Kaito Akaden (Kaito)

Kaito Chapter 107

Hotaru and Itachi sat waiting for Kaito near the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Grass. They had reconvened at 12 o'clock after scouring for any leads on the bandit group. However, they had been waiting for over an hour for Kaito to return.

Hotaru deactivated her Byakugan and sighed, "No sign of Kai-kun." She shook her head and turned to Itachi, "Do you think something might have happened?"

Itachi prodded the fire with a stick before responding, "It's possible that Kaito got sidetracked by something. We'll give him a few more hours before we go searching."

Agreeing with Itachi's plan, Hotaru nodded and both of them continued to wait anxiously for their missing teammate.

Twenty minutes later, Kaito landed gracefully beside them with a sleeping Karin still on his back. His expression was serious as he spoke, "Sorry I'm late, guys."

…..

Hotaru and Itachi looked at each other with questioning expressions as they watched Kaito carry the sleeping kid toward his tent. Hotaru followed after him and asked, "Who is she, Kai-kun?"

Kaito sighed and replied, "Just a minute, Hotaru-chan." He carefully tucked Karin into his tent before standing up to address them.

Creating a shadow clone to watch over the sleeping Karin, Kaito gestured for both of them to follow him further away from the camp.

Running a hand through his hair, Kaito began to explain, "Her name is Karin. Uzumaki Karin."

The two of them couldn't help but widen their eyes in surprise at her last name.

Kaito nodded and continued, "When I was collecting intel, I overheard two Kusa shinobi talking about a red-haired woman being used by Kusa to heal their injured shinobi."

Itachi's eyes narrowed in understanding as he realized what Kaito had done. "You infiltrated the Hidden Grass Village," he stated gravely.

Kaito's voice grew sharp as he snapped, "What, did you want me to just leave her there? To let her suffer the same fate as her mother. Karin and her mother possessed the same kekkei genkai as me. When we are bitten, our chakra can heal the person biting."

Showing Itachi the bite mark on his wrist. "Do you know what they did to her? They used her to heal hundreds of shinobi every single day until her body could take no more. Her skin was covered in bite marks, not a single inch left untouched. She was nothing but a healing cow to them." His voice shook with emotion as he continued, "They killed her and then moved on to her daughter. Karin is barely five years old, and they were forcing her to heal their shinobi... If only I had reached them a few hours earlier. Her mother might still be alive..." Tears welled up in Kaito's eyes before he closed them tightly, trying to contain his emotions. The image of Karin's mother, covered in bite marks and treated like an animal, haunted him.

 Hotaru walked over and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, saying softly, "You can't blame yourself, Kai-kun. You couldn't have known." But Kaito turned away, thinking bitterly, "If only you knew..."

After Kaito's outburst, They stood there in silence for a while. Kaito's shoulders slumped as he let out a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry for shouting at you, Itachi," he said, as ran a hand through his hair.

Itachi nodded, his expression softening. "I wasn't against you saving her. I was just surprised you were able to infiltrate a hidden village," he explained. "You know what could have happened if you were caught. The village could have branded you a rogue shinobi or even sparked another great ninja war."

Kaito nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation. "I know. That's why I used my stealth seal and wore a disguise when I infiltrated. I made sure to eliminate anyone who saw me and covered my tracks. But I think it would be best if no one knows about me infiltrating kusa, not even the Hokage."

Itachi nodded in agreement. "Hai, we should keep you infiltrating kusa a secret. If you cover your tracks well, kusa won't suspect a thing."

Hotaru chimed in with her own suggestion, "And we can say that we found Karin-chan in the bandit camp as prisoners or something."

Kaito nodded in approval. "Hai, I was actually thinking of a similar cover story for Karin. Speaking of the bandits, did you two manage to locate their hideout?"

 Itachi nodded. "Hai, one of my crows found the camp roughly 20 kilometers west from here." He crouched down and traced a rough map of the bandit camp on the ground with his kunai. "They are quite a big group, and as we suspected, they are being led by rogue shinobi."

Kaito and Hotaru leaned in closer, as Hotaru asked, "How many shinobi?"

Kaito glanced between Itachi and Hotaru. "Are you both up for this, or do we need to rest first? We can finish this by dawn if we push through."

Hotaru and Itachi nodded. Itachi pointed to the map and said, "Hai, I was thinking the same. We can catch them off guard if we use the night as cover."

As Itachi went into detail about the layout of the bandit camp, Kaito listened intently before giving a confirming nod. "Yeah, if everything goes according to plan, we can return home by noon."

Hotaru asked. "What about Karin-chan"?" looking over at the sleeping Karin.

Kaito replied calmly, "We can leave her here with one of my shadow clones to watch over her. She should be safe here, and if everything goes to plan, we will be back before she wakes up."

Itachi stood up and said, "Hai, then we should get going."

Everyone nodded and left, with Itachi leading the way, leaving Karin in the camp with Kaito's shadow clone to watch over her.

….

As the sun rose in the morning sky, its golden rays spilled over the dense forest of the Land of Fire. Team 11 sat around a campfire, cooking breakfast after their successful raid last night. They had managed to recover the stolen heirloom and all the goods that were taken from the caravan.

The raid had gone according to plan, thanks to Kaito's stealth seal which allowed them to sneak into the bandit camp undetected. With swift and precise strikes, they took down every bandit, catching them off guard and leaving no room for escape.

the leader of the bandits was a jonin from the Hidden Waterfall Village, accompanied by two chunin as his subordinates. Despite waking up when Kaito attempted to assassinate him, the jonin was easily taken down by Kaito's using his chakra chains to pierce through his chest and killed him instantly.

With their mission completed, Team 11 returned to their camp, after sealing all their recovered items into a storage scroll for easy transport.

Kaito, Hotaru, and Itachi were now seated around a small fire, cooking breakfast. Kaito glanced towards the tent where Karin was still sleeping, ensuring the shadow clone he had left to watch over her was still in place.

Hotaru turned to Kaito and asked, "How is she doing?"

Kaito nodded, "She's still asleep. I think it's best to let her rest a bit more before we move out."

Itachi added, "We should be able to reach the village by noon if we leave soon."

Kaito agreed, "Yeah, once we've had breakfast and packed up, we'll head out."

Kaito sat on a log in deep thought after refilling everyone's water bottles from the nearby river. Itachi sat opposite him, tending to the firewood, while Hotaru was in charge of cooking. She stirred the pot of porridge and ladled a bowl to Itachi. "Here you go, Itachi."

"Thank you," Itachi replied, accepting the bowl.

Just then, Karin woke up screaming, "Mom!" She frantically looked around, clutching her sleeping bag and calling out for her mother.

Karin's scream brought Kaito back to the present. He looked over at her and walked to her side. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked gently.

Karin, seeing Kaito, understood that it wasn't just a dream but had actually happened last night. She cried but nodded to Kaito. "Hai, I'm fine," she sniffed.

Seeing her crying, Kaito sighed and patted her on the head. "You are safe now, Karin." Karin sniffed and nodded, wiping her tears away. She asked, still looking at the ground

Just then, Hotaru approached with a steaming bowl of porridge. With a warm smile, she handed it to Karin and said, "Here you go, Karin-chan." Karin looked up at Hotaru and then glanced at the porridge.

Kaito beamed proudly and introduced, "Ah, this is one of my dearest friends, Hotaru Hyuga." He wrapped an arm around Hotaru before gesturing towards another figure. "And that's my other best friend, Itachi Uchiha." Itachi waved at Karin and she returned the gesture.

Accepting the bowl gratefully, Karin muttered, "Thank you."

Hotaru nodded and added, "You can have more if you'd like," before excusing herself to get Kaito his own bowl.

Gesturing for Karin to follow them, Kaito led the way back to their campfire where they settled down on some logs. Hotaru served Kaito his bowl before getting one for herself.

Between bites of porridge, Karin finally mustered the courage to ask, "What's going to happen to me now?" Her voice was timid and uncertain.

Finishing his own porridge, Kaito replied with a reassuring tone. "Well, like I said, we are from the same clan, so you will be coming with us to the Hidden Leaf. You'll stay with me. It's just me, my mom, and my little brother. He's the same age as you, you know, and Mom would be really happy to see another Uzumaki," he said, attempting to lift Karin's spirits.

Seeing the fear and hesitation in Karin's eyes at the mention of the Hidden Leaf Village, Kaito added with a warm smile, "Don't worry, Karin-chan. Big brother Kaito won't let anything bad happen to you." His words seemed to comfort Karin and she nodded in response, a small smile forming on her face in return for Kaito's genuine kindness.

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