Storm Release Enters the Genes

Asami Ri let out a small breath of relief and steered the conversation elsewhere. "By the way, Sensei, Kakashi and Rin... how are they doing now?"

"Don't worry. Neither of them is in danger anymore." Minato gave him a reassuring smile.

"Kakashi fell into a deep coma from extreme Chakra depletion. He'll need some time to regain consciousness. He's in the room next door."

After a brief pause, a complicated look entered Minato's eyes. "Ri, you really impressed me this time. I found a solid Four Symbols Seal on Rin. It's hard to imagine you learned to create something so intricate in such a short time."

"And it's not just your Sealing Jutsu. There's your Medical Ninjutsu, too," Minato said with feeling. "Lady Biwako was astonished when she examined Rin's injuries herself. She said the flawless heart suturing you performed under such primitive conditions deserved a place in a textbook."

When he brought up the arrangements that followed, Minato's expression grew grave.

"Because of the special circumstances, Kushina is taking care of Rin herself. The Three-Tails was forcibly implanted inside her, leaving her in an extremely unstable condition. On top of the Four Symbols Seal you placed, Kushina and I applied another layer of Eight Trigrams Sealing, creating a double lock."

"Ri, you need to prepare yourself. Rin is now... the Three-Tails' jinchūriki. To prevent any accidents, she's being kept within the village's Sealing Array under the Barrier Team's surveillance, to ensure the tailed beast doesn't rampage."

"Sensei, there's something else I need to warn you about. Kakashi's left eye." Asami Ri's voice grew low.

Minato paused in surprise. Their eyes met, and he saw the seriousness in his student's gaze.

"I saw it clearly at close range. The pattern that appeared in his eye... definitely wasn't an ordinary three-tomoe pattern." Asami Ri chose his words carefully. "The Eye Power it gave off was chilling and full of despair. It was nothing like the power of an ordinary Three-Tomoe Sharingan. That power could even control a tailed beast."

Minato's brows knitted as he sank into thought. "I'll consult the village records and the Uchiha's documents to see whether anything similar has been recorded..."

"Sensei," Asami Ri suddenly interrupted, his tone resolute, "please make sure this change in his eye stays secret. From both Lord Third Hokage and the Uchiha Clan."

Minato looked at him in surprise. "Ri, do you mean..."

"Power on this level can't be appearing for the first time in the Uchiha's long history." Asami Ri looked straight into Minato's eyes. "Possessing a treasure can make you a target. Kakashi isn't an Uchiha, after all. Once word gets out, how will others see it? The hardliners within the Uchiha will never allow power like this to remain outside their clan, and the dark forces lurking within the village will covet Kakashi as well."

He paused, then continued heavily, "If this leaks, Kakashi won't just have to face enemies on the battlefield. He'll have to face people watching him from behind, too. When that happens, even you may struggle to keep him completely safe."

"I understand. I'll look into it privately." Minato nodded. He knew a certain faction in the village was beginning to stir again.

After their brief conversation, Minato stood to leave. Before going, he patted Asami Ri's shoulder, his eyes filled with trust and expectation. "Rest and recover. Leave the rest to me."

The door closed softly, and quiet returned to the hospital room.

A moment later—

"Click—creak—"

The sliding door opened again, and an energetic figure strode inside, slapping the flowers in his hand onto the table.

"Ri!! Your youth—I witnessed it with my own eyes!!"

Might Guy's voice blazed like the morning sun, making the windowpanes hum faintly. He raised both hands high, hooked his index fingers against his thumbs, and gave a thumbs-up. Sweat slipped down his thick eyebrows, but he paid it no mind.

"My dear friend protected another dear friend in the face of certain doom!" Might Guy's eyes went wide, glistening with tears. "This! This is youth's most brilliant spark! A hot-blooded bond that burns life itself!!"

He spun around, his voice suddenly rising with passion. "Ri! Once you recover, we must have an ultimate showdown where our souls and Chakra resonate! Let all of Konoha hear our burning will!!"

Before his words had faded, he planted both hands on the floor and kicked up into a handstand, his legs straight as javelins and held steady in the air. Then, with astonishing balance, he raced out of the room on his hands, shouting as he went:

"Today's training: seven laps around the village on my hands!"

The door slammed shut behind him with a bang, leaving only the fading thud, thud, thud in the corridor, like war drums.

Asami Ri watched the green figure disappear around the corner. His lips twitched involuntarily before he finally let out a silent sigh.

The room fell quiet once more.

Sunlight slanted across the hospital bed, and dust motes drifted slowly through the air.

Asami Ri lowered his gaze and lifted his fingertips slightly. A wisp of blue-violet Chakra silently emerged from his palm like a slithering snake.

Combining Storm Release Chakra no longer presented the difficulties it had before. It came as naturally as water flowing down a channel.

He closed his eyes and let the Storm Release Chakra flow slowly through his chakra pathways, seeping into his flesh and reaching deep into his marrow.

A strange warmth spread through him.

He could clearly feel the Storm Release Chakra washing over his damaged body again and again.

This was more than the flow of energy. His Gene was changing under the Chakra's influence as well.

The Storm Release Chakra became an invisible chisel, engraving the fusion ratio of lightning and water into his Gene sequence.

"Is this feeling... what a kekkei genkai is?" he murmured.

Asami Ri slowly closed his eyes and softly called upon Celestial Pivot, which had accompanied him for so long, deep within his consciousness.

Celestial Pivot, how much longer will the analysis of the Sharingan's Eye Power take?

At his thought, a translucent pale-blue interface visible only to him slowly unfolded before his eyes, streams of data cascading across it like a waterfall.

[Analyzing Sharingan Eye Power traits... Current progress: 34%]

[Estimated time remaining: 720 hours]

Another full thirty days... Asami Ri silently worked it out.

A month was just enough time for one complete cycle of cellular turnover in his body.

For him as he was now, such a long wait wasn't bad news.

The lingering damage from that brutal battle was far more serious than it appeared on the surface.

Weakness from overexertion still clung to every part of his body, and tiny cracks remained throughout his chakra pathways.

Right now, he was like a piece of porcelain that had only just been put back together. The slightest violent disturbance could shatter him.

True enough. My body really can't take much strain right now.

He smiled easily, let go of his tension, and sank his whole body into the soft bedding.

Since heaven had pressed pause on his fast-paced life, he might as well take this opportunity to examine the power that would soon transform him completely.

Outside the window, the bustle of Konoha grew hazy and distant.

In that long-missed stillness, Asami Ri slowly sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.