Part I – Recovery Room Blues
The ceiling tiles of the Konoha Hospital were painfully white.Too white.
Ishi lay there counting the faint cracks between them — thirty-seven so far — while the sterile scent clawed at his nose. His body felt both heavy and hollow, like someone had scooped out the inside of his chakra coils and replaced them with static.
He turned his head slightly.A half-open window let in a slice of morning sun and the distant sound of birds.
It would've been peaceful if not for the slow, rhythmic beep of the monitor beside him and the faint ache behind his eyes — a reminder of the power that had exploded out of him two days ago.
Two days…
He tried sitting up, only for pain to bloom behind his forehead like a spike of molten iron.
"Stay down," came a familiar voice.
Kakashi leaned against the doorway, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a cup of coffee. His headband was slightly askew, silver hair even messier than usual.
"You've been unconscious long enough for Naruto to start a petition to make you 'co-hokage,'" Kakashi said flatly. "Don't give him more material."
Ishi smirked faintly. "You're just jealous the people love a blindfolded man of mystery."
"I'd settle for a patient who doesn't bend reality in public."
"…Fair point."
Kakashi set the coffee down beside him, his tone softening. "You scared a lot of people, Ishi. Whatever you did in that arena — the Hokage wants a report. So do I."
Ishi's smirk faltered. He turned his face away. "If I said I don't fully understand it myself?"
Kakashi crossed his arms. "Then I'd say you're lying."
Silence stretched between them. Only the faint hum of chakra monitors filled the space.
Finally, Ishi exhaled, voice low."Time stopped. Or maybe I stopped time. I don't know. I just… didn't want her to die."
His fingers twitched against the bedsheets. "And something answered."
Kakashi studied him — the curve of his shoulders, the tension in his jaw. "Answered?"
"Yes. Like a whisper. A god, maybe. Or the echo of one."
There was no joke in Ishi's tone this time.
Kakashi said nothing for a long moment, then reached out, lightly tugging the blindfold over Ishi's eyes again.
"Rest," he murmured. "We'll talk when you're stronger."
As Kakashi turned to leave, Ishi spoke again — soft, almost hesitant.
"…Do you ever feel like you're living someone else's script?"
Kakashi paused at the doorway. "All the time," he said quietly. Then he was gone.
Part II – The Dream Beneath the Surface
That night, sleep came in pieces — jagged, feverish, disjointed.
He drifted through visions not his own:A desert of glass where moons hung like fractured mirrors.A thousand eyes staring from the dark.Threads stretching endlessly into a void.
And there — in the center of it — a woman.
Her form was woven from shadow and light, her voice echoing through his bones.
"Child of the False Dawn… you tamper with the Loom."
Her eyes glowed — mismatched, alien.One like his, gold and black.The other, pale as the moon.
"You were not meant to see. Yet you saw. You were not meant to weave. Yet you tug at threads not yours."
Ishi tried to speak, but no sound left his mouth.
"The Veil will come for you. For through you, the Loom trembles. The world forgets its shape."
She raised a hand — thousands of silver strings spilling from her fingers like light made liquid.
"Run, Threadbearer. The gods are waking."
The vision shattered.
Part III – The Visitor
When Ishi awoke, the moonlight cut across the room in a single stripe.He was not alone.
Someone was sitting at the foot of his bed — faint outline, dark cloak, the smell of rain and ozone clinging to them.
He didn't move. His body tensed, chakra flickering weakly in defense.
"Easy," the stranger said softly. "If I wanted you dead, you'd still be dreaming."
A low chuckle. Feminine, melodic — too calm for the hour.
"Who are you?"
"Someone who's been waiting for the Loom to stir again."
Ishi frowned beneath the blindfold. "You're one of them. The cult."
"'Cult' is such a crude word," she said. "We prefer Witnesses of the Veil. We observe, not destroy. But you…" She leaned closer — he could feel her breath near his ear. "You broke something sacred."
His heartbeat quickened. "I saved a life."
"Every life saved is a thread rewoven. And every thread rewoven calls the attention of the Weaver."
Her tone was almost affectionate.
Then — a cold finger traced the edge of his bandage, stopping at his temple.
"These eyes… you don't yet realize what they're stitched from."
Ishi's hand shot up, catching her wrist. "Try me."
A pause. Then, quietly:"Fragments of divinity. A dozen gods' mistakes bound in mortal flesh. You are what happens when heaven tries to play scientist."
Before he could reply, the air shimmered — her chakra vanishing like ink in water. She was gone.
Only her voice lingered, echoing faintly in his head:
"When the next thread snaps, we'll meet again."
Part IV – The Fox and the Blind Man
The next morning, Ishi found himself sitting on the hospital roof, knees drawn up, blindfold fluttering in the wind.
He didn't notice Naruto until the boy plopped down beside him, holding two popsicles.
"Hospital food sucks," Naruto said cheerfully, offering one. "You look like you need this more than I do."
Ishi took it without a word. They sat in silence for a while, watching the sunrise bleed across the rooftops.
"You saved Hinata, didn't you?" Naruto said quietly.
Ishi tilted his head. "What makes you think that?"
"I dunno," Naruto said. "I just… felt it. The air got weird, and everyone froze. You were glowing." He grinned. "Pretty cool, actually."
Ishi chuckled softly. "Cool isn't the word I'd use. More like catastrophic."
Naruto laughed. "Well, catastrophic or not — thanks. She's my friend."
That earnest gratitude hit harder than any accusation.
Ishi smiled faintly. "You're welcome, Naruto."
They sat there a little longer, the morning wind tugging at their hair — two boys with impossible destinies, sharing silence before the world changed again.
Part V – The Loom Tightens
Far below the earth, the Witnesses gathered.Candles burned blue around an ancient tapestry — its threads moving of their own accord, depicting shifting scenes of past, present, and future.
At its center, a single new thread glowed gold and black.
"The Prophet awakens," one intoned."The Loom stirs," another whispered."And so begins the unraveling."
The tapestry rippled — showing for an instant the Hidden Leaf bathed in light, a figure with a halo of time standing above it all.
The woman from Ishi's dream smiled beneath her hood.
"Let him grow stronger," she murmured. "The greater the weave, the sweeter the cut."
End of Chapter 5 – Echoes in the Thread