Over the next six days, Homura and Izumi settled into a routine at the underground base.
Mornings were spent attempting to awaken the Mangekyō. The rest of the day they trained in the surrounding forest, keeping their skills sharp while Izumi's body recovered from each procedure. It was a careful balance, pushing hard enough to make progress but not so hard that cumulative damage would set them back.
This was the seventh attempt.
Inside the laboratory, Izumi climbed onto the operating table without hesitation. She positioned herself in the center, grabbed the helmet, and fitted it over her head.
Homura moved to secure the restraints. His hands worked quickly, checking each strap to make sure they were tight enough to hold. Izumi lay still, breathing slowly and evenly, already preparing herself mentally for what was coming.
"I'm ready," she said quietly, eyes closing beneath the helmet's visor. "Start."
Homura activated the device.
His chakra flowed into the console, and golden light spread across the sealing inscriptions. The helmet's internal mechanisms hummed to life. At the same time, the mechanical arm extended from the side of the table, positioning the syringe near Izumi's arm. The needle pierced her skin and the drug began its work.
Homura's consciousness slipped into her mind. The familiar landscape of her mental world materialized around him, and he began constructing the scenario.
On the table, Izumi's body began to react.
The procedures had increased the intensity of the stimulation with each attempt. Today's session was pushing close to her limit. He could sense it in the way her mental world responded to his presence. If the intensity exceeded what she could handle, her brain would suffer real damage.
Izumi's struggles against the restraints grew more violent. Her muscles strained, tendons standing out against her skin as her body fought against bonds it couldn't break. Muffled sounds came from behind the helmet.
Homura monitored her heart rate, chakra flow, and the stability of her mental landscape. Every indicator told him they were approaching the edge.
If this attempt failed, he would have to implement the backup plan.
The backup plan meant killing the Homura puppet in front of her. The shock of watching someone she considered family die would almost certainly trigger the Mangekyō's awakening.
But it carried enormous risk.
Obito had awakened his Mangekyō by watching Rin die. The experience had broken something fundamental in him. There was no guarantee Izumi wouldn't follow the same path.
The procedure was approaching its safe time limit. He prepared to end the session and start planning for the alternative method.
Then Izumi's mental world suddenly fluctuated violently. The constructed scenario he'd built fractured at the edges as her spiritual energy began surging.
Homura felt his lips curve into a smile.
He maintained the steady flow of chakra into the device while extracting his consciousness from her mind. Under these conditions, with her mental energy in such violent flux, his presence could interfere.
Outside, on the operating table, Izumi suddenly stopped thrashing, as if someone had pressed pause on reality. Her muscles locked up. A strange form of chakra began to form within her body and surged toward her eyes.
Her Sharingan activated on its own.
The three tomoe appeared and began to spin until they blurred together and fused into a single stream of crimson light. Blood welled at the corners of her eyes and trailed down her temples.
Then the pattern changed.
Where the three tomoe had once been, the intricate pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan emerged in both eyes at once.
Homura felt the surge of ocular power flowing from Izumi's gaze. His own chakra reserves rose sharply as the awakening resonated through their bond. He let out a breath as Izumi's eyes closed, and he stopped channeling chakra into the device.
The machinery powered down with a series of clicks and hums.
He walked over to the operating table and began removing the restraints. One by one, the straps came free. Finally, he lifted the helmet off Izumi's head.
Her eyes were still closed. Traces of blood marked the corners. Her face was damp with sweat, hair plastered to her forehead. She looked exhausted.
He reached out to wipe away the blood with a clean cloth.
Before he could touch her, Izumi's hand shot up and grabbed his wrist.
Her eyes opened slowly, revealing her Mangekyō Sharingan again.
"Congratulations, Izumi," Homura said with a smile. "You've successfully awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan."
She didn't react the way he expected. She just stared at him quietly, and tears began welling up in her eyes. They mixed with the blood still wet on her face and dripped onto the operating table.
"Why did you tell me the truth? Should I call you Homura? Or should I call you Kenji?"
So she knew.
Of course she knew. He had made sure of it. In the final moments before shutting down the device, after her Mangekyō had awakened, he had used the equipment to transmit information directly into her mind.
"Because you've become a kunoichi who can stand on her own," Homura replied calmly. "I thought you deserved to know."
Izumi was silent for a moment. Then she released his wrist and sat up. The movement made her wince slightly. Her muscles were sore from struggling against the restraints. She looked away from him.
"I already knew something was wrong with your identity anyway. Knowing this now doesn't really change anything."
It was obvious she was lying. The tremor in her voice gave her away.
"Yes, yes. You are the smartest," Kenji said in that same gentle, slightly patronizing tone he used when humoring a child.
She didn't respond to the jab. Instead, she asked quietly, "Does my mother know?"
"She knew from the beginning," Kenji answered honestly. "But you were still young back then. She thought it would be better not to tell you."
"So everyone knew except me."
She jumped down from the operating table and activated her Mangekyō as she stared at him.
"I don't care. To me, you're still Uchiha Homura."
The stubbornness in her voice reminded Homura of when she'd been younger. Some things didn't change, even when everything else did.
"That works for me," he said.
He understood what she was going through. Someone who had lived with her like family, someone who had been part of her daily life for years, suddenly turning out to be someone else entirely. That kind of revelation would shake anyone. It was only natural for her to need time to process it.
In the end, names were just labels. What truly mattered was the bond beneath them.
As for why he had chosen this moment to reveal the truth about the puppet body, there were two reasons.
The first was simple. Izumi had grown up. She was no longer a child who needed to be shielded from difficult truths. She had earned the right to know.
Second, and more pragmatically, he didn't need to hide it anymore.
Originally, the identity of "Uchiha Homura" had been created as a form of insurance, meant to help Izumi awaken the Mangekyō if the artificial method failed. In that case, he would have resorted to a final measure: forcing her to kill this puppet body with her own hands.
But that plan carried enormous risk. If mishandled, it could shatter her mind under the weight of loss, twisting her into something dark and unstable. Because of that, he had always treated it as a last resort, to be used only when there was no other choice.
Now that option was off the table. The artificial method had succeeded. Izumi had awakened her Mangekyō without needing to experience genuine trauma. Which meant the Homura identity no longer served a strategic purpose.
"So," he said, changing the subject before things could get more emotionally complicated, "aren't you going to test what changes came with awakening the Mangekyō?"
As expected, Izumi latched onto the topic immediately. Her expression shifted from hurt to excitement in an instant.
"The Mangekyō Sharingan!"
She activated the eyes again, focusing inward to sense the changes in her body. Her eyes widened slightly.
"This power is incredible. And my chakra reserves increased too."
Kenji wasn't surprised. Awakening the Mangekyō did more than grant two unique ocular techniques. It also brought significant physical enhancements, including increased strength and speed, a larger chakra pool, and dramatically heightened perception through the Sharingan.
The Mangekyō placed an enormous strain on its user, consuming chakra at a rate that would kill most people. Only a body strong enough to bear that burden could sustain its power, and the awakening process itself reshaped the body to meet those demands.
"Let's head to the training ground and test your new abilities properly."
"Let's go!"
Izumi was already heading for the exit, as if the weight of everything that had just happened had simply slipped off her shoulders.
Kenji followed at a slower pace, watching her back. The revelation about his identity had gone better than he had expected. She was resilient. She would adjust.
More importantly, she now had the strength to protect herself. The Mangekyō Sharingan placed her in an entirely different league. With proper training, she would soon become a force to be reckoned with.
They stepped out of the underground base and into the forest. Not far away lay the training ground they had been using for the past few days. It offered plenty of space to test techniques.