The scroll kept glowing.
As if those four words weren't enough.
"You were never born."
He stared at them.
But they didn't stay still.
Letters shifted.
Twisted.
Reformed.
"You were placed."
He looked at the Hokage.
Sarutobi's eyes were heavy.
Not surprised.
Just… tired.
Like he'd read this a thousand times in dreams he never wanted.
The boy didn't blink.
"What does that mean?" he asked.
Sarutobi turned toward the window.
Long silence.
Wind howled.
"Some things," he said, "were meant to stay sealed."
"But I fear the seals are breaking now…"
He handed the boy a wooden token.
Cracked.
Carved with a spiral.
The Uzumaki symbol.
"This belonged to a child that never existed in our records," Sarutobi said. "Found near the borders of the Land of Shadows."
He paused.
"Found next to a dead ANBU."
The token hummed in the boy's hand.
Familiar.
As if he'd touched it before.
Somewhere.
Somewhen.
He held it tighter.
Then the token burned.
He dropped it.
Smoke rose from his palm.
It had carved something into his skin.
A sigil.
In the shape of an eye… split in half.
He didn't scream.
Didn't flinch.
He just… looked at it.
His dojutsu activated by itself.
The sigil reacted.
A pulse.
Reality flickered.
For a moment—
He saw the office burning.
Hokage—dead.
Konoha—ruins.
Naruto—crying over someone's corpse.
Then—
Back to normal.
Sarutobi watching him closely.
"You saw it," he said.
He nodded.
The Hokage sighed.
"Then it's true. The Broken Eye doesn't just see time…"
"It breaks it."
He left the tower in silence.
People walked past him.
Normal.
Laughing.
Unaware.
He looked up at the sky.
It was splitting.
Just a crack.
Invisible to others.
But not to him.
Later that night.
He told no one.
But someone already knew.
Yurei was missing.
Her bed—empty.
No sign of struggle.
Just a small note.
"Don't follow. Not yet."
Naruto tried to joke about it.
Sasuke ignored him.
Hinata kept glancing at him.
But his mind was somewhere else.
Not here.
Not even now.
He was back in that vision.
The Hokage dead.
The fire.
The spiral symbol…
It had been on the wall, burning red.
He remembered now.
Later that week—
Mission assignment.
Team 7 was to scout the eastern forests.
Test survival instincts.
Kakashi would monitor secretly.
But the moment they reached the forest line—
His eye twitched.
Pain.
Massive.
He dropped to his knees.
Naruto yelled.
Sakura screamed.
Sasuke drew a kunai.
Then—
A pulse.
Black chakra exploded from him.
A dome formed.
Silent.
Thick.
The trees around them died instantly.
Leaves burned mid-air.
The birds—
Dead.
In seconds.
Kakashi appeared instantly.
Pulled everyone out.
Except him.
Inside the dome, he was suspended.
Floating.
His left eye wide open.
Bleeding.
The sigil on his palm glowing.
Then—
A voice.
Inside his mind.
"You were meant to be my vessel."
Low.
Ancient.
"You cracked through the cycle."
"You don't belong here."
He saw the world split.
Pieces of timelines shattered around him.
He saw himself—
As an Uchiha.
As a Hyuga.
As a child of Orochimaru.
As a Mist-nin.
As a monster.
Each version screaming.
Dying.
Fading.
Only this version survived.
Him.
The Broken One.
The voice returned.
"But your eye is incomplete."
"You must find the Seven."
"Before the Eighth finds you."
Then—silence.
The dome collapsed.
He dropped to the ground.
Barely conscious.
Kakashi caught him.
Eyes wide.
He looked terrified.
The boy fainted.
When he woke up—
Hospital room.
Naruto beside him.
Sleeping.
Kakashi leaning against the wall.
Reading a book.
But not turning a page.
Just… watching.
"Hey," the boy whispered.
Kakashi looked up.
Shut the book.
"You've seen something… haven't you?" Kakashi asked.
The boy stayed silent.
Then nodded.
Kakashi stood.
Walked to the window.
"You're going to be hunted now."
The boy looked confused.
Kakashi added—
"There are people in this world who study time fractures."
"They call themselves the 'Chrono Sealers.'"
"They've killed to keep balance."
"And they'll kill you if they find out what you are."
The boy whispered.
"I don't even know what I am…"
Kakashi didn't turn around.
"You'll find out."
"But the real question is—will you still want to be human when you do?"