Konoha: The thirty-year-old Uchiha lacks motivation.

Chapter 178 I'm standing right in front of you, how much do I resemble my former self?

"Hehehehe."

Otsutsuki Hikari walked out of the clan chief's castle with a silly grin. Her cheerful mood made her steps light and quick, as if she had returned to her youthful days.

Back then, I was the most beautiful woman in the clan, and my figure hadn't yet gone out of shape due to psychological reasons.

Humming a cheerful tune, as she hopped and skipped, the floating castle seemed to tremble, with sand and dust falling from the walls.

Inside the castle.

The magnificent crystal chandelier, affected by the unknown earthquake, began to sway from side to side, and the accumulated dust on it slowly drifted down, about to land on Tsukihime Otsutsuki's long, smooth, white hair.

"Bang!"

A bluish-green light erupted from Tsukihime Otsutsuki's body, like a cloak, repelling the dust that was about to fall from her head. Knowing who the instigator was, she was not angry; instead, the corners of her mouth slightly curled up, and a trace of nostalgia flashed in her pure white eyes.

"Is it Biluo again? It's been a long time since I've seen her in such a good mood. She never used to cause such a commotion."

In her memory, a voluptuous and charming figure appeared, her every glance and smile brimming with endless allure, her every move captivating countless men.

Who could have imagined that Otsutsuki Hakuro, who was once popular with countless young men, would turn out like this?

"Never mind, let her be."

Otsutsuki Tsukihime rarely showed a smile, but a cool breeze swept by, making her feel a chill between her legs. Her expression shifted to one of annoyance, her teeth clenched as she silently cursed inwardly.

Hmph! If that thief dares to come again tonight, I'll teach him a lesson!

the other side.

"Hey, what do they do there?"

Soaring through the sky, Uchiha Gin pointed to a floating island resembling a temple above him, his eyes gleaming with barely suppressed curiosity.

"Ding ding ding Mr. Yin, are you asking me something?"

The black puppet, clearly caught off guard, its yellow eyes devoid of emotion, didn't directly answer Uchiha Gin's question. Instead, it posed its own question.

"Do you think it sounds bad?"

"I can analyze the emotions in a person's words. Mr. Yin, your tone just now clearly contained sarcasm and disrespect."

For the first time, the black puppet engaged in a conversation with Uchiha Gin about its own problems. This level of thinking, which surpassed that of ordinary puppets, secretly astonished him, a human being.

This is outrageous! The Ninja World: The Rise of AlphaGo?

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have joked like that."

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Gin scratched his curly hair, looking apologetic. Whether it was genuine or not was unclear, but an apology was the right thing to do.

"That place was once the place of worship for the servants of the Otsutsuki clan."

Seeing that Uchiha Gin apologized, the black puppet didn't pursue the matter further and turned to explain the temple he had just asked about.

"The treasures of the Otsutsuki clan are enshrined inside, but the real ones are not here; they are just replicas."

"Can we go take a look?"

"Can."

The black puppet raised its hands, and the airship accelerated instantly, arriving at the entrance of the dilapidated temple in the blink of an eye.

Looking at the dilapidated temple, Uchiha Gin couldn't help but sigh at the importance of population. The Otsutsuki clan was now dwindling in number, with no servants left, and they could only rely on figurines to take care of their daily needs.

As you slowly walk into the store, on the high platform at the far end, there is a huge stone ball with the patterns carved on it, which are the Tenseigan patterns from the movie. Judging from the size, it should be a Tenseigan figure made in 1:1 scale by the branch family, placed here for people to worship and spread their glorious past.

Unfortunately, time eventually erases all traces, just like this dilapidated temple, which has been forgotten in an inconspicuous corner.

"Didi didi"

A piercing beeping sound interrupted Uchiha Gin's thoughts. The black puppet seemed to be receiving some message; its yellow eyes flickered with the sound. When the sound disappeared, the puppet's eyes regained their color. It turned its head and spoke to Uchiha Gin in an unyielding tone.

"Mr. Yin, it's getting late, I should be heading back now."

"Alright, we've done enough sightseeing, it's time for lunch."

Uchiha Gin calculated the time with his fingers, then touched his somewhat empty stomach and nodded in agreement.

One person and one aircraft walked out of the temple, boarded the airship, and left the desolate temple.

At this moment, the artificial sun precisely changed according to the set time, from the dazzling heat of daytime to the orange-red of dusk. The airship passed through the sun and finally landed steadily at the entrance of the palace of Otsutsuki Hikari.

Following the black puppet into the palace, the incredibly efficient little children had already brought out the cooked food. Uchiha Gin didn't stand on ceremony and immediately began to devour it.

After a hearty meal and drinks, two kimono-clad maid puppets carried a bewildered Uchiha Gin to a steaming palace. Looking at the bath in the center, which emitted a faint sulfurous smell, he couldn't fathom why any kind soul would dig a hot spring in their own home.

"Lord Yin, please take a bath and change your clothes."

The two maids' "CPUs" were clearly inferior to the black puppet's; they could only execute rigid commands. Without a word, they began tearing off Uchiha Gin's clothes, causing him to retreat in fear.

"You guys can leave, I can handle this myself!"

Uchiha Gin, clutching his collar, looked terrified. Although the other party was a puppet, its exquisite features were indistinguishable from a real person's. He, on the other hand, was the type who couldn't take off his clothes in front of strangers.

"Lord Yin, please take a bath and change your clothes."

However, the other party's actions were not changed by Uchiha Gin's words. Four strong little hands gripped his clothes tightly, determined to wash him clean.

Tsk! How could I forget to ask my second great-uncle for the puppet control technique last time? I was so busy listening to him brag that I forgot about this important matter.

Seeing his chastity threatened, Uchiha Gin had no choice but to prepare to violently protect his secret garden. His black pupils began to change color, and a chilling power slowly emanated from them. He prepared to activate Old Deng's Mangekyou Sharingan to make the two puppets disappear. Anyway, there were so many in the palace; losing one or two shouldn't be noticed, right?

"Huh? What's going on?"

Just as one of Uchiha Gin's eyes transformed into an equilateral triangle, he suddenly felt a slight fetal movement within it. Then, a very familiar aura guided him, and the source of that aura was within the earth's crust beneath his feet.

"Phew~"

Although he didn't sense any malice from that aura, the ever-cautious Uchiha Gin, adhering to the principle of "better safe than sorry," severed his connection with it, and the equilateral triangle in his eyes slowly disappeared.

"There's no other way, let's try something else."

Since he couldn't use the Shadow Realm to conceal the two puppets, Uchiha Gin had no choice but to activate his mutated Byakugan, trying to find a switch on the puppets to force them to shut down.

"Hey! What's this mark?"

With his Byakugan activated, Uchiha Gin looked the two kimono-clad puppets up and down, who appeared no different from ordinary people. When his vision, which was maximized, "accidentally" swept across their chests, he was not attracted by their fair skin, but rather by the moon mark branded on their chests.

This mark seems to be visible only when the Byakugan is activated. I didn't notice it when I used my Sharingan earlier. It seems that this is a switch that the Otsutsuki clan set on the puppet.

Driven by a research-oriented mindset, Uchiha Gin slowly extended the power of his Byakugan into the mark. After searching for a while, he discovered a familiar aura within it—the chakra of Otsutsuki Hikari.

He tried to erase the mark left by Otsutsuki Hikari with his eye power, but he didn't expect that the chakra left by the other party was very fragile. It dissipated instantly when he touched it lightly. The yellow eyes of the two puppets also dimmed, and the movements of his hands stopped instantly, as if the battery had run out.

"As expected, the Otsutsuki clan uses this method to control puppets."

Looking at the two powerless puppets, Uchiha Gin pondered for a moment, then attempted to channel his chakra into the kimono-clad maid's body using his eye power.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I entered, the mark on my chest was activated again, but this time, the chakra inside had turned into the shape of Uchiha Silver.

"Master, what are your orders?" *2

The two maids, no longer stiff, now had a look in their yellow eyes similar to that of the black puppets, showing more of the liveliness of advanced AI than before.

"Squat down."

Uchiha Gin tried giving orders to the two maid puppets, but to his surprise, they did so without any hesitation.

"Reach out your hand~"

Do as instructed.

"Lie down~"

Do as instructed.

"Rub my belly!"

"."

"Hehe, I was just kidding."

Uchiha Gin chuckled awkwardly, glancing at the two wary puppets, and tried to make light of the situation.

"Master, please abide by the three principles of puppetry."

The maid puppet, clutching her lower abdomen, coldly admonished Uchiha Gin of the principles he should adhere to, her eyes devoid of any emotion.

"Seriously, I already said I was just kidding. You two are even less open than the pink mini-fridge."

Unexpectedly being lectured by his own puppet, Uchiha Gin complained with a long face.

"Alright, alright, you guys go down first, I'll wash myself."

He waved his hand, ordering the two puppets to go out and wait. After they left, Uchiha Gin stripped himself completely naked and comfortably soaked in the hot spring. Smelling the faint sulfurous smell around him, this was the moment of true relaxation.

I remember the last time I went to the hot springs...

Uchiha Gin's face turned green instantly, almost recalling his sealed memories. He quickly reached out and erased those memories, focusing his gaze on the spacious hot spring palace. His eyes were drawn to the framed paintings on the walls, and his gaze was drawn to the one in the very center.

"Tsk! This girl is alright, I wonder which company she works for."

Uchiha Gin's exceptional dynamic vision was immediately captivated by the beautiful woman in the painting after just one glance, and he couldn't help but look at her a few more times.

The woman in the painting has long, slightly wavy white hair, and her captivating peach blossom eyes are full and alluring. Her plump red lips seem to possess a certain magic, making people unable to resist their longing. There is also a beautiful black mole at the corner of her mouth, which adds a touch of mature charm to her and makes her less girlish.

"Huh? There's a signature. Let me see. It's a gift to Otsutsuki Aoi."

With his sharp eyes, he noticed a signature in the lower right corner of the painting. Out of curiosity, Uchiha Gin used his dynamic vision to look at it and saw a blurry piece of small writing that read, "Presented to Otsutsuki Aoi."

Although the last word had been deliberately erased, Uchiha Gin could still guess the answer from the preceding words alone.

Hmph, it must be that Bo Gang's sister. I never imagined that the Ōtsutsuki Hikari, with that kind of appearance, would have such a beautiful and charming sister.

I'm definitely going to befriend this sister-in-law!

Aside from the painting of the beautiful woman, nothing else could attract Uchiha Gin, so he closed his eyes and began to relax and enjoy this hard-won hot spring.

After all, he already had some PTSD about hot springs after what happened last time.

"Huh, why have two of the puppets gone missing?"

Inside the palace chamber, Otsutsuki Heiroku, reviewing the personnel list, had a look of confusion in his small, white eyes, which then returned to normal as he muttered to himself,

"Perhaps over time, the chakra supply was interrupted."

With that thought in mind, she stopped worrying and continued listing the 66 people one by one.

"Yes, the clan leader is definitely number one. Look how anxious she is! Tonight, we'll put a clean and fresh Ah Yin in her bed."

Recalling how impatient Tsukihime was during the day, Otsutsuki Hikari smiled understandingly. What young girl doesn't have feelings of first love? The clan leader is also at this age, so it's normal for him to be a little impatient.

I was the same way back then, except I was deceived in my feelings and started to distrust men.

"I'm definitely second. Even if we're talking about seniority, if I claim third, who dares to claim second?"

With a cheerful smile, she solidified her second-place position once again. A previously hidden black mole on the corner of her upturned lips became particularly noticeable under the light.

Hehehe

Meanwhile, deep within the lunar crust, a long-dormant figure slowly opened its eyes, sensing that its presence had been unilaterally severed. Disappointment filled the figure's white eyes.

The figure was bound by countless chains in a circular space, and above its head was a barely perceptible crack.

A sliver of light slowly shone down, illuminating the figure's face and revealing a stunningly beautiful countenance. However, her delicate brows were slightly furrowed, her two lovely eyebrows tightly knitted together, giving her a tearful expression that evoked pity in the viewer.

"Hagoromo, you're here now, why are you hiding from me!"

Through the gap above her head, she finally sensed her eldest son's presence once more, but her lips trembled with disappointment, her white eyes filled with confusion.

Fortunately, after several attempts, she finally managed to send out a wisp of her spiritual energy, beginning to track the aura that Yu Yi had shown twice before.

This time, she's determined to teach that rebellious son a lesson!

Once the scent had dissipated, a hint of pleasure flashed in the white eyes, followed by a glint of greenish-blue light. Only then did a slight smile appear on the corners of his mouth.

As for that silly kid Hamura, he's already been dealt with.

Sorry, I was working as a staff member at the college entrance exam site today, so I was delayed. I promise it won't happen again (probably).

(End of this chapter)