Chapter 17 — The Weight Behind Closed Eyes
For the next few days, life in Konoha settled into a cautious rhythm. The damage from recent battles was slowly being repaired, and the shinobi who had returned from the Sasuke retrieval mission were recovering under the careful supervision of the hospital staff.
In a private office at the far end of the building, Tsunade leaned back in her chair, reviewing the medical charts for Naruto and Sasuke. Kakashi stood near the window, his single visible eye tracking the faint clouds drifting past.
"They're healing faster than expected," Tsunade said, her tone even. "Physically, they're fine. But…" She flipped through the pages again, frowning. "Their chakra patterns have been fluctuating in ways I've never seen before."
Kakashi's brow furrowed slightly. "Fluctuating?"
"Almost as if their bodies are adjusting to… something new. Not an injury, not illness — more like a dormant force waking up." She set the papers down, her gaze narrowing. "And their mental states aren't stable either. They're more… guarded. Like they're carrying something they can't share."
Kakashi thought back to the brief moments he'd spent in their room — the way Naruto's eyes would occasionally glint gold without warning, the way Sasuke's Mangekyō seemed to surface without conscious effort.
He didn't say it aloud, but he had seen those signs before. In the Sharingan, sudden awakenings usually came from deep trauma. But Naruto's eyes… those were different. Something older.
"Keep them under watch," Tsunade ordered, her tone final. "No unnecessary missions. No stress until they're back to normal — or whatever passes for normal for those two."
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A Few Days Later
The hospital was quiet in the early morning, the corridors bathed in the pale light of dawn. Inside their shared room, Naruto and Sasuke were both awake — but neither spoke. Their silences had grown heavier each day, as if the unspoken was pressing harder against them.
Naruto rubbed his temples. His head had been aching on and off for hours.
Sasuke leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees. His breathing was steady, but there was a faint tension in his posture.
Then, it happened.
Naruto's golden Byakugan flickered to life without warning, the glow spilling into the dim room. Sasuke's Mangekyō flared in response, unbidden, a ripple of black flame flickering in his vision before vanishing.
The world seemed to tilt.
They both collapsed back against their beds almost in unison, eyes sliding shut. The heart monitors spiked, then steadied into a slower rhythm. The nurses who rushed in moments later couldn't wake them.
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In the Coma
Naruto opened his eyes to find himself standing in a place that felt both familiar and impossibly distant. The air was heavy with the scent of rain and stone, and before him stretched a battlefield lit by an eternal sunset.
Sasuke was there too, his gaze scanning the horizon. His eyes were the same as they'd been in their final battle against the Ōtsutsuki — sharp, focused, but carrying the weight of too many choices.
One by one, memories began to return.
The clash with the Ōtsutsuki progenitor.
The endless battles in an age before this one.
The moment they had stood side by side, not as rivals, but as the last hope against a force that could swallow the world whole.
And then… a moment after victory — light, pain, and a voice they couldn't place. A voice that said they wouldn't remember everything… until the right time.
Naruto clenched his fists. "This… this is before we were reborn."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "And before that…"
They both saw flashes — their ancient selves, long before the shinobi world they knew, when they had been friends with someone whose face was blurred in memory. Someone whose presence was now gone, leaving only an ache in their chests.
The images grew sharper, faster, until they could almost hear the roar of the final battle again. But before they could hold on to it, the vision began to fade.
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Back in the Hospital
Naruto stirred first, his eyes opening slowly to the sterile white ceiling. Sasuke woke moments later, glancing to the side where Naruto lay.
They didn't speak, but they didn't need to.
Both knew they had just remembered something important — something that would change everything when the time came.
Outside their room, Tsunade stood watching through the small glass window in the door. Her arms were crossed, her expression unreadable.
Whatever was happening to them, she knew one thing: it wasn't over.
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