The stairs were fucking ass endless.
Naruto's legs burned. His throat tasted like dust and old fire. Every step down felt like walking into a grave no one had dared dig up. Stone walls pressed closer the deeper he went, their surfaces slick with some kind of grime that didn't feel like just water. It clung. It watched.
He reached the bottom after what felt like forever.
The air changed.
Not stale. Not dry.
Alive.
Something was breathing down here. Not in that ghost-story, ooooh-something's-spooky way. No. This was real. The walls exhaled. Warm. Slow. Fucking terrifying.
The corridor stretched ahead, impossibly long, lit by faint blue runes that pulsed like dying stars. The walls were smoother here, almost metallic, etched with lines of script that didn't look human.
Or shinobi.
Or even Kaguya's bullshit alien fucking crap.
This was older. More wrong.
He walked.
More like staggered.
His hand still gripped the parchment that read "Origin." His mind wouldn't shut the fuck up about it.
Origin of what?
Chakra?
War?
Curses?
Him?
The path widened into a round chamber with no visible ceiling. Just black stretching upward like a god's open mouth. In the center: a pedestal. No guards. No traps. Just something waiting.
Naruto approached.
His heartbeat pounded so loud it echoed.
On the pedestal was a stone tablet—unlike anything from Konoha, Iwa, anywhere. This shit didn't belong to the Elemental Nations. It looked like it had been carved with screams.
Words glowed dimly.
"To burn is to contain.
To seal is to enslave.
Fire was not gifted.
It was poured into us."
Naruto's knuckles turned white.
"Chakra: the Breath Below.
The Binding.
The Brand."
He stepped back, heart racing.
"No," he muttered. "This is bullshit. It has to be. Chakra's… it's part of life."
He remembered his fights. Rasengan. Kurama's rage. Sage mode. The power that saved people. The power that killed people.
He remembered Neji. "Fate." "Cage Bird."
He remembered how many had died to power chakra. How many became beasts. How many became fucking tools.
"Was this what Raian meant?" Naruto whispered, throat dry. "Is this what Kairo tried to erase?"
The ground shook slightly.
He looked around, but nothing moved.
Then he noticed it. A door on the far end of the chamber. Seamless. Silent. But open just a crack.
Like something wanted him to come in.
Like something was waiting.
"Fuck it."
He shoved the door open.
The room beyond looked like a dead god's prison.
Massive chains hung from the ceiling—chained into nothing. Just swinging. Clicking. Whispering. He wasn't imagining it. The chains were whispering. Not words. Just the sound of metal singing sorrow.
At the center was a basin.
Full of black liquid. Still. Thick.
No reflections.
Just void.
But Naruto felt it. Deep inside. A pulsing. Like the basin was alive. Breathing with the same rhythm as the walls.
He moved closer.
The voice came from behind him.
"You shouldn't be here."
Naruto spun, fists raised.
Nobody.
Just chains swaying.
"Who the fuck said that?" he shouted.
The liquid rippled.
A hand burst out of it.
Naruto leapt back, chakra flaring.
The figure dragged itself halfway out of the basin. A humanoid shape, but burned beyond recognition. Skin like cracked lava. Eyes like bottomless wells.
It didn't speak with words. It screamed directly into his soul.
"YOU ARE THE CAGE."
Naruto dropped to one knee, head splitting in pain. His mind filled with flashes—wars he'd never seen, shinobi twisted into monsters, children tattooed with seals, entire clans bred like cattle for power.
Every truth hidden behind jutsu.
Behind legacy.
Behind "will of fire."
Bullshit. All of it.
He screamed. Raw. Human.
"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"
The figure raised a hand. From it, the spiral symbol formed again. But this time, it moved. Like a whirlpool, spinning endlessly. Hungry.
"The First Flame burns still.
Below.
Beneath your peace.
Beneath your leaf.
Beneath your lie."
The basin collapsed inward, sucking the figure back. Chains went still. The door slammed shut behind him.
Naruto stood in the silence.
Chest heaving.
Mind shattered.
He looked down at his hands.
"Are we fucking all just puppets?" he whispered.
The floor lit up with new symbols.
A path.
Another descent.
Deeper.
Naruto grit his teeth. Wiped the sweat. Held the "Origin" parchment tighter.
"Fuck you."
He stepped forward.
"I'll burn through every goddamn lie."