The sky was grey.Not with clouds.But with silence.
That kind of sky that warned—Something ancient was waking.
Raien walked.Hisame followed.Neither spoke.
Leaves danced around them.The forest was unnaturally quiet.No birds. No animals.
The air thickened.
Hisame broke the silence first.
"You're sure it's in this direction?"
Raien nodded.
His left eye—Now with three pupils—Spun slowly.
Each rotation showing him things she couldn't see.
"The eye doesn't lie."
She frowned.
"It also doesn't explain."
Two hours passed.
Then—Ruins.
Hidden in the folds of rock.Buried in mist.
A broken temple with no name.Walls marked by slashes.Symbols long erased.
Only one thing remained clear—A stone door.
On it—A single kanji:
"Tenmoku."
Hisame stepped back immediately.
Her voice cracked.
"No… this shouldn't be here."
Raien walked forward.
His eye flared.
The door trembled.Dust spilled.Stone cracked.
Something behind it… moved.
Flash.
A vision—Unwanted.
Raien was no longer there.
He stood in someone else's memory.
Blood.Everywhere.
A thousand corpses.Shinobi armor.Weapons scattered.
In the center—A boy. Standing.
Eyes glowing.
Not Raien's eyes.But familiar.
The original Tenmoku bearer.
He turned—Looked straight at Raien.
Spoke one word—
"Return."
Then—Darkness.
Raien gasped.
Back in his body.
Hisame held him steady.
"You saw something," she said.
He nodded slowly.
"The first one."
Her eyes widened.
"No one's ever seen him and lived…"
Raien grinned faintly.
"Guess I'm not no one."
They entered the ruins.
Dust fell like snow.
Old scrolls rotted in corners.Stone statues covered in claw marks.Blood stains that would never dry.
At the center—A well.
Covered with a metal lid.
Chains wrapped around it.Seals burned into the steel.
Raien stepped closer.
His eye pulsed.
The chains rattled.
Hisame screamed.
"Don't touch it!"
Raien didn't stop.
He placed his hand on the lid.
Elsewhere…
On the outskirts of the Hidden Rain—
Konan paused mid-step.
Paper wings spread.Rain halted.
She turned west.
Felt it.
The pulse.
Something wrong.
She whispered to herself—
"Yahiko… do you feel that?"
Somewhere… something answered.
Back at the well—
Raien's fingers tightened.
The seals burned.
Sparks flew.
The ground shook.
Hisame pulled a kunai.
"Let go!"
He didn't.
The chains snapped.
One by one.
The seals cracked.
And from the well—A breath.
Old. Heavy.
Like something that hadn't inhaled in centuries.
A single whisper came from the dark below—
"You opened it."
Raien's eye flickered.
"I had to."
"Then you accept the price."
Chains flew.Raien was thrown back.
Hisame caught him—barely.
The well was now open.
And something… was climbing out.
Smoke.Ash.A claw.
Then—A face.
No eyes.Only a mouth.Smiling.
Raien stood, staggering.
Hisame backed up.
"What did you release?"
Raien answered, eyes locked.
"Not a person."
The creature laughed.
"Correct. I'm a memory."
"A memory that eats the future."
It lunged.
Fast.
Raien's eye opened wide.
Time froze.
Just for him.
He saw every move.Every motion.
But this thing—Wasn't bound by time.
It moved even through the freeze.
It reached him.
And whispered in his ear.
"You're not the first."
Raien struck.
Palm to its chest.
A flash of red lightning—From the eye.
The creature shrieked.
Exploded into fragments of smoke.
Gone.
Silence again.
Then a voice.
From above.
Clapping.
Slow. Mocking.
A figure stepped out of shadow.
Red clouds.Black cloak.
The symbol of Akatsuki.
"You did what we couldn't in 40 years," the man said.
Hisame stood frozen.
Raien didn't speak.
The man continued.
"Name's Tenkai. Used to be ANBU. Now? Just a collector."
He pointed at Raien's eye.
"I want that."
Raien blinked once.
Hisame threw a kunai.
Tenkai caught it.
Crushed it.
"Well then," he smirked. "Let's do this the fun way."