[Dimensional Store – Core Interior]
Ryuu stood before the shimmering system console as the prompt appeared again.
[STORE UPGRADE UNLOCKED – Display Room I]Cost: 500 Store PointsFeatures: Custom product showcases, chakra-locked display cases, bloodline vaults, advanced categorization shelves, aesthetic expansion.Activate Now?
"Activate," Ryuu said.
The world rippled behind him.
From what was once a blank wall, a spiral of polished black crystal twisted open, revealing a circular room lined with floating display pedestals, softly glowing sigils, and multi-tiered scroll racks. The ceiling shimmered like dusk sky under moonlight, constellations etched in geometric arcs.
He stepped inside.
[Kenjutsu Display Rack – Unlocked]
Basic to Master-tier sword techniques from all known nations.
Includes chakra-blade infusion principles and chakra flow templates.
[Chakra Conditioning Capsules – Genin & Chūnin Grades]
Cellular-strengthening pods calibrated for long-term body enhancement.
[Scientific Ninja Tools – Preview Line Available]
Prototype scroll weapons, chakra core amplifiers, kinetic seal gloves.
*[Bloodline Vaults – Status: Locked]
Uchiha Tier IV, Hyuga Tier III, Kaguya Tier II, Uzumaki Tier I.
*[Sensory Enhancement Line – Coming Soon]
Increased perception, chakra sensitivity, and mental clarity.
Ram stepped through the portal behind him, arms crossed, gaze flicking to the sealed bloodline vault.
"You're stocking weapons faster than they can digest the ones you've already sold."
Rem followed, calm as ever. "Naruto will come back soon. He's simple, but sincere. Easy to mold."
Ryuu stood before the Uchiha Tier IV case, still sealed behind a burning red sigil.
"I won't unlock it," he murmured. "Not yet. Let Sasuke earn his own awakening. If he takes it too easily, he'll collapse faster than Itachi ever did."
"You're watching him closely," Ram said. "But you should be watching Naruto more. His potential runs deeper. Wilder. He changes people."
Ryuu didn't respond.
But his eyes moved to the new manga volume hovering at the edge of the archive:
[Naruto – Volume 5: Chūnin Exams Begin]
He watched it settle into place.
Then turned and stepped out of the Display Room, just as the final light behind it dimmed and sealed.
[Outside the Dimensional Store – Just Beyond the Merchant District, Konoha]
The ripple of space shimmered shut behind them, erasing all evidence of the store's entrance.
Sakura turned to look back—out of instinct—but saw only an empty alley.
Sasuke walked ahead in silence. His steps were sharper than before. Focused. His eyes didn't dart around. They didn't need to.
Naruto, bouncing on his feet, kept looking at his hands as if they were brand new.
"I felt everything," he said. "The chakra, the clones—I could tell which one had what memory! This time I wasn't just guessing."
Sakura exhaled through her nose. "Don't let it go to your head."
Sasuke didn't speak.
Naruto noticed. "Oi, Sasuke? You okay? You're even more moody than usual."
"I'm fine," Sasuke said. Too quickly. Too cold.
Sakura glanced between them, concern flickering in her eyes.
That's when Kakashi stepped out from the trees.
He had one hand in his pocket, the other lazily holding a little orange book. But he wasn't reading it.
His one visible eye focused squarely on them.
"So," he said. "How was your first visit?"
Naruto looked like he was about to explode. "It was AMAZING! You should've seen—!"
"Stop."
Kakashi's voice was quiet. Controlled.
Naruto froze mid-sentence.
"Tell me what you saw," Kakashi said. "All of it."
They explained it as best they could.
Sakura gave a clean, minimal breakdown—mentioning the scroll she read, the layout of the store, the products on display.
Naruto rattled off every exciting detail he could remember. The scrolls, the pills, the crazy jutsu racks, the clone upgrade, the glowing books—until Kakashi raised a hand again and narrowed his eye.
"Books?"
Naruto grinned. "The manga! It's like some kinda story about us. We saw Zabuza! Haku! The bridge! It's all in there—like, every detail!"
Kakashi's face didn't change.
But his posture stiffened.
Sasuke remained silent through it all.
Kakashi turned toward him. "And you?"
Sasuke looked up, eyes cold and steady. "It was real. The scrolls worked. The pill worked. I tested it all. The shopkeeper... he knows things."
"What kind of things?"
"Things about bloodlines. About the Uchiha."
Kakashi paused. "And how do you feel about that?"
Sasuke looked him straight in the eye.
"I feel like he's keeping something from me. And I'm going to find out what."
Kakashi watched him for a long time.
Then nodded.
"That's enough."
He turned, hands in his pockets.
"Go home. Sleep. Tomorrow we train."
He walked away in the opposite direction.
[Later — Hokage Tower]
Kakashi stood outside the doors to the Third Hokage's office, his usual aloof posture replaced by quiet tension. This wasn't just another mission report. This was something deeper.
He hadn't seen a technique fail to analyze a structure like that in years. Even with his Sharingan, the store had been invisible to his chakra sense. Not sealed — absent. The air inside it didn't obey elemental flow. Space, time, memory — all warped just enough to feel… wrong.
And yet, Naruto had learned to form cleaner clones. Sakura had seen a part of herself she was too young to process. Sasuke had tasted the shape of the legacy he'd been chasing since childhood.
None of it was fake.
Whatever that store was… it was real. It was changing them.
He looked up at the thick, lacquered doors, flicked his hitai-ate slightly higher, and exhaled.
Knock. Knock.
The door creaked open.