Shisui's footsteps echoed in the Hanagakure training ground, now designated a high-level clearance zone due to his awakening. The news of the Aetherion Eye had spread only among key officials, and the Hanakage had personally assigned elite instructors to assess his evolving potential.
A tall, masked jōnin bowed. "Lord Shisui, we've prepared the trial course."
Flanked by cherry trees and spiritual wards, the training field shimmered with Arch Energy nodes and illusionary traps.
"Let's begin," Shisui said calmly.
He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the world changed.
His Aetherion Eye activated—iris glowing pale violet, silver rings rotating like celestial gears, the four-pointed star at the center pulsing with insight.
The world fractured.
He could see everything—the arch-energy flows beneath the earth, the chakra patterns of his watchers, the hidden traps cloaked in elemental genjutsu. With a single step, he vanished.
Blur. Dodge. Counter. Sever.
He didn't fight like a shinobi anymore. He moved like a celestial force—phasing through attacks, neutralizing techniques with Soulmirror Insight, bending time briefly with Chrono Rift Sight, and finally cleaving illusions apart with Veil Severance, sending shockwaves of spiritual force rippling through the field.
By the time it ended, the entire field was silent.
The jōnin instructor knelt. "Unprecedented... Lord Shisui, you've surpassed what any of us imagined."
Shisui deactivated the Aetherion Eye, panting lightly. A trickle of blood ran from the corner of his eye.
So this is the cost, he thought. Great vision… demands great sacrifice.
Suddenly, he sensed a presence approaching.
Naoko.
She ran to him, worry written across her face. "Your eye—Shisui, you're bleeding!"
He caught her hand gently. "It's fine. I'm still standing."
"You don't have to do all this alone," she said, eyes fierce. "You're not just a weapon. You're you."
Shisui smiled, pulling her into an embrace.
"Then I'll become a weapon the world respects... and a man you can love."
Overhead, the petals of the land of flowers began to fall again—soft, silent, and endless.
A symbol of both peace… and the storm that approaches.