The Moment of Awakening

Land of Rain.

The torrential rain poured down like a waterfall, as if nothing remained in the world but the sound of the downpour.

Tsunade and Kizashi Mokume moved rapidly through the curtain of rain, yet an ominous premonition had already risen in Tsunade's heart; everything was identical to the scene when Dan Katō died years ago.

Please, Iori, survive. I beg you, survive! Tsunade prayed silently in her heart.

But no matter how Tsunade prayed, reality was always ruthless; what she did not want to see had already come to pass.

At the destination, Tsunade saw Uchiha Iori's body at a glance. His arm was severed, his chest had caved in, and his entire body was covered in blood.

He was gasping his last breaths on the ground, waiting for Tsunade's arrival.

Tsunade rushed over and knelt on the ground to look at Iori's injuries. For some reason, the blood this time was exceptionally bright red, triggering her hemophobia once again.

She knelt beside Iori, her hands trembling powerlessly. She wanted to hold Iori's hand, but could only watch as his hand slipped from hers again and again.

"Don't cry. You aren't such a fragile person," Iori said weakly. He wanted to raise his hand to stroke Tsunade's cheek, but his body no longer had the strength to support the movement.

Watching his actions, Tsunade felt strength return to her body. She picked up Iori's hand and pressed the back of it against her cheek.

"I'm sorry... cough, I haven't been able to become Hokage yet... cough, cough... and now I'm going to die," Iori said intermittently, blood entering his trachea through the wound, making his words incoherent.

"No, I will save you." Tsunade took a deep breath and found that her body had returned to her control; the symptoms of her hemophobia were fading away.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Tsunade summoned Katsuyu to assist with her medical ninjutsu. She had never been so focused; her Mystical Palm Technique had surpassed her past self.

Yet, Iori's injuries were simply too severe. Even for a master of medicine, the damage to his internal organs was beyond repair.

"Sorry, it seems I still won't make it," Iori smiled weakly.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have given you the necklace. It's a curse... it's a curse..." Tsunade sobbed uncontrollably, regretting her attempt to test him.

Even if it were fake, what did it matter? She still couldn't see through it, and if it were real, wouldn't she have caused the death of her lover once again?

"Take the necklace back, Tsunade," Iori said weakly.

"Although it's shameless to say this, I still want to say it: please inherit my dream and become Hokage."

"You are the proof that I once lived. Please carry my share and live on even better."

Having said this, Iori's hand completely lost its strength. His breathing stopped forever, and the Grim Reaper took his soul.

"Why, why..." Tsunade cried. She had finally overcome her hemophobia, but the price was losing her lover once again.

She slowly removed the necklace from Iori's neck and put it back around her own.

"Iori, I will live on well with your share. You said I am the proof that you lived," Tsunade said sadly, clutching the necklace.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The sound of a mirror shattering rang out continuously, and Tsunade was momentarily stunned.

The effects of the genjutsu began to fade, and she could finally think about the loopholes in the illusory world.

Why did she talk to Iori so naturally? Why did she only go to places she had impressions of, while the places where her memories were blurred were always bypassed?

Why were all other memories so vague, except for those spent with Iori?

And why, despite seeing blood before, had her hemophobia never been triggered?

Another Uchiha Iori slowly walked out from the side; he seemed not to exist in this world.

The rain filling the sky and the stirred-up dust passed directly through his body, as if he were a ghost.

"Is this a genjutsu?" Tsunade's tone was low. She was unwilling to accept reality; her experiences with Iori were too real and beautiful.

"That's right. This is a genjutsu I created myself. Nice to meet you, or rather, nice to meet you again, Tsunade," Iori sighed.

The Uchiha Iori in the illusion was also him. He had split a portion of his soul and filled it into the genjutsu to ensure his control over the dream world.

Therefore, he felt everything experienced in the illusion as well; both of them were him.

"Bastard, are you playing with me!" Tsunade was furious. She gathered chakra into her fist and struck at Iori—it was her signature technique, the Strength of a Hundred Technique.

As Tsunade's primary combat ninjutsu, it could easily shatter the earth and had once beaten Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, to the brink of death.

"I didn't mean it that way. This genjutsu is bidirectional; that Uchiha Iori is also me—a part of me."

Having long been familiar with Tsunade's attack patterns within the illusion, Iori dodged skillfully and replied.

"Why do this? Why use yourself to replace Dan?" Tsunade asked, puzzled. Now that she understood everything in the past was an illusion, it was hard for her to face Iori.

"Naturally, it was to make it easier to control the pace of the treatment. My goal was to cure your hemophobia. If it wasn't cured at the root, it might have flared up again later."

Iori certainly wouldn't reveal his full thoughts; he couldn't exactly say he was also taking the opportunity to covet her body.

Tsunade was half-doubting, but with no way to disprove it, she could only say to Iori: "Since my illness is cured, dispel the genjutsu."

"It is already being dispelled. It's just that after developing it, this is the first time I've used this technique on someone else, so I'm not very proficient," Iori said.

This technique was based on his Mangekyo ocular powers, with inspiration drawn from the Uchiha clan's forbidden techniques, Izanami, and the legendary genjutsu, Infinite Tsukuyomi.

The principle was to use ocular power to construct a world approaching reality, where all of the target's subconscious would contribute to the authenticity of the world. Without equal spiritual power, it was absolutely impossible to see through.

If Iori hadn't split himself to enter the illusion, the direction of the dream would have been entirely controlled by Tsunade, and she would have been forever locked within her own ideal life.

In the distance, the world gradually shattered, drawing closer to where Tsunade and Iori stood.

At this moment, Tsunade could not help but take a step forward. "Then how do you view this world? Is everything we experienced completely fake?"

"That depends on how you think about it. I can only guarantee that the Uchiha Iori who is with you is also me; the emotions he invested were entirely sincere, and his blessings were as well."

"Only by entering this world completely could I control the trajectory of this world. Everything he displayed was the real me."

As soon as Iori's voice fell, the world shattered completely.

Tsunade opened her eyes to find herself sitting on the bed, with Iori sitting on the chair opposite her, while Shizune and Yakushi Nonō watched her with concerned expressions nearby.

"Lady Tsunade, you're awake! Are you alright?" Shizune asked excitedly. The duration of the genjutsu had not been long, but they had felt as though every second was a year.

"I am fine. Who is he?" Tsunade looked at Iori with a complex expression, unsure of how to face him.

Was this truly just an illusory dream, or was it another possibility? She could not tell the difference.