The war room was deathly quiet as Tsunade rolled the storm map across the table. Fissures of lightning traced the parchment's edge like cracks in the sky.
Kazuki, Hinata, Ino, and Tenten stood opposite her, their reflections distorted in the steel-rimmed table.
Tsunade's finger tapped the edge of the Land of Lightning. "A rift has reopened. One Raijin left behind when he was sealed. It's begun to destabilize."
Kazuki felt it in his chest—like something calling home.
Tsunade looked at each of them, her gaze stopping at Kazuki last. "The Fourth Trial takes place inside that rift. You'll enter together. Only bonded teams survive its storm-soul pressure."
Ino's voice was flat. "And if we're not bonded?"
"Then the storm tears you apart," Tsunade said, without flinching. "Mind, body, and heart."
Kazuki's hand brushed the edge of the table.
"Your storm chakra is the key," Tsunade continued. "But your emotions fuel it. You need harmony to survive."
Kazuki nodded once.
Then they departed.
Yūkai no Kumo—the Cloud of Ghosts—was unlike any place in the shinobi world. As they stepped through the swirling rift, reality cracked like shattered glass.
The sky was a churning ocean of stormclouds, but the world itself was silent, holding its breath. Trees bent in unnatural curves. The earth pulsed underfoot.
Kazuki's storm seal flared painfully. He dropped to one knee, gasping.
Hinata was beside him instantly, her hand on his arm. "This world… it reacts to your heart," she said softly.
Kazuki looked up, his eyes wild. "Then we're in trouble."
Ino exhaled through her nose. "Figures."
Tenten drew a scroll from her hip. "Let's move. Before this place eats us alive."
As they delved deeper into the rift, a strange pull began to drain their chakra. It leaked from them, soaking into the very air.
Kazuki felt a cold hand brush his shoulder.
Then the storm-warped clones came.
They dropped from the clouds like specters—twisted mirror images of themselves, composed of black mist and flickering lightning. Their faces were distorted, smeared by emotion—fear, envy, guilt.
"They're made from us," Hinata breathed.
Kazuki's storm chakra began to pulse erratically. "We have to form a chakra link! Or we'll vanish!"
Reluctantly, they moved. Hinata reached for Kazuki, their hands glowing as their chakra flowed into a steady tether.
Tenten and Ino shared a look of mutual distaste before grabbing each other's hands.
But the clones didn't relent—and neither did the storm inside them.
"You kissed her," Ino growled suddenly, eyes locked on Kazuki. "And you didn't even look at us afterward."
Kazuki flinched.
Tenten snapped her gaze toward Hinata. "Did you think that made you special?"
Hinata's lip trembled. "I… I didn't mean—"
The clouds screamed.
Lightning arced downward, mirroring the discord in their hearts.
Then came the trap.
A vortex of stormlight sucked them inward, pulling their consciousness into a vision—a memory storm, born from Kazuki's chakra.
They stood in a surreal void where scenes played like echoes on glass.
Hinata, small and quiet, sat alone on the academy swing, watching Naruto walk away with Sakura.
Ino, mascara-streaked and shivering, clutched a bench as news of Sasuke's defection reached her.
Tenten, silent, stood before the memorial stone where Neji's name was etched, fists clenched, eyes dry.
Then—Kazuki.
Alone.
A black field. Nothing around him.
He knelt, one hand to the dirt, whispering a single name.
"Rin…"
All three girls turned.
"That's the girl you loved before us," Ino snapped.
"She's the one who hurt you," Tenten said flatly.
Hinata stepped forward. "But she's still in your heart."
Kazuki stood slowly, eyes fierce.
"Yes. I loved her. And she betrayed me." He looked at each of them. "But you… you've healed what she broke. I'm not letting the past ruin this. Not again."
The storm screamed.
Lightning exploded, wind tearing at their clothes and skin. The world tried to break them.
Kazuki roared and stepped forward, his storm seal igniting. Lightning spread across his body, forming the Storm Chakra Cloak—crackling blue and white, radiant and dangerous.
But this time, it didn't repel the others.
It wrapped around them—threads of lightning connecting them, linking hearts to chakra.
Tenten stepped forward first, placing her palm on his chest. "Then prove it."
Ino joined, her voice low. "If you want all of us, don't run anymore."
Hinata reached last, fingers trembling but sure. "Don't love us in pieces… love us whole."
The storm paused.
A radiant four-point seal formed in the air above them—Shinrai no Kizuna: the Bond of Trust.
Their chakras merged, fusing into a glowing barrier that shielded the team—not just from harm, but from despair.
The storm faltered.
Then—
She appeared.
A pillar of light erupted from the rift's core. At its heart stood a woman in violet robes, her face calm, her eyes dead.
"Rin…" Kazuki whispered.
She was no longer just a memory.
Now, she was a Raijin Priestess—reborn through storm and sorrow.
"You bound your heart to three?" she said. "Foolish boy. Love makes you weak."
Kazuki stepped forward, unfazed.
"No. It makes me strong. I won't let my past dictate my future anymore."
With a wave of her hand, she summoned a beast of storm and shadow—a leviathan of thunder and regret.
But this time, Team Kazuki didn't falter.
They moved as one. Kazuki's lightning fused with Hinata's gentle strikes, Ino's mind jutsu pierced the creature's soul, and Tenten's weapons rained like divine punishment.
The beast shattered.
Rin vanished in a whisper of wind.
Back in Konoha, the stars burned bright and still.
Kazuki stood on the Hokage Monument, the village spread out below.
Hinata stepped beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. "You okay?"
He didn't answer—but he leaned into her touch.
Moments later, footsteps echoed behind them.
Ino and Tenten joined without words.
"No more secrets," Ino said.
"No more half-answers," Tenten added.
Kazuki turned to face them all.
"I care for all of you," he said. "I don't know if I deserve it. But I'm done pretending I don't feel it."
Ino smirked. "About time."
Hinata's smile was warm and quiet.
Tenten punched his shoulder lightly. "Don't make us regret this."
He smiled, storm chakra quiet in his veins.
They sat beneath the stars.
For now… they were one.