Hikari Uchiha in Animeverse

"No need." 

Eriyi raised her little notebook, her expression dead serious. "My family doesn't really like me wandering around. If they saw Hikari, it might cause trouble for Hikari." 

"…Alright, then." 

Uchiha Hikari didn't push further. "If anything comes up, just say so in the group chat. If there's danger, I can be there in a flash." 

"Mm." 

With a firm nod, Eriyi waved her hand, then vanished in a burst of white light right in front of Uchiha Hikari. 

[Little Monster has left the Nameless World] 

Uchiha Hikari stretched lazily, chatting with Eriyi, Bulma, and the others in the group while summoning the Kinto'un. Time to swing by Karin Tower and check in on Nekosennin. 

… 

Dragon Clan World 

Inside a wooden room within the Genji Heavy Industries building. 

Eriyi lay quietly on a hospital bed, hooked up to a filtration machine. As the filtered blood flowed into her body, the dark, ashen veins snaking across her skin began to fade, and her complexion slowly returned to its porcelain-like glow. 

"When will she wake up?" 

Minamoto Chisei, sitting by the bed, asked. 

"About six or seven hours. Once the sedative wears off, Uesugi-sama will wake up," the head of the medical team replied. 

Minamoto Chisei lingered a bit longer before silently getting up and stepping outside. 

There, Tachibana Masamune sat on the tatami, holding a notebook filled with writing, looking utterly baffled. 

"Konoha Village, ninja, the Uchiha clan… what's all this mean?" 

"Is there even a family in Japan with that surname?" 

As the two big shots puzzled over it, the medical team leader coughed and chimed in. "Patriarch, Young Master, the names Miss Eriyi wrote down seem to come from an anime… It's a super popular manga from the last few years called Naruto, still running in JUMP. Miss Eriyi's been watching its anime recently." 

"?" 

With Tachibana Masamune's permission, the medical team leader opened a laptop, pulled up the Naruto streaming page, and slid the screen over. 

A brief silence followed. 

"…Chisei, what do you think?" 

"…" 

Minamoto Chisei paused, then spoke uncertainly. "Could be a lie the other side cooked up, or some kind of hypnosis tech, messing with Eriyi's sense of reality, making her think she spent the last few days in an anime world… But why this series? Crow, who's the author of this manga?" 

Crow whipped out his phone and started searching. "Some guy named Kishimoto Masashi, lives in Tokyo… Should we grab him for a chat?" 

"…Go for it." 

Minamoto Chisei nodded. "Just keep it polite. We don't know if he's tied to this kidnapping yet." 

"Got it." 

Crow sprang into action on the order. 

Minamoto Chisei's gaze shifted to a wooden carving nearby, his brow furrowing. "And what's this?" 

"It's something Miss Eriyi was holding when she returned. She was gripping it tight. It took a lot of effort to pry it loose after she fell asleep," the medical team leader explained. "The base of the carving has 'Eriyi no Hikari' written on it." 

"Hikari? Who's that? Is there a character like that in Naruto?" 

"Nope." 

After confirming with the medical team leader, Tachibana Masamune spoke slowly. "Looks like that might be the kidnapper's name. Someone who can whisk Eriyi away without a sound and bring her back without us noticing… their kotodama is likely stealth-based. And their bloodline purity? Probably on par with yours." 

It was unthinkable— 

As the Amaterasu of the Sheqi Bajia, a super hybrid with royal blood, Minamoto Chisei's bloodline purity was already off the charts. Yet even he hadn't noticed when or how Eriyi was brought back. Someone capable of pulling that off… 

Could they even be called human? 

"Since they returned Eriyi, it suggests they don't intend to make an enemy of the Sheqi Bajia… for now. But we can't rule out some ulterior motive." 

"Either way, this location isn't safe anymore. To prevent another incident, we need to set up a new safehouse and move Eriyi there," Minamoto Chisei said. 

Tachibana Masamune nodded. "Alright, Chisei, you handle the arrangements. I'll stay here and wait for Eriyi to wake up." 

… 

[Nameless@LittleMonster: Eriyi, you awake? Your family didn't give you a hard time, did they?] 

[LittleMonster: Nope. I just saw Onii-chan and told them about going to Konoha, but they didn't seem to believe me… Onii-chan says we're moving somewhere else, and I've got another serum injection later.] 

[Nameless: You don't need a blood wash, do you?] 

[Bulma: Blood wash?] 

[Nameless: It's like draining all the blood from your body and replacing it with new blood. It's a medical thing in Eriyi's world to stabilize her condition.] 

[Bulma: What?! Can people even survive that?!] 

Uchiha Hikari thought, Who the heck knows? 

Say what you will about the Dragon Clan world, but those high-tier hybrids had some downright ridiculous vitality. Chu Zihang, with a bloodline barely hitting A-rank, could endure half an hour of total blood loss and still live. Eriyi's bloodline was probably super S-rank—she could likely handle forty minutes, no problem… maybe. Her bloodline's tainted, though, so it's not pure. 

As Uchiha Hikari and Bulma chatted, Eriyi sent a few more messages. 

[LittleMonster: They all left. I'm alone in the room now. Hikari, can I come back to your side again?] 

[Nameless: Hold off for now. Focus on resting and recovering at home. We'll talk about it later. Or when I've got some free time, I can swing by with Bulma and the others to visit you.] 

[LittleMonster: …Okay. I'm gonna nap then. Feeling super sleepy.] 

[Nameless: Oh, besides your brother, did you see Tachibana Masamune earlier?] 

[LittleMonster: Masamune-san? He left with Onii-chan earlier… Wait, I think he's back?] 

… 

In the clean, spacious hospital room. 

Eriyi, dressed in thin pajamas, clutched the wooden carving while lying in bed, her eyelids drooping involuntarily. 

The serum she'd just been injected with had a hefty dose of sedatives, and their effects were kicking in, sending waves of drowsiness through her. The wall clock pointed to 11 p.m., the dead of night when everything was quiet, and even the medical team outside had settled down, not a peep to be heard. 

Some time passed—how long, who knows? 

A faint breeze seemed to stir as the room's door silently opened and closed. 

Someone had entered. 

It was Tachibana Masamune. 

He quietly sat by the bed, looking at Eriyi. "Eriyi, who was the person who took you?" 

"Mmm…" 

Half-asleep, Eriyi stirred, taking a few sluggish seconds to react. She grabbed the notebook beside her, scribbled "Uchiha Hikari," and held it up. 

"I mean their real identity!" 

Tachibana Masamune's brow furrowed, and he suddenly grabbed Eriyi's wrist, his tone turning sharp. "Don't play dumb or try to brush me off with some random anime character. I know you know them. Write down everything you know—now!" 

In that moment, the kindly old face Tachibana Masamune usually wore twisted into something cold and menacing, like an oni under the dim moonlight, enough to make anyone's skin crawl. 

"…?!" 

Eriyi flinched, her face a mix of confusion and fear. 

Just then… 

A hand reached out from the other side of the bed, clamping down on the wrist Tachibana Masamune was using to grab Eriyi. 

As if out of nowhere, a petite figure appeared in the room, speaking in a soft, icy voice. "Excuse me, are you looking for me?" 

"Who?!" 

Tachibana Masamune's eyes widened as he snapped his head up. 

What met his gaze was a pale, striking face, its calm eyes burning with a mesmerizing flame!