Serious Side Effects

Tsunade waved a hand at Uchiha Hikari and said casually, "Don't worry. He just suffered a mental shock, likely from dispelling a large number of Shadow Clones. He'll be fine after a rest."

With that, Tsunade looked back at Tokiju and asked, "Did you dispel the clone you had acting as your puppet?"

Upon hearing this, Tokiju wanted to answer, but the words were stuck in his throat, and he couldn't make a sound.

Helpless, he could only nod slightly in response.

Seeing this, Tsunade pointed at Tokiju and said to Uchiha Hikari, "See? This is the consequence of maintaining Shadow Clones for too long. You must be extremely careful about this in the future."

Uchiha Hikari nodded immediately upon hearing this: "I understand, Sister Tsunade. I will be careful from now on."

Seeing that Uchiha Hikari had taken it to heart, Tsunade nodded with a smile, then looked at Tokiju and said softly, "Tokiju, you rest here for a bit. Shizune and I will head over first; join us when you've recovered."

Tokiju shook his head. After the brief interruption, he had regained his composure and quickly said, "I'm fine. Let's go together."

Seeing that Tokiju was firm, Tsunade didn't stop him, only saying, "Fine, just take it easy."

Tokiju stood up quickly and brushed the dust off his clothes.

To be honest, his brain was still a bit foggy. If it weren't for the mental fortitude he possessed from living two lives, he might have truly suffered a mishap just now.

While it wouldn't have killed him, it certainly would have triggered some form of mental illness, specifically schizophrenia.

That's right—the consciousness controlling Sigurd was a piece of his own mind that he had actively separated, but it had been operating independently for quite a long time.

During this period, that fragment of his mind had identified itself as Sigurd, even adopting an attitude and speech pattern different from his main consciousness.

This had caused that fragment to slowly develop a new sense of self; if it had gone on for another few days or weeks, that portion of his mind maintaining Sigurd might have evolved into an entirely new personality.

This was the reason Tokiju had been so dazed; the consciousness he had just retracted already held a faint, subtle difference from his own.

Although this difference wouldn't affect Tokiju's original mind in the slightest, the fusion of the two consciousnesses had still caused chaos, instantly plunging Tokiju into a state of mental exhaustion.

In summary, he had fallen from the tree branch due to mental fatigue, definitely not because he lost his footing—absolutely not!

However, this incident served as a warning to Tokiju: he couldn't just split his consciousness at will, or he would easily run into trouble.

But if that were the case, he would have to find another way to control the Sigurd persona.

That didn't stump Tokiju. If he couldn't split his mind to control it, he could just use his full consciousness to do so.

He could use a Shadow Clone to control Sigurd, dispel the clone after a while, and then create a new one.

In this way, he would only have to endure the memories of a Shadow Clone vanishing every so often.

This would also minimize the risk of any issues arising within his own mind.

Having thought of a solution, Tokiju wanted to try it out immediately, but since they were still on the road, he had to set that idea aside for now.

Regardless, they weren't far from Sigurd now, and at their current speed, they would arrive before long.

Thinking of this, Tokiju quickened his pace.

Seeing Tokiju return to his original speed, Uchiha Hikari, who had been following closely by his side, finally felt at ease and hurried to catch up.

Half an hour later, the four of them finally arrived at the small house where Sigurd and Uzumaki Miku were staying.

Tokiju pushed the door open first and called out inside, "Excuse us!"

As soon as he pushed the door open, Tokiju immediately saw Sigurd standing to the side in "standby" mode, and Uzumaki Miku looking at him with a terrified expression.

Seeing this, Tokiju greeted her first: "Hi, Sister Miku, did I scare you?"

Uzumaki Miku had indeed felt a surge of fear when she heard movement outside earlier.

But as Tokiju pushed the door open and she truly saw his appearance, Uzumaki Miku finally relaxed.

Mainly, Tokiju's six-year-old body was too deceptive, and there was no malice coming from him.

Plus, she was currently pregnant, and her maternal instincts were overflowing, so she subconsciously assumed Tokiju posed no danger.

Uzumaki Miku stared at Tokiju for a moment, then asked uncertainly, "Are you the real body of Lord Sigurd?"

"Uh~" Tokiju scratched his cheek awkwardly and said, "Sigurd is actually a pseudonym. You can just call me Tokiju; that is my real name."

Just as Tokiju was introducing himself, Tsunade walked in. Seeing Uzumaki Miku's bright red hair, she felt a sense of familiarity.

She walked up immediately, using chakra to check the woman's body while asking, "Are you the member of the Uzumaki Clan that my brother rescued?"

Uzumaki Miku was stunned and didn't answer right away.

Seeing that she didn't reply, Tsunade wasn't annoyed. Instead, she took the woman's arm and looked at the old bite marks.

Looking at the faint scars, Tsunade frowned, then continued, "Don't worry, we won't hurt you. You might not know this, but Tokiju and I are both the grandchildren of Grandma Mito."

Uzumaki Miku's eyes flashed with surprise upon hearing this: "Eh? You mean Lady Uzumaki Mito?"

Although she was young when she left the Land of Whirlpools, she knew of the princess of the Uzumaki Clan.

But Lady Uzumaki Mito had passed away so long ago; how could there be a grandson as young as Tokiju?

Seeing that she was skeptical, Tokiju moved his thoughts, and a pale gold chain flew out from behind him.

Tokiju manipulated the chain to dance around the room before saying to Uzumaki Miku, "Well, do you believe now that I have the bloodline of the Uzumaki Clan?"

Seeing the chains that were almost identical to those in her memories, Uzumaki Miku recognized them at a glance as the Adamantine Sealing Chains unique to the Uzumaki Clan.

Witnessing this scene, her originally tense mood immediately settled, and she lowered her head to apologize: "I am sorry, Lord Tokiju, I should not have doubted you."

Tokiju waved his hand, saying indifferently: "It is fine, I do not mind such a trivial matter at all."

Having said that, Tokiju walked over to Sigurd, while Shizune was currently watching Sigurd with a face full of curiosity.

Uchiha Hikari had actually wanted to come in and join the fun at the very beginning.

However, seeing that the space inside the room was not very large and feeling it was too crowded, she took the initiative to go outside to stand guard instead.

In any case, she knew everyone in the room except for Uzumaki Miku, so there was no need for her to join the excitement.