12 Frailty

Isui let his thumb glide over the edge of the kunai. The texture reminded him of sandpaper. There was no crisp reflection of his face on the surface, but the image of a flesh-colored blob. In short, it was a training tool.

The kunai and shuriken were a loan from the academy's armory. A collection of kunai and shuriken in all sorts of shapes and sizes with some knives, needles, swords, and other miscellaneous in between. Bringing your gear into the academy was forbidden.

The teachers called them unauthorized weapons and confiscated them. Iwabee's staff barely cut. He was only allowed to keep it after he used it against Boruto because of Shino-sensei's goodwill and Iwabee's earnest promise to better himself. Unfortunately, the Will of Fire thing the headmaster Iruka was talking about at the entrance ceremony did not work on his Kunai. But he had seen other students with weapons you needed a good track record, fill out the authorization papers, and have a good justification for example there was this girl from a family of samurai. Carrying one's sword at all times was crucial for the spiritual bond between the soul and the iron.

Isui dug his other hand into his weapons pouch and produced one of his kunai. Its blade was glassy and smelled of polishing paste. Even for such minute detail, Isui had to get a special allowance to use sharp weapons during shuriken training in the ninja academy training hall. Handing them to someone else, even his sister, was forbidden. After class, Shino-sensei would count all the weapons to store them away for the next lesson.

"Uhh..." The boy next to him whooped. Denki eyed the sharp blade in Isui's hand with stars in his eyes.

"Do not even think about it."

Isui stored the sharp kunai away again and gave him the blunt one.

"You can not even hit the post five meters from here yet."

Denki snatched the kunai from Isuis's hand and turned his attention toward his target a look of determination on his face.

The clinking and slithering of unsuccessful tryouts made his ears bleed.

(You have never been that bad.)

Isui eyed the collection of kunai scattered on the sand floor one last time and pointed at the unmarked target. He watched as Denki readied himself again.

(They are all so bad at this.)

He was ready to throw when Isui clasped the boy's frail arm and guided him into the correct position.

Denki was notoriously bad at this, and if it were not for Boruto's plea a few weeks ago, he would have overlooked him entirely. But after a few jarring conversations, he discovered that Denki was a tech genius. The boy was intelligent and, after Denki and he had warmed up to each other, became stable in Isui's friend group. After one week of observation, Isui was sure that Denki could never have done such a disastrous thing, like intentionally causing a train crash.

So a higher power had been at work. The only problem was it did not happen again, at least not to Denki.

The next victim was Metal Lee. He was the son of the famous material arts master, the high-ranking Jonin Rock Lee of the eight gates.

Isui had not been present in this fight, and Boruto's explanations again proved unhelpful.

(He is a useless fool.)

They had to stay patient and wait for the next attack.

"Isui, should you not work on your target."

(Shino-sensei should just shut up.)

Isui looked up at his sensei and then nodded at his post. Several kunai stuck around the center of the target's black middle and formed a smiley face.

"I stay here and help Denki, sensei."

(It is not like you can help all of those fools at the same time, sensei.)

Shino-sensei sighed and walked to the next student.

Not even his sensei knew what to do with Isui.

When Isui learned one thing in the last few weeks, school sucked. He looked after the green-clad insect master and shook his head. Was he developing a headache?

During the great break between the kunai throwing block and the basic math lesson block, the headache reached a point of no return.

It pounded and twisted. Isui felt his heartbeat simultaneously in his neck and head.

He excused himself from his friends and headed to the bathroom on the first floor.

The hallway was empty and the windows drowned out any noise from the playing kids.

Isui breathed a sigh of relief.

(Finally alone. How liberating.)

Isui reached the bathroom and entered it. The pounding in his head became less and less noticeable. How odd.

(Not odd. Good.)

Good.

Isui took the hair tie out. The red flower bead on it brought a good memory of Himawari.

Pain flashed in his neck.

(The guys have teased you for it. You do not need such a flimsy trinket.)

The hair tie fell from his hand to the ground, barely making any noise. Somehow it caused Isui to panic. He looked down, his eyes searching for it.

Another pain flashed in his neck up to his forehead.

He took a step backward and heard a crack.

(You do not need those guys. Nor the affections of some girl. They are keeping you from getting stronger.)

Wait, what? What was he thinking? His friends and family were everything to him. He steeled himself and started to analyze the strange situation.

(You need more power.)

(You are weak.)

(I can give you power. Here and now. Fast and simple.)

I do not need your power.

(I can make your power fantasies come true.)

Suddenly, Isui found himself contradicting all the sentences someone whispered in his head. Or was it something? He needed to test it.

Get out.

He focused on himself trying to decide whether or not he was ripe for a trip to his mother's mental health clinic.

(You need me. You want me.)

A child-like voice whispered. It was bizarrely similar to the color of his voice jet distinctly different.

I do not need you. I do not want you. He pronounced every word loud and clear, emphasizing them.

(Come on. You know you are nothing. Your ancestors would be ashamed of you. You can not even control your gift.)

Isui felt a new sensation spreading from his neck through his chakra system.

(You are weak.)

He felt weak like a fragile vase of glass to be exact. It felt like all his energy was sucked away.

Shit. That was not good. The voice was seductive. It clouded his judgment.

Isui felt a second individual crawling its way deeper into his body, spreading itself like poison. It felt slimy.

(You need power.)

No.

No.

NoNoNoNoNoNo.

No.

"I, Isui Uchiha do not need your power. Go away." He demanded out loud. His voice echoed in the empty bath.

But mysterious someone did not leave his body. It seemed like it salvaged his body, feasting on his energy.

Isui stood in the bathroom like a stature. He felt himself getting more and more drowsy.

This is dangerous.

In an attempt to force himself to stay awake, he stumbled over to the sink. He wanted to splash cold water over his face. One step, two steps he counted.

Whatever possessed him seemed to recognize what his chosen host wanted to attempt. He felt his chakra being sucked from his legs up to his neck. His breath hitched.

As his one hand gripped the bathroom sink the missing energies suddenly rushed back to his feet making him lose footing and he flew forehead first against the white ceramic. It hurt.

Isuis grip on the rim tensed and an uncontrolled surge of chakra burst from his fingertips. It split the smooth surface of the sink with a loud crack, transforming it into a spider web-like mosaic.

Half-conscious Isui let his hand glide from the cracked sink to the floor tiles. His vision flickered from one moment an ultra-sharp image and to the next moment a half-black blurry image that did not involve the tiles on the floor or anything else in the bathroom. It was a memory. One he had buried deep within him.

(He left you.)

An explosion tag went off in his head.

"Leave me alone."

Isui clutched his head with both hands and screamed. His head pounded. No something broke through at the entrance gate of his head. Engulfing him, no, swallowing in a wave of, what?

A pleasant warmth? Strange. It felt like he could let go and let himself swap away.

No.

Isui's body jerked trying to make one last stand to regain control.

(He left you alone. I will not. I want to help you, my son.)

This voice. How? When was the last time he heard it?

His crimson eyes went wide.

He screamed again.

Something hooked him like a fish to a rod.

It ripped him off his feet and flew with his back against the wall.

Isui's body glided down the stone wall right beneath the window. The last thing he saw was the reflection of himself wearing an aura of violet mist like a coat.

Then, there was a snapping sound.