Training atop Korin Tower

"Are you leaving, Hikari?"

Bulma saw Uchiha Hikari to the door with some reluctance, handing her a wrapped box. "Take this set of Capsule Corp capsules with you. I prepared it especially for you, and it has a few more things than the ones sold on the market. Be careful on the road, and remember to let me know you arrived safely."

"Thank you. I will."

Uchiha Hikari accepted the box from Bulma.

Come to think of it, the last time she had come to the Dragon Ball World, she had asked Bulma whether she could buy a set of capsules on credit. After all those twists and turns, she had finally gotten her wish.

"Then, see you later."

After saying goodbye again, Uchiha Hikari tossed out an aircraft, fumbled through getting it airborne, and headed toward the address Master Roshi had given her.

Two days later.

Sacred Land, Korin.

Uchiha Hikari stopped beneath the towering structure and looked up at the sky.

"Little girl, are you sure you want to climb this tower? Quite a few martial artists tried to challenge it before you, but most of them failed. If you run out of strength and fall from up there, you could very well lose your life."

Bora, the Indian standing nearby, tried to dissuade her.

But Uchiha Hikari merely smiled, then leaped into the air and charged straight upward, her body perpendicular to the tower's surface.

She had actually considered flying partway up first, then continuing the climb.

But in order to show her "sincerity" in seeking a master and leave a good impression on Korin, she decided to follow the rules.

Climbing trees was just the most basic form of Chakra control training.

This "tree" was simply a little taller than usual...

And so it went.

Uchiha Hikari climbed for six or seven hours.

Thanks to her powerful recovery ability, she did not need to worry about her muscles tearing from overexertion. She only stopped midway to drink some water and eat a couple of chocolate bars to replenish her energy before gathering her strength and continuing onward.

When her Chakra was about to run dry for the third time—

Uchiha Hikari finally saw the flattened dome-shaped roof of a tower emerge above the clouds.

"I made it!"

Uchiha Hikari summoned all her strength and rushed onto the platform at the top.

After climbing a few more steps up the stairs, she saw a large space filled with jars and pots. In the middle stood a big white cat holding a staff, seemingly having noticed her arrival long ago.

"You must be Senior Korin?"

Uchiha Hikari spoke very politely.

"That's right. It's me."

Korin licked his paw and narrowed his eyes. "I truly didn't expect a little girl your age to climb Korin Tower in such a short time... Are you here for the Super Sacred Water too, little girl?"

"No, I came to ask you how to train ki, Senior Korin."

Uchiha Hikari told the truth.

Though this unassuming Korin was over eight hundred years old and possessed something akin to mind-reading, there was no point in trying to play clever games or schemes before him. Being sincere might even earn her some goodwill.

Still, Uchiha Hikari was very curious—

Could Korin tell that she came from another world?

On the other side.

Korin paused, studying Uchiha Hikari seriously. After a while, he finally spoke. "You really have never trained ki, yet there is another kind of energy fluctuating within you. It resembles ki somewhat, but it isn't the same... You aren't from this world, are you?"

"?"

He could really tell??

"Of course. I'm a cat hermit. I can see a person's past."

Korin wiped his whiskers. "From you, little girl, I only saw a few fragments from the past several weeks, about your search for the Dragon Balls. Before that was nothing but blankness... Even someone with amnesia or someone from another planet would leave some trace behind. Unless you originally didn't belong to this world."

"...That's right. I come from a ninja world, but I mean no harm to this place. If this planet is ever attacked by evil people in the future, I am willing to help."

After falling silent for a moment, Uchiha Hikari began explaining her origins.

—Of course, she had deliberately omitted quite a lot, but everything she said was true.

After she finished, the air fell silent for a moment.

It was quite a while before Korin broke the silence. "Ki isn't anything particularly special. It is simply the energy contained within every person, and there is no fundamental difference between it and the power inside you. As long as your mind is calm and you sense it carefully, you can discover its existence and guide it..."

"I'm not very good at teaching others. If you want to gain power from me, then come try to take the Super Sacred Water first."

Those words were effectively his agreement.

Uchiha Hikari smiled slightly. "All right!"

More than a month passed in the blink of an eye.

During this time, Uchiha Hikari remained atop Korin Tower. The moment she opened her eyes each morning, she began training to seize the Super Sacred Water. During breaks, she asked Korin about ki and practiced meditation. At night, she exchanged insights on ninjutsu with Minato Namikaze in the chat group, learning "modern ninjutsu," including the Shadow Clone.

Every day was packed full.

During this process, Uchiha Hikari explained Korin's method of training ki to Minato Namikaze, wanting to see whether he had any thoughts on it.

According to Minato Namikaze, the calm state of mind required for training ki was somewhat similar to the mental training he had undergone while learning Sage Arts at Mount Myōboku. However, for certain reasons, he could only share a little of his own training experience with Uchiha Hikari.

Forever with Sis: I'm very sorry, but because it involves a contract, I can't reveal too much about Sage Arts. If you can find Teacher Jiraiya in the future and gain his approval, perhaps he can take you to Mount Myōboku to train in Sage Arts.

Nameless: It's all right. I'm already very grateful that you could tell me this much.

The information Uchiha Hikari received from Minato Namikaze gave her much more motivation.

Since training ki had similarities with Sage Arts, it meant that everything she was doing now could serve as a foundation for learning Sage Arts in the future. Once she returned to the Naruto world and had the chance to come into contact with Sage Arts, she would likely achieve twice the result with half the effort.

As for the Sage Arts Uchiha Hikari personally wanted to explore... compared with Mount Myōboku, which Minato Namikaze belonged to, she was actually more interested in the other two, especially Shikkotsu Forest, which had a contract with the Senju Clan.

She was very curious about one thing—

If her current regenerative ability were combined with Shikkotsu Forest's healing powers... could she use an Eye Technique like Izanagi without injury?

Hmm... A small setting was added at the beginning: the chat group's check-in points now had a function that could be exchanged for time spent in a group member's world. The exchange rate was 1:1; checking in for one day could be exchanged for one to fifty days of stay. It would not affect the plot much.