Mist.
It rolled in thick.
Unnatural.
Not from the river.Not from nature.Something summoned it.
A lone ANBU agent stood on the rooftop of a far-off district.Cat mask.Cloak fluttering.
His eyes scanned the fog below.
Then he whispered.
"He moved again."
Another masked figure appeared beside him.
Wolf mask.
"Third time this week."
"Orders?"
A beat.
"Track. Observe. Do not engage."
Deep underground.Inside the pocket dimension.
Raien woke.Sweat-soaked.Cold breath.
The air was heavy.Colors wrong.
The sky wasn't blue.It pulsed.
Red veins in black clouds.
He stood.
The woman was gone.
But something else had arrived.
A gate.
Carved from obsidian stone.Inlaid with shifting glyphs.
His eye flickered open.The symbols began to shift.
Raien stepped forward.
Hand brushed the surface.
A rush of wind—And suddenly he wasn't in the dimension anymore.
Back in Konoha.
He fell to his knees.
Outside the village gates.Alone.
Grass swayed softly.Sky normal again.
The gate was gone.
No trace.
He got up slowly.
His hands were shaking.
A whisper echoed inside his mind.
"They see you now."
Back in the village—
Kurenai stared at a mission board.
Someone had filed a request.
Low-rank mission.Missing child.
But something was off.
The name on the request:
Daen.
Not a civilian.Not a merchant.
She'd seen that name before.
A fake alias.
Used during war games.
Used by Hunter Corps.
Later that night—
Neji stood under the temple bell.
Eyes closed.
Byakugan active.
He was waiting.
Footsteps approached.
It was Raien.
No words spoken.
Only wind between them.
Raien's eyes met Neji's.
"You told her," Raien said.
Neji nodded.
"You're dangerous."
Raien looked away.
"So am I."
They sat on the temple steps.
Neji broke the silence.
"There are people watching us."
Raien didn't flinch.
"I know."
"Masked. Elite. They're not ours."
"I know."
Neji glanced at him.
"That dojutsu of yours. It's not Uchiha. Not Hyuga. What is it?"
Raien leaned forward.Voice low.
"I didn't get it here."
Neji's jaw tightened.
"You mean—?"
Raien nodded.
"Not in this world."
Elsewhere.
In a hidden encampment.Miles outside Konoha.
The woman reappeared.
Uncloaked.
She stood before a giant mirror.It pulsed with chakra.
A dozen hooded figures reflected back.
Each with no face.
Only shadows.
"He made contact," she said.
Silence.
Then one of them spoke.
"Did the gate respond?"
"Yes."
"Then the path is opening."
"And the Hunters?"
"They've already entered the fire country."
Konoha.Next day.
Team 8 gathered.
Mission briefing.
Escort duty.
Simple.
They left by noon.
Raien walked beside Kiba.
Neji was oddly quiet.
Hinata kept looking back at Raien.
She felt it.
Something had changed in him.
Even Akamaru barked nervously once.
A few miles into the forest—
Everything went silent.
Birds stopped.
No wind.
Even insects vanished.
Kurenai raised a hand.
"Something's not right."
She turned—
But Raien was gone.
Vanished mid-step.
Raien blinked.
He stood in fog.
Again.
But not alone.
Three figures emerged.
Black armor.Masks.
Symbols painted on their necks.
They didn't speak.
One raised a hand—
And a seal ignited beneath Raien's feet.
He tried to move.
But it was too late.
Chains of light wrapped around him.
They weren't physical.
They were mental.
Raien screamed—But no sound came.
Only fractures in reality.
His eye fought back.Flickered red.Gold.
Then—
Silence shattered.
Raien burst free.
Exploded out of the fog.Back into the real forest.
Leaves scattered.Birds fled.
He collapsed.
Blood trickled from his ear.
Neji caught him.
"Raien!"
Kurenai drew her kunai.
"I felt it. Who was here?!"
Raien could barely speak.
"Not… from here..."
Then black mist rose again.
Shifting.
Solidifying.
One figure stepped out.
Mask like porcelain.Eyes pure silver.
He looked at Kurenai.
Then at Raien.
"You're not supposed to exist," he whispered.
Battle erupted.
Kurenai summoned genjutsu.Neji charged.
The masked figure didn't flinch.
He walked through Neji's palm strike.
Phased.
Unreal.
Then raised his hand—
And shattered a tree with one finger.
Raien forced himself up.
He stepped forward.
Eye glowing.
Symbols flickered around him.
"Stop," he whispered.
The masked figure paused.
"You've unlocked it."
Raien's hand pulsed.
A rune appeared.
And just like that—the enemy vanished.
Scattered into smoke.
Gone.
The silence returned.
Everyone stared at Raien.
Even Neji looked stunned.
Kurenai stepped forward.
Touched his shoulder.
"You need to tell us the truth."
Raien looked away.
"I'm still figuring it out."
Later that night.
Raien sat alone on the roof of his apartment.
Looking at the moon.
He held something in his hand.
A single page.From an ancient scroll.
The letters shimmered.
Only readable through his eye.
It read:
Phase One Complete.The eye has awakened.Memory syncing in progress.Prepare for Phase Two… Arrival.