Chapter 125: Uchiha Hikari Returns To Konoha
“Wow! So spicy! So spicy!” Natsuhi completely disregarded her beautiful image, huffing heavily and grabbing the water glass on the table to drink it all in one gulp.
The other two lightly injured Star Ninja cautiously picked up their spoons and took a bite.
They were instantly spiced to the point of sticking out their tongues, their faces flushed red.
In stark contrast to them was Uchiha Hikari.
The girl’s cheeks were flushed, fine beads of sweat seeping from her forehead, yet she continued eating with relish.
Sansho Granny stood amiably in the kitchen, preparing some lemon water for everyone.
“The mystery of Life Curry lies in this spiciness; it can awaken dormant cells and rejuvenate the body.” Sansho Granny said: “However, few people can eat a full serving without changing their expression.”
“One more serving!” Uchiha Hikari handed the empty plate to Sansho Granny with lingering satisfaction.
Sansho Granny looked somewhat surprised at this girl whose cheeks were flushed and forehead beaded with sweat, with a grain of rice still stuck to the corner of her mouth, and took the plate with a full smile: “Looks like we’ve met one today.”
After lunch, Uchiha Hikari rented a few guest rooms to house the wounded, and Natsuhi stayed behind to treat the two injured Star Ninja.
The next morning, Uchiha Hikari arrived at the Kurotsuchi Clan’s village outpost in Oxalis Gold Mountain.
At the village entrance, dozens of Kurotsuchi Clan members were packing their belongings, preparing for the entire clan to relocate.
Many Kurotsuchi clansmen looked worried; they had only defected from Kirigakure with Clan Head Kurotsuchi Raiga not long ago, and now that Kurotsuchi Raiga was dead, they had to move to an unknown place again.
Hotaru was leading several Star Ninja to supervise the Kurotsuchi Clan’s relocation work.
“Lord, the Kurotsuchi Clan’s relocation preparations are ready.” Hotaru came before Uchiha Hikari and reported.
“Kurotsuchi Bontaro has seen the Lord.” Coming with Hotaru was also a ninja from the Kurotsuchi Clan.
He had a Kirigakure headband with a horizontal slash on his forehead, and his appearance bore some resemblance to Kurotsuchi Raiga.
This newly elected Kurotsuchi Clan Head knelt on one knee: “Lord, your subordinate boldly requests mercy for Kurotsuchi Raiga’s wife and children.”
“Kurotsuchi Raiga still has a wife and children?” Uchiha Hikari crossed her arms, looking toward those Kurotsuchi clansmen.
“Yes.” Kurotsuchi Bontaro pointed to a woman not far away whose figure was beginning to show signs of pregnancy, and explained: “His wife is only a few weeks pregnant.”
Uchiha Hikari disdainfully waved her hand: “I’m not so petty as to trouble women and children.”
One woman, one unborn child—the pride of the Uchiha Clan made her disdain doing such things.
“Thank you, Lord!” Kurotsuchi Bontaro breathed a sigh of relief as if a weight had been lifted.
He then proactively reported the clan situation in detail to Uchiha Hikari: “Lord, our Kurotsuchi Clan has a total of fifty-eight people, including myself: one Jonin, one Special Jonin, four Chunin, and six Genin.”
A total of twelve ninja; the others were either non-combatant women and elders or children.
The scale of the Kurotsuchi ninja clan was neither large nor small.
After all, not every ninja clan was like the Uchiha, casually fielding ten Jonin and dozens of Chunin.
A ninja clan like the Uchiha was already the largest scale in the entire ninja world; the power of the clan alone could easily wipe out a small or medium-sized country.
The only one comparable now was the Hyuga Clan.
The Kurotsuchi ninja clan’s relocation proceeded in an orderly manner.
Just over three months ago, they had defected from Kirigakure, traveling light to begin with, and now they had no particularly heavy supplies.
Under Hotaru’s arrangements, the Kurotsuchi Clan disguised themselves as a merchant caravan transporting ore, heading toward the Land of Wind border, planning to migrate northward along the Land of Wind border, ultimately entering the Land of Stars.
“Lord, aren’t you coming with us?” At the summit of Oxalis Gold Mountain, after handing over the injured Star Ninja to the caravan, Natsuhi asked softly.
“No need, I have some matters to attend to; you go back first.” Uchiha Hikari looked toward the east, her gaze firm.
“Yes, Lord!” Natsuhi bowed slightly and withdrew.
Through these past six months of interaction, she had come to understand that this young girl possessed power far surpassing ordinary Jonin like them, second only to Lord Shura in the entire Hoshigakure.
Moreover, her ambiguous relationship with Lord Shura led Hoshigakure’s ninja to treat her as the lady of the house.
After Natsuhi left, Uchiha Hikari glanced in the direction where the Kurotsuchi Clan, disguised as a merchant caravan, departed, and also headed east.
Traveling at full speed, she entered the Land of Fire in less than a day.
Uchiha Hikari first followed the general direction from her memory to the Uchiha Clan’s old clan territory.
After Konoha was established, the entire Uchiha Clan moved into the village; this old clan territory, not far from Konoha, had become a ruin.
Uchiha Hikari wandered among the broken walls and ruins, stopping before a collapsed wall where the clan crest, overgrown with vines, made her lower her gaze, her expression serene.
“Uchiha Clan…” During the centuries she was sealed, her feelings toward the Uchiha were extremely complex.
After her parents died, she awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan; the Uchiha clansmen were her only blood relatives, and the young Uchiha Hikari both yearned to be accepted by the clan and deeply hated being treated as a weapon.
During the centuries she was sealed, she had countless times hoped her clansmen would discover traces of her sealing and rescue her.
But right up until that man broke her seal and told her that the Uchiha Clan, along with the Senju Clan and Uzumaki Clan who had sealed her, had let go of their hatred.
This feeling of betrayal and being forgotten lingered with her for a long time.
Meow?
Suddenly, a meow interrupted Uchiha Hikari’s thoughts.
She turned her head and saw an orange cat perched on a half-collapsed building, curiously sizing up Uchiha Hikari.
It seemed to also be recalling if it had seen her somewhere before.
“A ninja cat…” Uchiha Hikari remembered that the Uchiha Clan had a long history of deep cooperation with the ninja cat clan, and many of the Uchiha’s weapons were procured from the ninja cat clan.
As if sensing something, the orange cat jumped down from the ruins, sauntered over to Uchiha Hikari with a cat’s gait, and sniffed her aura with its nose.
Uchiha Hikari also extended her hand, placing it in front of the orange cat.
After a moment, the orange cat nudged its head into Uchiha Hikari’s palm, affectionately rubbing against her palm.
Stroking its head, Uchiha Hikari’s melancholic mood improved considerably.
She picked up the orange cat and gazed distantly toward Konoha.
“Time to go to Konoha.”
At the same time, she was cheering herself up inwardly: ‘It’s not to see the Uchiha in Konoha; it’s just to see Menma!’
At the same time.
In Konohagakure’s Ichiraku Ramen Shop.
Naruto stared dumbfounded at Hinata beside him as she finished her tenth bowl of ramen.
Menma, who was drinking soup, suddenly shivered, feeling a chill on his back.
‘Something dirty?’ Menma activated Kagura Shingan and alertly scanned the surroundings.
‘No White Zetsu detected either?’
