Kapitel 71: A Woman's Troubles

"You called for me, onee-sama?"

Startled, Sakura spun on the spot, coming face to face with Karin. She really hadn't been expecting anyone to sneak up on her while hiding on her apartment's roof, of all places…

'Hang on,' said Inner Sakura in a trembling voice. 'Is she stalking us!? Scary…'

"You're looking… healthier," said Sakura, forcing a smile. "If you're still here, Karin, then is the Hidden Grass's delegation staying to watch the third exam?"

It had only been a day, and already Karin's once-hollow cheeks had filled out a little, and her face regained some colour. The Uzumaki physique could perform miracles like pulling nutrients out of thin air and violating the law of conservation of mass, so if her body had already got to work revitalizing itself, then Karin must have been eating well.

"Actually, I'm now a shinobi from the Leaf— just like you, onee-sama," explained Karin, adjusting her glasses. "Apparently, I'm worth one case of explosive tags to the Hidden Grass."

The Hidden Grass was in a fairly similar position as the Hidden Rain; their homelands were stuck in between major powers, so they really couldn't afford to offend any of them— their continued existence was only due to their usefulness as buffer states.

Just by virtue of existing in between major powers, buffer states limited the number of skirmishes between powerhouses that could lead to war— and in case war ended up erupting anyway, then their lands could be safely used as battlegrounds to avoid any damage to the major powers' homelands!

So, when an absolute behemoth such as the Hidden Leaf asked you nicely for something… You gave it to them, and you said: Thank you, Hokage-sama, may I have another!

In any case, Karin's transfer to the Hidden Leaf had gone pretty smoothly; she had never been told anything worth knowing by the higher-ups from her village, so there had been no need to brand her with any cursed seals upon her departure. Furthermore, she couldn't have betrayed Kusa's location even if she had wanted to; everyone already knew where the Hidden Grass village was located, since it wasn't very well hidden.

'Wow, just one case? Those Grass guys got proper scammed,' Inner Sakura commented. 'They could have had an infinite amount of Uzumaki shinobi if they hadn't killed the goose that lays golden eggs…'

"By the way, Karin," said Sakura nonchalantly. "You're an excellent sensor, am I right? You could tell the real Naruto apart from his Shadow Clones— not even I could do something like that, you know?"

"I'm sure you're just being modest, onee-sama," said Karin bashfully. "My Mind's Eye of the Kagura Jutsu can only cover 10 kilometres… for now."

That was a far greater sensing range than the average Byakugan's. Would there come a day when Sakura would lose all semblance of privacy to Karin!?

"How many ANBU are tailing you right now?" Sakura asked casually.

Even if Karin was an Uzumaki, she was still an outsider, so the village's higher-ups weren't about to let her roam around freely without surveillance. For all they knew, she could still be a spy!

"Just the one," said Karin cheerfully.

'Budget cuts, huh?' Inner Sakura commented.

"Could I ask you for a favour?" said Sakura pleadingly; bending forward slightly and clasping her hands together, before winking at Karin. "I'm looking for the brown-haired girl who was screaming in the streets just now— do you think you could find her for me?"

Usually, flashing a bit of cleavage at the owner of the Dango Shop would be enough to get Sakura an extra serving of tricolour dango on her order, but it looked like such an approach wouldn't work on Karin…

"Why would you want an ugly girl like her when you've got me, onee-sama?" Karin said, her tone suddenly growing frosty.

'Scary…' said Inner Sakura, shivering. 'So, on top of being a tsundere, she's also a yandere!?'

…

Come to think of it, didn't Anko love sweets, especially dango?

Ever since she had transmigrated into a girl's body, Sakura had developed quite the sweet tooth. If she didn't want to become like future Anko, then she had better watch her calories…

'Women gain weight really easily,' said Inner Sakura, nodding to herself wisely. 'No more than one— no, two— sticks of three-colour dango per day…'

…

Luckily for her, Sakura knew that Karin was weak to pressure. So, after getting up in her personal space and pinning her against a wall kabedon-style, Karin finally cracked like an egg.

According to her, Yakumo had been taken to the Leaf's outskirts, in the southernmost part of the village. Farther than that was outside of Karin's sensing range, but Sakura was confident that she'd be able to pick up Yakumo's trail from there. It was easier to track people in the forest than in the bustling village, after all.

"Thanks, Karin!" Sakura shouted as she jumped off the roof. "Don't forget to tell Kurenai that Asuma's party will be starting one hour early for me, okay? And if anyone asks why you're there, tell them you're with me!"

Since Karin was infatuated with her, Sakura obviously couldn't let her tag along to see Yakumo; not if Sakura was going to be groping the brown-haired girl's boobs. To avoid any misunderstandings, Sakura had asked Karin to pass on Asuma's message to Kurenai in her stead and invited her to join in on the fun at Yakiniku Q's, which was in the opposite direction of where Karin had last sensed Yakumo's chakra.

And so, Sakura jumped from rooftop to rooftop until she reached the forest bordering the Leaf Village; to the spot that Karin had pointed out to her. As luck would have it, Sakura quickly found three sets of bootprints in dried up mud, which led her to a well-worn path— Yakumo's security detail hadn't bothered to use anti-tracking methods to hide their trail.

"Transformation Jutsu! Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Just in case there were surveillance cameras or guards on patrol, Sakura took on the appearance of a generic ANBU member and produced a Shadow Clone, which she promptly sent out to scout. But only a few minutes later, memories flooded into Sakura's head— the Shadow Clone had taken the initiative to disperse herself.

"No good, huh," Sakura muttered to herself. "Too many guards…"

Many Chūnin and ANBU members had been temporarily reassigned away from their usual duties to patrol the Forest of Death for the duration of the second exam; Yakumo had probably taken advantage of this opportunity in order to escape from her captors.

'It's impossible to get to Yakumo under these conditions,' said Inner Sakura thoughtfully. 'However, if we had some sort of massive distraction…'

"Looks like we have no other choice, huh?" Sakura whispered to herself. "The Konoha Crush…"