"Everyone—why're you all here?" Naruto gaped, a bit flustered, as a crowd of people poured into the room.
Hikari, with her Byakugan activated long before they even stepped through the door, wasn't surprised at all.
The group placed their bouquets and baskets of fruit on the bedside table, quickly filling up the space until they had to start stacking things on the floor.
"Of course we're here to visit you in the hospital! Right, Akamaru?" Kiba grinned.
"Woof woof woof!" Akamaru barked in agreement.
Kiba reached up to ruffle Akamaru's fur atop his head.
The pup panted happily, hopping from Kiba's head to his right shoulder.
"It's the weekend, and we had nothing better to do at home. We heard you guys were hurt pretty bad, so we figured we'd come check on you," Shikamaru said with his usual laid-back attitude.
But everyone in the room knew: getting the lazy Shikamaru out of bed on a weekend to trek all the way to the hospital was no small feat.
"My injuries are already healed!" Naruto scratched the back of his head, grinning so wide his eyes practically sparkled.
For someone like Naruto, who'd never been popular, having so many friends show up to visit was overwhelming in the best way.
"Here, Naruto." Inoichi, still wrapped in bandages across his back, handed Naruto a freshly washed apple, his teal eyes brimming with sincerity. "If it weren't for you, we'd probably have been eaten by some beast by now. Thanks."
"Heh heh heh heh!" Naruto took the apple with both hands, giggling like an idiot.
He was visibly getting carried away, his spiky blond hair practically blooming like a sunflower in full glory.
Though Hikari knew how much this moment meant to Naruto, she still turned her face away, unable to stomach his embarrassing display.
Too cringeworthy. Even her Byakugan could barely handle it.
Chōji pulled a huge bag of snacks from his pocket and handed it to Hikari. "My favorite barbecue-flavored chips. Get well soon!"
Ino immediately shot him a glare. "Idiot Chōji, you can't eat greasy stuff like chips when you're recovering!"
"But… when I eat them, I feel better super fast," Chōji mumbled, clutching the bag of chips, looking a bit lost.
"It's fine, Chōji. My injuries are mostly healed anyway," Hikari reassured him.
"Really?" Chōji's gentle face lit up at her words.
"Wishing you a speedy recovery," Shino and Hinata said as they stepped forward to offer their blessings.
Hikari hadn't expected these two to show up.
She barely knew Shino due to his low-key presence, and as for Hinata—well, her relationship with the Hyūga clan's heiress was probably the frostiest of all.
Hinata, sensing Hikari's confusion, blushed slightly and said in a soft voice, "We were saved thanks to Kazama-sensei's rescue. Thank you for helping avenge him."
"Hm." Shino gave a curt nod, but through his sunglasses and high collar, Hikari could see the sincerity on his face.
"Kazama-sensei?" Hikari asked.
Realizing she didn't know about Kazama Yue, the group eagerly filled her in, talking over each other until she finally pieced it together.
The wound on Yagetsu's chest had been from a battle with Kazama Yue.
No wonder she hadn't connected the dots—Kazama Yue, someone even she couldn't defeat, had managed to pierce Yagetsu's Lightning Release Armor. If that injury hadn't slowed Yagetsu down, their fight would've been even tougher.
Beep beep beep…
As they chatted, little specks of emotion began drifting from the bed next door.
Sasuke, maintaining his cool and aloof demeanor, lay there, his head radiating frustration with a faint trace of envy and jealousy floating like willow catkins. It was impossible for Hikari to ignore.
Having just survived the Uchiha clan's massacre, Sasuke wasn't exactly in the mood for the cheerful bustle around him.
Ino and Sakura, leading Sasuke's fan club, quietly watched his profile, their eyes practically overflowing with worry and pity.
These people had nothing to do with Hikari—they were clearly here for Sasuke. But they didn't know how to comfort him, and Sasuke's icy aura kept even his fan club at a distance.
If even they couldn't approach him, the others—who weren't close to Sasuke—definitely wouldn't dare.
For a moment, the hospital room felt split in two: one side buzzing with the joy of survival, the other steeped in the loneliness of loss.
People's joys and sorrows really are worlds apart.
"So, Naruto, how'd you guys take down that terrifying guy?" Kiba, who'd seen firsthand how fearsome Yagetsu was, looked at Naruto with curiosity.
"Well, we—" Naruto started.
Crunch!
Hikari, somehow already munching on a bag of chips, chewed loudly while staring at Naruto.
He froze mid-sentence, his face stiffening as he stammered, too nervous to continue.
"The Hokage said it's classified," Hikari cut in, using Sarutobi Hiruzen as a convenient shield.
She was worried Naruto's big mouth might accidentally spill something he shouldn't, so she'd warned him to keep quiet before everyone arrived.
Her Kaguya clan's Shikotsumyaku had already been exposed to Sarutobi, but there was no need to broadcast it to the world.
Her ability also held a hidden economic value that Hikari absolutely couldn't let anyone discover.
In the shinobi world, chakra-conducting metals were insanely expensive. The Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God kunai were made of such material, each one costing a fortune most ninja couldn't afford. Yet the demand for chakra metals was insatiable.
Hikari's Shikotsumyaku-produced bones were harder than metal, could stretch and morph at will, and conducted chakra with a perfect 100% efficiency.
Compare that to the best chakra-conducting metals on the market, which topped out at around 80% efficiency—or 90% with the finest craftsmanship—and Hikari's ability was in a league of its own.
Realizing she was a walking goldmine of chakra-conducting material, Hikari always made sure her bones disintegrated after use to keep her secret safe.
Luckily, Sarutobi didn't know the full extent of her power, or he might not have been so quick to claim he had no designs on her kekkei genkai.
Seeing Hikari invoke the Hokage, Shikamaru and the others dropped the topic.
After chatting a bit longer, they started to say their goodbyes.
As they left, Shikamaru, acting as the group's spokesperson, placed a beautifully wrapped sealed box on Hikari's bed, tied with a delicate bow—clearly Ino's handiwork.
"We've said it a bunch already, but thanks again. This is just a little something from all of us. Hope you like it."
Hikari's Byakugan had already seen through the box's lid.
Five scrolls, each marked with a clan name: Yamanaka (Yin), Nara (Yin), Inuzuka (Yang), Akimichi (Yang), Aburame (Yang).
Even Hikari, usually so composed, couldn't hide the spark of excitement in her eyes.
Knowing her sensory abilities, Shikamaru saw her pause and chuckled. "No need to stress. I checked with my dad, and he said we should properly thank you for saving us. These are just basic techniques—nothing secret or sensitive from our clans. You can take them without worry. Honestly, we couldn't think of anything else you might like."
"Yeah, Hikari, just accept it!" the others chimed in, their young faces full of sincerity.
"Well… okay! Thank you, guys. I love it!" Hikari said, unable to resist the gift of Yin and Yang chakra nature knowledge.
She knew these clans wouldn't share their true secret techniques, so these were likely just general Yin and Yang training methods. Still, for her, they were priceless.
She'd already mastered Water and Wind, and she could learn Lightning, Earth, and Fire from Sarutobi. The only two elusive chakra natures—Yin and Yang—had now unexpectedly fallen into her hands.
Her plan to fuse all seven chakra natures into her kekkei tōta was, without her realizing it, complete.
As Shikamaru and the others left, Hikari looked at the precious gift box, unable to hide her joy.
If Kurama popped out of Naruto's stomach right now, it'd see orange bubbles of happiness fizzing above her head.
Guess you really can't stay unlucky forever.
To avoid the fallout from the Uchiha massacre, she'd done nothing but train in the Forest of Death, only to get targeted by Cloud ninja. A former Kage-level shinobi with no chakra signature to detect, weakened but still packing overpowered jutsu—what rotten luck.
But now, good things were piling up, proving that old saying: When things hit rock bottom, they can only go up.
Hikari, thrilled but not losing her head, knew these gifts weren't just out of gratitude. Her strength—killing a Cloud elite jōnin at six and a half—had likely spread through the village. Her name was probably already on every major clan leader's desk.
With the Third Hokage getting old, Hikari's potential made her a future powerhouse, maybe even a candidate for Hokage someday.
Like Sarutobi, the clans knew it was better to build ties with her now while she was young. Later, when she was stronger, basic jutsu knowledge wouldn't cut it.
Would anyone try to suppress her to keep her from vying for Hokage? Unlikely. She was too young. By the time she was old enough to compete, it'd be decades—maybe twenty, thirty, or even fifty years. Konoha was only sixty-something years old. Suppressing her now would be like the First Hokage targeting Minato Namikaze for fear of him stealing the Hokage seat—absurd.
Her age was perfect: potential, strength, and no conflicts.
The seeds she'd planted when she entered the Ninja Academy were finally bearing fruit.
Hikari let out a long breath.
The gift box tore open with a gust of Wind Release, revealing the neatly arranged Yin and Yang scrolls.
"I'm checking out of the hospital tomorrow!" she declared.
"Huh? Are your injuries really healed?" Naruto asked, spitting an apple core into his hand.
As someone who'd been there that night, he knew better than anyone how bad Hikari's wounds were.
"Pretty much," Hikari said, touching her bandaged chest. There was still a faint twinge of pain, but it wasn't a problem.
She was eager to leave for two reasons: the Lightning Release Chakra Mode and these Yin-Yang scrolls were too tempting, and her Shikotsumyaku, after absorbing some of Kurama's chakra, was an unknown quantity. She wanted to see what changes her kekkei genkai had undergone.
"Awesome! I've been dying to get out of here," Naruto said. With his Uzumaki vitality and Kurama's healing, his minor injuries had healed that same night. He'd only stayed because leaving would've left Hikari and Sasuke alone in the room.
"Too bad all these fruits and flowers will go to waste," Naruto said, smacking his lips, his blue eyes sneaking glances at the brooding boy in the next bed.
Hikari gave a knowing smile.
The bond between "Sasuke" and "Naruto" was still strong.
The fruit could obviously be taken home, so it wouldn't go to waste. Naruto clearly wanted to give it to Sasuke but couldn't make the call since some belonged to Hikari. He was worried she'd disagree and cause tension with Sasuke, so he was being roundabout.
Who says Naruto's dumb? When it comes to Sasuke, his emotional intelligence is off the charts.
Hikari, in a great mood from the scrolls, wasn't about to be stingy over some fruit.
"Yeah, it'd be a shame to waste it. Go give it to Sasuke," she said.
"Heh heh!" Naruto grinned, grabbing the pile of fruit and heading to Sasuke's bedside. "We're leaving tomorrow, so—"
"No," Sasuke cut him off, hands forming an inverted triangle as he leaned against his pillow, his tone cold as ice.
Naruto's face fell, his kindness brushed off. But thinking of Sasuke's recent tragedy, his expression softened, though his voice stayed defiant. "I'm just the delivery guy. Hikari said to give it to you, so take it up with her." He plopped the fruit on Sasuke's table and walked off.
Hikari, who'd been subtly using her Byakugan to check their chakra, blinked in surprise. She'd been curious if Asura and Indra's powers would stir during their interaction, but Naruto had dragged her into it.
Sasuke's eyes flicked to her.
Her silver hair spilled over her shoulders, her blindfolded eyes seeming to pierce through him. Sitting cross-legged on her bed, she radiated the aura of a true powerhouse.
Hikari wasn't like the fangirls at the academy. She didn't take nonsense. Sasuke could snap at Naruto or Sakura, but he wouldn't dare act up in front of Hikari, who'd just taken down an elite jōnin.
After all, that night, Itachi had shown him what an elite jōnin was capable of. In Sasuke's mind, Hikari was on par with Itachi.
He opened his mouth, but no harsh words came out, and he couldn't bring himself to say anything soft either.
In the end, he stayed silent, emotions like disappointment, fear, and confusion swirling above him.
"I've been through something like you have," Hikari said, her voice calm as she looked at him. "My parents and clan were destroyed in a disaster."
Sasuke slowly raised his head, meeting her steady gaze.
"Being negative won't solve anything. It just makes things worse. That's something I learned the hard way, over a long time."
Sasuke wanted to argue, to call her out for preaching, but he could feel the sincerity in her tone.
"I'm not trying to change you," Hikari continued, reading his mood even without the emotional specks. "Pain like that can't be replaced or fixed. You have to work through it yourself. Seeing you like this reminds me of myself back then, so I'm sharing what I've learned, hoping you'll take fewer detours, waste less time.
"That's all."
Naruto and Sasuke both looked at her, their expressions complex.
To think that someone as strong as Hikari had such a tragic past. People's sorrows might not connect, but their fates could be strikingly similar.
Sasuke's lips trembled, the blood of that night still vivid in his mind. "I don't understand…"
"If you want revenge, get strong and kill your enemy. If you have questions, get stronger and force the answers out of them. You're not clueless about how to solve the problem—you just lack the means to do it."
With that, Hikari turned away, done with Sasuke, who seemed to be processing her words.
She'd said enough for today. If she weren't in such a good mood, and if Sasuke's state didn't mirror her own past, she wouldn't have bothered.
Her fingers formed a cross in front of her chest.
Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!
Boom!
The bed creaked under the strain.
As the smoke cleared, five identical Hikaris appeared on the bed.
The four clones exchanged glances, each grabbing a scroll and sitting on the floor to study.
Hikari's real body leaned against her pillow, unrolling the Akimichi (Yang) scroll, diving into her studies.
Crunch! Crunch!
She munched on Chōji's barbecue chips while flipping through the scroll.
Her Byakugan swept over Naruto and Sasuke, catching their wide-eyed stares at her shadow clones. They clearly knew the secret of using shadow clones to train faster.
If Kaguya Ōtsutsuki ever revived, Naruto and Sasuke would likely be the ones to stop her. Hopefully, they'd grow even stronger than in the original story.
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