The matter of taking on a mentor went smoothly, without any hiccups.
Neither Sarutobi Hiruzen nor Hikari were the type to fuss over formalities.
Under the stunned gazes of two men frozen like statues, Sarutobi Hiruzen officially took Hikari as his disciple, demanding that Kakashi and the other keep it a secret, their lips sealed tight.
With other matters to attend to, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't linger. On his way out, he casually took the black Obu cloth that Gai had brought back—not as a confiscation or requisition, mind you.
This special fabric was tough to cut or tailor, and Hikari's group lacked the means to craft ninja gear. They entrusted Sarutobi Hiruzen to find someone to turn it into suitable clothing.
The next morning, bright and early.
Hikari, crawling out from under her blankets, was shocked to find:
Kakashi and Might Guy, fully dressed and ready, standing at the door, prepped to head out.
"What's with you guys?" she asked.
"Youth demands rigorous training!!!"
Might Guy, sporting a red sweatband with the word "Effort" scrawled across it, had a fiery glint in his eyes. Behind him, his training buddy looked half-asleep, like he'd just been drained dry after cultivating sage mode.
Somehow, Guy had scrounged up a few dumbbell plates, threading them onto the ends of a crystal staff. Hoisting a few tons of weight, he dragged Kakashi out for intense training.
Hikari's lightning-fast progress had lit a fire under him.
Just one month away, and Hikari had grown this much. Now, with the Third Hokage as her mentor, it wouldn't be long before she surpassed him.
No way he'd let that happen!
Guy's fighting spirit blazed, his youthful passion burning bright. "My vacation plans are ruined again," Kakashi grumbled, glaring at his best friend. His unkempt broom-like hair and aura of resentment screamed frustration.
Spotting Hikari up and about, Kakashi's eyes curved into crescent moons. He leaned in, feigning enthusiasm. "Wanna train with us?"
"Nope!"
Her Nine-Tails-inherited "sense of good and evil" blared like an alarm. Hikari shot down Kakashi's shady invitation without a second thought.
She wasn't slacking, though.
She didn't need such inefficient training methods. Thanks to her Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse), her physical strength grew rapidly without training.
Only two things held her back:
Whether her chakra, as the power source, was sufficient. The limits of human physiology.
Break those barriers, and even lying in bed all day, Hikari's physical power would keep growing until it hit another bottleneck.
Kakashi's attempt to drag her along failed. Defeated, he trudged after Guy for a run, their speed so blistering they were mere specks at the street corner in seconds.
Hikari activated her Byakugan to peek.
Guy's insane weights slowed him down, and Kakashi—lazy as he seemed—had surged ahead.
That guy, always acting laid-back, whining about not training, yet running faster than anyone.
Her Byakugan swept the surroundings, confirming no one was watching.
Finally alone, Hikari decided it was time to investigate the changes in her Shikotsumyaku.
Thud!
The door shut.
Hikari dragged a scale from under the living room sofa and stepped onto it lightly.
Whoosh!
The red needle spun 180 degrees, west to east, stopping at 250—the scale's limit, but not hers. An average adult male weighed about 70 kilos, yet she was heavier than three grown men combined.
Ordinary chairs? She barely dared move on them, afraid they'd collapse under her.
Of course, her weight had downsides and upsides.
It drained more stamina to move and hurt her agility due to inertia.
But a heavier body meant greater strength.
The same taijutsu in her hands packed a far bigger punch than most. A direct hit from her fist, without chakra to cushion it, would shatter an ordinary ninja.
Click!
Stepping off the scale, the needle snapped back to zero, trembling from the speed.
She tucked the scale back under the sofa and slipped off her loose pajamas.
Closing her eyes, she channeled chakra, connecting her meridians to her bones.
Her pale bones, streaked with ashen spots, seemed to awaken, devouring her chakra like a bottomless abyss.
Crack! Crack!
Her arm's fair skin split, bone spikes growing inch by inch, slower and more labored than usual.
Something's wrong!
Sensing the massive chakra drain, Hikari yanked it back.
Snap! Snap!
Without its energy source, the bones halted, leaving a stubby 20-centimeter spike on her arm.
"Huff… huff…"
Her chest heaved, breaths ragged. Her face paled, her chakra drained as if she'd fought a war.
Why was her Shikotsumyaku consuming so much chakra now?
Realizing something was off, Hikari sat cross-legged, observing her new Shikotsumyaku while her chakra recovered.
The bone spike's surface sprouted gray, mold-like spots, with faint ashen veins at the base.
Her skin seemed to recoil, exposing the bone's root and membrane.
Red flesh, white skin, and gray-streaked bone stood distinct yet inseparable, eerie to behold.
Grabbing a kunai, Hikari swung at the strange spike to test its hardness.
Clang!
Crack!
The kunai's sharp edge shattered on impact.
Hikari, only intending to test the bone's durability, jumped in shock.
Looking at the kunai, faint ash had crept onto its black surface where it struck the bone.
She lightly touched the ashen patch.
Crunch!
Like a brittle cookie, the steel kunai crumbled under her finger.
This… isn't this the All-Killing Ash Bones of Otsutsuki Kaguya?
Staring at the mold-like gray spot on the kunai, Hikari's mind flashed to the woman sealed on the moon.
After multiple tests and reactivating her Shikotsumyaku, she finally understood its current state.
Good news first.
It wasn't the All-Killing Ash Bones—not even close to its prototype.
In the original story, the All-Killing Ash Bones were an instant-death attack. Anything hit disintegrated with the bone.
Hikari's Shikotsumyaku, however, had slow-spreading gray spots, barely larger than a fingernail, still transitioning toward true ash bones. It was far from that touch-of-death power.
Using the Sharingan as an analogy:
Stage one of Shikotsumyaku was like the one-to-three tomoe Sharingan, capping at Jonin level.
Stage two was akin to the Mangekyo Sharingan, but weaker. Kimimaro, despite his bloodline disease, had hunted the Fourth Kazekage with Orochimaru, reaching elite Jonin strength.
Absorbing a ton of Yang Nine-Tails chakra had sparked her Shikotsumyaku, pushing it toward a third stage—akin to the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
For the Mangekyo to become Eternal, it required swapping eyes with a sibling, possibly needing Indra's chakra.
But her third-stage Shikotsumyaku? The conditions were far simpler.
Hikari closed her eyes, slowly channeling chakra into her bones.
The white bone, speckled with gray, soaked it up like a dry sponge.
Only after draining enough chakra to exhaust a Jonin did the gray spots grow slightly.
Looking at her strengthened Shikotsumyaku, Hikari opened her eyes.
No joy—only worry.
Though both were kekkei genkai, the All-Killing Ash Bones weren't like the Rabbit Hair Needle.
Even in Kaguya's hands, it was a true killing move, requiring preparation despite her vast chakra.
It was not a power Hikari could wield now.
The scary part? Advancing was too easy.
Her tests showed that feeding chakra to her bones would automatically push her Shikotsumyaku toward the All-Killing Ash Bones.
No bone transplants or weird rituals needed.
Using her Shikotsumyaku made the bones devour most of her chakra, advancing to a higher tier. Even without use, it slowly siphoned her chakra to grow stronger.
It wasn't obvious yet, but in the days since leaving the hospital, the spots on her Shikotsumyaku had multiplied, and its chakra drain had crept up.
She could handle the current drain, but if it kept growing, in a few years, only one fate awaited:
Her Shikotsumyaku would drain her chakra and life force, killing her.
"Haa…"
Her chest rose and fell.
Hikari sighed helplessly, dissolving the bone spike on her arm.
Since awakening her Shikotsumyaku in Kirigakure, she'd dreaded the bloodline disease.
Now, her worst fears were confirmed.
All because she'd absorbed a bit too much Nine-Tails chakra, triggering the third stage Kimimaro never reached, even at the cost of his life.
The Nine-Tails' power was a potent boost—maybe too potent.
Dressing again, Hikari tapped her brow with her knuckle, soothing her fraying nerves.
The Shikotsumyaku issue wasn't urgent.
At its current chakra drain, if she stopped using it, it'd take three to five years to evolve into true ash bones.
Thanks to the Three-Tails and Nine-Tails, her chakra reserves were ample, enough to sustain her for now.
What changes full ash bones might bring, she didn't know.
With her life at stake, Hikari wouldn't bet on what might happen.
Tap, tap.
Tapping her brow, she paced the room, calming down and thinking.
To solve her Shikotsumyaku problem, she saw three options:
Implant Hashirama cells to gain the Senju Sage Body. Study Yang Release, develop a reverse Eight Gates to boost vitality, and create her own Sage Body. Keep consuming tailed beast chakra—treating symptoms, not the cause.
Not knowing how much tailed beast chakra it'd take to sate her Shikotsumyaku, or what an evolved form might do to her, Hikari leaned toward the first two.
From how her Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku interacted, a Sage Body, rich in vitality and chakra, might be the key to fixing her Shikotsumyaku.
Hashirama cells were with Danzo and Orochimaru, and she lacked the strength to negotiate with them.
That left her one path.
Sorting her thoughts, her mind clear, Hikari swapped her pajamas for her usual outfit and headed out.
Konoha Hospital.
Third floor, head physician's office.
Sunlight streamed through the window, baking the black leather chair.
At the desk's corner, a pale pink succulent stretched lazily, its plump leaves glowing with a unique charm in the light.
Chihaya Toru peeled off his gloves, wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, and munched an apple while reviewing medical reports.
His brown hair hung limply over his shoulders, his gaunt cheeks sinking as he bit into the apple, looking malnourished.
If not for his white coat, no one would believe this kidney-deficient-looking guy was a head physician at Konoha Hospital.
Even less would they believe he was one of Konoha's top medical ninja.
Knock, knock, knock!
The office door rapped.
"Come in~," Chihaya drawled.
He grabbed a wet wipe, cleaned his hands, and set the apple down.
The door swung open.
Hikari, in a black t-shirt and long pants, stepped in. Her cloak, torn by Yagetsu Yuu, hadn't been replaced yet.
"Hey, Dr. Chihaya," she greeted.
"Oh, Hikari! Here to check your wound's healing?"
Chihaya's eyes flashed with surprise, a faint smile spreading across his gaunt, almost "withered" face.
Surprise, friendliness, curiosity.
Hikari glanced at the emotional cues above Chihaya's head, smiling. "Thanks for the concern. My wounds are pretty much healed."
"Good to hear."
Chihaya nodded, relieved, then studied her like a rare specimen. "You scared me half to death when they brought you in. Most people wouldn't survive those injuries, but you recovered this fast. Truly Konoha's number one genius!"
Facing his slightly rude stare, Hikari narrowed her eyes but let it slide.
Ever since Sarutobi Hiruzen spread word about her, anyone with a bit of ninja knowledge looked at her like this.
The stronger the ninja, the more intense their gaze.
There's that saying: If you don't train, you see me like a frog in a well gazing at the moon. If you do, you see me like a speck in the vast sky.
Only those who'd endured the grueling path of a ninja could grasp the insane talent it took to become an elite Jonin at her age.
Looking at Hikari's healthy, rosy complexion, Chihaya's curiosity stirred. "If your wounds are healed, what brings you here?"
"I'm here to ask a favor, Dr. Chihaya."
"What's that?"
Chihaya's eyes sharpened, his expression serious.
The Third Hokage had personally instructed special care for Hikari during her stay, even pushing her wheelchair himself.
That level of attention swayed many, including him.