The two assassins lay hidden among the creeping vines, their chakra barely a whisper in the stagnant air. As I stepped forward, the black spiral on my chest throbbed, syncing with my racing heartbeat. I didn't yet understand the full breadth of my power, but instinct told me danger was near.
Suddenly, the shadows erupted. Two figures in dark, spiked armor leapt from the trees, their movements fluid and deadly. Both wielded wicked kunai, their blades crackling with corrupted chakra. Their eyes glowed with an eerie light — a telltale sign of forbidden jutsu.
One assassin hurled a kunai with deadly precision. I barely dodged as the blade sliced through a stone pillar behind me, sending shards flying.
"You shouldn't have come here," hissed the other, circling like a predator. "The world doesn't want you.
Chakra surged through my veins. The black spiral on my chest flared fiercely. The Karma seal a mark I had believed dormant and locked within me suddenly burned with urgent heat. A surge of primal power exploded from deep inside, breaking the invisible shackles that held it back.
I gasped as the seal expanded, unleashing a pulse of raw energy that swept through me like wildfire. It was as if something inside me had awakened early, responding to the imminent threat.
With newfound strength, I extended my palms, summoning razor-sharp threads of black chakra weaving through the air like living blades. With a flick, I intercepted a second kunai mid-flight, the thread slicing it in two with a whispering hum.
The first assassin charged, throwing kunai in a rapid flurry, each blade pulsing with dark energy. He then twisted his fingers in a swift hand sign and released a dark smoke jutsu — Kuroen Kiri (Black Mist) — a black mist that crept along the ground, choking the air and sapping chakra from anyone caught inside. The smoke swirled with poisonous intent, threatening to dull my senses.
I moved with a speed I barely controlled, dodging, weaving, and threading the black chakra to catch and snap each weapon before it could reach me. Focusing, I sent a sharp thread slicing through the smoke, dispersing the poisonous fog.
The second assassin drew a different hand sign and summoned Raikō Kōsen (Thunderlight Volley) — a volley of electrically charged kunai that crackled and surged with lightning chakra. Each kunai zipped like a striking serpent, their aim precise and unrelenting.
He growled in frustration and lunged, aiming to strike. But I was ready. Twisting the chakra threads into binding coils, I caught his wrists mid-swing, tightening the threads like unforgiving steel. He gasped, falling to the ground as I threw him down with a controlled force.
The second assassin attacked relentlessly, twin kunai flashing through the air with lethal precision. I centered myself, focusing the energy from the now-awakened Karma seal on my chest. The seal flared red and black as I released a pulse of crushing gravity from my palms. The ground beneath us cracked under the invisible pressure, and the assassin was slammed backward, his body breaking through stone and vines. He struggled, but the invisible weight pinned him down like an iron cage.
"You cannot win," the first assassin spat, pulling himself up despite the binding threads.
"I don't want to fight you if I don't have to," I said calmly, "But I need answers. Why did you attack? What do you want from me?"
They exchanged a glance, eyes cold and unreadable.
"We serve no one but the old order," the leader said, voice like steel. "We will not speak to you."
The defiance in their tone was clear. They refused to tell me anything.
A slow smile curved on my lips as the black spiral flared again. My right eye darkened, swirling with cosmic runes — the Shin'engan awakened.
The world seemed to shift as my eye transformed: the sclera turned an obsidian black, and the iris glowed silver with swirling runes that shifted and shimmered like a starry sky. The eye was alive — ancient and powerful, more than a mere dojutsu.
The Shin'engan, or "True Eye," granted me abilities beyond normal shinobi vision. I could see chakra flows as glowing threads weaving through the air, detect hidden barriers and traps invisible to the naked eye, and pierce through the illusion of genjutsu. Most terrifying of all was its power to delve into minds, accessing memories even the owners tried desperately to hide.
The eye also gave fleeting glimpses into other dimensions and possible futures, showing fractured timelines and echoes of potential paths. But such power came at a cost; prolonged use drained my chakra rapidly and clouded my thoughts with visions too heavy to bear.
With the Shin'engan, I reached into the assassins' minds, breaking through their mental defenses without hesitation.
Visions flooded my consciousness endless battles between shinobi clans, ancient Ōtsutsuki experiments that twisted chakra itself, secret factions called the Ketsuryū who guarded forbidden knowledge, and a shinobi world teetering on the edge of collapse.
I pulled back, breath ragged but mind sharper than before.
They were remnants of a forgotten war, warriors loyal to powers long banished. Their attack was only the start of something much larger.
I flexed my fingers, threads of black chakra still humming with power.
"This fight was only the beginning."