Naruto: Linked to Kaguya, Corrupting the Ninja World

"Sasuke isn't that annoying," Shikamaru commented.

"Sasuke never had any problems to begin with," Ino shot back, defending Sasuke.

Shikamaru gave her a helpless look and shook his head. "Ino, chasing after a guy isn't like this. If you challenged him and beat him like Hinata did, maybe he'd stick around more."

"Ridiculous," Ino replied, her face turning red.

"That's just how Sasuke is," Shikamaru shrugged.

What happened at the Ninja Academy was just a minor incident, but once the students went home, word quickly reached the adults.

Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't surprised in the least.

Why would it be strange for Hyuga Hinata to defeat Uchiha Sasuke?

Even if one day she ruled over the Ninja Academy, that wouldn't be unusual either.

"Now that I think about it, even if Kaguya Otsutsuki took over the Ninja Academy, that'd probably seem pretty strange too," Hiruzen muttered to himself, lost in thought.

Danzo Shimura, on the other hand, felt astonished and kept speculating.

"Uchiha Sasuke has awakened his eyes."

"How come we never noticed Hinata Hyuga's talent before now?"

"The Hyuga Clan is acting so proud because they've produced such a genius?"

At the Hyuga Compound, Hinata stood before Hiashi with her head bowed, looking apologetically up at him. "Father, I accidentally used that technique."

Hiashi gently patted her head. He didn't scold her at all—only saying, "Hinata, I'll be leaving the village for a while. If there's anything you don't understand, go ask Hizashi for help."

"Father, how long will you be gone? Why do you have to leave the village?"

Hiashi softly shook his head. "If everything turns out as I suspect, we should see results soon enough."

Though still confused, Hinata received no further explanation from Hiashi.

The next day, Hiashi left Konoha with four Jonin from the Hyuga Clan.

Hinata continued attending class as usual.

During lunch break, Sasuke snuck around, trying to follow Hinata.

Neji popped out of nowhere, blocking his path. "Hey, Uchiha Sasuke. What do you want?"

"What's it to you?" Sasuke frowned at this older upperclassman.

"I heard you got crushed by the young lady."

Sasuke's face flushed bright red.

"So what? You want another shot at her?"

"And if I do?" 

Neji sneered at him contemptuously. "If you want to get near the young lady, you'll have to defeat me first."

"Me?" Sasuke shot back sarcastically.

"With my Byakugan, everything is meaningless." Neji stared at him coldly.

"You..." Sasuke immediately flared up.

It was just the Byakugan—who does it think it is, looking down on the Sharingan?

"Fine! Let's fight!" he snapped.

Hinata had no idea what was going on.

With Neji keeping Sasuke busy, her life remained mostly undisturbed.

In the Snow Country,

As if spring had begun melting away winter's grip, the ground was bare everywhere, stripped of snow.

This scenery puzzled Hiroki greatly.

Wasn't this supposed to be the Snow Country? Where was all the snow?

Inside the Snow Country Palace, Yugao Uzuki and Fuyuka Kazahana entered a chamber together.

In the center of the room stood a large bed. A young girl lay motionless on it, her eyes tightly shut, breathing steadily.

[By the way, the best app for audiobook reading right now is Yeguo Reader. yeguoyuedu]

Beside the bed stood an IV stand,

with liquid from the IV bag slowly flowing into the girl's body.

"Yugao-nee, who is she?" Fuyuka asked.

"She's a pitiful person with no home," Yugao sighed.

The one lying on the bed was none other than Izumi Uchiha.

Yugao had removed and discarded her bloodstained old clothes, dressing her instead in a fresh set of clean garments.

"How much longer before she wakes up?" Fuyuka asked, sounding concerned.

Yugao walked to the bedside and gently touched Izumi's burning forehead. "I'm not sure," she replied with visible worry.

They stepped outside and ran into Hiroki just as he arrived.

"Hey, want me to introduce myself properly?" Hiroki smiled while greeting Fuyuka.

"Although this is our first meeting, I already know about you," Fuyuka replied calmly.

Her composed demeanor surprised Hiroki slightly.

"Yugao, I'm curious how exactly you introduced me to her."

"Hmmph. Do you want someone else to scold you again?" Yugao huffed.

"In that case, never mind." Hiroki shrugged. "By the way, this Snow Country seems somewhat different from what I'd imagined."

"We discovered a gift left behind by King Hayazuki. The hexagonal crystal he gave Fuyuka? It's actually a switch that activates a massive geothermal system beneath the country — one that can spread heat across the whole Snow Country and melt all the snow and ice, even if just temporarily."

"Given that the Snow Country has developed a stable ecological cycle, forcibly changing the environment might trigger natural disasters — even cause the entire nation to be submerged under water."

"So Fuyuka and I decided to activate it only during the warmest month of the year — just for half a month — so the country can get a short taste of warmth," Yugao explained.

"I see," Hiroki murmured thoughtfully before asking, "Has Izumi Uchiha woken up yet?"

"She's mostly fine now, but her fever hasn't broken."

"A high fever?" Hiroki showed mild surprise as he entered the room mentioned by Yugao.

Approaching the bed, he reached out and felt Izumi's forehead.

"It really is burning hot."

"So even ninja can fall victim to something like this minor illness?"

Muttering to himself, he carefully observed Izumi for a moment, then lifted her eyelid, seeing only black pupils and white eyeballs.

Both had fallen under Tsukuyomi: Sasuke Uchiha has already started physically lashing out at kids in the ninja academy. Could Izumi Uchiha possibly be weaker than a current Sasuke, only seven or eight years old?

That doesn't seem likely.

Realization clicked, and he let out a soft chuckle.

So that's it — not that she couldn't awaken, but rather that she didn't wish to awaken.

After all, considering Izumi having only three tomoe, indicating chunin-level power, and still being considered a Genin, the Uchiha Clan must have paid little attention to her. She likely knew next to nothing about the betrayal within the Uchiha.

What Itachi Uchiha did just didn't make any sense to her.

Maybe deep down, she was trying to find some way to understand and excuse what Itachi Uchiha had done.

If she had seen through everything, if she had found a new goal, she would move forward in that direction, just like Sasuke.

Run... keep on running...

The more she fled, the more attuned she became to "space".

However, to prevent Izumi Uchiha from activating any Genjutsu-related abilities, he decided to offer some guidance.

"What kind of illusion did Itachi Uchiha create for you with his eyes?"

"Die happily in the illusion — in the end, it's still death."

[Itachi remains calm and composed.] In his world, everything has its proper order.

"The distance between you can never be crossed. He and you don't belong to the same world."

"Is the illusion worth longing for? It's something that will never truly happen."

"In the real world, he doesn't give a damn."

Without another word, he turned and left.

After his disappearance, the person lying on the bed began trembling violently, as if a faint sound had appeared inside the room.

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