The cave was silent. Too silent. Only the faint drip of water falling from stalactites into shallow puddles echoed like distant heartbeats. The flames of the campfire flickered weakly, painting the walls with trembling shadows.
Kaito sat cross-legged on the cold stone floor. His breathing was uneven, his body still recovering from the wounds of battle, but this was not what weighed on him. His mind was the battlefield now. His temples throbbed with lingering pain, the aftermath of forcing open the Eye of Reality: Door of Blood days earlier.
And yet… despite the risk, despite the agony, he dared to reach for it again.
The instant he let his chakra circulate, the world shifted. It was subtle at first, like the tightening of fabric stretched too far, the threads of reality straining around him. Then came the tearing sound—not of the cave, but of something deeper. The veil between worlds had been disturbed.
And then, the voices.
At first, a whisper. Then a flood.
"...traitor…""...you killed my son… may you never breathe in peace…""...let your blood stain every step you take…"
The words struck him like shards of glass, cutting his consciousness open. He clenched his jaw until his teeth ached. He knew these voices. He had heard their last breaths before. Shinobi he had slain—Konoha jonin, Iwa ambushers, Sunagakure assassins, mercenaries, bounty hunters. Now they came back, not as men but as echoes of hatred, sharpened into curses.
His chest tightened. The air grew heavy, thick with the metallic tang of rust and old blood, as if the cave itself had turned into a tomb.
And then—cutting through the venomous screams—softer voices emerged.
"...do not weep for us, child…""...our lives ended, but we knew joy…""...we Uzumaki never sought vengeance… only peace…"
Kaito's eyes snapped open. He was no longer in the cave.
The Door of Blood had dragged him inside again.
The world around him was cloaked in crimson fog, shifting and coiling like living smoke. It clung to his skin, seeping into his pores, heavy and suffocating. Scarlet chains stretched infinitely across the void, twisting into impossible shapes, like the roots of a colossal tree that pierced through dimensions.
It was grotesque and mesmerizing at the same time.
The curses of the shinobi and the serene whispers of the Uzumaki overlapped, clashing violently in his ears, until it became unbearable. Every hateful word pressed against his skull like spikes being driven into bone. Every kind whisper filled him with guilt, as if their purity exposed the darkness coiling in him.
The migraine hit like a hammer. His head pounded with such violence he thought his skull might split open. Every death he had caused was ripped from memory and replayed, forced back into him, over and over like an unending cycle of punishment.
—Enough! —his mind screamed, but his voice broke into a hoarse groan.
And then, the sensation shifted.
It wasn't only that he could hear them. He could touch them. The souls. If he reached out, if he dared, he felt he could drag one into his hand, bind it to an object, fuse it into his arm, force it to obey him. The temptation was dizzying, intoxicating. A power unlike any jutsu whispered at his fingertips.
If I could command them… an army of souls, bound by my will. No Kage could oppose me. No village could resist.
But another thought pierced through, colder than steel.
If I walk this path… what happens to me? Would I still be Kaito? Or just another voice, screaming in this endless fog?
The crimson fog churned violently. The chains rattled as if alive.
And then he saw it.
A shape, blurred, half-hidden within the mist. Tall, shadowed, faceless. But the aura it radiated was overwhelming. The fog itself recoiled from its presence, thinning as though afraid.
Its eyes glowed with a purple brilliance—eyes that mirrored his own, but twisted, magnified.
Kaito froze. His blood ran cold.
The chorus of voices fell silent. All at once.
Only one remained. Deep, hollow, echoing as if spoken from the bottom of an endless well.
"You have opened the Door of Blood… but every door demands a price."
Kaito's lips trembled, but no words came out. His throat was locked, strangled by the weight of that voice. His body screamed to move, but he was paralyzed in its presence.
The figure raised a hand.
The void cracked.
The crimson fog convulsed violently, splitting apart as black fissures spread across the space like broken glass. The chains that bound everything together snapped one by one, fragments falling into nothingness with a sound like steel screaming.
The entire dimension collapsed.
Kaito's heart thundered, pounding with inhuman force. He forced himself to cut the flow of chakra, to sever the connection before he was dragged into that abyss.
And then—silence.
His eyes shot open. The cave. He was back. The fire was still burning faintly, casting fragile warmth. Soka lay nearby, asleep, her breathing steady and calm, unaware of the storm raging in his mind.
Kaito staggered, lifting a trembling hand to his face. Sweat poured down his temples. His reflection in a shallow puddle caught his gaze—and for an instant, his golden eyes flickered with faint streaks of violet.
He exhaled slowly, his chest rising and falling like he had just survived drowning.
This power… it isn't a gift. It's a pact. The Blood Door doesn't open freely. It waits, and it takes. And I don't know how many more times I can return before it claims me.
He leaned back against the cave wall, closing his eyes again. But even in the dark of his own mind, he could still see it: the chains, the crimson fog, and the silhouette watching him from within.
The Door of Blood had shown him its whispers. But the true price… was yet to come.
-------
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.