Smile

Seeing that the young girl remained silent for a long time, Qiancao took the initiative to continue writing the characters "Qiancao" on the ground.

He then pointed at the characters, then at himself, and repeated, "Qiancao."

The meaning was, "I am Qiancao."

Afterward, he kept saying "Qiancao" while staring at the girl with a friendly gaze—a signature "warm guy" look he had practiced in front of the mirror.

It was a pity he had never had a chance to use it before, and he wasn't sure if it was even effective.

The sheltered girl felt incredibly uncomfortable under his gaze. This was the first time a clansman had looked at her without disgust or fear. Although the look was a bit cheesy, it was still far friendlier than those so-called fellow clansmen.

Unable to help the budding sense of goodwill in her heart, the girl lowered her head and whispered, "You can just call me... call me Wuming."

Unfortunately, Qiancao did not understand the local language and couldn't grasp what Wuming meant; he simply shook his head frantically to signal his confusion.

Seeing Qiancao's dazed and foolish expression, Wuming didn't know whether to be angry or amused, so she demonstrated the pronunciation of her name again: "Na, na, si..."

"Na, na, si, na, na, si." Qiancao lowered his head, muttering the sounds to memorize them, then looked up and smiled. "Qiancao, Wuming, tomodachi!"

Friend...? He just said... he said we are friends...!

Wuming didn't say anything on the surface, but her heart was in a state of panic; she could only lower her head to hide her expression.

How can someone... someone say we're friends the very first time we meet!

But it's so... so happy. To think he... said we are friends. Although Wuming was happy inside, for some reason, her eyes began to sting, as if tears were about to well up.

Lying on the ground, Qiancao saw Wuming's eyes redden and hurriedly struggled to sit up, wincing in pain as he pulled at his wounds in the process.

Seeing this, Wuming quickly helped him sit on the bed—though calling it a bed was generous, as it was nothing more than a wooden frame on the verge of falling apart.

Sitting on the bed, Qiancao pointed at Wuming's eyes and shook his head, meaning: "Don't cry."

Wuming understood his intent, and banking on the fact that he couldn't understand her, she retorted loudly, "Who, who's crying! I was just tired from treating your wounds!"

At this moment, Uchiha Hiri's voice sounded from outside the cell: "The ninjutsu implanted in your body is still unstable. If you feel any discomfort while using ninjutsu, you must speak up."

Seeing someone arrive, Wuming quickly returned to her initial withdrawn state, sitting on the bed without a word.

Outside the cell, Hiri and Naoto stood side by side, watching the two children inside.

As if accustomed to Wuming's coldness, Hiri placed the tray in her hand on the ground and said to the two, "It is time to eat. From today on, you two will live together."

Qiancao could not understand what Hiri said, but seeing Naoto's authoritative demeanor, his heart stirred.

If he could get him to give them a few chances to go outside, wouldn't that be an opportunity to find a way to escape?

No one present, including Qiancao, noticed that a faint ocular power was slowly being released from Qiancao's eyes, subtly influencing everyone in the room.

Naoto had originally only been pacifying Hiri to keep Qiancao alive for the time being, but under the influence of Qiancao's ocular power, a sudden urge for research surged in his heart.

How can such a miraculous power of resurrection be handled so crudely? I must devise a perfect experiment to cultivate them.

Thus, Naoto said to Hiri, "I agree with your idea. Just do it well." With that, he turned and left.

Watching Naoto turn and walk away, Qiancao could only temporarily focus his target on Hiri, struggling to stand up.

Wuming had originally intended to remain cold to the end, but seeing him swaying, she couldn't bear it and helped him up to walk toward Hiri.

As if unaccustomed to this new body, Qiancao felt he couldn't control his limbs. The mere few steps were incredibly difficult, and he nearly fell several times, saved only by Wuming's support.

Reaching Hiri's side, Qiancao caught his breath and first said to Wuming, "Thank you."

Facing Hiri, he didn't know how to express himself, so he could only point at himself and then at the door, signaling that he wanted to go out.

Finally, he crouched on the ground and wrote in Chinese: "I am not an enemy."

Although she could guess the meaning of his writing, it was still very strange for Qiancao to suddenly write in such peculiar characters.

So, she asked Wuming, "What is wrong with him?"

Seeing that Hiri did not understand his intent, Qiancao felt a bit disappointed and couldn't help but feel dejected.

Wuming originally didn't want to speak to this wicked woman who had forcibly implanted ninjutsu into her and treated her as a weapon.

But seeing Qiancao's dejected look, she couldn't bear it and said emotionlessly, "He doesn't seem to know how to speak, and he doesn't know why he is being kept here either."

Realizing that any further explanation would be futile, Qiancao sorted out his current situation:

He had already transmigrated into his mother's womb in this life, but something had gone wrong; after he was born, he had been unable to control his body, living as a fool until now.

Now, without the memories of the first ten years, he didn't know why the Uchiha clan had locked him up.

Looking at Wuming's plight, it was highly likely that he, too, was being treated as experimental material by others.

He could only hope that he wasn't a disposable item just yet.

Tired of standing, Qiancao simply sat cross-legged and began to eat the food Hiri had brought.

The food was bland and barely palatable, but Qiancao was starving and couldn't afford to be picky.

Regardless of anything else, he had to get his body back in shape as soon as possible to seize any opportunity to escape and seek revenge.

Watching Qiancao optimistically stuffing his face, Wuming suddenly felt an urge to learn more about him, so she awkwardly asked, "Why... why was he captured?"

As soon as the words left her lips, Wuming hurriedly lowered her head to look at the corner, daring not to look at Hiri, nor at Qiancao again.

Hiri, who had been deep in thought, was interrupted and looked at Wuming in surprise, catching a hint of something ambiguous about her, which couldn't help but stir a sigh in her heart.

As expected of people the same age, I never imagined they would grow familiar so quickly despite the language barrier.

"Come to think of it, this child and you, Wuming, are in the same boat," Shiri explained gently. "His parents were both ninjas with mediocre talent who had always handled logistics within the clan."

"He suffered from some strange illness; he was muddled from birth, like a child forever stuck in infancy."

"Fortunately, his older brother was highly gifted and awakened the Sharingan at a young age. The elders even believed his brother would eventually awaken the Mangekyo."

"It is a pity that last month, the clan was ambushed during a conflict with the Ino-Shika-Cho, and his brother sacrificed himself honorably for the clan."

"I heard that when the news of his brother's death arrived, the muddled Qiancao awakened his Sharingan on the spot."

Hearing this, Wuming stopped looking toward the corner and turned to look at Qiancao beside her, thinking to herself, So, are we both the same kind of person?

Shiri continued with a sigh, "Now that the conflict between our clan and the Senju is intensifying, every clansman who awakens the Sharingan must fight for the clan."

"Although Qiancao cannot fight due to his intellectual disability, his Sharingan must be offered to the clan."

"His parents did not want their youngest son to lose his life as well, so they wanted to take him and flee."

"But with hatred and war everywhere, who can truly stay out of it?"

Hearing this, Wuming's expression turned resentful. She had already heard too many tragic accounts from the ninja world, so she couldn't help but say, "A ninja world filled with such strife—it would be better if it were destroyed!"

Qiancao had already finished his portion of food. Seeing Wuming's angry and frightening expression, he couldn't help but wipe his hands on his clothes and pat her head to comfort her.

Wuming froze as if struck by lightning; she could only turn her head to glance at Qiancao, not knowing what kind of expression to make.

Qiancao simply smiled and placed his hands on the corners of Wuming's mouth, gently pulling them into a smile, as if to say, "At times like this, you just need to smile."