"What is this?"
After surviving a brutal life-and-death struggle against a wolf and gaining combat strength comparable to a Genin, Yui Amagiri was finally forced to take a break from her grueling training due to a serious injury—her left calf had been bitten and broken. It was the first time in a long while that she didn't have to endure intense physical trials.
During this recovery period, Yamamura Sachiko began teaching her ninjutsu theory: chakra nature, jutsu classification, how different jutsu can either counteract or complement each other. The focus, however, was on hand seals—the speed of forming seals was directly linked to how quickly a jutsu could be executed. Even being one second faster than the enemy could provide a crucial edge.
Although she couldn't engage in practical exercises due to her injury, Yui Amagiri spent her days inside the newly built house, practicing hand seals and absorbing Yamamura Sachiko's teachings about the theoretical foundations of being a shinobi.
Sachiko used her own past as the curriculum—telling stories of powerful enemies she had encountered, desperate moments, deadly traps, and how she escaped them with precise judgment under pressure. Each tale expanded Yui's understanding of what it meant to be a ninja.
After a month and a half of rest and recovery—thanks to Sachiko's careful care and plenty of rich food—Yui fully healed, with no lasting damage. It was then that Sachiko took out a photo and showed it to her.
"This is the person to whom you'll dedicate your entire life—your duty will be to protect, care for, and accompany them," said Sachiko, arms crossed and leaning against a pillar, her eyes half-lidded.
"You've already reached the combat level of a Genin from a major village. I'll continue training you until you reach the rank of Jōnin. Whether you understand now doesn't matter. Just obey. When you grow up, you'll understand."
Yui stared at the photo in a daze.
A child—someone even younger than her—around two or three years old at most. The face was delicate, with fair, rosy cheeks that gave off a cute charm. But what made the child different was the hair and eyes: long silvery-purple hair and blood-red eyes.
The sclera were crimson, and the pupils were dark red—no irises. The combination of the hair and eyes gave the child an unsettling, almost eerie appearance. At the very least, it was the kind of presence that instinctively made others want to keep their distance.
"What's their name?" Yui asked.
"Iwa. Tachibana Iwa," Sachiko replied.
"I'll be staying by this child's side in the future?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
Was it truly unknown? Or did she just not want to say? From Sachiko's expression, tone, and body language, Yui couldn't glean anything.
That was the turning point. From there, ninja training became even more intense. Sachiko set up a single steel wire stretching between two neighboring mountains, each over a hundred meters high, and made Yui walk across.
At first, she was allowed to use chakra to adhere to the wire. Gradually, walking turned into running, and running into sprinting. Once she could sprint across, Sachiko forbade the use of chakra. Yui had to rely solely on her own balance to cross.
The difficulty level skyrocketed. With no safety precautions and a fatal fall almost guaranteed, Yui, under Sachiko's relentless pressure, forcibly overcame her fear of heights.
And no, that wasn't the end of it.
Once Yui finally mastered sprinting across without chakra, she entered the next stage. Sachiko smeared her with a special mixture that birds loved, captured a flock of birds, and starved them for days. Then, as Yui walked the wire, she released them.
Picture it—dozens of birds flapping around her, pecking and swarming. At least ten times, Yui nearly lost her life. The training was high-risk, but the gains were substantial. From then on, Yui was no longer afraid of heights. No matter how steep, narrow, or dangerous a path was, she could cross it effortlessly.
And that was just one of many terrifying training methods. Every day, Yui faced countless life-or-death trials.
In this hellish regimen, time slipped by. Five years passed. Yui Amagiri had grown from five to ten years old.
In those five years, she had only been seriously injured twice—both from fighting runaway rogue ninja used for live combat training—and each time took her out for several months of recovery. All the rest of her time had been spent in training. In her own words, she had become a machine built solely for combat.
The tear-inducing training had forged her into someone truly extraordinary.
[Stats Display]
Strength: D
Endurance: D
Agility: D
Magic: D
Luck: ??
Noble Phantasm: ??
That's what her card now showed.
Over the years, Yui had come to understand how this card worked. First, it gave her a quantifiable view of her abilities. Second, it imposed limits. What kind of limits?
In terms of progression, all four core stats needed to reach the same level before advancement was possible. If even one stat remained below D, she couldn't move on to C. Only when all reached D could she push toward C.
This imposed a huge restriction—it forced Yui to train in a balanced way, rather than focusing on one area. Balance meant more time was required to grow.
Take Kakashi and Guy, for example. Guy focused solely on taijutsu, while Kakashi was a jack-of-all-trades. In the later stages of the war, when they fought Madara in Sage of Six Paths mode, who did more damage? Who was stronger?
Setting aside the limitations, Yui also figured out how transformations worked. By transforming into Misaka Mikoto, she could gain her powers—but only proportional to her own strength.
At her current level, she could only use Level 2 electricity. When she fought that wolf back then, she was only at Level 1.
"So this is the second card? Just as I thought!"
Her abilities now reached the level of a high-tier Chūnin. At the same time, her deck—originally containing only Misaka Mikoto—now had a second card: Artoria Pendragon, the King of Knights. Wielding Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone, she exuded regal aura, holy grace, and a noble bearing.
Just like with Misaka, Yui could transform into King Arthur and use her abilities—but again, the output was tied to her own strength.
She hadn't felt much seeing Misaka, but once she saw Her Majesty, Yui immediately remembered—wasn't this one of those ultra-rare cards from the card game she used to play in her past life? She'd spent a fortune to pull one of these beauties back then.
Things were looking good. With Misaka Mikoto and King Arthur in her deck, she could slowly build power. Maybe not world domination, but a secure and comfortable life was definitely within reach.
But first, she needed to survive the current situation. Sure, she now had elite Chūnin-level strength—but Yamamura Sachiko was a Jōnin, and a rogue ninja from Kirigakure no less. Beating her? That was still a fantasy.
"Heh heh…"
Thinking of Sachiko inevitably brought up the years of hellish training. Yui gave a dry chuckle. Staring at her reflection in the water, she couldn't help but think how ridiculous she looked.