Chapter 242: A Single Artificial Eye

“Hey, Karin.”

Shigure’s voice drifted from a distance as he walked closer. Karin stopped smiling and looked over at him casually.

“What?” she asked.

“I’ve got something to say. Can we guys take a bath first tomorrow?”

“Why?”

“Because we’re cleaner.”

“Get lost!”

Shigure didn’t have a “grandpa,” but he still argued earnestly.

“You guys always go first every single time. Can’t we have it once?”

“No. Not negotiable.”

Then Shigure changed tactics. He pulled out a wooden sphere from his pocket—smoothly polished, about the size of an eyeball.

“I’ll trade you this.”

“What is it?”

“An artificial eye. Spent half a year polishing it. Someone on our side has already tested it—it works.”

It wasn’t an eye that restored sight. It only kept the eye socket open so the eye muscles wouldn’t deform further and the eye wouldn’t deteriorate.

Karin rolled her eyes, then held out her hand. Shigure looked satisfied and handed over the “bribe.”

“Then it’s settled. We go first.”

Once she had it, Karin shrugged.

“You said something? I didn’t hear anything. What are you guys planning? Hey, did you hear anything? Didn’t, right? Yeah, tomorrow we go first.”

“Hey! You can’t do that—”

“I don’t hear you. I don’t hear you. I don’t hear you…”

BOOM

In the end, it was a classic case of losing both the wife and the army. Shigure came and left the same way he arrived—well, except now he was also missing an artificial eye.

Karin laughed for a while, then casually tossed the remaining artificial eye into Ajisai’s hands.

“Here, take it.”

Ajisai frowned coldly. “Why are you giving it to me? Give it yourself.”

Tenten was starting to lose track of the conversation. Toki chuckled, then reached out and touched Ajisai’s face.

“Flower, why don’t you ever smile? Are you born expressionless?”

“So what if I am?”

As she spoke, she shoved the artificial eye into Toki’s hand.

Toki felt the wooden texture and immediately pushed it back.

“Hey, don’t bully a blind guy like me.”

Ajisai had no choice but to take it back, glaring at Karin. Her golden eyes were strikingly beautiful. Tenten, watching them, found her own lips unconsciously curling upward.

“Karin, you’re so annoying.”

Karin stuck out her tongue and ignored her.

“The last person who said that was Deidara. I beat him so badly he couldn’t fly back down. You wanna go to the sky too?”

Ajisai thought for a moment but couldn’t come up with a reply.

“Then I’ll report you to Konan-sama someday and have her supervise your training!”

“With Sister Kita around, Sister Konan won’t even bother with me~”

Honestly, at that moment, Karin was especially infuriating.

“Your Kisame is trash. Sister Kita would beat him dozens of times over~”

“Tch. Not my Kisame.”

Unable to win the argument, Ajisai stared at the artificial eye in her hand for a long moment. Then she suddenly shoved it into Tenten’s hands.

“Take it. If you don’t want it, throw it away.”

Tenten froze.

“Eh?!!”

In this village, over two hundred blind people usually came in pairs when they lost their eyes. But Tenten had only ever lost one.

She hadn’t done anything remarkable. When Hyuga Neji tormented people, she couldn’t stop him. When new operatives followed orders from above, she couldn’t stop them either. As an ANBU overseer, she held no real authority. She had never saved a single person who was meant to die.

Perhaps the only thing she had ever done successfully… was saving Ajisai’s eyes—exchanging one eye for another in a foolish, stubborn attempt.

Stupid beyond belief. And yet, she had really managed to dig one out.

And now, the people of this village had given her an artificial eye, crafted from smuggled materials and polished over half a year. Something so crude—once she returned to what could be called home, Konoha, she could easily obtain a far superior replacement.

Karin said, “Just use it for now. You can change it later when you go back. He used to be a medical ninja in the hospital, specializing in ophthalmology. He knows this stuff well.”

Tenten didn’t know why, but her nose started to ache. Her throat felt dry. Her remaining eye itched.

“N-no… I’m fine. All of you… you guys…”

Her last eye began to tear up.

Her heart twisted painfully. She didn’t know how to express it. She was never good with words. Every part of her body felt sore, as if something was filling her entire being—something she couldn’t name.

She didn’t understand.

She was from Konoha. She was supposed to be their enemy. A watcher. A captor.

She had failed to protect anyone she should have protected. Failed to achieve anything she should have fought for. She could only manage small, insignificant things.

And now… now—

“Ah, you people from Konoha are so sentimental. Sakura was like this too. You think too much. It’s not a big deal. We don’t have much here right now, but someday we’ll get you a biological artificial eye—maybe even restore your vision.”

Karin said it so casually that Tenten’s tears fell harder.

Toki patted Ajisai’s shoulder.

“Flower, go on.”

Ajisai turned her head away.

“If you want to cry, go outside. Don’t do it in front of me.”

Toki sighed helplessly.

And just like that, Tenten really ran out.

The four-person group became three again.

Karin gave Shigure, who was waiting in the distance for results, an OK gesture. A scattered round of applause came from the men’s side.

Afterward, Karin nudged Ajisai.

“She’s actually pretty nice to you, you know. Don’t go too far.”

“Nice?” Ajisai replied coldly. “She invaded my village. Killed my comrades. Killed my little ant.”

“It wasn’t just her. All five great nations were involved. Don’t carry so much hatred. Too much hatred and you stop being human.”

“Are we even human anymore?”

Her voice was ice-cold.

Toki interrupted, “Hey, I know this one! Being human isn’t about how others see you. It’s about what you think of yourself. So if someone isn’t human, it means they’ve given up something essential inside them. That’s what makes them no longer human.”

Ajisai: “……Toki, you should take your medicine.”

Toki: “Damn it, I’m trying to help you!”

To live is already an extraordinary act of strength.

Sometimes I feel life is meaningless. And yet, I still can’t bring myself to choose otherwise.