The sky was heavy with smoke. Raizen stood at the edge of the ruins, his Mangekyō Sharingan flickering faintly as he scanned the endless wasteland. The silence was suffocating, almost as if the world itself wanted him to turn away.
But something in him pushed forward. His steps were slow, deliberate, as though his body remembered paths his mind could not.
Every ruined wall, every shattered stone—there was familiarity in them. Too much familiarity.
Why does this place feel like… home?
His fingers brushed against a broken slab of stone. It had once borne a crest—the sigil of a shinobi nation long forgotten. A sigil he didn't recognize… and yet, his chest ached when he saw it.
Flashes assaulted him. Armies gathering. Banners of the Five Nations raised against him. Words—accusations, judgments—echoing in his head.
"Raizen Uchiha cannot be allowed to live."
"The Uchiha must perish with him."
Raizen staggered, clutching his head as lightning sparked uncontrollably from his body, scorching the ground beneath his feet. The memories he had sealed away were breaking through the cracks.
And then, another vision—one that chilled him. A colossal figure cloaked in divine light, eyes burning like galaxies, standing amidst the battlefield. An apostle of Shibai.
He remembered fighting it. The clash of lightning and godlike power that shook nations apart. He remembered victory—barely. But more than victory, he remembered the curse that apostle had left behind:
"You will never know peace. The humans you protect will fear you. Betray you. Kill you."
And the curse proved true. The Five Nations had turned against him. Shinobi he once fought beside now raised blades to sever him from the world.
Raizen's breaths grew ragged. He looked down at his hands—hands that had burned entire armies, hands that had rewritten the memories of the world.
I… erased it all.
Not just the nations. Not just the bloodlines. He had erased the memory of their betrayal. He had even erased his own grief, burying the truth under layers of silence.
The ruins around him were not just remnants of war. They were tombs of his own making.
The air thickened. Dust swirled violently, forming a vague, towering silhouette. The apostle's shadow appeared again, its hollow eyes boring into him.
"Raizen Uchiha," it thundered, its voice echoing in the marrow of his bones. "You killed me, but you could not kill what I left behind. The world will never forgive you. And neither will you."
Raizen's Mangekyō flared crimson, his voice cutting through the ghostly storm.
"Shibai's curse will not bind me. Not anymore."
The phantom dissolved under the crack of his lightning, but Raizen stood unmoved, his cloak whipping violently in the storm he created.
He lifted his eyes toward the horizon. Nations still existed beyond these ruins—nations ignorant of the truth. Nations that believed their history was whole, when in truth, entire legacies had been erased by his hand.
"Peace built on lies…" Raizen muttered, his tone razor-sharp. "If I must walk alone, so be it. But this time—I won't run from the truth. Let the world remember what it tried to forget."
The silence returned, heavier than before. But Raizen did not falter. He stepped forward, the ruins burning faintly behind him, as though the ashes themselves bore witness to his vow.
---
⚡ End of Chapter 20