**Konoha Hospital.**
Morning light seeped through the frosted windows, casting a hazy blue-gray glow in the sterile air thick with the scent of disinfectant.
Kazama Etsu lay flat on the hospital bed, his dark green eyes fixed on the familiar ceiling—like stagnant water overgrown with moss.
He had spent a long time in this hospital before.
Perhaps even this very room.
Back then, he had been carried back from the Kumogakure battlefield, his limbs shattered like a puppet torn apart by a careless child, broken beyond easy repair.
*Akiko… Rinzou… Sensei…*
Time had blurred their faces, leaving only fragments—charred flesh haunting his midnight dreams.
*"Kazama Etsu, don't think talent alone excuses you from training! Your Wind Release is still far from mastery."*
*"What's the big deal? It's not like Rinzou could ever beat me anyway."*
*"Arrogance will be your downfall."*
His teacher's scolding echoed in his ears, grating at the time.
Until the day he faced Kumo's elite on the battlefield. His teammates had sacrificed everything to create an opening—for him, the squad's only Wind user, the natural counter to Lightning.
But he—
Kazama clenched his eyes shut. The memory surged again.
Slow hand seals. Weak technique. The wind he took such pride in had failed to even graze the enemy's skin under his comrades' desperate gazes.
The despair in his teacher's and friends' eyes was a nightmare he'd never escape.
**Knock, knock…**
Footsteps and nurses' voices drifted from the hallway outside.
*"Kazama Etsu… This is the room."*
*"Thank you."*
**Click.**
The door opened.
A silver-haired blind girl stepped inside, cradling an elegantly wrapped bouquet of lilies.
*Why is she here?*
*It's not even a day off…*
Kazama watched as Hikari closed the door and set the flowers on the bedside table, baffled.
**"What are you doing here?"**
**"Visiting my teacher."**
**"The truth."**
**"I want to learn Wind Release nature transformation."**
Kazama stared at her, incredulous.
This girl had *hospitalized* him pretending to be a novice, and now she had the nerve to ask him for training?
*Do I look that forgiving?*
**"No."**
**"Your Water Release is still unrefined. Don't bite off more than you can chew—go practice that first."**
His refusal was blunt, leaving no room for negotiation.
But Hikari smiled.
She knew people.
If he *truly* wanted nothing to do with her, he'd have stopped at "No." The criticism afterward? That was practically advice.
*Kazama's not bad. Way better than Kakashi.*
**"What's wrong with my Water Release?"**
She asked sincerely.
She *genuinely* didn't know. Ever since assimilating the Three-Tails' power, Water Release had become instinctual—effortless, even for techniques others struggled with.
If *that* was flawed, she needed to understand why.
But back in the elite class, the seemingly average Iruka Umino had taught her a harsh lesson. Her Reverse Eight Gates theory had been born from that humility.
Now, she underestimated no one.
Kazama studied her. No defensiveness, just earnest curiosity.
*Talented. Humble. Eager to learn.*
*She's already leagues ahead of what I was.*
If *he'd* trained like her back then… maybe they'd all still be alive.
The past was a wound best left untouched.
His eyes darkened, voice low—half reminiscing, half lecturing:
**"Nature transformation and shape transformation go hand in hand. Relying on just one will never make you strong. Your Water nature is passable, but your shape control is weak."**
Hikari raised her hand.
A swirling current condensed above her palm, forming a translucent water sword.
**"Like this?"**
**"Tch."**
Kazama scoffed.
**"Mimicking a solid blade with flowing water? That's just lazy shape manipulation."**
Unfazed, Hikari waited. She'd finally found a teacher willing to guide her—she wouldn't waste it.
The academy textbooks had only glossed over these concepts. She craved *real* knowledge.
**"Ever wonder why so many jutsu take beast forms?"**
**"Beasts?"**
Hikari mentally reviewed Water Release techniques. *Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon Bullet). Suiton: Daikōdan no Jutsu (Great Shark Bullet).*
Complex forms, yet no obvious power boost. She *had* questioned their purpose.
**"You think it's pointless extra work, don't you?"** Kazama's gaze stayed on the ceiling—speaking to her, or maybe his younger self.
**"Beast shapes don't amplify power. They enhance *control*.**
**A technique that can't hit its target is useless, no matter how strong.**
**Agility. Endurance. Precision. Once locked on, a beast-form jutsu rarely misses."**
**Splash—**
Water coiled in the air, stretching, sprouting limbs until a crude dragon writhed above Hikari's palm.
But its movements were stiff, lifeless.
**"Shape transformation isn't just about appearance. The inner structure must *be* the beast—your chakra mimicking its essence. *That's* true mastery."**
Kazama side-eyed her wobbly "water noodle" with four stubby legs and winced.
Gritting his teeth, he forced his hands through a slow sequence of seals.
A breeze stirred in the room—then a translucent *snake* of wind materialized.
Every scale on its head, every ripple of its body, was indistinguishable from a real serpent.
**"Hssss…"**
The wind-hiss blurred with the sound of an actual snake's tongue.
For a moment, Hikari couldn't tell the difference.
**"Fūton: Fūhebi no Ugoki (Wind Release: Wind Serpent Movement)."**
Kazama held the final seal.
The snake's head cocked back, body coiling like a spring—
**"Fwoosh!"**
It *struck*—
*Too fast!*
Hikari's Byakugan flared, but the serpent was already at her throat, fangs bared.
She threw up a hand—
**"Sssk!"**
The wind-snake twisted mid-air, spiraling around her wrist before darting back to Kazama.
**Drip.**
Blood welled.
A crimson line split her palm from thumb to pinky, neat as a razor's cut.
Kazama lowered his hands.
**"That,"** he said flatly, **"is shape transformation."**
---
(◠‿◠)