Three days passed.
Raien didn't go to class.Didn't meet friends.Didn't sleep much either.
His room remained dark.Curtains shut.Scrolls stacked.Ink dried.
He wasn't reading them.He was listening.
To something…That wasn't there.
He could hear it.
A whisper.Low.Persistent.Coming from behind walls.From shadows.From his own bones.
"Return to the forest…"
That same sentence.
Over. And over.
Evening.
He stood in front of the mirror.
Looked into his eyes.
Nothing strange.Not glowing.Not cracked.
But the reflection smiled.
He didn't.
Night fell.
He couldn't ignore it anymore.
Grabbed his shirt.Tied his sandals.Left through the window.
Moon above.Cold wind.Crickets silent.
Even the animals sensed it.
He walked.
Into the woods beyond the training field.
No lantern.No weapons.Just the voice guiding him.
Step after step.Darker.Deeper.
The trees changed.
Thicker.Taller.Crooked.
Like they had been watching for years.
Waiting.
He stopped.
A clearing ahead.
And a tree.
Dead.Black.Burned.Standing tall.
The air changed here.
He felt…Older.
Memories not his own stirred.
He took a breath.Moved closer.
Suddenly—
A gust.
Leaves spun violently.Branches creaked.And then…
A presence.
It wasn't behind him.It was in him.
Inside his spine.Inside his thoughts.
Something began to move.
A voice.
Clear now.
"You've come… sooner than expected."
Raien froze.
It wasn't just a whisper anymore.
It was speaking.Right into his skull.
He tried to answer.
No words came out.
"Do you know what you are?"
Raien blinked.
Silence.
"I asked you something, child."
He finally spoke.
"I don't know… but I want to."
The wind stopped.
The forest stilled.
Then—A deep vibration in the ground.
The burned tree cracked open.
A slit down its trunk.Inside—glowing red.
Raien stepped back.
Too late.
Roots shot out.Wrapped around his arms.Legs.Throat.
Dragged him inside.
Darkness swallowed him.
He fell.Not downward.Sideways.
Through layers of time.Through echoes.
He landed.
On stone.Hard.Cold.Covered in blood symbols.
An ancient chamber.
Lit by floating blue flames.
He stood.Looked around.
Something was already waiting.
A figure.Shrouded in fog.Eyes glowing gold.
It spoke.
"Long before the Uchiha…Before the Byakugan…Before chakra was controlled…"
"There was the First Sight."
Raien's heart skipped.
"What?"
The fog lifted slightly.
The figure's face… was his own.
Older.Scarred.Burned.One eye—missing.
"You are not reincarnated.""You are recalled."
Raien took a step back.
"What are you talking about?"
"You were sealed.""Locked inside yourself.""Until the eye broke."
"That's not a Dojutsu you awakened…"
"It's a key."
Raien clutched his chest.Breath shaky.
The eye burned again.But this time—It spread.
Veins darkened.
A mark appeared on his neck.Ancient.Circular.Rotating.
"Wh-what is this?!"
The reflection stepped closer.
"You were a curse once…""Now… you're becoming it again."
The chamber shook.
The roots above trembled.
Raien screamed.
His head filled with voices.
Too many.
All speaking at once.
From past.From future.From within.
He dropped to his knees.
His eye flared open—Pure red.Vein-split.A third ring forming.
He gasped.Everything went white.
Silence.
He awoke…
Back in the forest.
Same clearing.
Same dead tree.
But something was different.
His hands were glowing faintly.Symbols etched into his skin.His breath visible in the air.
And behind him…
A scroll.
Wrapped in white silk.Untouched.Old as the mountain.
He opened it.
Blank inside.
But his eye activated on its own.
Letters appeared.
Script from the ancient chakra era.
A seal technique.
Forbidden.
Lost.
Deadly.
He didn't understand it…But he knew what it did.
It could erase someone from memory. Entirely.
A branch snapped behind him.
He turned fast.
Hand raised.
Eye locked.
It was Kurenai.
She stared at him.Confused.Cautious.
"Raien?" she asked softly.
He didn't answer.
His eye was still active.
She saw it now.The rings.The color.
She stepped back.
Raien blinked.The glow vanished.
His body—shaking.
"I… didn't mean to…"
She held up her hand.
"It's okay."
But her eyes told another story.
Fear.
Curiosity.
Something else.
They walked back together.
Silent.
But the forest never stopped whispering.
And behind the burned tree…
A new root sprouted.
Glowing.
Alive.