What Use Was Mahoraga's Wheel

On the grass by the lake, Yakumo Kurama was bent over, weaving a flower crown.

Footsteps sounded behind her.

Yakumo didn't turn around. She simply lifted the flower crown in her hands and held it up to the sunlight.

"You're late, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke stepped out from the shade of the trees and stopped behind her.

"You knew?" Sasuke asked.

"I knew ages ago. We've met so many times; I'm not that stupid, am I?" Yakumo rose and turned to face him, holding the flower crown she had just finished.

She was a little taller than she had been three years ago. Her complexion was no longer as pale, and her cheeks had a touch of color.

The sash of her plain kimono was tied neatly, and her hair was loosely bound behind her with a ribbon.

"Uchiha Sasuke." Yakumo repeated the name, the corners of her mouth tightening a little. "It sounds pretty nice."

Then she rose onto her toes and placed the flower crown right on Sasuke's head.

Daisy pollen brushed his forehead, and a few willow twigs dangled by his ears. The crown fit perfectly.

She had clearly woven it knowing the size of Sasuke's head.

Sasuke raised a hand to take it off.

"Don't move." Yakumo gently pressed down on his wrist. "This is your punishment."

"For what?"

"For making me think you were a girl at first."

Yakumo let go and stepped back. She folded her arms and looked Sasuke up and down, then nodded in satisfaction at the flower crown on his head.

"You had Escaping Rabbit tell me your name was Megumi. How could anyone hear that name and not think it belonged to a girl?"

"I even drew a picture of you, talked to it every day, wove a flower crown for it, and—"

She suddenly stopped, her cheeks turning faintly red as she forced the rest of her words back down.

Sasuke touched the edge of the flower crown with his fingers, but in the end, he didn't take it off.

"There's no need to wear a flower crown."

"There is." Yakumo's tone left no room for argument. "People who toy with a girl's feelings have to accept their punishment. Those are the rules."

"Who made those rules?"

"I just did."

"And besides..." Yakumo's tone suddenly softened. She pinched the edge of her sleeve. "I still have to thank you, Sasuke-kun."

She looked at Sasuke earnestly.

"I wanted to be a ninja, but I only had a talent for genjutsu. I couldn't control my Kekkei Genkai, and Ido was lurking inside me, waiting for a chance."

"Back then, I really didn't know what I could do."

Her hand released the edge of her sleeve and fell to her side.

"You taught me Cursed Energy."

Three years ago, when Sasuke first met Yakumo by the lake, he had sensed something was wrong.

The thing inside her was too much like a Cursed Spirit.

A mass of pure negative emotions, lodged inside its host and growing stronger by devouring the host's willpower.

At the time, Sasuke had come up with an idea.

Cursed Energy was extracted from negative emotions. If he could teach her to use Ido as a source of Cursed Energy, then the more she extracted, the weaker Ido would become.

It was just the sort of thing he was good at, like drawing out the thing inside Naruto's stomach.

For the next three years, whenever Sasuke returned to Konoha with Jiraiya to rest, he made time to visit Yakumo.

They started with the basics of separating spiritual energy, then moved on to stabilizing the extracted Cursed Energy in her chakra pathways, and finally to using Cursed Energy to suppress Ido's activity.

Yakumo learned slowly. She didn't have a Cursed Technique, but her genjutsu had improved somewhat.

Even without a Cursed Technique, though, she could still use Ido as firewood.

"Can you go on missions now?" Sasuke asked.

"Not yet." Yakumo shook her head.

"Lord Hokage said they needed to keep observing my condition for a while longer, but Teacher Kurenai Yuhi always seems happy when she comes to see me."

"Then it won't be long."

"Mm." Yakumo answered, then bent down and picked up a long, slender wooden box from the grass.

The box was made of pale paulownia wood. Its surface was finely polished and left unvarnished, preserving the wood's natural grain.

"Here." Yakumo offered Sasuke the box with both hands. "The katana you asked for."

The box felt heavy in Sasuke's hands.

He undid the clasp and lifted the lid.

The blade lay on a black lining. It was about two feet and seven inches long, slightly shorter than a standard katana, with a very shallow curve.

The hilt was wrapped in dark blue cord, and the menuki bore a pair of silver three-tomoe designs.

The scabbard was coated in black lacquer, without any unnecessary decoration.

Sasuke gripped the hilt and drew the blade from its scabbard.

In the afternoon sunlight, the blade gleamed with a subdued luster.

He could feel the Cursed Energy within him being gently drawn toward the hilt when he touched it.

After Sasuke had obtained Chakra Metal from the Third Hokage, he had asked the Uchiha Clan's Ninja Cats to find someone to forge the blade.

Then he had handed it over to Yakumo.

There were two ways to obtain a Cursed Tool.

The first was to make one from the body of a Cursed Spirit or Jujutsu Sorcerer. That obviously wasn't practical at the moment.

The second was to saturate a weapon with Cursed Energy and let it naturally become a Cursed Tool.

But it took at least several years of handling a weapon before it could absorb enough Cursed Energy to become a Cursed Tool.

Yakumo's ability had bypassed that process. Her paintings could give objects new properties.

"Grade 2 Cursed Tool." Sasuke turned the blade over, watching the dark light move through its grain. "It's very stable. Its Cursed Energy retention efficiency has increased by at least thirty percent."

"Only thirty percent?" A hint of disappointment crept into Yakumo's voice.

"Thirty percent is already good." Sasuke slid the blade back into its scabbard.

"Don't worry about something like a Special Grade Cursed Tool, with its rule-level effects, for now. At your current level, you should be able to make Grade 1 Cursed Tools someday."

Yakumo pressed her lips together and said nothing, but her mouth slowly curved into a smile.

Sasuke closed the wooden box, tucked it under his arm, and looked at Yakumo.

"Thanks. This helps a lot."

The tips of Yakumo's ears turned slightly red, and she looked away.

"I had nothing else to do, anyway. I can't keep Ido pinned down all the time. I have to find something else to do."

Then Yakumo went to the tree roots, bent down, and picked up something else from the grass: a golden wheel.

Yakumo handed it to Sasuke. "Manifesting this wheel almost drained me dry."

"But even after I manifested it, it doesn't seem to be any use." Yakumo frowned, her voice thick with disappointment.

"I tried using it to adapt to simple chakra changes, but the wheel wouldn't turn at all. No matter how much Cursed Energy I put into it, it wouldn't budge. And it doesn't last long, either."

Sasuke took the wheel and examined it carefully.

This thing was only meant for Mahoraga to use. Since he hadn't tamed Mahoraga, he couldn't use it either.

Still, he could sense that it was the thing on Mahoraga's head. If his guess was right, having it meant Mahoraga wouldn't be able to kill him outright.

"How long does it last?"

"About three minutes. And I have to be nearby. If it gets too far away, the Cursed Energy inside it starts to dissipate."

Three minutes. Sasuke considered it for a moment.

"That's enough." Sasuke placed the wheel on the ground and nodded. "Three minutes is enough."

Yakumo looked at him and waited a few seconds, but Sasuke showed no sign of explaining further.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"You're always like this. You say what you need to say and then leave. Whatever I give you, you just say whether it's useful or not." Yakumo sighed and picked Escaping Rabbit up from the ground.

"Because it really is useful."

"That's not what I meant..."

Yakumo stopped and swallowed the rest of her words, then shook her head.

"Forget it. Where are you going now?"

"To take the Genin exam." Sasuke tucked the wooden box under his arm and turned to leave. "For team assignments."

"Uchiha Sasuke still has to take the Genin exam?" Surprise crept into Yakumo's voice.

"It's the rules. Everyone has to take it." Sasuke didn't look back. He casually waved his right hand twice.

Yakumo stood on the grass, with Escaping Rabbit resting quietly on her shoulder.

She watched Sasuke's retreating figure for a while, then lowered her head and picked up the other half of the unfinished flower crown. Slowly, she unraveled it.

"...The flower crown actually suits you."