(December, year 54 AK)
After Yuta firmly nodded, agreeing to keep whatever Hikari is about to say a secret, Itachi nodded as well.
As Hikari looked back at Keisuke's corpse laying between them on the ground, while seemingly collecting her thoughts and thinking how to better explain this, Yuta also looked at the corpse and thought, 'A Jonin-level opponent, huh... He was slowly and steadily overpowering and outmaneuvering the three of us there, then Hikari somehow severed his right wrist, and it was a complete downhill for him from that point.'
'With his attack capabilities severely limited and with him constantly losing blood fast, it was already as good as over for him at that point. My final use of Shadow Cloak genjutsu worked, but even if it didn't, he would still die all the same, just with a minute or two of struggling before that. But still, he was a Jonin, so better not risk it, who knows, he could've had some Forbidden jutsu he could use in the end, it's a good think that I killed him quickly.'
'My first defeated Jonin, huh... Well, not my but rather ours... But still, quite the achievement.' Yuta thought with satisfaction while suppressing the exhaustion and pain in his muscles, he was quite spent after the fight.
"Well, the truth is..." Hikari finally said as she gathered her thoughts and looked up, "I believe I had awakened a Kekkei Genkai."
"You did what?" Yuta blurted out in surprise, he had expected to hear something interesting, but this? Yuta doesn't remember any Bloodlines that could allow the user to cut off someone's limb at will, so he was struggling to believe in that explanation, he would rather assume it was some kind of a Hiden or a Forbidden jutsu that she secretly learned somehow, but Kekkei Genkai? Yuta had a hard time believing in that.
'Bloodline ability, huh, this explanation feels too convenient... Basically any unexplainable bullshit could be chalked off as a Kekkei Genkai easily in this world and would be left at that, no further questioning and explanations needed, everyone will just think of an explanation on their own...' Yuta thought. He knew a lot about that, after all he used the same excuse to explain his foresight of the future events and the Calm State...
'You cut off a Jonin's wrist somehow without a sword? How did you do that? What kind of jutsu did you use? Where did you learn that jutsu, tell us? Oh, you say it was a Kekkei Genkai? Ok, then, that's reasonable, we understand, have a nice day!' Yuta thought jokingly as he suppressed the desire to shake his head.
...
'It's too convenient... Was it really a Bloodline awakening? A Bloodline that is unknown even to me?' Yuta thought as he looked at Hikari with suspicion.
"You awaken some sort of a Bloodline ability? I see." Itachi commented and nodded calmly as if it explained everything and if it was just a normal everyday occurrence.
"Yes. When this guy..." She lightly kicked Keisuke's corpse, "...about to stab me, and when I realized that I won't be able to stop him, it came to me and I knew I could still cut him, even if my sword didn't reach him."
"I see." Itachi said calmly and nodded as if that was the most reasonable explanation he ever heard in his life.
'You see? What exactly are you seeing?' Yuta thought as he looked at Itachi while feeling a mix of disbelief, irritation and a tiny bit of amusement as he observed the scene.
...
'Sigh, well, the explanation is reasonable by this world standards, I guess...' Yuta thought as he sighed tiredly in his mind, 'I don't really have any clues or evidence that it wasn't just as she says – a Kekkei Genkai awakening. By logic, it is reasonable. By logic, I should just accept that explanation and be done with it.'
'It will also explain her quick rise of strength. By the age of eight she is already on the level directly between Chunin and Jonin, and by this world standards it is considered as a topnotch talent, after all, in the original story Kakashi becomes the youngest Jonin in history by the age of 12. Having some sort of a Bloodline usually means that the ninja has a big advantage. Itachi, for example, after awakening his Sharingan his chakra directly risen all the way to the Jonin-level, and he also become much stronger thanks to that.'
...
'But logic is one thing, while my feelings and intuition are telling me that there is more to it than just a Bloodline awakening, maybe it even not a Bloodline at all. But what else could it be? Some kind of Hiden or Forbidden jutsu? I didn't really see what exactly happened back then. One instant Hikari's sword lightly grazed Keisuke's wrist, and the next instant, his wrist is already falling down, being cut off cleanly...'
'Is there more to it? Now that I think about it, I didn't felt any chakra flares from Hikari at that moment, if she was using some kind of jutsu she should've used up some of her chakra, and I should be able to pick up a chakra flare from her with my chakra senses, but I didn't.'
'Bloodline abilities follow the same fundamental logic of chakra as everything else in the world. The user spends chakra to activate the jutsu, Bloodline related or not, and the chakra flare could be detected by sensor ninjas or anyone with high enough sensitivity to chakra, like the majority of the veteran ninjas like Jonins for example, they usually train the skill to sense chakra flares from a distance.'
'Now that I think about it and starting to remember more details, I think I felt how Hikari's chakra reserve had decreased a little at the moment when Keisuke's wrist was cut off. That tells me that she did use up some of her chakra, but why wasn't I able to pick up the chakra flare from her chakra network as well? I have no idea...'
...
'Sigh, it's futile, I can't figure out what exactly happened here with the amount of information I have. No point thinking about it further at the time being, I'll take the "Bloodline awakening" explanation for now and will keep my eye on her, looking for more clues.'
...
Unknown to Yuta, he did miss one major clue in all of this, or maybe he was just subconsciously unwilling to accept that clue and what that clue implies for him. That one missed major clue, combined with all the minor clues and suspicions Yuta already had, it all could've led him to an explanation. But maybe he was subconsciously refusing to even assume that such a possibility exists, and that's why he missed the clue, rejecting it subconsciously.
He doesn't know that yet, but it was already inevitable that in the foreseeable future he would have to accept the reality and face it head on, for better or worse... For better or worse, for the time being Yuta remained clueless about what kind of chaos, challenges and shocking revelations the future holds for him...
...
As Yuta put his suspicions and thoughts about Hikari on hold and returned to the present, he thought, 'Well, this complicates things. It was one thing when some random Joe, aka me, had awakened some Bloodline that was never being seeing before. But it is another matter entirely when there is another awakening like that happened shortly after the first one, and in the same squad nonetheless...'
'Shisui might get questioned whether he found a way to artificially awaken bloodlines... This could get messy real fast... Well, nothing I could do about it now, or can I?'
As Yuta had an idea, he said in a serious tone as he looked at Hikari, "This better to remain a secret."
"Yes, you both promised to keep it a secret, that's what I wanted for the time being. But why are you saying it so seriously so suddenly?" Hikari asked.
"Oh, right, you don't know that yet, I didn't mention it before, my bad, ha ha..." Yuta said as he switched to a casual tone, then his tone became serious again as he said, "You see, I had recently awakened a Kekkei Genkai as well. And now that I think about it, even I'm starting to suspect that Shisui-sensei has something to do with it, even when I know for a fact that he didn't do anything. And now you too, Hikari, have awakened a Kekkei Genkai as well. My Bloodline is already known to the higher-ups, so if yours also becomes known, everyone might start to suspect Shisui-sensei in human experimentation or something like that..."
As Yuta said that, Hikari's expression become grave and her eyes turned cold, full of suspicion, but it only lasted for just a split-second and Yuta wasn't sure if he was just imagining things.
Then Hikari said, "I see. It would indeed look suspicious. We better hide my Bloodline awakening for the time being from everyone if we don't want Shisui-sensei to get into trouble because of us."
"Did I hear that you are hiding something?" A voice sounded suddenly just beside the three of them, startling them.
"Shisui-sensei!" Yuta blurted as he recognized the voice and the chakra signature that he felt vaguely with his chakra senses in close proximity.
"Well then, what exactly are you hiding?" Shisui pressed further, his tone although casual, still held a bit of tension...
--- AN ---
Did some major foreshadowing there, but don't ask me what it meant and what exactly am I preparing. I'm not answering questions, nuh-uh, just let me cook.
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