Early the next morning, Wen Lan left Konoha together with Arashi.
According to the records in the Warring States Sealing Codex, the two of them finally reached their destination by the following morning.
Before them stood a mountain deep within a dense forest, its rock face carved with the Senju clan's crest.
The morning mist had yet to fully disperse. The clan emblem on the mountainside gleamed faintly in the dim light, ancient and tranquil.
Wen Lan turned to Arashi and said softly,
"Arashi, try to break it."
"Yes! Third Elder."
Arashi immediately activated his three-tomoe Sharingan. His pupils rotated slowly, the tomoe tracing deep, shadowed arcs in the morning light.
Within the Sharingan's vision, hidden patterns gradually extended outward. Arashi's breathing slowed almost imperceptibly.
Moments later, his hands flew through seals before slamming firmly against the rock wall.
Tadpole-like sealing patterns spread from his palms. The mountain rumbled deeply as the Senju crest lit up. A crack slowly opened beneath it, stone grinding apart to reveal a hidden passage.
Wen Lan stepped forward, but Arashi quickly blocked him.
"Third Elder, let me scout ahead first. You can enter afterward."
"It's fine."
Wen Lan shook his head lightly, activated his Sharingan, and walked inside.
The air in the passage was stagnant. Ancient sealing runes covered the stone walls. Under the Sharingan's gaze, the symbols seemed to come alive, flowing slowly through his vision.
Wen Lan's steps were steady, his gaze piercing the darkness. Arashi followed closely behind, his three-tomoe Sharingan constantly scanning the surroundings, alert to any abnormal fluctuations.
The deeper they went, the darker it became—until even moonlight vanished, leaving pitch-black darkness. Fortunately, this posed no problem for the Sharingan.
At last, they reached the end.
It was a small sealed chamber, less than ten square meters. At its center stood a stone platform engraved with a complex sealing array. Lying at the heart of the formation was a girl.
Her eyes were closed. Long, ink-black hair spread across the stone surface. Her face was pale, yet carried a strange, eerie vitality.
Several golden chains tightly bound her body.
Wen Lan looked toward Arashi.
Arashi stepped forward to examine the seals. After a moment, he returned and reported,
"They're Uzumaki clan Adamantine Sealing Chains. We can just cut them.
The sealing array below continuously supplies chakra to maintain the chains."
Wen Lan nodded, drew his blade, and poured chakra into it. A faint blue glow spread along the edge.
He swung down decisively.
The Adamantine Chains snapped cleanly. As they fell, they clanged crisply against the stone floor.
At that moment, a surge of chakra rippled through the chamber.
Its source was the girl.
Her eyelashes trembled slightly. Pale lips parted as wisps of dark green chakra spilled from her body like mist, curling around the stone platform.
Her breathing grew deeper, steadier—like a soul awakening from an ancient slumber.
Her eyes shifted beneath closed lids.
Then suddenly—
Her eyes flew open.
Her body tensed violently as she gasped for air, like someone drowning who had just been dragged to the surface.
"You're awake," Wen Lan said calmly.
The girl shuddered. When she saw the Sharingan in Wen Lan's and Arashi's eyes, her pupils contracted sharply.
Fear and vigilance flashed across her face—but instantly twisted into pure killing intent.
She raised her hand sharply.
The shattered chakra chains surged upward like living serpents, lunging straight toward Wen Lan's and Arashi's throats.
Wen Lan's pupils shrank.
He knew she had been treated as a weapon by the Uchiha and sealed away. He knew she harbored hatred toward the entire shinobi world.
But he hadn't expected her to attack the moment she awakened.
Wen Lan kicked Arashi back into the passage, then swung his blade in a blur, severing the incoming chains. Sparks scattered through the chamber.
The girl snarled and began forming hand seals.
But perhaps due to her long slumber, her movements were stiff—slow, painfully slow, barely one seal per second.
Even academy students could manage two seals per second.
Wen Lan seized the opening.
His hands flashed through seals, and Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique roared forth, compressed violently in the confined space.
The girl's eyes widened—but her seals were too slow.
In the next instant, her pitch-black pupils transformed into crimson patterns set against darkness—
Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Amaterasu!"
Pitch-black flames manifested out of thin air, instantly engulfing the Great Fireball. Like writhing vines, the black fire devoured the flames and surged toward Wen Lan.
Wen Lan's pupils shrank as he rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding the licking black fire.
The stone floor scorched instantly, the air twisting and warping from the heat.
Arashi tried to rush in to help, but Amaterasu sealed off the passage entrance, forcing him back with its scorching heat.
Cold sweat slid down Wen Lan's face.
He didn't even consider using Water Release to extinguish Amaterasu.
He didn't have a water affinity—and using water against Amaterasu was about as stupid as trying to stab Susanoo with a kunai.
Pure idiocy.
The girl seemed to realize her condition.
Her body was stiff from long imprisonment. Her chakra circulation was sluggish. Her movements were restricted.
Right now, all she could rely on—
—was her dōjutsu.
She clenched her teeth, staring directly at Wen Lan as her ocular power surged.
The surrounding black flames rushed toward him!
Kagutsuchi!
Wen Lan dodged instantly and shouted,
"I'm not here to fight you! I'm here to save—"
"Tsukuyomi!"
The moment Wen Lan looked at her—out of habit—he realized his fatal mistake.
She had seized the opportunity.
The instant he fell into the illusion, Wen Lan knew—
He had underestimated her.
A true weapon of war…
This reaction speed—there's no way I could ever match it.
Every one of his movements had been calculated.
Inside Tsukuyomi's world, time froze like amber.
Wen Lan was nailed to an intangible pillar, limbs immobilized.
From the darkness, the girl slowly emerged, her gaze cold and exhausted.
"Save me?" she said softly.
"But the entire shinobi world is my prison.
What you call salvation is merely another form of confinement."
Her voice carried the crushing weight of a thousand years of loneliness.
Wen Lan struggled within the illusion, only to find that every breath tore at his flesh.
Tsukuyomi was too real.
Gritting his teeth, Wen Lan roared,
"Do you remember your name?!
Uchiha Hikari!"
The girl froze.
Her pupils trembled slightly, as though the name pierced through a fog of forgotten memories.
In an instant, the Tsukuyomi world shook violently.
The pillar shattered. Darkness receded like a tide.
She snapped her eyes open.
Her Mangekyō Sharingan rippled with crimson light.
"Hikari…" she whispered.
"That… is my name?"
Wen Lan broke free from the illusion, panting.
"You're not a weapon. You're not a cursed container," he said firmly.
"You are Uchiha Hikari.
"At a time when the world was shrouded in darkness, your parents wanted their child to walk in the light.
"That— is the meaning of your name."
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