September 13th, Year 58 of the Hidden Leaf Calendar
Hyuga Gakuya had hit yet another major bottleneck in his training. Though his Tenseigan was still steadily refining its chakra, there was no telling when it would evolve to the next level.
The fusion of the seven chakra natures to form Truth-Seeking Orbs still seemed like a far-off dream, and his research into resurrection techniques had hit a complete dead end.
At least he'd solved some chakra nature compatibility issues and developed a few decent taijutsu techniques.
Feeling a bit irritable, Gakuya sat there blankly, staring out at the steady downpour in the distance.
Yukari, who was tidying up the room, picked up a scroll and walked over to him.
"Lord Gakuya, may I take a look at this?"
He turned toward her. The scroll was one he'd brought back from Konoha's sealing archives—a dusty volume titled A Historical Record of Warring States Era Sealing Techniques. The name alone had been enough to kill his interest.
With a title that sounded more like some cheap fantasy novel, he figured it was just another boring piece of fiction.
"Go ahead," Gakuya replied casually. As a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, it made sense she'd be interested in anything related to sealing techniques.
"Thank you."
As he continued zoning out at the rain, a thought surfaced—he suddenly remembered a character from that new Naruto game that had come out right before he was reincarnated here.
The memory was a bit fuzzy, but he still vaguely recalled the character's background and story. Not clearly, though—not enough.
Gakuya formed a seal and activated a ninjutsu: "Soul Sight."
This jutsu allowed him to view soul-bound memories. What he wanted now… was to dig into his own past—back when he was still in his original world.
The familiar image of his old bedroom reappeared. Gakuya sat there, phone in hand, mindlessly scrolling through videos.
"Hey everyone! Today we're diving into the story of Uchiha Hikari. Don't forget to like and subscribe—it really helps! So Uchiha Hikari, also known as 'No Name,' was a shinobi from the Warring States Era…"
As the narration played out, Gakuya revisited the entire tale of Uchiha Hikari.
And in the end, he could only summarize the character in one way: naïve and self-righteous. In the Warring States Era, she had her consciousness nearly erased by the Uchiha clan, becoming a nameless weapon of war.
After being unsealed, she was brainwashed by Merz, the leader of the "Zero" organization—a group that inherited Pain's ideology of wiping out shinobi altogether.
Hikari had spent most of her life being used by others. It wasn't until she met Boruto that she finally began to live for herself.
Still… that outcome fit Gakuya's philosophy perfectly. If you're going to be used by someone, why not be used by me?
He snapped back to the present and walked over to Yukari, who was sitting at a table flipping through the scroll.
"Have you come across the name Uchiha Hikari? Was she ever sealed away?"
Yukari blinked, confused by his sudden intensity. "I haven't seen anything about her yet…"
"Look for any mention of an Uchiha clan member who was sealed by the combined efforts of the Senju and Sarutobi clans."
"Yes, my lord."
Yukari quickly got to work, flipping through the scroll. Gakuya leaned in behind her, activating his Sharingan for dynamic vision to scan the text alongside her.
"I'm home!" Karin shouted as she returned from school—only to see her mother and Gakuya leaning closely over a book, in what looked to her like a very compromising position.
Karin nearly broke down in tears. Biting her sleeve, she thought,
I already had to compete with the elegant Uchiha Izumi and the icy Konan—now even my mother's in the mix?!
If my own mother is my rival… what am I supposed to do? And if Gakuya marries her, wouldn't that make him… my father?
Yukari turned around when she heard her daughter come in. "Welcome home."
Karin bolted upstairs, throwing out a single sentence as she went: "I wish you two happiness!"
"What… was that about?" Yukari asked, utterly bewildered.
"Keep reading," Gakuya said, completely unfazed. Even if he'd noticed, he wouldn't have cared. Right now, he was fixated on just one thing—finding where Uchiha Hikari was sealed.
"Of course."
The two of them continued combing through the scroll. Finally, they found a record that matched: a tale of a sealed Uchiha weapon.
It lined up pretty closely with what Gakuya remembered from the game. History hadn't been rewritten—not by Boruto, anyway.
The text, however, was clearly written from the perspective of the Uchiha's enemies. Loaded with words like "evil" and "monster," the bias was obvious.
Finally, near the end of the scroll, they found both the location where Uchiha Hikari had been sealed and the sealing techniques used.
Time-Lock Seal – The target is trapped in a suspended space where both time and movement are frozen. The person remains conscious but cannot act.
Blood-Match Seal – The seal can only be broken by someone with similar blood to the caster.
No wonder Hikari survived into the Boruto timeline—this Time-Lock Seal didn't kill her, it merely imprisoned her. Clearly, the Senju and Sarutobi clans hadn't sealed her out of mercy. They'd wanted to keep him around for future use.
As for the Blood-Match Seal—it was designed to prevent other Uchiha or rogue shinobi from unsealing her. But that also meant Gakuya couldn't break it either.
While the scroll listed a counter-seal for the Time-Lock technique, the Blood-Match one would require blood from a direct descendant of the Senju or Sarutobi clans.
Of the Senju, only Tsunade remained. But there were plenty of Sarutobi descendants—Asuma, who was currently guarding the Daimyō of the Land of Fire, and Konohamaru, who was still in Konoha.
Naturally, Gakuya chose Asuma. The Daimyō's estate was far safer than Konoha.
He'd also already scouted the Twelve Guardian Ninja. The only real threat among them was their collaborative lightning-style technique: Limelight Jutsu—a jutsu powerful enough to destroy an entire village in one blow, according to the original series.
The only other notable Guardian was Kazuma, who had once used a technique similar to Edo Tensei.
Earth Style Ultimate Revival Jutsu: Soil Bodies – By using a corpse as a medium, Earth Release reshapes the body of the deceased exactly as it was in life. The revived puppet retains its chakra, abilities, and full physical strength.
But for now, Gakuya wasn't concerned about that. What he was interested in... was extracting Hikari's soul and studying it personally.
And there was no time to waste.
...
Three days later, at the Akatsuki's routine mission meeting, Gakuya was still his usual indifferent self. Unless he was specifically assigned a task, he never volunteered.
Why? Because solo missions were dangerous and he had zero teammates. He'd just tell them he was still young and needed time to "train."
Once the task assignments wrapped up, he finally spoke.
"Zetsu, I want to know where Tsunade is right now."
White Zetsu piped up instantly. "You mean Tsunade, the last descendant of the Senju clan?"
Gakuya nodded. "That's the one."
"I'll gather the intel and send it your way in a few days."
"Appreciate it."
Black Zetsu took the opportunity to pry. "No problem. Just out of curiosity… what do you need her blood for?"
"Research," Gakuya replied bluntly.
"Understood."
It wasn't even a lie. Senju blood was extremely valuable for study. Tsunade's DNA probably still held traces of Wood Release. If he could turn her into a walking blood bank… perfection.
"You're not actually planning to kill Tsunade, are you?" Deidara blurted out. "Weren't you the one always talking about how scared you are of dying? Now you're picking a fight with one of the Legendary Sannin?"
"You're my art partner! Don't go getting yourself killed, un! Want us to tag along?"
Sasori's voice came low and amused. "Heh… if we run into Tsunade, I wouldn't mind testing whether her medical ninjutsu can counter my poisons."
Ever since witnessing Gakuya's ability to imbue puppets with souls through the Tenseigan, Sasori had started seeing him as more than just a comrade—as something closer to a friend.
"Thanks, but I can handle it on my own."
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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