Chapter 258: Fallacy
"How could I possibly abandon you?" Mizuki sighed, trying to comfort her. Karin hadn't been in Konoha long, and besides Mizuki and Kozue, she barely interacted with anyone else. Only a few frequent customers occasionally spoke to her. As for ninjas like Shizune, sent by Tsunade to check in under the guise of casual visits, Karin didn't trust them at all.
Seeing how uneasy she looked, Mizuki asked, "Do you have anything to do today?"
"There are a few flower orders I need to deliver."
"Deliveries? How many?" He frowned slightly. Door-to-door service wasn't a core business for a small shop like theirs—unless it was a special case, most customers came to buy flowers in person.
"Not many. Just three or four places. I usually deliver them early before more customers show up." She suddenly glanced at the clock and panicked. "Oh no! It's already so late—I'm going to be behind schedule!"
"Don't worry. Take your time." Mizuki smiled. "Are you closing the shop while you're out?"
Karin nodded. "Yeah. If Kozue-nee isn't around, I usually shut the door. But I'm fast—I'll be back in no time."
"That sounds tiring. I'll keep an eye on the store today, so no need to close it. Go ahead."
Mizuki wasn't trying to pressure her. For a girl who'd been labeled useless and thrown out by her village, no amount of gentle words could erase that pain. But if she could do something—feel useful—that might help ease the anxiety constantly eating away at her. She feared being cast aside again for being unhelpful.
Watching her rush out, Mizuki took her seat and casually flipped through the scroll she'd been using as a pillow.
> Basic Chakra Control, Introduction to Sealing Techniques, Healing Techniques, Hemostasis Methods…
"Claims she's not ninja material, huh? Then why all these beginner texts?"
The first few likely came from Kozue, but the last ones were probably provided by Shizune. Still, if Tsunade really intended to cultivate Karin as a medical ninja, she'd need to put in a lot more effort. Integrating an outsider into a tightly-knit system like Konoha's wasn't easy—no matter how well-intentioned Tsunade was. Established systems tend to instinctively repel outsiders.
Worse still, Karin herself didn't seem too enthusiastic about joining. Without her own desire to belong, Tsunade's plans were nothing but a one-sided wish.
As he flipped through the scrolls, Mizuki evaluated Karin's overall ability.
"She's really behind. Even compared to average genin in Konoha, the gap is huge."
While Karin had potential, the disparity in foundational skills was obvious. And basic skills couldn't be shortcut. She had lived a rough life, never receiving formal shinobi education. In the Grass Village, as an outsider, she had been treated as a burden. Talent had limits—without a solid base, it was like building a house on sand.
Among the surviving descendants of the Uzumaki Clan, Karin was perhaps the weakest. Nagato had Jiraiya to mentor him. Karin, on the other hand, was completely self-taught.
"Can't just let her stay as a 'healing battery.' What would be the point of bringing her to Konoha, then?"
As Mizuki contemplated how to fill in her missing education, footsteps echoed from outside the shop.
"Karin? Back already? No… wait, it's Sakura?"
Without hesitation, Sakura Haruno entered and walked straight to him.
"You're here," Mizuki said, eyeing her serious expression. "Have you made up your mind?"
Sakura nodded firmly. "Please teach me, Mizuki-sensei."
Then, she bowed deeply and waited.
Even Mizuki was a little tense. Despite having lived two lives, this was his first experience accepting a student in the true sense—passing on a legacy.
Trying to steady his thoughts, he asked the question that had lingered in his mind for a while:
"What exactly do you want to learn from me?"
"To stop relying on others." Sakura answered clearly. "I want to stand on my own."
"Independent strength, huh?" Mizuki was impressed.
Looking back at Sakura's life—it was clear she had always relied on others. In her early years, Ino protected her. After graduation, she had Kakashi as a mentor and teammates like Sasuke and Naruto to back her up. Had Mizuki not changed the timeline, Sasuke would've defected, and powerless Sakura would've had no choice but to pin all her hopes on Naruto. That "promise to bring Sasuke back" would've become Naruto's burden.
Sakura wasn't weak. But in the original timeline, swept into the storm of the Shinobi World, she had seemed insignificant. Even in this altered timeline, her strength had increased due to Mizuki's intervention, but she still lagged behind Sasuke and Naruto. According to Kakashi, during their last clash, Sakura had been utterly helpless—a bitter pill she hadn't yet swallowed.
"Then tell me—what jutsu of mine do you want to learn most?"
"I don't know," Sakura said honestly. "I just want to be strong enough to stop Naruto and Sasuke if they fight. To make them listen."
"A desire to take control, huh? Seems I underestimated this girl."
In the original timeline, after training with Tsunade and gaining her "Monster Strength," Sakura's latent violent streak had come to the surface. But Mizuki thought the technique wasn't the point—anyone who mastered it would look like a brute. Through personal interactions, he saw clearly: Sakura didn't care about methods. Her core strength was an unyielding heart—resilient even under the shadows of Naruto and Sasuke.
"Alright. I'll accept you as my student." Mizuki finally agreed. "But first, go bring in the red-haired girl waiting outside."
Karin, with her keen sensory ability, had been standing outside this whole time, hesitant to come in.
"Maybe having a peer to interact with will help her too." Mizuki thought.
To be continued...
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