Reincarnation

During the last half hour, Luo Mang gave Hinata another dose of pep talk. His overall message was that she should not worry about her eyes. They were her gift.

Once she grew stronger, people would no longer laugh at her eyes. They would fear them instead.

After washing the dishes, Hinata Hyuga sat there like a well-behaved child, listening quietly and occasionally murmuring her agreement.

Luo Mang did not know whether any of it had sunk in, but he believed change did not happen overnight. Perhaps she needed a catalyst, though he had no idea what it might be. In any case, it would be good if she remembered his words.

"Mm, thank you, Mang."

Hinata Hyuga nodded, her cheeks flushed.

"I'll head home now, then. I won't keep bothering you."

"Do you want me to walk you home?"

She had come here all by herself. Luo Mang felt it would be a little improper not to see her home.

"Ah, um, no need. I can get home myself. I won't bother you any longer."

After saying that, Hinata Hyuga seemed afraid Luo Mang would insist on escorting her. She hopped down and hurried out of the house.

Click! Bang!

The two sounds rang out. The force with which she shut the door alone revealed how nervous she was.

"Ah..."

Luo Mang looked toward the door, shaking his head with a helpless sigh.

Time to head out and pick up a mission.

After all, he could not spend the entire day playing with Hinata Hyuga. He could only find a mission to pass the time.

[The weather's clear today. I never expected Naruto and Sasuke to come looking for me at the same time. It felt pretty strange. Naruto's no big deal. I've met him before, and with his outgoing personality, it's normal for him to stick to me after I helped him once.]

[But why did Sasuke come too? Weird. The way he looked at me, it seemed like he knew me well. I was practically invisible in class before, and we never interacted.]

[Could it be because they're the reincarnations of Asura and Indra, respectively, so they've already started attracting each other?]

Bored, Luo Mang could only pad out his diary with idle rambling. He really wanted to test whether Sasuke was that holder, but after thinking it over for a long time, he decided to probe a little more first.

The Diary had a feature that prevented random guesses. A wrong guess would trigger a one-week cooldown.

If that restriction and penalty did not exist, Luo Mang would have started making things up long ago. Famous or not, anyone he had even a vague impression of would go into it.

[Forget it. I won't go into detail. Little Hinata came to see me today. Ah, she really is a pretty little girl. So cute. There wasn't much to talk about, though. We parted ways after breakfast. Now it's time to pick up a mission. Hopefully, I'll get an easy one.]

Meanwhile, Sasuke had arrived at the river to practice ninjutsu. When he saw the Diary light up, he startled, then hurriedly reached out with his consciousness to read it.

"Just what kind of person does he think I am?"

Sasuke looked utterly embarrassed after reading the entry. From the diary's wording, it seemed that in Luo Mang's predictions, he was not close to anyone.

Sasuke found nothing useful. He only felt that taking the initiative had aroused Luo Mang's suspicions. Should he hold back a little and wait until a crucial moment to reveal that he knew, then decide what to do?

Although Sasuke Uchiha had noticed nothing, Uchiha Itachi and Kakashi Hatake had picked up on something.

Amegakure.

Uchiha Itachi ignored the incessant chatter beside him and carefully pondered the words written in the diary.

Reincarnation!

Could someone have taken over Sasuke's body?

No, no, no.

Itachi quickly calmed down again. If Sasuke really had been possessed, the writer would surely have mentioned it long ago. Why would he only bring it up in passing now?

Besides, Naruto Uzumaki had been called the savior more than once or twice in earlier entries. The idea of that savior being possessed made no sense at all.

So this reincarnation had to mean something else.

A highly intelligent young man, Uchiha Itachi quickly thought over another phrase in that passage: attracting each other.

Given the diary writer's fondness for nicknames, that surely did not mean anything good.

Moreover, he was very surprised that Sasuke had come looking for him. In his predictions, Sasuke seemed to be cold and aloof, someone who let no one approach him. That meant they could not be genuine friends.

Sworn enemies. Rivals.

He was getting closer and closer to the truth, but his thoughts stalled there.

No matter how hard he racked his brains, he could never have guessed that it meant the reincarnation of chakra, merely a designation for the origin of their souls. It was neither possession nor rebirth, only proof that they were extraordinary.

Unable to figure it out, Uchiha Itachi could only leave a question mark over it for now. Still, he had gleaned something else. To be mentioned alongside Naruto, who was called the savior, and described as a reincarnation, Sasuke was either an extremely terrifying demon who would become his opponent in the future, or perhaps something of a savior himself.

Uchiha Itachi leaned more toward the latter. If Sasuke were a demon, Luo Mang would surely have cursed him out in the diary for approaching him, rather than merely feeling puzzled.

Although today's entry contained only a few brief lines, Uchiha Itachi had gained a great deal from it.

Elsewhere, Kakashi.

On his way to the river to teach Sasuke, Kakashi was also reading the diary, wearing the same puzzled expression.

Although he had not thought as deeply as Uchiha Itachi, considering possession and other such possibilities,

he had still inferred from those words that Sasuke might be a savior, or a calamity destined to fight the savior.

"A savior?"

Much like Uchiha Itachi, he also categorized Sasuke Uchiha as something of a savior.

Judging by Sasuke's arrogant behavior in the video, it certainly would not happen at that point. It had to be further in the future. Perhaps he would undergo some change along the way?

Lost in these wandering thoughts, Kakashi arrived at the river.

"Fire Style!"

Sasuke Uchiha formed hand seals and unleashed a Great Fireball!

Kakashi watched him from hiding. There shouldn't be any problems. Time to begin today's lesson, then?

At the foot of the Hokage Building.

Luo Mang, who had come to pick up a mission, happened to run into Naruto, who was there for the same reason. Naruto's face lit up with excitement when he saw him.

"Big Bro Mang, you're here to pick up a mission!"

"Yeah. It's been several days since my last one, after all."

Luo Mang nodded. Looking at the mission Naruto Uzumaki had already accepted, he suddenly remembered that the Third had asked him to look after Naruto. Why not do a mission together, then?

"Want to team up?"

"Yeah, absolutely!"

Naruto Uzumaki nodded excitedly.

Luo Mang nodded in turn. Before he could ask, the outgoing Naruto Uzumaki immediately explained their mission.

"Today, I took a mission to help cut down trees and gather lumber. We don't have to build anything, though. It's all muscle work. With two of us, we'll definitely finish faster. Maybe we can even take another mission and have ramen tonight."

There was no helping it. Naruto Uzumaki was the clumsy sort. If he took a job catching bugs or doing delicate work, he might only make things worse. He had already experienced that before, so it was better to be careful. Physical labor was what he did best.