Author's Note: Thank you very much for your patience. Also, this takes place shortly after Sasuke Uchiha had defected from Konoha.

"Run. Run as fast as you can. And don't look back."

Karin gasped as she had regained consciousness. Her upper body shot upwards in a bed. She panted, slowly. Then her eyes slowly looked around to see herself in a hospital room that she did not recognize. A room that she has never been inside of, before. She looked down at her body to see that she was wearing a green hospital gown. There was also a needle in her right arm giving her blood.

'W... where am I?' Karin looked around the hospital room a bit more. 'This can't be a Kusagakure hospital room...' Karin stated as she looked around the room, more. 'It looks more... classy.'

Within the next minute, Karin had automatically gasped when she then sensed a strong chakra approaching her, slowly. 'I sense a strong chakra coming toward the door!' Karin had thought as she looked at the door's direction. 'But who's chakra am I sensing? Could it be Zōsui's? No... not even his chakra level is this high...' Karin's hospital door had suddenly cracked open, which a. Which alarmed the young Uzumaki.

Five seconds passed and suddenly... a random blonde-haired woman in a green jacket that Karin had never seen before had walked in the room. She was Tsunade, the Godaime of Konohagakure. Karin had no idea whom the woman was.

"Oh, good! You're awake." Tsunade said.

Karin stared at Tsunade from her hospital bed.

"I am the Hokage. You can either address me as... Tsunade-hime or Tsunade-sama. Which ever you like. I don't mind." Tsunade smiled introduced herself to Karin.

Shizune embarrassingly sighed behind Tsunade. 'Tsunade-sama is going overboard, again.'

"Where am I?" Karin had asked out of curiosity.

"Why, you're currently inside a hospital within Konohagakure." Shizune said.

"A Konoha hospital?" Karin asked. 'Wait, I'm in Konoha? So, I actually made it?'

Tsunade had nodded. "That's right. Someone found you in the Land of Sound and brought you here in Konoha. He told me that you had passed out from dehydration."

Karin lightly gasped. 'I was saved by a person and brought to Konoha? I'm finally safe, here, in Konoha!' In her mind, Karin had begun to feel excited.

"But before I can give you the details on how you winded up here, I would like to ask you some questions."

"Um... okay, Tsunade-sama." Karin had nodded and addressed Tsunade.

'She remembers how to address me. This is going to be easier than I thought.' Tsunade smiled. "Okay, first things first. What is your name?"

"M-my name?" Karin asked.

"Yes."

Karin had gulped. "My... full name?"

"Yes."

Karin had gulped. "Karin. Karin Uzumaki."

Shizune quietly gasped. "Uzumaki... like the former Uzumaki Clan from Uzushiogakure?" Shizune asked Karin.

"Um... yes. I'm a survivor. " Karin had slowly nodded at Shizune while sitting in a hospital bed.

"But, the destruction of Uzushiogakure happened many years ago. Even long before you were born. There's no way you could've remembered all that..." Shizune said as she looked at Karin.

"Shizune!" Tsunade called Shizune's name to silence her.

Shizune had looked at Tsunade from behind, then stayed quiet after Tsunade had called her.

'Shuzune is right. This girl is way too young to even remember the destruction of Uzushiogakure. But, if what this girl is saying is true... Then, that means her parents must've fled when Uzushiogakure had been attacked and destroyed at that time. They must've emigrated to certain countries and assumed it was safe.' Tsunade had thought as she stared at Karin.

Karin stared at the hospital bed sheets that covered her lower body.

"Tell me, Karin."

Karin had looked up at Tsunade.

"Where are your parents?" Tsunade asked with a smile on her face.

Karin gasped, then looked back down at the bed sheets and frowned. "They're both dead."

Both Tsunade and Shizune had gasped.

"My father died before I was born. And my mother..." Karin then thought back when she saw a blanket tossed over her mother's corpse lying on a cold table. The next image in her head was that of Zōsui's face. "My mother was killed by Kusa Shinobi." Karin said gripping the bedsheets, out of frustration. As tight as she could.

"I'm sorry for your losses." Tsunade said, feeling bad for Karin.

"Please, don't be. After I fully heal and check out, I'll be out of your hair." Karin said.

"Where are you going to go?" Shizune asked.

"I don't know." Karin shook her head down and her eyes begun to water.

Tsunade stared at Karin for a moment, then looked down at the human bite marks on Karin's arms. "I have another question for bite marks on your arms..." Tsunade had pointed at Karin's right arm.

Karin gasped.

"They don't look like animal bite marks. They look more human." Tsunade stated. "Tell me, Karin. Who did this to you?"

Karin begun to feel nervous. "Uh, well I-"

"And please, don't lie to me." Tsunade said.

Karin looked into Tsunade's eyes when Tsunade asked Karin not to lie. Karin didn't want to tell anyone her secret ability, but also doesn't want to be kicked out of the village she had sought refuge in. By looking at Tsunade, she can tell that the Hokage was really serious.

After twenty seconds, Karin had no choice but ti submit to Tsunade. "It was everyone... from Kusagakure who did this to me."

Both Tsunade and Shizune gasped in shock.

"What?" Shizune asked, in response.

"Mm-hmm." Karin sadly nodded. "A long time ago, my mother and I had resided in Kusagakure. They said that if we offer our services, then they won't kick us out of the village."

"What do you mean by services?" Tsunade asked.

"My mother and I have healing abilities that if we were to be bitten anywhere on our bodies by others, then the injured person who bites us would be completely healed in a matter of seconds." Karin had stated as she grabbed her arms.

Shizune had a visible shocked look on her face. 'Healing abilities where you get bitten-That's awful!'

"Kusagakure kept involving themselves with war against other lands and people kept either getting hurt or dying left and right. They could barely afford medicine from across borders or barely produce any Medical-Nin. That's when me and my mother came into the picture."

Tsunade didn't budge at all as she kept listening to Karin's story.

"One day, my mother left me to heal the sick and injured Shinobi as usual... but this time, never came back as so many people sucked her chakra all at once to where she had succumbed to chakra depletion!" Karin's eyes begun to water out of sadness and grief. "After that, that jerk face, Zōsui immediately begun using me as a healing source after my mother had died. Many years being bitten by many people you didn't even know-not knowing what kind of diseases they carried... and worst of all, being treated as nothing but a healing source and not a person... it was all complete hell!" Karin shouted. Tears begun streaming down Karin's cheeks in grief. "I thought I could never escape that life! But then one day I met a boy who saved me during the Exams. And he showed me kindness that no one has even shown, since my mother!"

Brief Flashback

During the Chunin Exams, Keisuke Hyuuga had saved Karin from a giant brown bear by knocking it out, unconscious. He was preparing to leave Karin to rendezvous with his Konoha team. But he decided to give Karin one last piece of advice before parting ways from her.

"If you ever feel like you have uneasy vibes from certain people, then run. Run as fast as you can and don't look back." Keisuke said.

End Brief Flashback

"That kindness and concern were the only two things that gave me enough courage to run away from that damned village!" Karin yelled while tears continued streaming down her face.

'She was in the Chunin Exams? And... she ran away from Kusagakure?' Shizune had thought after learning of her defecting from Kusagakure.

"So, you're a Nukenin, then..." Tsunade had pointed out.

"If that's what you want to call me, then go ahead! I don't care! I'm never going back to that hell whole, again! And besides... I never volunteered to become a Shinobi in the first place! Those Kusa Nin bastards forced me to be one!" Karin had begun to sob uncontrollably in front of Hokage.

After thirty seconds of listening to Karin sob, Tsunade decided to break her silence. She then looked back to Shizune who stood behind her. "Shizune. Please, excuse us."

Shizune looked at Tsunade. "Tsunade-sama?"

"I'm asking you to give a minute alone with this girl!" Tsunade yelled.

"Mmph," Shizune had muffled. "A-as you wish, Tsunade-sama!" Shizune had quickly walked out the hospital room and closed the door.

After watching Shizune leave the room and closed the door, fully... Tsunade then turned back to the crying Karin Uzumaki and walk a bit closer to her bed. "Karin. Look at me." Tsunade had ordered.

Karin heard Tsunade's order, but she couldn't stop crying. She removed her glasses from her face and tried wiping the tears from her red eyes. Her face was facing toward Tsunade. Within the next ten seconds, Karin's shoulders were grabbed and pulled closer toward the Hokage. The next thing that Karin knew, the side of her head was on Tsunade's bosom.

"We of the Uzumaki Clan must stick together... if we are to thrive in this cruel world." Tsunade had muttered as she caressed Karin.

Karin had gasped in shock. "How do you... know about that?" she asked, weakly.

"My grandmother, Mito had taught me that when I was a girl. She was a native from Uzushiogakure. She emigrated to Konoha and married my grandfather, many years before Uzushiogakure's destruction." Tsunade had stated.

Karin had gasped when she learned the news.

"There was another woman who emigrated from Uzushiogakure to Konoha, years ago. But, she's no longer with us." Tsunade had stated as she had thought of Kushina Uzumaki.

"Oh..." Karin felt a bit depressed after hearing the last thing Tsunade said. Tears streamed down her face.

"Don't worry, Karin. After today... you won't ever have to worry about Kusagakure or your Nukenin status, ever again." Tsunade said.

Karin gasped, then sniffled in relief. "T-thank you, Tsunade-sama..." Karin kept crying, but in relief." She hugged Tsunade by wrapping her arms around her waste.