Dance * Practice

Izuna turned his head and looked at Mokushō's face, which was mostly covered by Talisman Paper.

The red pupils on the paper glowed faintly in the twilight, quietly gazing back at him, waiting for his answer.

"Transcendence?" Izuna repeated the word.

He never imagined that the word would come out of Mokushō's mouth.

I've seen it countless times in Anime and games in my past life: monks chanting sutras, Onmyōji drawing talismans, Miko dancing the Kagura dance—it's all the same idea.

Sending the deceased on their way brings peace to the living.

But he never imagined that one day he would actually need to learn this.

"Hmm." Mokushō tilted his head. "Aren't you feeling down? Since you'll be on stage at the Memorial Service anyway, why not show us something real?"

Izuna glanced at the sky.

The sunset had faded from orange-red to dark purple, and lights were starting to appear sporadically in the direction of the Commercial Street. If he lingered any longer, Brother Ban would probably have to search the whole village for him.

"Can I learn it all in one day? I remember watching 'Kamisama Kiss' back then, Nanami Momozono took almost Half a Month to learn that dance."

Mokushō's attention completely wandered. "You watch shoujo anime?"

"So what if I like watching it?" Izuna said expressionlessly. "Nanami Momozono is my first love."

Mokushō let out a muffled chuckle, but after being glared at by Izuna, he wisely cleared his throat and steered the conversation back on track. "That's different. She's dancing Prayer Dance, which is difficult to learn from scratch. You're learning a Transcendence for the deceased, which doesn't really require dancing, and it's not starting from scratch."

"Just open your Rhythm Game System, practice your sword skills, and sing some songs. The only problem is you'll have to manually play the Accompaniment."

Izuna was shocked. "You knew I had a system?!"

"I am a product of the system!" Mokushō shouted loudly.

Izuna then realized that this guy was someone he had pulled from the system's Summoning Array by flipping in Five-yen Coin. To say that he had nothing to do with the system would be truly bizarre.

"Alright then. Shall we begin training now?"

"Aren't you going to tell your brother first? If he comes looking for you and sees you swinging a sword at thin air and singing in the middle of nowhere, he'll probably think you're possessed by something again."

Izuna thought about it and realized that Mokushō said made a lot of sense.

He immediately formed a Shadow Clone hand seal, and the clone turned and rushed towards the Uchiha Clan Compound without stopping.

Watching his clone leap around so gracefully, Izuna suddenly realized, "No wonder Madara reacted so strongly. If it were me, I would have thought I'd been Possession too."

Shortly after, Madara received the message.

He sat at the dining table, where two sets of bowls and chopsticks were laid out. The steam from the Miso Soup had almost stopped rising, and the surface of the grilled fish had gone from crispy to somewhat soft.

He was waiting for Izuna to come home for dinner, but he also knew that after visiting those dozen or so places today, Izuna probably wouldn't be home on On Time.

After all, Izuna never liked to show his vulnerable side in front of him, so he would definitely compose himself before going home.

Although Madara really wanted to go out and look for someone, he didn't want to embarrass Izuna, so he could only wait there.

After listening to the Shadow Clone's relayed message, Madara asked where it was. Upon receiving the answer, he nodded and told the Shadow Clone to go back and report.

After the Shadow Clone vanished with a bang, Madara got up, took the two dinners back to the kitchen, reheated them, made a few Rice Balls, wrapped them in a cloth, and went out with the bento boxes.

He followed the directions left by his Shadow Clone through Konoha's Commercial Street and turned onto the mountain road leading to the Training Ground.

Dusk had completely fallen, and the woods were pitch black. Ban skillfully avoided obstacles and headed towards the secluded Training Ground.

Before he even reached the edge of the Training Ground, he suddenly saw a beam of light hurtling towards him.

A soft, warm light spread from in front of him, penetrating his body and extending into the distance.

Ban quickened his pace and stopped beside a Cedar Tree near the edge of the Training Ground.

Izuna stood in the center of the Training Ground.

He held a wooden stick in his hand and stretched his body out in the open space.

Each swing was as slow as gliding underwater, the hem of her clothes swaying gently as she turned, and the soles of her shoes making a soft rustling sound as they rolled over the gravel.

Then Madara saw a light, identical to the warm light from before, slowly seeping out from Izuna's body.

With each movement, the light shone brighter, as if a silent rhythm emanated from within him, spreading outward with the pace of his movements.

When the light brushed across Ban's arm, he instinctively tried to dodge, but the light was faster than his reaction and had already engulfed his body.

Meanwhile, Izuna seemed to be singing something haltingly.

Whether it is the time of parting or the time of seeing someone off,

Beneath the lingering warmth of the ripples, scars always remain.

Although the pain is unbearable whenever I think of it,

Yet she still kept this pain hidden in her heart.

Ban Xin thought to herself, "As expected of my brother's singing, it's really good."

Even though he still wanted to enjoy his younger brother's singing, he still interrupted Izuna.

"Izuna!"

Izuna stopped and looked at him.

Madara held up the bento box in his hand and waved it. "Eat your meal first, then practice."

Izuna ran to his side with a big smile.

"Hehe, I knew Madara would dote on me." Izuna sat on a rock by the Training Ground, eating his bento box.

Ban sat down next to him, watched him wolf down his food, and handed him the water bottle.

Izuna took the bottle, drank two mouthfuls, and then continued eating.

Ban waited until he had almost finished eating before speaking, "Was that something you were practicing Transcendence?"

"Hmm." Izuna stuffed the last bite of Rice Ball into her mouth and mumbled a response. "Mokushō said it would be useful at the Memorial Service, and it's not difficult to learn, it's very simple."

Ban frowned as he listened. "Mokushō... who is that?"

Izuna paused for a moment.

Mokushō was clearly sitting on the rock on the other side of him, but Ban Ge's gaze swept in that direction without lingering.

He instantly understood what Mokushō meant by having a weak sense of presence.

It's better not to let Brother Ban remember, so we don't have to explain a bunch of things he can't explain at all.

"Well, it was just a Biwa Hōshi I met on the road," Izuna casually lied. "People like them are always involved in weddings and funerals; you can't go wrong with them for Transcendence or anything like that."

Ban vaguely felt that this wasn't the case.

He instinctively wanted to press for answers, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a flaw in the story. In the end, he chose to believe Izuna and followed Izuna's words to steer the conversation back to the song.

"The part you sang just now was quite beautiful. The lyrics were good too," Ban recalled. "'Whether it's the time of parting or the time of seeing someone off, there are always scars hidden beneath the lingering warmth of the ripples,' beautiful lyrics."

"Right?" Izuna grinned. "This song is actually one of my favorites from a long time. I never thought I'd have the chance to sing it someday... though it's not a great opportunity."

Madara placed his palm on Izuna's head and gently rubbed it.