On the streets of Konoha, Ino walked briskly in her high heels, her expression calm.
Suddenly, a gentle female voice sounded from behind her:
"Ino? Are you heading home already?"
Hearing the gentle voice, Ino's expression froze for a moment.
Then, she took a deep breath, forced a smile onto her face, and turned around slowly, greeting the woman naturally:
"Oh, yes, Hinata."
"I was just walking around for a bit, but then I remembered I had something to take care of at home..."
Hinata Hyuga—no, she should be called Hinata Uzumaki now—stood there with her long, light blue hair cascading down her back like a waterfall, her bangs neatly cut across her forehead. She exuded the gentle aura of a married woman.
She tilted her head slightly, blinking her pale white eyes, her tone carrying a hint of regret:
"Is that so?"
"I was hoping we could go shopping together."
Ino waved her hand lightly, smiling as she replied:
"Let's do it another day!"
"I really have something urgent right now, so I can't chat..."
After saying that, Ino turned and hurried away, her heels clicking rapidly on the pavement.
Only after turning the corner did Ino breathe a sigh of relief, carefully touching the forehead protector hidden in her bosom.
Thank goodness Hinata hadn't activated her Byakugan, or he would have been exposed.
But then again, who would activate their Byakugan for no reason while casually shopping?
Hinata stood rooted to the spot, blinking in confusion.
Ino seems a little off today.
Hinata pondered for a moment but couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.
Then, a self-deprecating smile appeared on her face.
I guess I've been lonely for too long. Everyone seems strange to me.
Unaware that her son, Boruto, was currently hospitalized with severe injuries, Hinata turned and walked gracefully in another direction.
Half an hour later.
Ino arrived home without further incident.
The moment she stepped inside, she locked the door behind her. Clutching her household medical kit tightly, she rushed to a guest room that had been unused for a long time.
After locking the guest room door, Ino carefully took the forehead protector from her clothes and placed it gently on the bed.
As soon as the metal touched the mattress, there was a soft poof, and a blood-soaked man appeared on the bed.
Rasa lay there, opening his eyes with difficulty as he watched Ino nervously tend to his wounds.
Ino skillfully cleaned and bandaged his injuries.
Then, she placed her slender, porcelain-white hands gently on Rasa's abdomen and began channeling Medical Ninjutsu.
As she healed him, she spoke angrily:
"Which bastard did this to you?"
"If an ordinary person—or even a regular ninja—had taken damage like this, they would be dead already!"
Having fallen under Rasa's Genjutsu, Ino retained all her memories and cognition, but she now regarded Rasa as the person closest to her heart.
Rasa closed his eyes slightly. Under Ino's healing touch, his weak voice began to regain some vitality.
"The guy who did this to me is already dead."
After saying this, Rasa opened his system interface. It took him a minute to find Ino's profile.
Sure enough, Ino's Favorability was only at 3 points.
Affection gained through hypnotic Genjutsu didn't count as true favorability.
Therefore, her real feeling toward him was negligible.
Rasa spent ten High-Grade Favorability Fruits, successfully raising Ino's Favorability to 73.
Then, he used a High-Grade Favorability Doubling Fruit, instantly boosting it to 146.
After doing this, Rasa decisively released the Genjutsu on Ino.
Because Genjutsu—aside from Kotoamatsukami—was never truly permanent.
Even a technique cast by his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan wasn't unbreakable.
Especially in a place like Konoha, where Byakugan users were everywhere.
As for why he hadn't used the Favorability method from the start?
The situation had been too critical. Rasa hadn't wanted to waste two or three minutes navigating the system menu to control Ino.
Who knew what Ino might have done in that time?
Or if someone else would have been drawn by the scent of blood?
After the Genjutsu was lifted, Ino blinked softly. She looked at Rasa for a few moments, then continued to heal him with unwavering focus and dedication.
Minutes passed.
Rasa frowned slightly and whispered:
"Too slow."
Ino, bent over with her slender waist curved as she focused on Rasa's abdomen, looked up in confusion.
"Too slow? Your recovery speed is actually incredibly fast."
"In just a few minutes, you've healed as much as a normal ninja would in four or five days."
While speaking, the white glow from her hands never ceased.
Rasa shook his head but said nothing more.
For a normal ninja, or even a Taijutsu specialist, this speed was indeed miraculous.
But for him, whose body had been strengthened to a terrifying degree, this was painfully slow.
Furthermore, his Chakra recovery rate was sluggish, crawling like a tortoise.
It was barely faster than it had been in the world of Manyū Hiken-chō.
This was highly abnormal.
It felt as if this world were doing its utmost to reject him...
Rasa tried to sense his spatial coordinates.
He found that he couldn't detect the markers he had buried in the other two worlds.
Rasa shook his head, not particularly surprised.
After all, this was just one of countless parallel Ninja Worlds.
The description of the spatial markers never stated they could function across parallel dimensions.
But this meant that returning to his own world would require finding another way.
Minutes later.
Ino slowly withdrew her hands. She elegantly picked up a nearby towel and dabbed the fine sweat from her forehead.
After wiping her face, she looked at Rasa with a gentle smile, about to speak.
But then she saw something. Her pupils shrank violently, and a look of horror crossed her face.
"Your shadow... it's shrinking!"
Hearing this, Rasa looked down at his shadow cast by the sunlight.
Sure enough, at the head of his shadow, a gap roughly the size of a finger had appeared.
Seeing this gap, Rasa's internal theory was confirmed.
He smiled bitterly and comforted Ino softly:
"It's fine. I know what's happening."
It was obvious.
In this timeline of the Boruto world, he was an outsider with no identity.
Therefore, the world was instinctively rejecting him.
Thinking about it this way.
If he hadn't inexplicably replaced the Fourth Kazekage at the very beginning in his original world, he would have likely disappeared very quickly there too.
Rasa's eyes darted around, and he extended his hand.
"By the way, let me introduce myself formally. I am Rasa."
Hearing this, Ino managed to suppress the panic on her face. She extended her beautiful hand and shook his.
"Ino."
After the formal introduction.
Rasa glanced at his shadow. He noticed that the thumb-sized gap at the head had shrunk to half the size of a thumb.
Rasa nodded thoughtfully. So that's how it is.
It seemed that to survive temporarily in this world, he needed a formal identity recognized by the public.
Thinking it over, perhaps Sasuke's identity would be suitable?
After all, Sasuke had already died in his original world.
However, based on this timeline, Eida shouldn't have arrived in Konoha yet.