Darkness again.
But this time, it wasn't silence.
Whispers.
Low. Maddening. Familiar.
"One fragment claimed.""Five remain.""The spiral turns."
Ryuki stood in a void.
Beneath him, an endless pool of reflections.
All of them… him.
Some younger. Some older. All broken.
One stepped forward—half his face missing, eye socket hollow.
"Every time you awaken a piece," the reflection said, "another part of you dies."
Ryuki clenched his fists.
"I don't care."
Konoha. Two days later.
He sat beneath the hospital tree. Bandages still wrapped around his torso. His eye covered again.
Eri sat beside him.
She hadn't spoken in five minutes.
Just held his hand.
Finally, she asked, "Did it hurt?"
Ryuki blinked. "Yes."
"Will it hurt again?"
He didn't answer.
He didn't have to.
Sai stood before Tsunade's desk. Serious. Calm. Factual.
"Ryuki found something under the Uchiha ruins," he said. "A sealed artifact. Possibly related to the Eye."
Tsunade tapped her fingers against the desk. Frowning.
"How dangerous?"
Sai hesitated. "More than we thought."
She sighed.
"The elders are watching him. Danzo is watching him. And now this seal on his chest is evolving?"
"Yes."
"Keep closer eyes on him."
Sai nodded. But didn't move.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Something else?"
He looked down. "If it comes to it… will we treat him as a threat?"
Silence.
Then she answered.
"We'll do what's necessary."
Elsewhere. Hidden Rain.
The silver-haired boy knelt in a chamber of stone and water.
Rain trickled from the cracked ceiling above. A circle of candles flickered around him.
He opened his right eye.
The unbroken Dojutsu shimmered—showing him all six locations.
Six fragments.
Each scattered across the world.
Each buried in blood.
One down.
Five to go.
"He will chase them."
"And so will we."
From the shadows stepped others.
Four figures in cloaks.
Each wore a different sigil on their back. Each bore a mark across their chest. Spiral scars, glowing faintly.
The silver-haired boy stood.
"They'll fight us for every one."
He smiled.
"Let them."
Konoha. Training Grounds 9.
Naruto stared at Ryuki.
Sweat trickled down both their faces. Dirt, blood, chakra still hot in the air.
"You've changed," Naruto muttered.
Ryuki wiped his lip. "You haven't."
Naruto grinned. "Good."
They rushed each other again.
Fist met fist.
But something was different.
Ryuki's eye flared beneath the bandage.
Naruto felt it—just for a moment—time stuttered.
Not reversed.
Not stopped.
Just… slipped.
He blinked, and Ryuki was behind him.
Naruto turned. "That wasn't a Shadow Clone."
Ryuki didn't answer.
But his chakra felt… deeper.
Older.
Later that night.
Alone.
Ryuki unwrapped the bandage.
The eye had changed.
One crack was gone.
The pupil was still a spiral—but now it had a second ring, spinning slowly.
He traced the edge of the new mark on his chest. The twin spirals burned cold.
Then he opened the scroll Sai had left behind—hidden, encoded, urgent.
Inside:
"Five more sealed sites located.
Land of Iron.
Valley of the End.
Ruins of Uzushio.
North Lightning Temple.
And one… under the Hokage Monument."
Be careful. You're not the only one hunting them.
Ryuki stared long at the final line.
Then closed the scroll.
Far away, under Uzushio's ruins, a child's scream echoed through the night.
A fragment… awakened.
And a hunter arrived seconds too late.
Black flames devoured the last guardian.
And a figure in white stepped through the ash.
Eyes glowing.
"Two down."
End of Chapter 121.