Hospitality

The fierce afternoon sun poured down on the training ground, where dozens of targets stood scattered about, each as thick as two people could encircle with their arms.

Most were covered in black scorch marks, silently telling of the Fire Style baptism they had endured.

Madara Uchiha stood in the middle of the field with his arms crossed, his scarlet Sharingan fixed on Izuna as he formed Hand Seals.

"Compress your chakra in your chest in an instant! There can't be the slightest delay between Hand Seals, Izuna!"

The back of Uchiha Izuna's clan robes was soaked with sweat, but he pressed his lips together and formed Hand Seals at a dazzling speed. "Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

A fireball roared forth like a falling meteor, the air warping in the heat wherever it passed.

Just as the raging flames were about to engulf the cluster of targets on the water,

the wooden post at the center suddenly gave an ominous series of cracks. The internal damage accumulated from previous Ninjutsu impacts had reached its limit!

Boom!!!

The deafening explosion shattered the training ground's silence. It was not the normal blast of a Ninjutsu striking its target.

The wooden post had exploded catastrophically under the combined pressure of heat and impact.

Izuna, closest to the center of the blast, bore the brunt of the burning fragments and the shock wave that distorted the air around them.

The reflection of the flames dancing in his irises suddenly grew larger as death closed in.

At this distance, there was not even time to form the seal for the Body Flicker Technique.

It all happened in the blink of an eye!

Utsusemi's pupils contracted sharply.

It was instinct, but also the inexplicable concern she felt for the brothers.

Her Tenseigan operated at full power, blue light shining in her eyes as Limitless took shape before her in an instant.

Just as the barrier was about to spread out and protect Izuna, the Tenseigan saw the turbulent flow of energy, the fundamental trajectory of matter breaking apart...

And a figure moving too fast for her to react!

Madara Uchiha's movement left an afterimage in the Tenseigan's field of vision. Just as the hot wind swept up Izuna's hair at his temples, Madara's dark battle haori descended around him like a barrier.

Burning debris came hurtling in amid a sonic boom cloud, piercing Madara's left shoulder blade.

It drew a hiss of charring flesh, and the rising mist of blood refracted rainbow colors in the sunlight.

Madara Uchiha held his younger brother's face firmly against his chest with one arm.

Although Limitless had activated a little slowly, it successfully canceled out the searing blast and explosive debris that followed.

The violent heat wave instantly flung open Madara's collar, which had come loose as he moved.

A gruesome old scar running across his left collarbone lay fully exposed under the glaring midday sun!

That scar... it was unmistakably the deepest wound, the one that had completely vanished when Utsusemi treated him with Yin-Yang Release by the river months ago!

Utsusemi's mind went blank, and the defensive barrier collapsed.

She all but stumbled over to Madara and seized his sturdy forearm.

"Why?! I clearly healed it back then! This scar... I already..."

Madara jolted as she seized his arm!

Chakra as violent as raging waves in an abyss surged out of him without warning!

The power was not directed at Utsusemi; it seemed more like a violent rejection of having his body touched!

"Ugh!" Utsusemi grunted. Limitless, which she had instinctively activated again, shielded her from the surging chakra.

Madara Uchiha spun around, his wild black hair whipping in the heat as his scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan locked onto Utsusemi.

Rage churned in his eyes, along with the cold killing intent of someone whose secret had been exposed, and an almost imperceptible look of discomposure.

"Wait!" Utsusemi hurried after them, shouting bluntly at the Uchiha brothers' backs.

She used the Body Flicker Technique to cut the Uchiha brothers off. "Giving up after one failure? This is Yin-Yang Release, which touches on the Sage of Six Paths' domain!

"The old wound on your lower back is devouring newly generated chakra!"

Uchiha Izuna's fingers tightened on his brother's arm, and the sound of tearing fabric pierced the silence.

The gruesome scar lay exposed beneath the setting sun, blue-black veins winding beneath the skin like living things.

Utsusemi said, "Your brother has a curse of the same origin buried inside him!"

Madara Uchiha said, "Explain."

Utsusemi pressed two fingers to her forehead. "Mutated energy... mixed with mutually opposing life forces?"

She frowned in confusion. "It's like... they're eating away at each other?"

Uchiha Izuna pulled back his bracer, revealing blue-black veins on the old wound on his forearm that shared the same origin as those around Madara's scar. "Brother took this wound for me a year ago. It suddenly started stinging recently."

Madara Uchiha's gaze swept over the two of them. He threw his battle haori onto the sand. "Treat us."

Chakra wound around Izuna's arm, and a pungent, bloody mist suddenly rose from the sand.

As the corrupted energy was drawn out of Madara, the curse patterns receded like the tide, and the wounds all over his body healed at a visible rate.

The grievous wound piercing his left shoulder blade, in particular, healed completely, even the texture of his skin returning to normal.

Madara adjusted his robes with a lightness he had not felt in a long time.

Utsusemi handed Madara a specially made tablet, a device she had modified with her Ninjutsu and Yin-Yang Release.

She had dismantled the device until only its core communication module remained. Two Tomoe-shaped chakra receivers were embedded on either side of the screen, and it had to follow the principle of yin and yang giving rise to each other precisely.

One side supplied Yin Release Chakra to establish a mental link, while the other supplied Yang Release power to materialize sound-wave transmission.

Because the balance between the two changes in chakra nature had to be precise, she had even used the Tenseigan's microscopic abilities to make them. In the end, this was the only pair she had produced.

She had not expected the flashy but impractical invention to become the sole link between two worlds.

"Activate it with your Yin Power and you can contact me." Utsusemi's sharp gaze fixed on Madara. "Too much Yang Power will burn out the circuitry."

Utsusemi's fingers brushed so lightly over the pulsing veins at Madara's wrist that they barely seemed to touch.

It was a reenactment of the way he had grasped Utsusemi's wrist to check her chakra months ago.

Utsusemi pressed the tablet into his palm. "Too little Yin Power... and it won't start. Surely the great Uchiha Clan Head can control his chakra?"

She gave a warning sneer. "If you dare damage it, you'll lose the friendship of a top physician forever. Now..."

She leaned close and wound a lock of Madara's long hair around her fingers. "Now... shouldn't you show your friend some hospitality?"

Madara Uchiha let her wind more of his hair around her fingertips and replied in a low, husky voice, "I... won't break it."

Uchiha Izuna's Sharingan spun rapidly as he tried to catch some clue from the subtle atmosphere between them.

Morning light cast crisscrossing shadows across the corridors of the Uchiha Clan Compound, with Madara walking at the front.

Whenever they passed one of the clan's secret facilities, he paused briefly and explained its function to her in a low voice.

Uchiha Izuna kept half a step away, his seemingly respectful position blocking her route of retreat. The red light of his Three-Tomoe Sharingan remained fixed on the figure before him.

"These mechanisms haven't been used since they were built." Madara ran a hand over the mottled kunai marks on a corridor pillar, then turned to look at Utsusemi.

"But the Uchiha have never lowered their guard." Izuna rubbed the guard of his sword. "Brother made a point of showing you the entire compound. I hope you will... properly understand the sincerity of that gesture, Lady Utsusemi."

"The Medical Division says her chakra can rebuild meridians?"

"Lord Madara actually explained the clan's history himself. That's a first."

"Even more amazing, the clan head personally led her on a tour of Naka Shrine..."

Several children of the Uchiha Clan huddled behind a cherry tree, talking among themselves.

Utsusemi's fingers trembled around the tablet. Those voices had been deliberately lowered so the Uchiha brothers could not hear them.

Her Tenseigan picked them up passively, a constant stream of scattered information pouring in.

The stiff backs at the edge of the training ground, the Intelligence Division's concealed sentries hanging upside down from branches, and the children's whispers all made her Tenseigan involuntarily contract.

It seemed she should not stay long at the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Citing her need to go home, she politely declined the Uchiha brothers' invitation to lunch.

"Lady Utsusemi." Izuna's voice came from beneath the corridor eaves, sunlight shining on the pouch of payment in his hand.

He stepped half a pace forward. "This is your fee for the diagnosis and treatment."

Madara Uchiha stood half a step behind his brother, a rare gentle expression on his face.

He held out a packet of medicinal herbs. "The clan just picked these. Please take some with you."

"Izuna." Utsusemi laughed and reached out to take the packet. "Just keep calling me Utsusemi. There's no need for honorifics."

A tarnished silver coin was mixed in with the payment in the pouch Uchiha Izuna handed her.

When the familiar dent pressed against her palm, she understood the Uchiha-style farewell.

They had used a silver coin tied to a shared memory to lay the groundwork for their reunion.

Utsusemi's short boots stepped across the moss by the river, her Tenseigan operating at full power.

She surveyed all the information within a thousand meters, with a full 360-degree view and no blind spots.

Only after confirming that there was not even a waterbird around did she teleport back to the Spacetime Tower.

In the Spacetime Tower's laboratory, she gazed at two masses trying to merge into a single blue-black substance.

Under the Spacetime Tower's immense power, the substance had solidified into a new piece of "amber."

"A mutual-consumption... fusion curse?" Utsusemi murmured. "One person's life is transferred to another... blood relatives devouring each other?"

"What on earth did the Uchiha provoke?"