Escaping from the Kamizuki residence, Hikari immediately used the Body Flicker Technique to vanish.
When he came to his senses, he found himself standing in front of a small two-story villa. Blinking in confusion, he realized where he was.
The Yūhi residence.
Why did he come here?
"Hikari-senpai, since you're already here, why not come up and sit for a while?" A cheerful voice called from the second-floor window. Yakumo was smiling down at him.
Sit... was that an invitation or a trap?
Thinking that to himself, Hikari sighed and obediently leapt up, entering through the window into her room.
The bed was... really soft!
Once inside, Hikari didn't stand on ceremony. He flopped down onto the bed, exuding an air of lazy decadence.
"What's wrong? Do you want me to do all the work on top?" Yakumo giggled, covering her mouth as she watched his puzzled expression. The sight amused her greatly.
Rolling his eyes, Hikari grumbled, "Stop teasing me. I'm already stressed out."
Yakumo twirled her finger, and two cups of fragrant tea appeared out of thin air. "Oh? Are you troubled about which woman to marry?"
"Wait, you already know?" Hikari raised his head to look at her. After thinking for a moment, he sighed and lay back down again.
"I almost forgot. With your current power, there's probably nothing in Konoha that can escape your notice."
"If you're worried about handling those women," Yakumo said with a mischievous smile, "I can help. Even Tsunade-sama, if that's what you want. I can make her obediently agree to marry you and share you with the others."
Hikari had to admit — for about three seconds, that suggestion really excited him. But he quickly suppressed the thought.
If he truly wanted women, it wouldn't be difficult.
But the reason he hadn't acted on it wasn't laziness alone; he preferred genuine emotional connection.
As a responsible man, once things reached that final step, he couldn't just abandon them afterward.
Maybe he was a bit of a scumbag, but at least he was a responsible one.
"Forget it, let's set the matter of women aside for now. Orochimaru's entered the village — did you notice?" Hikari shifted the topic to business.
In all of Konoha, the only person he could really discuss the current situation with was Yakumo — that frail-looking girl everyone else underestimated.
Thinking about it, it really was quite tragic.
"If you mean that boy with pitifully low genjutsu resistance, then yeah, I saw him. The chakra in his body is interesting. I studied it a bit and found it has some connection to the Nine-Tails in Naruto's body. Could he be a jinchūriki too?" Yakumo asked.
"He's not a Jinchūriki. Orochimaru used cloning techniques to implant the Three-Tails' chakra into that kid's body, then leveraged the kid's unique traits to extract part of the Three-Tails' chakra source. Quite the talent, honestly." Hikari explained.
"The Three-Tails, huh? Doesn't sound that strong," Yakumo murmured as she toyed with her slender fingers — pale as jade and smooth as silk. For a brief moment, Hikari found himself entranced.
"Do you like them?" Yakumo teased, noticing his fleeting daze. She smiled and waved her hand before his eyes playfully.
"Back to the point!" Hikari's face reddened slightly. He couldn't help wondering if he had some kind of hand fetish.
Yakumo chuckled and took a sip of her tea.
"That boy's resistance to genjutsu is about the same as a regular jōnin's. With just a light touch, I made him lose his sense of the real world. The Three-Tails' chakra inside him took a bit more effort, though."
"So you trapped him?" Hikari asked, offering a silent prayer for Orochimaru.
Running into an awakened Yakumo was just bad luck.
After all, she was the one who had once fought Obito for control of the Tsukuyomi world — a true monster in the art of illusion. Her genjutsu prowess was on par with Uchiha Itachi's. Unless it was Uchiha Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, no one could easily break her illusions.
"I wouldn't say 'trapped' exactly," Yakumo replied. "I just gave him what he wanted most. Right now, he's dreaming of obtaining the Mangekyō Sharingan."
Imagining Orochimaru's current state, Yakumo covered her mouth as she laughed.
Her crisp laughter made Hikari feel a pang of sympathy for Orochimaru.
Who knew what horrors he was enduring inside that illusionary space? Still, compared to the sins he had committed, this was probably merciful.
"I'm curious, though," Yakumo continued, "why does he crave the Mangekyō Sharingan so badly? Orochimaru is one of the Legendary Sannin. You'd think he'd be above such obsession."
'Maybe this world just loved eyes too much.'
Hikari thought for a moment and touched the corner of his own eye.
'It feels like mine are about ready to evolve too... I wonder what kind of power they'll have?'
In his mind, dojutsu had three stages:
The first was the tomoe stage — the most basic form.
Then came the Mangekyō stage, awakened through powerful emotions and unlocking unique ocular jutsu.
And finally, the Rinnegan — the eyes of gods, marking the divide between mortals and divinity.
"If you want," Yakumo said suddenly, "I have a Sharingan here. I could implant it for you. Funny enough, it's a genjutsu-type eye. If I installed it in you, I can't even imagine what might happen."
Her words reminded Hikari of the eye sealed away in his personal storage — the one that once belonged to Uchiha Shisui, taken from Danzō's right eye socket.
"Really? Then take a look at it," he said. "But you just want to study it, right? Not implant it yourself?"
"Exactly," Yakumo replied. "I have no interest in replacing my eyes."
With a wave of her hand, she conjured a mirror through genjutsu and looked into it, playfully winking at her reflection.
"I still prefer these eyes. No matter how powerful another pair might be, they could never be as precious as my own."
"If Orochimaru had your mindset, he wouldn't have been blinded by his obsession with the Mangekyō. He might've actually progressed after all these years," Hikari sighed.
He didn't admire Orochimaru's personality, but he respected his courage — his willingness to study science in a world ruled by ninjutsu.
It wasn't about morality, but innovation.
If Orochimaru hadn't become so fixated on the Sharingan, with his research ability, he could've accomplished so much more.
Even Kabuto, after Orochimaru's death, managed to uncover the secrets of Yin-Yang Release and summon Uchiha Madara's body — using special materials.
Kabuto himself admitted everything he achieved was built upon Orochimaru's foundation.
Thinking about it that way... Orochimaru truly was a genius.
But his obsession with the Sharingan blinded him, and the strain of his Reincarnation Technique weakened his soul, driving him into madness — a pathological desire for the power of those eyes.
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