"No."
Standing beside Hyūga Yui, the short-haired maid Eri stepped forward and shielded the little girl behind her.
A hint of confusion flashed in Mitsuki's eyes as he asked, "Eh? Why not?"
Eri answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Lady Yui is still so young. She can't be getting this close to a stranger she just met."
And besides—he's this handsome. Girls of the Hyūga Main Family had no freedom to choose who they loved or married. She absolutely couldn't allow this handsome guy in front of her to leave too deep an impression on Yui. Otherwise, Yui's life would not be a happy one.
Truth be told, Eri simply lacked experience. She didn't know what "power" truly meant in the ninja world.
"But Mitsuki isn't a stranger, and Yui is already five years old — she's not that little anymore." Heiji felt Eri was being overly protective.
Eri was about to retort when something suddenly clicked. She whipped her head around toward Heiji.
"W-wait… what? You mean he's… that Shimizu Mitsuki?!"
"That's correct." Hiashi quietly delivered the killing blow from the side.
Eri instantly felt as if she had just committed a monumental mistake. After all, Yui's Main Family status was only preserved because of him.
She immediately kneeled down into a full dogeza, deeply bowing her head.
"I'm so sorry, Mitsuki-sama! I didn't realize it was you! Please forgive me!"
Hiashi stepped in to soften the blow.
"Eri is very fond of Yui. Ever since learning she wouldn't be branded with the Caged Bird Seal, she volunteered to become her personal attendant. She must have spoken out of excessive concern."
Mitsuki waved his hand dismissively.
"It's fine. I forgive you. You can get up."
Honestly, Mitsuki didn't feel she had done anything wrong. In her eyes, he was just a stranger—and yeah, he had been a bit abrupt just now.
Still… how was someone this handsome being treated with such suspicion? He had even fooled Mei back in Kirigakure!
Also — did Hiashi seriously not tell anyone who was coming?
While Mitsuki was idly thinking, he felt a tug at his sleeve. Looking down, he saw the little girl, Yui, staring up at him.
"So you're Big Brother Mitsuki?"
Her soft, milky voice made him want to pinch her slightly chubby cheeks.
"Oh? Your brother told you about me?"
"Mhm! Big Brother said you're the one who gave Yui a second life." Yui blinked at him, eyes full of worship.
"Eh… was I that amazing…?" Mitsuki felt oddly embarrassed.
He could already imagine veteran "Mitsuki-fanboy" Heiji bragging endlessly to his little sister.
Uchiha Clan Grounds
Recently, En Uchiha had heard that Mitsuki had killed the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist by himself, and his mood had been fantastic.
A few days ago, he even went to drink for hours before Kento's grave.
En always carried guilt toward Mitsuki.
In his mind, revenge against the Seven Ninja Swordsmen was his responsibility. If a senior failed to complete something and it was left to the next generation, that was the mark of incompetence.
But he had to save his eyes for Ruri.
His original plan was: once Ruri awakened her Mangekyō, he would give his eyes to her, then embark alone on a suicidal journey to Kirigakure to kill the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
His dōjutsu wasn't offensive in nature, so losing his eyes only affected survivability, not attack power. But by then, he planned to fight with the resolve to die anyway. As long as he retained enough chakra to activate Susano'o, it was enough.
He had even been practicing sensory ninjutsu every day to compensate for post-blindness mobility issues.
But life always took unexpected turns.
Mitsuki really was a monster. He solo-wiped all Seven Swordsmen.
En felt as though all the preparations he'd made over the years had become a joke. But if every joke in his useless life ended like this, he wouldn't mind more of them.
He wished the Third Mizukage had died too. After all, he was the one who created the Seven Ninja Swordsmen and the one who started the war.
Hiruzen's vigorous propaganda really paid off.
Even a drunk, shut-in, single father like En knew of Mitsuki's brilliance on the Mist battlefield. Let alone the rest of the ninja world.
Mitsuki's bounty on the underground black market was already close to three Asumas, thanks to the added "bonus" that whoever killed him could also claim the seven special blades he took from Kirigakure.
A walking jackpot.
Whether he was a jackpot or a dragon depended on who came for him. Either way, a certain veteran bounty hunter — Kakuzu — was already preparing to act.
Good luck to him.
Leaving the Mitsuki residence behind, Ruri returned home and went straight to En.
She had too many guesses she needed to confirm about the voice in her mind.
"How are my eyes?"
Ruri cut straight to the point, facing En, who was sipping alcohol on the sofa.
Homura smirked mysteriously."Oh? Did you already sense something? Or did your future self tell you something?"
Just as she thought.
Ruri's guess had been correct — what she heard was indeed her future self's voice.
A norma sharingan couldn't have such an ability, which meant…
A spark of joy flickered in Ruri's eyes, though she kept her composure.
"Did your experiment succeed?"
En grinned proudly, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, the red pattern of his Sharingan had rearranged itself into a six-petaled, snowflake-like shape.
"This is…"
Ruri stared at the beautiful snowflake pattern in a daze.
"This is your Mangekyō Sharingan."
Last year, after the war with Sunagakure, Ruri and En had performed an experiment.
Step one: Homura killed himself in front of Ruri, then used Heaven's Reversal to reverse time, restoring himself to the moment right before death.
Originally, En wanted Ruri to kill him without knowing his Mangekyō ability. That was the cleanest method.
But he knew his daughter. She would never lay a hand on family.
So En simply explained the ability to her beforehand — but she still refused.
In the end, Homura had no choice but to kill himself.
Perhaps because Ruri was mentally prepared, despite witnessing her father's death and watching his blood spread across the floor, her Sharingan only barely began to evolve — the tomoe spinning rapidly, almost linking into a new pattern…
…but it always stopped at the final step.
En killed himself several more times.
Still nothing.
After a period of reflection, they finally reached one conclusion.
"Ruri… do you maybe not love your father enough?" (╥﹏╥)
"Go die, you idiot!"