Chapter 209: A New Power Awakens
Ino... it was Ino!
The moment he recognized her, Ren's world shattered. The murderous aura that had cloaked him vanished instantly, replaced by a cold, paralyzing horror. His body froze, his eyes wide with disbelief as he stared at the woman impaled on his blade. A sharp, agonizing pain lanced through his heart, so profound it felt physical.
"Ino...!"
As her name tore from his lips, a searing heat erupted behind his eyes. Twin trails of blood streamed down his cheeks. Without his conscious command, the tomoe in his Mangekyō Sharingan began to spin wildly, accelerating into a blur.
Then, something broke.
A strange, immense power erupted from his eyes, warping the very fabric of reality around him. A unique field, centered on Ren, expanded in an instant, covering a radius of thirty meters. Within this dome, the world changed. Sound died. The wind ceased to blow. The very air grew thick and heavy, as if time itself had congealed.
The blood dripping from Ino's wound hung in the air, a perfect, crimson teardrop frozen in its fall. But it wasn't truly frozen. To an observer with impossibly keen sight, everything was still moving, but at a rate slowed by thousands of times.
Then, the scene inverted.
Everything within the field began to move backward at a terrifying, accelerated pace—ten thousand times faster than the previous slow-motion. The trajectories reversed. The swirling smoke retreated to its source. The wind reversed direction. The hanging droplet of blood flew upward, re-entering the wound on Ino's chest. The gash sealed itself at a visible rate, the torn fibers of her vest knitting back together until no mark remained.
Time itself was flowing backward.
A deafening roar filled Ren's head, followed by a wave of disorienting vertigo. When his senses cleared, the scene before him had changed completely. He was standing over the body of a Konoha jōnin he had just slain, his Blade slick with blood. Ino was nowhere to be seen. The horrific event of moments before seemed like nothing more than a vivid, terrible dream.
What… what just happened? That… wasn't an illusion…
He stared at his blade, utterly bewildered.
But then he felt it again—a flicker of killing intent from behind. A powerful sense of déjà vu washed over him. He didn't need to look; he knew who it was.
It's Ino!
His body, trained for a decade, reacted on pure instinct. He spun, his katana already thrusting toward the source of the intent. As he completed his turn, the "dream" became reality. There she was, Ino, her face a mask of desperate resolve as she lunged at him with her kunai.
Horror seized him. He was committed to the thrust. He was about to watch, helplessly, as history repeated itself.
In that split second, his left Mangekyō Sharingan flared once more. The same strange field erupted from him, smaller this time, encompassing only a dozen meters. And within that space, everything stopped.
The smoke particles hung motionless. The air was solid. Ino was frozen mid-lunge, a statue of determination and sorrow. The tip of Ren's blade was pressed against her vest, having just pierced the fabric. One more inch would have been fatal.
This is…?
Though stunned, Ren didn't waste the miracle. Unaffected by the stasis, he yanked his blade back, pulling it clear of her body just as the frozen moment ended.
Time resumed its normal flow.
Ino completed her lunge, stumbling forward through empty space where Ren had been a moment before. She caught herself, confused, turning to find him standing a few feet away, his katana held defensively, his expression one of shock and dawning comprehension.
*Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have awakened a new Sharingan ability!*
The system's voice echoed in his mind.
A new ability? Ren was baffled. My Mangekyō's abilities were set by the system from the start—Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu.
*Answering Host:* The system began its explanation.
As the mechanical voice detailed the mechanics, understanding dawned on Ren. The Mangekyo Sharingan was a pinnacle of the Uchiha bloodline, a cheat-like power where no two pairs ever manifested the same abilities. The eyes he had exchanged for were a finished product, pre-loaded with Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu, like transplanting another's eyes. They were tools anyone could use.
But he, Uchiha Ren, was a true Uchiha. He possessed the bloodline, the potential. He still had the qualifications to awaken his own Mangekyō abilities, unique to his soul and his experiences. The extreme emotional trauma of nearly killing the woman he loved—the ultimate loss and regret—had finally triggered the conditions. He had unlocked a power that was his and his alone.
A power over time itself.
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