"It hurts so much!!!"
When Karin regained consciousness, what she saw was the ceiling of the Konoha Hospital.
As one of the heroes who prevented the destruction of Konoha Village, even without Naruto's specific arrangements, Karin was entitled to a single private room in the special care unit.
And precisely because of this, her cries of pain didn't disturb anyone else.
"Karin-nee! You're awake!"
Suddenly, Boruto's voice sounded beside Karin, barely interrupting her writhing due to the excruciating pain coursing through every limb and bone.
"Ah... Huh? Ah! It's Boruto… Where am I?"
Karin's memory was still stuck at the moment she transformed into the divine bird and released the tornado.
From that point on, she had basically lost consciousness.
As she spoke these words, she felt as if her throat had been scraped by razor blades.
Not only that, besides the pain all over her body, the even more critical feeling was the empty weakness inside her.
The one or two wriggles she managed due to the pain stimulus seemed to have exhausted the remaining stamina in her body.
At this moment, Karin only felt her head starting to spin again.
Even with the pain stimulus, she couldn't stop herself from wanting to fall asleep.
"Ah! Karin-nee, don't fall asleep yet! I'll go get someone!"
Boruto seemed to be caring for someone for the first time, flustered for a moment. He both called for doctors and nurses and started contacting his father.
...
After a period of commotion and another half a day passing, Karin finally barely regained the ability to move freely.
According to Naruto and Sasuke, who arrived at the hospital later, Karin had been unconscious for three days, from the previous battle until today.
During these three days, they watched as Karin's figure visibly became emaciated.
If not for the forced healing of Yang Release, Karin might have been unable to wake up due to excessive weakness during these three days.
It was a pity that since defeating Kaguya, the Yang Release Power within Naruto had weakened year by year over time. By now, it could no longer compare to the level during the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Otherwise, Karin would probably already be full of vigor by now.
"Wow... Really..."
Inside the bathroom of the hospital's special care room, Karin took off her now ill-fitting glasses and looked at her reflection clearly mirrored in the glass, unable to help but click her tongue.
Although her arms couldn't return to their original state yet, they could at least move normally now.
She gently brushed her hair to one side.
Her once bright red, fiery hair had now turned completely white.
This was the price of forcibly overexerting herself to enter the Awakened State of her Devil Fruit.
If Karin weren't a member of the Uzumaki Clan with their innate strong vitality, the outcome might not have been as simple as just turning white-haired.
Besides the drain on stamina and vitality, Karin now couldn't fully control her Awakened body in terms of mental willpower.
Karin remembered that after awakening, she could only barely use some simple abilities.
It was as if… she wasn't qualified yet to wield this power, and the fruit itself 'rejected' her.
Although the moves she executed were immensely powerful, their precision was still lacking.
Karin didn't realize how lucky she actually was.
In the world of One Piece, Zoan-type Devil Fruits were relatively easier to awaken compared to the other two major categories.
But this was only 'relative'.
Zoan users who could awaken were still one in ten thousand, extremely rare.
Those who didn't awaken were one thing, while the truly unlucky ones were those who lacked sufficient ability but forcibly awakened anyway.
Typical examples were the Jailer Beasts of Impel Down.
Their wills were directly taken over by the 'beastly nature' within the Devil Fruit, turning them into genuine wild beasts, unable to ever revert from their 'failed' awakened state.
In the previous battle, the will of the Garuda wasn't as vicious and mindless as those of lowly beasts.
This kind of Mythical Zoan, closer to a deity, seemed to carry a bit of divinity with it.
From this perspective, Karin's luck couldn't simply be described as 'very good'.
It was as if the world itself was subtly helping her.
'But this hair...'
Karin pouted, blowing upwards at her snow-white strands.
'It's not that it's ugly... it's not really ugly, but I wonder if Naruto-san will dislike it when he sees it...'
Thinking this, Karin spent a long time in the bathroom, finally changing out of the patient gown and putting her own equipment back on.
Pushing the door open and walking out, she found Sasuke and his daughter Sarada, Naruto and his family of four, and an unexpected guest already waiting in the hospital room.
The group made the originally quite spacious room feel crowded.
Karin's gaze swept over the group, then met the eyes of the unexpected guest.
One of them was tall and curvaceous, while the other had an underdeveloped figure, still looking like a young girl even at thirty-two years old.
Their faces, which might have been somewhat similar originally, now showed differences under the contrast of the white hair.
Yes, this unexpected guest was the adult version of Karin, called over by Sasuke and the others.
To distinguish them, we'll call her Red-Haired Karin.
"You really are identical-"
Red-Haired Karin looked at the white-haired version of herself, stroking her chin.
Her gaze lingered on White-Haired Karin's chest for a long time, seemingly curious about why her other-world self had developed so well.
According to Naruto, this other-world version of herself was only in her teens.
Recalling herself at that age...
'Tch!'
"Hey, don't look at me with that kind of expression!"
White-Haired Karin pushed away the Red-Haired Karin who was almost leaning on her, seeming somewhat uncomfortable with such close contact.
She turned to Sasuke and asked.
"What? Do you still not believe what I said?"
"No, it just came up in conversation, so she took the initiative to come and see for herself."
Sasuke was also quite helpless regarding Red-Haired Karin.
Sarada's gaze shifted back and forth between the two Aunt Karins, oh, one was a sister, seeming to start doubting her own origins again.
"Hey, don't talk to Sasuke like that."
Red-Haired Karin felt displeased seeing her younger self's impolite attitude towards Sasuke.
Although she had deliberately maintained distance from Sasuke after his marriage, the adoration from her ignorant youth was still buried deep in her thirty-two-year-old young girl's heart.
This was also one of the reasons she had never married.
"Eww- Don't use that tone of voice."
White-Haired Karin could hear the hidden admiration in the other's tone.
She was all too familiar with that feeling.
That's how she felt about Naruto.
'But… the object of that feeling couldn't be that arrogant bastard Sasuke, could it?!'
The two, walking on different world lines, couldn't empathize with each other and nearly started a fight on the spot.
Fortunately, Naruto stepped in at that moment to smooth things over.
Of course, if a fight really broke out, Red-Haired Karin would most likely get thoroughly beaten up.
"Karin-"
"Huh?" x2
Both Karins turned their heads simultaneously.
"Ah, I was calling this... this white-haired Karin."
"Are you really planning to leave now?"
Hearing this, Karin's expression turned serious as she spoke earnestly.
"That's right, the sooner the better."
"Although the Ryumyaku has been completely sealed, I can't just wait around idly."
"Maybe there are other similar things in the Ninja World that can help me travel between worlds?"
"Or perhaps I can break the seal on my own."
As Karin said this, her eyes shone with a confidence and pride that the Karin of this world had never seen in herself.
"My comrades are waiting for me. Maybe they need my power right now."
"I can't keep them waiting too long!"
Hearing such an answer, no one present could voice a refusal and could only wish her good luck.
The group saw Karin off to the village entrance in a grand procession. During this, Boruto even secretly slipped some Scientific Ninja Tools into Karin's hand.
Because Karin had shown curiosity about these things before, Boruto catered to her interest, using his allowance to buy another batch from Katasuke.
"Thank you, Boruto! You need to grow up quickly too!"
Karin smiled and patted Boruto's head, while a suspicious blush spread across Boruto's face.
Fortunately, Karin didn't seem to be observing him intently. She turned around, bid farewell to the others of this world, and prepared to leave.
It was at this moment that another familiar voice sounded again.
"Karin... nee?"
Hearing this voice, Karin almost instinctively turned around. What met her eyes, however, wasn't the familiar little figure.
A black-haired girl, about eleven or twelve years old, wearing a short robe and a bamboo hat, was looking at Karin with a surprised expression.
And Karin's surprise was no less than hers.
"Kousei!!????"