Chapter 119: “The Seal Beneath the Skin”
Midnight.
Konoha slept.
But Ryuki didn't.
He stood on the rooftop of the Hokage's Tower, wrapped in shadows. The cold wind brushed against the fresh bandages around his eye. Somewhere below, the village buzzed quietly—laughter from the late-night shops, the hum of patrols, the distant clack of training kunai.
But none of it reached him.
Not really.
The weight in his chest was heavier than ever.
He turned his hand over slowly. The veins along his wrist glowed faintly—black ink-like lines, pulsing in rhythm with his heart.
The seal was changing.
Morphing.
Spreading.
Two hours earlier.
He had felt it during sleep.
A sudden burn across his chest.
He ripped off his hospital robe, staggered to the mirror—And saw it.
A new pattern.
Etched into his skin just below his collarbone. A ring of foreign symbols encasing a three-pointed spiral.
He traced it with trembling fingers.
The air shimmered behind him.
"You see it now, don't you?"
Ryuki spun around.
The room was empty.
But the voice still lingered—sharp, low, and echoing from somewhere deep inside.
His Dojutsu had reacted. His vision flickered again. In the mirror, his reflection moved without him. It smiled.
Mocking.
"You're not ready," it said.
And then it vanished.
Now, on the rooftop, Ryuki tried to calm his breath.
But the seal burned hotter.
He shut his eye. Focused.
Chakra flowed.
He touched the bandages around the broken Dojutsu—and removed them.
No dramatic flaring. No bursts of power. Just that steady, black-and-white spiral pupil, half-formed and cracked.
He channeled chakra into it.
The world warped slightly—edges twisting, reality humming.
And then it showed him.
The Source.
Deep beneath the Uchiha District ruins.
Something was calling to it.
To him.
Suddenly, a shadow moved.
Ryuki didn't flinch.
A figure emerged behind him, silent and sharp.
Sai.
"I followed the chakra residue," Sai said calmly. "It's spiking."
"I know," Ryuki replied without turning.
Sai stepped beside him, arms tucked behind his back. "You're hiding it."
"I have to."
"There are people who want to help—"
"There are people who want to control it."
Sai nodded. "So you plan to investigate alone?"
Ryuki looked at him now. Eyes narrowed.
"You followed me."
Sai's pale smile was unreadable. "I was ordered to. Yamato doesn't trust what's in your eye. Neither do the elders."
Ryuki said nothing.
"Should I report what I've seen?" Sai asked quietly.
Silence.
Then Ryuki smirked. "Will you?"
Sai looked at him. Long and unreadable.
"…No. But I'm coming with you."
One hour later.
They stood at the edge of the collapsed Uchiha shrine.
Below—chambers filled with dust, echoes, and the ancient stink of blood.
They descended wordlessly.
Torchlight chakra illuminated the path.
Stone steps twisted like a spiral, and the deeper they went, the colder it grew.
Until finally… they reached it.
A massive door. Black stone. Carved with the same spiral seal Ryuki had seen on his chest.
It pulsed.
Alive.
Calling.
Sai placed a hand on it. "There's something behind it. Something… wrong."
"I know," Ryuki said. "I saw it in a vision. A long time ago."
"Then what's behind it?"
Ryuki stared at the seal.
Then whispered:
"The other half of my eye."
Far away, in the Land of Rain.
The silver-haired boy stirred again.
Sitting on a crumbling throne of bones.
He opened both eyes now.
The right eye… mirrored Ryuki's broken one.
But it was whole.
Uncracked.
Glowing.
"Soon," he whispered. "Soon, we'll become one."
End of Chapter 119.