. "Demon fox, don't just open your mouth out of nowhere—you'll scare me!"
"That Sasuke of yours—does he usually just parrot back whatever you say like that?"
Kushina was starting to despair at Naruto's obliviousness.
"Ah—"
Naruto turned to look at Sasuke behind him.
Sasuke was following along in Naruto's tracks, but after Kushina's warning, Naruto immediately picked up on the wrongness.
He stopped.
"What is it, Naruto." Sasuke stopped too.
Then Naruto rushed him.
But Naruto's body passed straight through Sasuke's.
"As expected, a genjutsu." Kushina muttered.
"Who are you—one of the enemies after the scroll?!" Naruto glared at the figure.
"Is that really how you ask a question, you idiot!"
Kushina was a lot like Naruto in personality, but far more experienced. Seeing Naruto like this left her speechless while also sparking unpleasant flashes of her own past.
Uh-oh, this is awkward…
"Heh heh heh heh." The illusion-Sasuke smiled and dissolved into shadow.
"Haha, leaf ninja!"
And at that moment, two Grass-nin surrounded Naruto from front and back. And the Karin he had been looking for was just behind them.
"Huh?"
He'd been planning to go find them, and instead they'd come to him.
After realizing Naruto was alone, the two Grass-nin were immediately swaggering with confidence, leering as they eyed him.
"Oi, hand over the scroll!"
"Too bad. I don't have a scroll." Naruto planted his hands on his hips.
"Hmph, in that case—your teammates will have to pay instead!"
The two came at him from front and back.
Against chumps of this caliber, Naruto didn't even bother with a Shadow Clone. One punch each, and both of them went flying.
"Listen, I just have something to take care of, you can keep the scroll…"
Naruto had barely started speaking when he realized the two weren't listening to him at all. Instead, they clutched their faces, yanked up the arm of the red-haired girl next to them, and bit down hard.
Both of their conditions noticeably bounced back up after that.
"Eh…?"
In the instant her arm was lifted, Naruto got a much clearer look at the girl's arm—covered in bite marks. It was worse than anything he had seen before.
"—No way?!"
So that was where the bite marks had come from?!
"Oi, what the hell are you two doing!" Naruto's eyes went wide. "Can't you see she can barely stand anymore?!"
"Shut up. A parasite like her getting to be useful to us at all is the greatest kindness she could hope for."
The two drew in chakra to replenish themselves, fully recovered, then closed in around Naruto again.
Meanwhile, the red-haired girl was standing in place, trembling, her arms wrapped around her head.
"You bastards—you absolute bastards!"
[Scum]
[Actual fucking scum]
[Stuff that should never have been born]
[Emerald sun dusks, dawn's sun rises]
[My fist just clenched by itself]
[Grass (a type of exclamation), Grass-nin really do deserve a beating]
[The three Grass-nin who died earlier were from the same village too—even the villains couldn't stand them]
[Grass-nin this low even the villains find them cheap]
[Naruto—use the Nine-Tails on them!]
It wasn't just Naruto. The danmaku was furious too.
As if in response to the audience, the Stage cut in at that moment with a flashback of Karin.
Karin had drifted to Hidden Grass Village with her mother when she was small. Her mother possessed healing ability—a single bite would let someone recover. As the condition of living in Hidden Grass, her mother had to participate in the village's medical work, but that arrangement was little more than soft detention. Karin's mother had been treated as a consumable, drained of chakra over and over until she wasted away and died.
And before Karin could even say goodbye to her mother, the village turned around and handed her off to the wounded for the same use. She had no power to resist. She couldn't even break bad.
Next to Karin's suffering, even what Gaara and Naruto had been through paled. At least those two could still live a relatively peaceful life, fed and clothed. And when the worst came, they could at least break bad and lash out.
Karin wasn't even dealing with cold treatment. She was dealing with pure, undisguised malice. She wasn't even treated like a useful tool—she was treated like disposable supply.
Exactly like the two Grass-nin in front of them.
They weren't even showing particularly strong malice toward her. Because a consumable that can be discarded at will… being treated this way was just the natural order, wasn't it?
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Naruto produced more than ten clones in one burst.
Already a power-boosted version of himself, Naruto was now striking in open rage. The scum couldn't even begin to resist. He laid into them and kept going until they were beaten senseless.
"Hey, uh." Naruto walked up to the girl. "What's your name?"
"Ka… Karin."
By the way, Karin's name can also be rendered with characters meaning "quince," whose flower language is "one love and only"—representing her love for Sasuke in the original. Which means the translator's drumstick is gone.
"Do you have a family name?" Naruto asked next.
"Eh?" Wasn't this person here for her team's scroll? Why was he asking that?
"Ah, um… so, there's this annoying person who said you're supposedly my relative. Uh, are you okay?"
Family. Naruto had technically experienced it before, but he had never actually met a real blood relative in person, so he was a little awkward.
"I, I don't know. I used to drift around Hidden Grass with my mother, but before that… I don't know."
Karin's eyes were full of confusion.
"Those two bastards are going too far…"
Her hands were covered in bite marks.
"If we leave her alone, she'll starve sooner or later. Those Grass-nin bastards!" Kushina was furious too.
She had finally found a clansman, and this was what she had found.
But right at that moment, Kushina suddenly sensed an unusual wave of chakra.
"Naruto, dodge! Something's coming!"
Naruto scooped up Karin and leapt aside. A violent wind-storm tore through the spot they had just been standing in, sending the two Grass-nin Naruto had knocked out flying.
There was no time for "meeting the family." The enemy that came next… was another Grass-nin!