The fire within him still whispered long after it had died down.
Sora walked alone that morning, bare feet tracing the moss-lined stones of Ayame's old training estate—a hidden Uchiha property nestled behind layers of genjutsu and barrier seals. Few knew of its existence. Fewer still had ever set foot in the gardens behind it.
That's where he found her.
The girl in the garden.
---
The Garden of Wounds
The garden wasn't made of beauty.
It was made of memory.
Burnt trees stood beside flowers that bloomed in winter. Stones were carved with seals older than Konoha itself. A small koi pond reflected a dark sky despite the daylight.
And in its center stood a girl, silent and still, watering crimson flowers that should not have survived this season.
She was younger than Ayame—perhaps fifteen. Short, with raven-black hair in a loose braid and eyes that didn't blink. Her face bore no expression. Her chakra was strange… fragmented, like a shattered mirror still trying to reflect light.
Sora took a step forward.
She didn't turn.
"Ayame said no one else lived here," he said quietly.
The girl replied without looking at him.
"She said that to keep you from meeting me."
"…Why?"
"Because I'm broken."
The words weren't bitter.
They were a fact.
---
Her Name Was Ren
She finally turned.
Up close, she looked like an Uchiha—those eyes, that bone structure—but there was something… off. Her gaze didn't see him. Not fully.
"My name is Ren," she said. "Ayame calls me 'the failed one.'"
Sora frowned. "Failed what?"
She blinked slowly.
"Everything."
Then turned back to her flowers.
---
A Silent History
Sora stayed a while, watching her work.
She moved methodically. Each flower had a name. Each stone had a seal. He began to understand—the garden wasn't just a place.
It was a prison.
A spiritual one.
She was using the plants to seal… herself.
"You're not broken," Sora said softly.
Ren paused. "You don't know that."
"I've seen broken people. They don't grow gardens. They don't fight their own demons. They let the demons win."
"…Maybe I want mine to win."
He stepped closer.
"Then why keep sealing them away?"
Ren didn't answer.
But her hands trembled.
---
Flashback – Ayame's Journal
That night, curiosity gnawed at Sora like a second stomach.
When Ayame went on a supply run, he snuck into her scroll room. The seals protested—protective wards triggered a whispering jutsu in his ear: "Do not touch what you do not understand."
He touched anyway.
He found Ayame's journal.
And within it: Ren's story.
> "She was born with a fragment of Kaguya's chakra sealed inside her. A Root experiment. They tried to mix Ōtsutsuki DNA into Uchiha blood… and she survived. Barely.
But her mind… it cracked. She sees time sideways. Past, present, future—they all bleed together for her.
I couldn't kill her. I raised her instead. Hid her. Trained her. But the madness is always near the surface."
Sora closed the journal.
Eyes wide.
---
The Next Day – Whispers and Weeds
Sora returned to the garden.
Ren was waiting.
Not watering.
Just… waiting.
"You know now," she said.
"I do."
"And you're not afraid?"
He stepped forward. "No. I've looked into things darker than you."
She tilted her head. "I've seen you before. In a time that hasn't happened yet."
"What did you see?"
She smiled.
Not kindly.
Not cruelly.
Just truthfully.
"You were standing in a sea of blood. Wearing black fire. And behind you… Ayame's corpse."
Sora said nothing.
Because part of him believed it.
Ren bent down and plucked a withered flower. She crushed it in her hand, letting the black petals fall.
"You won't save her," she whispered. "No matter how strong you become."
---
That Night – A Visitor in the Garden
Ayame returned just before midnight.
And found Sora and Ren sitting silently by the pond, not speaking.
Her heart seized.
She drew a kunai without thinking.
"Ren—what did you tell him?!"
Ren didn't move.
"Just the truth."
Sora stood. "She didn't hurt me."
Ayame's eyes burned crimson.
"You don't understand. She doesn't speak in lies. But she doesn't speak in kindness either."
"She told me what might happen."
Ayame looked between them—anger, fear, and sorrow crashing through her.
"I didn't want you to meet her," she whispered. "Because I didn't want you to doubt yourself."
"I don't," Sora said softly.
He looked at Ren.
"I doubt fate."
---
Elsewhere – Root Awakens
In a dark chamber beneath Konoha, Danzo activated a hidden scroll.
Seals lit up around a sealed chamber where a creature slowly emerged.
Skin pale.
Eyes flickering with violet threads of chakra.
A mask forming on its face.
The newest weapon.
Not a Ghost.
Not a puppet.
An Ōtsutsuki-born clone.
Danzo smiled.
"I will use the blood of gods to destroy the spawn of monsters."