In the end, Shiki was the one who rolled his eyes.
He grabbed Kushina by the collar and pulled her back.
"For God's sake, do you have to be this stupid?"
At this point, Shiki was already starting to regret bringing Kushina along at all.
"Hmph!"
She was obviously adorable!
Kushina, still being held by the collar, looked completely unconvinced.
But after seeing Kushina get dragged back, Shion was visibly relieved. What Kushina had done just now had genuinely frightened her.
At that moment, Shion looked toward Shiki. After timidly studying him for a while, she suddenly seemed to remember something.
Her eyes lit up at once.
"I've seen you before!"
"Hm?"
Shiki, who had just tossed Kushina aside, was briefly stunned when he heard that.
But once he noticed the look in Shion's eyes, he quickly understood.
"I see... so it's your power to see the future."
He had never met Shion before. So if Shion said she had seen him, then there was only one explanation—
She had seen him through her prophetic power.
"Y-You know about that?"
Shion looked shocked.
Not just her—even Ashiho, who was standing beside her, stared in disbelief.
After all, the power to see the future had always been a special ability possessed only by the shrine maidens of the Land of Demons. They had never spoken of it to outsiders.
And yet this man in front of them knew about it so casually.
"Seeing the future? No way!"
Kushina's eyes widened in shock.
Beside her, Yuhi Kurenai, Kakashi, and Nohara Rin were also visibly surprised.
Just hearing the name alone made it obvious how absurd an ability like that was.
And it actually existed?
"Kurenai! Aren't you surprised?"
Rin, who was standing beside Kurenai, turned to look at her curiously when she noticed how calm she still was.
Kurenai blinked, then answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Not really. Shiki-niisama can see the future too."
"Eh?!"
This time, everyone in the hall cried out at once.
For a moment, every gaze turned toward Shiki.
Shion blinked blankly, while Ashiho had already started wondering whether the man in front of her might also possess the bloodline of the shrine maiden clan.
"You can see the future too?"
Kushina stared at Shiki in disbelief.
"Yes. Didn't I tell you?"
Shiki shrugged casually.
He rarely bothered hiding his abilities. After all, with strength like his, even if others knew what he could do, it wouldn't make any difference. Without absolute power, no one could defeat him anyway.
"When exactly did you ever tell me that?!"
Kushina looked like she was about to lose it.
Something as ridiculous as seeing the future—and he had never mentioned it to her even once.
"Oh. Then I guess I didn't tell you," Shiki said lazily. "Not like we know each other that well anyway."
"..."
That was such an infuriatingly irrefutable statement that Kushina nearly swung a fist at him on reflex.
Ignoring her resentful glare completely, Shiki turned his attention back to Shion.
"So, with your power... what exactly did you see?"
"I-I saw you helping me..."
Shion hesitated slightly, then added with some confusion,
"But if you can also see the future, then shouldn't you already know?"
She wasn't stupid.
In Shion's mind, if Shiki had the same kind of ability, then wouldn't he already know everything she had seen?
"If I could see the future of everything, then life would be meaningless," Shiki said flatly. "I rarely use that ability."
Other than in battle, Shiki almost never used his future sight during everyday life.
Besides, even though high-level foresight could glimpse the future, it only showed fragments that were very close ahead—not something distant and all-encompassing.
"Y-You can control your ability?"
Shion looked even more stunned now.
"Since it's my ability, of course I can control it."
Uncontrollable power, no matter how strong it was, was ultimately useless.
Just like the Nine-Tails sealed inside Kushina.
Its power was overwhelming, yes—but if it couldn't be controlled, then what was the point?
"Then... can you teach me?"
Shion looked at Shiki with hopeful eyes.
Her power to see the future had always been beyond her control.
She never knew when it would activate.
During this period of time, Shion had already seen the deaths of many people through that power. She had tried to change those futures more than once—but every attempt had failed.
That was exactly why she had become more timid.
She didn't know when her power would activate, and she had no control over whether she would see the future or not.
"Yes, I can," Shiki said with a shrug. "I'll teach you after this matter is settled."
To him, it wasn't a big deal.
"Really?!"
The moment she saw Shiki nod, Shion's face lit up with excitement.
"Mm."
"That's wonderful!"
Even though she was the priestess of the Land of Demons, in the end, Shion was still just a child who lacked warmth and companionship.
"Alright. We've been traveling all day," Shiki said, waving a hand. "Arrange a place for us to stay. We'll deal with Mōryō tomorrow."
If he could pick up a useful subordinate along the way, then of course Shiki had no objections.
"Understood."
Ashiho didn't say much. She simply nodded, then led Shiki and the others away.
That left Shion sitting alone at the highest seat, anticipation shining in her eyes.
And...
...
...
"Ahhh! Kurenai, aren't you staying here to rest?"
Even if the Land of Demons wasn't as prosperous as Konoha, it was far from poor.
After Ashiho arranged rooms for Shiki and the others, Kushina and Rin—who had been on the road all day—were already feeling exhausted.
They were just about to go rest when they saw Kurenai, instead of returning to the room assigned to her, suddenly run toward Shiki's room next door.
"Kurenai, why are you running to Lord Shiki's room?"
Even Kakashi, who usually didn't say much, couldn't help asking curiously.
Kurenai turned around and answered with complete naturalness, as if there were nothing strange about it at all.
"What's wrong with that? I was already Shiki-niisama's woman to begin with."
She didn't care in the slightest about the stunned looks from Kushina and the others.
After tossing out that line, she directly pushed open the door and went into Shiki's room.
"Uh..."
Kushina was dumbfounded.
Rin was just as stunned.
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