The sharp clack of wood striking wood echoed across the training ground.
Itachi adjusted his grip on the training sword. He stopped stamping his feet and stopped exaggerating the shift of his weight. His footwork became lighter, his transitions seamless. He feinted high, shifting the pressure in his stance just enough to suggest a downward strike, before smoothly sweeping the wooden blade low.
Akihiro stepped at the wrong angle. He caught the deception a fraction of a second late, relying on his crude chakra sense and hearing to correct the mistake. He caught the blow near the hilt of his weapon, but the impact still sent him skidding backward through the dirt. He did not fall. He corrected his footing, panting, showing a partial adaptation that proved he was learning rather than merely surviving.
"Lord Hokage," Ryu said, his eyes remaining on the sparring pair. "I want full authority over the inheritance of the [Rasengan]."
Hiruzen turned his attention away from the blind boy. "Is it for Naruto?"
"No," Ryu said. "For my family. I have developed a new jutsu with several prerequisites, one being complete mastery of the [Rasengan]. I need the right to pass it on and teach it as I see fit."
Shikaku's eyes sharpened at once. If the boy needed [Rasengan]-level control as a prerequisite, then whatever he was building next was not a minor variation.
Hiruzen frowned slightly. "Have you found a way to add nature chakra to the jutsu, and do you wish to make that completed technique a Hamura clan's secret jutsu?"
"Not exactly," Ryu replied. "I did achieve the elemental [Rasengan], but that is not the reason I am asking. The elemental version is a completely new, high-ranking jutsu. It fits the criteria for derivative jutsu laws without creating any conflict over inheritance. And you are right; I want it passed on to my brothers and sister, but still I want to ask."
Hiruzen nodded slowly. "Yes, you are right. Once you create a new jutsu from an old one, you are given full control over it to encourage the development of new jutsu, even if it is a high-ranking jutsu. The Fourth Hokage is the best example of this process. His other signature technique was derived from Lord Second, but he improved it enough to call it his own. But once a jutsu is deemed a secret jutsu, it will be only for a clan."
Ryu said, "Trust me, you don't want this jutsu outside the Hamura clan. It is dangerous and ways to manage it are connected to many secret jutsu of mine that I cannot disclose."
Another crack of wood cut across the yard. Akihiro caught the first strike, missed the second read, then recovered just enough to avoid being fully opened up.
Hiruzen looked at Ryu carefully, catching the subtle omission in the boy's logic.
"Are you planning another jutsu different from the elemental [Rasengan]?" Hiruzen asked.
Shikaku and Hiruzen exchanged a brief look. Hiruzen heard the legal risk in it immediately. Shikaku saw something else at once: if Ryu was building another Rasengan-based jutsu beyond the elemental variant, then it would not be a minor technique.
Naruto shifted in the shade of the tree, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He looked around, momentarily disoriented by the presence of the Hokage and the sound of wooden swords.
"You fell asleep during training," Ryu said.
"Sorry," Naruto muttered, looking apologetic.
"It is fine, Naruto," Ryu said. He turned back to the Hokage, answering the question now that Naruto was awake and listening.
Ryu's eyes flicked to Akihiro for the briefest moment.
"Yes," he said. "I am developing a new doping jutsu."
Mukai's expression remained neutral, but the pieces snapped together in his head. "So I was right." He had previously used his [Byakugan] to secretly observe Ryu's internal chakra flow. He had seen the abnormal pathways, the forced currents. Hearing the term 'doping jutsu', Mukai finally understood the sheer genius of what Ryu was engineering. Ryu was applying the principles of the [Rasengan] to achieve a higher circulation in the chakra network for Taijutsu enhancement. He was building an internal circulation engine.
"I must tell you that doping jutsu is exceptionally dangerous," Shikaku said, his lazy posture vanishing instantly.
Hiruzen's tone hardened. "Every village has a few, and they are all lethal to the user. In the Leaf, there is the Eight Gates method. The Sand Village relies on an oxygen-doping jutsu called the Seven Heavens Breathing Method. The Cloud has its lightning body enhancement, and the Mist has the [Hydrification Technique], though that is only made safe by the specific bloodline of the Hōzuki clan."
Hiruzen paused, making sure Ryu understood the gravity of his warning.
"There are many more, but one thing is common in all of them," Hiruzen continued. "The survival rate is low. We spent many years trying to replicate some of these techniques. Orochimaru and Tsunade worked together on that exact project, but all of them failed to achieve safely replicable results. Most common ninjas cannot use these doping jutsus without dying."
Another clack rang through the courtyard. Itachi stepped in; Akihiro gave ground, then turned the retreat into a rough parry that barely kept the bokken off his shoulder.
"I know the risks," Ryu said. "I am a medical apprentice and a soon-to-be medical officer. I am careful. That is exactly why I need the [Rasengan]. I need its extreme chakra control to solve the circulation problem."
[Kushina looked out through Naruto's eyes.
"Hiruzen..." she said softly. "He looks healthy."
Minato followed Naruto's line of sight and understood at once. "The fox chakra leak must have brought him here."
Kushina's focus shifted farther across the yard. "Is that Itachi fighting that blind kid?"
Minato did not answer her. He had stepped closer to the red torii gate, his attention fixed entirely on the conversation outside as he processed Ryu's words through Naruto's newly awakened senses.
"He is using the rotation," Minato murmured, feeling a sharp surge of technical and fatherly pride. Ryu was reverse-engineering the core principle of his jutsu—high-speed rotation and containment—using it as a medical engine to safely pump chakra through the body. Minato had absolute faith that the boy could pull it off safely.
Only after that did Kushina take in the rest of the scene around Naruto. Other children were nearby. Even the strongest people in the village were standing at the edge of the yard, watching.
"He has friends," Kushina said, relief settling into her chest. "He has company... I hope the village has more people like Ryu."]
A sharp burst of movement in the yard pulled Naruto's attention completely toward the spar.
Ryu shifted the topic without warning. "Lord Hokage, I need you to put a stay order on the decision made by the committee regarding him." He gave the faintest tilt of his head toward Naruto, who was busy watching the spar.
Shikaku narrowed his eyes. "That decision was made just half an hour ago. How did you know?"
"I knew it was today," Ryu said.
Hiruzen exhaled slowly, weighing the political cost before nodding.
"Alright. I will take responsibility for it. I will send a message to the council stating that you have formally appealed the decision."
"Thank you, Lord Hokage."
Hiruzen offered a faint smile. "You can just call me Grandpa... just like Naruto."
"Ok, Gramps," Ryu said instantly.
Hiruzen's left eye twitched. "I did not expect him to drop the honorifics quite so casually," Hiruzen thought.
Naruto rose to his feet and squinted toward the centre of the yard, brushing dirt from his shorts as he stared.
"What is happening?" Naruto asked. Then he blinked. "How is the blind brother fighting?"
Ryu looked down at Naruto, adopting the measured tone he used for teaching. "Think of it this way, Naruto. Your ears hear words, but only your brain understands the meaning. If you do not know the language, you hear the sound, but you do not understand the word."
Naruto tilted his head, listening closely.
"The eyes work the same way," Ryu continued. "They capture an image, but that image is actually visualised inside your brain, not your eyes. If you can develop your other senses to extraordinary levels, you can feed your brain the pieces it needs to build a picture of your surroundings. Akihiro uses hearing, vibration, and pressure to do that. And I am developing a ninjutsu that will completely replace the eyes' feed to the brain."
"A blind ninja..." Shikaku thought. "The kid is talented, but this is asking a lot of that boy."
Shikaku crossed his arms, listening with a focus that had nothing lazy about it anymore. Ryu was not describing blind optimism. He was outlining a highly structured, replicable sensory framework.
Beside them, Dan's eyes narrowed slightly. He noticed the sharp, uncharacteristic attention cutting through Shikaku's usually indifferent gaze. Ryu noticed it as well.
"Just how many tricks does this kid have?" Shikaku thought. "A special ninjutsu for blind ninjas..."
"This spar is just building a prerequisite of that ninjutsu, the earth sensing," Ryu said.
Shikaku looked back at the spar. "Is it really possible? I can clearly see Itachi is going easy on him."
"It is not easy," Ryu said. "Eyes are not easy to replace. Akihiro is still far from the core techniques. Right now he is polishing the senses he already has first."
He cast a deliberate, calculated side-eye toward Mukai. "When this ninjutsu eye project is done, Akihiro will be seen as better than a [Byakugan] user."
Mukai did not react outwardly, but the provocation landed exactly as intended.
"After that," Ryu added, "my next medical project is on eyes for the general public. I can only hope Orochimaru's abandoned equipment is up to my standards."
["Orochimaru's abandoned equipment?" Minato was surprised. He very quickly pieced it together.]
Dan gave a short, rough exhale that might have been a laugh. Hiruzen just looked tired.
In the centre of the yard, Itachi stopped holding back entirely.
He feinted low, completely erasing his weight from the dirt before pivoting mid-air. For a fraction of a second, Akihiro lost the map beneath his feet. He swung at empty space, his earth-sensing suddenly useless against an airborne target. Itachi's foot connected solidly with Akihiro's chest.
Akihiro was kicked away hard, tumbling across the packed earth.
"Stop it!" Kaia shouted.
She ran forward, dropping beside her brother and bracing a hand behind his back as he coughed. Her face was pale, driven by a protective terror of the ninja reality closing in around them.
"He can never see the world!" Kaia argued, her voice cracking. "How do you expect him to fight ninjas? They are too powerful! He cannot even walk straight without help!"
Ryu looked at her. He did not dismiss the panic in her eyes.
"You are right to be afraid," Ryu said quietly. "Your terror of this world is completely justified."
Kaia blinked, caught off guard by the direct validation.
"But that does not mean I stop trying to build him a way forward," Ryu continued. "Falling is part of the process of learning to walk. Impossible things stay impossible only until someone builds the steps to reach them."
Shikaku stepped forward, backing Kaia with cold statistics.
"She has a point, Ryu," Shikaku said. "There is only one blind ninja alive right now in the Chunin ranks. All the others are reserve genin ninjas who lost their sight in the line of duty. They only remain active due to special ninjutsu that do not require sight, like the information gathering of the Yamanaka or the tracking techniques of the Inuzuka."
Ryu looked at Shikaku, then at Kaia. Theories and statistics were no longer enough to win this argument.
The yard went quiet.
He reached into a sealing scroll and pulled out a thick cloth bandage. Without a word, he wrapped it around his head, tying it tightly over his own eyes.
Ryu turned his blindfolded face toward Kaia, issuing a final, clinical challenge.
"Even if you do not trust me on what I am doing with Akihiro," Ryu said. "Will you trust me when I say I really cannot see with my eyes right now?"
A/N:
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