Seeing that Inner Kuugetsu looked exactly like Kuugetsu, yet acted completely differently, Dan couldn't help but be shocked. It took him a while to adjust before he could accept Inner Kuugetsu's existence.
He carefully asked her:
"So… does that mean you know what we're going to do next?"
Inner Kuugetsu glanced at Dan calmly and replied:
"Of course I know. In fact, I know everything about Kuugetsu. After all, she and I are one and the same—or rather, we were always meant to be a single person. Just like all of you."
As she spoke, Inner Kuugetsu looked up toward the ceiling, as though she could see Hoshiyomi and Shinku through it.
Dan was clearly very curious about everything concerning Kuugetsu. Without waiting for Hoshiyomi's instructions, he pressed further:
"Then… don't you feel unwilling? Or that you're not ready for this?"
Inner Kuugetsu frowned. By nature, she wasn't someone who liked talking much with people she wasn't close to. But since the man in front of her represented Hoshiyomi-sensei, she reluctantly explained, somewhat impatiently:
"What's there to feel unwilling about? I already told you: she is me, and I am her. We are one. It's no different from a single person having both joyful and sorrowful sides.
We were only separated because of certain special circumstances. Ever since the day I was born, I've longed for the day we would become whole again. I've been preparing for nearly ten years—so how could I possibly not be ready?"
Hearing this, Hoshiyomi finally let out a sigh of relief. He had known from the start that Inner Kuugetsu existed to protect Kuugetsu.
Still, he couldn't help but worry—what if this "Inner Kuugetsu" turned out to be like Ido, the demon inside Kurama Yakumo in the original story, a monster that desired to destroy everything?
But after hearing her cooperation, Hoshiyomi was completely reassured. If that was the case, then they didn't have to worry about the unification process causing any problems.
With that, Hoshiyomi decided not to pry further into Inner Kuugetsu's thoughts, and instead had Dan directly ask the question everyone most wanted answered:
"So then—what exactly is it that you exist to protect?"
Inner Kuugetsu took a deep breath and said:
"I am her guardian. Beyond simply protecting her from being bullied, I have another crucial duty: to help Kuugetsu block out certain parts of her childhood memories.
Perhaps she herself has never realized it, but the truth is—her childhood memories are incomplete.
I sealed away that part of her past. At the time, Kuugetsu simply couldn't handle such a reality. If she had been left to bear it alone… no one knows what would have happened."
At this point, the questioning reached its final, most critical stage. Without waiting for Hoshiyomi's instructions, Dan went straight to the last question:
"Then… can we see that memory for ourselves?"
Inner Kuugetsu looked at Dan hesitantly for a long while. But knowing that Hoshiyomi-sensei was watching from inside his mind, she finally made up her mind:
"There's no harm in showing you. In fact, I've always been uncertain whether Kuugetsu herself could accept all of this—that's why I've delayed merging with her. But I trust you, Hoshiyomi-sensei. I trust that you'll make the right judgment."
After saying this, Inner Kuugetsu suddenly waved her hand. In an instant, the scene around them shifted—the second floor, which had been a dark, oppressive room of black and red, transformed into a simple, ordinary Japanese-style home.
The sight made Shinku and Dan gasp in astonishment. Just this one act alone showed the overwhelming strength of Kuugetsu's spiritual energy. To manipulate the mindscape so drastically was no easy feat.
Such an ability required terrifyingly strong spiritual energy. From this alone, Shinku was certain: ninety percent of the world's genjutsu and mental attacks would be ineffective against Kuugetsu once her personalities became one.
Hoshiyomi's thoughts went even further. The Sharingan was known as the "Eye that Reflects the Heart," precisely because every awakening and evolution required immense spiritual stimulation—or rather, tremendous spiritual energy.
Kuugetsu, only eleven years old, already had such formidable spiritual energy. Did that not mean she might one day awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan?
Suppressing this speculation, Hoshiyomi, Shinku, and Dan focused on what unfolded next.
On the tatami of the Japanese-style house lay a delicate little girl. Hoshiyomi had seen Kuugetsu's academy enrollment photo, so he immediately recognized that this was none other than young Kuugetsu.
In her sleep, little Kuugetsu was woken by the sound of a quarrel. She quietly crept up and followed the voices. Dan and Inner Kuugetsu watched as she approached the room where the shouting came from.
Through a crack in the door, they saw a man and a woman arguing. e woman had her back to the door, so her face couldn't be seen, but Hoshiyomi and the others could see the man's face
The man was Kuugetsu's father—Uchiha Hokushin.
As they listened to the quarrel, Hoshiyomi and the others finally understood why Hokushin's expression always grew so pained whenever Kuugetsu's mother was mentioned.
Because her mother—simply put—was a completely selfish and unfaithful woman.
This vain woman had never loved Hokushin. From the very beginning, her pursuit of him had been because of Hokushin's older brother—Uchiha Kagami. At the time, Kagami was widely acknowledged throughout the entire Uchiha clan, and even across all of Konoha, as the future clan head.
After failing to win Kagami's heart, Kuugetsu's mother shifted her attention to Hokushin. Naïve Hokushin, knowing nothing of this, genuinely believed he had fallen in love.
But a marriage with no true affection could only end in tragedy.
At the end of the First Great Ninja War, Uchiha Kagami was killed in battle, shocking everyone. Kuugetsu's mother's dream of becoming the sister-in-law of the future clan head was shattered, and she was bitterly dissatisfied.
But at this time, she and Hokushin were already engaged, and since Kagami had died recently, everyone still held a sense of respect for Hokushin, so she endured it and didn't make a big fuss.
Hoshiyomi could roughly guess what happened next. Hokushin fully inherited his brother's "Will of Fire," devoting himself wholeheartedly to integrating the Uchiha with the village and contributing to its prosperity.
But this happened at a time when the Uchiha clan was beginning to feel disgruntled. With this clash of ideologies, Hokushin's treatment within the clan naturally plummeted, and Kugatsu's mother was also affected
She had sought status and luxury, but instead received disdain and hardship. Naturally, she was furious.
By the time Kuugetsu was only one or two years old, her mother had already begun having affairs, betraying Hokushin without him ever realizing it.
It wasn't until one fateful night, when she confronted him directly—announcing that she would leave him and their daughter to live with the nephew of a clan elder—that Hokushin finally realized that his family had been falling apart long before he noticed.
Neither Hokushin, who desperately begged her to stay, nor Kuugetsu's mother, who slammed the door and left, noticed that in the little girl's eyes… a faint tomoe had already appeared. Her heart, too, had quietly begun to change.
Author Note:
…emmmm. Writing Hokushin as such a tragic character really makes me feel guilty. Maybe he's the only true tragic figure in this whole story. I'm honestly tearing up…