Awakening

There was no oppressive sky overhead, no earth to support it; only the void remaining after a dream drowned spread, silently filling the entire world.

The ground beneath my feet was a flowing rainbow, constantly rolling up and then dispersing, occasionally coalescing into a few harsh and sharp edges.

Like bones piercing through skin, or like a flower's most ferocious bloom before decay.

Those sharp edges melted before they could take shape, and the rainbow light twisted again, swirling in mid-air to form a strange halo, vaguely resembling the eerie lines scattered from Ukiyo-e, convulsing, curling, and entangled into an unrecognizable scene.

At the highest point of this chaos, a floating island hangs alone.

On the island, a human figure rose from the ground, like a layer of gray skin being peeled off from wet mud.

He stood up, his whole body trembling violently, as if every bone was struggling against his muscles. His black eyes darted around blankly, looking in all directions, but he couldn't really see anything.

A gray mist dripped from his body in wisps, like tattered pieces of cloth falling from a torn cloak.

Just as he managed to stand up straight, his shadow shrinking into a deformed little dot on the ground, a barely perceptible breeze flowed from the depths of the rainbow light.

A person dressed in green approached, stepping on the flowing color. The clothing resembled the skin of some living creature, its surface shimmering with a dull, oily sheen.

His eyes were a scorching gold, and when he looked directly at me, they seemed like two red-hot needles trying to pierce the mist deep within my black pupils.

The Setsuna their eyes met, the back of his shirt was suddenly ripped open.

From the breach, a blackness thicker and heavier than the surrounding nothingness surged forth.

The blackness rapidly elongated, stretched, and shaped, silently unfurling a pair of enormous wings.

His wings opened and closed slightly behind him, stirring up the surrounding Rainbow-colored air currents, causing the bizarre and fantastical phantoms to distort and scatter.

The man in green stopped, his golden eyes narrowing slightly.

The chaotic scene suddenly froze for a moment.

The weightless dream resonated deeply in the trembling of the wingtips, while the Rainbow-colored earth beneath their feet began to silently crumble and fall, plummeting into a deeper, endless void.

On the isolated island high above, the boy with jet-black wings slowly raised his head.

--Were you affected?

--That won't do.

--We can't let him... awaken.

Time rewinds to dusk.

When Madara returned home after his meeting at noon, the first thing he did was to pull Izuna out of bed and take her to the bathroom.

Having been away from home for several days, and having spent so much time lying in Tobirama's Laboratory, Izuna was covered in the smell of disinfectant, and his hair was mixed with fine sand and dust brought back from the battlefield. He was too dirty and needed to be washed properly.

Madara scrubbed him from head to toe, carefully avoiding his eyes while washing his hair. After he finished, the water in the bathtub was hot, so he stuffed Izuna into the tub and then washed himself clean.

After taking a bath, Madara lifted Izuna out of the tub, dried her off, changed her into clean clothes, and tucked her back into the blankets.

Izuna remained asleep throughout the entire process, only slightly frowning as she was tucked into the blanket before settling back into steady breathing.

Madara noticed this and couldn't help but smile, finally putting his mind at ease.

It seems Izuna will wake up soon.

Ban threw his dirty clothes into the bamboo basket, rolled up his sleeves, and began cleaning the house.

I haven't been back for several days. A thin layer of dust has settled on the tatami mats, and fallen leaves blown in by the wind have accumulated in the corner of the Outer Corridor.

He swept the floor, wiped the tatami mats with a damp cloth, removed the dried flowers from the vase and threw them away, replacing them with clean water.

The Rice Barrel in the kitchen was empty. He mentally noted that he needed to buy rice tomorrow, and then started cooking dinner.

Miso Soup, grilled fish, and white rice. He used chopsticks to pick out the bones from the grilled fish one by one, and kept another portion warm on the stove for Izuna to eat when he woke up.

He ate his meal sitting on the porch, washed the dishes, wiped the stove, and hung up his apron.

By the time I finished doing all that, it was already dark.

He held his teacup and pushed open the paper door to the bedroom, intending to check if Izuna was awake.

But Izuna wasn't there.

The blanket was pulled back, and the pillow still bore the dent from Izuna's head pressing against it.

He reached his hand into the blankets and touched it; the lingering warmth indicated that the person had only been gone a short time ago.

Madara straightened up, his Sharingan automatically activated, and the Mitsudomoe slowly rotated in the twilight.

He scanned the tightly closed windows and the paper doors, finding no signs of damage, except that a pair of Waraji were missing from the courtyard.

No one had come in; Izuna went out on his own.

But why didn't you come looking for me after you woke up?

Is something urgent? Even if you're in a hurry, you'd still have time to call him, wouldn't you?

And Izuna? Izuna is currently in the sky.

While Madara was in the kitchen, Izuna was awakened by a strange itching sensation on her back.

Consciousness slowly rose from the abyss of chaos, like swimming upstream from very deep black water.

He vaguely felt himself lying on soft bedding, covered with a thin blanket.

He closed his eyes, enjoying the softness of the bedding and the aroma of food in the air.

Ban was making dinner; he could smell the Miso Soup and grilled fish.

Looks like we'll be able to eat soon! So happy!

Then my back started to itch again.

An itch that seemed to seep into his bones made him grimace. He rolled over, reached behind him and scratched haphazardly. When his fingertips touched his shoulder blade, something moved beneath his skin.

Izuna suddenly opened his eyes.

Before he could even react to what was happening, the itching on his back suddenly transformed into a feeling of release.

It felt like something stretched and expanded at the location of his shoulder blades, and then with a "plop," it sprang out of his body.

A pair of wings.

The enormous wings almost filled half the room. They were as black as raven feathers, with a thin layer of iridescent Rainbow-colored flowing across their surface, shimmering in the dimly lit bedroom as if a small patch of starry sky had been condensed onto each feather.

It looks pretty good.

But these are fucking wings!

Izuna subconsciously reached back to touch his back, his fingertips brushing against feathers. And with a thought, the wings actually flapped slightly, creating a faint feeling of levitation.

Holy crap! Those are wings! Have I turned into some kind of Yōkai? What is this?!

He didn't notice that his clothes were intact and showed no signs of being torn.

He stood frozen in place, his mind racing.

However, this absolutely cannot be seen by Madara! I have no idea why this happened! It doesn't make sense in the story!

Wait, why am I still thinking about the settings!

Although Ban probably wouldn't think much of it, and probably wouldn't care about it, he might even find it amusing.

But this thing is too strange! I can't let anyone see it until I figure it out!

He frantically opened the panel, and among the densely packed blue and red dots on the map, a red dot marked "Madara Uchiha" was right next to him, less than five meters away.

He threw back the covers and tried to silently repeat in his mind, "Wings, go back, wings, go back, wings, go back," but the wings remained unmoved.

Even when he tried to pry it open with his hands, it fanned him, creating a small gust of wind that made him stumble backward and almost fall.

Giao!

Just then, a system notification popped up.

Temporary Task:

Head towards the top of Hokage Rock.

Izuna:?

No, why are you suddenly asking me to go there? Is there anything there?

Sigh, whatever, I need to lay low for a while anyway, I'll just go out and talk about it later!

He tiptoed to his feet, walked barefoot across the tatami mats, and pushed open the paper door to the bedroom.

Behind the bedroom was the courtyard. He squatted down, picked up the slippers from the ground, and prepared to slip out quietly.

Just as he picked up his shoes to put them on, he heard the sound of a paper door being pushed open behind him.

Izuna's heart rate instantly spiked to 180, with only one thought in mind.

Get out of here!

The moment that thought crossed his mind, he flapped his wings sharply.

Izuna felt a force erupt from his back, pulling him off the ground. In an instant, the Outer Corridor, the courtyard, and Madara's face shrank into an overhead view.

The sound of the wind filled his ears, and the streets of Konoha unfolded beneath his feet; he took flight.

"...?!" Izuna looked down at the rapidly shrinking ground, then turned to look at the wings flapping vigorously at him, and his brain went blank again.

Holy crap! It works?!

Izuna hovered in mid-air, looking down at Konoha.

As dusk bathed the entire village in a deep blue light, lights began to twinkle in the streets and alleys. The smoke from the cooking fires on the Commercial Street had not yet dissipated, and a few children, no bigger than ants, chased and played in the street.

He had never seen Konoha from this angle before, and the more he looked, the more novel it became.

So this is what Konoha looks like from Pain's perspective... cough, don't even think about it.

The wind whizzed through the feathers of the wings, carrying a strange and wonderful sensation that made one feel lightheaded.

He saw Madara's figure rush out of his front door and use Body Flicker Technique to dash towards the Commercial Street.

The deep blue shadow moved so fast in the twilight that it was just a blur, disappearing into the corner of the alley in the blink of an eye.

Izuna hovered in mid-air, his wings flapping silently to keep his body suspended in the air.

He looked apologetically in the direction where Ban had disappeared.

Ban Ge was looking for him. Ban Ge had just returned from the battlefield and hadn't even caught his breath yet. Dinner was still warm on the stove when Ban Ge rushed out to search for him all over the village.

He hid in the sky without even saying hello; he really has no conscience.

But he can't go down now.

He had no idea what the wings were, why they were on his body, or whether they would harm anyone else.

He didn't want to bring any potential danger back to Ban Ge before he understood the situation.

After calming down, Izuna realized that he was still wearing his clothes.

You should know that Sasuke has to take off his clothes before activating the Cursed Seal, otherwise such big wings would definitely tear his clothes.

However, surprisingly, when he unfolded his clothes, they were not damaged.

What's strange is that the wings have a real tactile feel. When the wings flap, he can clearly feel that he is exerting force, and he can clearly feel the wind blowing across the wings.

This means that it has a physical form.

But how can something with a physical form grow from inside the body without damaging clothing?

And he seemed to know how to use those wings from the very beginning... Could this be some kind of cheat code?

But this cheat code is too weird! Isn't it a bit too late to unlock it now? If I had known it from the beginning, I could have Isshiki mastered it!

Sigh, never mind, let's just follow the system tasks for now.

He gathered his thoughts, and with a thought, tilted his wings slightly and glided towards the direction of the Hokage Rock.