The corridor was the same one that had led to Naobito the first time.
The cursed energy saturating it was just as repulsive as it had been on that first day. A second visit wasn't enough to build any tolerance to the sensation—it still pressed in from every direction, heavy and foul.
The same exposed feeling from back then was present, though this time it wasn't accompanied by complete powerlessness.
The saturation offered an opportunity. Separating from Toji and the guide, moving close to one of the walls, a hand coated in invisible Haki pressed flat against the stone.
The cursed energy surrounding it vanished instantly—not pushed aside, not displaced.
Obliterated.
Satisfying to confirm, even as the Haki coating the hand burned away at a startling rate.
'Figures. Otherwise it would've been completely broken.'
The test finished, catching up with the other two didn't take long. They had already reached the door.
Observation Haki expanded outward to twenty meters.
Inside the room: Naobito's gray aura, head tilted back, right arm raised. Something being poured into his mouth.
'Don't tell me that idiot was drinking again.'
A sigh slipped out. Toji caught the expression, didn't understand it, and leaned in quietly.
"What's wrong, big brother?"
A small shake of the head. "It's nothing. Let's go in."
Two other presences had already registered—but that could wait.
The guide slid the door open.
"So you're finally here."
Naobito's voice filled the room the moment the threshold was crossed. Soya stood to his side, wearing the expression of someone who had just bitten into something rotten. Not far from him, a woman—almost certainly their mother—watched with visible anxiety.
'The question is whether that anxiety is for us or for herself.'
Tension hung in the air, thick enough that even Toji felt it. His eyes narrowed slightly and his posture stiffened. This wasn't cursed energy—it was something else entirely.
"Good. Come sit." Naobito gestured forward with his chin.
No hesitation. Both of them stepped forward and took their seats across from him.
From there, Soya's stare became noticeably heavier. Staying calm was the priority. A glance at Toji confirmed he was doing the same—keeping his expression carefully neutral, giving nothing away.
Naobito noticed immediately.
"Hahahaha! You kids are something else. You look like you're trying not to crap yourselves. Bwahahaha!"
The laughter went on for a solid ten minutes before it finally subsided.
"Alright. As I told you last time—you're here because there's a choice to make."
His gaze moved from one face to the other.
"Answer honestly. And don't worry about that useless fool over there—he can't touch you."
Observation Haki caught what the eyes couldn't show: rage, burning white-hot in Soya's chest. His lip pressed together. Both fists clenched until the skin split.
Their mother flinched at those words, panic rising in her as though the consequences were already falling on her shoulders.
"Now. Let's get to the point."
Apprehension crept in. The mind ran through every possibility, every likely direction—
And then the question came. Simple. Almost disappointingly predictable.
"Do you prefer to stay in the clan, or leave for good?"
A full second of stillness.
'He's serious? All that buildup for something this basic?'
The answer had never been in question.
"I'm staying."
Of course.
Naobito was far from a saint—that had always been clear. The moment the clan was left behind, all value in his eyes would evaporate. OG Toji had been an exception only because his son carried the potential to become a sorcerer. Walking out of those gates would mean walking out as a homeless child with nothing.
Beyond that, the Zen'in clan was the single best environment available for getting stronger.
Rotten to its core. A place built for mistreatment, for being beaten down year after year. But that was precisely the point. No other environment could forge the same kind of character. The willpower required to survive the Zen'in clan without breaking had to be extraordinary—and to this day, the only one who had truly managed it was Maki. And she'd had to lose her sister in the process.
Even Toji hadn't come out without scars.
Speaking of which–
A turn of the head. Toji was already looking.
"And you, Toji? What do you choose?"
"As long as I'm with big brother, I'm fine," he said, completely calm.
No surprise in that. Facing Naobito again, the calm held.
"You have our answers."
Silence settled over the room—and then shattered.
"HAHAHA!!! NAOBITO, THESE KIDS ARE CRAZY. BWAHAHAHA!!!"
Soya, who hadn't made a sound since the meeting began, laughed hard enough that he seemed to be choking on it
Naobito's expression had gone dark. Every trace of drunkenness was gone.
"Are you certain about this choice? You don't know the full picture."
"We know what we're walking into." The voice came out firm, unhesitating. "I understood it a long time ago, and I made sure Toji understood it too. We're going to suffer. We're going to suffer badly. But that won't break our resolve. This clan will be the stepping stone that makes us stronger."
Soya's laughter died.
The mocking expression curdled into outrage. His cursed energy, which had been sitting dormant until that moment, flared outward and began rippling through the air around him.
"You pieces of trash think you can mock the great Zen'in clan without consequences? You really believe monkeys like you could touch the soles of our feet?"
Contempt and fury, stripped of any pretense.
"Yes."
One word. Flat, calm, completely certain.
That was the last straw.
Soya lunged—the same way he had gone for Toji a year ago. But a year ago was a different world. Every movement registered through Observation Haki with perfect clarity. His hands reached for the throat and found nothing—a slight tilt of the head, barely any movement at all, and the grip closed on empty air.
Silence.
All three adults had frozen. The sight of a six-year-old child calmly stepping around the attack of a semi-Grade 1 hadn't processed yet.
When it did, the rage already burning in Soya climbed to something higher.
"YOU FILTHY MONKEY, YOU THINK YOU CAN HUMILI—"
He stopped mid-word. The air around him froze. His body hung suspended, locked in place like a still frame.
Naobito was already behind him by the time the freeze took hold. One light tap, and the frozen image shattered—Soya blasted clean out of the room.
"Go collect your husband." He was speaking to their mother now, not looking at her. "And tell him that if he disobeys the clan head's orders one more time, he'll be exiled."
She stood without a word, bowed deeply, and left.
Three people had become one.
Naobito looked at them for a long moment.
"Are you sure about your choice?"
"Couldn't be more sure."
A sigh. Long and heavy. "Very well. You're moving tomorrow. You'll be joining the Kukuru. Be ready."
He left without another word. The guide reappeared shortly after and led both of them back to the cabin.
Something had shifted, though putting a name to it wasn't easy. But whatever had taken root that day—whatever had opened up in the chest and spread outward like something finally allowed to grow—felt permanent.
Those wings weren't folding back anytime soon.