The Two Sides Reunite

Tokiju formed the Ram Seal, and with a poof, a figure identical to him appeared in a cloud of smoke.

The Shadow Clone naturally knew what the original had in mind, so she immediately sat down cross-legged and began connecting her mind to Sigurd.

Before long, Sigurd had rebooted. On the surface, he seemed no different from before.

Shizune jumped when she saw Sigurd suddenly move.

Then she saw that Tokiju's Shadow Clone was controlling him, and finally relaxed.

"What an amazing puppet! Sunagakure's puppet techniques can't even compare," Shizune remarked casually.

Tokiju merely smiled without saying a word. Girl, do you know what system technology is? Mind-blowing, right? (Tactical lean-back JPG.)

Tokiju turned his attention back to Sigurd and asked, "How do you feel? Anything unusual?"

The Shadow Clone's consciousness was now entirely inside Sigurd, so Tokiju could simply ask him directly.

Sigurd carefully sensed his body, then shook his head at Tokiju. "Nothing unusual. It feels the same as when you were controlling me."

Tokiju felt reassured. "Good. Then we'll stick to the plan. Tomorrow, find a time to deactivate yourself. I want to see whether a whole day's worth of information will put too much strain on my mind."

Shizune quickly understood Tokiju's reasoning and thought it was a great idea.

As Tokiju and Sigurd discussed the details of their plan, Tsunade's voice suddenly rang out. "Oh, so this is the puppet you told me about? Not bad, not bad. He doesn't look anything like you, so I can relax."

Hearing Tsunade, Tokiju immediately turned around. Tsunade was staring at Sigurd with curiosity, while Uzumaki Miku stood properly behind her.

Tokiju cleared his throat. "Ahem. We can talk about Sigurd later."

"The most important thing right now is Miku's health. Sis, tell me how she's doing."

Tsunade immediately turned her gaze away from Sigurd. "Most of her external injuries have healed, but she's severely depleted internally. If we want the baby to be born healthy, she'll need a long period of medicinal and nutritional treatment."

As she spoke, Tsunade planted a hand on Tokiju's head and praised him. "I have to give your miraculous Starlight some credit. It healed her injuries and even stabilized her depleted body. Otherwise, this would've been a real problem."

Uzumaki Miku had been in poor health for far too long. If she hadn't been pregnant, it would've been fine; she could've spent a few years slowly recuperating.

But now she was pregnant, and during pregnancy, the body needed plenty of nutrients to nourish the baby.

Besides, giving birth also took a tremendous amount of energy.

Given Uzumaki Miku's current condition, even ten months of recuperation wouldn't be enough to restore her to full health.

Giving birth in this state would inevitably shorten her life.

But now, thanks to Starlight's nurturing, Uzumaki Miku's health was slowly improving.

And with the Uzumaki Clan's powerful constitution, all she needed was five or six months of proper care to make a full recovery.

Thinking of this, Tsunade was once again astonished by the Starlight Tokiju had summoned.

Ever since receiving the Starlight Blessing, she'd felt the amount of chakra in her body increasing every day, as if she'd been given a new lease on life.

If her chakra kept growing at this rate for a few more years, she might be able to use the Strength of a Hundred Technique and Creation Rebirth without even releasing her Yin Seal.

After hearing Tsunade's explanation, Uzumaki Miku, who had remained silent the whole time, looked at Tokiju gratefully.

Tsunade had already told her about her condition. Miku knew that without Tokiju, she might not have lived long after giving birth.

So she was deeply grateful to him for giving her the chance to raise her child in good health.

Tokiju understood Uzumaki Miku's gratitude. This was exactly the outcome he'd wanted.

A member of the Uzumaki Clan—especially one with such an exceptional bloodline—could be extremely useful.

Just look at Sunny Sasuke. If he hadn't had Karin, he'd have died eight hundred times over.

Sunny Sasuke referred specifically to Sasuke during the Five Kage Summit.

And with Uzumaki Miku here, Tokiju could also get more Sealing Jutsu scrolls out of Kushina.

Uzumaki Mito had given him a large amount of Sealing Jutsu material before Tokiju was summoned to the Sealing Space.

But Tokiju had been too young back then, so she hadn't given him any of the more dangerous techniques.

So although Tokiju had a high level of skill in Sealing Jutsu, he knew very little about techniques that involved the soul. He badly needed to study them.

Even though his mental age was already quite advanced, he still couldn't escape the fact that his body belonged to a six-year-old boy named Tokiju.

A six-year-old's body made adults instinctively think he was still too young to be exposed to dangerous things.

So if he wanted to learn the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, he had to find another way.

Tokiju pulled his thoughts back and looked at Tsunade again. "So, Sis, what are you planning to do next?"

At Tokiju's question, Tsunade answered without a moment's hesitation. "Go back to Konoha, of course. It's the only place where we can buy enough medicinal herbs."

"Wait, Lady Tsunade, are we going back to Konoha?"

Tokiju hadn't even reacted to Tsunade's words before Shizune sprang up, excitedly asking her.

She'd been taken away from Konoha by Tsunade after becoming a Chunin, and three or four years had passed since then.

Naturally, she missed her hometown very much.

Fortunately, Tokiju didn't know what Shizune was thinking. Otherwise, he would've quipped, Girl, don't get too excited. If it weren't for me, you'd still be wandering around with your sister for more than a decade.

Tsunade nodded at Shizune and instructed her, "Shizune, go check the nearest town and see if you can find a carriage or something. If you can, hire one and bring it here. We'll wait for you."

Shizune nodded eagerly. "Yes, Lady Tsunade. I'll take care of it right away."

As Shizune turned to leave, Tokiju hurriedly called after her. "Shizune, take Guang with you. You'll have someone to watch your back."

Shizune nodded, then left the room without looking back, seeming eager to get going.

After Shizune left, Tsunade looked at Tokiju. "Come outside with me. I need to ask you something."