The corridor outside the hospital room was steeped in a suffocating silence, broken only by the echo of restless footsteps.
"Please… take a seat, Lord."
The nurse's voice trembled with restrained concern as she stood before the closed door. Her hands were clasped tightly, knuckles pale, as she tried to maintain composure in the presence of a man whose authority was way beyond anything she has ever interacted with.
The man ignored the chair.
He paced.
Back and forth.
Measured steps that betrayed none of his station's dignity—only raw anxiety.
"Just how long will this take?"
He demanded, his voice low but sharp.
The nurse bowed her head slightly.
"My Lord, the most skilled medic in the village is diagnosing the young lord at this very moment. It will conclude shortly. Please… be at ease."
Be at ease.
The words sounded hollow even to her own ears.
The man's fist tightened at his side. He resumed pacing, more agitated now, as if motion alone could outrun his fear.
Inside the room, heavy curtains sealed the space from the outside world.
Darkness dominated, save for a single overhead light that cast a pale circle upon the bed.
A young boy around 6 year old lay there—still, fragile, and far too small beneath the crisp white sheets.
The light revealed a complexion devoid of healthy color, lips faintly bluish, fingers twitching with involuntary tremors.
A woman stepped forward into the light.
Her eyes, sharp and unyielding, studied the boy with clinical precision as she reached for his wrist.
'Underweight for his age… pale complexion… tremors in the fingers… elevated pulse despite rest…'
Her brows knit together.
This was no simple illness.
"What's the situation, Tsunade?"
The voice came from the shadows near the wall.
Tsunade released the boy's wrist and turned, her expression hardening.
Four men stood there, half-hidden by darkness—figures of authority who had no right to be present right now.
Her gaze sharpened with irritation.
"It would cause a real issue if the Feudal Lord found out that he isn't allowed entry…"
She said, her tone edged with steel.
"… while you'll have entered here without his permission."
She exhaled slowly, the sound heavy with both annoyance and resignation.
"Fret not. The Feudal Lord is well aware of my presence here. He's simply… playing along for now. Speak of the boy's condition first."
The old man stepped into the light, his shadow shrinking behind him.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed slightly, but she did not argue.
"Well… he's weak, for starters"
She said, turning back to the bed. Her voice shifted into the precise cadence of a seasoned medic.
"Severely underweight for his age. Muscle atrophy suggests prolonged inactivity or systemic strain."
She lifted the boy's arm gently, letting it fall back onto the sheets.
"His chakra network is unstable."
She continued.
"The flow of chakra through the tenketsu is highly uneven. There are micro-spasms along multiple pathways — as if the coils themselves are rejecting their own energy."
A faint tremor ran through the boy's fingers, as if to emphasize her words.
Tsunade reached forward and, with a single finger, lifted his eyelid.
Bright blue.
Clear.
Eyes that should have belonged to a healthy, spirited child instead stared blankly at the ceiling, unfocused.
"And for this matter…"
She said quietly.
"…I would like your assistance."
She did not look at the old man.
Her gaze moved past him.
"—Yes. I would like to confirm it myself."
A calm, measured voice answered from the shadows.
Footsteps followed.
The man who stepped forward carried himself with the rigid poise of someone born into both power and restraint.
Hiashi Hyuga, Head of the Hyuga Clan.
The moment Hiashi received word, he rushed to hospital without delay.
He had two reasons.
First — to confirm that the boy's eyes were not the Byakugan.
Second — a direct order from the Hokage to be present, at Tsunade's request.
Neither reason allowed hesitation.
He stepped closer to the bed, activating his Byakugan. Veins surfaced along his temples, branching like pale cracks beneath his skin as his vision pierced through flesh and bone, into the intricate lattice of chakra pathways beneath.
'Hmm… I wasn't expecting anything… but it's not the Byakugan, at least.'
His gaze lingered on the boy's eyes — bright blue — then shifted to the chakra flow surrounding them.
No ocular chakra concentration.
No auxiliary pathways.
But something was wrong.
"Check if he has any blockage in the tenketsu system."
Tsunade said, her tone firm but controlled.
"Or if his chakra network is damaged."
Hiashi moved to stand beside the bed, his gaze sweeping through the boy's body with surgical precision.
Every tenketsu. Every coil. Every branching pathway.
A frown formed.
Subtle, but unmistakable.
"His chakra networks are intact."
He said at last.
"There are no blockages."
Relief did not follow.
"Yet the flow is being disrupted… by some form of pressure."
Tsunade's eyes sharpened.
"Pressure?"
Hiashi's gaze returned to the pathways, tracking the irregular pulses.
"Yes. The disruption originates from… interference."
His voice lowered.
"The chakra is being forced out of rhythm — as if something is colliding with it at every cycle."
On the bed, the boy's fingers twitched again, tendons pulling taut beneath pale skin.
"The way it's disrupting and colliding."
Hiashi continued.
"Must be causing severe pain on a daily basis."
He deactivated his Byakugan. The veins receded, leaving his face composed once more, though his eyes held a rare gravity as they met Tsunade's.
"It is fortunate he is sedated."
He said quietly.
"Otherwise, he would be screaming in pain right now."
Silence fell over the room.
'As expected...'
Tsunade looked back at the boy — at the tremors, the shallow breaths, the fragile stillness.
.
.
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Hokage Tower — Office of the Third Hokage
.
They left the hospital in silence.
No indication to the man still pacing outside of the room.
This was no longer a medical matter.
It was political.
The Hokage's office was dimly lit, the late evening sun filtering through the tall windows in muted orange bands
"This is an outrage!"
The first voice shattered the stillness.
Danzo Shimura, leader of the secret organization Root, slammed his cane against the floor. His visible eye burned with restrained fury.
"How could the Feudal Lords hide something as important as a potential unknown dōjutsu from us!?"
His words were not merely anger.
They were accusation.
Behind the Hokage's desk, Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled slowly, a thin plume of smoke curling from his pipe and dissolving into the dim air.
"Haa…"
He leaned back in his chair, gaze steady, ancient, and tired.
"Because it is not just a boy."
He said at last.
"It is a royal boy."
The words landed with quiet finality.
Hiruzen's eyes lifted to meet Danzo's.
"They knew of his existence… and chose silence. They understood the dangers that would follow if word spread of an unknown dōjutsu."
His tone was calm, but beneath it lay the weight of decades spent navigating the fragile balance between shinobi and sovereign.
A balance that could shatter with a single rumor.
'It must have been suggested by her…'
Hiruzen thought, eyes drifting momentarily toward the window.
'She understood the shinobi world better than anyone in the capital.
She would have seen it clearly.
A child with unknown ocular power would not be treated as a son.
He would be treated as an asset.
A weapon.
A target.'
The Hokage's office fell into a heavy stillness.
"Alright,"
Hiruzen said, turning his gaze toward her.
"What is the final diagnosis, Tsunade?"
All eyes shifted.
Tsunade did not answer immediately.
She stood near the window, arms folded. For a moment, she looked less like a legendary medic and more like a woman weighing the cost of her own words.
"I've already stated what's happening to him."
She began.
"But I cannot say what is causing it."
A murmur of unease rippled through the room.
"I previously believed that he possessed impure chakra — a corrupted strain colliding with his own, producing these symptoms."
Her gaze shifted to Hiashi Hyuga.
"But after what Hiashi has seen… it is clear that this is not impure chakra."
That single statement tightened the air.
Even Danzo's cane stilled against the floor.
Intrigue gave way to something colder.
Uncertainty.
Before anyone could speak, Tsunade continued.
"Before you arrived, I attempted to stabilize him by introducing my own chakra — to increase his flow and smooth out the irregularities."
She paused.
Her jaw tightened.
"I was met with immediate resistance."
Hiashi's eyes narrowed slightly.
"His chakra destabilized further, the foreign energy intensified its interference. The pain response was extreme."
The room seemed to constrict around her next words.
"He would have gone into full systemic shock if I had continued."
Tsunade's gaze moved to the Hokage.
"I had no choice but to sedate him."
The weight of that decision hung in the air.
A medic of her caliber did not resort to sedation lightly.
Not unless the pain was beyond endurance.
Hiashi spoke next, measured.
"The interference occurs at every tenketsu. The pattern is consistent — as though a second circulatory system exists, occupying the same pathways."
Tsunade did not deny it.
Hiruzen's fingers steepled before his face.
"A second… energy system,"
He murmured.
If true, it meant the boy was not merely ill.
He was unprecedented.
Unrecorded.
Potentially dangerous.
Or dangerously valuable.
The office remained wrapped in a tense quiet after Tsunade's explanation.
"So…"
Hiruzen Sarutobi began, the single word carrying the weight of everything left unsaid.
He understood.
But understanding the condition was not the same as having the answer they needed.
Tsunade exhaled slowly, the sound heavy with restrained frustration.
"The child is not weak."
She said, her voice steady despite the gravity of her words.
"His body is under constant internal conflict."
She paused, ensuring every person in the room grasped the distinction.
"A second energy source is interfering with his chakra network, causing neurological overload and chronic pain."
The phrase second energy source did not belong in any medical text known to Konoha.
"What I did notice,"
Tsunade continued.
"Before sedating him… is that his perception response is abnormal. His pupils adjust faster than normal, and his brain activity remains elevated most of the time."
Hiashi's gaze sharpened at that.
Enhanced perception.
Accelerated neural activity.
Traits often associated with advanceddōjutsu — yet without any visible ocular mutation.
"So…"
Tsunade concluded.
"…I cannot confirm the existence of a dōjutsu. While I also cannot refute it."
The ambiguity settled over the room like a fog.
Hiruzen rose from his chair. He nodded once, decision settling into place behind his aged eyes.
"Alright, go and inform the Feudal Lord of his situation. We will discuss the rest with him later."
His tone was calm, but the order carried layers beneath it:
Tell him enough to maintain trust.
Tell him little enough to prevent panic.
Reveal nothing that could turn his son into a target.
Tsunade met his gaze for a brief moment, understanding the unspoken balance he was asking her to maintain.
She gave a single nod.
Without another word, she turned and left the office, her footsteps fading into the corridor as she made her way back toward the hospital.
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