Kaede came right behind, spinning in the air and throwing her own kunai in opposite rotation. The weapons crossed in space with mathematical precision: one hit the center of the target, the other passed close.
"Better than I expected," Riki said, nodding. "One more round. I want you to feel each other's rhythm; you need to move as one."
As they both repeated the exercise, Akari approached. Sweat trickled down her neck, down to the Uzumaki necklace she wore as an heirloom.
"This level of training… you do it every day?"
"Every day," Riki replied without hesitation. "And it's still not enough."
She looked up at him.
"Why?"
Riki threw a kunai at the farthest stone. The blade ricocheted at just the right angle and landed squarely in the center of another target.
"Because being enough means accepting what has been imposed on us," he said firmly. "And I don't accept it."
The silence that followed was brief but heavy. A silence that spoke of ruins, of blood, of erased memories.
"I want more," Riki continued. "I want to reclaim what was taken from our clans. Not just survive."
Akari nodded silently. There was something in her eyes, a flame that was beginning to grow.
Later, the training progressed to hand seals. The group gathered in a circle, sitting on the rough ground of the plateau. Steam rising from the grooves in the ground curled around their tired bodies, as if the ancient land itself were exhaling sacred smoke.
"Today we will not learn jutsu," Riki informed her. "We will learn control. To feel the chakra flow without letting it escape, as if we were containing a river within a thread of silk."
He slowly demonstrated the seals: Goat, Snake, Tiger. Then he closed his eyes, held the Dragon seal, and breathed deeply.
"Follow my pace."
One by one, the others followed suit. The sound of deep breaths filled the space. Satoru trembled as he tried to stabilize his chakra flow. Renji frowned, too focused to grumble. Hina seemed enveloped in a faint halo of red chakra, which danced in spirals around her fingers.
"This…" Kaede whispered, "…is like hearing the earth breathing."
Riki smiled discreetly.
"This is the foundation. If you control this, you will control the world."
After nearly twenty minutes of meditation and seals, the group stood. Their faces were sweaty and exhausted, but their eyes burned with something new.
At the end of their training, before returning home, Riki gathered them on a high rock, from which they could see much of the valley.
"One day, all this will be different," he said. "There will be no more poisonous smoke. Uzushiogakure will exist again." Not like a shadow, but like living fire. And we…" he raked each of them with an intense gaze, "we will be the ones to rekindle that fire."
Satoru gave a half-smile.
"So that's it? An army of children?"
"No!" Kaede retorted. "An army of shinobi."
Renji snorted, but didn't argue. Hina clenched her fists. Akari, standing beside Riki, lifted her chin firmly.
"And when that day comes," she said, "the world will remember the names they tried to erase. Uzumakis…"
The wind blew hard, carrying dust and steam. Hell Valley roared silently, as if listening to the promise.
And there, above the ashes of the past, rose the first flames of the future.
The sulfurous heat of Hell Valley never ceased, but the six young people were already accustomed to it. Every rocky crevice, every puff of gas escaping from the ground was part of the house they had learned to call home.
Still panting from their previous training, they had taken a brief break among the black stones. Sweat dripped down their crimson threads, and the air carried the metallic scent not only of the environment, but of the blood that would soon flow.
"Time for the second part," Kaede announced, standing up and cracking her shoulders. "Kekkei genkai training."
"Does this mean we're playing with blood now?" Renji asked, brushing the dust off his clothes. "Good!"
Satoru crossed his arms and took a step back.
"Uzumakis against Chinoike?"
"Not this time," Akari replied, her eyes already tinged with a deep crimson glow. "Today it will be just the Chinoike. The others will observe and correct us if we make mistakes."
"What if I want to join in?" Riki asked, appearing in front of him with a firm gaze.
Silence fell for a moment.
"You…" Kaede began hesitantly.
Riki took a step forward. When he looked up, his eyes were different: red, with thin pupils, dark as rusted iron. The Ketsuryūgan had awakened a few days ago, abruptly, during a meditation with Akemi. Now, he wanted to test it.
Akari was the first to react. She approached and studied Riki's eyes intently, as if contemplating something fragile, about to shatter.
"You awakened it…" she murmured. "And how's the control?"
"Almost nonexistent," Riki replied with a humorless smile. "But I have to start somewhere, don't I?"
Kaede snorted.
"If you fall hard under genjutsu, don't complain."
"Are you going to help me or not?" Riki countered.
Kaede arched her eyebrow and finally nodded.
"Akari, Hina… let's show him what it means to belong to the Chinoike clan and carry the Ketsuryūgan."
They formed a combat triangle: Riki in the center, Akari in front, Hina and Kaede on the sides.
"Riki, focus on one thing," Akari said. "The blood. The flow, the heat, the smell. It's in everything, and the Ketsuryūgan sees it."
Before he could process the explanation, Kaede advanced.
From her palm, blood flowed with the ease of one who had trained countless times, stretching into the air until it formed three spinning spears. Riki tried to anticipate the attack, but his vision wavered; his eyes burned, as if a flame had been lit from within.