Ranmaru looked up at Yuto with eyes full of hope—because that was the meaning of his existence.
Yuto paused for a moment, then shook his head lightly.
"You're too weak. To be my eyes, you're not qualified."
Ranmaru's body was frail by nature. To Yuto, even the Kurama Clan of Konoha produced stronger children.
*Too weak?*
Ranmaru froze, disappointment flashing across his face. But then his eyes lit up.
Yuto hadn't rejected him—he'd only said he was too weak. If he became stronger… then he could be Yuto-dono's eyes, couldn't he?
"Yuto-dono, I want to become stronger!" he declared firmly.
That answer caught Yuto off guard, though it made sense.
In the original story, it had been Uzumaki Naruto's talk-no-jutsu that had changed Ranmaru. Here, it seemed Raiga's death had sparked something different.
"Becoming strong is painful work," Yuto said calmly.
Ranmaru nodded fiercely, his eyes unwavering.
Yuto felt his interest stir. The boy's kekkei genkai was an excellent support ability, invaluable in battle.
But his weak body made him an easy target. Protecting him was impossible. The first step was to fix that frailty.
He considered. Adjusting a person's constitution was nearly impossible for others. But for him, there were two tools: Senju Hashirama's sage chakra, and the cursed seal.
Hashirama's chakra could restore, but Ranmaru's weakness was congenital. It would take years of constant infusion to fix.
The cursed seal, though—its transformation was immediate, its power tangible. And after Yuto's improvements, most of the side effects were gone.
As long as it wasn't kept active for too long, it wouldn't harm the body.
While Yuto pondered, Utakata emerged from the house, looking grim.
"Who is that lying in my bed?"
"I thought you hadn't noticed," Yuto chuckled, raising Ranmaru slightly. "That's Kimimaro. And this is Ranmaru. Since your personalities are so alike, both will stay here with you."
Utakata's face darkened instantly. "I don't agree."
"Is that so? Pity." Yuto smiled, rolling his wrist. "Lately, I've been itching for a fight. My body's going rusty."
At his words, the Six-Tailed Slug inside Utakata stirred awake.
*Brat! Agree with him!* it urged nervously.
Utakata's jaw clenched. With a sharp flick of his sleeve, he turned and walked away without another word.
Watching him go, Yuto sighed. "Kids these days…"
Then he turned back to Ranmaru, serious again.
"The first step is to let you walk. It may hurt."
Ranmaru's eyes widened, disbelief and joy mixing.
Walk?
For him, it had been an impossible dream since birth. His entire life, his body had been too weak to stand on its own.
And now Yuto-dono told him he could walk.
Placing Ranmaru gently on the ground, Yuto summoned the cursed seal's chakra. Cold, oppressive energy rose from his body.
He pressed a finger to Ranmaru's forehead, channeling the energy into him.
The foreign chakra surged inside, overwhelming his own meager reserves, flooding every corner of his body.
"Mm!"
Ranmaru bit his lip, suppressing the cries of pain.
A black rhombus-shaped mark appeared on his forehead, glowing faintly.
Then his vision went dark, and he collapsed.
Yuto exhaled softly. It was done. The experiment worked.
Like before, he noticed—the cursed seal's form was shaped by the bearer's deepest desires. The Sound Four, Sasuke, each had unique forms. Once set, they could never change.
Even his modified seal carried that trait.
Except for him. With the Black King's power to manipulate energy freely, his cursed form shifted however he willed.
But then—he froze.
Even unconscious, Ranmaru continued drawing in his chakra.
By rights, the boy should have been saturated already.
"How curious…" Yuto murmured, eyes gleaming.
"Even passed out, such strong will… and desire."
He smirked.
"In that case—let's see how much more you can take."
With that, he poured cursed chakra into the boy again.
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