Chapter 79 – Whispers Beneath the Bark
The silence didn't last.
Not in this world.
Not after something like that.
Naruto crouched beside the puppet boy, hand hovering over his chest.
He was breathing. Barely. Threads still moved beneath his skin—alive. Twisting slowly like veins with a mind of their own.
"Can we save him?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi stepped forward, his Sharingan dulling.
"Not here."
His voice was grim.
"Whatever that woman stitched into him… it's deeper than chakra. This boy's body isn't just human anymore."
Kiba grunted. "Then what the hell is he?"
Shino answered softly.
"A puppet that thinks it's alive."
The boy's eyes fluttered open.
Glassy.
Broken.
But aware.
He stared at Naruto.
"I… failed her."
Naruto shook his head. "She's alive."
"She's not your enemy anymore."
The boy blinked. His throat worked, dry.
"No… you don't understand."
"I wasn't protecting her."
"I was protecting you."
Naruto's eyes narrowed.
"…From what?"
The boy's voice was barely air now.
"She was only… the hand."
"Not the one pulling the strings."
The ground trembled.
Subtle.
But real.
Everyone froze.
Birds didn't sing.
Even the wind held its breath.
Then—
A whisper.
From the trees themselves.
Like the bark exhaled a word.
"Found you."
Naruto spun.
But nothing was there.
Just trees.
Tall.
Twisted.
Old.
Too old.
Shino took a step back. "These trees… they weren't here before."
Kakashi scanned the area.
"…This isn't the same forest."
Naruto looked up.
The sky above them—still cracked faintly. But now laced with a black mist.
Dark veins stretched across the clouds.
And on one of the distant branches… eyes.
Hundreds.
Blinking.
Watching.
A voice slithered from the dark.
"You cut one thread…"
"You left the loom intact."
A shape moved among the trunks.
Not walking.
Slithering between shadows.
Its form shifted.
Sometimes tall.
Sometimes crawling.
Sometimes nothing at all.
Kiba growled. "Another enemy?!"
Naruto clenched his fists.
"No. The real one."
Kakashi stepped in front of the group.
"That wasn't the final boss," he muttered.
"That was the door."
And now—
The one behind it stepped through.
A single foot hit the soil.
Black toes.
Skin stitched with writing.
Not ink.
But names.
Thousands of them.
Spiraling across its body like brands.
The figure stood—faceless. Head smooth. No eyes. No mouth.
Just a hole where its face should be.
And from that hole…
Whispers.
Dozens. Hundreds. All speaking at once.
Naruto's breath caught.
The Nine-Tails inside him screamed.
"RUN!"
But he didn't.
He stepped forward.
"You're the one behind the threads."
The creature tilted its head.
Whispers coiled around his mind.
"You… carry the key."
"The broken one left his mark on you."
"You are the next tear in the pattern."
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"You know him."
The faceless thing didn't answer.
It lifted an arm.
Dozens of black threads shot out—fast.
Not at Naruto.
But at the unconscious woman and the puppet boy.
"NO!"
Naruto vanished.
Shadow clone.
Boom.
He reappeared in front of them.
Hands wide.
A dome of red chakra surged around him.
The threads slammed into it—hissing.
Some burned.
Others wrapped around the dome—pulling.
Kakashi jumped in.
Lightning flared.
Kiba and Akamaru launched together, fangs spinning.
Shino's bugs swarmed.
But the threads just kept coming.
The creature didn't move.
Didn't fight.
Just watched.
Its body unraveling slowly.
Like it wasn't even truly there.
Just a projection.
A thread of something far away.
Naruto gritted his teeth.
"You're not real, are you?"
The faceless head tilted.
"I'm the echo."
"The one who weaves sleeps still."
"But soon…"
"Soon the Weeping Loom will open."
The forest cracked.
Reality bent.
And then the creature—
Collapsed.
Like cloth dropped from a hook.
Gone.
But the words remained.
Burned in their minds.
The Weeping Loom.
Naruto turned to Kakashi.
"We need answers."
Kakashi nodded grimly.
"And we need them fast."
Naruto looked at the unconscious puppet boy.
Then at the sky.
Something was coming.
Something worse.
And this time—
They might not have the broken-eyed man to save them.
—End of Chapter 79—