The Young Man Named Ao

"So little energy?"

Deep in the cave, Hyuga Qinglan furrowed his brow slightly.

The puppet had indeed been successfully activated.

But the sensation it gave him was completely different from the one he'd experienced when he'd made contact with the giant Tenseigan on the moon.

In theory, the reaction shouldn't have been this weak.

He focused his mind, concentrating all his attention on the puppet.

It was a very strange feeling.

It was as if part of his consciousness had split off and entered another body.

If he had to describe it, it was more like controlling a second body that was perfectly in sync with his own.

As he shifted his attention entirely to the puppet, its movements immediately became much more nimble, and its previously clumsy operation quickly grew smooth.

"Hiss..."

Without warning, a sharp pain exploded deep behind his eyes!

Hyuga Qinglan's expression changed. He instinctively raised a hand to cover his eyes and sucked in a breath.

Cold sweat soaked his back almost instantly.

The pain came so suddenly, as if some force were following an invisible connection and forcing its way into his eyes.

"This feeling..."

He endured the agony, barely maintaining control of the puppet, and used its eyes to look back at himself.

Within the flawless white of his Byakugan, tiny veins appeared, trying to rewrite it from deep within.

That boundless white even seemed to be turning a faint shade of blue.

"So that's it..."

"The connection between the puppet and the Tenseigan is letting it transmit its power to me?"

If he thought of the puppet as a car, then the power coming from the giant Tenseigan on the moon was its fuel.

And the Otsutsuki chakra inside him was the ignition key.

It was because of the puppet that he had briefly established a connection—extremely faint, yet real—with the giant Tenseigan on the moon.

And the momentary resonance just now had forced that power through the connection and into his eyes.

The requirements for the Tenseigan—Hyuga Clan blood and Otsutsuki chakra—had been met.

But the pain had come and gone just as quickly.

Before long, the stabbing sensation that had felt as if it would tear his eyeballs apart receded like a tide.

Hyuga Qinglan blinked lightly, dazed.

The signs that his eyes were about to transform had also completely subsided when the power stopped flowing.

"Is my Byakugan... not pure enough?"

He murmured to himself.

Then he tried controlling the puppet again, hoping to use that connection to trigger another resonance.

But no matter what he tried, he couldn't recapture the feeling from before.

It was as if a road had briefly opened for a single delivery, then shut forever.

"Sure enough, the problem is still with my Byakugan..."

"But now that the key has turned, the rest shouldn't be difficult."

Hyuga Qinglan slowly stood, wiped the sweat from his temples, and gazed at the puppet standing silently before him, his expression complicated and tinged with nostalgia.

"I'll call you... Ao."

Hyuga Qinglan lifted a hand and gently traced the familiar face, so familiar it made him feel faintly dazed.

"Death isn't the end of life. Being forgotten is..."

His voice was soft, as if he were whispering to the puppet, or saying goodbye to the person he'd once been.

After a brief silence, he withdrew his hand.

"But for now, you'll have to stay here..."

After one last look at Ao, with whom he had reestablished a connection, he slowly closed the stone wall, sealing away everything in the cave.

Outside, the sky remained clear.

The wind was gentle, the light bright.

And from the largest house in the center of the village, the faint sound of voices and barely contained excitement could still be heard.

Hyuga Qinglan glanced toward it.

The discomfort he'd felt earlier had already faded.

He was silent for a moment, then decided not to dwell on it.

It was time to go back.

"Three days, should we really not give them something to eat?"

"It's been a whole day already."

In a room at a luxurious inn, Akimichi Timon sat cross-legged on the floor, holding a huge bag of chips and crunching away.

As he ate, he looked toward the iron cage at the far end of the room.

On the left side of the cage sat Demayi, dazed and vacant. On the right was Shaziyi, bound tightly from head to toe.

"Timon, are you all right?"

Yamanaka Santian glanced back at him, looking utterly incredulous.

He pointed at Shaziyi. "That woman slashed you several times. I could understand if you didn't hate her, but now you actually feel sorry for her?"

"I don't really feel anything."

Timon shook his head and kept crunching on his chips, his tone unusually earnest.

"I just think we ought to treat our prisoners a little better."

"Look at that dark-skinned guy... You've already turned him into an idiot."

"..."

Yamanaka Santian's smile stiffened, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

What did he mean, he'd turned him into an idiot?

The other guy's mental fortitude was just too weak to withstand his secret technique, all right?!

"Ahem. Enough joking around, Timon. Keep an eye on that woman." He regained his composure and lowered his voice. "From Dekai's memories, she's a squad leader, so she must know plenty of useful information."

"Lu Yan will return to the capital with the prince. Then we'll take her back to the Torture and Interrogation Force with Captain Qinglan..."

As he spoke, Yamanaka Santian's mouth gradually stretched into a sinister grin.

"Heh heh heh..."

A moment later, he returned to his usual composure, hummed a tuneless little song, and left the room, leaving Timon alone to keep watch.

Timon lowered his head, grabbed another handful of chips, and stuffed them into his mouth, but his gaze drifted toward Shaziyi despite himself.

By now, Shaziyi had already fallen into complete despair.

The mission had failed, their intelligence had been exposed, and her companions were either dead or an idiot.

And she, a proud Cloud Village jonin, had been captured by Konoha's Ino-Shika-Cho team and tied up like cargo, unable to fight back.

If she could, she'd rather die right then and there.

Unfortunately, that was only a fantasy.

Shaziyi shifted slightly, trying to make her current uncomfortable position a little more bearable.

Just then, she noticed someone staring at her.

She looked up to see Akimichi Timon chewing while staring fixedly at the curves of her body outlined by the ropes.

Shaziyi: "..."

That deadbeat fatty...

Could he be... having dirty thoughts?

Her expression shifted several times.

If that was really the case...

Then perhaps there was still a chance.

She knew how to use her charms.

Though her target was a fat man—an exceptionally fat one at that—she couldn't afford to be picky now.

With that in mind, Shaziyi gritted her teeth, suppressed her embarrassment, and quickly devised a plan.

The next moment, she raised her chin slightly, softening her gaze.

Her already captivating eyes curved gently as she cast Akimichi Timon a look that was part alluring, part vulnerable, and part coyly inviting.

Any ordinary man would have at least hesitated for a moment, even if he didn't fall for it.

As it turned out, Timon really did hesitate for a moment.

Akimichi Timon blinked and stopped eating his chips.

"Do you want to say something?"

Shaziyi nodded quickly.

"Do you want something to eat?"

Shaziyi hesitated briefly, then nodded emphatically.

"No."

"?"