Chapter 108: The Curse of Foresight & A Cooling Dip
The revelation hung in the Pure Land like a thunderclap.
[VIP1: Uchiha Izuna]: Foresight? A genuine oracle? Fugaku, is this true?!
The chat exploded into a cacophony of disbelief. Future sight wasn't just another ninja art; it flirted with the divine, with the very fabric of fate. Kotoamatsukami was a violation of free will, but this… this was a violation of time itself.
Uchiha Fugaku's spectral presence seemed to solidify, heavy with a secret long buried. Yet his shock wasn't at the concept, but at the source.
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: Ren… how do you know of my Mangekyō's nature? His tone was grave, stripped of its earlier weary humor. This was not common knowledge. He had shared it only with Itachi, in the crushing silence of their home on the eve of annihilation. Not even Mikoto knew.
Ren, walking with Sakura through the dappled forest light, allowed a faint, triumphant smirk to touch his lips. Hook, line, and sinker.
[Host: Ren Arakawa]: I was hypothesizing. Your reaction just now confirmed it. Thank you for the verification, Clan Head.
A beat of stunned silence pulsed through the stream.
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: …You… you bluffed me?
[VIP5, Admin: Tobirama Senju]: A simple but effective interrogation technique. Exploiting the subject's need to confirm or deny a sensitive data point. The host's psychological manipulation continues to impress in its crudeness.
In truth, Ren's "hypothesis" was built on internet forums and a single, chilling scene from the anime: Fugaku trapping Itachi in a genjutsu that showed a future so horrifying it dwarfed Tsukuyomi's pain. It wasn't just illusion; it was prophecy. And Fugaku's stunned, tacit admission had just turned fan theory into canonical fact for this world.
[VIP1: Uchiha Izuna]: So it's true! You saw the future, and you still let it happen? Why not fight? Change it!
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: I saw all the futures, Fugaku's transmission was heavy, laced with a decade of silent burden. In every branch where the Uchiha fought Konoha, the clan was erased, root and stem. Sasuke died in the chaos. The path where Itachi acted as the blade… was the only one where my younger son, where any shred of our legacy, survived. It was not a choice. It was selection.
[VIP1: Uchiha Madara (The Philosopher of Carnage)]: A curse masquerading as a power. To see the abyss and know you must walk into it. Pathetic. True strength carves its own path through fate.
[Host: Ren Arakawa]: Spoken like a man who carved a path straight into a backstab and decades of scheming in a cave. Very self-determined.
[VIP1: Uchiha Madara]: …
The dynamic shifted. The tragedy of the Uchiha was no longer just about politics and prejudice; it was now tinged with the Greek horror of a leader who had read the script and found every ending was a tragedy.
[VIP2: Uchiha Shisui]: Clan Head… you had it all along. During the Third War… you've hidden it for nearly a decade?
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: Unlike some, Fugaku's tone turned pointed, a father's long-suppressed frustration leaking through, I understood that flaunting such power was an invitation for the wolves. Keeping your Mangekyō a secret is Shinobi 101. You broadcasting yours to the village elders was like painting a target on your own cornea.
[VIP2: Uchiha Shisui]: I… I was trying to use it for peace! For the village!
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: And look where your 'peace' got you. A one-eyed grave and your other eye in Danzō's jar. Sentimentality without secrecy is suicide.
Shisui had no rebuttal. The truth was a cold kunai to the gut.
Ren let the Uchiha family drama simmer, turning his attention back to his immediate, blushing companion. "See? Told you it was less emotionally charged out here."
Sakura nodded, though her mind was still partly back in the grove with Sasuke' brittle posture. "Ren… you know a lot about… scary things."
"Knowledge is just another tool," he said as they emerged into a small, hidden clearing. A crystal-clear lake, fed by a trickling forest stream, sparkled under the midday sun. The air was cooler here, carrying the clean scent of water and wet stone.
Ren looked at the inviting water, then at Sakura, her pink hair bright against the green. A mischievous, utterly shameless idea bloomed. He flashed her a grin that was all teeth and no remorse.
"Hey, Sakura. It's sweltering. The mission's tense. We're both covered in grove-dust and second-hand despair." He gestured to the pristine lake. "What do you say to a quick swim? Clear the head. Very… therapeutic."
Sakura's face flushed from pink to scarlet. "A s-swim? Here? Now? But our clothes… and… and…"
[Pure Land Live Stream – Chat Log]
[Regular: Hyūga Hizashi]: HE'S DOING IT AGAIN! THE WOODS! THE WATER! THIS IS A CLASSIC SEDUCTION SCENARIO FROM THE ICHA ICHA PARADIGM! SAKURA, DON'T FALL FOR IT!
[Regular: Yūhi Maku]: I recognize that look! That's the 'I'm-about-to-be-recklessly-charming' look! My daughter described it in her spectral diary!
[VIP5, Admin: Tobirama Senju]: The host's deviation from standard operational readiness protocols to engage in recreational aquatic activities with a teammate during an active protection detail is statistically irresponsible. And biologically distracting.
[Regular: Jiraiya (Spectating from a banned alt account)]: YES! FINALLY! SOME CULTURE! TAKE NOTES, KAKASHI! THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A PLOT!
[VIP1: Kushina Uzumaki]: PERVERT! DON'T YOU DARE CORRUPT THAT INNOCENT GIRL! NARUTO, COME SAVE YOUR FUTURE WIFE! …Wait, no, that's not right either…
[VIP1: Minato Namikaze]: Why is there a lake there? Was that on the map? This seems like a deliberate narrative contrivance!
Ren ignored the uproar. His offer was only half-shamelessness; the other half was a calculated stress test. How would Sakura react under pressure that wasn't life-or-death, but social and personal? Would she cling to propriety, or was there a spark of something more adventurous beneath her book-smart exterior?
He kept his gaze on her, waiting. The forest held its breath. On the surface, it was an invitation to swim. Beneath, it was a question: Who are you when no one from the village is watching, Sakura Haruno?
The chapter ended not with an answer, but with the question hanging in the humid air, as potent as any jutsu. The waters of the hidden lake waited, still and clear, ready to reflect whatever choice she would make.
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