Chapter 14

Uchiha Yuki Chapter Fourteen

Yuki saw Orochimaru again when she was on a mission in the village.

"Orochimaru-sensei..."

Upon hearing Yuki's address, Orochimaru revealed a sinister smile. Yuki was no longer a child and naturally wouldn't be frightened. She merely frowned slightly and glanced around.

While searching for a villager's lost kitten, they accidentally stumbled into Lord Orochimaru's residence...

Unfortunately, this place was extremely remote, and Xue felt a terrible headache coming on.

She has never been good at dealing with people like Orochimaru.

"It's Uchiha Yuki! It's been so long!"

Orochimaru deliberately dragged out his words, making his voice sound increasingly eerie. Then, he laughed sinisterly, "Xiaoxue has grown up, and her courage has grown too... Is it because she lost too many important people? Hehehe..."

Xue lowered her eyes; Orochimaru's words had indeed struck a chord with her.

"Do you want power? I can help you." Orochimaru's hoarse voice carried an irresistible allure.

Xue paused for a moment, then asked, "What price will be required?"

"Truly worthy of being a child of the Uchiha clan—" Orochimaru laughed again, "However, you are Nawaki's friend. I can pay you on credit first, and I'll collect it when you become stronger."

"If it's about my body, then forget it," Xue blurted out instinctively.

Orochimaru's expression visibly stiffened for a moment.

Orochimaru seemed to have genuinely considered the feasibility of Xue's words, and then let out a cackling laugh.

"Then, come with me."

Orochimaru led the way, while Yuki wondered whether he had bought the house with his own savings or if it had been allocated by the village. The rooms on the ground floor were clean and tidy, with no signs of habitation except for basic furniture. In the basement, however, there were several rows of cabinets, on which were many scrolls... Yuki immediately recognized that many of them were techniques strictly prohibited by Konoha.

"Xue, have you ever heard of a ninjutsu called Impure World Reincarnation...?"

"The Impure World Reincarnation is a ninjutsu that can reverse life and death, bringing the dead back to life. If Yuki is willing to help me, I can have the Third Hokage transfer you to my service. All you need to do is work for me."

"Mom and Dad sacrificed themselves for their ideals..." Xue deeply loved her parents. Although she longed for them to stay by her side forever, her previous life had given her sixteen years of civilized society, making her moral compass far stronger than others. "If it were for my own selfish desires, that would be too selfish... Mom and Dad would be angry..."

Xue frowned slightly, while Orochimaru opened the secret room in front of her without any hesitation.

"They're clearly from the Uchiha clan, yet they adhere to all the rules of this world?"

Orochimaru casually took a sword from his armory and tossed it to Yuki. Yuki caught the sword; its blade was pure white, and when infused with chakra, it emitted a chilling aura. The blade was as light as an ice crystal feather, yet incredibly sharp.

"This sword suits you perfectly, even your name... hehehe..."

Yuki, unaware of what Orochimaru was thinking, smiled in a very eerie way.

"This isn't a weapon that could be obtained within the Land of Fire, is it, Orochimaru-sensei?"

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, crossed his arms, surprised that his cheap disciple had such good taste: "This sword was forged by the artisan ninjas of the Land of Snow, and it's called Ice Feather. Whether for close combat or as a medium for genjutsu, it's a fine sword. Now that you've awakened the single-tomoe Sharingan, you should be able to use it even more skillfully."

Yuki channeled her chakra into the Ice Feather Sword, looked up at Orochimaru, and her scarlet eyes took on the form of single tomoe.

Orochimaru felt a blur before his eyes, and the next second, he seemed to have left his basement. A chill swept over him, as if he were in an endless snowfield. Everywhere he looked, snowflakes were falling, and even the texture of the snow on the ground felt terrifyingly real. The temperature plummeted to below zero, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

It's an illusion... Orochimaru was about to form hand seals to dispel the illusion when he found that his hands were frozen.

As Xue watched Orochimaru break free of her genjutsu in an instant, she couldn't help but sigh in her heart: As expected of one of the Legendary Sannin.

Orochimaru sneered. If he hadn't deliberately disrupted the flow of his own chakra to break the genjutsu, this kid would probably have really "frozen to death" in this genjutsu.

Orochimaru had once reviewed Uchiha Yuki's graduation file, which stated that she was not skilled in genjutsu. It seems that she only gradually understood the principles of genjutsu after awakening her Sharingan.

It seems that Konoha Village will soon have another powerful new genjutsu user...

Xue wanted to say something more, but then a loud crashing sound came from above the basement.

Orochimaru sneered, "Your two idiot teammates came and made a mess of my house."

Snow smiles...

Inside the house, Yuki, Genma, and Nara were busy tidying up the furniture that had been ransacked—it was all messed up while they were searching for Yuki at Orochimaru's house. Yuki glanced at Orochimaru, who was sitting in the living room drinking tea with an air of serene contentment, and lowered her voice: "What brings you all here?"

“We found you were missing, so we followed the trail here,” Nara whispered in Yuki’s ear.

Genma, holding the docile kitten, nestled close to her other side: "We thought you'd been eaten by Lord Orochimaru..."

Yuki recalled the silly rumors circulating in the village: Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin, eats children...

"I'm telling you, you two aren't three-year-olds anymore... There's no way this kind of rumor could possibly be true."

After the three of them tidied up the house, Orochimaru personally escorted them to the entrance. Unexpectedly, he took out frozen chestnuts from the freezer next to him—a popular item that often required queuing—as a thank you gift for their tidying up.

Nara:!

Genma: !

Xue was shocked... Where did this baseless rumor come from?!

After politely thanking Orochimaru, the three returned to the mission hall in the village center to collect their respective mission rewards. Once the rewards were distributed, they each began their journey home.

On her way home, Xue made a detour to the flower shop in the mountains. She carefully selected a bunch of magnolias, asked the shop assistant to wrap them up nicely, and paid for them with part of her commission.

When Orochimaru opened the door again, he saw a girl wearing a dark red turtleneck short-sleeved shirt, white shorts, and a sword at her waist, standing outside holding a large bouquet of magnolia flowers. The bouquet almost completely obscured her face, revealing only her fair complexion and delicate features, making her appear exceptionally petite and exquisite. She peeked out from behind the magnolia flowers, wearing a standard smile for an elder.

Orochimaru frowned slightly, instinctively wanting to refuse this unexpected gift. However, the girl seemed not to notice his refusal, and walked into the house in a few steps, placing the flowers in a vase that had long been unused in the living room.

"Teacher's house is too empty. I will come to learn from you regularly from now on!" the girl said while arranging flowers.

Orochimaru silently withdrew his hand, which had been hovering in mid-air.

After the snow left, Orochimaru sat alone at home. His narrow, golden eyes were fixed on the bouquet of snow-white flowers. The petals were as white as jade, and the veins of the leaves had a translucent, emerald-like quality in the sunlight. Orochimaru's lips curled up; the flowers he had given... did bear a resemblance to him.

-

"Hey, sister. Do I look more like Dad or Mom?" Obito suddenly blurted out this question during dinner.

Since he could remember, Obito had rarely had the chance to see his parents, so it was understandable that he would ask such a question. As two of the only Uchiha clan members among the Third Hokage's subordinates, Obito had only one photo of his parents together. Xue tilted her head, thought carefully for a moment, and then slowly said, "His hair looks like Dad's; his eyes look like Mom's."

“However, Obito’s personality is quite different from that of ordinary clansmen,” Yuki added.

Upon hearing this, Obito immediately pouted, his face full of displeasure as he retorted, "What do you mean?!"

Seeing this, Xue quickly smiled and explained, "No, what I mean is that Uchiha people are generally more sensitive and reserved. People like Obito, who are cheerful and lively, are rare."

Upon hearing this, Obito became displeased and asked angrily, "Are you praising me or belittling me?"

Xue gave a helpless smile: "No matter what Obito's personality is, I like him very much."

Upon hearing this, Obito's eyes widened slightly, and he paused for a moment before ceasing his rebuttal and obediently lowering his head to eat.

After the meal, Obito took the initiative to wash the dishes. After washing them, he went to the yard and saw Yuki gazing at the moonlight alone, lost in thought.

Obito's eyes lit up, and he pounced on Yuki from behind, clinging to her like a kangaroo, and said in a spoiled tone, "Sister, please teach me the Fireball Jutsu!"

Xue frowned slightly, saying with some concern, "Isn't it a bit too early to learn this kind of ninjutsu now? When Obito goes to school, he just needs to study hard and not fail any courses. He doesn't need to strive for excellence in everything..."

"Sister, are you underestimating me?" Obito squinted, defiantly saying, "I'm the man who will one day bear the Uchiha clan crest and ascend to the position of Hokage!"

Yuki couldn't help but laugh out loud at his antics. She looked away, but in the end, she couldn't resist Obito's constant nagging and obediently taught him how to form hand seals. She also carefully reminded him to be careful when breathing fire so as not to burn the mucous membrane in his mouth.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

The flames that Obito spewed out were far too small, but Yuki continued to encourage him despite this.

Yuki reached out and pressed her thumb against Obito's mouth: "Open your mouth, let me see if you're hurt."

Obito muttered, "How could such a small flame possibly burn him..." But he still obediently opened his mouth, and Yuki looked down at his fully grown baby teeth.

I was inexplicably angry. A child whose permanent teeth hadn't even grown in yet... was being sent to a ninja academy to learn how to kill.

"Sister, let go! I can't close my mouth!" Obito suddenly shouted.

Xue hurriedly withdrew her hand from Obito's mouth: "Sorry, I was distracted for a moment."

"You idiot, Xue, why are you always spacing out!"

Xue narrowed her eyes slightly: "You should call me 'sister,' why are you calling me by my name again?"

However, Yuki quickly remembered that since Obito was about to enroll in school, she had saved up a lot of mission money to buy him a pair of orange goggles.

"Here, this is a gift for starting school." Yuki handed the goggles to Obito.

Obito's eyes sparkled as he excitedly accepted the goggles and immediately put them on. He exclaimed happily, "Thank you, sister! I've been wanting these goggles to protect my eyes! When I awaken my Sharingan, I'll be even stronger than Kakashi! I can definitely beat him!" Then, somewhat sullenly, Obito added, "So, sister, you have to always be only my sister, okay? You absolutely can't be Kakashi's sister!"

Xue paused for a moment, then whispered, "Idiot Obito."

"Hey, I heard you!" Obito shouted, pretending to be angry.

Xue smiled and patted Obito's head, saying, "Alright, alright, go take a shower and go to bed. The Ninja Academy opening ceremony is in a few days, so don't be late again because you're helping all those old ladies."

"Okay—" Obito drawled out the last syllable and made a face.