Raftra sat silently in the kitchen. His back leaned against the cold wall, his breathing slowly finding a rhythm, though the fatigue was plainly written across his face. His eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, as if searching for answers hidden in the plaster above.
The room was so quiet that the drip of the faucet sounded excessive, amplifying the emptiness that filled the space. His thoughts drifted back to the dream he had just experienced.
'What kind of dream was that?' he muttered to himself.
He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to calm himself, but more questions only pushed through.
'Was it just a nightmare born of my trauma? Or... a vision from my past life?'
'I once theorized... that I might actually come from the future and simply forgot everything. Or maybe... I'm catching glimpses of who I become.'
Both possibilities made the hairs on his neck rise. He shook his head slowly, as if to deny the image. Yet the vision of his own face—torn, bleeding, and scarred—remained lodged in his mind with painful clarity.
'And that dream... so vivid... as if it proves my wild theory. A theory I have refused to accept.'
His eyes opened and fixed on the small mirror on the wall. His reflection was there: only himself, soaked in sweat. The older, wounded version from the dream no longer stared back—only him.
'From the first vision in the prison... the second while asleep at home... and now this dream... they all point to the same thing.'
Soon after, Raftra stood before the mirror and studied his own reflection. His face was pale, sweat clinging to his temples, and his gaze weary.
He drew in a deep breath, holding his eyes on his reflection. 'If this is how it is, I can no longer ignore the visions that keep coming.'
'I've seen too much. One of my wild theories has to be true.'
He clenched his fists, his fingers trembled slightly. 'Danzo said I used to be dangerous. Someone who could control other people's feelings and actions. A man who could manipulate situations to his will.'
'But when I stopped doing that, when I began to care about others' feelings, I fell apart. I lost at the game I had built.'
Those words circled in his head. The pain from the dream returned to punch at his chest.
'Until now I still act with feeling. A pure heart still interferes. When I help others, when I speak to them... I don't fully play the part.'
'There is a part of me that genuinely wants real connections with people.'
'And because of that, I feel my actions are lacking. I hold back, I hesitate, and I even begin to question my own methods.'
'That's the weakness Danzo warned about.'
Raftra's face in the mirror tightened. He stepped closer, wanting to ensure the person he saw was truly himself.
'If I continue like this, I could end up like in that dream—bound, helpless, tortured, defeated. I cannot allow that to happen.'
'So I must choose. I must completely remove my feelings. Not halfway, but entirely.'
He closed his eyes for a beat, then reopened them with a harder stare.
'To be honest, I'm terrified. Terrified that one day the vision will come true. Afraid that everyone close to me will become a weakness that destroys me.'
He exhaled heavily and bowed his head.
'But... if I want to survive... I can't let my heart influence every step I take.'
'I have to become the person Danzo described: someone who manipulates situations without doubt. Someone indifferent, unattached, who will not fall because of feeling.'
Raftra straightened and looked at himself in the mirror once more. Now his eyes were colder.
'From now on, I must stop being the hesitant Raftra.'
He left the kitchen. His steps sounded calm, but the battle within him had not resolved.
Just before he passed through the door, he paused. He stood upright and drew a long breath as if inhaling a new strength.
His expression hardened—no trace of friendliness remained. It was the face of someone who had decided to erase emotional burdens, someone ready to walk their path alone.
'Hopefully... my choice is not wrong.'
Gradually his expression softened. A thin smile curved his lips—not genuine, but not an outright lie either. A deliberately crafted smile that could soothe others while masking who he truly was.
His eyes shifted from icy to warm, as if all that darkness had been an illusion.
'Remove all feeling, focus on the goal.'
'From now on, I will only show the face others want to see. A warm smile, a friendly manner, but beneath it, calculation. No room for doubt.'
He looked at his hands briefly, clenched them tightly, and then walked out with lighter steps. From the outside, nothing seemed off. He looked like the usual Raftra—calm, relaxed, composed.
But inside him, a new decision had been sealed.
….
When Raftra emerged from the kitchen, the atmosphere in the common room seemed to slow. Kakashi and Tsunade were the first to look up.
To an outsider they might have appeared ordinary—Kakashi reclining with half-lidded eyes, Tsunade occupied with a deck of UNO cards—but their gazes were sharp and calculating.
'He's changed. Is he really feeling better?' Tsunade wondered.
'That warm, friendly smile. Like the usual Raftra—though it could be fake,' Kakashi thought.
They had been alive too long in a world that required sensitivity. They noticed that something about Raftra had shifted.
A few seconds later everyone else turned. Naruto with his innocent stare, Shizune with a hint of hidden concern, and Kimkanji and Yuria exchanging glances.
Raftra moved as if nothing had happened and sat down next to Naruto.
In a gentle tone he said, "Sorry for worrying you… I had a nightmare, something about being chased by an evil monster."
Naruto blinked once, about to reply, when suddenly Raftra lifted him into his lap and held him close with tender care.
"Holding you like this... somehow calms me," he whispered, as if that sentence had sprung from sincerity.
'This time I won't hesitate. I'll elevate my relationship with Naruto, others will sympathize when they see it,' he thought.
Naruto stayed quiet for a moment. His cheeks flushed, he looked embarrassed but did not push away. Awkwardly, he pretended to study his UNO cards, fretting over his strategy. Yet the faint smile on his lips betrayed that he enjoyed the moment.
'Hehe, I'm on his lap,' he thought.
Kakashi, who had been observing Raftra closely, finally spoke. His voice was calm but sharply precise. "Raftra... are you truly better, or are you just pretending?"
The question hung in the air. Shizune glanced over, Tsunade raised an eyebrow, and Naruto pretended not to hear, letting the adults converse.
Raftra shook his head slowly but kept his warm expression.
"I'm not completely okay," he answered honestly. "But holding Naruto like this... at least it eases the nightmare a little."
Silence settled again. Only the soft clack of UNO cards being placed on the table broke it, and Raftra glanced at Tsunade a few times.
Tsunade, who had been resting her chin on her hand while looking at her cards, finally raised her gaze to Raftra.
"Why are you staring? Is there something on my face?" she asked curtly.
Raftra stifled a small laugh and shook his head. "Nothing at all," he replied lightly, as if there were truly no hidden motives behind his look.
But inside, his mind was working fast—calculating, composing scenarios. Every interaction, every expression, even the way people looked at him: he catalogued them.
Time slipped by unnoticed as the UNO cards shuffled from hand to hand, laughter, murmured complaints, and playful taunts coloring the evening.
Amid it all, Raftra blended in naturally, as if he had never been shaken.
Kakashi still harbored suspicion. He knew well that a person who had been disturbed by nightmares would take time to return to normal. But when he saw Raftra chuckle softly, toss out a sarcastic remark in his usual way, and banter with Naruto, his doubts slowly eased.
'Maybe he really is getting better,' Kakashi thought, a faint smile forming beneath his mask.
Tsunade, sharp-eyed as ever, felt similarly. His warm expression, light responses, and clear gaze convinced her that he might be back to his usual self.
And that was exactly what Raftra wanted. 'Indeed, shedding my feelings while doing this makes the disguise even more convincing.'
In a teasing tone Raftra leaned back in his chair and glanced at Tsunade, his look slightly provocative—clearly trying to rile her.
"If you're truly a legendary medical ninja, can you do something about my nightmares? At least make my brain stop feeling exhausted every night."
Tsunade chuckled—light but authoritative. "I'm a specialist of the body, not the mind. You've come to the wrong address."
"Go find someone who can treat you. You're still young, it's not too late to fix your slightly damaged brain."
Raftra feigned a disappointed sigh. "I really need help, but your mouth just makes sharp remarks."
Naruto, who had been staring at his cards, suddenly looked up with an unusually serious expression.
"Do your nightmares… really bother you that much?"
Raftra nodded and reached out to pinch Naruto's cheek gently. "Yes, very much. I wake up sweating and sometimes trembling."
Naruto bowed his head, his cheek still warm from the pinch. His expression shifted—part embarrassment, part gathering courage.
"You can just do what you did today if that happens again. If it helps, I'm okay with being treated this way."
The simple offer stilled the room for a moment. Raftra looked at Naruto, a warm smile forming as his hand instinctively ruffled the boy's hair.
"Thank you… for caring about me," Raftra replied.
Naruto gave a small smile, then hurriedly lowered his head to his cards, embarrassed by his own words.
Kakashi, having watched all along, closed his visible eye half and smiled faintly behind his mask.
'Thank goodness... he's back. For a moment I feared the nightmare would upset him again like last time.'
But Kakashi did not know that behind that warm smile Raftra repeated the sentence he had just planted in his heart: 'Remove all feeling. Focus on the goal.'
'Make Naruto love me more, make Kakashi care for me, make Tsunade comfortable being friends with me, make Shizune respect me, and make those two Anbu admire me.'
....
Later, the lively noise of the shop subsided. One by one people said their goodbyes, leaving the room to quiet again.
Afterward, Kakashi and Raftra walked together through Konoha's increasingly empty streets.
Their steps were calm. Raftra walked with his head slightly bowed, his gaze vacant—his thoughts clearly distant.
Kakashi strolled with his hands in his pockets, occasionally glancing up at the starry sky and stealing looks at Raftra without turning his head.
Silence stretched between them until Kakashi broke it.
"You're unusually quiet tonight. Still thinking about that dream?"
Raftra turned briefly and nodded. "A little. But honestly, I'm more focused on my character's future. There's a lot to redesign."
His words sounded convincing, but Kakashi said nothing, letting the answer hang.
Silence returned, and a few minutes later Raftra chuckled softly, his shoulder trembling. He tapped his abdomen lightly, as if amused at himself.
"I was lying, actually," he said with a crooked smile. "I'm still thinking about the dream."
"And… the nightmare wasn't about being chased by a monster," he added, leaning closer and whispering nearly into Kakashi's ear. "The real dream... showed me being tortured by Danzo."
Kakashi did not immediately turn. He kept gazing forward, his steps steady, then said flatly, "Honestly, I suspected you were lying about the dream. The real question is, why tell the truth now?"
Raftra stared at him, eyebrows raised in mock disbelief. "You're a top-tier ninja. Don't tell me you don't understand why I lied. Has your intelligence diminished?"
Kakashi sighed, narrowing his remaining visible eye. "Of course I understand the reason. You wouldn't say something like that in front of Naruto and the two Anbu. I just wanted to be sure."
Raftra laughed openly this time, his laughter echoed slightly down the quiet street. "I was only joking—don't be so serious. I knew you were testing me. And validating your own suspicion."
Kakashi glanced at him briefly, still composed. "Then answer my question. Why are you honest now?"
Raftra did not reply immediately. His stride slowed, he tilted his head and looked at the stars scattered across the night sky. His face was blank and unreadable.
After a few seconds he lowered his gaze and a faint smile touched his lips.
"Because you are my brother," he said softly, clearly.
Kakashi stopped. Behind his mask his visible eye widened slightly. The words came unexpectedly. He wanted to respond but his tongue faltered. A man known for his composure found himself momentarily at a loss.
'Brother, huh...' Kakashi thought.
He finally spoke after a long pause. His voice was calm but carried a hidden weight. "You're too problematic to be my little brother. Honestly, it's a hassle."
Raftra narrowed his eyes and turned with a mischievous smile. "Really? But from what I've seen, you've treated me like family."
Kakashi didn't immediately reply and kept walking. Raftra continued, his tone implying the revelation of a small secret.
"You listen to my complaints, support me when I'm down, and often check whether I've eaten when I'm working."
"If that's not the attitude of an older brother... then what is?"
Kakashi's steps faltered for a moment, then he resumed walking without a word. Raftra caught that pause, his eyes bright with triumph.
"See? You went silent. That proves I'm right. You care about me," he say.
He tapped Kakashi's shoulder. "Come on, just admit it. Don't be shy. I won't laugh at you."
Kakashi remained silent as if he had no fitting reply.
Suddenly, and without warning, his hand rose and—tuk!—he lightly thumped Raftra's head. "You talk too much," he said flatly.
Raftra rubbed his head and laughed brightly. "Haha, see? You're getting defensive."
Tuk! Kakashi tapped him again, this time quicker. "I told you, stop talking."
Raftra fell quiet, yet the faint smile stayed on his lips, as if that small victory was enough.
But the smile did not last long. He stopped in his tracks, his breath caught.
Ten meters ahead, a figure stood that made the hairs on his arms prickle—himself. Not a reflection in a clear mirror, but a tangible shadow of his future self.
The figure's face was pale. His body was covered in wounds—some fresh and still bleeding, others blackened as if burned.
The gaze was vacant and bleak, yet in the darkness of those eyes there was something that made Raftra's heart pound uncontrollably. It was as if that gaze carried a message that words could not express.
He shivered. 'He's... appeared again,' he thought.
"Raftra?" Kakashi's voice cut through the silence. He turned with raised brows, surprised to see Raftra suddenly frozen.
Raftra hurriedly diverted his eyes, trying to hide the turmoil roiling inside him. He forced a thin smile. "Nothing," he said lightly, as if nothing had happened. "Let's keep walking."
Kakashi looked at him for a moment, uncertain. But he did not press the matter, he simply nodded and resumed his steps.
Raftra followed, but his legs felt heavy. Every second brought him closer to the shadow of himself. His heart hammered as they neared alignment.
And then the moment arrived.
They passed each other.
Raftra's eyes met the gaze of his future self. For an instant the world seemed to stop. The air grew icily sharp. Within that look, Raftra saw pain, despair, and an indistinct warning. There was no sound, yet his heart perceived a silent scream that he couldn't comprehend.
He swallowed hard, trying to stay composed. As he walked past, his legs felt both light and unsteady.
A few paces on he could not help but look back.
The figure still stood there, motionless like a statue, staring in the same direction as before. Silent and unmoving.
Then, suddenly, the figure turned.
Its stare locked on Raftra—sharp, piercing, as if trying to bore into his soul. For a moment, Raftra glimpsed a bitter smile on that shadow's face, a smile full of wounds.
Slowly, the body began to fall apart. Like sand in the wind, it crumbled into particles of dust before vanishing, leaving only emptiness.
Raftra stood frozen. His breath hitched, his mind spun. He felt a chill, as if the shadow had taken a piece of his spirit before it dissipated.
Yet in front of Kakashi, he continued walking as though nothing had happened.