It was night in the outskirts near Yugakure. The weather was nice, and the stars shone clearly overhead. It was a perfect night for absorbing starlight.
Earlier that day, Tokiju had taken Uchiha Hikari to Yugakure to buy a grill and plenty of meat.
He had planned a nighttime barbecue in the wilderness, and, while they were at it, a Starlight Blessing for his big sister and Shizune.
After absorbing and observing the starlight over the past few nights, Tokiju had confirmed its general effects.
Simply put, absorbing starlight could awaken certain bloodline traits that lay dormant in the body.
In Tokiju's case, after receiving the Starlight Blessing on the first night, the Sage Body dormant within him had already awakened.
However, it would still take some time for the Sage Body to fully manifest. After all, Tokiju was still very young.
His body would need to develop for a while longer before the amount of chakra within him began to grow explosively.
Even someone as powerful as Senju Hashirama had still been skipping stones at Tokiju's age.
Besides, Tokiju had another reason for giving Tsunade and Shizune a blessing tonight.
He wanted to see what would happen to Shizune, who had no special bloodline, after she absorbed the starlight.
Would nothing happen, or would her potential improve? He needed to find out.
As for Tsunade?
She shared the same bloodline as Tokiju. After absorbing the starlight tonight, she would either awaken a Sage Body like his or develop some special trait of the Uzumaki Clan.
As for Uchiha Hikari?
After receiving the Starlight Blessing for three nights, she had noticed that her Mangekyō Sharingan seemed to be undergoing a transformation toward the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Her ocular powers used to dwindle with every use, but now she had noticed that they slowly recovered even when she wasn't absorbing Starlight Energy.
The rate of recovery was almost negligible, but her ocular powers were indeed recovering bit by bit.
Once the meat was sizzling with grease, Tokiju dipped it in the seasonings and popped it into his mouth, savoring every bite.
Uchiha Hikari was no less enthusiastic. She ate far more elegantly than Tokiju, but she was still devouring the various grilled meats in front of her.
She and Tokiju had been traveling for the past two days. Aside from eating snacks from the system, they'd just hunted for whatever they could find.
Now that they had barbecue in front of them, they were naturally tearing through it in no time.
Seeing Tokiju and Uchiha Hikari enjoying their food so much put Tsunade in a great mood.
As she grilled meat for the two of them, she picked up a flask and drank heartily.
Seeing this, Shizune had been about to go over and say something, but Tsunade looked so happy that she decided to let it go.
With nothing else to do, Shizune naturally joined the barbecue feast. It had been a long time since she'd eaten grilled meat, too.
After taking a sip of wine, Tsunade suddenly looked at Tokiju and asked, "Hey, brat, why did you insist on coming out here to barbecue?"
Earlier, she'd agreed to Tokiju's request without a second thought, but now that she thought about it, it didn't make sense.
If he wanted barbecue, why not eat at one of the restaurants in Yugakure? They could even enjoy a nice hot spring afterward.
Hearing his big sister's question, Tokiju casually explained, "Because I wanted to go on an exciting camping trip in the wilderness, of course."
At that, Tsunade and Shizune looked completely unconvinced. Their expressions said, "Who do you think you're fooling?"
Uchiha Hikari only rolled her eyes to herself. There he went, fooling around again.
Seeing everyone look at him suspiciously, Tokiju put down his chopsticks and pointed at his right eye. "Mostly, I wanted to show you what my eye can do."
At that, Tsunade and Shizune grew interested.
At first glance, there was nothing special about Tokiju's right eye, but a closer look immediately revealed that it was unusual.
As for his left eye, which was hidden from view, Tsunade had told Shizune, "It's injured. It's best to keep it out of the light."
Shizune naturally believed Tsunade, so she hadn't given it much thought.
Uchiha Hikari knew exactly what Tokiju was about to do. After all, she'd seen it happen every night for the past few days.
Seeing Tsunade and Shizune watching him with curiosity, Tokiju's vanity was thoroughly satisfied.
He pointed his right hand at the sky, snapped his fingers, and said, "O stars! Bestow your blessing upon us!"
As soon as Tokiju finished speaking, Tsunade and Shizune saw specks of pale green light slowly drifting down from the sky.
Tsunade immediately reached out to examine them.
But the moment the specks landed in her palm, they sank straight into her body.
After examining the sensation carefully, Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "These specks contain an incredible amount of life energy!"
As a medical ninja, Tsunade immediately recognized the starlight's general effects.
If enough of it gathered, its healing ability would be no weaker than that of some high-level Medical Ninjutsu.
Moreover, the starlight contained exceptionally pure life energy, so it had to be capable of more than just healing.
As for what else the starlight concealed, that was beyond Tsunade's ability to detect.
After all, she didn't have Tokiju's eyes.
Shizune was also shocked, especially after she felt how beneficial the specks were to her body.
Seeing this, Tokiju's lips curled up slightly as he continued, "My eye is called the Eye of Light. Its ability is to absorb and control all light."
"That includes sunlight, moonlight, and the starlight you're absorbing now. It can even..."
As he spoke, Tokiju pointed at the charcoal fire beneath the grill and continued, "It can even absorb and control firelight like that."
Hearing this, Tsunade stared at him in astonishment. Tokiju's eye was far too powerful.
If it really worked the way he said, could he keep going without end as long as there was a light source nearby?
No, no. That was too absurd.
Besides, even if someone had unlimited chakra, using ninjutsu still took an irreversible toll on the mind.
Tokiju's Eye of Light must work much the same way. It couldn't provide truly unlimited stamina.
Even so, the Eye of Light's power was undeniable.
After experiencing the wonder of the starlight for herself, Tsunade could tell that Tokiju's Eye of Light was in no way inferior to the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan.
With that in mind, Tsunade turned serious and warned Tokiju, "Tokiju, don't reveal your eyes until you're strong enough to protect yourself!"
His right eye, the Eye of Light, was already astonishing. What about his left eye?
She knew that his left eye was even more unusual than his right. It looked exactly like a clock.
Although Tokiju had said he hadn't discovered its exact ability yet and only knew that it could sense the passage of time, that alone made it clear that the eye had something to do with time.
People often spoke of space-time abilities, but no true time-based ability had ever appeared in the entire Ninja World.
That showed just how rare such a power was. Anything connected to time was bound to be extraordinary.
If she could, Tsunade would cover both of Tokiju's eyes and have him pretend to be blind for the rest of his life.
After all, both of his eyes were terrifying. If word got out, countless people would come after them.
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