Confirming the Time

The two of them bantered as they continued forward, soon locating a gathering place for bandits.

Tokiju and Uchiha Hikari stood on a nearby tree branch, carefully observing the layout of the bandit camp.

After observing, it appeared this camp held only twenty or thirty bandits, and there were no powerful chakra fluctuations within.

Just as Tokiju intended to make a move, Uchiha Hikari held him back.

He looked at Uchiha Hikari in confusion, only to find that her eyes had already shifted into the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

Following her line of sight, Tokiju understood why she had stopped him.

Because Tokiju discovered that not far from them, there were three—no, four figures wearing headbands.

One of them stood a short distance away, seemingly observing the other three ninjas.

Seeing this configuration, Tokiju immediately thought of a Konoha squad leader and their three-man team.

Looking closely, he confirmed that all four figures were indeed wearing Konoha headbands; it stood to reason they had accepted a mission to suppress the bandits here.

Tokiju looked at Uchiha Hikari, then pointed at the squad leader who was watching the show and asked, "Can you gauge the amount of chakra in that guy?"

Uchiha Hikari nodded and said, "The chakra inside him is quite a bit weaker than yours, but much stronger than those three brats. He should be between a Chunin and a Jonin."

Upon hearing this, Tokiju felt a sense of clarity; that person was likely a Special Jonin with a specific area of expertise.

"Well? Do you want to make a move on them?" Uchiha Hikari asked.

Tokiju pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "Sure. You use genjutsu to control the one watching the show and see if you can extract any useful intelligence. I'll deal with those few brats."

"Also, these ninjas are from my village, so please be careful not to hurt them."

Uchiha Hikari rolled her eyes at this; was she the type of person who didn't know how to handle things with care?

Besides, compared to those few brats, you are the one who acts more like a child.

Although she muttered this in her heart, she didn't say it out loud, instead vanishing from the treetop with a Body Flicker Technique.

Seeing this, Tokiju also used a Body Flicker Technique to arrive immediately behind the three brats.

Whack! Whack! Whack!

Three hand chops were enough to put the three of them to sleep instantly.

After two years of training under Uchiha Hikari, Tokiju's current combat ability was at least passable.

Dealing with three Genin was simply easy and pleasant.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Hikari had also dealt with the Special Jonin and was currently using genjutsu to interrogate him for information.

Seeing this, Tokiju didn't step forward to disturb her, but instead began searching the three brats to see if he could find any spare change.

After searching, Tokiju found a few kunai and shuriken on them, and of course, some unappetizing military rations.

As for money, he didn't find a single ryo.

It made sense, though; why would Genin carry money while out on a mission? If they died, it would just benefit the enemy.

Thinking of this, Tokiju spat internally, dragged the three of them to a hidden spot, and only then walked toward Uchiha Hikari.

Sensing Tokiju approaching, Uchiha Hikari stopped the genjutsu on the Special Jonin.

Looking at the Special Jonin before him, who was drooling all over the ground with a vacant expression, Tokiju was stunned and quickly asked, "Is he alright?"

Uchiha Hikari glanced at Tokiju, curled her lip, and said, "Nothing major. He'll be fine after a nap."

Really? I don't believe you...

Although Tokiju grumbled in his heart, he didn't dare say anything more.

"Honestly, is this the standard for ninjas these days? I hadn't even ramped up the intensity yet, and he was already done for."

She hadn't even used her Mangekyo; with just the Three-Tomoe, the opponent couldn't seem to handle it.

"Uh..." Tokiju really didn't know how to respond to that.

If he said they were incompetent, well, times were changing, and ninjas were bound to get stronger.

If he said they were capable, well, since the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara died, no one had appeared in the ninja world who could surpass the Kage level.

And besides, young lady! You have no idea what the Mangekyo Sharingan actually represents in this era.

"Ahem!" Tokiju cleared his throat and changed the subject: "He's just a Special Jonin; he definitely couldn't withstand your Sharingan."

"Let's talk about the intelligence you obtained first."

Uchiha Hikari nodded, not dwelling on the topic any further.

She said slowly, "According to this guy, it is currently the 50th year of Konoha. The Third Shinobi World War ended not long ago, and the Fourth Hokage is currently in power."

At this, Uchiha Hikari sneered: "War again. As I thought, the profession of a ninja would be better off disappearing!"

Uh, you seem a bit extreme.

Tokiju muttered in his heart but didn't speak up; Uchiha Hikari's hatred for the ninja world and the Uchiha clan wasn't something that would fade easily.

She was already much better now than she had been in the game; at least she didn't have the urge to blow up the world.

As for the rest, she would only be able to slowly walk out of it through time and the beauty of the world.

He had decided: once he borrowed the money, he would take her to the Land of Hot Water to soak in the hot springs and let her properly experience the comfort of their services.

However, to think that it was already the era of the Fourth Hokage's administration.

Tokiju rubbed his chin; this period was actually quite decent, at least better than when the Third was in power.

If it were Namikaze Minato, he would be able to integrate back into the village more easily, though the secret surveillance would certainly not be lacking.

I'm talking about you, Shimura Danzō!

By now, the Root organization in Konoha should be nearing completion; although it was suppressed by the Fourth, it could surely still stir up plenty of trouble.

Therefore, it would definitely not work to just bring Uchiha Hikari back to the village alone like this.

If he wanted to live a stable life after returning to the village, he would need to find someone with enough authority to vouch for him.

And such a person did exist: his older sister, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, the Slug Princess, Lady Tsunade.

But by now, Tsunade should have already left Konoha and been drifting through the ninja world to the point of being unreachable; no one knew her exact location.

However, Tokiju had a way. He immediately bit his thumb and began to weave hand seals.

But he stopped after forming only a single Boar seal.

Uchiha Hikari looked at Tokiju in confusion and asked, "What's wrong?"

Tokiju froze for a moment and replied, "Uh... I was just about to use the Summoning Jutsu."

"But I suddenly remembered that the last time I used the Summoning Jutsu, it was what summoned me into the seal space where you were trapped. I'm a bit afraid to use it now."

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Hikari also pressed a hand to her forehead: "So that's how you got here after all this time. I had been wondering how you managed to get in."

Seeing Tokiju's constipated expression, Uchiha Hikari smiled slightly and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"It's fine, you can use it with peace of mind this time. Even if you get summoned somewhere else again, I will be right there with you."

Feeling that his chakra had already connected with hers, Tokiju felt deeply moved.

Since she had already said as much, there was no point in being a coward; he would just go for it.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

As his palm struck the ground, the summoning seal appeared. Following a puff of white smoke, a slug the size of a human appeared before Tokiju.

Looking at the slug of this size, Tokiju knew he had used too much chakra; he had originally only intended to summon one the size of his palm.

But these were minor details; this mistake would surely serve as experience for next time.

Katsuyu Sage looked at the Tokiju before her and asked with a hint of confusion in her tone: "Are you... little Tokiju?"