Tension.
Heavy like storm clouds.
The ruined temple shook with it.
Tenkai stepped forward.Boots scraping ash.
The Akatsuki cloak—billowing.But he wasn't just another member.
His presence… was different.
No malice.No rage.
Just stillness.
A predator that had already decided how the fight would end.
Raien's eye spun.
Three pupils… slowing.
Hisame whispered, "Raien… we're not ready for this."
Raien didn't blink.
Didn't breathe.
His mind was calculating.
Tenkai cracked his neck.
"You broke the Tenmoku seal. Impressive."
He raised his arm.
A black mark slid up from his wrist.
It spread.
Like ink slithering over skin.
Forming a symbol.
A reversed Sharingan.
"Let me guess," he smirked. "You've only scratched the surface of what your eye can do."
Raien didn't answer.
Tenkai laughed.
"Typical."
In a flash—he moved.
Not toward them.
But through them.
Raien barely turned—A blade grazed his neck.
Hisame spun, kunai ready.
Too late.
Tenkai reappeared, now behind them.
"You think you can read movements," he said. "But this isn't movement."
Raien's breath steadied.
His left eye blinked—Once.
The world changed.
Lines.
Threads of possibility.
Each one—A future.
A strike.A counter.A death.
He moved.
Just enough.
Tenkai's second slash missed.
Barely.
But—
Hisame was already on the ground.Unconscious.
Tenkai landed silently.
"She's not dead. Yet."
Raien growled.A low sound.
Unnatural.
The eye pulsed again.
This time—Pain.
Sharp. Instant.
A crack formed at the center pupil.
Tenkai noticed.
"That's new," he muttered. "You're forcing it open."
A red glow surrounded Raien's face.
The air warped.
Even the dust stopped moving.
He stepped forward.
One foot—Then another.
Slow.
Like gravity fought him.
Tenkai's smirk faded.
"This shouldn't be possible."
Raien pointed at the ground.
His finger traced a line.
The line glowed.
Symbols appeared.
A forgotten seal.
Buried in his mind.
The memory wasn't his.
It belonged to the eye.
Tenkai narrowed his gaze.
"That's a forbidden weave. Who taught you that?"
Raien answered quietly.
"No one. It remembers."
The seal ignited.
A gust of wind.Stone shattering.
And then—
The creature from the well screamed again.
But this time—It wasn't hostile.
It bowed.
To Raien.
Tenkai flinched.
"Impossible."
The memory-beast spoke.
"Bearer of the True Pupil… you have earned one command."
Raien staggered.
The energy was draining him dry.
But he held on.
Pointed at Tenkai.
"Reveal… your truth."
The beast's body twisted.
A beam of light hit Tenkai's chest.
His cloak burned away.
And underneath—
He wasn't human.
Not fully.
Half of his body—mechanical.Metal wrapped in chakra circuits.A twisted fusion of man and tool.
His eye was not a dojutsu.
It was crafted.
Raien's eyes widened.
"You're artificial…"
Tenkai grinned.
"And you're dying."
The strain hit.
Raien dropped to a knee.
His left eye bled.
Tenkai raised his hand.
A spear of condensed chakra formed.
"Your dojutsu's strong," he said. "But it's still broken."
He launched it.
Straight at Raien.
But before impact—
A paper shield blocked it.
Boom.
Konan stepped from the smoke.
Eyes calm. Wings spread.
"You're trespassing," she said.
Tenkai looked amused.
"Oh? You're here too, angel?"
Konan didn't smile.
She looked at Raien.
Then the eye.
Her silence said it all.
She knew.
Tenkai stepped back.
"I'll return," he said. "When the boy can actually fight."
He vanished.
Not in smoke.
But in static.
Konan walked to Raien.
He was barely conscious.
Hisame groaned.
Still breathing.
Konan kneeled beside Raien.
"This dojutsu… it doesn't belong in this world."
Raien tried to speak.
Only one word escaped.
"Why… me?"
Konan placed a paper tag on his forehead.
"For now… sleep."
Darkness.
Somewhere else…
In the shadows of a forgotten tower—
A man in orange swirled mask looked at a wall.
A scroll burned in his hand.
Behind him—A dozen monitors.
All showing Raien.
Tobi chuckled.
"So the Eye of Tenmoku finally breathes."
He turned to a child-sized figure in a cloak.
"Keep watching. He's not like the others."
The child nodded.
Eyes glowing faintly.
And behind them—Something stirred.
A coffin with chains.
And on it—A name etched in blood.
Raien.