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Chapter 25: Accident
🕑 Added 2025-05-03 03:36:32 +0000 UTCBy the time Hikari and Guy arrived at the scene, the fire had already been contained.
Neighbors in pajamas and slippers stood in scattered clusters, watching as an unnamed shinobi spat streams of water to extinguish the last stubborn flames.
"Guy’s back…"
The moment Might Guy came rushing in, the crowd stirred, instinctively parting to let him through.
Not that he needed the path.
From a distance, the thick column of black smoke had already told him everything.
He stepped past the onlookers.
Crack.
The charred wooden door, weakened by the water, collapsed onto the stone step, revealing the wreckage inside—a mess of scorched and waterlogged ruins, like a beehive set ablaze and then drowned.
Guy stood frozen, staring at what was left of his home. Then, with a thud, he dropped to his knees, clutching his head in despair. Regret hammered at his skull like a relentless fist.
Hikari couldn’t help but think that Guy, kneeling there in the ashes, would be the perfect subject for some tragic, snow-falling-in-the-background music.
Too brutal.
His feelings were toyed with. His secret technique stolen. Emotionally manipulated. And now, his house burned to the ground.
Even Hikari, the mastermind behind half of this, felt a pang of guilt. She walked over and patted his shoulder.
"It’s fine, Guy. Don’t take it too hard. Worst case, I’ll just buy you a new house."
Guy turned his head stiffly, his expression on the verge of tears.
"Hikari… your money was inside."
Thud.
The silver-haired girl with the blindfold collapsed onto the ground beside him.
Her Byakugan flared as she desperately scanned the wreckage.
The floor tiles had crystallized under the intense heat. The wooden frames of the doors and windows were charred and cracked. In conditions like these, cash—whether paper or banknotes—would’ve been reduced to ashes.
And since she had no proper identification, all her money was untraceable. No way to recover it.
How many billion was that again?
Her mind buzzed.
Hikari, who had grown up poor in her past life, felt her chest tighten at the thought of Guy—this absolute disaster of a man—burning away her fortune.
The 100,000-ryō cash in her pocket had already been handed to the weapons shop owner as a deposit for the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Now, she couldn’t even pay the remaining balance.
The money she’d taken from Port Hakugan—her safety net for the future—was gone.
In an instant, she’d gone from a billionaire to a blind beggar sleeping on the streets.
"Hikari… a-are you okay?!"
Guy, despite his own devastation, now looked at her with concern. He’d never seen the usually composed and cunning Hikari wear such an expression of utter despair.
"Can you… forgive me?" he stammered. "H-how about you hit me? I won’t fight back, I swear!"
His attempt at mimicking her earlier words was infuriatingly tone-deaf.
Hikari’s fists clenched.
Karma’s a bitch, huh?
The same emotional manipulation she’d used on him was now choking her.
Fine. Consider us even, Guy.
Whoosh!
Twin streams of water coiled around her arms like whips.
Guy shut his eyes, bracing for the impact.
Splash—
Instead of striking him, the water lashed past him, snaking through the wreckage toward the interior.
When the expected pain never came, Guy cracked an eye open in confusion.
"Here."
Hikari shoved a familiar picture frame at him, wrapped in a protective layer of water.
The edges were blackened, but the photo inside—of Guy and his father—was perfectly intact, if slightly yellowed.
"This…"
Guy took it with trembling hands, staring at her in disbelief. For a moment, he was too moved to speak.
"You owe me a billion ryō," Hikari said flatly. "You’re working for me for the rest of your life to pay it off."
Guy’s face fell as she raised her hands, palms outward, in a gesture that suspiciously resembled Dust Release.
After a long, defeated silence, he nodded heavily.
"So… you’re saying you want to stay at my place for a while?"
Kakashi, mid-slurp of instant ramen, stared at the duo in front of him—Guy, tearfully recounting his tragic tale, and the blind girl he’d been assigned to surveil just days ago.
As the head (and sole member) of the Hatake clan, he technically could take them in.
The problem was…
His lone visible eye flicked to the girl behind Guy, her face obscured by the blindfold.
Letting someone of unknown allegiance into his home felt risky.
"You have to help me, Kakashi!"
Guy’s snot was dangerously close to dripping into Kakashi’s ramen as his bushy eyebrows twisted into a pitiful upside-down V.
Single father. Homeless. Billions in debt. His life was hanging by a thread.
Kakashi sighed, shielding his noodles from potential nasal contamination.
"Fine. I’ve got a couple of spare rooms."
"YES! Kakashi, you’re my eternal rival for a reason!"
Guy lunged forward, shaking him by the shoulders in gratitude.
"Hey—watch the ramen—!"
Hikari, meanwhile, observed the scene with detached amusement.
After Guy reluctantly accepted his billion-ryō debt, the fire department (read: helpful water-style shinobi) had fully extinguished the blaze. Soon after, Konoha officials arrived to investigate.
Fortunately, the damage was contained to Guy’s house. No injuries. No major losses for the neighbors—just some water damage from the rescue efforts.
Given Guy’s reputation as a decent guy (and the added sympathy points for "raising a blind daughter"), the neighbors let it slide without demanding compensation.
A small mercy.
But now, with no home and barely any money left, Guy had dragged her to the Hatake compound to beg Kakashi for shelter.
Hikari was, of course, familiar with the Hatake Kakashi.
Copy Ninja. Master of a thousand jutsu. The man who could fight anyone to a standstill.
And—most importantly—a fellow user of all five chakra natures.
Perfect.
She’d just confirmed her own elemental affinity at the weapons shop. What she needed now was a teacher.
And here he was.
"So… what do you two want to eat?"
Kakashi, having inhaled the last of his ramen, finally noticed the pair staring hungrily at his empty cup.
"What do you have?" Guy rubbed his hands together.
Kakashi mentally cataloged his pantry. "…Just instant ramen."
"That’s fine! Five cups, please!"
Guy’s stomach growled loudly. Between training and tonight’s disaster, he was starving.
Kakashi rummaged through his cabinets.
"That’s a lot. Can you two really eat that much?"
"That’s just for me."
"…And Hikari?"
She considered it. Best not to scare him off on the first day.
"I shouldn’t eat too much at night," she said lightly. "Let’s start with ten cups."
Clatter.
Kakashi froze, a box of ramen in hand.
When he turned around, the two freeloaders were already seated at his table, eyes gleaming with anticipation.
Suddenly…
He really didn’t want houseguests anymore.
(•̀ᴗ•́)و
