Three days passed.
He didn't speak to anyone.
Not even Naruto.
Not even Kakashi.
Just silence.
His eye—sealed shut by medical bandages.
But beneath it… the mark still pulsed.
At night, the dreams returned.
But they weren't dreams anymore.
They were memories.
Except—they weren't his.
He saw a woman.
Long black hair.
A red scarf.
Her eyes... the same as his.
But not broken.
Complete.
She stood in front of a temple.
Spoke to someone in shadow.
"Seal it. No one must find it."
The shadow replied.
"If he awakens, even the Sage's law won't contain him."
She nodded.
"He is my son."
The dream ended.
He woke up with blood on the sheets.
His bandage burned.
The eye had activated in his sleep.
Even sealed… it broke rules.
Later that morning—
A letter arrived.
No sender.
Just his name, handwritten.
He opened it alone.
Inside—
A torn page from a very old scroll.
Only one sentence.
"You belong to the Kagehime Clan."
He whispered the name again.
Kagehime.
Shadow Princess.
Never heard of it before.
Not in any book.
Not in the Academy.
Not even from the Hokage.
He went to the archives.
Snuck in after hours.
Used his eye to bypass the lock.
Room after room.
Scroll after scroll.
Nothing.
The clan didn't exist.
Not on record.
Not even as a rumor.
But something did.
In an old scroll about forbidden bloodlines—
He found a single line scribbled in red ink:
"The eighth eye shall be cursed.It will see without limits.It will break before it is complete.The Kagehime shall be buried.And never rise again."
His breath stopped.
His fingers trembled.
The paper turned black the moment he read that line.
Burned to ash in his hands.
And his eye?
Activated again.
On its own.
He ran out of the archive.
The flames in the scrollroom went out.
The torches all extinguished at once.
An ANBU appeared in the shadows.
Silent.
Masked.
Just watching.
The boy froze.
"Who are you?" he asked.
The ANBU didn't reply.
Only one word was whispered through the mask—
"Found."
And then—
He vanished.
The next day.
Team 7 received a mission.
D-rank.
Escort.
Suspiciously simple.
Even Kakashi looked annoyed.
But the client was waiting outside the gates.
A woman in a green cloak.
Eyes covered.
Bandage over her mouth.
She spoke in sign language.
Neji was nearby—he translated.
"She's heading east. To the ruins of a monastery," he said. "Wants protection."
But something felt wrong.
The moment she looked at the boy—
She stopped signing.
Instead…
She mouthed a word.
Silently.
But he read her lips.
"Kagehime."
His heart raced.
Kakashi didn't notice.
Or pretended not to.
The team moved out.
Mission began.
But he knew—
This wasn't a mission.
It was a test.
Or worse—
A trap.
They camped by nightfall.
Sasuke on watch.
Naruto snoring.
Sakura pretending to sleep.
The woman… just sat by the fire.
Still silent.
Still watching him.
He couldn't take it anymore.
He walked over.
Sat next to her.
"Why did you say that word?" he asked.
She smiled.
Didn't answer.
Instead—
She unwrapped her bandages.
First the mouth.
Then the eyes.
He flinched.
Her mouth—stitched shut.
Literally.
Like someone forced her silence.
But her eyes—
They were the same as his.
Same glow.
Same sigil.
Same cursed presence.
She placed her hand over his.
The sigil on his palm burned.
A whisper echoed in his mind.
"Kagehime lives."
Then she passed out.
Kakashi appeared beside him.
Out of nowhere.
Like a ghost.
"What happened?" he asked.
The boy just looked at him.
"I think I found my clan," he whispered.
Kakashi's eyes narrowed.
"Then we're not safe anymore."
That night, they were attacked.
Masked shinobi.
Not missing-nin.
Not Leaf.
Something else.
Something ancient.
They moved without chakra signatures.
Sasuke hit one—he vanished like smoke.
Naruto tried Shadow Clones.
They disappeared instantly.
The woman began to glow.
The attackers stopped.
Kneeling.
All of them.
Then one spoke.
"You've returned, Lady Fragment."
He stared at her.
She pointed at him.
And the masked ninja all turned toward him.
Then bowed.
"Child of the Final Eye," they chanted.
"We await your command."
He stepped back.
"No—this isn't what I wanted—"
The woman turned to him.
Removed one last seal from her wrist.
And whispered—
"Awaken the Eighth."
A burst of pain.
His eye bled black.
The sky cracked.
His body levitated.
And then—
He screamed.
In his vision—
He stood on a throne of bones.
The world broken around him.
Naruto.
Sasuke.
Hinata.
Dead.
Only he remained.
Only him and the eye.
And the voice returned.
"This is your destiny."
He clenched his fists.
"No."
He woke up.
Screaming.
Blood in his mouth.
Everyone around him—shaken.
The attackers had vanished.
The woman too.
Only her cloak remained.
Inside it—another scroll.
And a name.
"Lady Fragment: Yūri of the Kagehime."
Kakashi read it.
Then looked at the boy.
"This changes everything."