I, Uchiha Hikaru, have joined the chat group.

Chapter 248 Nakime and the Infinity Castle

The next morning.

Uchiha Hikaru woke up early, washed up, ate breakfast, and then accepted Karin and Kimimaro's invitation to go to the nearby training ground to watch them perform ninjutsu.

These two little guys already had good talent for cultivation.

Especially Kimimaro.

He was two years older than Karin and had a certain foundation in taijutsu. When he was imprisoned in the dungeon by the Kaguya clan, he was already close to the level of a Chunin. Now, after coming to the Sound Village and receiving Orochimaru's small-class instruction for several months, he has made remarkable progress.

"Xiao Ai, what do you think?"

Uchiha Hikaru turned her head and glanced at the military princess beside her.

"……good."

Esdeath crossed her arms and casually replied, "While our strength is a bit lacking and our movements aren't quite as crisp, for our age... we're still passable. Together, we could probably hunt down an ordinary dangerous species."

"Forehead……"

So, is the standard for judging whether something is feasible to hunt dangerous species?

That makes sense.

It's important to know that when Esdeath was only a teenager, she had already single-handedly hunted down most of the dangerous and even super-dangerous species in the northern border region of the Empire. At the same age, let alone Karin and Kimimaro, even Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha would likely be no match for her.

the other side.

After Karin and Kimimaro finished their sparring session, Karin returned, panting, and looked up at Uchiha Hikaru with anticipation: "Hikaru-neechan, how was it?"

"Hmm, not bad."

Uchiha Hikaru bent down, praised him gently, corrected a few bad habits, and then looked at Kimimaro—after the drill just now, the little boy's upper body clothes had a lot of holes poked by bone spikes, as if they had become a trendy see-through outfit, and he wondered how many more times he could wear them.

Hmm... I might consider making him a soft armor using the fur of the East Sea Cloud Dragon. Otherwise, using the Corpse Bone Vein technique every time will cause his clothes to tear, which is not only unsightly but also wasteful.

"By the way, has Orochimaru treated you recently, Kimimaro?"

"some."

Kimimaro immediately nodded in agreement, her tone very obedient: "Every two weeks, the teacher arranges for me to have a full physical examination. When he's not around, Nono-neechan takes over... She also prescribed some medicine for me to take every day."

"Oh, what kind of medicine is it?"

"Green ginger, white atractylodes, red flame flower, and cold-weather grass..."

"?"

What are all these?

Seeing Uchiha Hikaru's puzzled expression, Karin immediately spoke up to explain that these were all medicinal herbs related to bone development. Some of these herbs had been used by the Kaguya clan since the Warring States period. Orochimaru obtained the prescription through private channels and made some improvements by adding or subtracting herbs from it.

In addition, Orochimaru is currently attempting to utilize the active substances within the cells of "Demons" and "Dragon Kings" to enhance Kimimaro's self-healing abilities, thereby resolving the bloodline disease of the Shikotsumyaku (Shikotsumyaku) technique. However, this research is still in its early stages and requires extensive experimental verification before it can be tested on Kimimaro.

"Understood."

Uchiha Hikaru nodded, planning to ask Orochimaru when he had time, compile the relevant information and give it to Dr. Gero. Conducting research on both sides simultaneously should improve efficiency.

But now...

Orochimaru is probably busy developing plans for clinical trials.

Therefore, Uchiha Hikaru did not intend to go and disturb them immediately. After encouraging Karin and Kimimaro for a few words, he took Esdeath and wandered around the vicinity of the village.

We walked through the long street.

They left the Village of Sound.

We followed a rugged path and arrived at a small hill a few kilometers away.

Here, Uchiha Hikaru stopped, found a clean rock to sit on, and stretched.

With this movement, the girl's soft waistline was fully displayed, and a small section of her fair and firm abs was revealed under her T-shirt, making it hard to look away.

"Which one to drink, Xiao Ai?"

Hikaru Uchiha took out juice and cola from the capsule and looked at Esdeath.

After the latter took the juice, she also unscrewed the tab of the cola, took a few sips while enjoying the cool mountain breeze, and then released Nakime from another sealing scroll.

"...Hikari-sama."

Nakime was still holding the biwa. After appearing, she roughly identified the things around her, and then bowed to Uchiha Hikaru.

"Um."

Uchiha took two more sips of cola, looking at the long-haired female ghost in front of him: "Let's see if your Infinite Castle works properly here."

"...Please wait a moment."

Nakime tried to pluck the strings.

next moment.

Her figure vanished into thin air in front of Uchiha Hikaru and Esdeath.

It reappeared seven or eight seconds later.

"Um?"

Esdeath's nonchalant expression vanished, replaced by a serious one: "Is this demon's ability a spatial ability similar to 'Shangri-La'? That seems rather interesting."

"really."

Compared to Esdeath, Uchiha Hikaru observed more carefully.

In her view, Nakime's movements when entering and leaving the Infinity Castle were slightly different from true teleportation. In other words, it required the action of "plucking the strings" before she could enter and exit. The pre-movement time was approximately a fraction of a second.

For most people, this timeframe is negligible. Even if they see it, they won't have time to react.

However, if it is a highly skilled individual with exceptional eyesight and reflexes, it is possible to kill Nakime the moment she enters or leaves the Infinity Castle.

Of course, not many people can do that.

Furthermore, Nakime's disappearance and reappearance locations can be different; theoretically, she could even teleport herself dozens of miles away. If she had the shameless personality of Muzan, she would have gone into hiding after entering the Infinity Castle and reappeared decades later, making it very difficult for Uchiha Hikaru to find her.

The "Eight Thousand Spears" imprint cannot be established when the target is in another dimension.

"By the way, if we continue to feed Nakime Muzan's blood, could we further improve her Blood Demon Art?"

The thought flashed through Uchiha Hikaru's mind, but he said softly, "Take me inside and take a look."

"it is good."

Nakime nodded in agreement.

With the sound of the strings vibrating softly, her figure disappeared again, and then Uchiha Hikaru felt a blur before her eyes. When her vision returned, she found herself in a light brown space, with her feet on a checkered floor of the same color.

—An alternate dimension, an infinite city.

Uchiha Hikaru has seen this place many times in the anime.

But this was the first time I had come in in person.

As far as the eye can see.

Front, back, left, right, up, down… all directions seem to extend infinitely, against a pitch-black background, rows of wooden rooms are connected like building blocks. Some are fixed, while others move up and down, like elevators suspended in mid-air. The visual effect is somewhat breathtaking.

Uchiha Hikaru placed one hand on his forehead, gazed around for a while, and finally fixed his gaze on the floor not far away.

there.

Nakime knelt, holding her pipa, her head bowed and hands at ease, seemingly waiting for Nakime to give her the next instruction.

"Nakime, how big is this space?"

"……have no idea."

"what?"

A question mark slowly appeared on Uchiha Hikaru's forehead: "You don't even know about your own Blood Demon Art?"

"...because no measurements were taken."

"..."

After confirming that Nakime was not lying, Uchiha Hikaru formed hand seals and created seven or eight shadow clones. He then used the Flying Technique to take off and flew in eight different directions, intending to personally measure the scale of the "Infinity Castle".

Her true form remained in the room, stomped her foot on the floor, walked to the edge of the room, and looked down at her feet.

It was pitch black, like a bottomless abyss.

"I remember you seemed to be able to manipulate the layout of these rooms at will, right?"

"Yes."

This time, Nakime answered quickly: "This Infinite Castle was derived from me, so I can change the spatial structure here through my own understanding. However, I can only change existing things, not create them out of thin air."

"So, all the experimental equipment Muzan used was brought in from outside?"

"……Yes."

Nakime plucked the string again.

As the light and shadow shifted, Uchiha Hikaru saw the door to the next room close and open again, and the contents of the room changed in an instant, as if many tables, chairs, bookshelves, and experimental instruments such as measuring cups, test tubes, and balances had appeared out of thin air.

"This is the room where Lord Muzan once lived. Please take a look."

"That's what Nakime said."

Uchiha Hikaru went inside, glanced around, and then turned back after glancing at the names of the books on the bookshelf.

Muzan Kibutsuji was such a rotten person that even Hikaru Uchiha felt a bit uncomfortable staying in the room he lived in.

But...

Since Muzan was able to establish his laboratory here, Uchiha Hikaru could also turn this place into a secret base.

"Since you can change the structure of space, then creating a villa or even a castle out of thin air shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"This will be used as a bedroom, this side as a study, a game room, a movie theater..."

"We'll buy some sofas, wardrobes, game consoles, and stuff from outside, set it up a bit, and then it can be used as a base."

"Hmm... I wonder if the gravity training room can be moved in?"

Thinking this, Uchiha Hikaru asked about the restrictions on bringing things.

"this……"

Nakime thought for a moment, then spoke somewhat vaguely: "I'm not sure what the largest thing can be brought in is, because I only brought in some furniture and household items at Muzan-sama's request... But as long as the size and weight aren't too outrageous, it should be able to be teleported in and out."

"yes……"

Is a dragon from the East China Sea that is thousands of meters long an exaggeration?

If we're talking about that, what if it were a miniature bracelet that was shrunk a hundred times?

Uchiha Hikaru plans to conduct a few more experiments later.

then.

Uchiha Hikaru then asked about Nakime's ability to "create eyeballs".

According to the latter, those eyeballs were created using her flesh and blood as a medium, connected to her own optic nerve, and could be projected into and out of the Infinite City by plucking strings, just like other things, and then the images she saw would be transmitted back through her optic nerve.

As for the observation range...

During the Demon Slayer world, one can simultaneously observe the situation in a small part of the Kanto region, roughly a radius of several tens of miles.

In the original story, Nakime used this method to find the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters and the residences of most of the Demon Slayer Corps members. Although Kagaya Ubuyashiki's deliberate leak played a role in the former, finding these places in themselves proves Nakime's ability.

Theoretically, it's possible to observe from even greater distances, but there will be a certain delay, preventing the images from being transmitted back in time.

As for the transmission range, it is much farther, capable of precise delivery within a radius of hundreds of miles, but it is not very realistic to send people directly from Japan to China or even Europe.

—If you really want to send someone, you can try, but then Nakime won't be able to control where she drops them. It's like throwing someone out blindfolded; where they end up is entirely up to luck. If you throw them into a volcano, they might just be fed on lava on the spot.

"Is that so..."

Uchiha Hikaru made a rough estimate.

Although the main body of the Naruto world consists of only the five great nations, the area is still quite large. According to Nakime, the range that can be observed in real time is roughly equivalent to the entire Land of Rice Fields, while the range that can be precisely projected is equivalent to most of the Land of Fire.

"good."

After all, the energy level of the Demon Slayer world is what it is, and it is already extremely difficult to produce an exception like Nakime, so we cannot have too high expectations.

Say.

In terms of teleportation, Hikaru Uchiha already has "Shangri-La," so Nakime's teleportation is just icing on the cake. Her observational abilities are more useful, essentially a plus-sized version of "Kagura's Mind's Eye." Once the research on Muzan Kibutsuji's slices makes progress, it might even be possible to enhance her "Blood Demon Art," further expanding its reach.

present.

Uchiha Hikaru described his envisioned "villa-style castle" and then instructed Nakime to use her "Blood Demon Art" to create it.

Hmm... it feels a bit like playing "Minecraft", or like kids building blocks.

After nearly an hour of revisions, a small four-story castle finally took shape.

Then, Uchiha Hikaru took out some miscellaneous items that he wouldn't need for a while—such as the antiques and paintings he had obtained from Minister Ernest and the Red Ribbon Army that were difficult to value, as well as various comic books and audio-visual discs—from the capsule and placed them in the villa, thus clearing out his backpack.

This tidying up took some time.

At this time.

The shadow clones that had gone out to scout ahead have returned one after another.

(End of this chapter)