Karin

Template:Infobox Character (fixed)Karin (香燐, Karin) is a subordinate of Orochimaru, a former kunoichi of Kusagakure, and a member of the Uzumaki clan. She assisted Orochimaru in his experiments, and was left in charge as warden of his Southern Hideout while he was away. She was later recruited into Sasuke Uchiha's group Taka, which was initially called "Hebi" at the time of its creation.

Background

Early Life

In the anime, Karin and her mother were allowed to take refuge in Kusagakure, on the condition that her mother healed the village's wounded under watch by Zosui. After the village suffered immense causalities following a surprise attack, her mother upheld her duties and healed the wounded at the Kusagakure hospital, where she died after transferring too much chakra to the wounded. Immediately afterwards, the duty was passed onto Karin, much to her disapproval.

Some time after becoming a genin, Karin took part in the Chunin Exams held in Konoha on a team. During the second phase, Karin lost track of her teammates and was attacked by a large bear. She was saved by Sasuke Uchiha, who was disappointed to discover she had an earth scroll as well, but she was able to catch a good glimpse of him, as he smiled at her. Her team later failed as they didn't make it to the tower with both scrolls by the fifth day.

Soon after during a war, Karin sensed a huge group of people approaching the village she was staying in and hid while they attacked. After the village was burned down and everyone was killed, she was approached by Orochimaru, who asked her how she survived, leading him to bring her back to Otogakure. During her time with Orochimaru, Karin's healing abilities were studied by Orochimaru and Kabuto, with the latter successfully being able to replicate it. After being involved in experiments with Jūgo and Kimimaro, Orochimaru made her in charge of the Southern Hideout.

In the anime, when Karin saw Sasuke for the first time since joining Orochimaru, she didn't realise he was the boy that rescued her during the Chūnin Exams. When the two formally met, Karin assisted Sasuke with recapturing one hundred and eighteen test subjects from one of Orochimaru's hideout, which they succeeded in doing. Sometime later, she was sent to the Eastern Hideout to deliver a vial to help further research on Suigetsu. Soon after Sasuke completed his task, Suigetsu escaped his chamber, leading to Karin taking action to hunt him down and joined Sasuke in an effort to recapture him. When they found Suigetsu, she attempted to persuade him into coming back to the hideout, which lead to him attacking her and repelled him with her chakra chain. After knocking him out, they brought him back to the hideout and parted ways.

Personality

Karin has a fluctuating personality; she will appear tough and in control at times, to the point of being violent and critical, and at other times will appear highly flirtatious. She possesses a strong dislike towards Suigetsu Hōzuki, whom she attacks whenever he decides to mock or berate her. In the anime, she stated that she was attracted to men based on their chakra quality, and claims that Suigetsu's chakra disgusts her. Sasuke Uchiha's chakra used to dazzle her, but it now scares her, due to it getting colder and darker from his hatred. Naruto Uzumaki's seems to calm and dazzle her as well, making her feel comfortable and relaxed due to it being warm and bright, though she also became scared after sensing an evil chakra within him.

Karin develops a fondness for Sasuke from the first day they met; when he saved her life during the Chūnin Exams. In the anime, she has a flashback of when Orochimaru sends her to assist Sasuke in capturing a horde of escaped prisoners. There, she is captivated by the level of Sasuke's chakra and develops a sexual attraction to him. Karin's strong fondness bordered on fanaticism. For example, it was revealed that she had kept one of Sasuke's sweat-drenched shirts. Karin would typically insist that she has no feelings for Sasuke around others, while frequently suggesting to Sasuke that they should spend time alone with the intention of freely expressing her feelings to him, only to switch back to acting cold when other people are present. Despite Sasuke's chakra becoming increasingly "darker", she still found him attractive. However, after he stabbed her in order to kill Danzō and tried to kill her, then even order Sakura to kill her to test Sakura's intent to join him, Karin stated that she no longer cares about him. Karin has also used other's perception of her feelings towards Sasuke to her advantage, feigning mental instability while imprisoned at Konoha to make the guards pay less attention to her. Upon her escape, she follows Sasuke's chakra with the intent of aggressively confronting him about the stab as she vents her rage by furiously beating Suigetsu, but with Sasuke's apology and Orochimaru's suggestion, she found herself unable to stay angry. She even puts Sasuke's well-being above her own. Despite not being a combatant of Taka, she rushed into the battlefield with virtually no weapons or protective gear when she senses that Sasuke was on the verge of death, paying no heed to how strong the enemy was.

In the anime, as seen in her Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, her greatest desire is simply to see Sasuke smile kindly to her. Years later, despite still being in love with Sasuke, Karin is content with the knowledge that he is happy with his new family. Karin also seems to have a soft spot for Sasuke and Sakura's daughter, whom she helped deliver when she was born and was the one who gave their daughter a pair of her glasses.

Appearance

Karin has crimson eyes, fair skin, and the characteristic red hair of the Uzumaki clan which she wears in an unusual hairstyle: her hair is short and spiky on the right side, while longer and straight on the left side. She wears brown narrow glasses, which have a serrated blade hidden in them, and her outfit consists of a lavender uniform that exposes her navel, short black shorts, and long black thigh high stockings with black sandals. Her chest, neck and arms are covered with bite marks that result from people biting her to heal, and all of which are hidden by her uniform.

As she is allied with Hebi, Karin begins to wear a pouch around her midsection, and later a black cloak. When allied with Akatsuki, Karin wears an Akatsuki cloak with a hood instead of a high collar. After the fight with Killer B, Karin briefly put her hair in a ponytail. She is seen wearing a black dress and black-rimmed glasses when it's decided that Taka will go to Konoha. Years after the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Karin began wearing a long sleeved white shirt with a purple tie and black cuffs on her wrists, and black shorts, and has also shaved the left side of her head.

When Karin was still living in Kusagakure, she wore a mesh shirt and stockings, a purple skirt, a light brown short sleeved jacket with a orange stripe going across the chest, and black sandals. She also had the Kusagakure forehead protector on her forehead.

As a child, Karin had short hair that reached her chin and wore a dark purple short sleeved shirt that had a brown collar, light brown pants, and brown sandals.

Abilities

Karin has been praised for her abilities by both Obito and Orochimaru, the latter deciding to take her with him for as for that reason. Despite being mostly a non-combatant, Orochimaru referred to Karin as one of his good experiments, and had enough faith in her skills to put her in charge of the Southern Hideout's prison, since she made escaping impossible. Karin later demonstrated these skills most predominantly during the Fourth Shinobi World War, where she destroyed much of Tobi's giant wooden statue.

Sensory Perception Edit.

Karin possesses a unique ability called the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, which allows her to sense any targets' chakra signature. Sasuke states that her sensory abilities are unlike any other. Unlike most sensors, who normally require to mould their chakra first, Karin appears able to detect chakra targets without any conscious effort. Using this ability, Karin can detect the presence of others, easily discern how many and if a specific individual, even its species, is present from great distance, letting her easily track the target. She can determine the size of a target's chakra reserve and potency, and even tell when someone was lying through the dishonest emotions causing chakra fluctuations. Karin can also tell if someone is a clone technique or trapped in genjutsu, including herself. Similarly, she can conceal her own chakra from others. However, she cannot use her chakra for other feats while doing so, thereby negating her own sensing.

Life Force and Chakra Prowess

As a direct descendant of the Uzumaki clan, Karin has a remarkably powerful life-force. This gives her tremendous stamina, reserves of chakra, and vitality. This also gives her immense longevity. Her inherit life-force also grants a powerful healing capabilities, allowing her to mend wounds and regenerate quickly. Even more, by biting herself and consuming some of her chakra, her healing becomes instantaneous. Likewise, she can heal others by letting them bite her. The potency of Karin's healing chakra was enough to restore Tsunade's chakra reserves. However, it is dangerous for her to use that ability more than once a day, and as a consequence, she is left with permanent bite marks.

Ninjutsu

Stemming from her Uzumaki chakra, Karin is able to materialise an incomplete version of the Adamantine Sealing Chains in combat. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, she was able to use the chains to combat and destroy Tobi's giant wooden statue and it's numerous arms. Karin is also proficient in the use of Earth, Water, Yin and Yang Release. In the anime, she was also seen using the Mystical Palm Technique, although it is unclear how skilled she is in its usage compared to a medical-nin.

Intelligence

Karin is quite intelligent. With her extensive knowledge at her disposal, she can come up with brilliant strategies that contribute to her missions. While being tracked by the Konoha shinobi, she was able to deduce they were accomplishing this feat by locking on to and following Sasuke's scent. From this, she quickly came up with a countermeasure to throw them off Hebi's tracks, by tearing up Sasuke's sweat-soaked shirt and scattering them about in multiple directions attached to birds. She is analytical, capable of quickly deducing the basics of a complex technique such as Izanagi. She is also resourceful, as seen during her imprisonment, hiding a blade in the frame of her glasses as well as a lock-pick set within a portrait that she seemingly carries around with her, all the while putting up an act of fluctuating feelings for Sasuke in order to lessen the guards' sense of security around her. Furthermore, to ensure she kept the portrait, she feigned even more mental instability and caused less ruckus with the portrait, causing to guards to allow her to keep it.

Other Skills

Although she usually takes a supporting role for her allies as the team tracker and unorthodox healer, Karin seems to have some competence in taijutsu, as shown when she tried to attack Danzō to save Sasuke, and also when losing her temper from Suigetsu's taunting. Furthermore, she was seen knocking out one of the prisoners in the Southern Hideout once. She has proven to be very nimble and evasive from the countless attacks from Tobi's giant wooden statue.

New Era (Plot)

Karin later resumed her work for Orochimaru at one of his hideouts. Four years after the war, she helped Sakura, by delivering her and Sasuke's daughter, Sarada, at Orochimaru's hideout — as Sakura, while pregnant, had refused to leave Sasuke's side while he was travelling. She also became friends with Sakura, at some point.

Sarada Uchiha Arc

Eleven years later, upon learning that Suigetsu used a umbilical cord he thought belonged to Karin for a DNA test to help Sarada uncover the identity of her biological mother, Karin was furious. She informed him that there was no possibility she was Sarada's birth mother because she helped Sakura deliver her daughter. She further elaborates that the umbilical cord was from Sarada and Sakura, and that Sakura had traveled with Sasuke during her pregnancy and helped with the delivery when Sakura went into labor. When Suigetsu asked if that meant she was over Sasuke, she was silent for a moment and said all that mattered to her was that Sasuke was happy and that she had become friends with Sakura. Karin then tells him he owes Sarada an apology and should start by giving her a new pair of glasses, since she appears to have outgrown her current ones.

Quotes

• (To Sasuke) "If you really want me to Sasuke… I will follow you."

• (To Sasuke about Suigetsu) "I hate Suigetsu always running his mouth."

• (To herself about Sasuke) " …I just wanted… to see that face once more…"

• (To herself about Sakura) "You're the enemy… I don't want to sympathise with you… so… so don't… don't cry like that in front of me…! Damn it…"

• (To herself about Sasuke) "Sasuke… I may have healed you a little, but this is too much… actually… forget it, I'm done with you."

• (To Suigetsu) "As long as Sasuke is happy, that's all I care about. Besides, we women have a certain camaraderie between us you wouldn't understand."