Konoha.
Morning sun bathed the village in soft gold.
Children laughed in alleyways.Merchants set up their stalls.Mission reports stacked in the Hokage Tower.
But Raien didn't see any of that.
He walked with a limp.Shoulder wrapped.Left eye bandaged.
Tenten glanced at him. "You sure you're okay?"
Raien didn't answer.
His broken eye pulsed beneath the cloth.
Still alive.
Still watching.
Neji walked ahead in silence.
Lee had been sent to rest.
Too much had happened.
They entered the Hokage Tower without a word.
The shinobi at the door stepped aside.
Neji raised a brow. "No clearance?"
Raien muttered, "He knows we're coming."
Inside the Hokage's office—
Tsunade stood behind her desk.
Arms folded. Face grim.
Behind her—
Jiraiya.
And beside him, leaning on the window ledge—
Kakashi.
Three legends.
One room.
The air was heavy.
Tsunade's gaze locked onto Raien.
"You broke containment."
Raien's throat dried. "It wasn't me."
Jiraiya snorted. "You saying that thing came on its own?"
Raien nodded.
"Correction Protocol. Came for Neji."
Kakashi turned. "And why would it target Neji?"
Raien met his gaze.
"Because I saved him."
Silence.
Neji shifted uncomfortably.
Tenten whispered, "They're talking like gods are real."
Raien said nothing.
Because they were.
Tsunade walked over.
Stopped inches from him.
"Take off the bandage."
Raien flinched.
"…I can't control it yet."
"You will."
She raised her hand—
And peeled it off.
Red light pulsed out.
His fractured eye… was glowing again.
But different now.
Golden threads wove within the cracks.
Kakashi narrowed his eye.
"…You've awakened the second layer."
Jiraiya leaned forward. "And survived."
Raien clenched his jaw.
"I didn't ask for this power."
Tsunade replied, "No one does."
A pause.
Then she walked back.
"To everyone in this village, you're just a quiet transfer ninja. But to me…" she exhaled, "you're a threat we couldn't afford not to keep close."
Raien blinked.
"What are you saying?"
Kakashi answered.
"We've known about you since the day you woke up in that forest."
Tenten gasped.
Neji turned sharply.
Raien took a step back.
Jiraiya's grin faded.
"You think you just landed in this world by accident?"
The walls began to close in.
Kakashi spoke again. Calm. Cold.
"You were dropped here.With broken memories.A broken eye.And a sealed fate."
Tsunade finished it.
"You're not the only one."
The words struck like thunder.
Raien's voice trembled.
"…There are others?"
Jiraiya nodded.
"Three recorded. You're the fourth."
Raien's blood froze.
Tenten looked horrified.
Neji stepped forward. "What do you mean 'others'?"
Tsunade looked at Raien.
"They came from nowhere. Different skills. Different chakra. All unstable. All dangerous."
Kakashi added, "All dead now."
Silence.
Then Raien muttered, "How?"
"Eyes," Jiraiya said. "Like yours. Not Dojutsu… not exactly."
Raien stared.
"…Then what are they?"
Kakashi answered:
"Remnants."
Boom.
The word echoed through his skull.
"Remnants of what?"
Jiraiya's eyes turned serious.
"The Old World."
The temperature dropped.
Outside, the sun dimmed behind a cloud.
Raien took a shaky breath.
He remembered that black tendriled Entity.The correction.The split timelines.
"…You're saying I'm a leftover from another reality?"
Tsunade didn't flinch.
"We're saying—you're not meant to be here."
"And yet…"
She looked at his eye.
"You are."
The door creaked.
A new voice entered.
"You've seen it, haven't you?"
Raien turned.
A tall man walked in.
Gray cloak.A scar over his chin.Eyes hidden behind dark glasses.
But the air shifted with him.
Power.
Old. Familiar.
Raien whispered, "…Who are you?"
The man smiled.
"Name's Sorien. I was the first."
Silence gripped the room.
Even Jiraiya stood still.
Raien stepped back.
"You're—"
"Dead?" Sorien chuckled. "I was. For a moment."
He walked closer.
Stopped in front of Raien.
"You've opened the second fracture. That means your eye's pulling reality threads now."
Raien blinked.
"…What?"
Sorien tapped his temple.
"Every thought. Every feeling. Every possibility around you—your eye sees it. That's why it burns. That's why it bleeds."
Raien stepped back again.
Tsunade didn't interfere.
Sorien leaned closer.
"But soon… it won't be enough."
He raised his hand.
Revealed a seal carved into his palm.
The same as the Thread Keeper.
Raien froze.
"You—"
"Yes." Sorien's smile vanished. "I was one of them. The ones who watch. Who correct. Who prune timelines."
"But you broke away."
Sorien nodded.
"And they'll come for you too."
Outside, storm clouds gathered again.
Thunder rolled in the distance.
Raien stared at Sorien.
At the seal.
At the future.
"…Then teach me how to survive."
Sorien grinned.
"You sure you're ready to lose what's left of your soul?"
Raien's voice was firm now.
"I lost that the day I saved Neji."