Ryu was in his room training when he again tried to create [Adamantine Sealing Chains].
Moonlight slipped through the window, drawing pale lines across the room. A chain of faint golden chakra erupted from his chest and formed into interlocking links of light.
The solid, well-defined chain dangled before him.
One second. Three, four, five, six, and seven.
The edges of the links started to blur, like someone's thumb smearing wet paint. Connections loosened. Some parts drifted apart and floated up.
Frustrated, Ryu thought, "Damn it."
Before the construct was entirely melted away, Ryu recalled it. The chakra snapped back into his body in a smooth rush, leaving only a faint tingling in his chest.
Formation is fine. Stability is the problem, Ryu analysed. Maybe I can use another ninjutsu while maintaining them. Test if elemental reinforcement is feasible, he wondered.
He tried again. This time, he gathered Earth chakra, compressing it in his chains. For a brief moment, it worked. The chains felt heavier, denser, as if the Earth chakra was reinforcing them.
Ryu's lips curled into a small smile.
Then the balance broke. Chains started to become brown. The links began to show cracks and turn into dust.
He let his hand drop and exhaled slowly.
'I'll try again tomorrow,' Ryu decided.
Ryu slid the window a little wider, letting the cool night air wash over his tired face. He lay down on the futon, one arm behind his head, bathing in the rectangle of pale moonlight from the window.
Sleep pulled him under fast. What slipped in with the moonlight was not a dream. His fingers twitched. His breathing quickened, then fell into an uneven rhythm.
The darkness behind his closed eyes broke apart. And visions and images began to flash in his dream.
The first vision slammed into him without warning.
A meteor screamed across a crimson sky and crashed into desert sand, and another meteorite dropped on top of it—then the image dissolved like ink in water.
In the second vision, rain poured from a dark sky. Purple eyes with concentric rings stared down at him. Beside him, an orange mask with a single eyehole. The Sharingan spun behind it. Around them, cloaked figures in red clouds materialised.
The next vision began—coffins rose from the earth, reanimated by forbidden jutsu. Among them, a man with long wild hair and concentric rings in his eyes stared down at him, crossing his arms.
The image faded, and the next vision began. Four figures appeared standing together. The First Hokage. The Second. The Third. The Fourth. All bearing the cracks across their faces. Legends pulled from their graves.
The next vision started when the scene fractured and vanished, and the 'Gedo Mazo' appeared.
The vision disintegrated again into fragments and the next vision appeared—ten tails screaming like a beast.
Ryu's chest tightened. His mind was being scanned while he was sleeping
In the next vision, the 'Divine Tree' erupted with branches stretching across the world.
In the next vision a lady with long white hair and horns like rabbit ears appeared. Kaguya Otsutsuki, with Byakugan activated, stared at him with cold indifference. Then she vanished like mist.
Now only silhouettes remained. Human shapes, but not quite. Cloaks. Horns. Strange outlines that hinted at something not born of this world.
The silhouettes dissolved.
And last—when all the other visions seemed spent—a cosmic presence formed as the view zoomed out, making the viewer appear like an ant at the edge of perception. The Beginning… Mr. Beginning, the entity who existed outside time itself, watching a tiny Ryu and blessing him with power.
Then everything shattered. Shards of light and shadow flew in all directions, falling into an endless black canvas.
For a heartbeat, Ryu felt something else.
This is my dream... created from my memories... someone is trying to read my mind through the dream... Ryu realised.
A faint chill swept through the void. Someone—something—was observing.
Eyes stared at him. The Byakugan. Pale and all-seeing, staring at him from just beyond the edge of the dream.
Someone had been watching through the visions with perfect clarity—had seen every fragment, every glimpse of the future. They had seen everything he had just seen.
Ryu's awareness sharpened. His mind snapped into focus. He seized control of his consciousness, blocking the mental intrusion with sheer will.
The Byakugan's gaze recoiled, pushed back by the sudden resistance.
The darkness shifted around him. Reality reformed.
Ryu stood in the middle of a war-torn city. Buildings sagged at broken angles, walls crumbling into rubble. Scorch marks streaked across shattered stone. Craters pocked the ground. The sky above was a dull grey, clouds hanging low and heavy.
Something dropped from the sky above him.
Wooden bodies dropped from the ruined rooftops.
Puppets—dozens of them—landed upright on rooftops of the broken city. But there were no strings, no threads. They moved autonomously, joints clicking with mechanical precision as they straightened and turned toward Ryu.
Ryu recognised them.
'They are just puppets of moon dwellers. They are hiding somewhere and using these autonomous puppets to attack,' Ryu assessed quickly.
Ryu's eyes narrowed.
'These moon dwellers need to learn their place,' Ryu thought coldly.
The first wave charged.
Ryu moved without hesitation. A blade carved toward his throat. He ducked under it, feeling the air stir above his hair.
Two more puppets came from his left and right—perfectly timed. One blade cut horizontally for his ribs. The other lunged straight for his spine.
Ryu stepped forward into the space between them. He punched the puppet, throwing it far away.
His foot lashed out, kicking the second puppet's knee joint sideways.
A chop from Ryu shattered one puppet's neck. A rising knee crushed another's chest cavity. A palm strike pushed a third backward, leaving cracks running across its body.
More puppets closed in—a coordinated assault from all sides.
Ryu activated [ReflexGuard]. Golden hexagonal barriers shimmered into existence around him. The first puppet's blade struck the barrier—a sharp crack echoed through the ruined city. The shield held.
A second puppet attacked from behind. Its weapon slammed into the barrier from a different angle. Another crack. The hexagons flickered but remained.
Three puppets struck simultaneously from multiple directions. The barriers shattered like glass, fragments dissolving into golden motes that faded almost instantly.
[ReflexGuard] is built for speed and autonomy, not heavy defence, Ryu thought.
Ryu raised his hand. Carbon cards materialised from nothing—thin black rectangles forming in the air between his fingers, each one inscribed with pale explosion seals that glowed faintly.
Ryu stared at it for a half-second.
'Materialised from thought alone,' he observed.
'This is my dream…I control this space and its reality,' Ryu deduced.
A thought struck him.
If I control it...
Ryu focused his will on the puppets, mentally commanding them to cease existing.
The nearest puppet flickered. Its outline blurred for a moment—then solidified again.
"I guess not," Ryu thought. 'It is not completely in my control.'
The puppets surged forward.
Ryu sent the cards spinning like a shuriken with [Magno-Telekinesis]. The electromagnetic push of the [Magno-Telekinesis] seal pair seized control of the carbon card. The cards shot forward.
One card sliced toward a puppet's elbow joint. Another angled for a chest cavity. A third aimed for a knee. The cards slipped and lodged deep inside their frames.
Ryu snapped his fingers and the [Explosion Seal] was triggered.
The [Carbon Card] that was lodged in the puppets exploded.
Ryu pulled more cards and shot forward again at new targets.
A puppet lunged at him from behind. Ryu twisted, sending a card spinning in a tight arc. It struck the puppet's neck joint, and with another snap of his fingers, the seal detonated. The head of the puppet broke off and rolled over to Ryu, who crushed it under his feet.
Two more puppets attacked in tandem. Ryu sent cards weaving between them—left, right, up, down—controlled with minute electromagnetic adjustments. The cards struck mid-movement: one hit a shoulder, causing the arm to hang limp; another clipped the edge of a leg, making the mechanical knee buckle.
The puppets tried to adapt, moving faster, striking from unpredictable angles. But Ryu's cards moved faster still, dancing through the air, each impact followed by a controlled explosion that tore through joints and internal systems.
But the puppets kept reforming.
Explosion cards can't keep them down permanently.But the number does not increase... I guess there is a limit on the number, Ryu concluded. An idea formed in Ryu's head.
'Time to bind them without destroying them,' Ryu thought.
Ryu switched tactics. The explosion seals inscribed on the cards faded, replaced by paralysis seals—purple glow instead of pale white.
He launched them with [Magno-Telekinesis]. One card embedded in a puppet's elbow. Another at the base of a neck. A third just above a knee joint. Seals flared to life, glowing brighter before sinking into the surface.
The effect was immediate.
The puppets jerked, then froze mid-motion. Their internal systems seized, locked in place by [Paralysis Seal].
Ryu sent more cards flying. One by one, the remaining puppets were locked up and paralysed.
Silence settled over the ruined street.
Ryu thought, 'So… their bodies are susceptible to paralysis seals as if their bodies were closer to human flesh than wood.'
More figures descended from the broken rooftops. They landed without sound, forming a loose circle around him.
Ryu counted twelve, the same number as the puppets. All robed. All standing in deliberate formation. Their eyes were closed. All except one.
The figure at the front had veins bulging at the sides of the face, branching outward in stark lines across pale skin.
The Byakugan—fully activated.
The figure stared at Ryu and Ryu stared back.
##PoWeR StOnEs PLeaSE##
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