Easygoing Daily Life

"Remember this: the one who hurt you was Fū Yamanaka!"

Fū Yamanaka?

Everyone present remembered that name.

Then, with the smoke bomb Josuke threw, he vanished from the camp without lingering.

With the goods in hand, Josuke rushed straight back to Orochimaru's base.

He tossed the goods to Orochimaru.

"Here are the goods you wanted. Got them."

After saying that, Josuke stretched his back.

Seeing that his lost goods had been recovered, Orochimaru's eyes revealed his delight.

"Thank you, Josuke. Tell me, what reward do you want?"

The more Orochimaru looked at Josuke, the more satisfied he became. What a pity Josuke had not followed him three years ago. Otherwise, he would have taught him every ninjutsu he knew.

This inevitably left a regret in Orochimaru's heart.

Josuke shook his head. Even he did not know what he needed. The only reason he worked for Orochimaru was because he was dedicated. Since he had become a rogue ninja...

He had to become a model rogue ninja.

Hehe.

"Nothing for now. Call me if you need anything. I'm going out for a walk in a few days."

With that, he returned to his room.

Outside, Orochimaru watched Josuke leave with a meaningful smile. Josuke and Sasuke could not have been more different. Why had the same tragic experiences produced two entirely different people?

Orochimaru was becoming more and more interested in Josuke.

Back in his room, Josuke naturally had no idea what Orochimaru was thinking.

Instead, he was thinking about the main plot of the original Naruto story. Come to think of it, he only knew the general outline.

Next, Orochimaru would probably get killed. The Three-Tails was probably out of the question, since Guren and the others had already returned, looking utterly miserable.

No tailed beast was fine.

Oh, right. Should he let Orochimaru study that giant hammer?

It did not seem to be of much use in his hands anyway.

With that thought, Josuke got up and headed to Orochimaru's laboratory. Orochimaru and Kabuto were studying some red chakra. Why did it look so familiar?

But Josuke could not remember where he had seen it before.

So, he took out a giant hammer made from the Three-Tails' eye.

After he infused it with a trace of tailed beast chakra, the hammer regained its vitality. The eyeball on it kept looking around.

"I seized this while fighting those ninjas. I have no idea what it does. Can you figure it out?"

Orochimaru stopped what he was doing and looked at the item Josuke had brought.

A flicker of surprise passed through his eyes.

"Isn't this Kotetsu Hagane's weapon?"

Orochimaru recognized the weapon's origins at a glance.

Josuke nodded and told him everything that had happened when he helped Orochimaru retrieve the weapon.

Orochimaru burst into laughter after hearing it.

"Those fools from the Hidden Leaf Village are truly wasting a treasure. They used a tailed beast's eye to make a weapon, then handed it to such trash."

Orochimaru took the weapon from Josuke and examined it closely. After thinking for a moment, he said to Josuke,

"I can't make sense of it yet, but give me some time. I'll definitely figure it out."

His tone brimmed with confidence. Orochimaru believed in that much, after all. Snake Uncle was the number one scientist in the ninja world.

And his medical ninjutsu was no slouch either. He might not have been as skilled as Tsunade, but he was still among the best in the ninja world. That was Orochimaru's confidence.

Besides, the enormous Eight-Tails horn behind him explained everything.

Josuke nodded.

"Alright. Let me know when you find something."

Then he returned to his room.

A few leisurely days passed.

On a sudden whim, Josuke decided to head to the Hidden Leaf Village.

He did not need any disguise. The portrait on the Hidden Leaf Village's wanted poster for him was hideous enough that there was no need to cover his face. Josuke simply swaggered straight back into the village.

No one questioned him along the way, and no one noticed him.

Following his memories,

Josuke arrived at the Uchiha Compound.

The dilapidated, desolate scene he had imagined was nowhere to be found.

What greeted his eyes was a compound filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers.

Huh?

Where the hell had he ended up? Was this still his home?

Had someone bought the Uchiha Compound?

Josuke stared in disbelief, genuinely wondering whether his eyes had gone bad. He rubbed them hard again.

The Uchiha ping-pong emblem was indeed on the gate.

Josuke could only force himself to walk inside.

The world beyond the gate was just as full of spring. Flowers and plants bloomed in profusion. Josuke remembered that even when the Uchiha Clan still existed,

it had never looked this beautiful.

Only the thick dust inside a few rooms spoke of its former glory.

Following his memories, Josuke returned to his home.

How long had it been since he had come back?

Josuke seemed to return to the past... and the helplessness of the night the clan was massacred welled up in his heart once more.

He pushed open the door.

Unlike the other houses, the interior was not covered in dust. The floor was spotless, clearly cleaned often.

There was no dust in the corners of the windowsills either. A pair of shoes sat by the entryway shoe cabinet, instantly putting Josuke on guard.

Someone was inside!

Josuke thought.

He quieted his footsteps and walked into the house one step at a time.

He scanned the living room but found no trace of anyone suspicious. Still, it had been cleaned thoroughly, which pleased Josuke.

His parents' room had not been opened since that incident. Sasuke and Itachi's rooms had been locked when Sasuke defected.

Josuke had not locked his own room, only shut it normally. So he crept toward it on tiptoe.

The room was open. This made Josuke even more vigilant.

That damned thief had actually taken over someone else's nest. Just wait until I deal with you.

When he entered his room, Josuke was stunned to find that it was arranged exactly as it had been when he left.

The only change was probably the extra blanket and pillow that had somehow appeared on his bed.

There was a Chinese character I really liked:

Huh?

What was going on?

Not only had a thief broken into his home, but it was a perverted thief too. QAQ

The room was filled with a pleasant scent. Josuke felt like he had smelled it somewhere before, but he could not remember where.

The bed was somewhat messy, and the blanket had not been folded. Clearly, whoever had moved in had taken this place for their own home.

Truly infuriating. Don't let me find out where you are.

There were no traces here.

Then there was only one obvious place left: the courtyard outside.

Josuke crept into the courtyard and suddenly pulled open the door.

He saw a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.

The abandoned courtyard was filled with all kinds of beautiful flowers.

They brought new life to the deathly colors of the courtyard.

Their fragrance wafted through the air, rich and intoxicating.

But compared to the graceful figure Josuke saw, even those beautiful petals paled into insignificance.

(I've really gotten stuck at writing lately. Honkai: Star Rail's new version is coming out in a few days—time to jump in!)