Wind rushed past Konoha's rooftops.
Raien stood still.
Eyes closed.
Sorien circled him like a ghost.
"Don't move. Don't think. Let the Eye remember."
Raien whispered, "Remember what?"
Sorien stopped.
"Not your memories."He raised two fingers."But its."
A black seal lit beneath Raien's feet.
Instant.
No warning.
The world around him folded inward.
The sky vanished.
The village dissolved.
And Raien fell—straight into darkness.
He landed on stone.
Cold. Wet. Endless.
A circular platform floating in black nothingness.
Then—
Whispers.Faint voices.Echoes of battle.
Raien turned—
And saw himself.
A different version.
Older. Angrier.
Covered in blood.
Facing a shinobi in a red Akatsuki cloak.
The older Raien shouted, "This power isn't a gift. It's a curse."
The Akatsuki man smiled."Then why did you slaughter them?"
The older Raien charged.
A flicker of light—A strike of the Eye—And the world burned red.
Raien blinked.
The scene froze.
Then shattered.
New scene.
Raien saw Kakashi's body—
Burning.
Sakura screaming.
Naruto… missing an arm.
And again, he stood in the middle.
His own hand dripping with lightning.
The Eye glowed like fire.
Raien stumbled back.
"What is this…?"
Sorien's voice echoed from above.
"These are potential threads.Timelines written and rejected.Moments you could live. Or already have in forgotten loops."
Raien gritted his teeth.
"Why show me this?"
"Because knowledge of the past isn't enough anymore.You must master the Shadowfold."
Raien turned.
"What is the Shadowfold?"
A new voice answered.
Not Sorien.
Not familiar.
A woman's whisper.
Cold. Velvet.
"The space between what happened and what could've."
Raien's broken eye glowed faintly.
He turned slowly—
Saw her.
Standing on a staircase that didn't exist.
The Loom Mother.
Draped in thread.Eyes stitched shut.Her steps made no sound.
Sorien's voice returned. But this time… worried.
"She shouldn't be here…"
The Loom Mother walked forward, touching air like threads.
"Threadbreaker. You meddle with the Fold too early."
Raien backed away.
"What do you want from me?"
She raised a hand.
"You."
Outside the vision—
Raien's real body began convulsing.
Sorien knelt by his side, hands glowing, trying to stabilize his chakra.
"Tch. Too soon. She's already inside…"
Back in the Fold.
Raien grunted.
His left eye bled.
"You're not supposed to be here," he hissed.
The Loom Mother smiled faintly.
"No one is supposed to exist. Not anymore."
She stepped closer.
And closer.
Raien's hands curled into fists.
The Eye in his head flashed red, blue, gold—
Chaotic.
Unstable.
She touched his forehead.
"I will show you the First Thread."
Raien screamed—
Vision.
Pain.
A child.
Crying alone.
On a battlefield.
Not Raien.
Not Naruto.
Someone older.
Wearing a torn leaf headband.
His left eye already bleeding.
A child approached him.
Raien recognized her face.
It was Tenten.
But… younger?
No…
Different.
An echo of someone close.
She touched the boy's shoulder.
"You'll be okay."
The boy looked up.
The Eye sparked in his socket.
And the entire forest exploded.
Back to black.
Raien fell to his knees.
Gasping.
Bleeding.
The Loom Mother stepped back.
"That Eye has done this before.You are just the newest vessel."
Raien coughed.
"I'm… not a vessel."
The Loom Mother smiled again.
"Then prove it."
She vanished.
Raien opened his eyes.
He was back on the platform.
Alone.
He stood.
Looked down at his hands.
They were glowing faintly now.
And then—his shadow moved.
Not by light.
By will.
It slithered.
Shifted.
Formed a blade.
Raien stared at it.
"What…?"
Sorien's voice returned.
"You've entered the Shadowfold.You now command its first law."
Raien asked, "What law?"
Sorien appeared beside him.
"The Shadow is memory.You can weaponize echoes."
Raien turned to the blade.
It was shaped like his own hand.
Forged of shadow.
But humming with voice.
"…Will I remember everything I see here?"
Sorien looked distant.
"No. But your Eye will."
Raien held the blade.
A flicker of light pulsed inside his chest.
Something… familiar.
Someone crying.
He couldn't place it.
But his eye started bleeding again.
Sorien frowned.
"That's enough for now. You stay longer, and she'll come back."
Raien asked, "How do I fight her?"
Sorien answered flatly.
"You don't."
Raien narrowed his eyes.
"Then what do I do?"
Sorien turned, his cloak brushing the platform.
"You run. Until you understand your own Thread."
Outside.
His body woke up with a gasp.
Chakra surged out.
Cracked the rooftop.
Lightning crawled around his body.
Neji and Tenten stood a few meters away, watching.
"Raien!" Tenten shouted, stepping forward.
But Neji stopped her.
"Wait. Look at his eye…"
It had changed again.
No longer just cracked.
It had a spiral now.
Glowing from within the fracture.
Neji whispered, "That's not the same dojutsu anymore…"
Tenten asked, "Then what is it?"
Raien stood slowly.
Wiped the blood from his nose.
And answered without emotion.
"It's remembering who it was."
Far above the clouds.
In the Realms Beyond the Fold.
The Loom Mother sat on a web of time.
Thousands of golden strings around her.
She whispered into the threads.
"He is accelerating.Faster than projected.Send the next."
A string snapped.
And across the world—
A young girl in Mist Village opened her eye.
One eye red.
One eye spinning like a clock.
She stood.
"I hear the call."