The cheerful songs of birds echoed through the air, their melodies drifting gently across the lush and shaded training grounds behind the Wieser family estate.
It was there that an old memory resurfaced in James's mind.
A memory that had remained with him for years, occasionally returning without warning.
Not far from the open training field stood an enclosed training hall.
In the past, the structure had been built entirely of wood. Following extensive renovations, however, it had been reinforced with alchemical cement and stone, making it far sturdier than before.
The surrounding outdoor grounds had been intentionally left encircled by towering trees and dense shrubs.
The vegetation served a purpose beyond simple decoration.
Together, the trees formed a natural barrier that concealed most activities within the training area from outside observers.
The memory currently occupying James's thoughts had taken place five years ago.
At the time, Charlotte had just turned ten.
It had been one of the most troublesome periods of his eldest daughter's life.
The pride, confidence, and fierce ego inherited from both the Uchiha and Dmitry bloodlines were at their peak.
Back then, young Charlotte had little interest in the things ordinary children her age enjoyed.
She no longer cared much for playing with her peers.
Nor was she particularly interested in hunting for sweets or spending time in the kitchen baking pastries, a hobby she normally loved.
Her attention was fixed entirely upon a single thing.
Combat.
The desire to experience the exhilaration of battle.
The desire to test the limits of her own strength.
And an almost obsessive drive to constantly surpass those limits.
During that period, even Ian often found himself struggling to keep up with his elder sister's relentless determination.
Not because Ian lacked talent.
The problem lay with Charlotte herself.
The raw power sleeping within her was simply too great.
Far greater than any of her siblings could possibly imagine.
Only James knew the full truth.
As her father—and as someone who understood the source of his children's abilities—he knew that Charlotte's natural chakra reserves had already surpassed the combined total of her three siblings.
Now, upon the broad and level training field, James and Charlotte stood facing one another.
Two identical pairs of eyes locked together.
Eyes as dark as bottomless abysses.
Each carefully observing the opponent before them.
A cool breeze drifted across the training grounds.
Charlotte's pink hair swayed softly with the wind.
The surroundings were remarkably quiet.
There were no spectators.
No interruptions.
Only a father and his daughter standing in the center of the training field.
Deep down, James was not particularly enthusiastic about being there.
Not because he disliked training.
Rather, there was something else he would have much preferred to spend the day doing.
Spending time with Irene.
That had been the plan he truly wished to follow.
Unfortunately, Charlotte seemed to possess a remarkable talent for ruining nearly every romantic opportunity he attempted to create with his wife.
And today was yet another example.
James's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched Charlotte step forward.
One step.
Steady.
Confident.
"You are not allowed to go easy on me today, Father."
Charlotte's voice rang out firmly.
"I want you to use your full strength. Do not hold back in the slightest. I need a clear benchmark to measure the limits of my abilities."
James released a long sigh, sounding thoroughly resigned.
"That is a difficult request, my dear. How is a father supposed to attack his daughter seriously?"
He shook his head and offered a faint smile.
"Set aside ambitions like that for now. We'll train as we always do. There's no need to take things so seriously."
The moment she heard that answer, Charlotte placed both hands on her hips.
Her expression made her dissatisfaction painfully obvious.
From the moment she stepped onto the training grounds, she had already made up her mind.
She had not come here for another sparring session filled with restraint and mercy.
Charlotte wanted something more.
She wanted to satisfy the fire burning within her.
And to find that answer, she needed her father to fight seriously—not merely hold back to indulge his daughter.
She wanted to experience a battle that would force her beyond her limits.
And only one person could provide such a trial.
Her father.
Not Ian.
Though Ian's abilities had improved significantly by that point, his strength was still insufficient to match the explosive potential hidden within Charlotte.
Of course, there was another desire burning within her chest.
Not merely a craving for battle.
Something darker had begun to take root within her.
"I am not joking, Father. I am serious."
Charlotte's voice was flat.
Cold.
Almost devoid of emotion.
The cheerfulness that usually colored her every word seemed to have vanished without a trace.
For some reason, that change stirred something deeply familiar within James.
An old feeling.
An instinct he had buried long ago.
His daughter's words struck the deepest layers of his memory.
Awakening something that had remained dormant for years.
"Very well."
In the end, James relented.
His gaze met Charlotte's.
Even so, he imposed a condition.
"But you must promise me something. This will be the last time you ask for a spar like this. Until you reach the age of fifteen, I will not agree to a request of this nature again."
The corners of Charlotte's lips immediately curved upward.
For the first time since they had stepped onto the training grounds, genuine satisfaction appeared upon her face.
"I promise, Father. Charlotte will not ask for something like this again."
"Good."
James released a quiet breath.
At the very least, he had secured her word.
Throughout the years, whenever he taught his children about chakra or various jutsu, James had never truly fought against them.
More often than not, he acted as an instructor.
Demonstrating techniques.
Explaining theory.
Correcting mistakes.
Or devising grueling physical exercises to strengthen their foundations.
Long-distance running.
Endurance training.
Push-ups.
Chakra control.
Those were the things he spent far more time doing than engaging in direct combat.
Yet Charlotte's request today had inadvertently awakened an old memory.
A memory he still recalled with perfect clarity.
The day she destroyed one of his shadow clones without the slightest hesitation.
As though she had always possessed a desire to strike him.
And now, years later, that same desire had resurfaced.
Stronger than ever before.
No longer the simple curiosity of a child.
But something that bordered on obsession.
Today, Charlotte was different.
Very different.
Her emotions were unstable.
Her moods shifted easily.
And a faint melancholy seemed to linger around her wherever she went.
The state she was in stood in stark contrast to the Charlotte James had always known.
Charlotte was usually cheerful.
Loud.
Full of energy.
Unable to remain still.
Yet the girl standing before him now seemed unusually calm.
And that was precisely what worried him.
Because within that calmness, he saw the shadow of someone else.
Erna.
For a brief moment, the image of his elder sister surfaced in his thoughts.
There had once been a period when Erna had fallen into a remarkably similar state.
Silent.
Withdrawn.
Quick to anger over even the smallest matters.
And her desire for battle had intensified to the point where the Dmitry Knights became little more than training dummies for her relentless sparring sessions.
James immediately shook his head.
Driving the thought away before it could go any further.
Ten years had passed since he made that request to Asteria.
And even now, there was still no new information regarding his sister's whereabouts.
All James could do was hope.
Hope that Erna was safe.
Hope that fate would someday allow them to meet again.
Charlotte's voice cut through his thoughts.
Firm.
Filled with certainty.
"Father, prepare yourself."
James raised his gaze.
Their eyes met once more.
"I am ready, my dear."
Almost the moment those words left his mouth, the change began.
The air surrounding Charlotte trembled faintly.
Dust scattered across the training ground slowly lifted into the air.
It swirled around her body as though caught within an invisible current.
Tiny cracks spread beneath her feet.
The earth that had once been smooth and level gradually fractured.
The pressure of Charlotte's chakra continued to rise.
Greater.
Heavier.
Even the wind around the training grounds changed direction under the influence of the energy radiating from her body.
Witnessing the scene, James narrowed his eyes.
There was no room for doubt anymore.
Charlotte was completely serious.
She had not come here to play.
And most obvious of all...
His daughter had absolutely no intention of holding back.
There, within her eyes, the three-tomoe Sharingan had already emerged.
The battle became inevitable.
***
BOOM!!!
Two enormous fireballs collided at the center of the training grounds.
A deafening explosion erupted instantly, shaking the entire arena and carving a massive crater into the point of impact. A wave of scorching heat swept outward in all directions, followed by a violent surge of dust and earth that was hurled high into the air.
For several moments, the battlefield disappeared behind a dense cloud of dust.
Yet it did not last long.
Powerful gusts of wind from opposite directions swept through the arena, scattering the dust and revealing the two figures still standing across from one another.
I narrowed my eyes.
All of my attention was fixed on Father.
For the past several days, my emotions had felt strangely unstable.
I truly did not understand what was happening to me.
Small things that normally would never have bothered me now irritated me with alarming ease.
Even while looking after Karina, my patience felt noticeably thinner than usual.
Whenever she ignored my words or acted however she pleased, annoyance surfaced almost immediately.
As though her actions were somehow rejecting my existence as her elder sister.
The feeling made no sense.
I knew that.
Yet it remained difficult to ignore.
Ian had been the first person to suffer the consequences of that change.
Because of our close relationship, he treated my behavior as though it were not a problem at all.
And during our recent training sessions, I had pushed him to the very limits of his abilities.
Even Ian, who could normally endure until the end, eventually collapsed from exhaustion.
His body had not been injured.
But I had forced him to drain nearly all of his chakra until he could barely remain standing.
Ryan, however, was different.
He was far too perceptive when it came to the moods of those around him.
Because of that, he quickly realized that something was wrong with me.
In the end, he reported everything to Father.
And that was how today's sparring match had begun.
Father hoped this battle would provide an outlet for the turmoil constantly troubling me.
Yet even now, standing here in this arena...
I still wasn't satisfied.
I wanted something more.
Something more serious.
More challenging.
More real.
The feeling continued to swirl inside my mind.
As though a part of me that had long been asleep was slowly awakening.
The part that yearned for battle.
The part that wished to test the limits of my own strength.
That was why I had asked Father to fight me seriously.
And he had agreed.
Strangely enough...
The thought made me happy.
Very happy.
Perhaps once this desire was fulfilled, I could return to being my usual self.
Or perhaps...
I had truly wanted to fight Father from the very beginning.
That burning sensation continued to grow within my chest.
Like embers slowly feeding a fire.
Burning through my emotions.
Driving my fighting instincts ever forward.
I drew a deep breath.
Then I stepped forward.
My body vanished from its original position.
The clash of our Fireball Jutsu had merely been the opening exchange.
The real battle had only just begun.
***
Father and daughter met once again in the center of the arena.
This time, however, they no longer exchanged ninjutsu from afar.
The distance between them disappeared in an instant.
The battle shifted into a clash of taijutsu.
Close-quarters combat.
A contest of bodies, reflexes, experience, and instinct.
James remained where he stood.
Just as before, he did not launch any counterattacks.
His entire focus remained on defense.
Although he had promised to take the fight seriously, the truth was that James still could not bring himself to treat Charlotte as a genuine opponent.
No matter what happened, the girl standing before him was still his beloved daughter.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
A relentless barrage of punches and kicks crashed against James's defenses without pause.
Charlotte attacked without the slightest hesitation.
Every movement flowed with speed and precision.
The combat style she had once learned from her father had matured considerably over the years.
Her footwork.
The movement of her hips.
The rotation of her shoulders.
The rhythm of her breathing.
Everything blended together into a seamless stream of attacks.
Even more concerning was the power hidden behind every strike.
Chakra surged throughout Charlotte's body.
Concentrating within her knuckles, palms, knees, and feet.
Every punch carried enough force to shatter massive stones with ease.
Every kick possessed explosive power capable of crushing an opponent's defenses.
Thud!
James blocked a straight punch.
Thud!
He twisted his body aside, avoiding a sweeping kick aimed at his waist.
Thud!
Charlotte's elbow came from another angle.
Attack after attack continued to pour forth without end.