Kuyashi!

The moment Yukie walked through the door, Sahara Mizu noticed an extra hazy white star above her head.

However, it was only after he stared at it for a while that corresponding text appeared on the blank panel before him.

Clearly, this was the way to obtain "Heart Points"!

As his consciousness delved deeper, the details immediately unfolded.

"Sahara's Book of Friends"

"Sahara Yukie's Heart Knot (Shallow)"

"Details: Recently, Mizu seemed to be hiding something from me.?"

The instant he saw those details, Sahara Mizu, who had been floating on air just a second ago after finally discovering how to use his cheat, suddenly tensed all over.

The smile that had looked fairly natural slowly and inconspicuously faded under his undercover instincts, while his facial muscles went slightly slack.

Years of infiltration experience immediately directed his thoughts toward the most dangerous possibility.

Have I been suspected?

At that moment, his intense desire to survive and his undercover instincts drove him to think rapidly, digging through everything he had done recently to figure out where he had slipped up badly enough for even a naive newcomer like Yukie to notice something strange about him.

Yet no matter how deeply he searched, he could not find what he had done wrong.

The more that happened, the less able Sahara Mizu was to relax. Cold sweat broke out across his back.

How could this be?

Have I really let my guard down that much lately?

Could someone else have noticed it too?

Has the Anbu already set their sights on me?

Sahara Mizu's heartbeat slowed as countless contingency plans flashed through his mind at lightning speed, tracing every possibility and route out of the village.

Until Yukie called out to him in confusion.

"Big brother?"

Only then did he suddenly snap back to himself.

Before he could speak, Sahara Yukie had already risen onto her tiptoes and pressed her hand to his forehead. "Did you overdo it while refining chakra just now?"

"Your face is as white as snow, and you're freezing too."

"Um, are you coming down with a cold?"

The girl grew increasingly worried about his condition.

Sahara Mizu quickly steadied himself. As usual, he let her little hands roam freely over his face and said indifferently,

"Don't worry. It's nothing."

"I'll be completely better after some sleep."

"Then perfect." Yukie smiled. "Since you can't practice anymore anyway, come downstairs and have dinner!"

"The sukiyaki almost went to waste."

"Compared to that."

Sahara Mizu paused slightly, his azure eyes staring directly at the girl before him as he calmly said,

"Yukie-chan, you still have something you want to tell me, don't you?"

"Hm?"

Sahara Yukie froze.

Looking at his "younger sister's" absent-minded expression, Sahara Mizu softened his tone as much as possible, blurring every specific reference in his words as he guided the conversation. "Actually, I noticed it some time ago."

"Even Yukie must have been troubled after finding out about something like this, right?"

"Or perhaps you didn't know what to do?"

"..."

Sahara Yukie could not help but pause.

When she raised her head, she saw Sahara Mizu staring intently at her with those sharp, gleaming eyes, causing her to turn her gaze slightly aside.

Noticing the girl's tiny movement, even Sahara Mizu could not help but tense up inside and sigh silently.

No one was made of stone.

Even if one raised a puppy for several years, feelings would develop, much less with a living, breathing person.

Although Sahara Mizu had made countless plans for being exposed during these ten years of constant fear, when this day truly came, he still could not avoid feeling caught off guard.

In any case, he would first try to turn her over to his side.

If that failed, he would subdue her as quickly as possible and tie her up at home to buy time.

If he could not escape...

In a mere flash of thought, a gruesome image of himself suffering thirty-six kinds of whippings, seventy-two forms of torture, and one hundred and eight little interrogation methods appeared in his mind.

Gulp.

Just as Sahara Mizu prepared himself for the worst, Sahara Yukie, lips pressed tightly together, suddenly spoke in a low voice.

"Mizu must have his own difficulties too, right?"

"Was it for money? Or were you forced into it?"

"..."

"Actually, I discovered it by accident."

"When Mizu met up with that person."

Sahara Yukie's voice grew quieter and quieter, but the uncontrollable tremor in her tone could still be heard as she tried desperately to hold it back.

The scene of his Shadow Clone meeting Karatachi Yagura on the rooftop during the day suddenly surfaced in Sahara Mizu's mind.

Damn it, that shouldn't be possible.

I clearly checked carefully.

Even as he forcibly restrained himself, his heart beat faster and faster. His voice slowed, yet his entire body became like a tightly wound spring, ready to launch at any moment.

"That person?"

"That's right!"

Sahara Yukie suddenly raised her head, her voice nearly grief-stricken with indignation.

"That rich-looking Uchiha woman!"

Like a man awaiting judgment, Sahara Mizu's old waist suddenly swayed the moment the girl spoke.

"...Huh?"

"You're still pretending! I saw it!" Sahara Yukie refused to let it go, her little face taut as she raged like a housewife who had caught her husband cheating. "When Mizu got off work the night before last, you met with a beautiful, long-haired Uchiha woman, didn't you?!"

"Damn Cheating Cat!"

"And Mizu! You secretly got yourself a girlfriend, even though you promised when we were little that you'd marry me once we grew up."

"Although I know Mizu is about old enough for that now, but..."

"..."

Sahara Mizu quietly listened to Miss Yukie's incessant chatter, his mind gradually going blank.

He had abruptly gone from extreme tension to complete relaxation, like a balloon punctured by a needle.

With a pop, all the air leaked out onto the floor.

As for which Uchiha woman Yukie was talking about, he could not remember at all, but there was no need to remember.

At that moment, he genuinely felt fortunate from the bottom of his heart.

It was wonderful that Sahara Yukie was hopelessly in love.

However, aside from his younger sister who was stomping around in anger, the system he had only activated not long ago also began spouting nonsense.

"Kuyashi~! (How frustrating)"

"The older brother who once promised we would live together forever now has another woman outside. This cannot be tolerated!"

"As a little sister who is both childhood friend, sudden arrival, and wife, Sahara Yukie has a battle she absolutely cannot lose!"

"Yah! That woman beat her big brother to his knees; she must be forcing him to go back with her!"

"Mizu belongs to Yukie alone."

System Sister was practically vibrating with excitement, her tone growing deranged as one shameless line followed another. It was as if all her computing power had been devoted to bizarre directions, without the slightest sense of restraint.

Sahara Mizu gradually regained his composure. Looking rather helplessly at Miss Yukie, who was angrily stomping her feet, he said,

"Not at all."

Yet Sahara Yukie still wore a stern little face and said warily, "I don't believe you! Mizu came home so late a few days ago, then insisted on going to the training ground to practice Ninjutsu. That was obviously a date, wasn't it?!"

Sahara Mizu's expression froze.

In order to get rid of that excellent superior who had forced him to work, he had indeed spent quite a lot of time. It was only natural for people around him to notice.

He simply had not expected it to be pointed out from this angle.

Still, it was not as though there was no solution.

After obtaining his cheat, he could finally act a little more recklessly than before in many matters.

"Since Yukie says so, I'll show you a little of your great older brother's training results!" Sahara Mizu put his hands on his hips and suddenly wore a rather smug expression.

"Huh?" Sahara Yukie looked skeptical. "Did Mizu learn some Ninjutsu besides the few Water Style techniques we have at home?"

"Exactly."

As he spoke, Sahara Mizu raised one hand toward Yukie.

"Heeh~!"

Originally, Sahara Yukie thought her older brother was merely boasting a little out of pride.

But before she could look away, dazzling starlike brilliance suddenly flashed in Sahara Mizu's eyes.

The next moment.

"Buzz—"

Spiraling chakra suddenly surged from the center of the young man's palm, rotating at high speed as it continuously gathered, swayed, and condensed toward the center until it finally formed a perfect sphere of chakra.

The air stirred by the rushing chakra formed gusts in the cramped room, lifting the hair at the girl's temples and the soft hem of her skirt.

Everything in the room seemed to resonate with the rotation of that tiny sphere.

The curtains swayed.

Yet the girl seemed completely unaware of everything around her. Her azure eyes were firmly drawn to the chakra sphere in Sahara Mizu's palm, utterly unable to look away.

Although she was only a genin who had graduated not long ago, Sahara Yukie immediately recognized the difficulty of developing this Hand Seal-less Ninjutsu, as well as the terrifying destructive power contained within that mass of chakra.

An unprecedented high-level Ninjutsu?!

Almost instinctively, Sahara Yukie eagerly asked,

"Mizu!"

"What is this technique called?"

Imitating the relaxed, faintly boastful tone of most ordinary young people in Konoha, Sahara Mizu smiled and said,

"This technique is called the Rasengan."

"It's a powerful Ninjutsu developed by a super genius."

Looking at this unprecedented technique, Sahara Yukie finally believed all of Mizu's previous explanations.

As everyone knew, developing Ninjutsu took at least years.

Since that was the case, all her previous suspicions naturally became completely baseless.

Only then did the girl finally put her mind at ease. Unconcealable excitement appeared in her azure eyes as she looked up at her older brother in delight.

"Mizu! I want this!"

Sahara Mizu's smile remained gentle.

"Want to learn?"

"I'll teach you."

The instant his words fell.

Corresponding notifications appeared on the previously blank panel.

"Sahara Yukie's Shallow Heart Knot (Completed)"

"Heart Points +1"

"Sahara's Book of Friends: Character 'Sahara Yukie' added"

"Bond Level increased ↑"

"Sahara Yukie Bond Level: Three → Four"

The moment Sahara Mizu saw those notifications, the heart he had been holding in his throat finally settled.

For a transmigrator, once he had a cheat, what was there left to worry about?

Fifteen full years after arriving in this world, he finally had a sliver of support in his heart.

When the system panel automatically closed.

Sahara Mizu did not notice—or rather, had no way of noticing—that different path options silently emerged on the completely closed panel, rapidly scrolling through a waterfall-like stream of data.

"Ultimate Bond Path 1: Battle at the Entrance"

"Mizu, you said you would love me forever, didn't you? Because big brother is a treasure that belongs only to me. So I'll give everything to you too."

"Ultimate Bond Path 2: Rooftop"

"Hey, big brother. You saw everything, didn't you? This inexplicable person suddenly, suddenly started saying she was already pregnant. Look! Isn't her stomach completely empty?"

"Mizu? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Ultimate Bond Path 3: Corpse and Snake"

"If from this day onward, you became a snake, drove poison into others and devoured people, bewitched mortal hearts with seductive words, and made them willingly become nourishment—yet upon turning around, still used that blood-devouring mouth to hiss 'Love me' again and again—could I possibly answer your voice? Would this heavy love be real enough?"

"When did it happen? Why did you become an undercover agent? Why... did it have to be Mizu?"

"Forget it. Now that my older brother is dead, I no longer have the heart to distinguish right from wrong in the past. Someone has to pay something. Don't go too fast. Wait for me down there, Mizu."

"Ultimate Bond Path 4: ..."

"Worldline undetermined"

"Bond calculations continuing"

I submitted the contract yesterday. My status should change in a day or two. After signing, I'll start updating two chapters a day, around 4–5k words. Remember to save and vote!