Chapter Five: Eyes in the Ash
A week passed.
But peace in Konoha was never more than an illusion stitched in silence.
Rumors swirled like dry leaves — whispers of foreign chakra near the old Senju tombs, of forbidden scrolls gone missing, of a masked figure seen vanishing into fire.
Akari felt it in the air.
So did Raien.
---
They moved together now — not as partners, but as weapons sharpened by necessity.
The mission was simple:
Investigate a collapsed section of the underground archives.
What they found wasn't rubble.
It was a sealed vault, cracked open from the inside.
Inside:
Old weapons blackened by chakra corrosion.
Torn banners bearing the Senju emblem, but altered — symbols scratched out, overwritten with something not quite human.
And a name, scorched into stone in ancient script:
> "Kagura"
Akari's breath caught.
Raien noticed.
"You know it?"
"No," Akari lied.
But his father had once whispered that name — not in fear, but in regret.
---
As they left, Raien slowed his pace.
"You ever think... we're just pawns in something older than Konoha itself?"
Akari didn't answer immediately.
Then:
"We're not pawns. We're what happens when kings bury their sins."
Raien smirked. "That's poetic."
"It's true."
---
(Elsewhere – That Night)
A figure stood at the edge of the village, eyes glowing faintly behind a bone-white mask.
He held a scroll etched in blood.
Behind him, two more masked shinobi knelt, silent.
> "He's awakening," the masked figure whispered.
"Just as we hoped."
And then he vanished into ash — carried by wind that didn't blow.