The Peculiarity of Starlight

At the same time, inside a small town on the eastern border of the Land of Fire.

Tokiju was currently standing on the roof of an inn, quietly savoring the moonlight and starlight of the night.

The starlight, in particular, was something he wanted to decipher quickly so he could better formulate his own cultivation plan.

As time passed, Tokiju had already been standing on the roof for over four hours.

Uchiha Hikari, feeling somewhat worried, leaped up to join him. Seeing Tokiju still standing there with his eyes closed in perception, she couldn't help but frown.

She knew what Tokiju was doing, but she had already arrived right beside him, and he still hadn't reacted.

It was unclear whether he had discovered her long ago or remained completely oblivious.

If it were the former, it would be fine, but if it were the latter, that was certainly not a good habit to develop.

Uchiha Hikari also knew that Tokiju could absorb the light energy from his surroundings.

However, if absorbing light energy meant lowering his guard toward his surroundings, then he shouldn't blame her for starting to train him ruthlessly from now on.

Just as Uchiha Hikari was about to step forward and give him a piece of her mind, she saw Tokiju press his index finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet.

Seeing this, Uchiha Hikari realized that Tokiju must have noticed her a long time ago.

He simply hadn't greeted her immediately because he was at a critical moment.

Although she understood the reason for his actions, she still felt a bit annoyed.

Consequently, Uchiha Hikari crossed her arms with a cold face, staring silently at Tokiju to see what kind of trick he could pull off.

As time flowed by, another half hour passed.

Tokiju slowly opened his eyes and finally looked at Uchiha Hikari, who was sulking.

What should you do when your tsundere girlfriend is throwing a tantrum? Just coax her.

Tokiju's lips curled into a playful smile as he teased, "Who upset you? Tell me, and I'll go teach them a lesson."

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Hikari immediately turned her head away and let out a cold huff. "Hmph! You've been standing here for so long—what on earth are you doing?"

Hearing this, Tokiju gave a playful smile and said, "Oh~ do you want to know?"

Uchiha Hikari rolled her eyes at him immediately. "Forget it if you aren't going to tell me."

With that, Uchiha Hikari turned to leave, but was immediately intercepted by Tokiju.

Feeling her hand being grabbed by Tokiju, Uchiha Hikari shot him a cold glance and said, "What is it? I thought you didn't want to say?"

Having lived with Tokiju in the Sealing Space for nearly two years, she had long since figured out his personality traits.

With someone like Tokiju, the more you indulge him, the more he pushes his luck.

In a situation like this, you only need to act uninterested, and he would eagerly spill all his findings to you.

Sure enough, Tokiju pulled Uchiha Hikari toward him and began to chatter away: "Alright, alright, stop sulking. Come here first, I'll let you experience it for yourself."

As he spoke, Tokiju pulled Uchiha Hikari closer to his side.

Uchiha Hikari didn't resist, allowing Tokiju to pull her over.

The two of them were soon standing shoulder to shoulder.

Feeling the warmth radiating from his shoulder, Uchiha Hikari felt her heart flutter, and her face turned slightly red involuntarily.

But then, seeing that Tokiju was still half a head shorter than her, the feeling in her heart was immediately doused like a bucket of cold water, and the atmosphere vanished instantly.

She reached out and patted Tokiju's head, muttering to herself, "When will you finally grow taller?"

As if realizing what she had just said, Uchiha Hikari immediately looked at Tokiju, only to find him looking at her with a playful expression.

Her face, which had just returned to normal, was instantly dyed a deep crimson once more.

Seeing this, Tokiju didn't press his advantage; he knew that too much of a good thing could be counterproductive.

Whether it was him or Uchiha Hikari, although their mental ages were quite mature, their physical bodies were still far too young!

For them right now, those kinds of things were still far too early.

Moreover, given their complicated circumstances, it was hard to say who was the more inexperienced one.

"Alright, alright, stop messing around. Let me show you my discovery first."

After shaking Uchiha Hikari to signal her to stop, Tokiju slowly raised his right hand, as if he were trying to grasp the entire starry sky in his palm.

Seeing Tokiju so serious, Uchiha Hikari immediately calmed her mood and stared fixedly at him, her Sharingan activating without her even realizing it.

She sensed countless energies slowly gathering in the surroundings, but she had no idea what these energies were.

And at this very moment, Tokiju's voice suddenly emerged.

He said slowly, "Oh, stars! Please bestow your blessings upon us."

As Tokiju's voice fell, tiny specks of emerald starlight immediately appeared in the sky, slowly descending around Tokiju and Uchiha Hikari.

Uchiha Hikari widened her Sharingan, watching the scene before her in shock.

She had never seen such a sight; the starlight was so bright, so pure, as if it possessed endless vitality.

As these starlights submerged into her body, she felt her originally blurred vision actually beginning to recover bit by bit.

Although the speed of this recovery was extremely slow, the ocular power she had depleted from using the Mangekyō Sharingan was indeed gradually replenishing.

This left Uchiha Hikari feeling incredibly astonished; one had to know that once the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan evolved into a Mangekyō, its ocular power was a finite resource—every bit used was a bit lost forever.

Unless one could transplant the Mangekyō Sharingan of a blood relative to evolve their own eyes into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

Otherwise, the consumed ocular power could never be replenished.

However, what Uchiha Hikari did not know was that in this era, as long as one could perfectly transplant Hashirama Cells, the terrifying life energy contained within them could offset the consumption caused by the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Just like Obito; if he didn't have Hashirama Cells supporting his body, his eyes would have gone blind long ago from the way he used his Mangekyō.

Tokiju smiled and reached out, letting the starlight land on his fingertips, feeling the purest life energy within it.

"Do you feel it? The wonder of this starlight."

Tokiju toyed with the starlight between his fingers and asked Uchiha Hikari.

Feeling her ocular power slowly recovering, Uchiha Hikari's eyes revealed a look of pleasant surprise: "It is indeed wondrous; I can even feel my ocular power slowly returning."

Uchiha Hikari mimicked Tokiju, extending her hand to let the specks of starlight fall into her palm.

Seeing this, Tokiju smiled slightly and did not say anything more.

In truth, the starlight had another effect, though Tokiju could not be certain of it yet.

Because if this effect were truly real, it would be far too heaven-defying.

Just by standing under this starlight for a few hours, Tokiju felt that the chakra within his body had increased by a noticeable amount.

Although it wasn't a massive quantity, it was definitely more than what could be cultivated in just a few hours.

It gave him the feeling that his Sage Body was slowly awakening.