"You're saying your invisibility comes purely from your chakra? No hand seals at all?"
Hiruzen's tone carried controlled curiosity, though his eyes never left the boy before him. Danzo, standing at his side, was less subtle—his gaze sharpened like a hawk's.
Both of them had already seen Lock's concealment during the assessment, but to hear the boy confirm it directly was something else.
Lock nodded. "Yes. No seals. As long as I wrap my body in chakra, I vanish from sight. I don't know the reason, only that it works."
Danzo's voice cut in suddenly, cold and sharp. "When did you first discover this?"
Lock answered honestly. "During my last year at the Academy. I was practicing chakra control at home. When I gathered chakra over my skin, my mother suddenly couldn't see me anymore. That's when I realized… it wasn't just in training, it worked anywhere."
Danzo's eye narrowed. "Then why didn't you report it?"
Lock tilted his head, feigning innocence. "Report? To who? My teacher? I didn't want to be treated like some kind of monster. I just want to be an ordinary shinobi."
That answer made both men fall silent for a moment. Hiruzen's brow softened faintly, while Danzo's face was unreadable.
It was a simple truth—no child discovering a strange power would rush to expose it. More often than not, they would hide it. Even so, hearing Lock voice his fear of being treated as different gave the Hokage pause.
Danzo opened his mouth again, but Hiruzen stopped him with a light cough. "Lock," he said gently, "show me. Channel chakra now, in front of us. Let me observe more closely."
Lock's stomach twisted. He already knew what this was—an inspection, an evaluation, a weighing of his worth. But resisting here would only invite more suspicion. And besides, sooner or later, his ability would be exposed. Better now, when he could still play the role of a confused child.
"Understood, Hokage-sama."
He stepped into the open space before the desk. Taking a breath, he willed his chakra to surge outward. A thin current wrapped across his skin, flowing faster and faster as he directed it with precision.
Six heartbeats later, his body faded… and then vanished.
Both elders' eyes widened. Even after witnessing it before, the seamlessness of the disappearance struck them. No shimmer, no outline, no distortion—just gone.
"Incredible…" Hiruzen muttered, reaching forward. His hand met solid flesh though his eyes saw nothing. "There's no trace at all."
Danzo's tone was low, grim. "Without a sensor, no one would ever find him."
Lock's voice came from the air. "That's not entirely true. If I stay perfectly still, it's nearly impossible to notice me. But if I move, or make noise, someone could still detect me."
Hiruzen nodded, eyes narrowing in thought. "I can hear faint breathing, yes… so it isn't complete erasure. It's concealment, not nullification. And the chakra… yes, it feels different."
When his hand touched Lock's shoulder, Hiruzen had sensed it clearly: beyond the boy's natural water and earth affinities, there was something else threaded in—an unknown property, subtle distinct.
A mutation.
Lock, though hidden, frowned faintly. So it really is my chakra itself… could this be because of the "template"? The thought gnawed at him, but he kept his tone childlike as he asked: "Hokage-sama… is there something wrong with my chakra? Will it hurt me?"
"Come out first," Hiruzen instructed.
Lock released his chakra, his form flickering back into sight. He made sure to wear a nervous expression, playing the role of the frightened child.
Hiruzen studied him quietly, then spoke. "No need to worry. There's no sign of harm. What I believe… is that your chakra underwent a natural mutation. In other words, you may have awakened a Bloodline Limit."
The words hung in the air like a thrown kunai.
Danzo stiffened. "A Bloodline Limit? You mean this ability is unique to him?" His tone betrayed both eagerness and frustration.
Hiruzen nodded gravely. "I cannot be entirely certain, but the likelihood is high. His chakra flow alone cannot account for this. I've studied the method—no shinobi I know could reproduce it. That suggests it is innate."
Danzo's face darkened. "We'll see. Bring a Hyūga."
An ANBU vanished, then returned minutes later with a Hyūga shinobi. The pale-eyed ninja bowed silently before activating his Byakugan.
"Fujiwara Lock, conceal yourself again," Danzo ordered.
Lock complied, vanishing once more. The Hyūga's eyes tracked the chakra flowing across his body—but even then, he shook his head.
"The chakra pattern is visible," the Hyūga reported, "but it does not create the same result when I mimic it. His body simply… disappears."
"Enough," Hiruzen said firmly. He turned back to Danzo. "This cannot be copied. The ability belongs to Lock alone. It is indeed a Bloodline Limit, and likely a newly emerged one."
Danzo's lips pressed thin, fury simmering behind his gaze. He had hoped to extract and replicate the technique, to fold it into Root's arsenal. But with Hiruzen's ruling—and the Hyūga's confirmation—there was no path forward.
"Hmph." With a final cold glare at Lock, he turned sharply and strode out of the office, cane striking hard against the floor.
The door closed, leaving only the boy and the Hokage.
Lock let out a slow breath, his small fists still hidden at his sides. Bloodline Limit, huh?
The label would protect him for now. But it also painted a target on his back.
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