Chapter 84 – The Name That Wasn't
The storm rolled in fast.
Dark clouds spun like broken wheels above the treeline.Lightning cracked sideways—silent.
Kakashi led the group out of the cave at dawn.Fukasaku's message burned in Naruto's mind.
The Namefire.
Mount Myōboku's forbidden shrine.
Where names were forged or erased.
And the Seamstress…
She was already ahead.
The forest narrowed as they moved.Trees bent unnaturally. Leaves shimmered like glass.Kiba paused, hand on the ground."…No animals."Even Akamaru growled low.
Shino's insects wouldn't leave his sleeves."They fear something. Something that unwrites."
Naruto's fingers brushed the air.
The world felt… fragile.
Like paper on the edge of fire.
They marched in silence.
Then—
A child's voice echoed through the trees.
"Want to play?"
Everyone froze.
Kakashi stepped in front of Naruto.
A girl stood alone ahead.Barefoot. Pale. No older than seven.Her dress was white—stitched at the seams with thread that shimmered black.Her eyes were missing.Just hollow buttons.
She giggled. "I like names."
Kiba raised a kunai. "Who the hell—"
She vanished.
Reappeared behind him.
"Yours tastes like a dog."
Slash.
Blood sprayed.
Kiba gasped, falling back.
His name flickered in the air above his chest—Kiba Inuzuka—stitched in red light.
The girl licked it.
Then bit.
Half of it burned away.
Kiba screamed.
Akamaru lunged, snapping at the girl's throat.
She let him pass through like mist.
Naruto moved without thought.
Rasengan.
But as it struck—
It slowed.
Mid-spin, it unraveled into blue threads.
Naruto blinked.
The girl walked through the spiral, unharmed.
"You're not ready," she whispered.
"You don't even know what you were."
Kakashi moved next.
Lightning surged.
Chidori screamed.
He struck.
And missed.
The girl stared at him.
"Too many pages. Too many masks."
She raised a hand.
A thousand strings erupted from her fingertips.
Kakashi shouted, "MOVE!"
Naruto tackled him just in time.
The threads tore through trees like paper.
Naruto's chest heaved.
His left eye burned—bleeding again.
The girl stared at him.
"You smell like a missing word."
"You shouldn't be."
Naruto's voice came out like a growl.
"Then erase me."
She tilted her head.
"I can't."
"You're protected."
"The Namefire's already touched you."
That stopped him.
"You've seen it?"
She nodded once.
"But only from outside."
"I don't go near flame."
"It hates me."
Kiba groaned in the background. Shino tended him quietly, applying chakra balm.
The girl stepped backward.
"I'll wait at the roots."
"When you understand what you were…"
"…I'll take what's left."
She sank into the ground.
Like water vanishing into sand.
Gone.
The wind returned.
Birds chirped again.
But something stayed behind.
A single name.
Floating.
Burning.
Kiba Inuzuka
Half-erased.
Naruto picked it up.
It felt like ash.
Kiba coughed. "She… she stole part of me."
Shino nodded. "Not chakra. Not memories. Just… identity."
Kakashi looked at Naruto.
"She's not just dangerous."
"She's designed to unmake."
Naruto gripped the name shard.
His fingers tightened.
"We go to Mount Myōboku."
"Now."
Kakashi nodded.
"I'll summon Pakkun."
But before he could bite his thumb—
A gate opened.
Just ahead, near the roots of a dead tree.
Carved in stone.
Ancient symbols glowed.
The scent of sage energy spilled through.
Shino stepped back.
"That's not a gate."
Naruto stepped forward.
Eyes narrow.
"It's a test."
The red thread from before—
The one that had vanished—
Reappeared.
It wrapped around his wrist gently.
Tugged him forward.
Toward the gate.
Naruto didn't hesitate.
He stepped through.
The others followed.
And behind them—
The girl reappeared.
Still smiling.
She plucked a fallen leaf from the ground.
It had Shino's name on it.
She whispered it once—
And blew.
The name drifted into ash.
Her button-eyes blinked.
"Two down."
Then she vanished again.
—End of Chapter 84—