Yuhara never expected that the books he'd grabbed at random would turn out to be Make-Out Paradise.
No wonder the shopkeeper had looked at him so strangely. Now it all made sense.
Still, he'd already paid for them—no point in returning them now. He didn't know whether Shisui would actually read them, but he definitely intended to flip through them out of sheer curiosity.
After all, this was the legendary book Kakashi would one day be obsessed with. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of content it actually had.
But before he had time to really dig into it, Yuhara had other matters to attend to—filing a mission report, arranging to have Raiga's twin swords melted down and reforged, and so on.
Not that he'd be handling any of that personally. Shisui had already volunteered to take care of it.
In fact, Shisui was also planning to contact and gather several Uchiha who had fought on the front lines with them, and even start negotiating with some of the clan elders.
He wanted to gauge their stance. If things went well, he hoped to win their support.
Even the more peace-inclined elders, while not currently in power, still held considerable resources and influence. If Shisui could bring them over, it would save Yuhara a tremendous amount of effort.
Of course, that all depended on how things unfolded, and all Yuhara could do now was hope for the best.
With nothing pressing to do in the meantime, he plopped himself down on a bench on one of Konoha's busy streets, opened the newly purchased book, and started reading.
"...What the hell is this garbage?"
After a few chapters, his face twisted with confusion and disappointment. As far as he could tell, Jiraiya's writing was absolutely awful.
Sure, it had some of the kind of material Yuhara was curious about, but the overall quality? Terrible. The lack of detail and lazy execution had him shaking his head.
He'd read actual masterpieces in his past life—gritty crime stories, racy adult tales like Bai Jie, even full-blown literary classics.
This? This didn't hold a candle.
"He didn't even write about feet. Does he not realize how much fun that can be?!"
Unable to take it anymore, Yuhara snapped the book shut in frustration, muttering to himself.
Around him, passersby started giving him odd looks. Whispers followed. It didn't take long for him to realize that people were reacting to what he was holding.
Seriously? This kind of book caused that much fuss?
But then again...
"If writing junk like this makes good money, maybe I should give it a shot. Forget novels—I could write... whatever I want!"
Maybe it was the afterglow of awakening his Mangekyō Sharingan, or maybe it was the relief of solidifying Shisui's loyalty, but Yuhara felt great.
Sure, he was still a long way from being out of danger, but he had no intention of walking around with a gloomy cloud over his head all day.
Constant stress was a killer. Taking a moment to relax was just smart strategy.
He stood, deciding it was time to grab some food and then find a training ground to test out the gains from his last mission.
Because really—between gaining the Mangekyō and acquiring a wind-style sword technique, this mission had been an absolute jackpot.
But profit or not, he still had to put in the work. Adapt. Master his tools.
He wasn't going to go wild using his Mangekyō's techniques right away—he could still hear the echoes of how Sasuke blinded himself in a single month.
But just activating it to feel its effects? That was well within reason.
"And ever since awakening the Mangekyō, I can definitely feel my chakra and physical abilities improving," Yuhara muttered.
The improvement to his body was minor, but his chakra—both in volume and quality—was steadily rising.
It reminded him of something Madara once said about the "straight tomoe" form of the Sharingan—something about how it made the user seem incredibly nimble.
But what exactly did "straight tomoe" mean? Weren't Madara's tomoe just the usual three comma shapes?
It wasn't until he fused his brother's eyes and gained the Eternal Mangekyō that the tomoe transformed into straight-line pillars.
As for Sasuke's pattern... that thing looked like a warped six-pointed star. Only after integrating Itachi's eyes did it begin to resemble something more rigid and linear.
In short—Yuhara had no clue what "straight tomoe" really referred to.
So he preferred to focus on the real, observable changes: his chakra was improving, and fast.
His Mangekyō was clearly enhancing him in all the right ways.
Physical growth was slower, but he wasn't too concerned. He had Dao Reversal—his right-eye ability that boosted all his ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu.
With that kind of edge, who cared about a minor stat imbalance?
He just had to avoid overusing his eye and burning himself out. As long as he stayed reasonable, he'd be fine. And if things ever went south, he still had the system to fall back on.
"Time to sharpen that sword technique, too."
His mind already racing with plans, Yuhara was halfway into imagining how to terrorize the shinobi world with the phrase strike below the belt when someone called out to him.
"Yuhara?"
It was a soft, lazy-sounding voice—but with a hint of surprise.
He turned around and saw a girl with long black hair tied into a ponytail.
One look at her face, and he recognized her instantly.
She was an old teammate of his. A name he remembered clearly.
She was from the Nara Clan.
Her name was Kotoha Nara.
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