The rift pulsed softly as they approached, calmer now, like a giant eye watching them.
Boruto tapped his foot impatiently. "If another shadow shows up, I'm blasting it before it says hi."
Sarada ignored him, focusing on her Sharingan as she scanned the edges of the rift. "Something's different. It's… stabilizing."
Ryo felt the mark on his wrist warm again, pulling him forward. He placed his hand on the rift's surface, which felt like warm water.
"Ryo—" Sarada warned, but before she could stop him, the rift swallowed them whole.
---
They found themselves in a vast forest, the air heavy with ancient chakra. Towering trees with leaves of light swayed in silence, and streams of chakra flowed like rivers across the mossy ground.
"This… is beautiful," Sarada whispered, lowering her guard for the first time.
Boruto let out a low whistle. "Okay, even I can't complain about this view."
Ryo stepped forward, following the warmth in his wrist, deeper into the glowing forest. At the center, a massive tree stood, its trunk wide as a village street, its branches holding up the sky.
At its base sat a figure cross-legged in meditation, cloaked in white with a red flame symbol on the back, chakra swirling like a quiet storm around him.
The figure opened his eyes.
It was Naruto Uzumaki—but younger, his Hokage cloak pristine, his blue eyes warm and tired at once.
Boruto's eyes widened, his voice cracking. "D-Dad…?"
Naruto smiled softly. "Not quite, Boruto. I am the memory left behind by the Will of Fire, a guardian of this rift."
Sarada stepped forward, bowing her head respectfully. "Hokage-sama… why is this rift here?"
Naruto's memory looked at Ryo, his gaze gentle but heavy. "This rift is a wound created when the Otsutsuki attempted to take the chakra of this world. It connects the present to the echoes of the past, drawing on the memories of shinobi who carried the Will of Fire."
He turned his gaze to Boruto. "It calls to those who will protect it. Those like you three."
Boruto clenched his fists. "If the Otsutsuki are coming back through this, we'll stop them!"
Naruto's memory nodded. "They seek to anchor themselves in your world by possessing the memories of past Hokage. The shadows you fought were their first attempt."
Ryo's mark flared with warmth, and Naruto's memory looked at him with pride. "You, Ryo, carry the last fragment of Hashirama's chakra within you, passed down quietly to protect the future. The Will of Fire chose you."
Ryo's eyes widened, tears forming as he looked down at his trembling hands. "I'm… not just an orphan?"
Naruto's memory placed a warm, chakra-filled hand on Ryo's shoulder, and it felt like a father's embrace. "You are a child of Konoha. And now, you will help protect it."
The world shook, the light of the forest flickering as a cold, dark chakra seeped in. The ground cracked, and from the shadows, a figure began to form—tall, white-haired, horned.
"Kaguya…" Sarada whispered.
"No," Naruto's memory said, standing. "This is one of her descendants, seeking to finish what she started."
The Otsutsuki's eyes opened, cold and endless, as it stepped into the clearing.
"Shinobi… your era is over."
Boruto stepped forward, his blue eyes blazing with determination. "Like hell it is!"
Sarada activated her Sharingan, taking position beside him. "We protect the Will of Fire."
Ryo lifted his hand, the mark glowing with green and gold light, Hashirama's chakra flowing into him. "We protect our world."
Naruto's memory smiled, fading as it spoke its final words:
"Remember, the Will of Fire will never die. Protect each other. That is the way of the Hokage."
And as the Otsutsuki's chakra clashed with the glowing Will of Fire around them, Team Boruto, Sarada, and Ryo prepared for the battle that would decide the future of the shinobi world.