Bonus Chapters every 300 Power Stones
"Normal Dialogue"
'Inner thoughts'
[Year X787]
~ With Shisui, one year later ~
Meredy laid flat on her back, chest heaving as she struggled to pull air into her burning lungs. The grass beneath her was cool against her skin, a small mercy after the grueling test they had just endured. Nearby, Ultear stood with hands braced on her knees, the test affecting her just as it had affected Meredy, though she was faring better than her younger companion. Before them both, Shisui stood with barely a hint of fatigue, observing them with the measured gaze of a teacher assessing his students' performance.
The open field around them bore the scars of their battle—patches of scorched earth from Shisui's fire techniques, crystalline remnants of Ultear's ice structures that hadn't fully melted, and the faint pink glow of Meredy's sensory links still fading from the air. A single bell dangled from Meredy's clenched fist, the small metallic trinket that had been the focus of their desperate efforts for the past hour.
Shisui allowed himself a concealed smile of pride. He had insisted on conducting this final test without his Sharingan, to ensure that the playing field was as level as possible. Although they had all been training together, his own progress overshadowed theirs.
Even so, the women had pushed him far harder than he had expected. They were not the same mages he had encountered a year ago in that forest clearing—they had transformed under his guidance.
"I can't... feel... my legs," Meredy gasped between breaths, her voice weak but satisfaction evident in her tone. "Are they... still there?"
Ultear managed a breathless laugh. "Confirm visually. I'm not bending down to check."
Shisui watched them with quiet amusement. Their banter had become familiar to him over the past year—a sign of their comfort with each other and, eventually, with him. What impressed him most was how they had maintained that connection even during the most intense moments of their test.
The Unison Raid they had unleashed in the final moments had caught him genuinely by surprise. He had seen them practicing the technique during their training sessions, but never with such perfect synchronization. Meredy's Maguilty Sense had merged seamlessly with Ultear's Time Arc, creating a cascade of sensory blades that manipulated the very fabric of space around them, compressing and expanding to cut off his escape routes.
In that moment, he had felt a flash of genuine concern—not for his safety, but at the realization of just how far they had come. When he first agreed to train them, he had expected their growth to be substantial but measured. Instead, they had absorbed his teachings with a hunger that reminded him of his own days as a young shinobi, desperate to master every technique available to him.
The Unison Raid had forced him to dodge in the only direction still available—directly into Ultear's waiting trap. She had prepared it well, timing her spell to activate the instant he appeared. The temporal bubble she created had slowed his movements just enough for Meredy to dart forward, her hand closing around the bell before he could react.
It had been, Shisui had to admit, a masterfully executed plan.
"We did it," Ultear said, straightening up at last. Her dark purple hair was disheveled, streaks of dirt marked her face, but her eyes shone with unmistakable triumph. "We actually did it."
Meredy pushed herself up to a sitting position, wincing with the effort. "I thought we were going to die halfway through. When he countered your ice rose with that fire dragon—" She shook her head in disbelief.
"But we adapted," Ultear reminded her as she helped her to her feet. "Just like he taught us."
Shisui nodded in acknowledgment. Adaptability had been one of his core teachings—the ability to change tactics mid-battle, to turn an opponent's strengths against them, to find opportunity in apparent defeat. It had been a difficult lesson for both women, accustomed as they were to the more rigid approaches common among mages.
"The look on your face when we caught you," Meredy said, a grin spreading across her tired features as she clutched the bell. "Priceless. Almost worth all the bruises."
Shisui raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't celebrate too soon. There's still the matter of who gets to keep the bell."
According to the rules he had established at the start, only one of them could pass his test. The other would face consequences. This was the test that all ANBU had to go through, the Bell Test. It was a test of strength, battle tactics and the like. But more importantly, it was also a test of teamwork. In the ANBU, teamwork played a crucial role considering the type of missions that they would typically undergo.
Meredy and Ultear exchanged glances, some unspoken communication passing between them. Then, to Shisui's surprise, Meredy tossed the bell back to him. He caught it reflexively, confusion momentarily crossing his features.
"We won't be needing this bell," Meredy declared, her chin lifting with defiance despite her exhaustion. "Either both of us passes, or we both fail. But either way, let it be known that we got the bell from you!"
Shisui looked at the small silver bell resting in his palm, then back at the two women standing shoulder to shoulder, united in their defiance of his artificial division. Something warm and unfamiliar expanded in his chest—a deeper sense of satisfaction that went beyond their skills as fighters.
The laugh that escaped him was genuine, starting as a low chuckle before growing into something more open than either woman had ever heard from him. Meredy and Ultear exchanged surprised glances, uncertain how to interpret his reaction.
When Shisui finally spoke, his voice carried a warmth that matched his expression. "You pass," he said simply. "Both of you."
Meredy's face broke into a beaming smile while Ultear's expression softened, the tension in her shoulders visibly releasing.
"That was the real test all along, wasn't it?" Ultear asked, her perceptive gaze studying him.
Shisui merely smiled in response, pocketing the bell. The lesson—that true strength came through the bonds that people shared—was one he had learned through painful experience in his previous life. Seeing them grasp it so completely filled him with a sense of accomplishment that surpassed any victory he had achieved through combat alone.
'Itachi… If only I had tried to rely on you instead of doing things on my own…'
Shisui watched them celebrate with a distant look in his eyes, memories of the past year unfolding in his mind like a scroll being slowly unraveled. He remembered their first day of training, how Meredy had approached it with enthusiastic determination while Ultear had watched with cautious skepticism. Neither of them had any idea what they were getting themselves into—which had been exactly as he planned it.
~ Flashback, one year ago ~
The training had begun simply enough. At dawn on that first day, he had led them to a clearing in the forest near his hidden training ground, instructed them to remove their shoes, and ordered them to run. Not for a set distance, but for time—three hours of continuous movement over varied terrain. When Meredy asked how this would improve her magic, Shisui had merely smiled and told her to focus on not falling behind.
By the end of that first day, both women had collapsed in exhaustion, muscles burning from exertions they were unaccustomed to. Most mages in this world, Shisui had observed, relied too heavily on their magical abilities and neglected the physical vessel that channeled those powers. Unlike shinobi, who understood that body and energy were inseparable components of strength, most mages viewed their bodies merely as containers for magic rather than weapons in themselves.
"I can't feel my body," Meredy had complained that first evening, sprawled on the ground."What does running have to do with magic anyway?"
"Everything," Shisui had replied, his tone making it clear the subject was not open for debate.
The days that followed established a brutal pattern. Predawn runs, followed by strength training that targeted muscles they didn't know existed. Afternoons spent on balance and coordination—standing on narrow logs over streams, catching pebbles thrown at unpredictable intervals, dodging blindfolded through obstacle courses. Evenings devoted to flexibility and recovery, with stretches that made them both curse under their breath.
Ultear had adapted more quickly than Meredy, her body already conditioned by years of physical discipline. But even she struggled with the relentless pace Shisui set, especially when he began adding weights to their limbs during training. Meredy, for her part, compensated for her initial disadvantage with sheer stubbornness, refusing to give up even when her body trembled with fatigue.
Neither complained openly, though Shisui caught the questioning glances they exchanged when they thought he wasn't looking. They were waiting for the "real" training to begin—for him to start teaching them new spells or magical techniques. But Shisui remained focused exclusively on their physical development, saying nothing about magic at all.
By the end of the second month, the changes were already visible. Both women moved with greater fluidity, their reflexes sharper, their breathing more controlled. Endurance tests that had once left them gasping now merely elevated their heart rates. Meredy could complete the morning run without stopping to rest, and Ultear had mastered the most complex of the balance exercises, standing on one foot atop a thin pole for over an hour without wavering.
It was after a particularly grueling day, as they finished a ten-mile run followed by two hundred push-ups, that Shisui had finally nodded with satisfaction. "Good," he had said, the rare word of approval causing both women to freeze in surprise. "This training phase is complete."
Meredy had thrown her arms into the air, a scream of victory escaping her throat as she collapsed backward onto the soft grass. "Finally!" she had shouted to the sky, relief evident in every line of her body. "We did it, Ultear! We actually survived!"
Ultear had allowed herself a small smile, the closest she typically came to outward celebration. "It was challenging," she had admitted, the understatement drawing a laugh from her younger companion.
Shisui had watched their moment of triumph, waiting until Meredy's victory cry had faded into contented sighs before he spoke again. "Now we can begin the actual training I had planned for you both."
The silence that followed his statement had been absolute, broken only by the distant calls of birds and the soft rustle of leaves in the breeze. Meredy had slowly sat up, her expression shifting from joy to horror as his words registered.
"Actual... training?" she had repeated, voice faint. "You mean... all of this... everything we've been doing..."
"Was just to prepare your bodies to handle what comes next," Shisui had confirmed, a feral smile spreading across his face. "From this point forward, I'll be putting you through hell."
Meredy had stared at him like he had eaten the last piece of Chocolate Ice Cream Cake, mouth opening and closing without sound, while Ultear had fixed him with a flat, unamused glare that would have intimidated a lesser man. Shisui had met her gaze evenly, the smile never leaving his face.
The "real" training, as he called it, had indeed been something else entirely. Once their bodies were properly conditioned, Shisui introduced combat exercises designed to integrate physical movement with magical deployment. He taught them to cast spells while in constant motion, to maintain concentration under physical duress, to channel magic with minimal gestures when conventional casting was impossible.
He never instructed them on how to use their magic—that was their expertise, not his—but he revolutionized how they accessed and deployed it. Under his guidance, Ultear learned to compress hours of time manipulation into seconds, reducing the magical energy required while increasing the precision. Meredy discovered ways to establish her sensory links without the elaborate gestures that had previously telegraphed her intentions to opponents.
Most of their training took place at Shisui's hidden ground, accessible only by a narrow pass that could easily be monitored. The location offered natural protection from prying eyes and provided varied terrain for different training scenarios—dense forest for stealth, open meadows for large-scale combat, a lake for water-based exercises, and rocky outcroppings for climbing and aerial maneuvers.
It became their sanctuary, in a way—the place where they failed, learned, improved, and occasionally triumphed together. Where they shared meals around campfires and sometimes, in rare moments of peace, stories of their pasts. Where Meredy's laughter eventually became as common as her exhausted complaints, and where even Ultear's guarded demeanor gradually softened into something approaching comfort.
~ End of Flashback ~
And now, a year later, watching them celebrate their success in the bell test, Shisui watched them celebrate with pride at the growth they had both shown.
~ End of Chapter 16 ~
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