The night was black as ink.
Torrential rain poured down as thunder roared across the heavens, lightning tearing the sky like giant serpents trying to split the world apart.
A violent arc of light illuminated the mountain peaks.
Outside the cave, the frenzied Star-nin had bloodshot eyes, and the pattern of the "Mangekyō" curse spread across their skin.
The kunai and ninja blades in their hands swung wildly as they hacked at their own comrades—
At this moment, they had completely turned into rabid wolves.
Blood mixed with rain.
Screams echoed in the stormy night but were quickly swallowed by the howling, violent wind.
Down in the valley—
"That's Lord Uchiha Yu's ocular jutsu…"
The Edo Tensei Uchiha squad captain narrowed his eyes, staring directly at the mountain slope above.
Using the intermittent flashes of lightning, he and the Uchiha behind him observed the chaos, piecing together what must be happening up there.
The sudden betrayal of the Star-nin had thrown the rest of their comrades into utter confusion.
Even an ordinary three-tomoe Uchiha couldn't instantly control an enemy one-on-one.
But a genjutsu powerful enough to manipulate an entire group of shinobi at once…
In war, this was the kind of secret weapon that could decide the outcome of a battlefield!
The Edo Uchiha were deeply shaken by the terrifying power of Uchiha Yu's eyes.
Even though they themselves had experienced his genjutsu before, witnessing it applied in real combat left an even stronger impression.
…
Inside the cave—
Uchiha Yu released waves of Yin Release chakra around his right hand as he lifted the "meteorite" to eye level for close inspection.
It was an irregularly shaped stone, its surface covered with many pits, and enveloped in a faint pinkish-purple mist.
This mist was the strange chakra emitted by the meteorite—seemingly limitless, endlessly replenishing itself.
But holding it produced a strange repulsive force, pulsing over and over as though the stone had a life of its own.
At this moment, that repulsive force was eroding the Yin Release chakra Uchiha Yu wrapped around it.
Yu narrowed his eyes, carefully observing the meteorite's chakra rhythm.
To describe it visually—it radiated chakra in pulses, like ripples on a lake when a stone falls in.
The pattern was impossible to fully grasp:
Sometimes quick—
Sometimes slow—
Sometimes violent—
Sometimes faint—
Yet after long contact, Yu noticed something disturbing:
Once it eroded away his Yin chakra, that strange chakra pulse began seeping into him, replenishing and refining his own chakra little by little.
But everything comes with a price.
There was no way Yu believed that a normal person, simply by guarding this stone, could achieve power on the level of a Kage.
Obtaining strength without effort—
That was an insult to what "Kage" level truly meant.
Yu flipped his right hand.
In front of Natsuhi and Tsunade, he stored the "Star Meteorite" into his personal storage space.
With that, the eerie chakra pulse vanished from the cave entirely.
Tsunade's beautiful eyes widened, her brows furrowing as she stared at Yu's right hand.
Descriptions of the mysterious meteorite flashed through her mind.
Yu also released his control technique on Tsunade.
"That was… the mysterious meteorite from Hoshigakure?" she asked in shock.
Yu nodded slightly.
Then he stepped before Tsunade and reached into her arms, storing away the bowls and plates she was holding.
"It's completely gone…"
Summer Star's eyes widened—
She could no longer sense any connection between herself and the meteorite.
Moments earlier, Yu's sudden black blade, his godlike ocular jutsu, and his ability to store objects seemingly out of thin air had already proven to her how unfathomable his power was.
Ignoring Yu cleaning up the pots and utensils, Summer Star hurried toward the back of the cave.
She knelt beside her husband and child, staring at her husband's dangerously weakened form.
"Dear…"
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
She grasped his right hand—
The coldness, like cold rainwater, made her heart sink completely.
"Cough… cough…" Her husband spat blackened blood, his pupils already unfocused.
Weakly, he whispered, "Take our child… and live… a good life…"
Seeing this scene, Tsunade's expression froze completely.
In a split second, she saw her own past reflected back at her.
"Let me check his condition!" she said urgently.
Tsunade held a burning wooden torch as she strode forward toward the weakened man.
She handed the improvised light source to the man, then crouched down, lifting Firefly Star's right hand and rolling up his sleeve.
The moment the fabric slid back, her expression froze.
Beneath the skin of his right arm, faint mottled patches of unnatural purple light flickered.
It was as though this color flowed through his veins.
Tsunade had never seen symptoms like these before.
It looked as if the man had been dropped into a vat of dye—his body infused with a luminous pink-purple glow from the inside out.
Natsuhi stared anxiously at Tsunade's profile.
Tsunade raised her right hand, releasing medical chakra.
Zzz—
Green chakra bloomed from her palm.
Natsuhi pupils widened with hope.
Carrying her young son, she immediately knelt before Tsunade, bowing low as she pleaded:
"Please… please save my husband!"
"Thank the man behind you," Tsunade said casually.
If Uchiha Yu hadn't brought her out here, she wouldn't have ended up in this headache of a situation.
Natsuhi hurriedly turned, kneeling toward Uchiha Yu with her child.
In this wild, desolate mountain range, encountering a medical ninja felt like proof that the cruel world had not entirely abandoned her family.
"…" Uchiha Yu's face remained calm.
He stepped beside Tsunade, examining the man lying on the ground.
He knew exactly what this was—the price for practicing with the "Star Meteorite."
The meteorite should never be touched directly.
Even carrying it close to the body would expose one to its endlessly radiating chakra, which eroded flesh from within.
Tsunade performed her diagnostic Palm Sage Technique, examining the man from limbs to chest, through his chakra pathways, meridians, internal organs, and even his skull.
And the more she checked—
The more her scalp tingled.
The horrifying condition before her nearly triggered the hemophobia that Uchiha Yu had forcibly cured.
The husband was like a wooden stake—
One that, after soaking in moisture, had been eaten hollow by thousands of white ants.
His chakra pathways, meridians, and organs were riddled with thousands of tiny, irreversible lesions.
The only reason he was still alive was the strange chakra lingering inside him… and sheer willpower.
Ironically, the same strange chakra keeping him alive was also what was destroying his body.
"M-Medical ninja… how is my husband?" Natsuhi asked with trembling breath.
"I'm sorry," Tsunade said, her brows easing slightly as she delivered the verdict.
"His vital signs are collapsing quickly. He'll live for at most five more minutes. I can only make sure he doesn't suffer before the end."
Even Uchiha Yu was surprised.
If even Tsunade couldn't save him, then there truly was no saving him.
Though she had expected this outcome, Summer Star still broke down in tears.
The ninja world had not abandoned them—
But after offering a glimmer of hope, it cruelly snuffed it out.
Tsunade immediately injected medical chakra to ease his pain.
Moments later—
She completed the simple procedure.
"Haa…"
The mab exhaled deeply, clarity returning to his eyes as some color rushed briefly back to his face—
A final burst of life.
He looked at Tsunade.
"Thank you…"
Then he stared at Summer Star, smiling gently.
"Don't cry…"
Tsunade glanced at Uchiha Yu, and they silently stepped aside, leaving the small family their final moments together.
As they started to walk away, the man called out urgently:
"Forgive me for asking—but… are the two of you husband and wife?"
Natsuhi blinked, pulled momentarily from her grief by the unexpected question.
From her perspective, Uchiha Yu and Tsunade wore similar clothes, and both possessed beauty far beyond ordinary standards.
They did indeed look like a couple.
It was often said Uchiha were impossibly attractive—
Seeing Yu, she realized the rumors weren't exaggerated.
"Husband and wife?"
Tsunade turned back, shot Uchiha Yu a sharp look, and waved dismissively.
"No!"
With that, she followed Yu out.
Uchiha Yu didn't react.
"Not husband and wife…"
The man's eyes lit with hope.
"Then—please—after I die, I beg you to take in my wife and child!"
He had witnessed Uchiha Yu effortlessly cut down enemies before.
He knew the situation on the Bear Country's border—
Hoshigakure had likely encircled the entire region.
For his wife and son to survive, they needed outside help.
As for the meteorite being taken by Uchiha Yu—
He was relieved.
It was the best outcome.
Natsuhi's emotions churned as she watched her husband fading away, her pillar of support collapsing bit by bit.
"…"
Uchiha Yu paused for a moment, giving no response. Then he took Tsunade with him and walked toward the entrance of the cave.
°°°
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