The morning mist clung to the treetops as Team 16 departed Konoha's gates, their footsteps muffled on the damp earth. The mission was simple on paper: investigate ruins in the northern forests where another relic had once been rumored. But Kiyoshi knew there was nothing simple about it. Not anymore.
Rei walked at the front, map in hand, her eyes sharp as she traced the winding paths ahead. Daiki, true to form, complained from behind while chewing on a rice ball.
"Why is it always forests? You'd think ancient clans could hide their relics in a hot spring or something," Daiki muttered.
Rei didn't look back. "Because no one sane would bother searching ruins in cursed woods."
"Cursed woods," Daiki repeated, his grin widening. "That's comforting."
Kiyoshi said nothing, though he caught Rei's subtle glance at him. She was worried—about him, about what the relic was doing to him. He felt it too, the constant pulse beneath his skin. Stronger every day.
Hours passed, and the forest grew thicker, shadows pooling beneath the canopy. The ruins came into view at last: stone pillars broken and strangled by vines, a shrine half-buried in roots and earth. Moss coated every surface, yet the air around it felt heavy—charged.
"Looks abandoned," Daiki said, crouching to poke at a cracked pillar.
"Abandoned doesn't mean empty," Rei warned, her hand hovering near her kunai pouch.
Kiyoshi stepped forward, the relic in his pack thrumming louder, resonating with the shrine as though answering a call. His Ketsuryūgan flickered, pulling his gaze toward the carved entrance of the shrine. Faded symbols etched into the stone walls shimmered faintly in crimson hues—visible only to him.
"These markings…" he murmured. "They're the same as in the archives."
The pulse inside his chest quickened, almost dragging him toward the entrance. He placed his palm against the stone. Instantly, chakra flared, a surge that rattled the ruins and sent dust raining from above.
"Kiyoshi!" Rei's voice was sharp.
He staggered back, breathing hard. The shrine's sealed door trembled, lines of red light coursing across its surface like veins awakening after centuries of sleep.
Daiki whistled low. "Well… guess it's not abandoned after all."
The door groaned, slowly opening into a pitch-black chamber. The air that spilled out was cold, ancient, and wrong. Rei drew a kunai, Daiki readied his stance, and Kiyoshi swallowed hard before stepping inside.
The chamber was vast, lit only by faint, glowing markings. At its center stood a stone pedestal—empty, broken.
Rei frowned. "If a relic was here… it's gone."
Daiki cursed under his breath. "And Root probably beat us to it."
Kiyoshi's eyes scanned the walls. More markings, more whispers only he could hear. His vision blurred, his knees trembling as a low hum filled his skull. For a moment, he wasn't in the chamber anymore—he was somewhere deeper, drowning in visions of blood-red skies and chains shattering in the dark.
"Kiyoshi!" Rei's hand gripped his shoulder, grounding him.
He gasped, the vision breaking. "…Someone was here. Recently. They took it."
Rei's jaw tightened. "Then Root's already moving faster than we thought."
Daiki looked between them, the usual grin absent. "So what now?"
Kiyoshi's gaze fell on the broken pedestal, his fists clenching. The relic inside him pulsed once more, sharper than ever, as though urging him forward.
"We find them," he said, voice steady. "Before they use it."
The shrine groaned behind them, its ancient walls shifting as if waking from a long slumber. And for the first time, Team 16 realized—they weren't alone in the dark.