Hospital silence is different from other silences.
Too clean. Too sterile. It's the kind of silence that makes you feel like anything loud—anything alive—shouldn't belong.
And yet, I was breathing.
I sat up in bed. Cold sweat on my back. The bandage over my left eye itched.
2:00 AM.
Outside the window, the moon was full again. Unmoving. Unblinking.
The same way it watched me.
I couldn't sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw flickers. A face behind the static. A silhouette. The man from the forest. Not the rogue ninja.
The one in white.
Cloaked.
Eyes glowing like mine.
I had no memory of meeting him, but my instincts screamed: He knows. He's connected to the eye. To this broken power.
I peeled the bandage off.
A sting.
And then—glow.
Faint. Red. Cracked.
Like lightning had struck a mirror and left the pieces dangling.
I looked at my reflection in the darkened window.
My left eye looked… unstable.
It flickered—like a bad signal.
Suddenly, words began forming in the reflection.
Not in the air. Not really.
But through the eye.
"Prototype Sequence: Dojutsu [███] Activated.""Function Set: Fragmented.""Status: Incomplete. Memory Host Sync: 23%.""Warning: Overuse may lead to neurological degradation."
I blinked.
The words vanished.
I touched my temple. Pain spiked for a second. Gone just as fast.
This wasn't the Sharingan. Not the Byakugan. Not even the Rinnegan.
This… thing had no name.
Or maybe its name was wiped. Deleted. On purpose.
Whatever it was—it was watching me back.
Morning.
I got cleared for light training. "Light" in ninja standards meant don't die but still suffer.
The Konoha training field was almost empty. Just a few genin squads and some chūnin instructors.
Anko stood beside me, arms crossed. She had that look. Like she was trying to figure out whether I was a puzzle—or a time bomb.
"Still having weird episodes?" she asked casually.
I shook my head. Lied.
She nodded, not buying it.
"You're lucky I was patrolling that night," she said. "Your team didn't even report you missing. Not that they could. They're dead."
The words hit harder than I expected.
Ren's team was dead. Killed during the mission. I hadn't seen their bodies, but… I'd felt the emptiness. In his memories. In mine.
Anko watched my face.
"You don't remember much, do you?"
I kept quiet.
She crouched. Met my eyes. "Look. I don't know what kind of jutsu messed you up, but you've got two options—play dumb and get ignored… or show potential and get protected."
I nodded once.
She stood. "Good. Then follow me."
Training Ground 19.
Empty. Reserved.
Anko tossed me a kunai.
"Try and hit me," she said.
"What?"
She smiled.
"Don't worry. I won't kill you."
I didn't believe her.
I threw the kunai.
She dodged easily.
"Again," she said.
I reached into the pouch. Three more kunai.
I threw them—one direct, two as misdirection.
She dodged all three.
She moved faster than I could follow.
And yet…
Something clicked.
My left eye flared.
Time slowed.
For just a second—I saw her next movement.
My body moved before I could think.
I ducked. Spun. Grabbed a fifth kunai and flung it right where she was going to land.
She landed—
—and caught it.
Her eyes narrowed. "You predicted me?"
I shrugged.
She smiled wider. "So you do have something strange."
The moment passed.
And then… pain.
I staggered. My nose bled.
The eye… flickered out.
My vision blurred. Like static.
Anko rushed forward. Grabbed my shoulders.
"Hey! Focus!"
I blinked hard. The world returned to normal.
"I'm fine," I muttered.
She didn't believe me. But she backed off.
"You've got a dojutsu, don't you?" she asked softly.
I didn't answer.
"That's not a Sharingan."
Still quiet.
"You don't even know what it is, do you?"
I finally nodded.
Anko sighed. "You're a walking secret, Ren."
No. I'm not even Ren.
I'm just wearing him like a skin.
Later that night.
I sat on the rooftop. Watching the village.
Konoha was calm. Peaceful. But only on the surface.
This era… it was the calm before a storm.
Soon, Orochimaru would move. The Uchiha massacre would happen. The Akatsuki would rise. And war would return.
I had knowledge of the future.
But no power to stop it.
Yet.
Suddenly—movement behind me.
I turned. Kunai ready.
But it was her.
A girl. Maybe my age.
Short black hair. Blank white eyes.
Hyūga.
She stared at me with a strange intensity. Not threatening. Just… curious.
"You're the one from the forest," she said.
I blinked. "Who are you?"
She didn't answer.
Instead, she took a step closer.
"You used something. I saw it."
"What did you see?"
She hesitated.
Then said, "Something… broken."
Then she turned. Vanished in a blur.
I sat back down.
Heart racing.
Even the Hyūga didn't know what my eye was.
But they could sense it wasn't normal.
Wasn't safe.
Wasn't meant to be seen.
In the shadows of the Hokage Monument, far above the rooftops, a masked figure watched me.
The Sharingan gleamed beneath the mask.
He said nothing.
But a voice whispered in his ear.
"Found another anomaly?"
The masked man said, "Yes. But this one's… unstable."
A pause.
"Observe. If it matures, we move."
The figure nodded. Disappeared into the mist.
Meanwhile, deep underground…
In a cave filled with floating scrolls and forbidden seals…
A pair of hands scribbled across a scroll.
The name written: Ren.
And beneath it:
Dojutsu Status: Unknown.Threat Level: Red.
The scroll burst into flames.
And in the darkness, laughter echoed.