The lab was quiet. Still. Heavy with Kakashi's early burst of chakra.
Kakashi stood alone in the dim light, the last of the Genesis Seal's glow fading from his palm. The clone had left moments ago to fetch sealing equipment, but Kakashi hadn't moved. Couldn't move.
His chakra was still swirling and reacting to the change.
And he could feel it. Something inside him had begun to shift.
He blinked.
And the world changed.
The walls folded inward. Not visibly, but subtly, like space itself was bending ever so slightly. The stasis tank beside him looked longer, stretched, the light curving strangely around it.
The hum of seals slowed.
Even his breath… felt distant.
His Sharingan spun wildly, then halted. Changed.
His right eye morphed into a new shape. It was no longer the familiar tomoe, it had evolved. A four-pointed star appeared, each arm curved like a falling teardrop, spinning outward. At its center: a solid black square. Around it, faint concentric rings rotated slowly, like warped compass marks.
He could feel it.
Space bowed to him.
Kakashi raised a hand slowly. The air clung to his skin like silk.
"This… is my space," he whispered.
"I don't move. But, I feel the world moves around me."
Then the left eye spun. It broke apart like a gear turning under strain.
A fractured pattern took form, lines shaped like metal teeth surrounding a glowing hourglass at the center. The moment it locked into place, time around him pulsed, his own heartbeat echoed, then delayed, then returned to normal.
Time slowed. Shifted, and Froze for a breath.
Kakashi stared at his hand and watched a single drop of sweat hang motionless before falling again.
"Time is no longer a river," he murmured.
"It's a thread. And I hold the needle."
The room responded, walls crackled faintly, light flickered, the seal markings across the lab shimmered like mist under sun.
He took a slow breath. The world seemed to hold its own in return.
…
"The Sharingan," he remembered silently, "is the eye of the soul."
He looked at his reflection in a flickering seal panel, faint and red-tinged.
"So… what does my soul want?"
His mind drifted. Only for a moment.
Memories came, not sharp, not painful, just… there.
Obito's dying smile. Rin's lifeless face. Minato's final glance. The war. The sacrifices. The choices he never asked to make. The paths he was pushed onto.
Always someone else's plan. Always late. Always chasing time.
"I never wanted revenge," he thought. "I wanted freedom."
Freedom from fate.
Freedom from rules.
Freedom from being too late.
So he awakened:
Shukujitsu: Axis of Dominion. The power to make the battlefield move around him.
Tensei: Awakening of Time. The power to change the moment, the second, the loss.
He breathed in, calm. Certain.
"Not the eyes of vengeance…"
He whispered.
"The eyes of liberation."
…
In the soft light, he turned toward the mirror-seal on the far wall. His reflection stared back, steady and glowing.
The right eye shimmered with the black square and compass rings. The left spun with the broken gears and hourglass glow.
When he blinked, the reflection trembled, space warped slightly, and behind it, faint cracks shimmered in midair, like glimpses into something beyond.
"These aren't gifts from the gods," he whispered.
"These are the eyes of someone who refused to kneel."
…
He looked down at a kunai on the desk.
With no hand signs, no movement, the space around it bent.
The kunai blinked out of sight.
A beat later, it appeared in his open palm.
"Axis of Dominion," he said.
"The world comes to me."
He reached toward the wall and opened his palm slightly.
A thin line of space split open like fabric, revealing the stone behind it before closing instantly with a soft hiss.
Next, he turned to a scroll on the floor.
He let it fall from the table.
Then his left eye pulsed.
The scroll stopped mid-air, hovering.
Time rewound in a small bubble around it. It floated backward and landed gently back into his hand.
He stepped forward. Moved his arm in three blinding jabs toward the air.
Only the first punch made a sound. The others followed in silence, even though they came milliseconds later.
"Time is mine," he said softly.
"Every second counts. And I own them all."
…
The door slid open.
The Orochimaru clone stepped inside, holding a stack of scrolls. He took one step, then froze.
The pressure hit him like a wave.
"Kakashi-sama…?" he asked.
Kakashi turned, his Mangekyō glowing softly in the low light. The clone stared.
"Your eyes…" he whispered. "Did you awaken a technique?"
The red glow danced across his skin.
"Indeed," Kakashi replied.
The clone set the scrolls down slowly, still watching.
"Again, you really are a monster, Kakashi-sama," he said. But there was no fear in his voice, only admiration.
Kakashi gave him a faint smirk.
"Then let's make this monster useful."
—
The lab returned to calm.
The lights steadied. The air cooled. The seals hummed in low harmony.
The Genesis Seal on Kakashi's palm dimmed to a faint red.
He walked to his table and sat down again.
The clone joined him, spreading out blank scrolls and ink.
Kakashi rested one hand over his eyes for a moment—then looked forward.
"Now I have the eyes to see the future," he said.
"Let's shape it."
The clone nodded, grin widening.
"Let's make the world worthy of your sight."
Outside, the sun rose. The world still turned.
But time and space had a new master now.