The air shook with every clash. Sparks rained across the valley of ash as Raizen's blood-slick blade met the radiant weapon of the Kaguro Guardian.
Each strike rattled his bones. Each parry felt like death scraping against his skin.
Still—he smiled.
"Is that all you've got?" Raizen's voice cracked with exhaustion, but his eyes burned like fire.
The Guardian's silver gaze pierced him.
"You stand on the edge of erasure, Uchiha. Yield."
"Yield…?" Raizen staggered forward, wiping blood from his mouth. "I didn't come here to yield." His Mangekyō spun wildly, red against the gray void. "I came here… to steal."
The Guardian's blade cleaved the air, a beam of silver energy tearing through the ground. Raizen vanished in an instant, reappearing behind the giant with a slash that carved into its shoulder.
The Guardian roared—not in pain, but in anger.
"Bold insect… do you know whose power you grasp at? We were the shadow that even the Ōtsutsuki feared."
Raizen froze mid-step. His eyes widened. "…Feared?"
The Guardian turned slowly, towering over him, silver cracks glowing along its armored body.
"We, the Kaguro, were gods to mortals. And threats to gods themselves. That is why they slaughtered us. That is why this world forgot us."
The ash around them began to swirl, voices whispering in languages Raizen had never heard. He clutched his head—the illusions were sharper, more real.
Itachi's young face appeared again, blood dripping from his eyes.
"Uncle… why do you chase power?"
Raizen's knees buckled. His chest heaved. For a moment—just a moment—he wanted to stop. To breathe. To go back to that small boy's smile.
But then he remembered.
The betrayal.
The ten nations erased.
The Uchiha hunted.
His own name cursed.
His lips curled into a snarl.
"…Because if I don't… someone else will."
He screamed, Mangekyō blazing. His chakra flared so violently that the ash itself ignited into black flames.
The Guardian faltered. "Impossible…"
Raizen's veins glowed faintly—silver cracks spreading beneath his skin like lightning scars. His body convulsed, but his grip on his sword tightened.
"You said the Ōtsutsuki feared you," Raizen growled, stepping forward. "Then I'll take that power… and make them fear me."
He plunged his blade into the Guardian's chest.
Light exploded. The ruins trembled like a dying beast. Raizen's scream echoed across the valley as the Guardian dissolved into fragments of silver dust—rushing into his body, searing his veins.
---
When the silence returned, Raizen collapsed to one knee. His body steamed, his blood boiling unnaturally. He could feel it—the Guardian wasn't gone. It was inside him.
A whisper echoed in his skull.
"You are not worthy… but you are chosen."
Raizen's eyes snapped open. His Mangekyō glowed brighter than ever, threaded now with faint silver streaks.
"…The Silver Veins…" he whispered, staring at his trembling hands.
For the first time since erasing the five nations, Raizen felt something terrifyingly close to hope.
"Raizen carries the blood of a clan stronger than even the Otsutsuki… a clan wiped out in secret, its history buried in silence
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