"If I were you, I wouldn't touch it so carelessly."
The light pillars embedded in the ceiling and walls suddenly flared to life, their harsh white glow flooding the dim basement with blinding illumination.
The abrupt shift made Hikari narrow her eyes against the glare.
Tap. Tap.
The soft click of leather heels against stone steps echoed crisply through the hollow chamber.
A woman descended the staircase—long black hair framing her shoulders, clad in Root's standard black uniform. Her face was cold, her eyes dull, with dark circles beneath them like bruises.
The panda-eyed woman from Equipment Division.
Why is she here?
Hikari frowned.
At this hour, most of Root's personnel were asleep, save for a few patrolling shinobi. What was this woman doing in the basement instead of resting?
And the lab was far from Equipment Division. Not to mention the basement's protective barriers—how had she even gotten in?
Suppressing her questions, Hikari retracted the chakra scalpel hovering near Samehada's belly and turned to the approaching woman.
"Do you know what's wrong with it?"
The woman glanced down at Samehada, writhing on the floor like a fish in labor.
"It... overate."
Hikari blinked.
Overate?
Samehada's appetite was legendary. In the original timeline, it had devoured six of the Eight-Tails' tails in one go. How could it be full after just this?
"No ability is perfect. Chakra-absorption techniques aren't omnipotent—Wood Release chakra isn't so easily digested."
The woman nudged Samehada with her foot. "Let it rest. If you cut open its digestive organ, this... thing—" She paused, eyeing the sword's handle flailing against the floor. "—won't recover."
"Its name is Samehada. A living weapon."
Hikari provided the explanation, watching the woman's reaction.
Samehada had originally been a symbiotic creature attached to the Three-Tails, Isobu, helping it digest food and refine chakra. After Isobu's sealing, it became independent—later reforged into one of the Seven Ninja Swords.
Blind and driven purely by chakra sensation, it betrayed masters without hesitation if it found tastier energy.
"Hn. Its chakra core is in its digestive tract. Damage that, and it'll never produce chakra again."
Hikari nodded. Though confident in her surgical precision, the warning wasn't unfounded. If Samehada just needed time, surgery could wait.
"Can it recover on its own?"
Samehada's thrashing had already weakened. Its handle trembled toward Hikari's palm, transmitting fragmented signals.
"Good... good..."
Unclear if it meant "I'm fine" or "I'll be fine." But it did seem better.
"Thank you. May I ask your name?" Hikari studied the woman—this was her second time inquiring. The first, before the Thunder Drum Mountain mission, had gone unanswered.
The woman's dull eyes flickered, as if stirred by ripples.
"Tsubaki."
Without another word, she turned toward the giant tree at the basement's center—her slender frame straight yet lonely, like a wild blade of grass.
Tsubaki?
Hikari wracked her memory. The name was unfamiliar, but that wasn't surprising. In a world of millions, the "canon" cast were but a fraction.
"Why did Wood Release chakra affect Samehada this way?"
"It's not Wood Release specifically. All nature-transformed chakra is harder to digest. Combined elements? Worse."
Tsubaki spoke casually, as if discussing the weather. "Yin-Yang techniques for absorbing chakra are common. But no one's solved the digestion problem."
Hereditary kekkei genkai? Yin-Yang Release?
Hikari's interest sharpened. Root's archives had scant details on these topics—yet this woman treated them as common knowledge.
Seizing the opportunity, Hikari pressed further. "What makes combined elements harder to absorb?"
Tsubaki stopped before the towering tree.
"Stability."
Her answer came bluntly, as if she couldn't care less about secrecy.
"Wood Release fuses earth and water—the two most stable physical natures. Earth absorbs water's fluidity; water erodes earth's solidity. Add a catalyst of Yang, and from their broken structures emerges something new—wood."
She pressed her palms against the glass tank, her posture eerily mirroring the deranged scientist Chihaya's.
"Wood inherits both natures' stability—harder than earth, stronger than water, yet flexible with life. Even a trace can overwhelm that gluttonous fish."
Her dark eyes fixed on the grotesque flesh-mass beneath the tree roots—severed limbs, melted features. Yet her gaze held neither horror nor disgust, only a quiet, aching pride.
"I've come to see you again."
Her whisper clung to the glass, trembling with something between devotion and desolation.
Who... is she?
Hikari's ash-gray pupils flickered. The woman's chakra core—elite jōnin-level—pulsed erratically.
Her expertise in Wood Release, her untrained muscles, her lack of combat scars... yet this much chakra?
Back in Equipment Division, Hikari had sensed something off about her. At first, she'd assumed another experiment—like the Nara brothers with their transplanted Sharingan.
But now...
"Senju Tsubaki?"
The woman stiffened. Slowly, she turned, her hollow eyes widening.
"How did you—?"
"The legendary 'Forest's Senju'—a clan born with immense vitality. Even their children could produce jōnin-level chakra effortlessly." Hikari gestured at Tsubaki's core. "You fit."
A shadow crossed Tsubaki's face.
"The Senju... dissolved into Konoha. Gone—gone—"
Her murmur was less an answer than a mantra—a chant to bury the past. She slid down the glass, her voice crumbling into silence.
Hikari hesitated, unsure what to say.
The wheel of time crushed more than just the Uchiha.
Senju. Uzumaki. Kaguya. Uchiha—all once-great clans ground to dust.
Not because they were unlucky.
Not because they grew weak.
But because the era changed.
Hashirama and Madara's village system was like introducing guns to an age of swords—no martial tradition could compete.
The old clans? Like children clutching gold in a den of wolves.
Submit utterly—like the Hyūga.
Or produce another Hashirama.
Without power, clinging to glory meant annihilation.
Her clan. Naruto's. Sasuke's. This woman's. All the same.
Silence thickened in the basement.
Hikari watched the thriving tree, the piled bones, the doll-like woman slumped against the glass.
This would be her fate if she stopped growing stronger.
So she couldn't stop. Even death would find her on that path.
Scritch. Scritch.
Samehada's spines scraped the tiles, its bloated belly slowly deflating.
Tsubaki had been right—it had overeaten.
Steeling herself, Hikari gripped Samehada's hilt, channeling purified chakra into her core. Samehada's converted energy was pristine—easily absorbed, efficiently transformed.
Gloop.
Bubbles rose in the tank's yellow fluid.
Hours slipped by.
Deep night settled.
"Tsubaki... aren't you leaving?"
The woman hadn't moved from the glass. Hikari eyed Samehada's shrunken belly, itching to feed it more—but stealing chakra from Tsubaki's family right after her help felt... wrong.
"Go where?" Tsubaki's voice was faint, her gaze distant.
"To sleep?"
"I sleep better here. With them."
Noticing Hikari's grip on Samehada, she added, "Feed it if you want. Just... be quiet. Let me rest."
Her eyes closed, her cheek pressed to the glass—aligned perfectly with the faceless visage within.
Now Hikari saw it—their similar features. The contours of their brows, the spacing of their eyes.
Family.
A heavy sigh escaped her.
Permission granted, Hikari scaled the tank, lowering Samehada inside. This time, it stopped at a slight bulge—wisely refusing to gorge.
After resealing the tank, Hikari glanced down at the sleeping woman. Samehada squirmed in her grip, digesting.
Wood Release chakra took time. The Reverse Eight Gates wouldn't be perfected overnight.
For today... this is enough.
Cradling Samehada, Hikari tiptoed out, killing the lights behind her.
Hiss.
The crimson barrier resealed.
In the dark, empty basement—
The tree's branches swayed. Flesh-masses slurped nutrient fluid.
And the woman slept against the glass, her face—finally—softened into a smile.
Pure. Delicate.
Not a weed, but a camellia—waiting to bloom.
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