Mechanical Puppet

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Tokiju kept leaping from treetop to treetop. It was his first time traveling the way a Hokage did, and he was very unused to it.

Back when he watched anime, he'd thought this looked cool. In practice, though, Tokiju found it ridiculous.

Who the hell invented this insane way of traveling?

Every leap and every landing took a tremendous amount of concentration. One small mistake, and he'd miss his footing or twist an ankle.

In just half a day, Tokiju had already tumbled out of the trees dozens of times.

At first, Uchiha Hikari had shown some concern.

But as the falls piled up, her concern gradually turned to disdain. By now, she didn't even bother looking at him.

The guy was tough as nails anyway. A fall from this height wouldn't hurt him.

With that thought, Uchiha Hikari stopped paying attention to the embarrassing sight before her and enjoyed the journey on her own.

When Tokiju saw she wasn't planning to wait for him, he panicked and started chasing after her at full speed.

Leaping from branch to branch already took a lot of concentration. In his panic, he made even more mistakes and fell so many times that he was nearly numb.

You might wonder why he didn't give up on leaping from tree to tree and just run on the ground.

Come on. He'd run on the ground before he transmigrated. If he was still running on the ground afterward, wouldn't that make transmigrating pointless?

Besides, he wasn't in a hurry right now. He had plenty of time to practice.

It was just jumping from branch to branch. There was no way a little thing like that could stop yours truly, Tokiju.

Fortunately, Uchiha Hikari wasn't a demon. After getting far ahead of Tokiju, she still waited for him for a bit.

Tokiju felt awkward as he looked at Uchiha Hikari, who stood with her arms folded and a chilly look on her face.

He was about to go over and say something when she asked coldly, "Can you even do it, twig?"

After tossing out that line, she turned and continued on her way.

Over the two years she'd spent with Tokiju, she'd picked up plenty of his weird little quips.

With an opening this good, naturally she had to use one and enjoy herself.

Her words made Tokiju grit his teeth in anger. Did she even hear herself? What did she mean, "Can you even do it"? And what was that about him being a twig?

You dare use my own words against me? Just you wait. I'll teach you a lesson with five thousand years of wisdom!

He was just about to fire back when Uchiha Hikari's figure had already vanished from sight.

With nowhere to vent his anger, Tokiju cursed under his breath. He wanted to pin Uchiha Hikari beneath him and teach her a thorough lesson, to show her what it meant to be a man.

He punched through a nearby tree trunk, then took several deep breaths. Watching the direction she'd gone, Tokiju thought, Just you wait. When I come of age, I'll pin you, you naturally wicked little Uchiha brat, to the bed and give you a good rubbing!

After ranting for a while, Tokiju calmed down. The corners of his mouth even began to curl upward.

In the past, Uchiha Hikari would never have said something like that.

Ever since he graduated in his previous life, Tokiju hadn't experienced the feeling of trading insults with someone like this.

Thinking back on it now, it felt pretty good.

After nearly twenty years of living in solitude, Tokiju's mind might have long since broken if Uchiha Hikari hadn't been there beside him.

Deep down, perhaps he'd already come to rely on her as an emotional anchor.

Tokiju shook his head helplessly and continued in the direction she'd gone.

Time passed, and the sun had long since climbed overhead. It was now noon.

After a long journey, Tokiju finally caught up with Uchiha Hikari—or, more accurately, she had deliberately waited for him.

Uchiha Hikari sat quietly beside a stream. A campfire burned nearby, with several small fish roasting over it. They looked like they'd just been caught in the water.

Tokiju walked over in silence, no longer dwelling on what had happened earlier.

A man shouldn't nitpick with a woman over every little thing.

Once he'd sat down by the fire, Tokiju immediately took a cup of milk tea from System Space and tossed it to Uchiha Hikari.

After spending all these years together, Tokiju had learned some of her preferences.

Of all the snacks he'd gotten from the system, milk tea was her favorite.

Well, she was a girl. It made sense.

Uchiha Hikari caught the milk tea and immediately began sipping it in little mouthfuls, her face full of contentment.

Seeing her like that, Tokiju smiled and picked up a roasted fish to bite into.

Over the years, Tokiju had accumulated plenty of food from the system, but it was all alcohol and snacks.

It all tasted great and could be completely absorbed by his body, but if he had the choice, he still wanted to eat something cooked over a real fire.

Like the grilled fish in front of him. It had no seasoning at all, and it couldn't have been simpler, yet it still left Tokiju feeling satisfied.

After a simple but satisfying lunch, Tokiju and Uchiha Hikari sat beneath the shade of a tree to rest.

Tokiju could keep absorbing sunlight to strengthen himself, but being exposed to it nonstop was unpleasant.

The sun treated everyone equally. No matter who you were, if you dared to stare straight at it, you'd still feel the heat and the glare.

Tokiju didn't waste time while they rested. He busied himself sorting through System Space.

Suddenly, he spotted the mechanical puppet.

He'd taken this puppet out once before, back in Sealing Space. It was a special puppet that required him to control it while dividing his attention.

But since it hadn't been useful for breaking the seal on Sealing Space, he'd shaped its appearance and tossed it back into System Space to gather dust.

Later, though, he'd been so bored that he'd taken it out again and played with it for a long time.

So now, he could easily multitask, especially when it came to controlling this mechanical puppet.

He'd spent a long time playing with it, but after he'd broken the seal on Uchiha Hikari, he'd tossed it back into System Space again.

After all, now that he had a cute girl around, who'd want to play with a cold, lifeless puppet?

Seeing the puppet now, Tokiju suddenly had an idea. He could use it to infiltrate Akatsuki.

With that thought, Tokiju immediately recalled what he knew about Akatsuki.

The Third Ninja War had ended not long ago. Yahiko should already have been killed through the schemes of Shimura Danzō and Salamander Hanzō.

As for the chuuni Nagato, he should be hiding in the shadows with Konan, making the Six Paths of Pain while waiting for a chance to take revenge on Salamander Hanzō.

If Tokiju went there now, he might even be able to become one of the original founding members.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than Tokiju took out the puppet.

The tall puppet before him wore a black outfit and a technological-looking mask. Tokiju nodded at once. "Nice. You can't tell it's a puppet at all."

Anyone who recognized him would immediately see that the puppet looked exactly like Sigurd, the Saber-class character from the game FGO.

After all, Tokiju had modeled the mechanical puppet on Sigurd's first ascension form.

Uchiha Hikari naturally knew about the puppet. Tokiju had taken it out to show off to her many times.

But seeing him bring it out again so suddenly left her a little puzzled. She had no idea what he was up to this time.