The clouds parted, and the inky black sky revealed faint glimmers of light.
A petite figure, clad in purplish-red lightning armor, stood on the lake's surface, gripping the Samehada blade. A slender beam of light pierced through the clouds, casting a golden sheen across the rippling water.
Four Kage-level ninjas had fle\d one after another, leaving her as the undisputed victor of this battle.
The purplish-red lightning crackling over her body faded with the wind, and the spiraling chakra extending into the air slowly came to a halt. Samehada retracted its barbs, collapsing exhausted onto the water's surface, tongue lolling out like a dog stranded in a desert.
She squeezed a bit of chakra from her fingertip.
"Grrr~"
The previously listless Samehada sprang to life, its massive tongue eagerly lapping at the delicious purple energy, barbs dancing wildly.
Hikari shook her head, a bit exasperated by this drama queen of a blade, always playing pitiful to snag a snack.
Eat if you want to eat!
Without Samehada's help, forget fending off Uchiha Obito—Kisame Hoshigaki alone would've taken her down with ease.
This blade was, without a doubt, the MVP of this victory!
---
Boom! Boom!
The lake's water level dropped.
Muddy streams cascaded down the cliffs, carving paths through the reddish-brown Thunder Drum Mountain.
The bloodstains on the ground had vanished, washed away. Scattered human remains rolled downstream, some getting caught in the jagged waterways, gleaming an eerie white under the sunlight.
The four-man team—Ryuuma Aburame and the others—waded through the mud, quickly reaching Hikari's side.
After surviving multiple brutal battles unscathed, Hikari had even restored her chakra reserves in no time. The four stood speechless, awestruck.
In less than two hours, she had:
- Single-handedly obliterated the defenses of Mine No. 1, cutting down Cloud Village elite Jonin with ease.
- Teamed up with Orochimaru to take on a blue-skinned monster, forcing it to its knees with a single-handed strike. Had she not left it alive for Orochimaru's experiments, it would've been reduced to fish paste.
- Fought a mysterious ninja skilled in space-time techniques, capable of revival and invincibility, killing them multiple times until they fled in defeat.
This terrifying track record, if made public, would earn her fame across the nations and a resounding title.
Even more shocking? She was just a child, barely seven years old.
The four surrounded Hikari in silence, their gazes like they were sizing up an alien.
"What are you standing around for? Go blow up the mine!" she snapped.
"Yes, ma'am!"
At her command, Banxiong and the other two lowered their heads and scattered, not daring to meet her eyes.
Die closed her eyes, scanning for residual Thunder Stones. Lan swept the battlefield clean, while Banxiong used Earth Release to further collapse the already rain-soaked mine, ensuring its total destruction.
Their unusually respectful attitudes left Hikari torn between amusement and exasperation.
She knew her situation might seem a bit over-the-top, but she wasn't cheating—or at least, not by much.
Her strength was the result of relentless training and countless battles. From Mist Village to Leaf, Cloud, and the Root, she'd gathered the best resources from each, barely achieving elite Jonin-level power.
And this body had reached its limit. She likely wouldn't see significant progress for years.
Who could've predicted she'd run into Kisame Hoshigaki this time and claim the Samehada blade, perfectly countering her weaknesses? Add to that Kisame's freebie energy supply, and she'd managed the incredible feat of driving off Uchiha Obito single-handedly.
This wasn't her true strength.
"Yedu, that arm…" Ryuuma began.
"I think there's still something off about this arm. I'll study it over the next few days and personally deliver it to Lord Danzo when we get to the Leaf," Hikari replied.
"Fair enough."
Sensing her dismissive tone, Ryuuma nodded, dropping the topic of the arm.
Having awakened his past memories, Ryuuma no longer prioritized Danzo's missions. His only goal now was to restore the fallen Danzo to his former self.
If that proved impossible… well…
He recalled the pact made with Itachi Uchiha in the Tsukuyomi space. His heart felt like the storm clouds above the mountain—churning, heavy, hard to articulate, yet tinged with a faint golden light.
"Ryuuma, got any bandages?" Hikari asked.
"Yeah."
Ryuuma pulled a large roll of white bandages from a sealing scroll and handed it to her. She crouched down, wrapping the barbed Samehada into a two-meter-long giant blade.
Ryuuma's head ached.
The influence of Shisui's Kotoamatsukami on her was unclear. If it came to confronting Danzo one day, how would they get past Hikari?
She was already this formidable. In a few years, when her body matured, even he and Itachi combined might not stand a chance against her.
Boom!
A deafening explosion echoed from the distant mine. Mud and debris slid down the rock walls, further clouding the water below.
Banxiong, covered in brown-yellow mud, approached swiftly, sealing several intact heads into a scroll. Lan trailed closely behind.
"Captain, Mine No. 1 is destroyed."
"Battlefield cleanup is complete."
"Good," Ryuuma nodded heavily, his mind racing to figure out how to prevent Hikari from being fully brainwashed by Danzo.
The Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal kept him from revealing Danzo's Mangekyo Sharingan to her. He needed a plan to save the Leaf's greatest prodigy from Danzo's corruption before it was too late.
Otherwise, he and Itachi would surely be crushed by this absurdly powerful monster.
Splash! Splash!
Leaping across the water, Die picked up a few stray Thunder Stones, stuffed them into a sealing scroll, and shook her head as she joined Ryuuma.
"The Thunder Stones from Mine No. 1 seem to have been washed away by the flood. I only found a dozen or so."
At her words, Ryuuma's eyes flickered. Everyone's gaze settled on Hikari, who'd been the first to arrive at Mine No. 1.
Rip!
Tearing off a large strip of bandage to wrap Samehada's barbs, Hikari pressed her lips together, feigning ignorance.
"Maybe they got washed down the cliff."
"That'd make them hard to find," Die offered, licking her lips awkwardly. Lan nodded solemnly in support.
"Forget it, then," Ryuuma said, withdrawing his gaze without pressing further.
No one here was naive. Everyone knew where the Thunder Stones had gone.
Hikari had been in charge of Mine No. 1, slaughtering everyone before the others arrived. Given the compatibility between Thunder Stones and Lightning Release chakra mode, it was clear who'd taken the mysteriously missing stones.
Had Hikari not stopped that masked man, everyone present would likely be dead. A few Thunder Stones? They'd turn a blind eye.
Mentioning the stones was just a way to make Hikari owe them a favor.
"Anyone injured?" Hikari asked, finishing wrapping Samehada and offering the remaining bandages as a gesture of goodwill.
The group exchanged glances, still reeling from her combat prowess. They'd almost forgotten she was also a medical ninja.
"Banxiong's hurt pretty bad," Die said, pointing to the soil-covered ninja.
The Mud Healing Technique only temporarily replaced flesh with earth to keep injuries from hindering combat, not actually healing them.
Hikari slung the two-meter-long Samehada across her back, her palms glowing with green light. Banxiong, stone-faced, dispelled his technique, revealing charred wounds from lightning strikes.
"No anesthetic on hand, so bear with it," she warned.
"Got it," Banxiong replied, maintaining his stoic demeanor.
A moment later—
"Arghhh!!"
The expected pain didn't come. Instead, a maddening itch crawled through his nerves and skin. Hikari held down the trembling Banxiong with one hand, her Palm Sage Technique rapidly healing his wounds.
The other three winced, silently bandaging their own minor injuries. No need to waste Hikari's chakra on scratches.
Once Banxiong's wounds were healed, the group descended the mountain. Ryuuma fired a red signal flare into the sky—boom!
Thunderous rumbles echoed across Thunder Drum Mountain as the ground shook. Countless rocks and mud, mixed with rivers from the peaks, buried the foothills.
Eleven Special Jonin, stationed at various mines, leaped down to regroup with Hikari's team, handing Ryuuma four scrolls filled with Thunder Stones.
This absurd mission had miraculously resulted in minimal losses.
The emotionless Root members had executed Ryuuma's orders to the letter, guarding their assigned mines despite the chaos of the Kage-level battle at the summit. This discipline saved them from becoming collateral damage.
Only one, nicknamed "Blast Phosphorus," had been unlucky, running into Itachi Uchiha and self-destructing. His body shattered, leaving only mask fragments for his teammates to recover.
Ryuuma surveyed the drenched Thunder Drum Mountain. Setting it ablaze was no longer feasible. The mission would end here.
"Back to the village!"
---
Two days later, at the edge of the Leaf Village's primeval forest.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A dozen figures leaped through the trees. A muffled thunderclap sounded from behind—no trees fell this time, as they were retracing their steps along the path Hikari had cleared on the way in.
Legend had it that in regions with elephant herds, their migrations toppled trees, forming natural paths called "elephant trails."
If Hikari frequently traveled between the Thunder and Fire Countries, she might just carve out a highway with her own body, maybe even boosting trade between the nations.
Boom!
The ground trembled.
Hikari, lightning crackling over her body and Samehada slung across her back, dashed through the forest. The blade was massive—even fully retracted, it was two meters long. At barely 1.4 meters tall, carrying it diagonally dragged its tip on the ground. After Samehada's complaints, she'd resorted to carrying it horizontally, making her look like a speeding division symbol as she moved.
"Main body, you won't believe how much I gained this time," the illusory chakra core chirped, as "Yang Release Hikari" spoke with her main body back in the Leaf Village.
"If your so-called gains don't match the life force I burned opening the Gate of View, don't bother talking," came the reply.
"Just wait for the memory transfer."
Beaming with confidence, "Yang Release Hikari" sent all her recent memories through the chakra spiral, her steps quickening.
She could already picture her main body's shocked expression.
Even reviewing her own haul left her stunned.
Nearly 400 Thunder Stones, plus three Ink Thunder Crystals.
Not just the small piece from Yeyue Yi—two more crystals, hidden somewhere, had been swept up by the flood and collected by Die with the regular Thunder Stones.
When Ryuuma sorted the stones, Hikari had claimed them for "research" and had no intention of returning them.
In a few days, she'd hand over a couple of regular Thunder Stones as "Ink Thunder Crystals," claiming the black crystals were just impure stones she'd purified. Ryuuma wouldn't press her on it.
Beyond the stones, she'd acquired the Black Thunder Secret Technique from Yeyue Yi, capable of attacking the soul and mind, elevating her combat versatility. It also included notes on fusing two chakra natures, giving her a starting point for mastering the Bloodline Net of seven attributes.
Those gains were already substantial, but they paled compared to what came next.
The top prize was Samehada, a blade that devoured enemy chakra and fed it to its wielder, perfectly suited to her. With it, she no longer feared group battles or chakra-heavy opponents, putting her half a step into Kage-level territory.
Her endurance had received an epic boost.
The second was Uchiha Nobu's arm, transplanted with Hashirama cells and a Sharingan, immune to rejection. After studying it, she found it useless—no cellular fusion, no Sage Body. It was just Hashirama cells grafted onto a normal arm, essentially a Wood Release add-on.
Far from her goal of achieving a Sage Body, the arm's only value was its cells and Sharingan as research materials. Finding nothing else worthwhile, she'd returned it to Ryuuma.
Lastly, there was that strange orb.
"Is this the Six Paths Treasure from Uchiha Obito Kai?" her main body finally responded.
Though no voice carried, Hikari sensed the mix of exhaustion and excitement. She had no idea how shadow clone information transfer worked.
"Probably, but I don't know how to use it," she replied, dashing while toying with the grayish-white orb.
Two days of study had yielded nothing. Neither metal nor jade, its material was unclear. Small enough to hold in one hand, it was deceptively heavy—denser than steel of the same size. Its warm, unnaturally smooth surface resisted crushing or chakra infusion, unshaken by her grip, which could pulverize steel.
"When you get back, I'll test it with Ash Bones," her main body said.
"No way!" Yang Release Hikari shot back. "I went through hell to get this thing. It might hold a big secret. Destroying it with Ash Bones would be a waste. Plus, you haven't solved the life-draining issue with Ash Bones—don't use it lightly!"
"Relax, I've found a way to suppress Ash Bones' side effects."
Crash!
Countless trees toppled, kicking up dust.
Yang Release Hikari skidded to a halt, stunned by her main body's words.
"You solved Ash Bones?"
"It's complicated. While you were out, I wasn't idle either. My gains aren't much less than yours. I won't transfer the memories now—it'd be too much for your mental state. We'll talk when you're back."
"I hate riddle-droppers!" Yang Release Hikari snapped, "hanging up" the chakra call. Hoisting Samehada, she sprinted faster than ever, her heart set on returning.
In less than a week away from the Leaf, her main body had solved the Ash Bones problem?
She was practically racing home!
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