Beneath the Hokage Tower.
Deeper than ANBU quarters.Past sealed gates with ancient chakra tags.Further down than even Orochimaru dared to tread.
A stone stairway led into silence.
Only two figures walked it now.
Sorien.And Raien.
The torches on the walls didn't burn.They glowed with eerie blue flames.Chakra flames.
Raien said nothing.Too much was swirling in his head.Other remnants.Reality threads.The fact that he wasn't alone… nor meant to exist.
His fractured eye pulsed.
Sorien stopped before a rusted gate.
He placed his palm over the seal.
The markings spun.Clicked.Unwound.
The gate opened with a groan.
Cold wind rushed out.
And with it—
Whispers.
The Cellar.
No dust.No time.
A stone chamber with black walls that moved like slow waves.
At its center—
A mirror.
But not any mirror.
It didn't reflect what was.It reflected what could've been.
Raien walked closer.
"What is this place?"
Sorien's voice was low.
"A ruin. From the Era of Misalignment."
Raien turned. "That's not in the history books."
Sorien smiled faintly.
"Because history is a lie."
Raien clenched his jaw. "You mean everything I know… everything I've learned…"
"Is filtered through survivors." Sorien stepped to the mirror. "This world—this version of Naruto—it wasn't always like this."
Raien blinked. "What?"
Sorien raised a hand.
The mirror shimmered.
And suddenly—Raien saw it.
Another Konoha.
But different.
The buildings twisted.The sky was purple.Naruto… wore the Hokage cloak—but his face was wrong.
Eyes like gods.Hair white.Behind him… a thousand Sharingans opened in the sky.
Raien stepped back.
"What is that?!"
Sorien answered.
"A failed timeline. Where Naruto fused with the Source Eye. It broke the world."
Raien shook his head. "This can't be real."
"It is. Your eye is proof."
The mirror shifted.
Now it showed Sasuke—but one without arms, crawling through blood, whispering to someone unseen.
And then—Raien himself.
Dead.Eye removed.Used as a tool.
He stumbled.
"This is… insane."
Sorien touched the glass.
It calmed.
Returned to black.
Raien's hands trembled.
"You brought me here to scare me?"
Sorien's voice turned sharp.
"No. I brought you here to choose."
Raien looked up.
Sorien stepped forward.
"You can keep pretending you're just lucky. Just surviving.Or you can accept what you are."
Raien's broken eye flickered.
"…And what am I?"
Sorien looked at him.
"You are an anomaly.A thread-breaker.You exist outside this world's rules."
Raien whispered, "Then why am I still alive?"
Sorien raised his scarred hand.
"Because your Eye hasn't chosen yet."
Raien's gaze darkened.
"What does that mean?"
"The Eye wants alignment. Order. Structure."Sorien pointed to the mirror."All of this—it's trying to fix reality. But you… your will… your emotions… they warp the fix."
Raien turned to the mirror.
"…And if I lose control?"
Sorien was quiet.
Then:
"You'll overwrite everything."
Silence stretched.
Even the whispers had stopped.
Raien finally asked, "What happens if I… use it fully?"
Sorien's eyes narrowed.
"Then gods die.Timelines collapse.And reality becomes yours to rewrite."
A pause.
Raien looked down at his hand.
Felt the pulse in his shattered eye.
"…What if I don't want that?"
Sorien answered calmly.
"Then they'll make you want it."
Raien flinched. "Who?"
Sorien turned toward the exit.
"The Weavers. The ones who maintain balance. They've already marked you."
He pointed to Raien's shoulder.
Raien looked.
There it was.
A faint symbol.Circular.Like a spinning wheel.Faintly glowing.
"…When did this happen?"
Sorien answered.
"The moment you saved Neji. You interrupted a destined death. That alone marked you."
Raien breathed in sharply.
Sorien walked toward the gate.
"You have until the eclipse. Then they come."
Raien blinked. "Eclipse?"
"In nine days."
Raien felt his heart beat faster.
"You're giving me a time limit?"
Sorien didn't look back.
"I'm giving you a chance."
Back above.
In the Hokage Tower.
Jiraiya watched the storm clouds from the window.
Kakashi leaned against the wall.
Tsunade rubbed her forehead.
"She's coming, isn't she?"
Jiraiya nodded.
"The Weaver assigned to Raien."
Kakashi muttered, "What's her class?"
Jiraiya replied:
"Level Omega.Her title is 'The Loom Mother.'"
Tsunade went silent.
Even she looked… unnerved.
Kakashi whispered, "We're not ready."
Jiraiya answered:
"We never are."
That night.
Raien sat alone on the rooftop.
The stars above looked still.
Too still.
Tenten came up quietly.
"Hey…"
He didn't turn.
She sat beside him.
"Neji's resting. But he keeps asking what happened in that forest."
Raien closed his eyes.
"I can't tell him."
Tenten nodded.
Then whispered, "Are we safe?"
Raien didn't answer.
She leaned in.
"I don't care what you are. You saved us. That's enough for me."
He opened his eyes.
The glow in his left eye reflected in hers.
"I don't know if it'll be enough for the world."
Far away.
In the Void Between Realities.
A woman floated.
Eyes closed.
Hair like white silk.Dressed in threads of time itself.
She opened her eyes.
They were stitched shut.
And yet—she saw everything.
"The Threadbreaker has chosen."
She whispered to the winds.
"To Konoha I go."
A single step—
And the stars behind her vanished.