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When Minato Namikaze led the six blood-soaked shinobi through the Konoha Gate, all of them practically holding one another up, an air of urgency hung over Konohagakure.

Kumogakure's ceasefire agreement arrived almost at the same time as the news of Team Minato's return.

The Third Raikage's death under the assault of ten thousand men had broken Kumogakure's aggressive offensive.

Though the newly appointed Fourth Raikage A burned with fury, he had to face the reality that his village had lost more than half its fighting strength and urgently needed to stabilize its internal affairs.

The once-arrogant Kumogakure finally chose to rein in its claws and settle into a long period of recovery.

Konoha Hospital, intensive care ward.

The last glow of sunset slanted through the thin white curtains onto the ward's floor. The air was thick with the smell of disinfectant and bitter medicinal herbs.

"...A familiar ceiling."

Asami Ri slowly opened his eyes, his gaze focusing on the snow-white ceiling.

His mind was still somewhat foggy, and the weight of his body made him feel like a block of lead that had sunk into the deep sea.

He turned his head slightly and discovered that his entire body was once again wrapped tightly in bandages, like an enormous white cocoon.

The torn muscles caused by overclock mode and the wound that had pierced his flank were no longer life-threatening thanks to the combined efforts of Rin and the medical team, but bone-deep exhaustion still clung to him.

This time, however, the ward was not as quiet and empty as before.

"You're awake?"

A calm but slightly hoarse voice came from beside him.

Asami Ri turned his head and saw Kakashi leaning against the headboard of the neighboring bed.

His left arm was encased in a thick cast and secured against his chest with a sling, but his right hand still stubbornly held up a book with curled edges.

Despite the fight to the death he had endured, Kakashi's dead-fish eyes still held the cool composure of someone who had seen through the world. Only when he looked at Asami Ri did a trace of carefully concealed concern flicker through them.

In the other two beds, Hyuga Shin and Uchiha Tekka were already awake as well.

Though Hyuga Shin's chest was still wrapped in a support band to protect his damaged internal organs, he could just barely sit up.

Some color had returned to his formerly pale face. He gave Asami Ri a small nod, his eyes carrying a new calm born of surviving life and death.

Uchiha Tekka's left shoulder and right leg were covered in bandages. Though he could not move, he now carried the sharp edge of a blade drawn from its sheath.

"You're damn hard to kill, Ri." Tekka grinned. The movement tugged at his wounds and made him suck in a breath of pain, but his voice was full of the emotion of someone who had escaped death.

A brief silence settled over the ward.

There was no thunder from the forest, no shriek of clashing blades, only the occasional soft rustle of Kakashi turning a page.

Looking at his companions' battered but still very much living faces, Asami Ri could not help letting a wry smile touch his lips. Then he let out a long breath.

"Yeah... we made it back alive." Asami Ri murmured softly. Feeling the warm sunlight streaming through the window, he closed his eyes again and slipped into peaceful sleep.

One morning a week later, the pungent smell of disinfectant in Konoha Hospital finally gave way to the fresh scent of greenery drifting through the windows.

Asami Ri stood at the hospital entrance and stretched hard, his tightly wound muscles releasing a series of faint, satisfying pops.

Behind him, Kakashi, Hyuga Shin, and Uchiha Tekka filed out in turn.

After a week of quiet recovery, the four of them, whose care had been given particular attention, had finally regained their vitality.

Though a few layers of light bandages still wrapped Kakashi's left arm, a keen gleam had returned to his dead-fish eyes.

"Well, let's split up here." Kakashi stopped and turned to the others. His tone was as level as ever, but it lacked some of its usual distance. "I owe it to all of you that I made it back alive."

"Tch." Though Tekka still leaned on a single crutch, he refused to give an inch verbally. Yet when he looked at Asami Ri and Hyuga Shin, his eyes held the warmth of genuine recognition.

Hyuga Shin bowed politely. "Everyone, I still have some clan matters to attend to, so I'll be going ahead. Ri, Tekka, I look forward to working with you again."

They waved goodbye and headed off into Konoha's crisscrossing streets.

Asami Ri walked alone through the bustling crowds, idly looking at the roadside stalls as his awareness sank into the depths of his mind.

Celestial Pivot, he called softly within himself. How is the analysis of Storm Release coming along?

At his summons, a string of ghostly blue characters visible only to him flickered across his retinas:

[Target: Storm Release · kekkei genkai]

[Preliminary identification status: Ran En's residual chakra sample acquired]

[Estimated time remaining: 587 hours]

587 hours... Asami Ri did a quick calculation. It would take more than twenty more days.

It's a little long, but well worth it. His fists tightened slightly, and an irrepressible fire flashed in his eyes.

Storm Release was a rare kekkei genkai combining Lightning Release and Water Release.

A technique with such power and flexibility was exactly the sort of ability he had dreamed of.

Though he would still need extensive hands-on practice to master and refine it after the analysis was complete, this undoubtedly opened a door to the ranks of the strongest.

He drew a deep breath and forced down the excitement surging within him.

He knew very well that great power needed an even stronger body to support it. The muscle-tearing sensation left by his use of overclock mode still haunted him.

As he passed the familiar clearing at the street corner, Asami Ri stopped. Rather than heading straight home, he turned toward the training ground.

Sunlight stretched his shadow as he slowly settled into a thrusting stance.

"The analysis takes time, but I need to sharpen the tools I already have."

His gaze focused, and faint blue-white lightning flickered and leaped in his palm.

In time with his breathing, the violent arcs gradually compressed toward the center, gathered together, and finally formed a Lightning Spear whose length flickered unsteadily.

"Let's begin. Recovery training, and... practice with the Lightning Spear."

Another week passed, and the spring breeze swept cherry blossoms through Konoha's streets.

Standing at the edge of Konoha, Asami Ri slowly closed his hand.

The last violent strand of blue-white electricity vanished into the air, leaving behind the scorched smell of Lightning Release's intense heat.

After this period of practice and refinement, the Lightning Spear formed from highly compressed chakra was finally no longer an unfinished technique reserved for emergencies. It had become a true killing move he could wield as naturally as his own limbs.

He exhaled deeply and stretched his fully recovered body, instinctively looking toward the distant meeting point.

The street was empty, with none of those familiar figures in sight. Their days of facing life and death together seemed to have ended abruptly with the submission of a mission report.

Their hastily assembled team had caused quite a stir in the village by working together to kill a Kumogakure jonin with a kekkei genkai in the Land of Iron.

A victory over an opponent of such superior rank had drawn the attention of the village's leadership, while also giving the powerful clans behind them a whiff of genius.

The Hyuga Clan's towering walls had become the most solid barrier between Hyuga Shin and the outside world.

Though the old fossils of the Main Family remained set in their ways, Shin's performance on the battlefield had become impossible for them to ignore.

To keep such an exceptional bloodline from being lost in the brutality of war, Hyuga Shin had been recalled early and made a Main Family guard.

In the final mission report, Asami Ri and Uchiha Tekka had tacitly agreed to conceal the fact that Hyuga Shin had used Vacuum Palm without permission.

If the Main Family found out, what awaited him might not be a reward, but a harsh punishment.

A few days earlier, Asami Ri had received a handwritten letter from Hyuga Shin.

The paper carried a faint scent of tea, but the handwriting seemed somewhat strained.

"Ri, life as a Main Family guard is dull. I once thought becoming stronger would earn me freedom, only to find that my shackles have grown heavier instead... But I don't regret the choice I made in the forest that day. I hope we can preserve this friendship, free of the 'cage.'"

Pen in hand, Asami Ri had written only one sentence in reply: "Endure for now; the future will bring change. Wherever you are, we will always be comrades who fight side by side."

Uchiha Tekka's fate, meanwhile, had taken another turn.

Awakening a two-tomoe Sharingan at twelve marked him as a rare genius even within the Uchiha Clan.

To protect a spark of the clan's future, and to flex their muscles before the village leadership, the Uchiha Clan had forcibly withdrawn Uchiha Tekka from the front lines.

Now, the boy who had once swept across the battlefield wore the dark blue uniform of the Konoha Military Police Force.

"Ri! If you ever run into trouble in the village, come find me."

When Asami Ri had passed him on the street two days earlier, Uchiha Tekka wore a squad leader's sword at his waist. Though he remained aloof, Ri could see a trace of loneliness hidden deep in his eyes.

For a shinobi who longed to hone himself on the battlefield, spending all day patrolling streets and handling civilian disputes was nothing short of mental torture.

Asami Ri stood in the middle of the training ground, watching the wind lift the fallen cherry blossoms, only for them to drift back down in lonely silence.

They had all made it back alive. They had all been "valued" by the village and their clans. Yet the freedom and unspoken understanding they had shared while fighting side by side were gone for good.

Hyuga Shin was trapped within an inner compound ruled by strict traditions, while Uchiha Tekka was mired in scheming clan affairs.

"The place is the same, but everything has changed."

Asami Ri murmured the words softly. He tightened his grip on the kunai in his hand, and a faint glimmer of lightning lit his eyes.

In this world of shinobi, the mediocre died on the battlefield, while geniuses were imprisoned in the struggles of those in power.

"So I have to become stronger. Strong enough that no 'rules' can hold me."

He moved, becoming a blur as he plunged into the dense forest.

The Lightning Spear flared again, piercing the autumn stillness—and thrusting toward the even crueler future he would face alone.