Perhaps because of his training, his features had sharpened. He looked mature and rugged.
Raizen seemed far more grown-up than others his age.
He wasn't frail like most of his classmates, nor was he a pure brute from the Land of Lightning.
"Soar in the sky again?"
Hyūga Natsu whispered the words to herself. A faint, almost imperceptible ripple passed through her lowered eyes.
It was a vision she had never dared to imagine—too distant, too luxurious.
She pressed her lips together, adjusted the position of the gift box, and finally said softly
"That's an interesting way of putting it, Raizen-kun."
With that, she gave a polite bow and turned to walk away into the distance.
Raizen watched her retreating figure, the corners of his mouth curving up in a barely noticeable smile.
A caged bird might not dare spread its wings right now, but once a seed was planted, it would eventually sprout.
The Hyūga branch family had never truly accepted their fate.
The Caged Bird Seal simply forced many to suppress their true thoughts and put on a mask of obedience.
Attitude was the mask of the heart.
For now, Raizen only wanted to plant a seed in Hyūga Natsu's mind...not recruit her yet.
He couldn't remove the seal at this point. He couldn't even offer her a pie in the sky.
But in the future… Hyūga Natsu would grow up to be quite attractive. An early investment wouldn't hurt.
With that thought, Raizen turned and headed home.
If he kept acquiring entries like this, his Sharingan would become extremely powerful even without evolving.
One day, perhaps he would even gain an entry that negated the side effects of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Then he wouldn't need to transplant Hashirama cells or clone a pair of Mangekyō for himself.
"Too far ahead."
Raizen shifted his thoughts to another matter.
After early graduation, would he be assigned to a three-man team? Or would he join the Uchiha Police Force and become a glorified village security officer?
Maybe even a medical ninja at Konoha Hospital?
"Why hasn't that broken streetlamp been fixed yet?"
A complaining voice drifted from a dimly lit alley.
It was a narrow street.
"Eh? You can actually see where you're going? You're walking so fast!"
A red-haired woman squinted through the faint light, sizing up Raizen in the dark.
The light came from a working streetlamp far away.
"I can see."
Raizen turned his head, slightly surprised.
The woman had a hairpin in her red hair.
She wore a white jacket with the Uzumaki clan symbol on the shoulders, paired with short chainmail-like shorts that revealed smooth thighs, complemented by long boots that gave her a striking, youthful look.
She looked vibrant and full of life.
"Such good eyesight?"
Uzumaki Kushina muttered.
She could barely make out the path herself.
"If you're scared, just follow behind me."
Raizen gestured for Kushina to walk in his wake.
Konoha's technology was quite advanced—refrigerators, display screens, and various modern conveniences existed.
But streetlights breaking was still common. Raizen hadn't seen this area renovated in ages; most of the buildings were old.
"Okay."
Kushina agreed and followed behind him.
Well, it was a different kind of scenery.
A broken streetlamp made for a rare experience for her.
She gazed toward a patch of darkness, her eyes dimming slightly.
Raizen turned his head just in time to catch the subtle change in her expression from the corner of his eye.
In the Naruto world, no matter which ninja village, people universally rejected those with "sacrificial power."
That "sacrificial power" was the power of a jinchūriki—sealing a tailed beast inside oneself at the cost of one's own existence, living in coexistence with the beast.
Unfortunately, such heroic sacrifice rarely earned true acceptance.
In the vast village of Konoha, the only place Kushina could move freely was within the circular sealing barrier centered on the Uzumaki clan shrine.
In other words, she couldn't even explore all of Konoha. Every day she saw the same scenery, trapped in the current era's "vortex," unable to break free, repeating endlessly…
And two ANBU watched her at all times.
"I'm Uchiha Raizen. What's your name?"
After walking a few steps, Raizen asked as if out of curiosity.
"I…"
Kushina glanced at the boy ahead of her, hesitating whether to give her name.
Suddenly, it felt vaguely familiar...like she had heard it somewhere before.
Kushina thought for a moment and finally remembered.
"I've heard about you from Minato. Are you the one from the Land of Lightning?"
Kushina's rosy lips parted slightly.
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