Darkness.And in it—A blur.
Two figures.Moving too fast for the eye.Unless that eye was his.
Raien blinked—
The world slowed.Frame by frame.
Her fist—Coming for his throat.
His hand—Already catching her wrist.
Another fist.Blocked.
A kick.Parried.
She was good.Trained. Precise.
But she wasn't here to kill him.
She was here to measure him.
That made her dangerous.
Ten seconds in—Raien moved differently.
No longer defending.Now reading her moves.Now seeing ahead.
Like the eye predicted it.
A second too soon—He vanished.
Reappeared behind her.
She spun—
Too slow.
Raien placed two fingers on her forehead.
And whispered—
"Enough."
She froze.Eyes wide.
Trembling.
Not out of fear.
But recognition.
"You shouldn't have that eye," she said quietly.
Raien didn't reply.
He just looked at her.Waiting.
They both stood still.
Breathing heavy.
She backed up.Lowered her guard.
"My name is Hisame," she said."Last of the Hidden Shrine Clan."
Raien raised an eyebrow.Said nothing.
"I've been following you since you left the Uchiha ruins."
Still no reply.
She crossed her arms.
"That eye you awakened… it was never meant to open again."
Raien's voice was soft.
"Why?"
"Because the last time it did… five nations burned."
The silence after that was long.Uncomfortable.
Raien finally looked past her.To the trees.The wind.
He spoke low.
"Then it makes sense why I have it."
Hisame frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Raien turned toward the east.
"I didn't come here to be a hero. I came here because I died."
His eye glowed faintly.
"And this eye… is not about saving people."
Hisame's face darkened.
"You're dangerous."
He smiled."Finally, someone says it."
Elsewhere.
Deep in the Land of Rivers—
Zetsu emerged from the ground.
Half-black.Half-white.
Both halves looking disturbed.
"Someone… unlocked the Tomb Eye," said the white half.
"It shouldn't be possible," the black half whispered."The seal was absolute."
They turned toward the north.
Toward Raien.
"We need to act fast," they both said in one voice.
And disappeared into the earth.
Back at the shrine.
Raien sat cross-legged.Hisame stood near the entrance.
She hadn't left.
He hadn't asked her to.
They didn't speak much.
But she watched his eye carefully.
Every now and then, it would blink—And she would flinch.
She finally broke the silence.
"You should hide it."
Raien didn't answer.
"I'm serious. People will come for it. The Akatsuki. The Hidden Villages. Even the dead."
Raien's voice was cold.
"Let them come."
Hisame stepped closer.
"You're not strong enough yet."
Raien turned his head.
"I don't care."
She sighed.
Sat down beside him.
"You'll die."
Raien looked straight ahead.
"I already did."
A few hours passed.
Night again.
Raien dozed off.
Dreams flooded him.
Not his.Not memories.But echoes.
A battlefield.
No sky.
Just eyes floating above.
Watching. Judging.
His own eye split open in the dream.
A second pupil emerged.
Then a third.
Each one whispered something.
"Devour."
"Remember."
"Rewrite."
Raien gasped—Woke up sweating.
Hisame jolted awake.
"What happened?"
Raien looked at his reflection in a pool of water.
His eye was different again.
Three pupils.Moving in slow circles.Like gears.
Hisame took a step back.
"That's not supposed to be possible."
Raien looked at her.
"Maybe it's not."
"But it is."
Far away.
In the deepest part of Mount Myōboku—
A toad opened one ancient eye.
Fukusaku turned pale.
He croaked weakly.
"Ma… bring Jiraiya."
"What is it, dear?"
He pointed toward the scroll of prophecy.
The ink had changed.
A new line appeared on its own.
One word:
"Return."
Raien stood now.
Felt the pressure in his skull.
The new pupils weren't just for show.
They were… alive.
Whispering things to him.
Names.Places.Possibilities.
One name repeated itself.
Tenmoku.
Raien spoke it aloud.
Hisame flinched again.
"You know it?"
She nodded slowly.
"It's not a name. It's a prison."
Raien's eye flickered.
His voice calm.
"Let's go."
Hisame blinked.
"You want to find it?"
Raien nodded.
The wind howled around them.
"It's calling me."