[Orochimaru's Laboratory]
"Has she woken up?"
After receiving the news, Rengoku hurried over.
Kabuto pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose, "Yes, Rengoku-sama, her brainwaves have gradually increased."
"Right now, her consciousness has recovered, but she's in a sleep state."
Rengoku looked at the high-tech instruments beside the hospital bed and felt a sense of extreme dissonance.
Because during the time Rengoku crossed the Land of Fire himself, many towns only had basic electric lights, and other electrical equipment was scarce.
But these top-tier medical devices were like things from beyond the current era.
However, such vast differences across many regions in this world were just how it was.
Rengoku gently pushed Hotaru.
Hotaru slowly opened her eyes, but her eyes were vacant and lacked any focus.
Rengoku wasn't in a hurry, and patiently waited.
After several minutes passed, Hotaru's eyes gradually focused.
She slowly came to her senses, "You… who are you? Where is this? Where is my grandfather?"
Rengoku rolled his eyes slightly, "I am Uchiha Rengoku, clan head of the Uchiha clan. This is our Uchiha clan territory."
"En no Gyoja has already died."
Hotaru's face changed suddenly and she turned to get off the bed, but was pressed down by Rengoku with one hand.
"Where are you going?", Rengoku's tone was firm, pinning Hotaru so she couldn't move.
"Let me go! You bad person! I want to go find Grandpa!"
Rengoku first held Hotaru down, then the tomoe in his Sharingan eyes began slowly to spin.
"Why were you and En no Gyoja here?"
Hotaru dumbly said, "Grandpa and I were taken from our home to here."
"After that…"
"Then I don't know anything else."
After listening to Hotaru clearly explain the situation, Rengoku continued the hypnosis, "En no Gyoja has already sacrificed himself. Before he died, he entrusted me to take care of you."
"I am Uchiha Rengoku, your family."
Hotaru mumbled to herself, "Uchiha Rengoku… my family…",.and then slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep.
"Let her sleep here tonight, I'll bring her to school tomorrow. Notify Rinjin to arrange her accommodations."
"Yes, Rengoku-sama," Kabuto replied.
The main reason Rengoku brought Hotaru back was to understand why she had appeared in Konoha.
He had the God's perspective and knew there was a secret agreement between the Tsuchigumo clan and the Third Hokage.
The agreement roughly meant that En no Gyoja of the Tsuchigumo clan was old and no longer able to fight, and the clan had no other capable warriors.
He could seal off their secret technique, but Konoha had to guarantee their safety. And this agreement was likely only known by the Third Hokage.
According to the original timeline, Hotaru wouldn't have been exposed until nine years later because of the Two-Tails Matatabi and bounty hunters revealing her hidden location.
Currently, Danzo probably didn't know.
After all, if Danzo knew, he would have taken them a long time ago.
The Tsuchigumo clan's secret technique was too powerful, a technique that could easily flatten a village was extremely rare.
Whether the Third Hokage coveted this secret technique or not, Rengoku didn't know.
Because in the original timeline, by the time En no Gyoja died, the Third Hokage was already long dead.
But now Danzo had actually captured the grandfather and granddaughter pair, and Rengoku strongly suspected the Third Hokage was up to tricks again.
After all, this was clearly using Danzo as a pawn.
It's just that Danzo, who liked unorthodox methods, probably didn't expect things to go awry this time.
En no Gyoja hid a final trump card.
From Hotaru's description and Rengoku's knowledge of the original timeline, it was highly likely that En no Gyoja transferred the secret seal onto Hotaru.
Then used Hotaru's body to forcefully trigger an explosion.
The current Seal Bearer likely died from this secret technique.
Leaving not even a bone behind.
The hypnosis Rengoku used just now because, on one hand because children are hard to coax, on the other hand he wanted to see: If using a regular illusion to hypnotize her would provide any bond.
The result, absolutely nothing.
Looks like he still needed to wait for Kotoamatsukami to finish its cooldown. But Orochimaru was already spinning like a top from being so busy now.
Rengoku didn't feel right about adding more assignments for Orochimaru.
———
[The Next Day]
[Uchiha Clan Grounds]
Rengoku, who usually didn't go to the academy in the morning, made an exception today to send Sasuke, Karin, and Gaara to school.
"Let me introduce you. This is Kimimaro, this is Haku, this is Hotaru."
"From now on, they are also members of our Uchiha."
Sasuke looked curiously at the three, 'Where has Shishou found these three again?'
"This is Sasuke, this is Karin, this is Gaara."
"Your identities are no different. You all belong to our Uchiha."
"Hotaru just lost her family. Karin, you need to take good care of her."
Although Hotaru believed Rengoku was her family after being hypnotized, Rengoku didn't change the fact that En no Gyoja had died.
So her mental state was not good. Her eyes were dim, and she was timid about everything around her.
Karin had also suffered hardships back then. Seeing Hotaru like this, she understood someone in Hotaru's family had likely died, and she couldn't help but go over and hold Hotaru's small hand.
"Don't be afraid, Hotaru. From now on, we're partners."
"Shishou is very kind. No one will bully you."
Hotaru felt the kindness released from Karin and couldn't help but nod with red-rimmed eyes.
Karin patted Hotaru's hand and then reached to hold Haku's hand. [T/N: Trap activated.]
Haku was startled, stepped aside to avoid it.
Karin was confused by Haku's reaction, "Did I scare you?"
Haku shook his head, "No."
Then Haku asked, "Are you Rengoku-sama's disciple?"
Karin showed a big smile, "Yes! Sasuke and I both are."
Sasuke also began to size up Kimimaro. Hearing this, he revealed a proud expression.
Haku and Kimimaro both showed envy on their faces.
Rengoku waved his hand, "Now that you know each other, hurry up. You'll be late."
"Haku, Kimimaro, I taught you along the way too, so you're basically my disciples."
"If you want to call me Shishou, that's fine."
Haku and Kimimaro smiled happily.
Only Sasuke looked very displeased. Back then, he had to formally bow and serve tea to become Shishou's disciple.
'Why do others not need to do anything?'
Then he puffed out his cheeks like a bun.
Haku and Kimimaro saw Rengoku didn't mind titles, so they didn't change their wording, "We understand, Rengoku-sama."
Rengoku poked Sasuke's puffed-up cheek with a finger, "What are you mad about? They're older than you. If we're serious, you should call them senior brothers."
When Sasuke heard this, he was even more upset, "No way! I was the first to join. I want to be the senior brother, I want to be the elder brother!"
Rengoku couldn't help but laugh. Looks like Sasuke really had a hang-up about "older brother."
"Let's go, don't waste time," Rengoku reached out and knocked Sasuke on the head.
"Ow! That hurts!"
Everyone's faces filled with smiles, and the group walked toward the ninja academy together.
Gaara's gaze was also very soft. He had already gotten used to living like this, though he didn't understand why Sunagakure's people hadn't come looking for him.
But without a doubt, this was very good news.
Because he… liked it here.
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