"Excuse me," said Hikaru as he blinked in confusion and looked closely at the eagle. He could have sworn he heard it talking.
The eagle turned its head aside and said, "You can call me Fushigi, the most handsome eagle you can find from Kodokuna Peak (Lonely Peak) in the Land of Snow."
"I have been captured and stuck here for a long time; can you help let me out?"
After hearing the eagle speak for a while, Hikaru finally confirmed it was real.
"How did you get captured?" he asked, feeling amused by the golden eagle's self-introduction as he approached the bird cage.
The Land of Snow is far away from the Land of Fire in the northern region; it takes about three months to get there on foot, but if you used the boat to cross the huge river in between, it could shorten the time by half. Hikaru roughly remembered the location details from his geography class.
As he closely examined the eagle and its cage, he noticed the abundance of seal paper surrounding it. 'So many seals just for a bird,' Hikaru furrowed his brow as he examined the seal's pattern, noting, 'It seems like someone placed a chakra-suppressing seal and many others.'
"I was lured and captured in a trap while hunting prey; the Fūinjutsu (sealing technique) master who captured me sold me to this owner," Fushigi said weakly, describing the situation.
Hikaru turned to look at the eagle and said, "Why did they put so many seals on you?"
"They want me to work with other birds, but I refuse." Fushigi started to complain immediately: "They leave seals on me until I change my mind; otherwise, I would have broken the cage and left myself."
"I'm actually really strong, you know?"
Hikaru gestured his hand to calm it down, saying, "Alright, calm down a bit; don't get so worked up."
The golden eagle really talks a lot when it has a chance; he felt somewhat sympathy for it being placed under restriction.
Before Hikaru could ask any further questions, he heard a voice approaching the tent, prompting him to hastily reply, "I'll return to help later," and immediately slip away through the back of the tent.
Fushigi sighed and glanced at the boy, who had left the tent before slowly resting his head inside the cage.
Hikaru didn't want to face the consequences of helping release the bird in front of others. He would try his luck later, helping Fushigi out of its prison cage. If the circus team truly captured the eagle without its consent, he wouldn't mind assisting the poor eagle.
While Hikaru was making his way back toward the main stadium, he found that many people were coming outside.
'Is the show over?' Hikaru thought while searching for Ayako. When he caught sight of her, he waved his hand to get her attention.
"You were gone a long time; what were you doing?" Ayako asked upon noticing him.
Hikaru hesitated for a moment, scratching his cheek, and replied, "My stomach isn't feeling well, so I took a bit longer."
Ayako wrinkled her nose and said with an annoyed expression, "You always lie when you scratch your cheek."
'Do I?' Hikaru thought with an embarrassed face.
"Let's go home," Ayako said, leading the way. Hikaru could only follow her back, knowing she felt a little disappointed by his actions. She may have thought he left because it wasn't fun.
Hikaru quickly walked up to her and explained his findings regarding the eagle he discovered inside one of the nearby tents.
"A golden eagle?" Ayako nibbled on her lip, considered her brother's findings, and worriedly asked, "Are you going to help it escape?"
Hikaru's lip curled into a smile before speaking ambiguously, "We'll see."
Ayako furrowed her brow and reminded him, "Be careful then."
"You won't persuade me to stop?" asked Hikaru, bewildered by her reaction.
"Why would I?" Ayako said as she started walking again, "If it needs help and you can do it, then you should help it."
She then looked at Hikaru with a serious expression and said, "Our ryōshin (parents) would help if it's the right thing to do."
...
Hikaru sat alone on the side of the road, enjoying the view of the small river in front of him. He did not go back home with his sister but was thinking of a way to rescue the golden eagle.
The first problem he has to deal with are the seals around the bird cage. He knew that it was difficult to bypass the restriction without initially learning Shikoku Fūin (Finger Carving Seal), a technique where you use five fingers to carve a seal or unseal something, and other numerous knowledge to understand which seals are inscribed in them.
The aftermath of saving the eagle also worried him, as did the possibility of repercussions should someone choose to find the culprit.
While Hikaru was planning to come up with a rescue strategy, a boy's loud voice nearby broke his train of thought.
Hikaru furrowed his brow, then turned around to look at the situation, seeing three Inuzuka boys bullying a young girl.
Hikaru could easily identify the boy's clan based on their cheek markings; the red claw marks on their faces were pretty hard to miss.
"Don't play with her! She's not one of us," one of the three kids said loudly.
Seeing the little girl's sad face and the other boys still making fun of her, Hikaru couldn't help but intervene and shoo them off with the new technique he had learned from his arsenal.
"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu" (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique).
"Whaaaaaaaaaaa!"
Hikaru used the genjutsu skill, causing fear in the young kids. All of them immediately ran away, terrified of some unknown source, leaving the girl still stunned on the ground.
'Seems like I have more talent for Genjutsu than I thought,' Hikaru pondered and grinned.
With his improvement in chakra control, using Genjutsu has become much easier after building up the chakra just enough to use the jutsu and causing a disturbance in their five senses to control their own chakra flow through the nervous system and mind.
However, not everyone has chakra in their body at all times; it requires building up or kneading the chakra. To make it work, Hikaru simply used his own chakra as a medium, pouring it into the gap in their chakra pathway at a specific location.
The jutsu he used earlier could have caused some extreme fear in them, but Hikaru only wanted to shoo them off, so he limited the fear to a minimum to avoid scaring them too much.
It is indeed a type of jutsu that requires a high level of intellect to use.
He was also feeling fortunate enough to have just asked Takayama Koji sensei for another rank D genjutsu. His original skill set included numerous ninjutsu but only one genjutsu. Asking Koji sensei for another one was the right choice.
"Are you okay?" Hikaru inquired, walking up to the little girl and offering his hand.
She had a slightly broad forehead and brownish hair, adorning a white blouse and a long blue skirt. Her eyes were large for a typical child.
The girl appeared somewhat perplexed by the situation and stood up independently, refusing his hand.
Hikaru withdrew his hand with a bitter smile, thinking, 'Now I look like a fool.'
The girl asked, "Who are you, and what did you do to my cousins?"
'Cousins?' Hikaru thought, confused by her identity. No marks on her face indicated she was from the same clan as the bullying kids.
"Sorry, my name is Muranaka Hikaru," Hikaru began, introducing himself. "I drove them away, using a little genjutsu to cause some fear in them; no worries, nothing dangerous."
"You can call me Akita, Inuzuka Akita," she introduced herself.
Hikaru was taken aback to hear her name, thinking, 'She really meant it when she said they were cousins.'
Hikaru nodded, rubbing his neck, and said, "Hopefully, I didn't overdo it and strain your clan relationship."
"No, it's okay; I'm used to it," Akita said with a light smile. "I gotta go; see you around."
She waved goodbye and ran away, while Hikaru responded with the same gesture, thinking, 'She's really carefree, but her name sounds familiar.'
Hikaru lifted his chin and tried to remember where he had heard it before, but he couldn't recall. He almost asked her some personal questions, but thinking it wouldn't be polite, he let it slide.
"Oh well," Hikaru said shortly with a smile, then went back to his previous spot.
"The technique I used earlier succeeded on the first try against three kids at once," Hikaru spoke with a joyful expression. "...and it didn't even use much of a chakra." A few moments later, his eyes suddenly widened with an idea. He snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "I might be able to try this method!"
Hikaru has a rough idea of how his plan would work, but he needs to verify several aspects to ensure its feasibility. He then decided to make his way back to the circus area.
Once he arrived, Hikaru found a quiet spot where he could transform into an elderly man with a cane. After ensuring his disguise was perfect to move around unnoticed, he immediately walked in. Even at this time in the afternoon, the area was still bustling with people, and he could still hear music everywhere.
This time, disguised as an elderly man, Hikaru slowly strolls around the circus area, as if he is simply there for entertainment. He could observe various areas within the circus, including the areas where they store their equipment and animals, the rest areas, and even a hidden spot for when he returns later.
The rest area had a tent tucked in among many others; a long, distinguishing sign was displayed in front, as if showing which place their rest tenant is.
While walking along, Hikaru found a worker in front of the tents who was handling what appeared to be seal-making paper. Hikaru decided to approach the worker and initiate a conversation.
Hikaru, disguising himself as an elderly man, said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"What do you mean?" The worker inquired, perplexed by the old man's comments.
"You are handling the seal paper incorrectly," Hikaru said, pointing to the wide-open seal paper with a cane in his hand. He then continued, "If the seal paper has already been inscribed, it's acceptable to let it face the sun; if not, the heat from the sun will cause the surface to become uneven and difficult to inscribe."
The worker became panicked hearing his make-up story and said, "Thank you so much for your advice."
Hikaru waved his hand, denying his gratitude, and asked. "I didn't know that the circus would need any seal for the performance."
"No, we didn't intend it for the circus performance." The worker shook his head and said, "We had some trouble with our animals, and Nishikawa ordered us to prepare some sealing paper just in case."
"Nishikawa?" Hikaru asked, tilting his head in curiosity.
The worker gathered all the empty seal papers and, while putting them away in a tent, replied, "Yes, he's our head assistant; he's the only one who takes care of the seals here."
"Ah, I see!" Hikaru exclaimed and swiftly walked away.
Now that Hikaru knew who was responsible for the sealing matter in the circus, he started surveying the circus area and searching for an escape route as part of his plan.
While searching along behind the main stadium, Hikaru notices the headmaster of the expedition team walking out of the door, as if he is on a break. He decided to approach the man, greet him, and express his admiration for the circus performance.
Aruaru was beaming with joy at Hikaru's positive comments about the shows, and he hoped Hikaru would enjoy his time here.
While Hikaru was conversing with the man, he could smell his fragrance from a distance. The smell was so unique that his nose seemed itchy; just take a few breaths of it.
After separating from the expedition master, Hikaru followed him from afar to verify which tent was Aruaru's.
On his way, the man took a long time greeting many other fans before walking slowly toward a tent with a prominently displayed mustache banner in front.
After confirming his rest area, Hikaru conducted one final round of observation before leaving the circus area. While he was finding a quiet spot nearby to transform back, he glanced back at the stadium from afar and muttered quietly.
"Let's see how it goes tonight."