"You memorized her appearance, right?"
"What happened to her just now? She didn't react at all."
"I briefly controlled her."
"Awesome, awesome!" Hiroki Hyuga gave a thumbs-up.
"Use her for practice first."
"Is your standard really that low? She doesn't look very strong. Plus, she was way too young."
"Less talking."
Hiroki followed the instructions, recalling the face he had seen earlier. His consciousness left his body.
As if guided by instinct, he entered a blank white world.
After merely one glance, he immediately returned to his own body.
Behind him, Kaguya first entered his body, then following the trace he left behind, entered Yugao Uzuki's body.
Then, she left part of her consciousness attached to Yugao Uzuki's body.
At the same time, establishing a connection with this body.
From now on, anything Yugao Uzuki experienced, Kaguya could see as well.
When necessary, she could take control of this body.
As for what Hiroki mentioned earlier about devouring someone else's consciousness and seizing their body, there was no need for that.
In the future, she would have better choices.
Yugao Uzuki wasn't powerful, so Kaguya merely saw her as a tool for gathering information.
Before Yugao Uzuki even had time to react, her body had already been entered twice.
Though puzzled, after investigating herself and finding nothing amiss, and with no strange occurrences afterward, Yugao Uzuki temporarily suppressed her confusion and continued her work in Anbu.
She was a recent new member of Anbu; wanting to live up to Hokage's trust, Yugao Uzuki worked exceptionally hard.
Even during her rest periods, she remained in the Anbu base.
Sometimes training, sometimes reading various documents.
Because of this diligence, within ten days Kaguya had already determined her next target.
Originally, she had considered using Yugao Uzuki's body to seek out ninja-related information herself, but now it seemed completely unnecessary.
"Now that's ambition I didn't expect."
Inside Kaguya's spiritual realm.
She summoned Hiroki Hyuga again.
Hiroki sighed helplessly.
He let out a sigh. He had become someone's pawn.
Kaguya materialized an image and handed it for him to see.
"This time the target is this person, Yugito from Kumogakure."
"The Two-Tails Jinchuriki?" Looking at the image of the girl with long tea-brown hair braided into twin plaits, Hiroki's expression turned slightly odd.
Was this called "still young"?
Previously, Yugao Uzuki was eleven years old, and Yugito was only two years older than her, barely thirteen or fourteen.
Her taste was… questionable.
Seeing Kaguya staring at him without room for argument, Hiroki silently nodded.
Not that Kaguya was wrong — in this world, kids started fighting at four.
Teens were indeed regarded as core forces in the Ninja World.
Hiroki activated his ability, and his spiritual form turned into mist, vanishing before Kaguya's eyes.
A quiet smile tugged at her lips.
Hiroki arrived in a strange space.
Before his eyes, two massive blue tails lazily swayed back and forth. Covering those tails were intricate black patterns.
Blue? Tails?
Two-Tails?
So this is where the tailed beast is sealed? It's way more sophisticated than Naruto's sewer setup.
Suddenly realizing something, he made no sound and immediately withdrew.
Hiroki Hyuga once observed that among spiritual world sizes, Kaguya's was vastly larger than Yugito's, and the smallest of all belonged to Yugao Uzuki.
Of these three, Yugao Uzuki was merely an ordinary ninja specializing in sword techniques. She only trained her mind to resist genjutsu better.
Yugito was different. Since age two, as a jinchūriki, whether she liked it or not, she had to learn this to communicate with her tailed beast.
As for Kaguya, with her physical body sealed away, this might be practically all she could work with...
"Hmm? Strange?" The blue giant cat, Matatabi the Two-Tails, yawned and turned around.
"Was that Yugito here just now, then leaving?"
A while later, Matatabi sensed another presence arrive.
Turning its head toward the incoming girl with braided pigtails, Matatabi instinctively spoke, "Yugito, you're here today…"
Before finishing the sentence, suddenly an intense fear overwhelmed it. Its fur bristled without warning.
This was an instinctual biological terror, like death approaching any moment, or a bloodline suppression.
It desperately wanted to stay far from this newcomer, yet fear paralyzed its body.
If this really were Yugito—the child it had watched grow up since infancy—it wouldn't feel this way at all.
"Who are you? Why are you impersonating Yugito?" Matatabi's voice trembled asking this.
If it weren't trapped here, it would've already run off with its tail between its legs.
Kaguya clicked her tongue and said, "This isn't how a tailed beast should behave."
"Yugito! Yugito!" Bracing itself, Matatabi shouted loudly.
"Don't bother shouting. I've already severed her connection here. She won't be aware of anything happening here."
"What do you want?" Desperation crept into Matatabi's tone.
The intruder stood right before it, yet it couldn't muster the courage to strike back or chase her away.
More accurately, an inner voice kept telling it not to—telling it there was no chance of victory.
Without answering, Kaguya said, "I'll come back here. If anything suspicious happens, just blame it on you."
With that, she completely vanished.
Instantly Matatabi relaxed as the oppressive pressure lifted entirely.
"In the future… suspicion… What exactly does that mean? Should I tell Yugito or not?" It muttered to itself.
Then noticing something unusual, the real Yugito's consciousness entered, initiating dialogue with Matatabi: "Two-Tails, did something just enter my body?"
Considering how effortlessly that other person had moved in and out just now, Matatabi decided to keep quiet and play dumb.
"You're imagining things. I just created a little clone out of boredom, and I've already recalled it." It chuckled evasively to brush it off.
Months went by without the mysterious figure showing up again. Matatabi's fear started to fade, so he tried to shrug it off, muttering to himself for reassurance: "I thought she was such a big deal. Turns out it was all just bluffing and showy nonsense."
"Are you talking about me?" A voice suddenly spoke—only Matatabi could hear it.
"You..." Matatabi was stunned.
"I've always been here," Kaguya said calmly.
Matatabi jolted in alarm and fell silent. He scanned the sealed space frantically but found nothing.
Where exactly is she? Could it be she has no physical form?
Before the Six Paths Sage passed away, he once said his chakra would wander everywhere in the world—could she be the same way?
"What exactly are you planning?" After what felt like an eternity, Matatabi finally asked again.
"..."
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** on the weekend!