First Cry: Ripples of Causality

The darkness was thickest just before dawn, and the chill cut to the bone.

In the dense forest outside the Uchiha Clan Compound, a dozen or so figures gathered without a sound. All wore black, close-fitting outfits and masks, revealing only eyes that were either icy cold or burning with the flames of vengeance. Their suppressed killing intent filled the chilly air, silencing even the insects.

Uchiha Sou stood among them, feeling the hatred and resolve of his fellow clan members, almost tangible beside him. Yet his own heartbeat was unusually steady. Beneath his mask, his Two-Tomoe Sharingan quietly opened, capturing and analyzing everything around him—the tension in his companions' muscles, the subtle rhythm of their breathing, even the faintest changes in the light between the trees.

Izuna was leading the team. He wasted no words, giving only a sharp, concise hand signal.

"Move out."

A dozen or so figures melted silently into the dark forest like ghosts, racing toward a forward outpost of the Senju Clan.

Uchiha Sou followed close behind Izuna, using his Sharingan's perceptiveness to its fullest. His task wasn't to lead the assault, but to provide support, observe, and use his eyes to assist when necessary. It was Izuna's way of protecting him, as well as a test.

As they raced onward, he kept practicing. Not with any large movements, but with extremely subtle adjustments: when he landed, he placed his toes precisely on the most stable footholds, avoiding any dry branches that might snap. As he threaded through the branches, he used the barely perceptible "Causality deflection" to reduce the rustle of his clothes against the leaves, even subtly changing the direction of an occasional passing night owl's flight to keep it from crying out and alerting the enemy.

These minute adjustments put a tremendous strain on his mental strength and Dojutsu Power, but he gritted his teeth and kept going. Under the pressure of a real combat situation, he could feel his affinity with this ability slowly but surely improving.

Their target was a small fortress built against the mountainside, guarded by Senju Clan shinobi and overlooking an important supply trail.

The sky had only just begun to pale. It was the most exhausting time of night, when vigilance was likely at its lowest.

"Proceed as planned. Move!" Izuna's cold voice reached everyone through subtle vibrations in their Chakra.

Several Uchiha shinobi skilled in infiltration and assassination melted into the shadows and crept toward the watchtowers.

Uchiha Sou followed Izuna and several other main fighters, hiding in the bushes outside the outpost. His Sharingan fixed on the fortress entrance and patrol routes.

"Southeast corner: two patrols, crossing every fifteen seconds. West watchtower: one guard, armed with a crossbow. The front gate guards seem a little lax..."

He quickly reported his observations in the quietest voice possible, giving Izuna the information he needed to direct the operation.

Izuna gave a slight nod, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes. Sou's observations were even more meticulous and precise than he'd expected.

Soon, an extremely faint thud came from within the fortress, followed by the imitation call of some kind of nocturnal bird—the signal that the infiltrators had succeeded!

"Now!"

Izuna gave a low shout and charged at the front gate like a streak of shadow!

The battle erupted in an instant!

"Enemy attack! It's the Uchiha!" The Senju guards reacted swiftly and immediately sounded the alarm. A piercing whistle rang out through the dawn.

Kunai and shuriken flew back and forth like a torrential downpour. Fire Style and Earth Style collided with thunderous booms and flashes of flame. Screams, roars, and the blasts of ninjutsu shattered the mountain's silence in an instant.

Uchiha Sou stayed close to Izuna's side, his Two-Tomoe Sharingan spinning wildly. His main task wasn't to kill enemies, but to guard Izuna's flank and use his eyes to spot any potential threats.

A Senju Chunin launched a sudden attack from the side, his blade cutting sharply through the air. Sou's Sharingan instantly caught the subtle irregularity in the man's shoulder muscles as he put his strength behind the blow, predicting the path of his slash. "Lower left! There's an opening between the third and fourth ribs!" Sou called out, throwing his kunai with precision. Rather than aiming for a vital spot, he sent it toward the enemy's path, forcing him to change his move. Izuna had a wealth of combat experience. Almost as soon as Sou spoke, he thrust out his short blade like a venomous snake, striking the brief opening and cutting the man's throat!

Their coordination was flawless.

Another Senju shinobi tried to form Hand Seals behind them and unleash Water Style. Sou's Sharingan clearly caught the shift in the flow of his Chakra. "Behind us! Rooster—Goat—Monkey! Water Wave!" Sou rapidly called out the sequence of seals and the technique's name. Izuna didn't even look back. He fired several shuriken over his shoulder, disrupting the enemy's Hand Seals with pinpoint accuracy, while twisting his body in an unnatural way to evade the weakened surge of water.

In the chaos of battle, Sou's Two-Tomoe had proven far more useful than its level should have allowed. He was like a high-speed early-warning and support system, gathering and processing the battlefield's endless fragments of information, then turning them into the clearest, most effective commands and warnings, greatly improving Izuna's and his nearby teammates' combat efficiency.

He even began trying to use that ability amid the chaos.

A clan member was locked in a fierce clash with a Senju shinobi. The enemy was clearly stronger, and the clan member's blade was knocked aside, leaving him wide open! A bloodthirsty glint flashed in the Senju shinobi's eyes as he thrust straight at him! At that critical moment, Uchiha Sou fixed his gaze on a loose stone beneath the Senju shinobi's foot! His Dojutsu Power and mental strength surged with unprecedented intensity. "Fall!" He poured an exceptionally strong intention into the command!

The Senju shinobi's foot suddenly slipped. His thrust twisted out of shape, and he pitched forward, losing his balance! The Uchiha who had been on the verge of certain death froze for an instant, but his battle instincts made him seize the opportunity and slash back with all his strength!

A slash! Blood sprayed everywhere.

The Senju shinobi stared in disbelief at the blade that had pierced his chest, never understanding why he had suddenly slipped.

The rescued clan member looked toward Sou, still shaken. But Sou had already turned his gaze elsewhere. Beneath his mask, his face had gone slightly pale, and his breathing was ragged.

It had worked! But influencing a shinobi in the midst of intense movement cost far more than influencing a leaf—at least a hundred times as much! That single attempt had left him noticeably dizzy.

But there was no time to rest. The battle was still raging.

The Uchiha had the advantage of surprise and had sent out their best fighters. Though the shinobi left behind at the Senju outpost fought desperately, they were gradually being overwhelmed.

Izuna was like the god of death on the battlefield. Almost no one could withstand even one exchange with him. His Sharingan, superb swordsmanship, and Fire Style reaped lives as he went.

At last, the final Senju Jonin stubbornly resisting was swallowed by Izuna's flames, and the battle drew to a close.

The fortress was thick with the stench of blood and charred flesh.

"Clear the battlefield, gather intelligence, and prepare to withdraw!" Izuna ordered, his voice cold and utterly devoid of emotion.

Uchiha Sou panted lightly as he deactivated his Sharingan. A wave of exhaustion swept over him, both physical and mental. Maintaining his Two-Tomoe Sharingan and making intense observations and predictions had taken a toll, especially that final "intervention."

He looked at the carnage and bodies scattered across the ground, both Senju and Uchiha. A familiar clan member who had been fighting alongside them just moments ago lay motionless nearby, a kunai buried in his chest.

The cruelty of war had once again laid itself bare before him.

Yet the cold lake within him stirred very little. Was it because he had grown used to this? Or because these eyes had been born from hatred and death, and were now consuming some of his emotions as well?

He walked over to the clan member he had indirectly saved and held out a hand.

The man hesitated, then took his hand and got to his feet. His voice was hoarse. "About earlier... thanks."

"It was the least I could do." Sou shook his head. His voice sounded muffled through the mask.

He noticed a wound on the man's arm, deep enough to expose the bone and still bleeding. He took a hemostatic bandage from his ninja tool pouch and silently dressed the wound.

Just then, his gaze swept over the body of a Senju Genin nearby. He was still a boy, with a youthful, frightened face. A slash across his throat had killed him.

Sou's hands paused for an instant.

The extraordinary memory granted by his Sharingan instantly brought back the moment when the boy had tried to defend himself with an unpracticed Earth Style: Mud Wall. Izuna had casually broken through it with a Fire Style technique, making the boy stumble backward in fright, whereupon another Uchiha shinobi had finished him off without a second thought.

A nobody.

But in Sou's memory, the instant Izuna's Fire Style broke through the Mud Wall, the boy had stumbled backward in panic and seemed to have... tripped? The battlefield had been chaotic, and no one had noticed at the time.

Sou's pupils contracted slightly.

He clearly remembered that at that moment, he'd been wholly focused on helping Izuna deal with the enemies in front of them. Out of the corner of his eye, he'd seemed to glance in that direction by chance, and a fleeting thought had crossed his mind: "In the way."

Could a stray thought of his, combined with his newly strengthened but still unstable Dojutsu Power, have subtly deflected "Causality" in that moment of utter chaos?

Had it caused the tiny stumble beneath the boy's foot, making him fall right into the path of another Uchiha shinobi's attack and meet his death ahead of time?

The thought sent a chill through Uchiha Sou.

This power... It didn't seem to be completely under his conscious control. Could it activate on its own, influenced by his emotions and thoughts, even when he wasn't aware of them—as if it were a passive skill, subtly affecting those around him?

It was stronger than he'd imagined, and even more... uncanny and dangerous.

"What's wrong?" the wounded clan member asked in confusion when Sou's hands stopped moving.

"...Nothing." Uchiha Sou turned his gaze away and resumed bandaging the wound, burying his unease deep within himself.

He looked up at Izuna, who was directing the cleanup of the battlefield, then toward the sky, slowly brightening in the distance.

Dawn's light pierced the darkness and illuminated the blood-soaked battlefield, but it could not dispel the haze shrouding his heart—the haze brought on by these eyes and that unfathomable power.

The ripples of Causality had already spread. All he could do was grow stronger, until he could truly see—and perhaps even control—the direction in which those ripples flowed.

The dawn raid was only the first faint cry he had uttered in the long flames of war that consumed the Warring States era.