The wind howled through the mountains, carrying whispers of the past. Raizen moved through the shadows, his cloak battered, his eyes burning faintly even when shut. Every step was guided by fragments of whispers, fragments of visions Shibai's trace left behind.
Somewhere in the folds of forgotten history, in places even shinobi avoided, lay remnants of powers that had no right to exist.
He found it at last — a ruin half-buried in the cliffs, its entrance sealed by stone engraved with ancient patterns. The carvings were not of the Uchiha, not even of shinobi origin. These were older, alien. Ōtsutsuki glyphs.
Raizen placed his palm on the stone. Chakra pulsed through the symbols, and his Sharingan flared instinctively. For a moment, his breath caught — his eyes did not want to see what lay inside.
But he pushed forward. The stone cracked apart, dust raining down, revealing a dark passage.
Inside, the air was heavy, stale, charged with a presence that made his Mangekyō ache. Torches lit themselves as he walked deeper, shadows dancing on walls painted with murals.
He stopped.
One mural showed the descent of a godlike figure with horns — Shibai. Below him, humans knelt, their eyes gouged out, blood offered in bowls. Another showed worlds burning, stars dimming as if consumed.
Raizen's fists tightened. This is the truth of power…
His eyes followed the final mural — a lone warrior, eyes bleeding like his, standing against the god. The paint was faded, but the warrior's form… almost mirrored his own stance.
The silence shattered.
"Raizen Uchiha…"
A voice. It slithered through the chamber like smoke, ancient and heavy, neither male nor female.
Raizen drew his blade in a single motion. "Who's there?"
The shadows rippled. At the altar's center, a faint, shifting figure emerged — not a body, but a fragment, a residual will. Its shape resembled an Ōtsutsuki, yet fragmented, shattered.
"You seek power," it said. Its faceless head tilted, as though amused.
"You seek what was meant only for gods."
Raizen's eyes bled as his Mangekyō glared. "Then give it to me. I will take it."
The fragment laughed softly, the sound like cracks in the earth.
"Take it? You think yourself worthy? You erased nations, but not the burden. You erased memory, but not fate. Your hands drip with blood even the void cannot wash away."
Raizen stepped closer, unshaken.
"If the Ōtsutsuki left scraps of their divinity in this world, I will claim them. I don't care if it consumes me."
The figure shifted, stretching toward him like black fire.
"Very well. Then bleed. Suffer. Burn. If you survive… the power shall be yours."
The chamber roared alive. Symbols across the walls ignited, scarlet light flooding the ruin. Raizen staggered as his blade vibrated in his hand, his veins burning like molten fire.
The fragment was entering him. Testing him. Trying to crush him.
Raizen screamed, blood running down his face. His Mangekyō spun wildly, a third ring of tomoe forming at its edge for a moment before vanishing again.
He collapsed to his knees, his body seared, vision darkening. But through the agony, through the chains of weakness — he smiled.
"More…" he gasped.
"Give me more."
The ruin shook, stones splitting as though unable to contain the pact being forged.
In the crimson glow of the underground altar, Raizen Uchiha's descent into forbidden power had begun.
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"Hunted by shadows, haunted by the past, Raizen seeks the forbidden power that even the Otsutsuki fear. But every step he takes drags him closer to becoming the very monster he swore to destroy."
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