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The training ground spread wide below, reinforced to withstand destruction.
Neji led Sasuko in, but the back of his neck prickled someone was watching him. He didn't need the Byakugan to know whose eyes lingered on him. Izumi.
Strange. I haven't done anything… so why?
He set the thought aside, gesturing toward Sasuko.
"You can go all out here. Don't hold back the field can handle it."
Sasuko gave no reply, already closing her eyes, sinking inward to feel the new pulse of her eyes. Her hands were still bandaged, her hospital robe loose on her frame, but none of that dulled the sharp tension building around her.
Her eyes snapped open.
Black fire bloomed where her gaze fell, crawling across the ground with relentless hunger.
[Amaterasu].
Her left eye held the same terrible technique as Itachi's. But then her right eye twisted, molding the fire as though an invisible hand shaped it.
The black flames bent, reshaped into a shield, into a blade, into a spear of flame.
[Flame Release: Kagutsuchi].
Her Mangekyō Sharingan's true gift: to command the unquenchable fire.
Neji's lips curved slightly. Techniques that could be shaped, expanded those had always been his favorite. Not static tricks, but tools with potential.
Sasuko's control slipped. A sharp cry escaped her as pain lanced her eye. She clutched it, breath hitching.
Izumi moved immediately, her sharp eyes flashing as she rushed forward.
"Sasuko. Stop. You're pushing too far. Let me check you."
"It's… just my eye—"
"No excuses. Your body isn't healed yet. Even if it's only your eyes, strain spreads everywhere. Sit. Now."
Her tone brooked no argument. Sasuko, still panting, let herself be led toward the medical bay.
Neji stepped forward, then stopped, watching them leave. A wry thought flickered. Because Sasuko is the last of her clan? No… there's more to Izumi's gaze than that.
He shook his head. Women's hearts were not mysteries he wanted to solve today.
Turning back to the black fire still writhing across the floor, he extended a hand. The flames lifted, swirling into his palm.
Interesting.
[Amaterasu] burned everything, consuming endlessly. Could it be harnessed? If contained by a seal, fed chakra to keep burning, perhaps its heat could be stored, converted energy and disposal, in one. A perfect furnace.
Neji watched the fire eat through sand he'd conjured, the glow twisting around his fingers. A tool, then. With the right seal, it could become a permanent fuel source. Uzumaki sealing arts… he understood now why the clan had been feared.
He carried the captured flame into a side lab, sketching a seal array with steady hands. The plan formed quickly:
Lock the fire in suspended space.
Feed it chakra regularly.
Use its heat for controlled energy output.
Dispose of hazardous material by casting it into the flame.
A dangerous experiment, but one with promise.
Meanwhile, in the infirmary, Sasuko lay still on the exam table as Izumi checked her over.
The pain in her eyes ebbed, her breath evening out. She knew why it wasn't just her injuries. The Mangekyō's birth always came with a cost.
Izumi's eyes flicked over the readouts, then softened.
"No major damage. But your eyes are exhausted. This kind of strain will eat away at them, little by little. The Mangekyō is powerful… but it carries a heavy price."
Sasuko froze. Her mind echoed with Itachi's words you are my light.
She hadn't understood then. She was beginning to, now.
Only by carrying the burden herself could she begin to comprehend.
The whispers of the past, the warnings she had dismissed now they made sense.
And she realized: some truths can't be explained. They must be lived.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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