"I will tell him myself," Ryu declared.
The Root ANBU leader stared at Ryu.
Ryu stood still but the change in his posture was clear enough to anyone who knew how to read trained men.
ANBU looked at Ryu, then at Itachi, then at the adults behind them.
"He is a monster," the ANBU leader thought. The leader's eyes narrowed as he made a mental note to keep a close watch on Ryu.
His priority had shifted from enforcement to reporting. He had no choice in front of big shots like Hokage and Shikaku. He gave a short signal, and Root ANBU flickered away one after another and vanished into the trees.
Ryu did not relax immediately. He stood there, sensing for traces of hidden chakra and confirming that no one had stayed behind.
Only when he was sure they had left did he let the tension go.
His knees gave out.
Ryu dropped hard, catching himself on one hand before he hit the dirt face-first. His breathing turned heavy at once as the recoil from pushing his body through [Chakra Engine−Gear Third] tore through him, hammering pain through his heart and leaving his chakra network feeling scorched from the inside. And this time Ryu did not have the chakra of the nine-tailed fox to help.
The adults understood immediately. That had to be the after-effect of the doping jutsu they had just watched driving that impossible pressure from his body.
"They spoiled all the fun I was having," Ryu muttered.
Itachi stepped closer, his expression calm again.
"It's fine," he said. "We should savour the good things for later. We will fight again sometime."
Ryu let out a weak breath that almost counted as a laugh.
Then Itachi offered him a hand.
Ryu took it. Itachi pulled him up in one steady motion while Ryu's body was still shaking from the strain.
Ryu reached up and untied the blindfold. He pulled the cloth free and blinked once as his sight adjusted; he looked at Itachi.
The Sharingan was still active. And there it was: three tomoe Sharingan.
Ryu smiled.
"Congratulations," Ryu said. "There's only one milestone left now."
Ryu thought, "The Mangekyo Sharingan."
A few steps away, Fugaku went still.
"Kid knows too much about the Sharingan."
That thought ended there.
He did not question it aloud. Dan belonged to an older generation that had seen the Uchiha in their stronger years, when Madara and Hashirama reigned. Ryu was also the sort of child who processes information like a Nara clan member.
Fugaku stepped forward.
"Your chakra senses and chakra control are the best I have seen in my lifetime," he said. "It is also a natural counter to the Uchiha clan."
Ryu smiled a little wider and pointed the wooden sword toward Akihiro.
"I developed it for my brother."
Fugaku looked at Akihiro and understood immediately. It was not intentional.
"I am here to tell you," Fugaku said, "that the Uchiha clan will support you fully regarding the matter of custody …."
Ryu replied. "Thank you" without letting him finish.
Shikaku spoke next.
"The Nara clan will support you as well."
That single line carried enough meaning on its own. The Uchiha. The Ino-Shika-Cho. The Senju behind them through association and precedent. Hokage did not have to speak to show him his support. He did not vote in Ryu's favour, but this time will be different.
*
Kushina's hands clenched.
"Danzo," she said, anger flaring into her voice. "That bastard is back to his old dirty tricks again. Just like when I was a child."
Minato nodded. Last time, kid Kushina had the backing of several clans, including the Senju clan and the backing of the remaining Uzumaki clan members. So she was able to overcome Danzo's schemes.
"Ryu was using Senju style taijutsu," Minato said. "So the Senju will support him too just like they supported you. Fugaku, Shikaku and the Hokage are here as well. The Yamanaka and Akimichi will follow Shikaku's lead. And you heard Ryu. He is going to appeal. He is not to back down, even if the opponent is a giant best of chakra… he will think of something…"
Kushina smiled and nodded.
"My best guess," Minato continued, "is that he is going to invoke family custody laws. He is part Uzumaki. Anyone can tell."
Kushina's anger eased, though not all at once.
"I got angry imagining my sweet boy in the hands of that bastard," she said quietly. Then she exhaled and let the fear go. "But you are right. We should trust his elder brother… he is too protective of him."
*
Itachi looked at Ryu and asked, "Did you prove what you wanted to prove?"
Ryu turned toward Kaia and Akihiro.
"I think not," Ryu replied.
Kaia was the most surprised. She had been almost convinced the whole thing had worked.
Dan asked, "Why is that?"
"I am me," Ryu said. "And Akihiro is Akihiro. My mind works at a different speed and a higher level of thought processes. I process too many things at once. The way I sort, compress, and react to sensory information is not replicable by him." He glanced at Akihiro. "If I transfer my training data directly, then for him it will take years to adjust; it will turn into noise."
Ryu thought, "Training data for [InstinctGPT] for any jutsu that needs next-level thinking should not come from me. Simpler ninjutsu jutsus are ok but even they are less efficient if coming from me."
A few of the adults showed real surprise. No one outside the Hamura circle even knew such a seal existed.
Dan stepped in.
"The Hamura clan has developed a seal," he said, "that stores the training data of one person and can transfer it to another so that the next person can learn faster."
That got everyone's full attention.
"This seal is connected to the mind," Dan continued. "In simple terms, think of it as added muscle memory made by Fuinjutsu. It does not erase memory like certain ANBU and Yamanaka seals but does the opposite of it. It creates memories of training inside the person. In that sense, it is closer to a blessing seal than a curse seal."
No one spoke. The implications landed all at once. This revolutionary seal could potentially revolutionise the way shinobi are trained and pass down knowledge through generations. The possibilities for accelerating learning and skill development are endless with this innovative seal.
In a generation or two, a clan that used such a seal properly would become something far more dangerous than before. Every member of this clan will advance years ahead in months.
Hiruzen looked amazed and deeply unsettled at the same time.
That reaction was not his alone. Fugaku had gone very still. Shikaku's eyes had sharpened in the quiet way they did whenever a line of thought became too important to ignore.
The common belief in the village was still that Dan Hamura, the oldest grandmaster in Konoha, was the man behind the recent fuinjutsu advances. Publicly, that remained true. But a few people who had seen Ryu work with their own eyes had begun to suspect otherwise. They did not know for certain. They only had the uneasy intuition that the old master was not the only mind shaping those seals.
*
Minato's eyes had changed long before anyone outside the seal noticed.
"That seal..." he said.
Kushina turned toward him at once. "I know."
Kushina stared back through Naruto's eyes at Dan, then at Ryu.
"A safe brain-linked imprinting," she said. "Built to add training memories in the subconscious mind."
Minato gave a small nod.
"Any village that used a seal like that for two or three generations would become terrifying," Minato said.
*
Shikaku was the first to recover enough to ask the next question.
"If two sets of training data from two different people are used together," he said, "can they help each other learn faster through this new seal?"
"That could help a lot," Ryu answered. "I suppose I can ask a normal person to blindfold himself for half a year... or maybe two. That should make the process three times faster."
A brief silence fell over the adults.
The boy had just casually made it clear that he did not think of himself as a normal person.
Shiroi Okami spoke first.
"If I can make it faster," he said, "I would happily close my eyes even for a year."
Silence spread across the yard for half a beat. Then the others moved.
Kaia stepped up immediately. "I'll do it for my brother."
Jiyuu nodded. "I'll do it too."
"Me too," Yasashii added without hesitation.
In front of the adults, the moment stopped looking like one child's offer and became a decision shared by all of them, one after another, without needing to be asked twice.
The adults watched in silence as the children stepped forward one by one for Akihiro, like a true family.
Hiruzen had his own thoughts. Dan had his own thoughts. Even Fugaku, who rarely showed softness in public, looked at the children with a different kind of stillness than before.
*
Kushina felt something warm settle in her chest.
She watched them through Naruto's eyes, one after another, offering themselves for Akihiro as if there had never been any question at all.
"He found one," she said softly.
Minato glanced at her. "Found what?"
Kushina did not look away from the children.
"A family," she said. "The kind that stands with you."
For a moment neither of them spoke.
Then Kushina smiled, and there was relief in it this time instead of anger.
"I am glad Naruto found them."
*
The moment lingered just long enough before Shikaku stepped forward.
"That won't be necessary," he said. "If you just grant me a favour. I will help you speed up his training speed."
Ryu looked at him. "What favour?"
Shikaku slipped one hand into his pocket.
"There is a child in the Nara clan," he said. "He was born blind."
A/N:
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