Temporary Residence

As time passed, the night slipped away quickly, and Tokiju spent the entire night accompanying Uchiha Hikari as she bathed in the starlight.

Watching the morning sun gradually rise in the distance, Uchiha Hikari still felt a sense of lingering attachment.

She felt that if she could absorb starlight like this for a few more nights, her ocular power might be able to recover to the level it was when she first awakened her Mangekyō Sharingan.

Seeing Uchiha Hikari's reluctance to stop, Tokiju smiled broadly and said, "Hey, hey, hey, it's time to snap out of it. There will be plenty of time for this later."

Hearing this, Uchiha Hikari finally came back to her senses, a trace of disappointment inevitably appearing on her face.

But she quickly regained her composure and asked Tokiju with a smile, "This starlight is truly miraculous. What effect does moonlight have, then?"

Uchiha Hikari looked at Tokiju, her eyes filled with curiosity.

The effects of sunlight she had already learned during the day; now, the only thing she didn't know about was the moonlight.

Hearing this, Tokiju chuckled, reached out to swipe through the empty air, and a dagger shimmering with cyan-blue light appeared in his hand.

After casually toying with it for a moment, Tokiju tossed the dagger to Uchiha Hikari.

Catching the dagger, Uchiha Hikari first touched the blade, then gauged its weight before looking at Tokiju and asking, "How long can this thing last?"

Hearing this, Tokiju scratched his chin and said, "That depends on the amount of moonlight energy I consume when condensing the object. The more moonlight energy consumed, the longer the object lasts."

"Besides, the consumption for condensing objects with moonlight energy is actually quite low. How should I put it..."

"The energy cost of a single Fireball Jutsu is enough for me to hand-craft dozens of daggers like this and keep them sustained for several hours."

Hearing this, Uchiha Hikari was shocked; she hadn't expected the consumption of moonlight to be so low.

One must know that the Fireball Jutsu is a technique even Genin can perform, and the amount of chakra required for it is minimal.

For an Uchiha clansman like Uchiha Hikari, who had already awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, this amount of chakra consumption was merely a drop in the bucket.

Moreover, the amount of chakra in Tokiju's body was not much less than her own.

In other words, during battle, as long as Tokiju paid a little attention to his chakra consumption, he would never have to worry about running out of various ninja tools.

It is worth noting that whether in the Warring States period or the current era of ninja villages, the consumption of ninja tools is a major expense for any ninja.

Haven't you seen that even in the Boruto era, the quasi-Six Paths level Uchiha Sasuke was still playing with various shuriken? Specifically when fighting Otsutsuki Momoshiki.

I suspect he hadn't finished paying off his mortgage at that time because he spent all his family's money on buying ninja tools—though that is just a joke.

However, what Uchiha Hikari didn't know was that the light energy Tokiju used did not consume chakra at all.

She still believed that the three types of light—sun, moon, and stars—were like the fluorescent light in the sealing space, requiring the fusion of one's own chakra to be utilized.

Regarding this, Tokiju did not offer much explanation.

It wasn't that he was hiding anything from Uchiha Hikari, but rather that he didn't even realize that was what she thought.

Much like one's own behavioral habits, if others don't ask, you might not even notice them yourself.

That was exactly the case for Tokiju; after years of application, absorbing the surrounding light energy had become his subconscious instinct.

Furthermore, Uchiha Hikari hadn't shared her inner thoughts with Tokiju either.

Thus, a not-so-important misunderstanding was formed.

Looking at the crimson morning sun before them, Tokiju turned to Uchiha Hikari and asked, "So, shall we continue on our way now, or rest for a while?"

After all, he and Uchiha Hikari had been standing outside for the entire night.

Although Tokiju didn't feel tired because of the starlight—on the contrary, he felt full of vigor—Uchiha Hikari was different. She was only passively receiving the blessing of the starlight, and whether her spirit felt fatigued was an unknown.

Hearing Tokiju's question, Uchiha Hikari shook her head and said, "No need, I feel very energetic right now. Continuing on our way is fine."

Seeing her flushed face and spirited appearance, Tokiju didn't say anything more.

He took the map out of his system space, intending to confirm today's route once again.

Because Tokiju was terrible at jumping through tree branches, he and Uchiha Hikari hadn't covered much distance yesterday.

If they kept up yesterday's pace, it would take them about three more days to reach the Land of Hot Water.

This wouldn't do; in three days, who knows how far Tsunade might have run?

Although he had the Katsuyu Sage to confirm Tsunade's location at any time, it was still quite troublesome.

If only he had agreed to the Katsuyu Sage's suggestion of reverse summoning; then he wouldn't be in this much trouble now.

But if he suddenly changed his mind now, wouldn't that make him look like he had no face?

So, forget it. He would just have to keep jumping through the trees slowly.

He wasn't yet proficient in controlling moonlight and couldn't condense a proper propulsion device, so he couldn't just fly over directly.

Tokiju felt he would need a long time to practice before he could perfectly condense a reasonable propulsion device.

Sigh~ Forget it, jumping it is. He was a ninja, after all; he could just endure it.

Meanwhile, after a night of searching, Sigurd found a small village not far from the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain.

This village was not large, consisting of only a dozen or so households, all of whom were commoners with no chakra in their bodies.

Sigurd gave the old village chief a sum of money in exchange for the temporary right to reside in a vacant house located on the outskirts of the village.

After doing this, Sigurd used a sealing technique to seal the old village chief's memories regarding himself, leaving behind only vague memories concerning Uzumaki Miku.

In any case, the old village chief was quite advanced in age, so even if his memories became muddled, no one would find it strange.

Upon arriving at the vacant room and opening the door, he saw dust covering the floor inside.

After a brief inspection, it was clear that this empty house had indeed not been visited by anyone for a long time.

After simply cleaning the place up together with Uzumaki Miku, the house was finally barely presentable.

Sigurd had not intended for Uzumaki Miku, a pregnant woman, to do any work, but she refused on the grounds that she "had not yet reached the point where she could not move."

Unable to sway her, Sigurd could only let her handle some light tasks.

After using Starlight Energy to treat her last night, Uzumaki Miku's complexion was now much more radiant than when they had first met.

The dense clusters of bite marks on her arms had also mostly vanished overnight, leaving behind only a few faint traces.

One could only say that as expected of the Uzumaki Clan, their recovery ability was truly heaven-defying.