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🕑 Added 2025-06-19 16:29:40 +0000 UTCChapter 131: What Do You Think Life Is?!
The words had barely left her mouth.
A terrifying surge of power erupted from Eri's body!
There was no buildup, no warning—just in an instant, the air shattered. Crimson streaks of blood exploded from the Grass ninja around them! Their battle-hardened bodies, forged through years of training, seemed as fragile as paper, tearing apart at the slightest touch!
—Commandment: Judgment!
The ultimate ability from the Dragon Clan world, a force embodying the concept of “absolute death,” unleashed its fury in the corridor of the Grass Village hospital!
From where Uchiha Hikari and Eri stood, everything in their line of sight was obliterated in a heartbeat!
A torrent of blood sprayed outward, blooming like massive scarlet flowers!
“Death!!”
Eri spoke again, her voice ringing out as she swung her right hand.
Her slender fingers traced five parallel arcs through the air.
This time, the power of Judgment was even more devastating than before.
The moment the word left her lips, an invisible domain expanded from Eri, engulfing the entire corridor and the hospital rooms on either side! Massive cracks appeared everywhere—on the Grass ninja standing in the hallway, on those rushing in from the sides, even on the walls themselves. In a split second, they all crumbled into heaps of shredded flesh and broken stone!
“Eri! Stop it, now!”
After two consecutive uses of Judgment, veins bulged on Eri’s face and hands.
Hikari, holding Eri’s hand, could feel the girl’s blood surging wildly, her body temperature spiking. Those gentle, obedient eyes now glowed with a molten gold hue.
—This was bad news.
The cost of using Judgment was the rapid erosion of dragon blood, which could lead to unpredictable consequences.
Seeing Eri about to speak again, Hikari didn’t hesitate. She shouted and quickly covered Eri’s mouth with her hand.
The moment she did, her left hand and forearm erupted with dense, crisscrossing wounds. Flesh tore open, blood sprayed, revealing jagged white bone beneath. Unbearable pain hit her like a tidal wave, but the cracks in her bones began to mend, new flesh sprouting… only to tear apart again in the next instant!
Rip, heal, rip again…
This cycle repeated seven or eight times in a single second!
Blood splattered onto Eri’s face, snapping her out of her trance-like state. Her eyes slowly regained focus. She stared at Hikari’s mangled, skeletal arm, then turned back, tears welling up in her eyes with a look of panic.
“Hikari…”
She mouthed the word silently.
“Don’t worry, I’m right here.”
Hikari’s lips curved into a gentle smile.
Only after confirming Eri had calmed down did she finally release her grip on Eri’s mouth.
This was her first time experiencing the raw power of Commandment: Judgment.
It was… more brutal than she’d expected.
Even with her regenerative abilities, her left arm was nearly destroyed. Her powerful healing couldn’t keep up with the destruction. After the fourth tear, her hand was reduced to bone, and the agony of her flesh and bone shredding seven or eight times hit her all at once. Even with her incredible pain tolerance, it was almost too much to bear.
Thankfully…
As Eri stopped using Judgment, Hikari’s regeneration kicked in. New bone and flesh began sprouting from her elbow, though the process was slower than usual, as if her body was still reeling from clashing with Judgment.
“At this rate, it’ll take two or three minutes to fully regrow my arm…”
“But the blood loss is pretty bad. Rebuilding my blood supply might take even longer…”
Hikari discreetly wiped away the tears that had nearly spilled from the pain, deciding to let her arm regenerate on its own for now. Worst case, she had a Senzu Bean to fall back on. If it grew back wrong, she could always chop it off and start over…
Meanwhile, the Grass Village hospital had turned into a literal hellscape.
Dozens of Grass ninja had perished the moment Eri gave her command. Not a single body was left intact.
The walls lining the corridor were reduced to crumbling ruins.
Through the gaping holes in the walls, piles of mutilated corpses littered the hospital rooms, crimson blood pooling and flowing out, merging with the blood in the corridor to form a trickling red stream.
In the eerie silence, only one person clung to life—a red-haired woman from the Uzumaki clan, her breaths so faint they were barely audible.
“Karin…”
“What?”
Hikari waded through the blood-soaked floor, stopping beside the red-haired woman.
Eri’s Judgment had spared her, and only her.
The woman’s eyes were lifeless, unable to see, her vitality nearly gone. Yet, driven by some unshakable obsession, she stared blankly at the white ceiling, her lips trembling as she whispered “Karin” over and over.
Hikari slipped a Senzu Bean into her mouth and poured water down her throat to help her swallow.
Perhaps because her consciousness was fading, her wounds showed no signs of healing, but the bean kept her clinging to life, her breath a faint thread.
Hikari sighed, gently pulling a bloodstained bedsheet over the woman’s body with her right hand.
The air grew still for a moment.
Then, a young voice cried out from the corridor’s entrance:
“…Mom!!”
Hikari looked up to see a red-haired girl with glasses, sobbing as a burly man grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her back, tossing her like a ragdoll to someone behind him.
Beyond the man, a group of nearly a hundred Grass Village ninja gathered, clutching kunai and short swords. Their eyes burned with a mix of fear and rage as they glared at Hikari and Eri.
“Damn you! You killed the captain and the others…”
“Monsters… that woman must’ve brought this disaster upon us! Those damn Uzumaki, after all the village did for them, they dare collude with outsiders to slaughter our ninja!”
“Both of you, surrender now! Or I’ll kill this Uzumaki brat!”
“…”
Eri, still wracked with guilt over hurting Hikari, kept her lips pursed, tears streaming as she stared at Hikari’s hand, oblivious to the chaos around her.
Hikari, on the other hand, turned calmly. She pushed the red-haired woman’s bed next to Eri, then stepped to the edge of the corridor, scanning the crowd.
As she moved, the Grass ninja instinctively backed away, though they continued their pathetic display of bravado. One older “elder” held Karin by the neck, shouting threats to assert his dominance.
“…What a pathetic sight.”
Hikari closed her eyes briefly, as if she couldn’t bear to look at their ugly faces any longer. “People like you… why do you even exist in this world? What do you think life is?!”
Her voice thundered like a spring storm, and as she slowly opened her eyes, a magnificent flame blazed within them.
Behind her, a towering, dark crimson giant rose into the sky, looming like a skyscraper!
—Susanoo, Fourth Form!
Chapter 132: Bodies Burned to Ashes!
Whoosh!
The Grass Village hospital was only about three meters tall.
But the fourth form of Susanoo? A towering forty meters!
As dark red chakra flames surged, the hospital’s ceiling was ripped apart. The walls, already crumbling from the “Judgment” technique, collapsed in seconds. Huge chunks of debris crashed down, swept outward by the overwhelming force of the chakra, sending nearby Grass ninja flying. They scrambled to their feet, staring in shock.
In just a dozen seconds, the entire hospital was reduced to rubble!
“What… what is that thing?!”
The Grass ninja were dumbfounded.
They’d never seen Susanoo before.
But those eyes—those Sharingan—they recognized.
“Uchiha… from the Leaf Village! Why are they here?!”
“Is the Leaf planning to attack Grass Village?!”
“An Uchiha and an Uzumaki together… that red thing, could it be a Tailed Beast?!”
The moment they saw the Sharingan and Susanoo, most of the Grass ninja felt their courage crumble. They were used to preying on the weak, their earlier arrogance fueled by the sight of two seemingly delicate girls, Uchiha Hikari and Eri. But now, faced with terms like Sharingan, Uchiha, and Leaf Village—symbols of overwhelming power—they were terrified, barely able to muster the will to fight.
“How pathetic,” Hikari muttered.
From her vantage point high above, she scanned the crowd with cold, indifferent eyes.
Anyone who met her gaze trembled, their pupils shrinking, before collapsing to their knees in terror. In moments, dozens were kneeling.
The elder holding Karin Uzumaki hostage was shaking, collapsing to the ground. His already aged face seemed to wither ten years in an instant.
—Tsukuyomi Seal!
A few with stronger mental resistance tried to stand and slip away.
But as the tomoe in Hikari’s eyes spun, everyone felt their chakra drain rapidly. Their bodies went limp, and they collapsed again, unable to even twitch a finger.
“Damn it… why can’t I move?! Is this that Uchiha’s doing?!”
—“Yachihoko.”
Using the seal as a conduit, the Yachihoko technique drained the chakra of nearly a hundred marked Grass ninja in an instant. For the first time, these greedy, arrogant shinobi experienced what it felt like to be utterly helpless.
Susanoo drew its dark red greatsword.
Under the force of Hikari’s ocular powers, black flames ignited along the blade.
Though they didn’t know Amaterasu, the sight of a fifteen-meter-long sword wreathed in otherworldly black fire filled the Grass ninja with dread, a fear that sank deep into their souls.
But with their strength sapped, they couldn’t even beg for mercy. They could only watch as Susanoo raised the dark red blade high, pointing it to the sky.
“This strike…” Hikari exhaled softly, “is called Heaven’s Punishment!!!”
With those words, the sword swung down.
A black-and-red sword arc sliced through the air, carving a massive dark ring around the hospital ruins. In that instant, nearly a hundred Grass ninja were cleaved in two, their bodies ignited by the black flames. At thousands of degrees, they burned to charred husks in seconds, screaming in terror.
And then…
Even those charred bones were consumed by Amaterasu’s relentless flames, reduced to piles of black ash that scattered in the wind.
The air filled with the heavy smell of burnt flesh.
One strike, a hundred lives—bodies burned to ashes!!
“!!”
As the only survivor in the chaos, Karin Uzumaki stood wide-eyed, frozen in a daze, staring at the scene.
It wasn’t until Hikari dispelled Susanoo and walked over that Karin snapped out of it, looking like she’d just woken from a dream.
“You… I mean, you…” Karin stammered, unsure what to say.
Hikari just patted her head and nodded toward the ruins. “Go check on your mom. I don’t know if she’s still alive.”
Before activating Susanoo, Hikari had raised a Blood Coral barrier to protect Eri and the red-haired woman, ensuring they weren’t harmed by the collapsing hospital.
As Karin ran to her mother, embracing her and sobbing loudly, Eri approached Hikari with a worried look. Her dark eyes fixed on Hikari’s hand, tears streaking her face. She held up her little notebook: “Is Hikari’s hand still hurting?”
“Nah, it’s fine. See?” Hikari smiled, raising her fully healed left hand.
Eri scribbled again: “I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I thought they were going to hurt you… you were bleeding, and I felt so bad.”
“Hm?” Hikari paused, caught off guard.
She’d assumed Eri’s actions were driven by anger at the horrific scene in the hospital corridor. But in truth…
Eri probably hadn’t thought that deeply.
She’d simply believed the Grass ninja, who’d bitten people to death, were coming for her and Hikari. In a panic, she’d acted to protect them—though her idea of “self-defense” was a bit too devastating for normal people.
“It’s okay,” Hikari said. “They were the ones in the wrong. You were just trying to protect me. But that power puts too much strain on your body. Don’t use it again without my permission, alright?”
She smiled, wiping the tears from Eri’s face and patting her head. “Also, your voice is actually really nice.”
“…But I can’t talk,” Eri wrote, pressing a finger to her lips. She bent her knees slightly, leaning into Hikari’s touch, her pale cheeks flushing faintly.
While they spoke, Karin’s sobs suddenly stopped, replaced by a cry of joy: “Mom!”
Compared to typical patients, the red-haired woman had lost nearly all her blood, her body and organs on the brink of failure. Even a senzu bean couldn’t heal her instantly.
Hikari had been prepared to handle her funeral arrangements, even carrying crystal coffins from the Dragon Ball world in her universal capsule—previously used to preserve Tanjiro’s family.
But…
The red-haired woman’s will to live was strong. Her faint, threadlike breathing steadied, and her stiff muscles began to soften.
“Karin, right?” Hikari said, walking to the hospital room and checking the woman’s condition. She extended a hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Uchiha Hikari, and this is Uesugi Eri.”
“I-I’m Karin Uzumaki, and this is my mom, Miya Uzumaki…”
Chapter 133: Karin, Do You Know About Science? (Third Update)
“…Miya?”
When she heard the name, Uchiha Hikari paused, a subtle expression crossing her face.
Could it be…
Was Karin’s dad named Uzumaki Hiroshi?
Meanwhile, Karin cautiously reached out to touch Hikari’s finger but quickly pulled back. “Are you a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village? I heard those people earlier say…”
“No, I’m not from any ninja village.”
Hikari pointed to her smooth, unmarked forehead and added, “But I’m staying in the Leaf for now.”
“Huh?”
Karin’s mouth dropped open, her face a picture of confusion.
Hikari didn’t bother trying to explain everything in a few sentences. She nodded to the red-haired woman who had just opened her eyes, then stood up slowly. “This isn’t a safe place to stick around. Let’s find somewhere else to talk.”
And so, it was decided.
Hikari called out for the Flying Nimbus.
While waiting for the cloud to arrive and helping the red-haired woman onto it, several squads of Grass ninja, alerted by the commotion, rushed toward the hospital.
But Hikari merely let out a casual Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame, engulfing a hundred meters around her in a blazing inferno. The twenty or so Grass ninja who tried to counter with their Water Style techniques were like droplets hitting a volcano—evaporated instantly, their bodies consumed by the flames.
The Grass Village was just a small ninja settlement to begin with.
Eri’s two Judgment commands, combined with Hikari’s earlier Susanoo strike, had already wiped out more than half of the village’s chunin and above.
After casually dispatching these last few squads, no one else dared to get in their way.
With those annoying flies out of the picture, Hikari whisked everyone away on the Flying Nimbus, soaring through the air until they landed by a serene, picturesque stream. “This’ll do.”
“…Okay.”
Hikari gave a quick rundown of who she was.
When the Uzumaki mother and daughter learned she was the “head” of the Uchiha clan, their faces lit up with a mix of awe and surprise.
“So you are from the Leaf! Thank you so much for saving us!”
“No need for thanks. What’s your plan now?”
“We…”
The Uzumaki pair hesitated.
Hikari spoke up again. “If you haven’t figured it out yet, how about sticking with me for a while?”
Compared to someone like Orochimaru, Hikari and Eri had a much friendlier vibe. Plus, after the horrific ordeal they’d just endured in the Grass Village, the mother and daughter didn’t need much convincing. They nodded almost immediately.
And so, the group heading to the Land of Rice Paddies became four.
“…Lady Hikari, is this cloud made with a ninjutsu? It’s so cool…”
“It’s not a jutsu. Think of it more like a summoning beast.”
“Huh?”
“Um, is Lady Eri really not an Uzumaki? Her hair color looks so much like mine and Mom’s!”
“Well… there are a few redheads in the Sand Village too, so red hair doesn’t always mean Uzumaki.”
Karin, being only six or seven, couldn’t help her curiosity despite her mother’s warnings to behave. She peppered Hikari with questions.
Hikari answered casually, while Eri occasionally held up her little notebook to join the conversation.
Meanwhile, back in the now-chaotic Grass Village…
Two pale, white Zetsu emerged from the ground, eyeing the ruins of the Grass Village hospital.
“Well, well, what a mess,” one said.
“Facing the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan, a crushing defeat like this is only natural.”
White Zetsu like them were stationed in every major ninja village, though a small place like the Grass Village only had a handful. These spies allowed Black Zetsu to get wind of major events across the ninja world almost instantly.
“…That girl from earlier, could she be the Uchiha Hikari the organization’s been looking for? She’s the only one in the Leaf who can still use Susanoo, and her age matches up.”
“We need to report this to Black Zetsu and Obito, fast…”
After a brief exchange, the two White Zetsu sank back into the ground, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Three days after taking in the Uzumaki mother and daughter…
Hikari arrived in the Land of Rice Paddies.
Finding the Sound Village took some effort since it didn’t exactly have a neon sign pointing to it. Hikari eventually tracked down the daimyo of the land, hit him with a quick Tsukuyomi, and “persuaded” him to spill the rough location of the Sound Village.
During this time, Eri received two doses of a serum to counteract the side effects of her Judgment ability.
Thanks to the “Judgment incident,” Eri had become completely devoted to Hikari. Whether they were eating or bathing, the moment Hikari spoke, Eri would drop everything and rush to her side, obedient as a kitten.
But with Eri’s eyes practically glued to her, Hikari was starting to feel like she was the kitten…
“…How many times do I have to tell you? Put your clothes on before coming out! You can’t just wander around half-naked during a bath—someone might see you!”
“It’s fine. Hikari’s not a stranger.”
Eri held up her notebook with an innocent expression.
Hikari didn’t even want to get into the whole “stranger vs. not stranger” debate. She sighed, exasperated. “Even if you don’t care about me, think about Miya and Karin! What if a kid sees you?”
“They’re not here.”
Eri raised her notebook again.
Hikari glanced to the side.
Sure enough, Miya was off in the distance preparing dinner, and Karin, sensing the brewing argument, had scampered off to help her mom gather firewood.
“…”
Hikari let out another sigh, looking at Eri’s barely-covered state. Blushing a little, she personally helped Eri get dressed, her fingers brushing soft skin and sending her heart racing for a moment. Then she tidied up the bath, packed it back into a Capsule Corp capsule, and called it a day.
By then, Miya and Karin had finished preparing a full spread of food, calling Hikari and Eri over to eat.
Karin, just a year older than Naruto, was far more mature and well-behaved than most kids her age—probably a result of her rough, nomadic life. She was already showing signs of a budding scientist, with a fierce curiosity about the world.
In the original story, Karin was one of Orochimaru’s top assistants. If she hadn’t been so obsessed with Sasuke, her scientific achievements might’ve rivaled Kabuto’s.
Hikari’s initial plan was just to borrow some blood and tissue samples from the Uzumaki pair to study their unique physiology, hoping to see if it could be combined with Uchiha blood to artificially create a Rinnegan.
But now…
She was starting to wonder if she could train Karin to be her assistant in the ninja world.
“Karin, have you studied any ninjutsu?”
“Just a little bit about chakra refining…” Karin answered politely.
“Okay, then… do you know about science?”
“Huh?”
Karin’s face went blank with confusion.
Hikari pulled out a copy of 100,000 Whys and handed it to her. “Take a look at this. If you have any questions, come ask me. And if you’re interested in this stuff… I can help you find a teacher to get you started.”
Chapter 134: First Meeting with Orochimaru
Later that day.
Hikari Uchiha and her group stepped into the territory of her “enlightened teacher”—
The Sound Village.
At this stage, the Sound Village was clearly still in its infancy. It looked rough around the edges, with just two main roads crossing each other and a few scattered houses. The place felt nearly deserted. So, when Hikari and her unfamiliar companions showed up, they immediately drew attention.
“Who are you, and why are you trespassing in the Sound Village?”
A group of ninja wearing headbands with musical note symbols blocked their path.
Leading them was a girl with light blue pineapple-shaped hair, probably sixteen or seventeen years old.
“I’m Hikari Uchiha, a free-spirited ninja just following my whims. Tell your boss to come meet me.”
“…Uchiha? Are you from the Leaf Village?!”
The pineapple-haired girl tensed up instantly.
As one of Orochimaru’s current confidants, she knew a bit about her leader’s rocky history with the Leaf.
“I said I’m a free ninja. The Leaf Village doesn’t get to boss me around. Just tell Orochimaru my name—he’ll be interested.”
“…I don’t know any ‘Lord Orochimaru.’ Go look somewhere else!”
Guren, the pineapple-haired girl, replied with stubborn defiance.
(You literally just said “Lord,” didn’t you?)
Hikari sighed, pulling out a universal capsule case from her pocket. She picked one, tossed it, and with a puff of smoke, a set of audio equipment appeared. It began blaring a pre-recorded message at village-gate volume:
“Orochimaru! Come out! Someone’s here for you!”
“Orochimaru! Come out! Some—”
Before the audio could loop a second time, Guren and her group lunged to stop it. Hikari froze them in place with a single Binding Illusion each. Then she pulled out some earplugs, handing a pair to Eri and the Uzumaki mother and daughter.
That village-wide broadcast was pretty ear-piercing, after all.
The speakers blared for a while…
Just when Hikari started to think Orochimaru might actually be out, a subtle, chilling presence emerged nearby and rapidly closed in on her!
Whoosh!
Among everyone there, Eri was the first to sense Orochimaru.
Her earplugs were loosely fitted, and her bloodline-enhanced hearing far surpassed normal limits. But since Hikari had warned her not to use Judgment lightly, she didn’t speak. Instead, she gripped the hilt of her sword.
The moment Orochimaru’s figure appeared, the girl in the red-and-white shrine maiden outfit flashed forward, her blade slicing through the air!
Slash!
Orochimaru clearly hadn’t expected Eri to attack so suddenly.
But his Kage-level instincts kicked in. His snake-like body twisted aside, dodging the strike, and his planned sneak attack on Hikari faltered.
In that brief moment, Hikari turned around, casting a calm, fleeting glance.
Just one look.
Orochimaru’s body was pinned in place by invisible blood-red spikes from the void. Still reeling in shock, he was sliced in two by Eri’s follow-up strike.
Afterward, Eri blinked, glancing at Hikari with a hint of confusion, as if she couldn’t believe it had been that easy.
“Eri, come back behind me,” Hikari said, waving her over.
Orochimaru wasn’t someone you could kill that easily.
If Eri had used Judgment in a calculated strike, she might’ve actually finished him. But a spontaneous physical slash like that? Probably not much use.
And if Orochimaru counterattacked, it could put Eri in danger.
Sure enough…
About ten seconds later, the pile of remains on the ground twitched. A swarm of slimy white snakes slithered out, stitching the severed body back together.
Orochimaru sprang to his feet, darting twenty or thirty meters away from Hikari in the opposite direction. Only then did he turn, his greedy eyes scanning her as he spoke in his signature raspy voice:
“What incredible ocular power… to do that with just a glance. It feels amazing!”
“I never imagined the great-grandmother of the Uchiha clan would grace the Sound Village with her presence. I’m truly honored.”
“…Great-grandmother?”
The term caught not only Guren and the other Sound ninja off guard but also Karin and her mother. They couldn’t quite connect Hikari’s youthful, childlike appearance with “great-grandmother.”
Eri, meanwhile, stared warily at Orochimaru, scribbling blindly on her notebook and holding it up:
“Hikari, this guy looks so creepy.”
“The way he’s looking at you is gross. Can I use Judgment on him?”
“…No, good kids don’t go around fighting and killing all the time.”
That said, Hikari was also getting goosebumps from Orochimaru’s stare. She could kind of understand how Itachi and Sasuke felt in the original story.
But since she’d already placed her Seal on him, she let slide the “kid” disrespecting the “adult.”
“Looks like I don’t need to introduce myself further.”
“Of course not. Your reputation precedes you, Lady Hikari. Thanks to you, some very interesting things have been happening in the Leaf lately.”
Orochimaru licked his lips, his raspy voice continuing: “So, what brings you here today, Lady Hikari?”
“…I’m here to make a deal.”
Hikari got straight to the point. “Let’s be real—I’ve got some unique experimental materials. Think immortal modified humans, blood infused with the power of Words of Spirit, and tech from beyond this world. I’ll let you study them, but in return, you pledge your loyalty to me.”
“Loyalty?” Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, his expression unreadable. “Are you planning to build a faction outside the Leaf, one just for the Uchiha?”
“Nothing to do with the Uchiha. This is just my personal goal.”
“Oh?” Orochimaru tilted his head, a playful smirk crossing his face as he tried to gauge her intentions.
“Guess I need to show you a little proof.”
Hikari pulled out a sealing scroll and unfurled it.
With a poof of smoke, the Upper Moon Six siblings, Gyutaro and Daki, burst out. After months of being sealed, they quickly scanned their surroundings and lunged at Hikari. “You damn brat, locking us up like—”
A flash of steel.
Hikari didn’t even bother with Susanoo. A few casual slashes left the siblings in pieces, their heads rolling.
Yet, in moments, the severed parts knitted back together, fully healed.
The siblings snapped to their senses, recalling the humiliation and fear from their first encounter with Hikari. After a shared glance, they bolted in opposite directions, fleeing in terror.
Hikari stood there, twirling her blade, letting them run without pursuit.
“Hm?” Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. “Not an Edo Tensei body, no signs of ninjutsu, yet they heal instantly? Interesting.”
Chapter 135: Since When Did You Think I Wasn’t Using Genjutsu?
Next up, Uchiha Hikari demonstrated Commandment: Black Sun.
As she swung her long blade, a pitch-black sun wheel materialized behind her, generating a powerful gravitational field. Everything around was pulled toward it, and even Orochimaru had to dig his heels into the ground to resist being dragged in.
“A technique that manipulates gravity? So this is the power of Commandment?” he mused.
Then came the Capsule Corp capsule.
When Hikari casually tossed out a finger-sized capsule that transformed into a full-blown private airplane, Orochimaru’s usually composed face finally showed a flicker of shock.
“No sealing jutsu or summoning technique, and yet you can store something that massive in a capsule the size of a finger? Is this thing a ninja tool for flying?”
Hikari glanced up slightly. “Well? What do you think?”
“…”
After a brief silence, Orochimaru licked his lips, his gaze locking onto her. “These things are… intriguing, I’ll admit. But not enough to make me abandon my current identity and plans to join you. Also, I’m curious about something…” He paused. “Those two you let go earlier—they’re probably halfway out of the Sound Village by now. You sure it’s fine not to restrain them with genjutsu?”
“Heh.”
Hikari’s lips curled into a mocking smile. “Since when did you get the idea I wasn’t using genjutsu?”
“What?!”
Orochimaru froze, then snapped to attention, looking around as if realizing something. “Could it be…?”
“Release!”
Orochimaru formed hand signs, and the world around them began to shift dramatically.
But… it wasn’t the kind of shift that breaks a genjutsu.
Instead, Eri, the Uzumaki mother and daughter, and even Guren vanished from their spots in an instant. The scene around them morphed from the Sound Village into the snow-swept Black Swan Port.
The Daki siblings, who had been fleeing for a while, were suddenly back here, trapped in place by an invisible force, like prisoners in a drawn circle.
—They weren’t mere illusions but mental projections pulled into Tsukuyomi: Imprint.
At that moment, the Daki siblings stared at Hikari like they’d seen a ghost.
And Orochimaru wasn’t faring much better.
This version of him hadn’t yet been humbled by Itachi or witnessed the true power of the Mangekyo Sharingan. To him, Uchiha Itachi was still just “that Uchiha kid with great dynamic vision.” But Hikari’s Tsukuyomi was even stronger than Itachi’s in the original story, and it shook Orochimaru to his core. “Impossible… when did you…?”
“The moment I laid eyes on you,” Hikari said lightly. “This is my Tsukuyomi world. In this space, I control everything. No matter how much time passes here, it’s only a fleeting moment in the real world. So don’t worry about what’s happening outside.
As for the things I showed you, they weren’t conjured by genjutsu—they’re real. You’ve got some decent scientific chops, and since you’re not just killing for the sake of killing, I’m willing to give you a choice.”
“To become your subordinate?” Orochimaru’s eyes narrowed. “And if I refuse?”
“You won’t.”
“?”
Under Orochimaru’s puzzled stare, Hikari gave a small smile. “I’m offering you a choice, but I can just as easily take it away.”
“…”
Orochimaru’s mind raced. He didn’t know about Yasaka Magatama or Kotoamatsukami, but he could sense something ominous in Hikari’s words.
“…Lady Hikari, you know I’m a rogue ninja. If I wanted to serve someone, I wouldn’t have left the Leaf in the first place.”
“Oh, please. You only fled because your human experiments on Leaf villagers got exposed.”
Hikari scoffed. “I could kill you right here, body and soul. Or I could erase your will and turn you into an obedient dog, just like you did to those Leaf villagers and ninja.
But despite that, I’m still generous enough to give you a chance to pledge loyalty to me willingly.
Obey or die—it’s your call.
Don’t bother with petty tricks. In front of these eyes, you have no secrets. I know about your soul-transfer jutsu, and I know you’re scouting for a new vessel. Need me to spell it out in more detail?”
“What?!”
Immortality Jutsu was Orochimaru’s deepest secret.
Having it exposed so casually hit him harder than being caught in her genjutsu.
After a long silence, Orochimaru hissed, “What… exactly do you want me to do?”
“Simple. Keep doing your scientific research, but with a few ground rules. Like informed consent, ethical purposes, and prioritizing the well-being of your subjects.”
These were basic principles of modern medical ethics.
Even in a world without supernatural powers, human experimentation is a necessary part of scientific progress. In the Naruto world, it’s even more critical. Studying ninja, especially those with kekkei genkai, is the only way to unlock the secrets of their extraordinary abilities.
Hikari understood this well.
She knew Orochimaru was no saint—his hands were stained with countless sins. But if he could follow her ethical boundaries and avoid reckless abuse, coercion, kidnapping, or killing, she was willing to overlook his past.
—In a messed-up place like the ninja world, having a moral high ground would probably just lead to wiping everything out.
On the flip side…
If Orochimaru didn’t want to play ball, Hikari would just have to use some “unconventional” methods to make him “voluntarily” comply.
After all, it’d be a taste of his own medicine.
“Got any other questions? Speak now while I’m in a good mood, and I’ll answer.”
“…”
After a brief pause, Orochimaru’s snake-like eyes narrowed as he looked at Hikari. “I want to know… do those experimental materials you mentioned include your own blood and cell samples?”
(End of Chapter)
