She yanked Taiyo out the door, her expression instantly darkening. She raised a hand and pulled hard on his ear.
"You little brat, how many times have I told you not to wander near the edge of the oasis unless you want trouble?"
"What if you run into dangerous people? You think I want to lose you in a hellhole like this?"
"And do you even understand what happens to ninjas in Rōran? You're not helping those guests—you're putting them in danger!"
The sharp pain made Taiyo wince, his expression twisting as he sucked in air.
"Agh~"
"Sister , my ears are gonna fall off! L-let go already~!"
"I get it, I was wrong! I won't do it again!"
At his plea, she finally released his ear and shot him a disapproving glare.
Taiyo quickly raised both hands and began rubbing his ear vigorously, muttering as he explained.
"Sister , it's only the local ninjas who vanish in Rōran, not outsiders passing through. What are you so worked up about?"
"Besides, they're just two travelers. If something does happen, it's not on us."
"Even if I didn't help them, someone else would have."
"I only did it for those two kunai, okay?"
Hearing this, She looked at Taiyo with a mixture of exasperation and affection.
"Haah…"
"I can't control what others do, but I still want you to be a good person."
"Go cook. I'll check on the guests."
She turned and walked toward the wooden house, while Taiyo went off to pile dry wood and start a fire.
When She stepped inside, she saw Uchiha Hikaru and Uchiha Saya sitting quietly beside one another. She walked over to Hikaru and spoke softly.
"I'm sorry my brother brought you in without permission… Please, once you've rested, leave this place."
"Rōran's native shinobi often go mad for no reason… and then they vanish."
"Even visiting ninjas—some of them disappear mysteriously after staying too long."
"You two should leave while you still can."
Hikaru's brows furrowed. He extended his senses and spread his chakra through the surroundings, silently analyzing the flow of energy.
A moment later, he nodded.
"Thanks for the warning. We'll be cautious and leave tomorrow."
"But… do you know what's going on with Taiyo?"
She nodded bitterly.
"I do. But I can't stop him. All I can do is pretend not to know."
"Our father went insane after he tried refining chakra… and then he vanished."
"Taiyo's always hoped to find him, but that's impossible. The desert's too vast, and even if he's still out there… he's probably dead, his body eaten by wild beasts."
Hikaru didn't press further. This was their family's tragedy—he had no right to interfere.
But he already suspected the truth: their father had likely gone mad from exposure to the dragon vein's chakra.
Back when he was standing on the edge of the oasis, Hikaru had only barely sensed the aura of the dragon vein.
But now, after hearing her story and focusing more deeply, he could clearly feel it—there was something deeply wrong with the chakra here.
The chakra now was wildly unstable—far more violent than it would become in the future.
It hadn't yet coalesced into a single core, but was scattered across the land, unstable and unpredictable. There was a faint tendency for it to gather and stabilize, but at this rate, it might take another five hundred years before it became the dragon vein he remembered from the future.
This chaotic, feral chakra reminded Hikaru of the natural chakra in the three great sage regions.
In Mount Myōboku, if a person couldn't control the natural energy they absorbed, they'd begin to transform into a frog, and eventually become a stone statue.
He hadn't seen the sage chakra of Shikkotsu Forest firsthand, but he imagined failure there might turn someone into a puddle of sludge—or merge them into the body of the Great Slug.
As for Ryūchi Cave, according to Orochimaru, those who failed were either assimilated into snakes… or their minds were consumed before they could even transform.
It seemed the dragon vein's chakra had its own devastating side effect—it didn't reshape the body, but attacked the mind, damaging brain structure and inducing madness.
This explained why Hikaru had been unaffected before. The dragon vein chakra back then had been far gentler—nothing compared to the Mangekyō's chakra and ocular power.
No wonder his Mangekyō Sharingan had evolved and mutated after absorbing the dragon vein's chakra.
But for the ordinary people of Rōran, their lives were deeply entangled with the oasis—meaning they were constantly exposed to trace amounts of this chakra.
As long as it wasn't refined, it would remain dormant in their bodies. But the moment they attempted to refine it, it would surge into their bloodstream, pass through their brain, and begin to corrupt them.
That was likely what had happened to Mukade. The dragon vein chakra had twisted his mind and driven him to give up his own body entirely.
As for the phenomenon of vanishing… Hikaru wasn't yet sure, but it was undoubtedly tied to the dragon vein.
Maybe Sarah's ancestors had once been the first to control this chakra. That would explain why Sarah and her bloodline carried the power to command it.
In a way, they could be called immortal sages—though without true immortality.
Not long after, Taiyo entered the house carrying a brown clay pot and set it down on the table.
"Ahahaha~ Chicken soup's ready~!"
"Sister , the pheasant you caught today is way bigger than usual."
"Perfect timing too, since we have guests. Come on, come on—eat up! This chicken soup is amazing!"
He pulled out two clay bowls, filled them generously, and placed the largest chicken legs into the ones meant for Hikaru and Saya.
But then he glanced at the spoon in his hand, confusion forming on his face.
"Uh… Master Hikaru, can he even eat this?"
"Why's it in a bowl? Is it edible…?"
Saya blank stare silenced the entire room.
Without a word, Hikaru reached out and took the clay bowl from Saya's hands. He scooped up some broth, gently blew on it, and held the spoon to Saya's lips.
"Ah~ Open up."
Seeing Hikaru's lips move, Saya instinctively opened her mouth too.
"Ah~"
But as soon as the spoon touched her lips, she clamped down—trying to chew it.
Startled, Hikaru jerked the spoon away.
"This… isn't food, you know…"
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