Chapter 55: Stay With You Too Long, and I've Become a Pervert Too
"What I mean is, yesterday I lied to you. There was never any 'battlefield one-night romance,' and there was no White-Eyed baby either."
"That was White Zetsu's special transformation technique. A disguise so advanced that even your Byakugan can't see through it."
"..."
Hanabi froze with her mouth hanging open, both hands wrapped around her cup, completely motionless.
Then she suddenly realized something and violently shook her head: "No…if that's really the case, then why are you telling me this now?"
As she spoke, her pale Byakugan stared straight at Shiromo.
"Because you were going to find out sooner or later. Rather than letting you discover it on your own and develop doubts or resentment, it's better for me to tell you proactively and let you make your own judgment and decision."
As he said this, Shiromo reached out and lightly touched the corner of Hanabi's eye socket: "You don't actually think we value something as trivial as a pair of Byakugan, do you?"
"..."
Hanabi still looked utterly confused.
Judge what? Decide what?
If it wasn't for her Byakugan, then what was it for?
"Actually, I come from the ninja world twenty years in the future. I came back to the present to accumulate strength and fight an enemy capable of destroying the entire world."
"?"
"Believe it or not, it's up to you."
Shiromo pushed a photograph in front of Hyuga Hanabi.
Same trick, same effect, works every time.
Seeing Shiromo pull this move again, Konan smiled lightly from the side: "Impressive. Don't tell me you've prepared photos of every famous ninja with a name?"
"This one wasn't that easy to get. After all, she'll become the next head of the Hyuga clan in the future."
"The Hyuga have the Byakugan, so it's not easy to secretly take photos."
"I only managed to get this because her nephew wanted the SSR Uchiha Sasuke Gekinin card I had. I used the excuse of 'I want to pursue his aunt and marry into the Hyuga clan' to get the photo."
In other words, Shiromo definitely did 'not' have a photo of Hinata's future self.
After all, there was no way Shiromo could tell Boruto, '"I want to chase your mom, give me a photo."'
While Shiromo was talking with Konan, Hyuga Hanabi widened her eyes and picked up the photo he had given her.
The female Hyuga ninja in the photo looked incredibly familiar…
Is this… future me?
She grew up to be such a heroic, dashing, beautiful kunoichi…
After immersing herself in fantasy for a moment, Hanabi came back to her senses, lifted her head, and looked at Shiromo.
"What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to become strong."
"The reason the Hyuga clan and the Third Hokage are willing to compromise with us is because they're still not strong enough."
"The same will be true in the future. If you're not strong enough, your eyes will be gouged out. Your sister will be taken away and forced into a political marriage. And after that, endless sealing techniques…"
"I'll say it again, everything I've told you is true. You can choose not to believe it. The choice is yours…"
"Or I could tell Father and the Third Hokage everything you told me, and everything you deceived us about, right?"
Hanabi had even learned to jump in and answer first.
"That's right."
"But if I do that, I'll also lose my chance to become stronger. My chance to change everything you just talked about."
"Very smart."
Shiromo praised her.
This was exactly why Shiromo liked talking to people like Sasuke and Hanabi.
They valued emotions, but they also thought things through. They weren't hot-headed, charging in blindly at every turn.
No wonder Hyuga Hiashi looked down on Hinata and wanted Hanabi to be the heir instead.
"…Then I agree. I'll definitely become strong, strong enough to protect my sister and everyone else!"
After thinking for a while, Hyuga Hanabi's eyes became resolute.
If it were someone else, they might have asked, "Can I really do it?"
But Hanabi was still extremely confident.
Regardless of her confidence, Shiromo still told her, "The person who takes your eyes in the future will transplant them and evolve the Byakugan into the Tenseigan."
"I won't go into details. Just know this, one attack from the Tenseigan can split the moon in half."
"The condition to awaken the Tenseigan is the Byakugan of the Hyuga clan, along with chakra from that other clan."
"Mm!"
Hanabi listened intently.
When she heard that the Tenseigan could split the moon, her eyes opened wide.
The Byakugan could evolve, she'd never heard her father mention that. And that awakening method… eyes could be transplanted, but how was the chakra obtained?
This must be what they wanted from her, the things they'd do afterward.
At that moment, Hanabi suddenly felt that following Shiromo wasn't a "sacrifice," but an "opportunity."
Especially after learning the conditions for awakening the Tenseigan, she thought of her sister again.
"Why me? Actually, Big Sister is amazing too… and she's gentle…"
Hanabi spoke softly.
Halfway through her sentence, her body stiffened.
Because Shiromo's hand had landed on her head.
Shiromo removed a small flower tucked into Hanabi's hair and placed it in her palm.
"Finding this flower is just like finding you."
(Orochimaru: ?)
The moment this classic child-abduction line was delivered, Hyuga Hanabi clenched the flower, and her cheeks instantly flushed red.
"Tch."
Seeing this scene, Karin rolled her eyes speechlessly.
Hey, little girl, how old are you? Why are you blushing like a boiling teapot?!
And just like that, after successfully being "abducted" by Shiromo, Hanabi said goodbye and returned home.
"When I was talking about lacking strength earlier, I think I forgot to mention one thing, without strength, her cousin Neji would end up becoming a Jinchūriki."
After Hanabi left, Shiromo suddenly realized he'd missed something.
"Jinchūriki? Hyuga Neji? Which tail would he have?"
Konan looked stunned. Because of their previous preparations to capture the tailed beasts, they were well informed on Jinchūriki. Could Hyuga Neji really become one? Didn't Konoha only have the Nine-Tails?
"A hedgehog."
"?"
Konan was rendered completely speechless by Shiromo's hell-level joke.
After the room fell silent for a moment, Konan suddenly remembered something.
"I remember you once said that the Rinnegan awakens through the fusion of Indra's chakra and Asura's chakra. That's why you had Uchiha Sasuke go drink Uzumaki Naruto's…"
"So now, for Hyuga Hanabi to awaken the Tenseigan, she needs Ōtsutsuki clan chakra. Don't tell me you're planning to have her go drink…"
This time, it was Shiromo who fell into silence.
'Bang!'
Shiromo had just opened his mouth and hadn't said a word yet when Konan realized what kind of outrageous thing she'd just said. Her face alternated between dark and red, and then she slammed her palm onto the table, stood up, turned around, and stormed out.
"It's because I've stayed with you for too long that I ended up having such perverted thoughts!!!"
Leaving behind that furious line, Konan fled.
Watching the door wobble on its hinges, Shiromo twitched at the corner of his mouth.
"I was actually going to say that even without something like cell transplantation, if we're talking about drinking milk, there are female members of the Ōtsutsuki clan too. This is 'literally' something you can 'drink milk' of."
Something like 'Kaguya-mama, love me again'.
"Like that's any less perverted coming from you."
Karin muttered quietly.
(End of this chapter)