Chapter 172: The Echo of Byakuren, Part II
The sun had been hidden for hours, suffocated by a milky shroud that covered the sky and the swamp.Mist. Again.The humidity made every step slower, thoughts stickier, skin more irritated.The wooden planks creaked beneath Team Suiren's feet as they advanced along the semi-submerged pier. The acrid stench of muck and rotting algae was stronger than ever.
"It's right here," announced Natsui, stopping before a small stone rise hidden beneath the vegetation. "According to my maps, this is one of the places where… experiments took place. Ancient sealing tests, ages ago. Even before the First Ninja War."
The altar was rough, covered in moss and lichen, cracked by time but still intact. A small circular platform, with stones aligned to form a barely perceptible pattern.
Kurara knelt. Her gaze fell on a line carved into the ground, hidden beneath layers of earth and roots. It was symmetrical. Precise. A geometric figure that resembled a seal.She placed two fingers on the ground. The chakra in that area felt… ordered. But not regular. As if something ancient was sleeping beneath layers of mud and silence.
But it was only an impression. Nothing more.
Behind her, Suiren stood still. Her face calm, but her eyes locked on the altar.Clean. Too clean.The moss seemed to grow uniformly, but here and there were signs of recent passage: faint footprints, broken wood remnants, a carefully moved stone. Nothing obvious. But enough to raise a doubt.
Farther off, Shinji scratched his neck, then crouched to pick up a broken stone. He turned it between his fingers, saying nothing.
This place reeks of hidden passages… he thought.
He didn't say it.He, too, had learned to recognize the important silences.
Kyōro observed them silently from ten paces away. He seemed curious, but there was tension in his body — a stiffness in his shoulders that hadn't been there before.Kurara glanced back and caught his gaze.Kyōro smiled. A hollow smile. One that didn't reach the eyes.
Natsui stepped forward slowly, hands clasped behind his back.
"This area doesn't appear on any of the more recent maps," he said in a low, almost reverent voice. "It's as if… it was deliberately erased."
His attention shifted to Kurara. But this time, his eyes lingered a second too long.Kurara noticed and looked away.The wind stirred the reeds slightly.
Then it happened.A rustle in the tall grass.A bird exploded into flight, flapping its wings wildly as it fled through broken branches.Kurara stepped back.Shin reached for his sheath.Suiren raised her gaze toward the source of the noise.Kyōro didn't move.
For a moment, no one spoke.Then calm returned. Only wind, and mist.But the air had changed.And tension crept in like an invisible seal.
- - -
The group had scattered around the altar.Suiren had moved a few steps away, kneeling beside a flat stone on which she had spread out a partially opened map. Her gaze moved quickly between the traced lines and the surrounding landscape, as if searching for something that didn't quite match.
Kurara had remained near the circle carved into the stone. She stared at it in silence, but her mind was elsewhere.
"Hey," said a voice beside her.It was Shinji. Hands in his pockets, a tired look on his face, eyebrows raised with his usual -what a bother - expression.
"Doesn't all this feel a little... off to you?"
Kurara looked at him for a moment. Then lowered her gaze again toward the stone."What do you mean?"
Shinji turned slightly, as if to make sure no one was really listening — though he knew it was pointless."I'm talking about that guy… Kyōro. Too quiet. Too… invisible. And Natsui? A scholar who already seems to know exactly where we're going?"
Kurara didn't answer right away. But something stirred inside her.She'd felt the same thing.
Kurara clenched her jaw. The thoughts began to connect.Natsui and his odd interest in her. The seemingly casual questions. Those looks that always seemed to be searching for something in her eyes.Kyōro and his way of lingering in the background, always present. Never truly part of the group, but never quite a stranger either.
Shin, farther off, had stopped near a twisted little tree, scorched long ago by lightning. He was observing the area without moving, without speaking.But he had heard everything.And now and then, his eyes drifted to Kyōro with an analytical glint — as if waiting.
Kurara took a step back. Then another. She slowly turned and walked lightly toward Natsui, who was kneeling beside the edge of the murky pond.
"You said you've been studying the area's maps for years, right?" she asked with a neutral but attentive tone.
Natsui turned. His face was calm, his smile gentle."Yes, since I was a boy. I found ancient scrolls… many destroyed, but some still legible."
Kurara pretended to examine the pond, stepping slightly closer.That's when she saw it.At Natsui's belt, partially hidden by a fold in his robe, there was a sealed scroll.Kurara recognized it immediately.It was a traditional seal. The type only used during the early decades of Kirigakure's founding.And on it, engraved with meticulous precision, was a stylized symbol.
白蓮 — Byakuren.
Kurara's heart skipped a beat.For a moment, she forgot to breathe.A chill ran down her spine, as if the swamp's humidity had suddenly turned colder. Heavier.
Natsui noticed her staring and smiled."Something wrong?"
Kurara looked away."No… nothing."
But the doubt was born.And it was already taking root.
Kurara took a step back from the scroll, but it was too late.Natsui had noticed.The smile on his lips vanished—not anger, not surprise, but something worse.
Coldness.That crafted gentleness dissolved in an instant, revealing a sharp, focused, unreadable face.
"Do you like ancient artifacts?" he asked, his voice flat, almost absent.
Kurara lifted her eyes, trying to stay calm."I'm studying seals. "
Natsui stared at her for a long second. Then slowly looked down at the scroll on his belt, covering it again with a fold of his cloak."Then you should know that some things… are better left untouched."
Meanwhile, Kyōro — still a few steps from the group — remained standing in front of the altar.His calloused fingers slowly traced a barely visible symbol etched into the moss-covered stone.
He murmured, almost inaudibly, but by sheer chance, Kurara caught those words drifting through the silence.
"Sometimes, to birth a new order… you have to dig through the corpses of the past."
Kurara turned sharply.
Kyōro's robes fluttered slightly in the humid breeze. His gaze was lost in the void, like he was reciting a dogma.No one spoke.The mist thickened. Silent. Inexorable.Shapes began to blur. The outlines of the trees faded, as if the world was dissolving into a fever dream.
Then, something moved among the branches.
A rustle.A shadow.A figure.
Tall. Hooded. Motionless — barely visible through the mist.
Shin, who had remained nearby, turned slowly, his eyes sharp as blades. His hand moved instinctively to his holster.Suiren took a step forward, eyes locked on the milky-white void before her.
"Something's not right."
Kurara felt the chakra around her tremble, just a little. Like a taut thread on the verge of snapping.Her breath shortened.
"We're being followed."
Shinji approached cautiously."And maybe… we're not the first ones to make it here."
The figure in the mist didn't move.But now it was clear: it wasn't alone.
- ANBU Headquarter -
The ANBU training field was wrapped in silence, broken only by the sharp cracks of impact.Shibuki cut through the air once more, triggering a small detonation that shook the ground beneath Borei's feet.The boy paused, breathing deeply behind his mask.
A few steps away, Kagero loosened his grip on Hiramekari and allowed himself a relaxed, almost amused expression.
"Well?" he asked, resting the blade on his shoulder. "How does it feel, wielding Shibuki?"
Borei remained still for a moment.Then he planted the blade into the ground, upright.
"Natural."
Only one word.Spoken calmly, voice muffled by the mask.Enough.
Kagero gave a low whistle."Not bad. You're not on Hokujin's level yet, but… for it being just a week, you're going way beyond expectations."
The silence that followed was thick with meaning.Clouds drifted slowly above them.The smell of explosive residue still hung in the air from earlier tests.
Then — fast footsteps echoed along the wooden perimeter.
From the shadows emerged Moray.Tall hood, darkened ANBU mask, as always.
"Mission," he said, no preamble.
The two turned in perfect sync.Borei rose, gripping the sword.No questions. No hesitation.
Moray gave a slight nod."Beyond the border. Classified operation. They're waiting for you in the strategy hall."
Kagero shrugged."Back together again, huh?"
Moray turned to leave… then paused.
"Get ready."And vanished into the darkness of the corridor.
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