The forest twisted.
Branches cracked.
Air thickened.
The red threads fell like rain again—but faster. Sharper.
Each one humming with chakra.
Each one meant to kill.
Naruto exhaled slowly.
Then he vanished.
Boom.
He reappeared above the canopy, feet coated in wind chakra. A Rasengan already forming in his palm. But it wasn't blue.
It was red.
The Nine-Tails was awake.
"I'll shred every thread," Naruto growled.
Below, the woman raised her hand.
A single thread rose from her finger—black this time, pulsing.
It flicked upward.
Clashed with Naruto mid-air.
A shockwave exploded.
Naruto tumbled, barely catching himself on a broken trunk.
But the Rasengan still spun.
He threw it.
It screamed through the air like a comet.
The woman raised both hands this time.
Dozens of threads shot out.
Intercepted the Rasengan.
It exploded.
A red dome of chakra lit the forest.
When the smoke cleared—
The woman still stood.
Her arms burned. But healing.
The puppet boy lay unconscious at her feet, threads pulling into his skin like stitches mending flesh.
The white-haired man floated behind her now.
Yes—floated.
His feet didn't touch the ground.
His eyes glowed.
His voice came low.
"You think you control chakra."
"You don't."
"You borrow it."
She turned slowly.
"Wrong," she whispered.
"I made it."
"No," the man said. "You stole it."
He lifted both hands.
And the sky… cracked.
A single tear opened above them.
Like a slit across heaven.
From it spilled light.
White. Cold. Piercing.
And from that light—
Strings descended.
But not hers.
Not red.
These were silver.
Pure. Silent.
They wrapped around the red threads below and pulled.
Unraveled them like old cloth.
Naruto watched, stunned.
"What… is that?"
The white-haired man whispered, "The origin."
The woman's eyes widened. "You found the Loom…"
She stepped back. "No. You weren't supposed to—"
He raised his finger.
Pointed it at her heart.
"You forgot," he said. "You're just a knot."
"And knots can be undone."
The silver threads shot down.
She screamed.
This time—not rage.
Fear.
The silver wrapped around her limbs, her neck, her chest.
Her body convulsed.
The forest howled with her.
Reality bent.
The puppet boy's body twitched violently.
His eyes flew open.
"Mother!"
He reached toward her.
But a silver thread caught his wrist.
Naruto dashed forward.
Too late.
The white-haired man didn't blink.
Didn't stop.
Until—
Naruto's voice cut through.
"Wait."
The man looked down.
Naruto stood between him and the boy.
Eyes burning.
"He's not her."
"He can still choose."
The man's eye flickered.
The broken dojutsu slowed its spin.
"Compassion?" he asked.
Naruto nodded. "That's what makes us different."
Silence.
Then—
The silver threads retreated.
The woman fell.
Unconscious.
Breathing.
The puppet boy collapsed beside her.
The forest went still.
No wind. No mist.
Just silence.
Kakashi stumbled out of the trees, barely standing. Kiba and Shino followed, both wounded but alive.
Naruto turned.
"You're not from this world… are you?"
The man smiled faintly.
"No."
"Then why help?"
The man stared at the cracked sky above.
And whispered:
"Because this world has someone worth saving."
His form began to flicker.
Bits of him unraveling like thread.
Naruto stepped forward. "What's happening?"
The man's body faded.
"I broke too many laws," he said softly.
"My time's cut."
"Wait—!" Naruto shouted.
"Your name!"
The man looked over his shoulder.
The broken eye flickered once more.
"…Tell them a mistake tried to fix itself."
And then—
He was gone.
Not a flash.
Not a sound.
Just…
Gone.
Naruto stood in the silence.
Then turned to the boy and the woman.
Behind him, Kakashi spoke.
"What do we do now?"
Naruto looked at the forest.
The cracked sky.
His hands.
And he said:
"We finish what he started."
—End of Chapter 78—