24 Your ability does not interest me

When she remembered what her daughter had said, she wanted to ask for more details, but there was a sudden intrusion into her home.

"Hey, woman! We have wounded; it's time to work," a ninja with the Kusagakure headband burst in, pushing Karin aside without even looking at her. He brought in a severely wounded man who was bleeding profusely from a large sword cut to his chest, which curiously showed burn marks in some places.

Mariko paled just from seeing the wound, not only because she knew how brutally they bit her arm but also because, after forcibly healing so many ninjas, she had an approximate understanding of the chakra cost for injuries of this scale. That large wound alone could drain a third of her chakra just to close it!

If they brought in more people with similar or worse conditions later, this would be the day she died. Her body simply wouldn't be able to endure it.

"How rude. Take a little nap," Mariko and her daughter heard a third unfamiliar voice.

They watched as the two Kusagakure ninja tensed their muscles simultaneously, began to tremble, and fell to the ground with blank eyes, revealing the newcomer, the tallest man they had ever seen.

"Well, I finally found a way to knock them out without turning them into charcoal," the man said cheerfully once he entered the house, crouching to avoid hitting his head on the doorframe. "Wow, you're in worse shape than I expected. How long do you have before you kick the bucket, two weeks? No, perhaps that's too optimistic now that I see you better."

"Mom?" Karin approached the bed where her mother lay and tugged on her sleeve while looking at her, part of her not knowing who this man was and the other wanting to find out what he meant.

"We don't have anything worth stealing," Mariko said, trying to stay calm while attempting to recall any information about the headband she was seeing.

"Calling me a thief right off the bat is a bit offensive, but considering your condition, I'll ignore what you said and start over. Hello, I'm Enel, and I came to get you out of here and take you to a better place."

"You just want a medic kit like those unconscious guys over there," Mariko retorted.

"I try to stay positive, but you're not making it easy," he replied. "Let's do this: do you have the Mind's Eye of Kagura? Because if you do, you should be able to sense if I'm lying, and we can get to the point without so many detours."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"And we continue with the play," he sighed. "I can see you're worried that my interest is in your ability to heal others, right? Let me say this: I couldn't care less about that ability. I have something more effective, more convenient, and tastier."

"Then why bother 'rescuing' us if you gain nothing?" Mariko asked.

"Oh, I'll gain a lot. Two new residents for my village, the children will have another friend of a similar age to play with, and I'll have someone who knows how to use fuinjutsu," he said. "You can use fuinjutsu, right? It's like the main reason I came and caused all this commotion."

"Are you the reason for the commotion?" Mariko asked. As for his question about fuinjutsu...

She was an Uzumaki and a survivor of the disaster in the Land of Whirlpools; of course, she had a strong command of sealing techniques! But revealing that card in her situation would have been dangerous for her daughter.

"Technically, the cause of the chaos is my fiancée. It's just that she got a bit more excited than I expected," he explained.

"Mom..." Karin pulled on her mother's sleeve.

"Not now, dear," Mariko had to try to figure out how much of what he was saying was true.

"But he hasn't lied any of the times. You can't give him a chance?" Karin realized that she might lose her mother and didn't want to see her give up.

Mariko stroked Karin's head while looking into her eyes. Did she still have a chance to fight and stand up? She was so tired. More importantly, was there a glimmer of hope that her daughter's future could be better than hers? Perhaps... could she give it one last try?

"Alright, if you can successfully heal me and promise that we can live well as people in your village, we'll follow you. You say you don't have a school; by chance, I was a teacher at the ninja school in Uzushiogakure before the fall."

"Great, it's time for the magic trick," he said, approaching them and performing the coin-out-of-the-ear trick, except his hands held a golden apple and a regular apple.

"The golden one is for you," he handed the golden apple to Mariko. "While the other one is for the young lady whose name is..."

"My name is Karin; pleased to meet you," she said, performing a small bow.

"Very polite; it's clear your mother was a teacher," he praised Karin, making her feel both shy and happy, perhaps not remembering the last time someone had been kind to her aside from her mother.

"What kind of apple is this?" Mariko asked as she looked at the strange fruit.

"This golden apple," he said, pointing to the golden one, "is why your ability to heal me is irrelevant. Meanwhile, the one in Karin's hands," he pointed to the one Karin was holding, "is one of the tastiest apples in the world."

"Is this golden apple some kind of elixir?"

"Take a bite, and wait a moment," he turned to send a shock to the ones on the floor, as he felt they were starting to regain consciousness. Well, at least the one who wasn't gravely injured. The other had bled to death a while ago, as revealed by his silent heart, but he didn't say anything to prevent Karin from finding out.

"And you'll see why the apple is the symbol of my village."