"Yugito, what the actual fuck is that?!"
Samui, curiously had shifted her perspective into her alternate self as well, only to instantly snap back to reality with a completely terrified expression.
She instantly understood exactly why Yugito had been nervously muttering about her long nails earlier.
It seemed she was going to have to endure some serious psychological hardship regarding this world's version of herself...
"Yugito... the real you isn't actually like that, right?" Samui suddenly shivered and defensively took two large steps back.
What if the real Yugito was secretly like this too?!
They were going to be locked up together in this spectator zone for days—wouldn't that put her in extreme danger?!
"What the hell are you thinking?! Do you really believe the Sage of Six Paths had improper relations with the Tailed Beasts too?!" Yugito rolled her eyes aggressively.
"Honestly? In this cursed universe, it's really hard to say," Samui pouted defensively.
"Why don't you just go take another look?!" Yugito snapped irritably.
Take another look?
What did that mean?
Could she have actually misunderstood the highly compromising situation?
Half-believing her, Samui cautiously took another few steps back.
"You're not planning to do something weird to my real body while I'm shifting my perspective, are you?"
"..."
Yugito didn't speak.
She just stared at her with an utterly deadpan, expressionless face.
"Fine." Samui decided it was probably better to just trust her companion.
So, she bravely shifted her perspective again.
Last time she had only glanced for a microsecond before panicking, but now, taking a closer look, Samui suddenly realized something horrifying.
It didn't seem like the alternate [Yugito] was actually doing anything weird to this world's version of Samui.
[Samui] was actually the goddamn aggressor!
'Oh my god, no wonder this world's version of myself has such a completely flat chest!'
'Wait... was there actually any necessary biological connection between those two things?'
Anyway, the horrifying mystery was officially solved.
Why would the alternate [Samui] actively accompany [Yugito] on isolated training trips when [Konan] had explicitly stated that ordinary people in this world's Hidden Cloud Village violently despised the Tailed Beasts?
Because although [Samui] absolutely despised the Tailed Beasts... she deeply, intensely coveted [Yugito]!
After their normal physical sparring session ended, [Samui] had suddenly proposed a special "weighted training method."
It became painfully clear that the Limited Tsukuyomi World wasn't a 100% complete opposite of the real world in every aspect.
For example, while the real Hidden Cloud Village highly valued military strength and worshipped their Tailed Beasts, this alternate Hidden Cloud Village still highly valued military strength, even while despising their Tailed Beasts.
The real Yugito was exactly the same in this regard as her Limited Tsukuyomi counterpart.
That's exactly why she still went out to isolated valleys to train so hard.
However, the [Yugito] in this Illusionary World had a deeply tragic secondary reason for training outside the village.
The intense disgust and cruel exclusion from the Hidden Cloud villagers.
Ever since childhood, she had been mercilessly bullied, called a "Demon Cat," and forced to drink cheap, expired milk.
The only joy in her miserable childhood was saving up enough spare change to occasionally eat tuna rice bowls and eel rice.
Then, she finally gained a true friend's acceptance, [Samui].
But who would have thought?!
This poor girl treats her friend with absolute sincerity, while the "friend" is out here aggressively playing sick, perverted mind games!
Today, this supposed friend had completely betrayed her fragile trust and attempted to do something unspeakable to her in a dark cave!
The so-called "weighted training" was actually just [Samui] using a sketchy Sealing Jutsu designed to totally disrupt chakra cohesion, smoothly lying and claiming it would help [Yugito] build stamina by continuing to train under harsh conditions.
But in reality, the second [Yugito] voluntarily opened her mind and body to accept the seal, [Samui] immediately revealed her true colors!
With a wicked creepy grin, she uttered the strangest, most cursed phrase imaginable.
"Let's see if your little Tailed Beast is developing properly, my sweet little cake~"
[Samui] also had decently long nails, but a wise, degenerate ninja always makes good use of tools.
Fortunately, literal divine intervention arrived just in the nick of time.
Uchiha Hikari's massive Susanoo descended from the sky like a terrifying god, landing right beside them and violently interrupting [Samui]'s vile actions.
"Who the hell are you?!" [Samui] warily drew her short sword, holding it defensively horizontally in front of her.
Before Makoto could even respond, [Samui] suddenly seemed to understand the situation.
"You're here for the Two-Tails, aren't you?!"
"Correct. Hand over the Two-Tails right now," [Konan] stepped forward, speaking with icy calm.
"You can take the Two-Tails to play with... but you absolutely must spare my Yugito!" [Samui]'s gaze was resolute as she tightened her sweaty grip on her short sword.
Although the massive Susanoo had completely vanished immediately after landing earlier, its god-like image was deeply etched into her terrified mind.
She knew the opponent was extremely powerful and utterly terrifying—likely far beyond even the Raikage and the Eight-Tails.
But no matter what, she was fiercely determined to protect her precious Yugito with her own life!
"Considering you technically helped us out by fully sealing the Two-Tails' movements in advance, just step aside. Otherwise, don't blame me for showing you no mercy."
Hikari, who had immediately turned her back and started walking away earlier out of pure disgust, had mentally prepared herself to face this nonsense again.
She sharply turned back around, violently swinging both her hands to instantly summon two glowing, crimson Susanoo longswords.
Just as a one-armed Sasuke in the original timeline could effortlessly use a mini Susanoo arm to replace his missing limb, Hikari—who had mastered her Susanoo to the point of manifesting skeletal wings—could naturally shrink massive Susanoo weapons down into handheld, lethal weapon.
"This world is simply way too sinful. If you don't step aside, she's going to have to 'slay evil with one sword, and pacify souls with the other,'" Makoto added, dropping a ridiculously edgy chuuni line.
"Sinful?! The fusion of human and Tailed Beast may be a sin... but the yuri love between us is absolutely pure and flawless! I—"
Before [Samui] could even finish her deranged defense, Hikari moved.
She had heard enough!
[Samui] could only desperately raise her tiny blade to meet the incoming attack.
CLANG.
The steel short sword was effortlessly severed by the glowing Susanoo blade.
With a lightning-fast, backhanded flick, Hikari cut a shallow gash across [Samui]'s face, instantly dismissed her glowing blades and walked right past her toward the paralyzed Yugito lying on the ground.
"Stop! It's not over yet! I..."
[Samui] tried to resist and turn around, but the very next second, a strange, glowing curse pattern appeared directly on the fresh wound on her face.
It instantly drained her entire chakra reserves, leaving her completely powerless as she collapsed heavily into the dirt.
Thud.
Hearing the degenerate [Samui] finally collapse, Hikari turned back around and smiled brightly at Makoto.
"Hey, was I cool just now?"
"Incredibly cool. The wandering ronin, Uchiha Hikari—very impressive," Makoto nodded in genuine praise.
"Hehe."
Receiving the exact affirmation she wanted, Uchiha Hikari happily ran up to the paralyzed [Yugito] and placed her hand firmly on her shoulder.
Absorbing the Tailed Beast's raw power, perfectly synchronizing it with Kurama Yakumo back in the real world to turn illusion into reality, and finally seamlessly transferring it straight into the Gedo Statue through the Eight Thousand Spears technique—this entire series of complex operations required a significant amount of uninterrupted time.
Makoto casually lifted the unconscious [Samui] from the dirt by her collar and moved her to a distant spot, having [Konan] securely wrap her up like a mummy in exploding paper seals.
This was strictly to prevent her from causing any more stupid yuri trouble once her chakra naturally recovered, which would require dealing with entirely unnecessary complications.
"Hmm?"
Just as Uchiha Hikari was about to complete the Two-Tails absorption process, Makoto suddenly sensed faint movement coming from [Samui]'s direction.
[Samui] had already regained a tiny sliver of her chakra, but instead of resisting or trying to break out of the paper seals, she secretly fiddled with some kind of ninja tool hidden in her gear.
It was unclear exactly what it was.
But Makoto speculated it wasn't poison or any kind of incapacitating smoke bomb—it was highly likely a long-distance communication ninja tool.
Makoto didn't even bother to intervene.
For one, the Two-Tails absorption was already nearly complete.
Even if a whole army of reinforcements arrived right now, it wouldn't matter in the slightest.
Secondly, if [Samui] was contacting the Raikage, the meathead might just aggressively bring the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki along with him for combat support, which would conveniently save them the massive hassle of tracking the Eight-Tails down themselves!
This was actually incredibly beneficial!
Sure enough, after a very brief wait, a blinding bolt of lightning suddenly descended from the sky far in the distance, violently crashing into the earth right behind Makoto and the others.
"YOU BASTARDS! RELEASE YUGITO! RELEASE THE TWO-TAILS!" [Raikage] roared furiously at the group, his body crackling with electricity.
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator