Chapter 13 C13

The differences between individuals within the same species can sometimes be more alarming than comparisons across species.

Some people awaken their Sharingan at the age of eight and are about to embark on an even more exaggerated path of power-ups, while others are still unknown and just waiting to die in the third year of ninja school at the age of eight.

As for the latter, Kana showed no embarrassment whatsoever.

She used a knife to peel a continuous strip of apple peel, then stuffed the whole piece of fruit into her mouth. After swallowing a bite, she seemed to remember something and added to the person in the hospital bed, "You can't eat it yet."

Having just awakened his Sharingan and survived a fierce battle before being brought back by support troops, Itachi Uchiha sat on his hospital bed, leaning against a pile of pillows. He said tolerantly to the person who had stolen his gifts, "It's alright."

What did the doctor say?

"The external injury isn't serious; there will be another check-up later." He was brought back by the support troops and, according to regulations, sent to the hospital for treatment. In order to prevent the secret of the Sharingan from being leaked, the Uchiha clan's father would not agree to let a medical ninja examine his eyes; this was an unwritten agreement reached with the village.

"Why are you here?" She arrived almost as soon as he was taken to the hospital.

“I know some people here,” after all, her father had risked his life to save her back then, so it wouldn’t be difficult to build a good relationship with them. She told them her name beforehand and asked them to let her know if there was any news. “As a partner, I should know about you a little earlier than others, right?”

She wiped her hands clean, but just as she was about to touch his eyes, he avoided her.

People who have participated in two years of missions are different, look at the conditioned reflexes they've developed in the midst of sword fights.

The person who moved subconsciously clearly realized something, reducing the distance they had just created to zero, and the skin on their cheek directly touched her fingertips.

Kana withdrew her hand and pointed to her cheekbone to indicate, "You have an injury here."

Because treatment consumes a huge amount of chakra, medical ninjas don't usually waste their energy on such "low-cost-effective" minor injuries. They usually just apply some medicine and bandage it up, leaving it to the body's own recovery. Otherwise, so many people wouldn't have scars on their bodies.

For Kana, although it would require her to waste much more chakra than others at her current level of expertise, her range of patients is too narrow, so it depends on whether she is willing to do so.

Chakra flickered at her fingertips, like delicate fireflies, reflected in her blooming white eyes. Her strength lay in promptly correcting her mistakes; this time, she sought the other person's opinion beforehand, "Want to give it a try?"

When the attending physician returned to the ward after finishing with the more seriously injured patients, the knife wounds on the patient's face and the broken arm had already healed.

Apart from the unexplained bloodline limit, there were no other abnormalities after examination, and Itachi was approved for discharge.

The two were caught in the hospital corridor.

As we all know, the word "heard" can easily become distorted over time. Upon hearing that she had come to the hospital, Yuko rushed to the first floor, only to find out it was a false alarm and finally relax.

"Kana, is this your friend?" Yuko couldn't hide her excitement. She had never seen Kana interact with people her own age. She asked her school teachers and they said that Kana hardly ever talked to anyone in her class. But if she could come to the hospital to visit her, then she must be someone important to her.

Kana could guess Yuko's thought process with her knees. She was just about to correct her that they were just partners, not friends.

But the boy spoke first, his manners polite and his voice gentle, "Hello, Auntie. My name is Uchiha Itachi, and I'm Kana's friend."

Her emotions seemed off. Itachi noticed.

Walking side by side in the slightly chilly breeze, Itachi stopped. "Are you unhappy? Because I said we're friends."

Even though he didn't agree with some of his father's views and actions, at this time, Itachi Uchiha had a father, a mother, a younger brother, and Shisui, and he was very certain that he was loved.

His extraordinary life so far has been seen by many as a testament to the world's deep favor towards him.

In contrast, Kana, who lost both her parents at the age of three, fears losing more than gaining. She instinctively resists building close connections with others, so she prefers to use terms like "classmate" or "partner" to define boundaries, while rejecting descriptions like "friend" or "family" that are mixed with emotional value.

Shisui said that Kana might not know how to love someone.

They don't even really know how to love themselves.

The connection between a person and the world is actually formed by the connections between people, but she always seems to be very reluctant to get entangled with this world, because she is afraid that the red threads intertwined with fate will become obstacles to her leaving.

Kana did not turn around.

The dappled shadows of the trees cast a dark dividing line between them, just a few steps apart.

Her voice sounded a little troubled, "Isn't it because you guys define friendship too casually?"

The insects on the tree are spinning their cocoons, wrapping the fine, tough white silk layer by layer into a hard shell, occasionally letting out a few short cries to scare away other creatures that want to approach.

"Friends without blood ties are the family you choose for yourself."

"It's about having someone to share joy with, someone to share pain with, someone in whose presence you can let down your guard and put on a facade..."

"I can't leave without saying goodbye, I can't just abandon him. If I'm too tired, I'll talk to him. If I'm in trouble, I'll ask him for help. If I'm in pain, I'll ask him for company. And he will be steadfast and unwavering in his support..."

Kana turned her head to the side, the sunlight outlining her clear curves. Despite her gentle appearance, there was a sense of aloofness in her eyes. "I've always felt that if you can't do it, you shouldn't easily say things like 'let's be friends'."

She turned completely to face him, the brilliant sunlight slanting down behind her, partially obscuring her expression. Yet, Itachi Uchiha clearly recognized that smile. "That was a very cruel lie."

The above is Kana's official response to the outside world.

What I was actually saying to the system was: "This is so troublesome, making friends is so troublesome. People in this world have a huge problem with their sense of contract, I'm not going to be friends with them."

The system is now more concerned about whether she can complete her tasks than whether she makes friends, and whether it will be demoted to a background computing tool for other systems due to failing the assessment—what hope would such a system have?

"Hinata Hinata will be three years old in a little over a month. How do you plan to complete the second task?"

Has anyone succeeded?

The 67th mission taker slaughtered all the main families and escaped successfully, but indirectly caused the death of the mission target, so the mission naturally failed. Moreover, Konoha had already issued the highest level of arrest warrant for him, who was seriously injured. Even if he did not commit suicide, his survival probability was not optimistic according to calculations.

As for Number 87, he's a madman. Even Madara Uchiha is better than him. He almost destroyed the entire world and used up most of his energy to repair the world line. So when analyzing the success rate, he was in such a hurry that he just pulled the one with the highest value in the Naihe Bridge team without deeply considering the personal wishes of Tasker Number 100. Now, he gets criticized by Taskers from time to time for this.

The experience gained from the only two mission participants who avoided the caged bird and survived is not worth considering.

So it is... "No".

"You should be used to it by now, one more person won't make a difference." Kana and the system's current situation is like that of an emperor and his anxious chief eunuch. "Besides, as long as the final mission can be completed, that's all that matters."

System: ...I already said that if the Caged Bird Seal is carved, the failure rate of the mission will increase by 60%. The mission taker is clearly someone who can memorize laws, so why isn't this memory being used for good? Moreover, according to its judgment, if the mission taker fails the second decomposition mission and is marked with the curse, if the main family dares to use the Caged Bird Seal to threaten the mission taker even once, and she discovers that the pain level is higher than the expected throat-slitting, there is a greater than 70% chance that she will choose to end her own life and reincarnate directly.

"The second decomposition task is extremely difficult, but there will be three generous rewards upon completion." The rewards are also tiered, making this task worthwhile.

Originally, the rewards for completing the tasks were randomly drawn by the participants based on their luck, but the system, in order to achieve final victory, didn't mind making a few small adjustments: "One of them is pain shielding."

Kana, who was fiddling with the rope hanging on her flute, paused when she heard this. "Haven't I received the reward for reaching 25% affection with Hyuga Neji yet?"

System: ...Let's get down to business! Did you suddenly jump to this topic?

"The reward pool has been opened for the task participants. Please draw a reward..."

"No, I remember a system told me two years ago: if you want to improve your illusion skills, you can try to increase the favorability of the mission targets and get stage rewards." Although Kana is a lazy bum who says "I'm annoyed, let's just lie down", the sense of superiority brought by her habit of being number one in her previous life is still there. She doesn't care what outsiders think, but she knows the actual situation. The Sharingan that is like cheating with the fan still stimulates her competitive spirit.

"...You have a great memory."

"But if it's just illusion ability, it's not worth the cost." Now it's connected to the mission taker, and it even needs the mission to be completed more than she does, so it will analyze it for her.

"No matter how powerful the genjutsu ability is after being enhanced by the system, it can never surpass the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan and the 'transformation of illusion into reality' of the Kurama clan."

There's a saying in my hometown: "I'd rather fight for my pride than for steamed buns." Besides, I hate people who break their promises.

System: This is a blatant threat.

"You will soon receive a phased reward for your increased favorability..."