The downpour had returned.
Yahiko stood just beyond the edge of the metallic gate that marked Akatsuki's current stronghold—an abandoned storage depot on the outskirts of Amegakure. Rusted shipping crates, cracked cement, and broken piping made the perfect camouflage for a resistance cell. Especially one that had just become a threat.
Konan crouched beside him, her paper wings folded tight, face grim.
"You're sure about this?" she asked quietly.
"No choice," Yahiko muttered. "We're being tested."
Their scouts had confirmed it an hour ago—Hanzo's elite were probing the edges. Testing defenses. Looking for weakness. They hadn't committed to a full strike, but they didn't need to.
It was a warning.
And an opportunity.
System Task: SURVIVE – Active Combat Engagement Required
Objective: Survive and repel a superior threat while maintaining leadership presence.Reward: Resonance Calibration 100% → Unlock Stage 1: Force Redirection
Progress: 0%Threat Level: Moderate – High
Note: Power synchronization will begin under extreme stress. Proceed with caution.
Yahiko felt it again—that tension just behind his eyes. The faint buzz in his nerves. His chakra felt heavier, like it wanted to move in directions he wasn't choosing.
It was time.
The enemy arrived like ghosts—three cloaked shinobi moving between rooftops with mechanical precision. No symbols. No banners. But their chakra was sharp, surgical.
"They're coming for you," Konan said.
Yahiko didn't respond. He'd already drawn the rusted blade he carried—not because it was sharp, but because it felt real in his hand. Familiar.
He turned to the team.
"Kie. Take the left alley. Konan, mid-flank. I'll draw them into the open."
"Yahiko—"
"Trust me," he said, and then he was gone.
The first nin dropped from the air like a black needle, kunai aimed for the throat.
Yahiko pivoted.
His body moved slower than his thoughts. But in that split second—
There.
He felt the kunai's path. Not just the blade, but the force behind it. The angle. The inertia.
A thousand calculations bloomed in his mind.
Resonance Sync Initiated – 12%
Warning: Chakra strain increasing. Limit approaching.
He inhaled.
Then he stepped aside—not just dodging, but redirecting his own body to slide with the incoming vector.
The kunai missed by less than a centimeter.
The shinobi blinked.
Yahiko's elbow snapped up, smashing into the shinobi's chest, converting the enemy's own momentum into a violent backward arc. The body tumbled across the pavement, crashing into a wall with a dull crack.
"...What?" the second nin hissed.
Resonance Sync: 19% → 31%
Feedback stable. Alignment shifting.Partial access granted: Vector Shift: Light Redirection – ACTIVE
The third one didn't hesitate—his hands flew through seals.
"Fire Style: Ash Breath—!"
Yahiko reached out with his left hand. Not to block.
But to feel.
The moment the fire ignited in the man's lungs, he could sense the explosion vector before it even left his throat.
The chakra trail ran toward him—and then upward.
He twisted his wrist.
A sharp pulse of chakra left his hand, unrefined, crude.
But it was enough.
Vector Shift Activated – Primitive State
Result: Flame arc diverted upward at 23° angle.
The fireball, once roaring toward his face, suddenly shot skyward, tearing through a rusted roof panel instead.
The ame-nin stared in disbelief.
So did Yahiko.
He hadn't redirected the fireball so much as shoved its trajectory slightly off-course. Barely enough.
But enough.
It works.
"NOW!" Yahiko shouted.
Paper shuriken exploded from the shadows, slicing through the smoke.
Konan's barrage forced the two remaining nin into cover—but Yahiko didn't chase.
He dropped to one knee.
His breath was ragged. Vision blurry.
Warning: Chakra reserves down 37%
Continue at risk of collapse.
He gritted his teeth. "No. Not yet."
The third shinobi leapt back into view—but now his kunai were laced with an odd shimmer.
Poison.
Yahiko threw a kunai of his own, not to kill, but to test. It flew wide—intentionally.
The assassin ducked. Smirked.
Right into Konan's trap.
A wing-blade made of hardened paper skewered him through the calf, pinning him to a crate. He screamed.
Yahiko didn't wait.
He rushed the final assassin, blade raised—
The man went for hand seals again.
Too slow.
Yahiko slammed the hilt of his sword into the man's wrist, shattering bone. Then he grabbed the cloak, spun, and—
Vector Shift: Reversal (Temporary Surge)
Activated. Force transfer successful.
He launched the man into the side of a collapsed cargo container.
The body hit it hard enough to leave a dent.
Silence.
Then—"Clear!" Konan called.
Yahiko stumbled back, barely able to stay upright. His chakra flared violently for a moment, then snapped back into stillness.
System Update:
Task Complete – Combat Survival Threshold Achieved
Reward Granted:
✔ Skill Unlocked: Vector Control – Stage 1: Force Redirection✔ Trait Improved: Chakra Efficiency (Minor Boost)✔ Bonus: Skill Manual Fragment – Vector Theory: Kinetic Threads
Warning: Continued use without refinement may cause vascular strain.
He dropped to one knee again, this time on purpose.
Stage One… Unlocked.
Later, Konan bandaged his arm.
"You're lucky your chakra didn't implode," she said flatly.
"I'm fine."
"You're shaking."
He didn't respond.
Instead, he looked out the shattered warehouse wall, toward the distant towers of the central city.
"You did something," she murmured. "Your chakra—it moved differently. It was like… you weren't pushing it out. You were guiding it. Letting it flow along something invisible."
Yahiko smiled faintly.
"A vector," he said. "Direction. Magnitude. Motion."
"You sound like a scientist."
He looked at his hands again, the faint buzz of that alien system still echoing in his nerves.
"No," he said.
But even as he said it, part of him knew that wasn't true anymore.
Something had changed.
And it was only the beginning.