Chapter 46: Old Geezer! Are you raising hamsters here!

The next morning.

Konoha remained bright and sunny, with the Uchiha compound bathed in the soft morning light.

Izumi Uchiha woke up startled from her sleep, fine beads of sweat still clinging to her forehead.

She had stayed in the world of genjutsu for far too long, causing her to suffer through nightmares all night. Every time she jolted awake, she was terrified that she was still trapped in the illusion, destined to experience the pain of the clan's massacre once again.

This torment had tortured her throughout the entire night.

While washing up, the faint dark circles under the young girl's eyes in the mirror only served to accentuate the beauty of her tear mole.

Coming into the living room, she found a prepared meal of miso soup and rice balls on the table, topped with a small note.

【I'm off to work. Good luck today, Izumi—Love, Mom】

As her fingertips brushed over the note, a warm current surged through Izumi's heart, washing away much of the dread from the previous night's nightmare of the massacre.

After breakfast, Izumi put on her ninja forehead protector, checked her equipment, and headed out to the team rendezvous point to prepare for a mission with her teammates and instructor.

Inside the Uchiha compound, everything was peaceful and beautiful; some of the elderly residents staying behind greeted Izumi warmly.

Yet, this very peace caused Izumi to tighten her grip on her ninja tool pouch.

'So, what exactly is that mysterious person after?'

Once outside the compound, Izumi couldn't help but think of everything she had experienced during the "infinite loop of the massacre night."

As a member of the Uchiha clan, Izumi naturally knew genjutsu and had undergone training from the clan elders regarding the use of the Sharingan.

However, the sensory effects of the genjutsu she had learned were primarily focused on the individual—such as the "Naraku Vision Technique," which merely forced one to see their most terrifying inner thoughts.

But the genjutsu scenes presented by the mysterious person last night felt like a completely real world.

Despite "dying" multiple times, Izumi had failed to find a single flaw in the illusion, leading her to the singular, obsessive conviction that she was still trapped within it.

The entire illusionary world seemed confined to the Uchiha compound and the Konoha Police Force; once she stepped outside that range, she would be intercepted and killed by masked Konoha shinobi.

Izumi had heard of these masked shinobi before—they were Anbu ninjas serving under the Hokage.

But why would the Anbu be blockading the Uchiha compound?

"Ohayou, Izumi." A clear voice interrupted her thoughts.

Izumi looked up to see Shisui Uchiha, dressed in a black high-collared short-sleeved shirt and black trousers with brown armor on his right shoulder, greeting her gently.

"Good morning, Shisui-san." When Izumi and her mother had first moved back to the compound, everything had been unfamiliar to her, and she had received help from Shisui.

Shisui's gentleness was extended to everyone; he treated the newly arrived Izumi much like a younger sister.

"Did you not sleep well?" Walking alongside Izumi, the observant Shisui noticed the complexion of her face.

"No... it's just..." Izumi didn't know how to explain.

She remembered seeing the Clan Head Fugaku and his wife murdered by Itachi in the Uchiha compound during the "Massacre Night," and seeing Uncle Yashiro, Uncle Tekka, and others killed by the mysterious masked man at the Police Force.

But on second thought, she realized she hadn't seen a single trace of Shisui.

"If you feel too tired, give yourself a proper break," Shisui suggested, assuming Izumi was simply struggling to adjust to the intensity of ninja missions after her recent graduation to Genin.

Izumi opened her mouth to speak, but in the end, the words wouldn't come out.

How could she tell Shisui that she had encountered Itachi and a mysterious person slaughtering the entire Uchiha clan within a genjutsu world?

And that the Konoha Anbu were blockading the compound to suppress information and hunt down surviving Uchiha?

"Mm, I'll pull myself together!" Izumi replied, forcing a smile to reassure him.

"Don't push yourself too hard." Shisui stopped walking; he had reached the Konoha Police Force.

After they parted, Izumi kept looking back every few steps, watching the Uchiha members entering and exiting the Police Force building, feeling a sense of unreality.

Even after meeting up with her teammates and performing low-level missions under the guidance of their Special Jonin leader—tasks like weeding, clearing clogged rivers, or helping noblewomen catch pets—Izumi remained perpetually distracted.

——————

In the Hyuga compound, the morning scenery was like a delicate ukiyo-e painting.

Hinata sat kneeling on a cushion, with a lacquerware meal tray before her that looked as exquisite as a bonsai.

Two neat pieces of salmon rested on the edge of a bowl of miso soup, accompanied by a small bowl of rice and a small dish containing a few slices of fruit. This was her breakfast.

"I'm full!" Hinata set down her utensils. Although about a quarter of the food remained, she had been raised with strict clan etiquette, requiring her to follow rules in everything she did.

"Don't force yourself," Hinata's mother said, looking over with a smile.

Her father, Hiashi Hyuga, was staring into his bowl, lost in thought, and did not notice his daughter's state.

Just as Hinata was about to say something more, another voice echoed in her mind.

'You've never actually been full, have you?' The "Big Sister" persona had taken control of Hinata's body.

'Sister... please don't...' In the mental world, little Hinata tried to stop her, fearing her older sister might do something outrageous again.

However, the Big Sister persona said in a heavy tone, 'Menma told me last time that your appetite is huge. I never noticed before, so... you've never actually been full, right?'

'Sister...'

'It was my oversight. Leave the rest to me.' During the "Tsukuyomi World" period, the Big Sister persona hadn't been a glutton, and because she had spent most of the last three years sleeping, she hadn't noticed Hinata's actual food intake.

When Hinata opened her eyes again, her entire aura had shifted. The softness and timidity in her Byakugan vanished, replaced by a sense of defiance and confidence.

Hinata's mother immediately sensed the change in her daughter.

She was well aware of her daughter's peculiarities, but before she could even ask, Hinata barked out, "Old man! Are you running a hamster farm here?!"

*Crack—*

The bowl in Hiashi's hand developed a web of cracks.

A pair of Byakugan rose solemnly, staring at Hinata.

If it were anyone else in the Hyuga clan, they would have begun to tremble under the gaze of the Clan Head.

But the Big Sister persona was extremely dissatisfied with her father: "Give me two more portions... no, make it five!"

"You make me train so hard every day and still don't feed me enough! Are you afraid I'll eat you out of house and home?"

The Big Sister's sharp tongue was like a flurry of kunai, striking precisely at Hiashi's chest.

This "little sweetheart" wasn't just a handful; she was a total rebel.

"Hinata, how can you speak to your father like that?" Hinata's mother spoke up.

She first arranged for a servant to bring Hinata extra food, then slowly rose and walked to Hinata's side, embracing her daughter gently. "Tell Mommy what's wrong."

To her, as a mother, both the little Hinata and the fiery Hinata were her daughters.

In fact, it felt as if she were raising two daughters with completely different personalities, which was quite interesting.

"Mom..." Feeling her mother's warmth, the Big Sister persona hesitated for a moment.

The mother in this world was very good to her. Although Hiashi was constantly being snapped at and having his authority challenged, he was very tolerant of her.

But she had parents and a family in her other world as well.

She was gradually beginning to understand what Menma meant when he constantly muttered about things being "unreal."