Meeting

Following the sensation the Seeking Wheel Eye gave him, Haku went straight to the Land of Rivers. He didn't let himself get distracted by anything else along the way.

As Haku's strength grew, the sensation from the transplanted Sharingan grew stronger too. Sometimes, it even made him see flashes of images, which had begun to interfere with his training.

And the closer Haku got to the Land of Rivers, the stronger the sensation became. By the time he set foot in the country, its influence had reached its peak.

But the sense of direction he'd been able to perceive vanished.

"You're here!"

Haku was still troubled by the sensation and wondering how he should search for its source when a familiar voice came from behind him.

"You're a little later than I expected."

Haku thought he might have imagined the voice, but then it rang out again.

"Huh?!"

Haku quickly turned around and looked toward the direction of the voice.

There, beneath a great tree, stood a young woman, smiling at him.

"Yu!"

"It's me, Haku! I'm all right!"

Looking at Haku nearby, the young woman finally told him what she'd been wanting to say.

The moment Haku saw the young woman before him, the intense sensation vanished, as if it had never been there at all.

"You...?"

"Come with me. This isn't the place to talk."

Without giving Haku a chance to say more, she told him to follow her and led him somewhere else.

Haku didn't hesitate. Trusting Uchiha Yu, he followed her at once.

In the end, Uchiha Yu led Haku to an underground chamber enclosed by tree roots.

As soon as Haku entered, he felt his sensory abilities weaken considerably, as though he'd gone back to the time before he became a ninja.

"Something feels off about this place."

Uncomfortable with his senses being suppressed, Haku asked Uchiha Yu what was going on.

"Yeah. The space here can greatly weaken a ninja's sensory abilities—or rather, it can muddle them. It's like a space filled with genjutsu."

"The fact that you can feel this suppression means your strength has reached Quasi-Kage Level over the last two years."

As she spoke, Uchiha Yu fell silent.

Haku didn't disturb Uchiha Yu, who seemed lost in some memory. Instead, he began observing their surroundings.

The place Uchiha Yu had brought him to was an underground chamber. Judging by the walls, which were made of thick tree roots, Haku guessed it lay beneath a gigantic tree.

Faint lights occasionally flashed between the roots, giving the place a mysterious air.

Based on his observations and experience, Haku couldn't figure out why the chamber could suppress a ninja's senses. But looking at the extraordinary tree roots, he guessed they were the reason the place was so unusual.

[Please be careful, host! This space seems not to be in the same spatial dimension as the Naruto World.]

Haku was still examining his surroundings when the system suddenly cut in, interrupting his thoughts.

"What? What do you mean? This isn't the Naruto World?"

Haku was shocked and confused by what the system had told him. How could this suddenly not be the Naruto World?

The composition of this space differs from that of the space the host was previously in. This manifests as different spatial properties, which place constraints on everyone except the host.

Apparently deciding its explanation wasn't clear enough, the system intelligence paused briefly, then added another point.

The host's abilities are protected by the system itself as long as they remain within the host's body, so they won't be affected. But once any ability leaves the host's body, it will be affected.

Different worlds have different laws and properties. Training systems from different worlds cannot be used interchangeably.

That's why the host's sensory abilities feel suppressed. In fact, it isn't just the host's senses—all of the host's ninjutsu attacks will be much less effective once they leave the host's body.

The suppression is even greater for ninjas other than the host. An outside Kage Level fighter might not even be able to maintain Genin-level strength here.

```

As he listened to the system's explanation, Haku grew even more intrigued by the space—and even more puzzled. What had Uchiha Yu been through over the last two years? How had she found this place? Could it affect her too?

Thinking over what the system had told him, Haku slowly turned toward Uchiha Yu.

By then, Uchiha Yu seemed to have finished thinking something through and had come back to herself. Their eyes met.

The atmosphere in the mysterious chamber turned delicate all at once.

No one knew how long passed.

Haku was the first to come back to himself. He adjusted his tone slightly.

"You... are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

Uchiha Yu replied, blushing. As if she felt that answer was a little awkward, she hurriedly continued.