Chapter 21 – The Weight of Prophecy
Age Fifteen
The war had become a fact of life, like the tide or the sunset.
I had stopped counting the days between battles. They blurred together—the screams, the blood, the golden flash of my chains. My Mangekyo had been used a dozen times since Nawaki's death. Each use saved lives. Each use cost me a sliver of my vision.
The world was becoming hazy at the edges.
I hid it well. I memorized the positions of everything in my room, trained my other senses to compensate, moved through the village with the confidence of someone who could still see perfectly. But Tsunade knew. She always knew.
"You're getting worse," she said during one of her visits. She was fifteen now, her face thinner, her eyes older. She had stopped wearing her hair in ponytails. It hung loose around her shoulders, brown and dull.
"I'm fine."
"You're lying. Your pupils are sluggish. Your reaction time is down. And you keep squinting at things that are right in front of you."
"I'm not squinting."
"You're squinting right now."
I sighed. "What do you want me to say? Yes, I'm going blind. Yes, it's getting worse. Yes, I'm terrified. Happy?"
"No." She sat down beside me on the dock. The sun was setting, painting the sea orange and gold. "I'm not happy. I'm never happy anymore."
"Tsunade—"
"I dream about him every night. Nawaki. He's always smiling, always saying he's going to be Hokage. And then I wake up, and he's still dead." She hugged her knees. "I don't know how to make it stop."
"You can't make it stop. You can only learn to carry it."
"That's a stupid answer."
"It's the only one I have."
She leaned her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her. We sat in silence, watching the waves.
"I've been reading about the Eternal Mangekyo," she said finally.
"Tsunade—"
"Just listen. There are records in the Konoha archives. The Uchiha who achieved it—Madara, Izuna—they transplanted their siblings' eyes. The operation is brutal, but it works. The blindness stops. The power increases."
"I don't have a sibling with Mangekyo."
"You have a father."
I went very still. "No."
"Ren—"
"No. I'm not taking my father's eyes. I'm not killing him."
"He's already dying. The Mangekyo is consuming him. You can see it. I can see it. His chakra is degrading. His vision is almost gone. He has maybe a few years left, whether you take his eyes or not."
"It doesn't matter. I won't do it."
She looked at me. Her brown eyes were hard. "Then you'll go blind. And then you'll die. And then Kushina will be alone, and I'll be alone, and everything you've fought for will mean nothing."
"Don't."
"I'm not trying to hurt you. I'm trying to save you."
"I know." I closed my eyes. "But I can't. He's my father."
She didn't push. She just held my hand, and we watched the sun disappear beneath the waves.
---
The next morning, my father summoned me to the clan hall.
He was sitting at the head of the table, his bandage removed, his Mangekyo eyes exposed. They were cloudy—the left one almost completely white.
"Sit," he said.
I sat.
"The elders have decided to send you to Konoha," he said. "As a diplomatic envoy. You'll leave in a week."
"What? Why?"
"Because the war is not going well. Uzushio cannot survive alone. We need allies. And you have a connection to the Senju."
"Tsunade."
"Yes." He leaned back. "The elders believe that a marriage alliance would strengthen our position."
I stared at him. "A marriage alliance. Between me and Tsunade."
"Between the heir of Uzushio and the granddaughter of the First Hokage. Yes."
"We're fifteen."
"Arrangements can be made. The marriage would take place when you're older. But the betrothal would be announced now."
I felt sick. "Does Tsunade know about this?"
"Not yet. You will discuss it with her when you arrive."
"Discuss it? You want me to propose to her?"
"I want you to secure an alliance. How you do it is your business."
I stood up. "No."
"Sit down."
"No. I'm not going to Konoha to pressure Tsunade into marrying me. She's still grieving her brother. She's not ready for this. I'm not ready for this."
My father's cloudy eyes fixed on me. "You think this is about what you want? This is about survival. Uzushio is dying, Ren. The sealing barriers are failing. Our shinobi are exhausted. Kiri is planning another invasion, and this time, they won't stop at the outer islands. They will burn this village to the ground."
"Then we fight."
"You will lose."
"Then we die."
"Yes." He stood up. "You will die. Kushina will die. Everyone you love will die. Unless you get help."
I had no answer.
"The ship leaves in seven days," he said. "You will be on it."
He walked out of the room. I sat in the silence, staring at the empty chair where he had been sitting.
---
I wrote to Tsunade that night.
"Tsunade,
The elders want me to come to Konoha. They want me to propose a marriage alliance between our families.
I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to pressure you into something you don't want.
But I'm coming anyway. Because I need to see you. Because I need to know if you're okay.
I'll arrive in a week.
—Ren"
Her reply came the next morning.
"Ren,
You're an idiot.
Come anyway.
—Tsunade"
I smiled. It was the first time I had smiled in weeks.