Izumi Uchiha

Yue stood to one side, looking at the scorched earth and silently grumbling to himself.

Great Fireball Technique?

Making him learn that was like asking a college student to study addition and subtraction.

"Yes, Lady Izumi." Hikari obediently stepped aside. Judging by the look of things, she really did intend to listen to Izumi and watched Yue.

Boom!

The instant he heard those four words, it felt as though a heavy hammer had slammed into Yue's brain!

He shot to his feet, uncontrollable shock erupting in his only remaining right eye.

Izumi... Uchiha?!

Yue's breathing stopped completely.

How could he, a transmigrator, not know that name?!

In the scarce historical records and top-secret files of later generations, that name represented an indelible legend from the Warring States Period of the Uchiha Clan.

She was one of the very few women in the Uchiha Clan to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan!

She was a peerless genius who had created the other inescapable ultimate genjutsu, Izanami, to save her clansmen, who had become so obsessed with Izanagi that they were slaughtering one another in their madness!

In the dark Uchiha Clan, she was the only clear-eyed, compassionate light!

No wonder... No wonder she's so gently out of place. No wonder she took the initiative to teach us, weapons treated as expendable...

Yue's heart surged like a storm-tossed sea.

I see... Perhaps this is the real reason Yagokoro Omoikane brought me here.

Yue forced down his shock, the corner of his mouth curling with barely concealed madness and delight.

How many secret techniques and ninjutsu did a genius like Izumi Uchiha know in her old age?

Perhaps even she didn't know.

"Since it's Lady Izumi's guidance, I'll do my best."

Yue hid his delight and deliberately adopted a tone that was still arrogant, but carried a hint of respect.

He took a deep breath and rapidly formed Hand Seals.

Snake—Ram—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Boom!

A huge, dark-red fireball roared forth. It was even larger than the one Izumi had released earlier, and slammed into a distant tree trunk with a deafening boom. Waves of heat rolled out, instantly drying the leaves around it.

"The power is decent—quite good. At your age, my Great Fireball Technique probably couldn't have matched yours."

"It seems I made an unfounded assumption. You don't really need much instruction when it comes to ninjutsu."

She stooped as she walked slowly in front of Yue, then lightly touched a withered finger to his eye.

"Visual prowess is the manifestation of the spirit. Empty your mind."

Feeling the extremely cool Yin Release Chakra at his eye, as if it could soothe the wounds in his soul, Yue's heart gave a violent thump.

What profound mastery of Yin Release!

Was this the genius who created Izanami?

With just a casual touch, he could already feel that both his left and right eyes had improved considerably.

His left eye could even sense changes in the light now. If he didn't care about the cost, he should be able to use Yagokoro Omoikane twice more.

If he could learn her understanding of Yin Release and spiritual energy, and combine it with the hazy idea sparked earlier by the Spring of Returning Light,

then he could surely find the perfect breakthrough for his left eye's depleted visual prowess, and even for fusing Senjutsu Chakra from the Dragon Vein in the future!

"Thank you for the lesson." Yue lowered his head, concealing every trace of calculation in his eyes.

Nearby, Hikari stood dumbfounded, clutching her food box as she watched Yue, usually so arrogant and overbearing, behaving as meekly as a cat being petted. A rare look of utter confusion flashed in her eyes.

Her mind, closed off for so long, couldn't begin to understand why this man changed his tune faster than turning a page.

As if he sensed Hikari's gaze, Yue turned and glared at her in irritation, pretending he was about to knock her on the head.

Startled by his glare, Hikari instinctively shrank her neck and silently took a bite of the rice ball in her arms. Her cheeks puffed out slightly, like a hamster guarding its food, but she stubbornly turned her face away and ignored him.

Watching their seemingly bickering exchange, which nonetheless carried a faint sense of warmth and life, Izumi Uchiha's wrinkled face softened into a kindly smile.

She had lived too long—long enough to witness the Uchiha Clan's darkest, most frenzied history.

Clansmen who had slaughtered one another through their overuse of Izanagi, souls lost amid endless genjutsu and reality...

With the light of one eye and the inescapable Izanami, she had forcibly pulled her clan back from the edge of the precipice.

But the Uchiha Clan was still terribly sick.

To dominate the Warring States Period, the elders had begun ruthlessly exploiting gifted youngsters like Hikari and Yue more than ever. The clan's merciless war machine had hitched one Uchiha after another to its wheels.

Their pride and honor in the clan made those wheels turn faster and faster, until they began crushing the Uchiha who couldn't keep up.

"You two are both poor children, crushed beneath the wheels of the clan's war machine."

Izumi turned around, clasped her hands behind her back, and looked up at a ray of sunlight breaking through the clouds. Her voice carried endless sorrow.

"Since she was little, Hikari has been treated like a weapon. Her emotions were taken from her, and no one was willing to patiently teach her even basic ninjutsu. And you, Yue... your right eye is already on the verge of exhaustion, while your left eye has gone blind. I imagine you've endured plenty of pain as well."

At those words, every nerve in Yue's body instinctively tensed.

"Don't be nervous, child." Izumi turned to him, wisdom that seemed to see through everything shining in her one remaining eye. "This old woman's eyes may be old, but I've seen plenty in my time."

"I can't free you from being tools, but perhaps I can give you a place to let your emotions out. If one day you feel lost or angry, or don't know what you're fighting for, this old woman's experience might point you a little way forward."

"That may be the only thing I can do for you."

It's also the only thing I can do for the Uchiha Clan, Izumi silently added.

She wanted to cure the Uchiha Clan of its illness, but in her old age, she no longer had the strength. If she didn't have a Mangekyō, she wouldn't even have a place among the Uchiha leadership.

She wanted to entrust her hopes to these two young people who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, but who would welcome a duty forced upon them?

Especially when it meant saving a clan like the Uchiha.

In the end, she didn't say it aloud.

All she wanted now was for these two promising young people to know that there was still at least a little warmth within the Uchiha Clan.

That was the one small thing she could still do for them.

"It's getting late. I should be going too..." Izumi hadn't finished speaking when—

A harsh command rang out.

"Tools Hikari and Yue, you have a mission. Get over here, now."