Inside a small, square interrogation room.
Two chairs faced each other across a table.
Crow, dressed in a sharp black suit, stared coldly at the manga artist sitting opposite him.
"You're Kishimoto Masashi?"
"…Yeah."
"You drew Naruto?"
"…Yup."
Kishimoto Masashi sat nervously in the interrogation chair, glancing cautiously at both sides, clearly confused. "I do serialize that manga in Weekly Shonen JUMP. The next deadline's in two days… Uh, can I ask why you guys brought me here?"
Slap!
Crow slammed a stack of photos onto the table, jerking his chin. "Know this person?"
The images were clearly pulled from surveillance footage, showing only the pale, youthful profile of a girl. Her spiky black hair, like a porcupine's, cascaded down to her waist. Her outfit wasn't too different from modern clothing, but her eyes held a faint scarlet glint.
"…Nope, don't know her."
Kishimoto Masashi studied the photos carefully before shaking his head.
"Her name's Uchiha Hikari, Patriarch of the Uchiha clan from Konoha Village. She's got the Sharingan, uses shadow clones, genjutsu, Susanoo… Who is she? What's your connection to her?"
"Huh?"
Kishimoto Masashi froze, then instinctively explained, "Look, Konoha Village and all that are just stuff I made up. Even if a place like that existed, the Uchiha clan's Patriarch would be Uchiha Fugaku, and he got killed by Itachi early in the story… There's no girl that age in the Uchiha clan in my manga…"
"Shut it! Who knows Naruto better, you or me?!"
Crow snorted, cutting him off sharply. "If you've never met this girl, why'd you draw all this stuff in your manga out of nowhere? Think hard and spill everything you know about her. Otherwise…
Hmph! Tokyo Bay's still short a few concrete pillars."
As if on cue, the two black-suited men flanking him let out menacing grunts, their faces radiating "kindly" intimidation.
Kishimoto Masashi swallowed hard, his expression growing even more bewildered.
Seriously…
What was with these people?
He was just a manga artist—how'd he end up in this insane situation?!
…
"How's it going?"
Outside the interrogation room.
Yasha handed Crow a cigarette.
"Pretty much done… Gimme a light."
Crow took a few deep drags, exhaling a cloud of white smoke. "We tested his blood. This Kishimoto Masashi's a hybrid, but his bloodline purity's low… From what we've got, it seems like years ago, he might've stumbled into Uchiha Hikari's Nibelungen but wasn't killed. He left with some memories intact and used them as the basis for creating Naruto.
According to him, the girl resembles a character he imagined called 'Uchiha Madara,' which backs that up."
"The statue at the Valley of the End?"
Yasha, clearly familiar with the source material, frowned. "But I thought that guy was male? And didn't he die way back in the story?"
"Yeah. So Kishimoto's planning to write this girl as a humanoid weapon sealed by the Uchiha clan using some special method. She was dug up by Uchiha Madara after he defected, and after his death, she kept operating in the ninja world as the 'Masked Man.' But under the mask, she's actually a thirteen-year-old beauty… Sounds kinda cool, right?"
Crow took another drag. "I already had someone bring in a drawing board. Let's see what he comes up with."
Yasha: "?"
…
At that moment, Uchiha Hikari—unaware she might be replacing Obito's role—was strolling through the streets of Tokyo.
She'd visited Japan in Yorushika Seiko's world before, but that place felt off, like a distorted version of reality. For instance, Seiko had never heard of Naruto or Dragon Ball. But the scenes before her now matched Hikari's image of Tokyo—
A giant screen nearby played a trailer for Bakemonogatari.
Salarymen in black suits hurried along.
Across the street, a few cosplayers dressed as Gintama characters posed.
Two kids in yellow hats walked by, chatting about the latest One Piece plot…
Hikari mused to herself, "Next time I head back, I'll grab a few manga sets to bring along. Something to read when I'm bored."
"Oh, and some new DVDs for Nekosennin."
"Right, gotta buy more books too."
That last one wasn't for her.
After spending time with the Uchiha clan in Konoha, Hikari realized their cultural literacy was… lacking.
Particularly in the humanities and social sciences.
Konoha Village had only been around for less than sixty years. Before that, the Warring States era kept everyone too busy fighting to care about intellectual pursuits. The Uchiha clan, with their pride and obsession with strength, looked down on "brainy" stuff, which led to some spectacularly dumb clan members.
Take the "genius" who, starting at age seven, viewed everything through a Hokage lens. After watching his best friend get his eyes gouged out and fall into a river, it took him a full two years to come up with the brilliant plan of wiping out the clan to resolve village-clan tensions.
Or the other "genius" who had the "strongest genjutsu," Kotoamatsukami, capable of rewriting someone's will, yet never used it before dying.
So, Hikari planned to give them a crash course.
And she'd make them write 8,000-word book reports for every book to ensure they didn't half-ass it.
"Hmm… I'll make a list later and have the Sheqi Bajia handle the purchases."
"Since I'm broke."
Hikari glanced at the Execution Bureau agents trailing her from a distance, then stopped at an intersection, looking up at the sky.
She hadn't come to the Dragon Clan world just to buy manga.
There was plenty worth exploring here—
Dragon bloodlines and their authorities, alchemy, kotodama…
"Speaking of… do hybrid powers share anything in common with chakra or ki?"
"Could I use 'Yasaka no Magatama' to absorb their powers and then unleash kotodama?"
With that thought, Hikari closed her eyes, focusing on the seals she'd placed earlier and locating the one tied to Minamoto Chisei.
Then she channeled her ocular power, activating "Yasaka no Magatama."
A few breaths later, a faint thread of energy drifted from the direction of Genji Heavy Industries, flowing through some invisible channel into her body.
But…
"Tch, so little."
It felt like sipping a frozen slushie through a straw—nothing like the smooth, milkshake-like flow she got in the Naruto or Dragon Ball worlds. This was sluggish.
"Is it because hybrid powers are entirely bloodline-based, like Ice Release or Dead Bone Pulse, so 'Yasaka no Magatama' can't parse them easily?"
Still, since it was just less and not impossible, it meant the idea was viable.
Hikari took a deep breath, pushing her ocular power harder.
Though the process remained clunky, with more effort, she managed to forcibly draw out the "water" mixed in the "slushie."
As she did, a subtle aura of majesty began to build within her. When it hit a certain threshold, it burst outward, making everyone nearby feel a sudden weight on their hearts. Some even stumbled, looking around in shock.
"What's that…?"
"Another earthquake?"
Amid the murmurs of confusion, the two kids discussing One Piece nearly tripped. As if sensing something, they turned back, staring at Hikari with wide-eyed awe. "Did that big sister just… use Conqueror's Haki?!"
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