The forest whispered as Akari and Raien moved through its heart, silent and fast. Leaves shifted above them, hiding the sun, casting the path in a shifting twilight. They had left Konoha under the guise of a scouting mission. Only Tobirama knew their true destination.
The third shrine was rumored to be buried deep beneath an abandoned temple from the Warring States era—forgotten by all but ghosts.
"Getting quiet," Raien murmured, hand on the hilt of his blade.
Akari nodded. "We're close."
They found the temple, choked in ivy, walls crumbling. The stone gate bore the same sigil as Akari's mark—twisting flame surrounded by a ring of eyes. Akari stepped forward and placed his hand on the gate.
The stone pulsed.
The ground trembled.
The seal responded.
---
Inside, they descended a spiral staircase carved directly into the rock. Torches flickered to life as they passed, igniting without touch. The air grew colder, heavier. Chakra hung here—ancient and undisturbed.
They entered the chamber.
A circle of statues surrounded a central pedestal, each one broken or eroded, their faces cracked beyond recognition. But Akari felt them watching.
In the center, a black mask sat atop the pedestal—smooth, blank, and humming with restrained power.
Raien stepped forward. "What is it?"
Before Akari could answer, a voice slithered from the darkness behind them.
> "It is your inheritance."
They turned sharply.
A figure stepped out from the shadows. Female. Cloaked in violet and bone. Eyes glowing faintly red beneath a porcelain half-mask.
> "We've been waiting for you, Akari."
---
The fight was sudden.
Raien moved first, blade flashing toward the figure's throat—but she vanished into smoke, reappearing behind him. Her hand flared with energy, striking Raien's back and throwing him across the chamber.
Akari's rage erupted.
Flames burst from his arms, violet and wild. The seal on his skin glowed as he reached for the mask—and the moment his fingers brushed its surface, everything changed.
---
The world split open.
Akari fell into memory—not his own, but ancient.
He stood in a battlefield of fire and screams, armies clashing beneath banners of the forgotten clans. And above them all, a woman stood atop a mountain of ash—her face obscured by the same mask.
She raised her hand, and the sky itself began to burn.
> "You are her echo," a voice whispered in his ear.
"Her shadow. Her weapon. Her rebirth."
---
He gasped back to reality.
The masked woman stood inches from him now, not attacking.
Kneeling.
"You've awakened it," she said. "The third shrine is yours. And with it… the key to the final gate."
Raien groaned nearby, sitting up, eyes wide with confusion.
Akari stood tall, fire still licking his skin, and for the first time, he did not try to suppress it.
"Tell your master," he said coldly, "I'm not theirs to claim."
The woman didn't flinch.
> "You already were. The moment you were born."
She vanished in a shimmer of purple light, leaving only the silence and the shrine behind.
---
Outside, as they stepped back into the forest, the wind carried something unnatural—a faint ashfall, though no fire burned.
Raien looked at Akari. "You okay?"
Akari didn't answer right away.
He looked at the black mask in his hand.
"I'm not sure anymore."
---
To be continued...