Sakaki Tatsuma was defeated by Hii Kōri's powerful attack, and he fell onto the sofa, saying things like "I'm going to be the King of Moneymaking" and "women are a nuisance." This made Hii Kōri laugh uncontrollably. The room felt happy and friendly.
After laughing for a bit, Hii Kōri patted Uchiha Hikari's back and formally introduced her to Sasori and Sakaki Tatsuma: "Alright, alright. This girl's name is Hikari. I met her by chance on this trip. Although her situation is a bit special, it's not really a problem."
His explanation was deliberately vague, glossing over topics like Uchiha Hikari's surname, her true "age," and her abilities.
After all, explaining a girl who had been sealed away for several hundred years was simply too much trouble.
Uchiha Hikari cooperatively said nothing, sitting quietly on Hii Kōri's lap. She pulled another orange from his sleeve and focused on peeling it with her head bowed.
Judging by her technique, she seemed to be trying to peel the rind into the shape of a little dog.
Although the first orange she had eaten after waking up had been so sour it made her grimace, Uchiha Hikari had inexplicably grown to love the fruit.
Aside from the refreshing taste effectively cutting through the greasiness and saltiness of the bowl of meat broth she had drunk earlier, there was probably also an element of seeking stimulation.
That sharp, direct, unpretentious sourness allowed her to clearly feel how different her current circumstances were from the past, making her realize that she was truly living freely.
Bringing a slice of orange to her mouth, the tart juice burst across her tongue. She unconsciously narrowed her eyes slightly, swung her feet, and revealed a contented smile.
As Hii Kōri continued chatting with Sakaki Tatsuma, she reached out and placed the dog-shaped orange peel on the nearby tea table, then pulled another orange from Hii Kōri's sleeve.
After eating one slice, she paused, then leaned back against Hii Kōri's chest. Tilting her head up, she reached out and brought the orange to his lips.
"It's sweet."
The girl, locking eyes with Hii Kōri as he looked down at her, said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Hii Kōri had a strong preference for sweet foods—a conclusion she had observed over this period.
As far as Uchiha Hikari was concerned, regardless of Hii Kōri's original purpose in going to that place, he had genuinely freed her from that detestable seal.
When faced with her post-unsealing, crazed, aggressive self—someone who possessed overwhelming power that could have easily subdued her—he had instead allowed her to vent the negative emotions that had been pent up for centuries.
In the end, he had even helped unravel the tangled knots in her heart.
Even though Hii Kōri had said that he had fought her for so long only to witness the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan, and that he would unhesitatingly exploit her abilities in the future, Uchiha Hikari didn't care in the slightest.
After all, to this day, Hii Kōri had never once asked about the secrets of her Mangekyō Sharingan—her unique ocular powers, how she had transplanted those abilities, or anything of the sort. Likewise, he had never demanded or forced her to do anything.
On the contrary, Hii Kōri had been patiently and meticulously teaching her the knowledge and common sense she needed to survive in this era.
To Hii Kōri, this was naturally just a trivial matter. After all, from his own perspective, he could empathize with Uchiha Hikari to some extent.
As a modern jujutsu sorcerer who had grown up during the collapse of the bubble economy and died in 2018, although he was quite adaptable to the anything-goes nature of the Naruto world, there were still many things that felt off.
Such as the loss of various high-precision electronic instruments, or the absence of a convenient internet.
Looking at it comparatively, this sense of being out of sync with the times would naturally affect Uchiha Hikari as well.
Moreover, Hikari was a bright and eager learner, making her quite easy to teach.
But even this kind of goodwill, which Hii Kōri himself hadn't noticed or been aware of, Uchiha Hikari enjoyed as if it were the sweetest thing in the world.
Her nerves, made fragile and sensitive by her past experiences, cautiously yet greedily drew warmth from Hii Kōri's attentive care and teaching, from the solid chest she felt when he carried her on his back or held her in his arms. She felt safe with a "father figure" — something that had almost been destroyed by her long, painful ordeal.
Even though Hii Kōri was only about eight or nine years older than her, that didn't stop Uchiha Hikari from starting to look up to him.
As for the natural intimacy between Hii Kōri and Uchiha Hikari, both Sasori and Sakaki Tatsuma looked utterly unsurprised.
Hii Kōri's habit of picking up children to raise was nothing new. Not only had he taken in his current disciples—the "Three Nagatos" as they were called—but under his direction, the Red Hot Sand Guild had also invested in and built numerous orphanages, schools, and vocational training facilities in places throughout the ninja world where the guild had sufficient influence.
Obviously, these facilities existed to cultivate loyal and reliable employees and talent for the guild.
But regardless of how utilitarian the original intention may have been, could you honestly say he hadn't saved them, raised them, and taught them?
In this world, for war orphans to have a place to belong and to learn skills to support themselves—that was already the best possible outcome.
"Alright, since you've arrived, it's time for me to go take care of some 'real business.'"
Sakaki Tatsuma sat up straight, returning to his sharp and capable demeanor. "I'm going to go debug the equipment. You two wait here for a bit."
Hii Kōri nodded. Sasori grunted in acknowledgment.
"How much of the notes I left have you read?"
Hii Kōri's gaze shifted back to Sasori, asking his nephew, whom he hadn't seen in a while.
Even as he said it, he knew full well that given Sasori's learning pace, he should have already finished reading everything.
Unlike in the original story, after learning puppetry, Sasori had not continued to delve deeper into puppet-style ninjutsu, nor had he pursued chakra training beyond a superficial level. Instead, he had shifted to studying knowledge from other fields under Hii Kōri's guidance.
Of course, the main focus had been Hii Kōri's cursed tools, mechanisms, and the manufacturing concepts and techniques behind various equipment and armaments.
The trajectory he was on clearly indicated that he had no intention of becoming a ninja, but rather wanted to focus entirely on research and development.
Neither Chiyo nor Hii Kōri had any objections to this. By the same token, this was also why Sasori was here today.
Sasori calmly answered Hii Kōri's seemingly unnecessary question, and then proceeded—in the same outwardly indifferent tone that outsiders might find cold—to report on the training progress of Nagato and the other two.
But to Uchiha Hikari, who had just begun to develop all sorts of positive feelings toward Hii Kōri, Sasori's tone came across as somewhat grating, as if he were being rather "disrespectful" to Hii Kōri.
Moreover, just because the Uzumaki clan had been wiped out didn't mean she would have a favorable impression of anyone else with red hair besides Hii Kōri.
Frowning slightly in displeasure, she turned sideways in Hii Kōri's lap and looked at Sasori with a huffy expression.
Sensing her undisguised gaze, Sasori's voice paused for a moment. He calmly lowered his eyes slightly and met Uchiha Hikari's stare with an expressionless face.
"Hikari."
Sensing the shift in atmosphere between the two children, Hii Kōri gently patted the back of Uchiha Hikari's hand and explained, "Sasori is a child I've watched grow up. His personality is just like this. You'll get used to it."
Hearing Hii Kōri's explanation, Uchiha Hikari blinked. Her aggressive demeanor instantly crumbled, and she very promptly lowered her head to Sasori and apologized.
Caught off guard by her reaction, Sasori gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, thinking to himself that this girl really did seem to care about a great deal about his uncle.
But upon second thought, he felt it made sense.
Weren't he himself, Nagato, Yahiko, Konan, and all those children in the orphanages... exactly the same?
Just then, the door to the room was lightly knocked upon. A servant respectfully opened it a crack and announced, "Lord Sakaki has finished his preparations. He requests that you and young Lord Sasori come up."
"Got it." Hii Kōri acknowledged, then stood up with Uchiha Hikari in his arms and motioned for Sasori to follow.
The room on the top floor was quite spacious but rather strangely arranged, as if its purpose had been temporarily changed.
Although it was daytime, all the windows were tightly covered by thick, opaque, dark curtains. The room's light source came entirely from a large ring-shaped lamp hanging from the ceiling, casting bright, even artificial light.
In the center of the room stood a large circular conference table. Around the table were only four high-backed chairs that looked quite comfortable.
No documents were placed on the table. Instead, a dense array of cables was neatly arranged across it, with one end hanging down beneath the table, running along the wall all the way to a temporary hole drilled into the floor.
The other end spread out from the center of the circular table, connecting sequentially to devices placed behind three of the chairs—devices that resembled old-fashioned desktop computers.
Or rather, they were desktop computers.
"Hikari, you rest here for a while."
Hii Kōri led Uchiha Hikari to the chair without a computer in front of it, then raised a finger to his lips, signaling her not to speak for the time being.
Seeing how serious he looked, and thinking that he had some work to handle, Uchiha Hikari nodded knowingly, obediently placing her hands on her knees to show that she would remain quiet.
Seeing this, Hii Kōri smiled and reached out to gently flick her small nose, causing the girl to instinctively shrink her neck, a faint blush rising on her face.
Returning to his own chair, Hii Kōri casually pulled his unadorned black mask from the shadows and placed it over his face. Then he made a hand gesture to Sakaki Tatsuma and Sasori, who were also in position.
Sakaki Tatsuma understood and entered a series of commands into the machine—the "old-fashioned computer" that represented the pinnacle of the era's technological achievement.
After a brief delay, the "chat room" in the center of the screen divided into several grids, and clear, high-resolution bust images appeared one by one.
Those people were the directors of the Red Hot Sand Guild's various departments—Administration, Energy, Product R&D, Human Resources, Finance, Commerce, Engineering, and Inspection—along with the masked Hii Kōri and Sasori.
Apart from the three in the same room, the other seven varied in age and attire, but all exuded a capable, efficient aura.
Seeing each other on the screens before them—especially those directors who were far apart in different countries and regions due to work—they were all quite excited.
"Whoa, so we can really see each other this clearly. The stability is excellent."
An elderly man with white hair and beard, but who looked vigorous and had a very solid build, reached out with great interest and poked the camera, laughing heartily. "Those guys in the Land of Artisans really have skills. The boss's ideas have actually been brought to life by them."
He was the director of the Engineering Section. These old-fashioned computers and the signal base stations were completed by him, leading those artisans capable of crafting specialized ninja tools, based on the blueprints Hii Kōri had provided.
A middle-aged woman wearing small square-rimmed glasses, with a stern and rigid look about her, pushed up her glasses. Whether joking or serious, she replied, "If the results weren't good, I suspect Director Sakaki of the Finance Section would have kicked down my office door, complaining that our Human Resources Section had flushed the funding down the drain."
From one corner of the screen, Sakaki Tatsuma let out a rare "Ahahaha" laugh. "Ahahaha! Before that, my office door would probably be the one getting kicked down first. Am I right, Boss?"
"Ha. If there's a problem with the equipment operation, we fix it. I'm not the type to lose my temper over something like that, am I?"
As everyone knew, Sakaki Tatsuma, the director of the Finance Section, was the most senior of the senior members in the guild. He was one of the people who had founded the guild alongside the masked mastermind behind the scenes.
These playful jabs were a unique form of interaction between the two of them.
The director of the Commerce Section—a portly man with a kind smile—stroked his chin and asked with interest, "Although this system is indeed very convenient, increasing the efficiency of information transmission between branches by countless times... do you really need to gather all of us here just to test the system's stability?"
He paused, his gaze landing on the last "stranger"—Sasori—and continued, "You have other instructions for us, don't you, Boss?"
"Indeed, that's the case."
Akane, serving as the director of the Administration Section, affirmed his question. "Gathering everyone here is naturally not just for testing the new equipment."
Her voice came through the device, clear and stable.
"Next, the Boss will directly announce an important resolution concerning the guild's future strategic direction."
After a delay of a few seconds, the expressions of the figures in the chat room became more focused. Their gazes all turned to the figure in the black mask, ready for their boss's latest orders.
"I know that all of you except Sakaki have some curiosity and guesses about my identity. I might as well be upfront. Hiding my identity is indeed because I am connected to a ninja village. If a clear link to the guild were established, it would make the relationship between the village and the daimyō very complicated, and the guild's expansion and development would also be restricted."
Hii Kōri propped up his chin with one hand, rhythmically tapping the table with the other. "However, there's no need to keep holding back now."
Becoming a department director of the guild was proof enough of one's abilities. The implications hidden in Hii Kōri's words were naturally clear to them.
Upon hearing this, many of them visibly brightened, while the others grew even more serious.
"Based on the ongoing evolution of the current ninja world situation, as well as the guild's own development needs and potential risks..."
"After comprehensive evaluation, it is hereby decided that, in addition to the guild's existing eight functional departments—"
Hii Kōri's gaze swept across the faces on the screen, his tone steady, "—a ninth department shall be established: the Defense Section."
"Its internal responsibilities include: security for research facilities, personnel protection, internal confidentiality work, and handling of anomalous incidents."
He paused for a moment, ensuring every word was clearly conveyed.
"Its actual functional positioning is: research and development, production, testing, and deployment of weapons and equipment; as well as technical research related to military defense, personnel training, strategic material reserves, and armed operations support under specified conditions."
"The department director will be myself. The acting director will be Sasori."
"That is all."
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