The Valley of the End.
Two titans carved into stone.
Madara and Hashirama.
Their eyes forever locked in battle, their hands frozen in the final clash of fate.
Now, beneath their shadows, something stirred.
Water crashed down the cliffs, endless and loud, but the sound couldn't mask the chakra bleeding from the base of the falls.
Something ancient pulsed behind the waterfall.
And someone was already there.
Waiting.
Ryuki arrived at dawn.
Cloaked. Hood up. Eye hidden.
He stood on the riverbank, breathing slow.
The air was colder than it should be.
Even the water felt wrong.
He took a step forward—then paused.
There.
On the cliff above Madara's statue.
A silhouette.
No chakra.
No heat.
But it watched him.
Patient.
Still.
Ryuki didn't move.
The figure leapt.
Fast.
Too fast.
A blur of pale cloth and black iron.
It landed across from him, barely making a sound.
It wore a mask—blank, no holes. Like polished porcelain.
It carried no weapon.
But Ryuki knew…
This was the Phantom.
The seal on Ryuki's chest ignited.
Three spirals now. The third still dim.
The Phantom tilted its head.
Then vanished.
No sound. No shift. Just gone.
Ryuki turned instinctively—
Too late.
A hand wrapped around his throat.
Lifting him.
Slamming him into the rocks.
He coughed blood. Kicked. Nothing.
The Phantom's grip was inhuman.
The eye flared—Time twitched—
He reversed half a second.
Just enough to drop his weight.
The hand missed.
Ryuki rolled, choking, and threw three kunai mid-spin.
The Phantom caught all of them.
Without looking.
Then disappeared again.
They clashed in silence.
Water crashing behind them.
Ryuki's eye spun, pulsing with growing power.
But the Phantom was immune to tricks.
No chakra. No signature. Not even a soul.
He couldn't see it with the dojutsu.
Couldn't read it.
Could barely touch it.
Ten minutes in—he was losing.
His side bled.
His shoulder dislocated.
The Phantom didn't slow.
It moved with one goal:Kill Ryuki. Take the Fragment. Leave no witnesses.
But then—
A single spark.
His eye pulsed.
The seal on his chest began to burn. Violently.
He fell to his knees.
Screaming.
The third spiral lit up.
And the world split open.
Mindspace.
Again.
But different.
He was underwater now.
Floating.
Alone.
Then something surfaced before him.
A child.
Younger than him.
No eyes. No mouth.
Just a spiral burned into its face.
It reached out, silently.
Ryuki reached back.
Their fingers touched.
And he felt it—
The third fragment merging.
Not a weapon.
A mirror.
Not a tool.
A door.
Reality returned.
The Phantom stabbed toward his heart.
Ryuki didn't dodge.
He let it.
The blade pierced him—
And passed through.
Illusion?
No.
Distortion.
Ryuki's eye spun with a third ring.
The Phantom blinked.
Confused.
It had no soul—
But something inside it… hesitated.
Ryuki moved.
Faster than sound.
Faster than thought.
He stepped behind it.
Placed his palm on its back.
"Disappear."
The seal flared.
And the Phantom erased.
Gone.
No sound. No scream.
Just erased from time.
Ryuki dropped.
Chest heaving. Arm limp.
The waterfall behind him slowed.
The roar faded.
Reality took a breath.
In his hand—A crystal.
Small.
Dark.
But glowing.
The third fragment.
Claimed.
Meanwhile. In the Hidden Rain.
The silver-haired boy stood in silence.
The fire before him flickered, casting his face in shadow.
A whisper behind him:
"The Phantom failed."
He didn't turn.
He didn't move.
Just said:
"Then I'll go next."
End of Chapter 123.