Chapter 15: "The Chain of Secrets"

Hokage's Sanctum – Midnight

The Third Hokage stared into the flames devouring Tobirama's scroll. Embers spiraled upward, carrying fragments of the warning: "Ōtsutsuki… prison weakens… bridge…"

"You're making a mistake," Kakashi said, Sharingan pulsing as he memorized the crumbling text. "This scroll could save him."

"Or doom us all." The Third's voice was ash. "Minato's sins die here. The boy's fate is his own."

Kakashi's eye lingered on the final legible line: "Only the bridge can seal it." As the last parchment blackened, he turned away, the words seared into his mind like a curse.

Training Ground 3 – Sunrise

"Watch this!" Naruto vanished mid-laugh, reappearing upside-down above Sakura. "Bet even Kakashi-sensei can't do this!"

"Naruto, stop showing off!" Sakura snapped, but her eyes widened. "Your hands—!"

He glanced down. Sunlight streamed through his palms, rendering them ghostly. "Huh? Oh, that's just… uh… a new trick!"

"A trick?" Sasuke's Sharingan flared, capturing the moment Naruto's fingers flickered like dying static. "You're fading. Literally."

Naruto dropped to the ground, stuffing translucent hands into his pockets. "It's nothing! Probably just chakra exhaustion!"

"Chakra exhaustion doesn't make you see-through!" Sakura grabbed his wrist, green healing light flaring. "Your cells are destabilizing. If this keeps up, you'll—"

"I said I'm fine!" He teleported away, leaving golden motes drifting where he'd stood.

Uchiha Crypt – Shadows of the Past

Moonlight bled through cracked stone as Sasuke pried open a hidden compartment beneath the clan altar. Dust choked the air, but the Uchiha tablet shard gleamed—its edges sharp, its inscriptions pulsing red.

"Golden devourers, born of the void… The Yondaime's key shall bind or break…"

Sasuke traced the words, Sharingan dissecting every stroke. Key. Bridge. Naruto. The fragments aligned like shuriken in a target.

"So that's your game, Fourth," he murmured, tucking the shard into his cloak. "Using him as a lockpick for gods."

A crow cawed outside. When Sasuke turned, a golden feather lay at his feet.

Konoha Streets – Dusk

The Hokage Monument's spiral symbol glowed faintly, casting long shadows over the village. Merchants whispered as they shuttered stalls, mothers hurried children indoors, and Anbu patrols doubled.

"Demon's mark," a baker muttered, crossing himself. "First the Nine-Tails, now this…"

Naruto leaned against an alley wall, overhearing every word. His scar itched, gold tendrils snaking under his skin. I'm not a demon. I'm not.

He teleported home—and froze.

The spiral symbol pulsed on his bedroom wall, mirroring the monument.

"Stop it," he whispered. "Get out of my head!"

Sakura's Lab – Hour of the Owl

"It's not a disease. It's a metamorphosis."

Sakura projected the hologram of Naruto's cells—crystalline structures replacing tissue, DNA strands rewriting into alien patterns. Shizune paled.

"We have to tell the Hokage. This goes beyond chakra exhaustion—he's becoming something else."

"No." Sakura erased the data, hands steady but voice shaking. "They'll kill him. We fix this our way."

A drop of black ink oozed from the ceiling, forming words on Sakura's desk: "The bridge must burn."

Forest of Death – The Rift

Kakashi stood at the stone archway, its surface now cracked and oozing golden light. The air hummed with static, reality itself fraying at the edges.

"You're running out of time," a voice echoed—not the Ōtsutsuki's, but Minato's.

"I need answers," Kakashi growled, pressing a palm to the rift. "How do I save him?!"

"Sacrifice." Minato's ghostly hand gripped Kakashi's wrist. "The boy… or the world."

The rift exploded.

Training Ground 7 – Cataclysm

Team 8's mission ended in screams.

A rift tore open mid-air, vomiting golden fire. From the flames, a clawed hand emerged—skeletal, feathered, large enough to crush a house. Hinata's Byakugān flared as it gripped the rift's edge.

"Report to the Hokage!" Kurenai ordered, hurling genjutsu that dissolved against the creature's hide. "Now!"

The hand flexed, spacetime rippling. Training Ground 7 collapsed into a sinkhole, the earth itself devoured.

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Naruto materialized at the sinkhole's edge, drawn by the scar's pull. The clawed hand lunged, but instead of fear, he felt… hunger.

"Naruto, don't!" Kakashi yelled.

Too late.

Naruto teleported into the rift, his body flaring gold. "Come and get me!"

The hand closed around him, and the void swallowed them both.

The Void – Between Worlds

Naruto floated in endless black, the Ōtsutsuki's clawed hand wrapped around his torso like a vice. Golden eyes blinked around him, their pupils slitted like serpents.

"Little bridge…" the creature purred, its voice vibrating through his bones. "You came willingly. How… delicious."

"Let go of me!" Naruto thrashed, gold chakra flaring. The scar on his cheek burned, threads of light weaving through the void.

"Why fight?" The creature's grip tightened, its claws sinking into his skin. "You are already mine. Your father's seal… your mother's sacrifice… all for this moment."

Memories flooded Naruto's mind—Minato's screams as golden tendrils consumed him, Kushina's tear-streaked face as she whispered, "Protect him."

"Shut up!" Naruto roared, his chakra exploding in a supernova of gold.

The void shattered.

Konoha – Training Ground 7

Kakashi skidded to a halt at the sinkhole's edge, Sharingan scanning the rift's remnants. "Naruto!"

The ground trembled. Golden light erupted from the sinkhole, hurling Kakashi backward. When the dust cleared, Naruto stood at the center, his body flickering like a dying flame.

"Naruto!" Sakura rushed forward, but Sasuke grabbed her arm.

"Don't," he said, Sharingan fixed on Naruto's scar. "Look at his eyes."

Naruto's once-blue irises now glowed gold, his pupils slitted like the Ōtsutsuki's.

"I'm… fine," he rasped, clutching his head. "Just… need a minute…"

The ground beneath him cracked, golden light spilling through the fissures.

Hokage Tower – Emergency Meeting

The Third Hokage slammed his pipe on the table, silencing the room. "Explain. Now."

Kakashi stepped forward, mask hiding his grimace. "Naruto's power is destabilizing. The Ōtsutsuki's influence is growing."

"And the rift?" Ibiki demanded.

"Sealed… for now." Kakashi hesitated. "But Naruto's the key. If we lose him—"

"We lose everything," the Third finished, sinking into his chair. "Minato's folly… come to claim us at last."

Naruto's Apartment – Night

Naruto stared at his reflection, the golden eyes staring back. The scar pulsed, threads of light spreading like cracks in glass.

"What… am I?" he whispered.

The mirror shattered.

Cliffhanger

A golden feather drifted through the broken window, igniting mid-air. The flames coalesced into words:

"The bridge burns at dawn."

Outside, the Hokage Monument's spiral symbol blazed like a second sun.

Naruto jolted awake from the nightmare.