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
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 Zōsui. After the village suffered huge 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 Chūnin 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 find 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, black boots, 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 Uchiha and Orochimaru, the latter deciding to take her with him 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
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 discerning a specific individual, even its species, from a great distance, letting her easily track the target. She can determine the size of a target's chakra reserves and its potency, and even tell when someone was lying through the dishonest emotions causing chakra fluctuations. Karin can also tell if someone is a clone 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 an immense longevity, and tremendous reserves of chakra and vitality. Her inherit life-force also grants 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.

Itachi Pursuit Mission
Sasuke recruited Karin as a member of Hebi. While Sasuke admitted that she might be troublesome sometimes, he also noted that her special abilities made her useful. While Sasuke tried to recruit Karin, she tried to seduce him. Once the team was completed, Sasuke sent Hebi out in multiple directions to try and locate Itachi Uchiha. While on the search, Karin passed Sakura Haruno, although the two did not acknowledge each other. After Deidara's suicide explosion, the rest of the team regrouped and took Sasuke to an inn to recover. When Karin went out for supplies, she sensed the Eight Man Squad approaching, and warned the team. It was her plan to use Sasuke's old clothing as a means to distract the squad from catching them.

Fated Battle Between Brothers
When they finally got back on Itachi's trail, Karin stayed behind with Suigetsu, Jūgo, and Kisame as Sasuke went ahead to battle Itachi.

Pain's Assault
Hebi, now renamed Taka, later began working with Akatsuki. They were sent to Kumogakure to capture the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki. When they found him, Karin stood on the sidelines and watched the others fight Killer B. When Sasuke was mortally wounded fighting Killer B, Karin immediately rushed to pull the dying Sasuke out of the fight, as Suigetsu and Jūgo kept Killer B busy. As she pulled the swords out of Sasuke's body she exposed her right arm, riddled with numerous bite marks. She then told Sasuke to bite her arm, and as he did, her Heal Bite healed his wounds.

As Killer B got bored and attempted to leave, Karin used her Mind's Eye of the Kagura to locate him. Killer B then used his demonic chakra to charge at her, Jūgo, and Suigetsu, but Jūgo rocketed them away to safety. After Sasuke was yet again critically wounded by Killer B, Karin insisted on reviving Sasuke again. She was stopped by Jūgo, who claimed she didn't have enough chakra to save Sasuke again, so Karin watches as Jūgo transfers his flesh to Sasuke to heal him. When Killer B fully transformed into the Eight-Tails, Sasuke used Amaterasu to quell it. Karin quickly moved all of her teammates out of the way of one of Killer B's tentacles, but this resulted in her being hit by one, and some of the black flames spread to Karin's cloak. Sasuke used his Mangekyō Sharingan to put them out. Karin was carried to safety by Jūgo. While the team was recovering, Karin briefly put her hair in a ponytail. She noticed that something was wrong with Sasuke, but as he brushed it off, she detected J|an enemy outside their base, which Sasuke and Jūgo went to investigate.

Five Kage Summit
After Taka recovered, they moved out for Konoha. Along the way they are stopped by Tobi, who convinced Sasuke to go after Danzō Shimura at the Kage Summit. When they arrived in the Land of Iron, they decided to wait until the meeting was over before they attack. Zetsu soon revealed their presence and the Kage mobilise against Taka. When the battle got under way, Karin noticed that Sasuke's chakra was now darker than when in his cursed seal level two state.

When the Fourth Raikage arrived, he instructs C to locate and eliminate Karin, Taka's sensory ninja. Karin hid her chakra to avoid detection, and once C was defeated by Sasuke she again began to look for Danzō's location. By the time Sasuke is able to elude the Raikage, Karin had found Danzō. She informs Sasuke that Jūgo and Suigetsu are still alive, but he said to leave them and had her lead him to Danzō. Danzō fled as soon as they arrived, and Sasuke was forced to fight the Fifth Mizukage and the Third Tsuchikage before he could follow. During the brief confrontation Karin grew concerned with Sasuke's deteriorating chakra levels. When his chakra signature disappeared, she broke into tears, believing him to be dead, with the Tsuchikage turning his sight on her.

Tobi soon appeared with Sasuke in tow before he sent them both to a different realm so she could heal his wounds. He later returned and released them in front of Danzō so that Sasuke could fight him. Karin observed the battle and tried to determine how Danzō was able to survive a series of apparently fatal injuries. She immediately ruled out genjutsu or a clone technique, and eventually noticed that the Sharingan embedded in Danzō's arm closed one by one as the battle progressed. Coupling this observation with frequent descents in Danzō's chakra levels, she learned the secret of his technique. She told Sasuke about it and advised that he keep his distance until Izanagi expired.

Once Sasuke mortally wounded Danzō, Karin healed his injuries. Danzō then took Karin hostage as he refused to die. Karin called to Sasuke for help, but Sasuke stabbed her through the chest in order to pierce Danzō's heart. Sasuke simply commented that, if she can be taken hostage so easily, she was now only a burden to him. Karin collapsed and Tobi suggested that Sasuke finish her off since she had some knowledge of their plans. As Sasuke walked towards Karin, she has a flashback of her first encounter with him at the Chūnin Exams and remembered his smile. She took one last look at Sasuke, wishing to see his smile one more time, before he was about to kill her, but he was interrupted by the arrival of Sakura.

Sakura insisted that she wanted to be with Sasuke no matter what, leading Karin to realise that Sakura too loved Sasuke. Sasuke ordered Sakura to prove her loyalty by killing Karin. This, however, was a lie to make Sakura drop her guard. As Sasuke prepared to kill Sakura, Karin managed to mutter a warning, before Kakashi Hatake arrived to counter the attack. After it became clear that not even his words can alter Sasuke's motives, he ordered Sakura to take Karin away from the area and heal her enough to talk. While still barely conscious, Karin looked up at a sobbing Sakura and pleaded for her to hold in her tears while Sakura saved Karin's life. A tear fell down Karin's face as she sensed a further change in Sasuke's chakra, stating that Sasuke is no longer the person that Sakura once knew. As she asked Sakura what she will do, Sakura didn't respond and, emotionally unstable, returned to the fight despite Karin's warnings.

Later, when Sasuke prepared to fight with Naruto, Karin, sensing that Sasuke is going to over-exert himself again, dwelled on the fact that she was only able to heal him a little from his earlier skirmishes, before catching herself in that thought; in light of the fact of everything that Sasuke had done to her, Karin decided to herself that she was now done with Sasuke. After Sasuke left, Kakashi told her that she was coming with them to Konoha; Karin resigned to her fate as she had no choice, being warned by Kakashi not to try anything. As Karin left with them, she made a special note of Naruto's character, apparently hearing of him before.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown
Later, she is interrogated by Ibiki Morino in Konoha to get information on Akatsuki, Sasuke and Kabuto Yakushi. Though she initially wove a tale in which she was a victim of both Orochimaru who she claimed had forced her into hard labour and Sasuke who had unreasonably demanded too much from her, Ibiki saw through it immediately and Karin switched tracks, insisting to be fed a bowl of deep-fried pork cutlets before she would talk. While the other two fussed over making preparations however, Ibiki remained stone-faced. Karin later noted that all the people in Konohagakure seem to all be cheerful and warm, just like Naruto.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax
Having been jailed some time after the interrogation, Karin talks to a portrait of Sasuke, first stating that he was cool and then immediately throwing down the picture and cursing him for trying to kill her. This erratic behaviour seemingly has been going on for a while, bewildering the guards who believe her to be suffering post-traumatic stress disorder from Sasuke's betrayal. This, however, is revealed to be a ruse, as Karin uses the guard's distraction to pry open the portrait with a hidden blade in her glasses, revealing a lock-pick set.

After escaping from the jail, Karin noticed Sasuke's chakra in the village and couldn't believe that it would be him. She followed the signal just as Taka, Orochimaru and the Hokage prepared to leave for the battlefield, attacking a fleeing Suigetsu over what had happened to her. Sasuke's apology for attacking her was met with a mix of anger and giddy appreciation as she noticed Orochimaru among the group. In the end, she found herself unable to stay angry at Sasuke and forgave him.

Karin, Suigetsu, and Orochimaru later arrived at the battlefield where the five Kage were, with the latter commenting on Tsunade's condition. Karin was then ordered by Orochimaru to assist Katsuyu in healing Tsunade by having the Fifth bite her. However, Karin hesitated because she didn't like anyone other than Sasuke to benefit from biting her. Suigetsu then proved Karin was really interested in Sasuke and pointed that she had already had many bite marks on her even before meeting with Sasuke. This then lead to another brief spat between the two, which was almost immediately stopped by Orochimaru after he had threatened them with his snakes. While healing Tsunade in that state, Karin noted that if Tsunade did not stop biting her soon, she herself might turn old. She later departed with Orochimaru and Suigetsu to the battlefield.

Birth of the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki
Upon arrival, Karin is almost immediately consumed by her obsession with Sasuke, so much so that she dismissed Suigetsu's observation of the Ten-Tails before catching herself and agreeing with him that the recovery of the shinobi was paramount. While Orochimaru and Taka are hiding from Tobi's giant wooden statue and thinking up a strategy, Karin became distraught upon sensing Sasuke's critical condition, figuring that with no intervention, Sasuke will die. Determined to save Sasuke, Karin joined the battle, manifesting chains to destroy parts of the statue. After being impaled by Tobi's technique, she bit herself in order to heal. Grabbed by Jūgo who removed the stakes, she noted that she was okay, but feared they were too late as she could no longer sense Sasuke's chakra.

As they rushed towards Sasuke's location, Karin sensed a chakra of someone she didn't recognise and alerted her group. Moving even faster as she disregarded her own well being, she rushed to Sasuke's aid. Upon reaching Sasuke, Karin discovered that the mysterious person was Kabuto, whose various modifications to himself made his chakra signature too different for Karin to recognise. Seeing Kabuto merging his being with Sasuke, she quickly became convinced Kabuto harmed Sasuke. Kabuto calmly explained that he no longer desired Sasuke, rather he was healing the young Uchiha. To her shock, she began to sense Sasuke's chakra. Kabuto explained that his experience under the effects of Izanami made him rediscover himself and sought to correct his mistakes. Eventually, Kabuto succeeded in healing Sasuke, who quickly returned to his feet and was ready to resume the battle. Karin and the others present there besides Tobirama were later caught in Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi.

In the anime, her dream inside the Infinite Tsukuyomi showed Sasuke became the Sixth Hokage and the village was attacked by her former allies from Kusagakure. When Karin was captured and forced to heal the other again by Zōsui, she was saved and was suggested to have taken vengeance on the man, for how he wronged her in the past. While Sasuke cradled the weakened Karin, she told the shinobi all she wanted was for him to smile.

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes
Ultimately, she and the rest of the world were freed from the genjutsu by Naruto and Sasuke after they ended the war.

Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise
Karin meets with Sasuke for the first time in a few years since the war ended. He arrives at Orochimaru's hideout to gather information on the Dark Thunder Group, but doesn't stay long enough to speak with her. As she talks with Suigetsu and Jūgo on why Sasuke refuses to permanently settle down in Konoha, Karin replies that Sasuke possessing the Sharingan and Rinnegan earn him enemies, and he is avoiding the village to protect it. When Sasuke leaves, Karin worries about him and looks at their team Taka photo, wondering if she should make a copy for Sakura.

New Era
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 an umbilical cord he thought belonged to Karin for a DNA test to help Sarada uncover the identity of her birth mother, Karin was furious. She informed him there was no possibility she was Sarada's birth mother because she helped Sakura deliver her daughter. She further elaborated that the umbilical cord was from Sarada and Sakura, that Sakura had travelled with Sasuke during her pregnancy and that she had helped with the delivery when Sakura had gone into labour. 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 told him he owed Sarada an apology and should start by giving her a new pair of glasses, since she seemed to have outgrown her current ones.

Mitsuki Arc
When Boruto Uzumaki confronted Orochimaru about the seeming betrayal of Mitsuki to Konohagakure, Orochimaru sent Karin to aid Sarada, who was acting as decoy to the Konoha-nin watching over Orochimaru. Karin quickly saved Sarada, disguised as Mitsuki, from her capture. She was pleased to see that Sarada recognised her and that the glasses she had given her suited Sarada. She then took Sarada's place as Mitsuki so Sarada could join Boruto. After being sure Sarada made it, Karin dropped her disguise to the guards, quickly escaping in a smokescreen.

Video Games
Karin's fighting style differs in her video game appearances:
 * In Kizuna Drive, Karin uses her Mind's Eye of the Kagura technique to avoid enemy attacks, and can enter the same Medical Mode as Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka.
 * In Shinobi Rumble, Karin is shown to use senbon, and she attacks her opponents with them after detecting them in a radius of her Mind's Eye of the Kagura technique.
 * Karin's techniques in Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 are focused on her Mind's Eye of the Kagura technique, allowing her to avoid enemy attacks at a close and long range. If Karin uses her Ultimate Jutsu on Sasuke in "Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3", Karin blushes, and stares in awe at Sasuke's beaten up body right after she finishes her technique and says "Oh yes". "Student Sasuke" may be fought for the same effect.
 * In Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 and its sequels, Karin's techniques are more focused on her personality. She sprays perfume that she carries in the pouch on her back that inflicts negative status ailments and slaps opponents with explosive tags. When fighting Sasuke, Karin's entire demeanour changes, and she frequently remarks and swoons over him while fighting, and her techniques and Awakening mode are modified.
 * In Dragon Blade Chronicles, Karin is shown to have a diary; a black book that she keeps in the pouch she wears on her back and has decorated with pink hearts. She tells Sasuke that she could write about him in it if he insists.

Trivia

 * The name "Karin" is made up of the kanji for and.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Karin wishes to fight Suigetsu.
 * Karin's hobby is collecting perfumes. It is amusing to note that the Japanese word for perfume is written with 香 — the first kanji in Karin's name — and 水 — the first kanji in Suigetsu's.
 * Karin's favourite food is okonomiyaki, while she dislikes gyōza.
 * Karin's favourite phrase is.
 * Karin has completed 50 official missions in total: 25 D-rank, 16 C-rank, 7 B-rank, 2 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
 * In the fourth databook, Hiden is not listed among Karin's special characteristics, despite her usage of Mind's Eye of the Kagura.
 * The third databook reveals that when Karin met Orochimaru, it was after her village was attacked and burned down, while the anime portrays their meeting as her being rescued by him after two men tried to abduct her, due to her Uzumaki heritage.

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."