Dark room.Single candle burning.No noise.
He sat on the floor.
The words from the letter circled in his mind.
"Phase Two."
He didn't know what that meant.
But his body did.
Something inside him had shifted since the fight.
Like a door had been unlocked.
Now… something was walking through it.
He didn't sleep that night.
Just closed his eyes.
But dreams still found him.
This time—no battlefield.
Just a hallway.
Long. Endless.
Walls made of mirrors.
Each mirror showed him.
Different versions.
One with no eyes.
One covered in blood.
One… smiling too wide.
He ran.
Down the hall.
Until he reached a door.
He opened it.
Saw a shadow sitting on a throne made of bones.
It looked up.
Same eyes.
Red spiral.
"You're early," the shadow whispered.
Then the door slammed shut.
He woke up with his heart racing.
There was blood on his pillow.
His nose was bleeding again.
He looked in the mirror.
His left eye…
It was awake.
Even when he wasn't.
At the Academy, things felt wrong.
He could feel the tension in the air.
Something was happening in the village.
Everyone whispered rumors.
Chunin Exams… something about foreign Genin arriving early.
He didn't care.
His mind was elsewhere.
On the dream.
On the fight.
On the shadow in the throne.
Iruka was talking again.
Lecture on chakra control techniques.
Half the class sleeping.
Naruto making faces behind Iruka's back.
Sakura pretending to care.
Sasuke?Watching everything.
And watching him.
Their eyes met.
Something sharp passed between them.
Sasuke frowned.
Almost like he recognized something.
Almost like he knew.
Lunch break.
Neji approached him.
No words.
Just stared at him.
Then pointed to his own Byakugan.
"Your eye," Neji said. "It's not natural."
He didn't answer.
Neji walked away, but not before whispering, "Be careful. Things born broken tend to destroy themselves."
After school.Same walk home.Same shadows following.
But this time he didn't ignore them.
He stopped.Turned around.
Spoke directly to the darkness.
"You're not good at hiding."
Silence.
Then—
A figure stepped out.
The girl from before.
The one with the bandaged face.
She didn't speak at first.
Just stared at him.
Then handed him a scroll.
"Phase Two begins tonight."
She vanished.
No chakra signature.
No sound.
Just gone.
He opened the scroll at home.
Symbols he didn't recognize.
But the eye understood.
Red spiral spun faster.
Words began to form.
Phase Two: Bind the Blood.
Obey the Eye.
Survive the Trial.
Then—new coordinates.
Forest of Death.Midnight.
Again.
He arrived exactly at midnight.
Same place.
Different feeling.
The air was heavier.
Darker.
Like the forest itself was watching.
Then—
Movement.
Not just one.
Three figures stepped out.
All wore white robes.
Eyes covered.
Their presence felt wrong.
Not like shinobi.
More like… ghosts pretending to be human.
One of them pointed at him.
"Begin."
Without warning, the first rushed forward.
Fast.
Too fast.
He barely dodged.
Felt claws swipe past his face.
He activated his eye.
Time slowed.
Blood in the air.
A cut on his cheek.
He bent the blood—fired it like a dart.
Hit the attacker in the shoulder.
But it didn't stop him.
Didn't even flinch.
He realized… they couldn't feel pain.
They weren't here to test him.
They were here to break him.
Second attacker came next.
From above.
He raised both arms.
Blood shield formed instantly.
Blocked the impact.
But the force pushed him back.
His boots scraped dirt.
He was cornered now.
Third one approached slowly.
Chanting something.
Soft, eerie.
His head pulsed.
The eye spun faster.
Faster.
He saw something—
Chains in the air.
Spiritual bindings.
Coming toward him.
He screamed.
The scream wasn't fear.
It was command.
His blood burst out of his nose, his fingertips, his shoulder wound.
All at once.
Formed a sphere around him.
A red dome.
A pulse exploded outward.
Knocked all three attackers back.
His eyes turned completely black.
Then red.
Veins crawling across his face.
His voice changed.
Deeper.
Not his.
"Do not bind me. I am already cursed."
The world blinked.
Then he was on his knees.
Gasping.
The attackers were gone.
Only the girl remained.
Watching from a tree branch.
"You're unstable," she said.
"But you're still alive. So that means you passed."
She dropped something.
A ring.
Black metal.Inscribed with a single word: Void.
He picked it up.
"What is this?" he asked.
She smiled.
"For now, it's a key."
Then disappeared again.
He returned home.
Threw up in the sink.
His hands trembled.
He looked at the ring.
Held it up.
It reflected the moonlight… then the reflection blinked.
His hand dropped it instantly.
It rolled under the bed.
He didn't retrieve it.
Not tonight.
That night…
He didn't dream.
But his eye stayed open the entire time.
Watching.
Waiting.
And deep within him…
The spiral turned one more time.