The void pulsed around him.
Kaito floated, suspended in the endless sea of red mist. Its tendrils coiled and recoiled, throbbing like veins filled with living blood. He looked around, eyes narrowed, curiosity flickering in his gaze. The silence here was absolute—no wind, no voices, only the deep echo of a heartbeat that was not his own.
"…Again," he muttered, his voice swallowed by the endless crimson haze.
But then, something shifted.
A faint crack.
The mist around him shuddered, trembling like fragile glass. A jagged fissure appeared across the space in front of him, spreading in branching veins of light. The crimson fog trembled, breaking apart as if reality itself were fragile porcelain under pressure.
Crack.
The fissures widened. The mist shattered.
And suddenly—everything went white.
Kaito's eyes snapped open.
Pain. White-hot, all-consuming pain seared through his body, igniting every nerve like fire. His jaw clenched, a guttural growl escaping his throat as he arched against the bed of furs beneath him. The sensation was overwhelming—burning muscles, torn skin, a deep ache in his bones that felt as though his body had been crushed and pieced back together by careless hands.
"Kaito!"
The voice broke through the haze of agony. A familiar one. Gentle, trembling.
His blurred vision focused slowly, and there she was—Soka, kneeling beside him, her dark eyes wide and glistening with tears she had tried to hold back for days.
"You're awake… finally…" Her voice cracked as her hands hovered over him, afraid to touch, afraid to hurt. "You scared me."
Kaito forced his eyes to focus on her face, his breathing ragged. "...Soka?" His voice was hoarse, weak, but alive.
Her lips quivered before breaking into a smile—relieved, bright, and exhausted all at once. She laughed through her tears, clutching her chest as if her heart might burst.
"You were out for six days," she said quickly, almost breathlessly, as if afraid that if she stopped talking he'd slip away again. "Six days where I thought you might not come back."
Kaito tried to move, but the pain flared again, forcing a hiss through his teeth. He lay back, panting, and turned his head slightly toward her. "Six days…?"
Soka nodded, her face serious again.
"In that time… everything has changed. The villages know. Konoha, Kumo, Iwa—they all know. Survivors carried the stories back. And now…" She hesitated, her voice hardening. "Now, there are bounties on our heads. Each one of us is worth twenty-seven million ryō."
For a moment, silence hung between them. The weight of the world's judgment pressed heavily into the small wooden hut they called shelter.
Then, to Soka's surprise, Kaito chuckled. His laugh was weak, but it was real, resonating through the pain.
"Twenty-seven million, huh?" He turned his head, smirking faintly despite his pale face. "Guess that makes us valuable."
Soka frowned, but there was a spark of relief in her eyes. "Idiot… you almost died, and you're smiling?"
Kaito exhaled slowly, the smirk softening into something steadier. "Because this means we're finally being recognized. We're not ghosts anymore, Soka. The world sees us. And if the world is coming for us…" His eyes gleamed, fire flickering faintly behind his exhaustion. "…then we'll grow stronger. Strong enough to make sure no one forgets the name Uzumaki."
Soka stared at him for a long moment, then smiled despite herself. A small, tired smile, but genuine. She reached out, gently brushing the sweat-matted hair from his forehead.
"Then we'll face it together."
Their gazes locked, and for that moment, the pain, the fear, the exhaustion—they all fell away. What remained was a quiet certainty. Whatever storms awaited, neither of them would face it alone.
Far away, in the great villages, silence was not so comforting.
In Konohagakure, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his office, the weight of countless eyes pressing down on him. The reports were clear: the Uzumaki children had survived. No one knew where they were now, but the silence itself was dangerous. Like predators lurking unseen, the children's next move was unpredictable.
Hiruzen tapped ash from his pipe, gaze darkened. "They'll act soon. We must be ready when they do."
In Kumogakure, the Third Raikage loomed in his chamber, arms crossed, muscles like coiled steel. His face was carved in fury, but his secretary's calm voice steadied the storm.
"They're quiet now, Raikage-sama. Too quiet."
He grunted. "Good. Let them heal, let them think they're safe. When they rise again, we'll crush them with a hammer so heavy the world trembles."
In Iwagakure, Onoki floated silently above his council, eyes sharp beneath his beard.
"Hmph. They've vanished. Either dead or hiding. Let the fools in Konoha and Kumo waste their resources hunting ghosts." He smiled faintly, a calculating gleam in his gaze. "And when the children resurface, we'll already know the battlefield."
The world was waiting. The villages sharpened their blades, tightened their nets, prepared their hunters.
And in a small hut deep in the forest, two children—broken, bloodied, yet unyielding—smiled at one another, ready to carve their path through that storm.
This was no end.
It was the beginning of something greater.
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This is the final chapter for today, but it could change if you give a review or power stones, I already made 4 extra chapters because there were 3 power stones and a review, give reviews or power stones if you want more chapters for today
I saw that most of the votes were for Kaito to be a villain and to explore the world or form his organization, so I'll do that. I'll see if he will form his organization or not depending on your votes.
If you review or give a Power Stone, I'll give you an extra chapter.
A Power Stone: an extra chapter.
A positive review: an extra chapter.
This would help me a lot and would also attract more people, so I'd make more chapters per day.