Location: Forest of Death – Western Ridge
Time: Day Two of the Chūnin Exams
---
The trees whispered of violence.
Charred bark. Blood-splattered leaves. The remnants of chakra threads dissolving in the wind.
I was alone again—Riko and Datsu had been called back via emergency recall tags after a fatal ambush near the river path. I hadn't seen them since the explosion.
But I didn't need them for what came next.
Because they weren't the target.
I was.
---
Three chakra signatures moved fast—erratic, pulsing with distortion.
Sound-nin.
And not the loud ones.
The trained ones.
They leapt through the branches like insects with blades. I didn't flinch as kunai zipped past my ear, carving into the tree trunk behind me.
> [Ketsuryōgan Engaged – Chakra Thread Recognition: Active]
Jutsu pre-weave detected. Tempo-based genjutsu, harmonic disruption field forming—
> Got you.
I sidestepped midair before the blast even came, twisting in a corkscrew motion as their frontliner—Zaku, if I remembered his file—unleashed a wave of chakra-pressurized sound from his palms.
> Too slow.
---
> "Who the hell is this guy?!"
The second one—Kin—threw her chakra-infused senbon with bell vibrations layered into the frequency. Meant to destabilize thought.
I didn't dodge.
I caught the needle between two fingers.
Then I looked her straight in the eyes.
> "Let's see what haunts you."
---
> [Active Technique: Echo Burn – Initiated]
Target locked: Kin Tsuchi.
Emotion Trace Located: Fear | Memory Anchor: Father's execution at age 7.
Her body froze.
Her scream caught in her throat—then twisted into sobs as her eyes rolled back.
> "No—no, not again—! He—he didn't deserve—"
She collapsed. Not unconscious. Not wounded.
Just… trapped.
Reliving it.
The exact moment the Ketsuryōgan drew from her.
Her teammate Dosu shouted, "What did you do?!"
I turned to him. "I let her remember."
---
He didn't wait.
Sound drilled from his arm-wrapped speaker—a jutsu meant to rupture organs with vibrations.
> [Chakra Thread Recognition: Engaged]
Vibration signature: incomplete.
Speaker joint overloaded on third pulse—weak point detected.
Before his attack finished forming, I was already moving.
One strike.
A precise kunai into the exposed coil just above his wrist.
> CLANG—
His jutsu fizzled mid-roar, backfiring violently and throwing him backward into a tree.
He gasped. Blood trickled from his ears.
> "Y-you're not just Uchiha… what the hell are you?!"
I didn't answer.
Because I didn't know yet.
But I knew what I could do.
And for now, that was enough.
---
I looked down at my hands—one trembling. My left eye pulsing red and silver.
> [System Alert – Emotional Load Limit Approaching]
Warning: Echo Burn drains user's mental stamina when used repeatedly.
Current fusion state: 87% stability
So I sheathed the kunai.
And walked past the barely-breathing Sound-nin.
Not a word.
Not a sound.
Just memories burned into the forest floor.
---
Somewhere, from behind a layer of trees, a low voice murmured:
> "He's more than I expected."
Orochimaru.
Again.
> "Perhaps… even more than Sasuke."
The wind shifted again.
Not with danger.
But with weight.
The aftermath always hit hardest when the enemy was silent.
And all three Sound-nin now lay still—alive, but broken.
Kin sobbed in a corner, rocking as if trapped in a memory she could no longer escape.
Zaku was unconscious, blood dripping from his ears.
Dosu stared up at the canopy, unable to form another word.
And I?
I could still feel the memory I pulled from Kin.
Her father's face.
The fear in his eyes.
The sound of the gunshot.
It wasn't just visual.
It became mine.
---
> [System Feedback: Memory Trace Absorbed – External Emotion Seep Detected]
> Caution: Overuse of Echo Burn may cause psychological contamination.
I gritted my teeth and leaned against a tree.
> So that's the cost…
I don't just weaponize memory.
I carry it.
---
A whisper slithered down my spine.
Not chakra.
Voice.
> "You're not meant to hold back, Kaizen…"
> "Let it all burn through you."
I didn't move.
Didn't react.
Because I knew that voice.
It wasn't mine.
And it wasn't Orochimaru.
It was something older.
Something from the Kurata bloodline I hadn't yet remembered.
---
> [System Update – Latent Memory Seal Weakening]
> Kurata Ancestral Echo… pending vision unlock.
Estimated time to full memory download: Unstable – triggered by high emotional trauma.
I clenched my fists.
> "Not yet," I muttered. "One thing at a time."
---
Then—motion.
From the trees ahead.
A shadow.
> No… three shadows.
I stepped forward, half-limping now. Blood on my sleeve.
I knew these chakra signatures.
> Uzumaki. Haruno. Uchiha.
---
Naruto skidded down the branch path, eyes wide as he spotted the wreckage.
Sakura covered her mouth.
Sasuke stepped forward slowly, his Sharingan active.
> "You fought Sound-nin?"
> "They came for me," I answered, voice calm.
Naruto blinked. "What the hell happened to them?!"
> "I made them remember something they tried to forget."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
> "And your eyes…"
He stepped closer.
We were only a meter apart now.
My left eye still burned crimson.
But now the silver veining spiraled inward like clockwork.
> "They're changing again," Sasuke whispered.
He wasn't afraid.
He was interested.
No—
Jealous.
---
> "You've changed," he said.
> "So have you," I replied.
A beat passed.
Then I added quietly—
> "But you're not the only one with a clan to avenge anymore."
---
Sakura finally spoke.
> "Kaizen… is that really your name?"
I didn't lie.
> "It's the name I earned. Not the one they gave me."
Naruto looked between us, frowning.
> "You guys are talking like old enemies in a movie."
> "Maybe we were," I muttered. "In another life."
---
And for the first time since the massacre, I realized—
I wasn't just surviving my bloodlines.
I was becoming the bridge between them.