Journey of Desires

- You know what? I decided not to challenge you to a fight because I knew how much you disliked fighting and hated ninjas. But since you yourself suggested it...

The next moment, Ban moved at full speed towards his opponent, thanks to the Sharingan, she managed to see his movements, and thanks to the strengthening of Yachihoko, she easily kept up with him and was able to block a kick with her left foot in the side, but due to the force of the blow, she still flew to the side since she did not cling to the ground with her chakra.

Because Hikari was covered in a chakra aura, she did not receive damage, and when she landed on the ground, she herself moved towards Ban.

The result of these actions was an exchange of blows in close combat, but thanks to experience, slightly higher strength indicators and an advantage in height, Ban easily pushed back the Uchiha. The taijutsu fight lasted only a minute, but noticing the situation, Hikari decided to include techniques in the fight.

- Katon: Phoenix Flame Flowers

A multitude of small fireballs were aimed towards Ban, but none of them hit because the flight speed of a simple technique is too low to hit an enemy at Ban's speed, at that moment the man even had the thought that if Meliodas were in his place, he would simply pathetically use a full reflection and watch the shock on the enemy's face.

Hikari expected such a result and her Phoenix Flame technique was used only to drive Ban away from herself, and when she succeeded.

- Katon: Great Fire Destruction!

- Wow!

Ban no longer remembered that Hikari was capable of such a thing, the great fire destruction was an incredibly dangerous technique in terms of area, a huge wall of flame tens of meters wide and tens of meters high. He decided to avoid getting hit by such a technique by simply jumping high, he did not have the ability to move halfway through the ground and Hikari knew this.

But as soon as Ban was in the air, and fire was raging under his feet, he looked at Hikari and saw a rather impressive scene.

The black flames that had previously covered the tree began to gather in the form of a huge black Chinese dragon, and then after Hikari's cry, they headed towards Ban.

- Enton: Bukkaku Ryu!

This technique was invented by Kilia a week ago, when they were traveling through the land of rain, one day the conversation turned to Enton's techniques and what Hikari could do. As a result, realizing that the girl had a small supply of techniques, they decided to create at least a few new ones that might be needed someday.

The dragon headed straight for Ban and was already a few meters away from him. Hikari froze in anticipation of what would happen next, but when Ban disappeared into the dragon's mouth, it became clear that he had decided to simply take the blow and then recover. Gathering her thoughts and starting to look around the area to figure out what she could use next to trap Ban, she felt someone behind her.

- Hikari!

Summoning black flames around herself, she sent them in a dome shape in all directions around her, this technique was invented as an analogue of the Hyuga clan's kaiten. When the fire dissipated, she saw Ban with his pants still intact.

- Don't forget that I am a master of spatial magic. In a battle with someone else, this miscalculation could be the last in your life.

After these words, which Ban said with a serious face, the girl really understood the mistake and nodded in understanding. Ban, seeing that he was heard and taken into account, began to smile again, but this time the smile looked more like a grin.

- Now it's my turn. Theft: Physical Hunting!

Hikari at the same moment felt how the effectiveness of the enhancement from Yachihoko dropped sharply, and Ban became slightly larger in size and he clearly gained muscle. The girl had not seen this ability before and was not told about it, so she was quite surprised and fell into a stupor, only with the help of the sharingan she managed to notice that Ban was already in front of her face, it became clear that he was now much faster than before. The man was already ready to strike to deprive Hikari of consciousness, but she suddenly disappeared into the leaves. Shunshin in the Shisui style with the reaction speed of the Mangekyou Sharingan allowed her to dodge Ban even with such a difference in strength. Although now she cannot keep up with him physically in a normal fight, but using shunshin there is still a chance.

Such catch-ups, when Ban tried to catch up at full speed, sometimes using teleportation, and Hikari ran away with shunshin, periodically using fire elemental techniques, continued for several minutes, but when they found themselves next to a charred tree, Hikari struck the tree with all her might, destroying part of it, as a result, the bark, which turned into coal, scattered into black dust, blocking Ban's view but also interfering with the Uchiha. True, the advantage of the Sharingan allowed him to better see what was happening, as a result, Ban stopped and was about to use spatial magic to clear the battlefield, but received a black flame in the form of an arrow right in the face. Realizing that things were bad, he moved a hundred meters from the place where he had been before and took out the Kusanagi blade from his storage, immediately pointing it at the part of the head that had managed to be covered with amaterasu.

Hikari, realizing that her target had escaped the trap, climbed out of the dust curtain and found Ban, but all she saw was a completely intact Ban and a small clot of black flame lying half a meter from the man.

- I'm impressed, if I was against you before I got into purgatory, I would most likely lose. But not now.

Hikari was wary of his last words, but did nothing. She only calmly exhaled and then the aura of strengthening from Yachihoko disappeared and the Sharingan turned into her normal eyes.

- How did you know that my chakra reserves are on the edge?

- Banal logic. Not only did you turn half the forest into coals, use Yatihoko's enhancement, but you also constantly ran away with the help of Shunshin and were able to create a huge dragon from black flames, well, and I used theft, taking away half of your powers, if I hadn't done that, then perhaps you could have summoned a couple more black dragons or three or four fire annihilations. Considering your age, I'm surprised that your chakra was enough for what you did.

Raising his head towards the huge piece of coal that used to be Spruce, Ban took a deep breath and exhaled, then listened to himself and said.

- I feel better, thank you.

Realizing that everything should return to a more positive direction, Hikari also relaxed and smiled.

- It's a pity about the forest, of course, but what can you do. When we get back, we'll all work on developing techniques together, hmmm... We'll invite Hinata too, even such theoretical discussions will be useful for her. Oh, and by the way, you should also pick up a weapon, fists under reinforcement certainly hit hard, but even Madara and Escanor used weapons, and they are serious, dangerous guys, what about you? What weapon do you prefer? I can help with studying polearms, bladed weapons and bows, various sabers, katana nodati, spears, halberds, guan dao and naginata. And from bows, longbows and siege bows, hmmm, as we will be in the modern world, we will need to buy compound bows, they will obviously be quite useful, and if we can also reinforce them, mmm... it will be a real treat.

Under the stream of words and questions from Ban, who had restored her mood, Hikari was unable to get her bearings, but when she thought about his questions and was about to answer, they were interrupted.

- What are you doing? The black dragon was visible even from the city, all the residents who were heading here to find out what the problem was and put out the forest, seeing this kaiju from the ninja world, immediately turned around and ran back to the city.

All the remaining members of their team in the city came to the clearing that had become the site of the battle. Having said these words, Kiliya began to examine the surroundings, when she first appeared in the clearing, she assessed the condition of Ban and Hikari, realizing that there were no enemies and they were fighting among themselves.

Now she was examining the forest and trees around, everything that was in the direction of the great fiery destruction was now burning, the forest in the shape of a semicircle was covered with ordinary fire, all of Amaterasu had already been dispersed, and only the fire itself remained.

- Ban, change your clothes, I'll put out the fire for now and then we'll go back to the city.

Kilia used water magic, creating something like an artificial cloud that was only a few dozen meters higher than the trees, and these clouds began a very dense rain that put out the fire in a matter of minutes.

***

Ten minutes later, everyone was in the hotel room where they were staying, having discussed the situation as a whole, the girls understood why Hikari did this and what happened in general, having seen the result and Ban, who became much more cheerful, Naruko and Kilia nodded with satisfaction, and Hinata looked at Hikari with some kind of unprecedented admiration, apparently she was struck by the Uchiha's courage and resourcefulness, something that Hinata herself often lacks.

- We will need to conduct a simulation of our battle and discuss the mistakes that Hikari made, and we can also think about a large number of techniques. She clearly lacks protection, she needs something like Gaara's sand, which automatically protects its owner, or at least some chakra armor, or regeneration, maybe something like that can be found in the scroll of forbidden techniques.

- Listen, brother, what if we give her the technique of the flying thunder god?

- Pfft!!!

Hearing these words, Naruko and Hinata choked on the tea they were currently drinking, Ban took it out of his stock of previously prepared food. Naruko was surprised at what Hikari could do at all, having such a technique in his arsenal, and Hinata simply knew that the fourth Hokage owned it, and the very thought that someone other than him could master it, and even use it effectively, was quite surprising to her.

Ban, hearing such a proposal, thought for a bit and answered.

- The idea is interesting, but I think that first let her bring shunshin to perfection, and then we'll figure out what to do next, maybe high-speed combat doesn't suit her and something like Susano is needed.

- Okay.

Hikari, seeing the reaction of the two kunoichi, to whom, by the way, the brother and sister did not pay any attention, only made a reminiscent face, after all, she had not yet heard about the flight of the god of thunder and does not understand the essence.

Such conversations continued for about an hour, until everyone decided to walk around the city all together, if they walked for a couple of hours, then return just in time for dinner at seven o'clock in the evening.

***

The next day, the same city of Bakahudo.

Early in the morning at dawn, Hikari could not sleep, yesterday was full of sensations for her and the walk and a delicious and hearty dinner brought her endurance to zero, as a result, she fell asleep early, and woke up only a little after dawn.

She sat on the couch in the common room of their room and simply immersed herself in thoughts, she did not think about the fight, did not think about techniques or anything else important, her thoughts were about where to go today in this city. Yesterday, three girls were a kind of guide for Ban and Hikari, showing places where they had already been and what they liked, it was clear that they were interested in such a role and liked it.

So Hikari sat for quite a long time, the rest of their group had already woken up, Ban prepared breakfast, and at the moment when she was called to go to the table to have breakfast, there was a knock on the door of their room.

Ban put the plate that he had just brought to the table at that moment and went to open the door. In the passage, he noticed a person he did not expect to see.

- Hmmm... Good morning, Orochimaru, come in, we are just about to have breakfast. Do you prefer scrambled eggs or an omelet? There are milk, ale, wines of different years, plain water and sweet water with syrup for drinks.

Ban said these words opening the door, then pointing to the room and starting to lead Orochimaru to the table.

- Good morning.

Orochimaru decided to show politeness and looked at all the people who were in the room, especially surprised by the presence of the Jinchuriki and the princess of the Hyuga clan, and said hello, then continued.

- I'm on business.

- It's obvious that you're on business, but neither I nor my sister like to discuss business over breakfast. Let's have breakfast first, and then discuss why you're here.

Orochimaru wasn't used to such a calm and friendly attitude, so he decided to follow the lead of such politeness, and really started eating.

Although no one likes to discuss business over food, but just talking about abstract topics is no problem.

Orochimaru noticed that Naruko was looking at him with obvious surprise and disbelief, such a face amused him, because of which a strange smile appeared on Orochimaru's face, in the understanding of an ordinary person.

- Kilia, Ban! This is Orochimaru, when did you manage to become such friends with him?

- Hm? Yes, we only met him once, but judging by the fact that he is here now, the results of our exchange interested him. But now it is not important, talk about important things later.

- Well... of course I understand, but... This is Orochimaru... How? Just how?

Hinata finally understood who they were talking about and also began to look quite surprised, only Hikari calmly ate her portion as if detached from the world around her.

- Girl, what surprises you so much? Never seen Sanin before?

- Eee? In general, nothing, but knowing your reputation as a rather cruel person who does not tolerate being ignored or put off, I am not surprised... I am shocked that you calmly walked through the door, and even accepted the invitation to breakfast.

Orochimaru only narrowed his eyes in displeasure, it is unpleasant for any person to hear such words, to know that even the genin underachievers perceive him... that's how it makes you think about your reputation

But the next moment, Kilia's voice rang out, which made Orochimaru turn his attention to her.

- Oh! Ahahah! Well done Naruto! You managed to offend Orochimaru, did they by any chance give you an achievement for that?

- Mmm???

"Experience gained by a rare action"

Action: Be rude to Orochimaru.

Your level has increased: 101>102

- They did not give you an achievement, but I increased my level.

- Ahahah!

Orochimaru did not understand the last words but decided to clarify later, now he tried what was served to him, and must admit that he had not eaten home-cooked food and such a tasty one for probably 45 years, since his mother died, noticing that even Orochimaru was enjoying the food, everyone else decided to take their portions, and the rest of the breakfast passed in silence.