For Uchiha Hikari, pulling the Nine-Tails' clone out of Naruto's body was more of a happy accident than a calculated move.
Still…
Now that she had the Nine-Tails' chakra in her hands, it'd be a waste not to experiment with it a bit. The question was how to get the Nine-Tails to play along.
Forcing control with the Sharingan, like Obito or Madara, wasn't the right way to approach it. And building trust with the Nine-Tails over time, like Naruto did, felt way too tedious. So, Uchiha Hikari decided to take a more practical route: a deal where both sides get what they want to tap into the Nine-Tails' chakra.
And for that…
Leaking a few secrets to the Nine-Tails was a key step.
If she could spark its curiosity about worlds beyond the ninja realm, that'd be her chance to make an offer.
…
Over the next couple of days, Uchiha Hikari stayed briefly at a hotel by the Yangtze River.
During that time, Bulma sent a few sets of glass containers through the chat group, saying they were prepped by Dr. Brief. They could withstand high temperatures and preserve blood sample viability as much as possible. Hikari used them to collect more blood samples from Constantine and Xia Mi, sealing them into scrolls to send to Dr. Gero and Orochimaru later.
"Speaking of which…"
Hikari suddenly had a thought. "Maybe it's time to add Orochimaru to the private chat list."
Since she was from the Naruto world, and the other group member from that world was, well, dead, she was completely in the dark about what was happening back home while she was in other worlds. There was always a chance something big could go down, and by the time she got back, it'd already be over.
In that case, having a contact in the Naruto world would be smart.
Orochimaru was a solid choice, though his scheming nature meant he'd probably overthink things.
Other options? Shisui, Karin, or Naruto could work, too.
"…I'll think it over."
"No rush. I can decide after weighing all the options," Hikari mused, not in a hurry to make a call. That morning, she called Xia Mi and the others to head back to the Kuimen Pass area.
It'd been a few days since the "Gundam incident."
Things around Kuimen Pass had been calm. Outsiders, local fishermen, and the Three Gorges Dam staff seemed unaffected, going about their daily routines. Only hushed rumors spread by word of mouth circulated in the shadows.
For example, guesses about Uchiha Hikari's identity as the "Gundam pilot" ranged from Kira Yamato to even Shinji Ikari. Hikari just let the rumors slide—there was no way they'd pin her down with so little to go on.
…
"There seem to be more fishing boats around here than a few days ago," Esdeath remarked, scanning the area from a small hill near the riverbank.
"Yeah," Xia Mi agreed, nodding. She softly chanted a few words in dragon tongue, and an invisible force rippled from her, spreading like transparent waves around her. It almost looked like high-level Observation Haki, but in reality…
—*Spirit: Bloodline Connection.*
This spirit ability heightened her sensitivity to bloodlines, letting her detect dragon-blooded individuals across vast distances. It manifested as red threads, visible only to the user, linking them to others with dragon blood, even if they were out of sight.
Originally, only Manboshin, a specialist from the Cassell Execution Department, had this ability.
But for Xia Mi, a dragon king with a knack for learning and mimicking, picking it up wasn't too hard.
"There are people with dragon blood on a few of those fishing boats—probably human hybrids," Xia Mi said, closing her eyes briefly before opening them again. She pointed toward a stretch of the riverbank shaded by trees. "From what I can sense, their blood purity averages around C-rank, but there's at least one B-rank or higher."
"Oh?" Hikari raised an eyebrow. "You can even tell their blood purity?"
"Yup," Xia Mi nodded. "The threads *Bloodline Connection* shows represent the target's strength. The darker the thread, the purer the bloodline… though it's a different story for dragon kings."
Dragon kings could, to an extent, enforce a "magic ban," blocking others from using spirit abilities on them and even turning the bloodline resonance against the user to disrupt or kill them. As a dragon king, Xia Mi didn't have to worry about that—just a slight discomfort at most.
Hikari gazed at the fishing boats in the distance, guessing, "C-rank hybrids… probably from Cassell College, right?"
"Or… maybe a local Chinese hybrid faction?" she added, unsure.
Since they were close to the Three Gorges Dam, Hikari didn't want to stir up too much trouble and disturb the locals. She switched to her mage form, used her "mini bracelet" to shrink herself to thumb-sized, and took off with Sky Dance, planning to get a closer look.
Xia Mi blinked, stunned. "Wait… that gadget's something you made with your 'Spirit' authority, too, Hikari-nee?"
"Yup," Hikari nodded casually.
Her identity as the White King was already confirmed in Xia Mi's eyes, so pulling out weird gadgets and chalking it up to her White King powers was an easy excuse. If she could pilot a Gundam, a bracelet that shrinks her body was hardly surprising.
With that, Hikari flew toward the "Bronze City" based on her memory.
Though the Bronze City was a "Nibelungen," unlike the one under the capital's subway, it had a physical presence. It didn't move, staying quietly at the riverbed, waiting for the next destined visitor.
Hikari circled above to get a read on the hybrids in the area, then dove underwater in her shrunken form, cloaking herself with "ki." She took out a blood sample from Constantine, dipped her finger in it, and smeared it on the "living spirit" at the entrance.
*Click—*
With the sound of gears turning, the Bronze City's gates opened once more.