"Creak—"
Hokage Tower, Hokage's Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi lurched forward and sat bolt upright. The chair scraped backward from the force, leaving two pale scuffs on the wooden floor.
"Light?"
Specks of radiance bloomed—then vanished. The boy was wrapped in a soft halo, his body turning into a ribbon of light that merged into sunlight. In the next blink, it shot forward nearly a thousand meters!
That distance was far beyond anything Swamp Space could reach.
Hiruzen leaned close to the crystal ball, holding his breath as he watched. The old face lined with wrinkles tightened almost imperceptibly, and he fell into a long, heavy silence….
Yin, Yang, the Five Elements—fire, earth, water, wind, lightning. He'd studied all of them to one degree or another.
And yet this was the first time he'd ever seen something that looked like a "Light Release" derived from those fundamentals….
Or rather—calling it Light Release felt wrong.
It was more like a mutation of Yang Release.
And Yang Release was the domain of the Senju and Uzumaki!
Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at the crystal ball, watching that small boy carry Nohara Rin as he repeatedly became sunlight and threaded through the forest.
That face—three parts Fugaku, seven parts Mikoto—was undeniably Uchiha.
There was no possible way he should have anything to do with Senju, Uzumaki, or Yang Release—not even the faintest thread.
Which left only one explanation—
"There's something wrong with this child."
Hiruzen sank back into his chair. His pen dragged across the long scroll in his hand, leaving a thick black smear—perfectly placed to blot out Roy's name.
He didn't care that the ink had ruined the dossier anymore.
He just sat there and watched… until the image shifted again and the boy suddenly stopped moving.
Hiruzen immediately straightened up and stared harder.
…
Southern Forest.
Using that "light form," Roy dragged Rin past Kakashi and Obito, stepping out of a sunbeam beside them—then vanishing again. He flung them far behind.
Kakashi and Obito froze, exchanged a glance, and saw the same wordless shock in each other's eyes.
"A person can turn into light?" Kakashi asked, mask covering half his face. He turned to Obito. "Is that the Sharingan?"
It was only four words, but Obito understood the meaning immediately. He'd heard plenty about how the Sharingan could awaken all kinds of impossible powers—but judging from his own experience, where Roy had force-fed him negative emotions to awaken his eyes…
Obito had an instinctive certainty:
Light was too beautiful to belong to the Uchiha.
If anything, it was what the Uchiha feared, craved, and could never truly reach.
"'The Uchiha are born evil' isn't just an empty phrase…." Obito remembered the fragment of the future he'd seen inside that illusion. He took a deep breath and slowly shook his head.
"I don't know. But… I don't think that's the Sharingan."
Then, as Kakashi looked at him, Obito's eyes tinted red again. He met Kakashi's stare and said quietly,
"At the very least… he didn't even activate his eyes, did he?"
Kakashi stiffened, then fell silent.
Obito was right—Roy's gaze was clear and bright, almost like the sun. No red bleed. No telltale shift.
The white-haired boy exhaled, narrowed his eyes, and looked forward at the boy and girl who had already reached the finish line.
"If that's true… then the only answer is that Uchiha Ren himself is simply… different."
"Different…." Obito echoed, staring.
"Different…." Minato arrived, flashing in with another Flying Thunder God kunai. He reappeared at Roy's side, watching the boy still immersed in that strange state, pinching a strand of sunlight between his fingers like he was trying to understand it.
Minato's face was complicated—he had to admit, Kakashi was right.
People really were different.
Starting lines. Experiences. Talent. Temperament.
In the end, maybe there was only one thing they all shared:
They all died eventually.
But… did humans really have to end at death?
Ancient wisdom said live toward the sun. It also said a lone yin does not last, a lone yang does not grow.
Roy was still sunk in the sensation of becoming light when the system prompts kept ringing in his ears.
[Yang Release +100 +100 +100…]
In a blink it shot past 40,000, crossed 50,000, and the display updated—
[Yang Release: lv4 (43515/100000 → 52417/100000)]
Roy opened his palm and let the sunbeam slip through his fingers. Then he extended a finger and pointed at a wooden training post near the field.
Whoosh—
A thin, tightly focused beam of light fired instantly and punched a finger-sized hole straight through the post.
So that's it… concentrated sunlight…
That's the part of "sun" I kept forgetting.
Just like my eyes somehow ended up holding "laser," too…
A red glow stirred in Roy's eyes. A second laser followed the first and drilled another hole near the base of the post.
Then Roy tried to build on "light" as a foundation—imagining, shaping, developing.
Finally, he clapped his hands and pulled a sword of light out from between them. He raised it high—
And Minato's quiet voice reached him.
"What is that sword?"
Minato could feel the terrifying fluctuation rolling off that blade and asked with real caution.
Roy casually spun the light-sword. Stray sword-light fell into the ground, and every touch stabbed a deep hole that immediately burbled up groundwater.
He murmured, half-distracted, "Ame-no-Murakumo… Its name is Ame-no-Murakumo."
Under heaven, above clouds, only the sun hangs high.
It truly was… a fitting name.
Minato slid his kunai back into his pouch and smiled, then held out his right hand.
"Let's properly introduce ourselves. I'm your squad leader and instructor—Namikaze Minato."
Roy dismissed the light-sword and shook his hand.
"Uchiha Ren."
One who had created a "Light Release," one who felt like warm sunlight himself—
The two figures, one tall and one small, reflected in the crystal ball and burned into Hiruzen's old eyes.
The Hokage finally remembered the pipe in his mouth. He picked it up and took a slow puff, his face sinking back into the fog of smoke.
"Good…."
"So good…."
"Two young men, shining this brightly…."
Maybe he'd remembered his own youth. Maybe his heart just couldn't calm down.
In any case, Hiruzen finished the last of his tobacco, stood up, put on his white cloak, donned the Hokage hat, and walked out.
The office door opened and shut.
Footsteps echoed down the tower, across the bustling streets, through greetings from villagers, merchants, and shinobi—
And without realizing it, those footsteps carried him toward the Southern Forest….
…
Roy noticed the hidden gaze vanish. He quietly withdrew his hand from Minato's.
Then he glanced at Rin as she walked up.
She pinched at her hem, eyes lowered, and whispered, "Thank you."
Her usual sweet, gentle composure was scrambled around him—she didn't know where to put her hands or her eyes.
What is wrong with me…?
Roy understood. She still hadn't fully returned from that unreal "light" sensation.
He gave her a small nod. "No need."
His gaze passed over Rin and landed on Kakashi and Obito, who finally stumbled to the finish line. Roy said calmly,
"I made everyone take the punishment with me. So the responsibility is mine."
Minato folded his arms and watched Kakashi and Obito approach, then gave a subtle approving nod.
This was a team. This was a bond.
A breeze lifted Minato's blond hair. He clapped his hands once.
"Alright. Let's begin today's training."
He pulled out a bell.
Jingle, jingle…
The clear chime rang in the wind.
Seeing it, Roy's thoughts drifted forward in time—Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, their first mission as Team 7, grabbing bells from Kakashi. So this was an old Leaf tradition.
But instead of a team bell-test, Minato made a different choice.
He assigned Kakashi, Obito, and Rin to pair up and spar.
Then he shook the bell and stepped in front of Roy, smiling.
"Honestly, before you arrived, I was going to make you cooperate with them to take this bell from me."
"But after what I've seen…"
Minato's expression sharpened. "I think you don't need them."
"Is that praise?" Roy asked.
"Of course." Minato's tone turned serious. "From the moment I say 'begin,' treat me as an enemy."
"Enemy…." Roy rolled the word around in his mouth—then straightened.
In that instant, his aura changed completely.
Boom!
A crushing wave of Ren erupted from Roy like a shockwave and rolled outward.
Not far away—on the other side of the same field—Kakashi was facing Obito and Rin at once. The shock hit him and he staggered, almost stumbling into Obito's upward punch. Kakashi jerked his head back, eyes wide.
At the center of the field, Roy's black hair whipped upward, as if he'd stepped out of the sun itself. His mouth breathed out scorching intent as he stared at Minato.
"I always treat my enemies as targets to be killed."
"So, Sensei…"
"Are you sure you mean it?"
Minato's blond hair flew backward in the storm of Roy's aura. He didn't retreat—he stepped forward and smiled.
"Absolutely."
He spun a kunai once and caught it. "If I don't grasp your strength, I'll misjudge things on missions."
"True." Roy's gaze flicked behind him. "But I think we need a witness."
"If someone gets hurt, there needs to be an explanation."
Footsteps approached.
Minato followed Roy's line of sight—
And from the trees stepped a figure in a white cloak.
A familiar Hokage hat.
And beneath it, an old face lined with wind and years.
"Third Hokage?!" Minato blurted.
Hiruzen walked out of the forest, glanced at Minato and Roy, and smiled.
"I'm not here to be a witness."
"Both are dear to me. I don't want either of you hurt."
He stepped into Roy's Ren, stopped, and stared at Roy—feeling the "light and heat," the "pull and push," the wind-fire and lightning, the water-waves and stone.
Then he said slowly,
"This is nothing like the chakra extraction they teach in school."
Roy looked at him blandly.
"School also doesn't teach early graduation."
Hiruzen's breath caught.
He glared, helpless. "Look at your strength—does it make sense for you to stay in school?"
Then Roy said, still calm, "I'm not even seven yet."
Seven.
That single sentence killed the air.
Even Kakashi—who graduated at six—had to swallow his pride when he compared his six to Roy's seven.
Hiruzen went quiet.
Minato went quiet.
Kakashi, Obito, Rin—all quiet.
A bird cut across the sky with one thin cry.
Hiruzen finally gestured at Roy.
"Training first."
"After that… you're coming with me."
~~~
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