Part II – The Blank Stage
The white dissolved into gold, then gold into shadow.It wasn't light as he knew it — it was more like the world was being painted in slow motion, brushstroke by brushstroke, by some invisible hand.
At the center of that forming color sat a figure.
Not a man, not a woman — something both and neither. They sat casually on a floating chair that wasn't touching anything. Their hair shimmered between hues — black, then silver, then the strange green-blue of distant galaxies. Their smile was sharp and amused, as though they'd been watching him the whole time.
"Ah," the figure said at last, "you're funnier than I expected."Their voice echoed with harmonies, layers of tones overlapping, as if several beings spoke in perfect sync.
Ishika blinked. "I get that a lot. Usually before people run away or block me online."
The figure chuckled. "You may call me... R.O.B., as your kind likes to name us. Random Omnipotent Being, if you prefer. Though I am far from random."
Ishi tilted his head, lips quirking. "Okay. So, cosmic sugar daddy? Divine HR manager? What's the job description?"
"You died," R.O.B. said simply. "Your body failed. But your mind... ah, your mind did not want to let go."
"Well, yeah," Ishi muttered. "I had plans. Anime to binge. Taxes to ignore."
"Mortals rarely go gently," R.O.B. mused. "But you... you clung to existence not out of fear — out of curiosity. You wanted to see more. Even in your last seconds, your consciousness reached beyond the veil."
Ishi frowned. "And you decided to... reward that?"
"Experiment with it," R.O.B. corrected, leaning forward, eyes glinting like stars collapsing. "Tell me, Ishika — do you believe in fiction?"
He paused. "Buddy, I lived on the internet. I worshipped fiction."
"Then what if I told you fiction is only a boundary of perspective? That the worlds you loved... exist, scattered like threads in an infinite loom?"
Ishi stared. "You mean—"
"Yes. Naruto, among others."
A small, disbelieving laugh escaped him. "You're kidding. You're telling me you're sending me into an anime world? That's your grand divine experiment?"
R.O.B.'s smile widened. "I offer you rebirth. A new beginning — in a realm you understand but have never truly seen. You will live again, Ishika. But not without cost."
A ripple passed through the void — like a heartbeat across the universe. The air thickened, shimmering with violet light.
From the golden mist, two eyes opened.Not R.O.B.'s — his.They floated before him like reflections in still water: luminous, layered, fractal. Within them spun rings and tomoe, ripples and stars — like the Sharingan, Rinnegan, and Tenseigan had been shattered and pieced together wrong.
Ishi stepped back, voice dropping to a whisper. "What... is that?"
R.O.B. spoke softly now, tone almost reverent."Sight unbound by mortality. The divine experiment — power no god was meant to wield. You will carry these eyes, Ishika. They will see the flow of time, the truth behind lies, and the souls beneath flesh. But such vision comes with consequence."
His heart pounded. "What kind of consequence?"
"They will burn," R.O.B. said simply. "They will eat what they touch — mind, memory, or world. You will have to bind them. Hide them. Or they will destroy you before you learn to see."
Ishi's breath caught. He wanted to protest, to joke, to deflect — but the words stuck.Finally, he managed: "That's... one hell of a gift."
"Gift?" R.O.B. smiled, standing. "No. A thread."
They reached out, touching his forehead with a fingertip. The golden space quivered like fabric.
"See what the gods blinded," R.O.B. whispered."Blind what the gods made to see."
And just before the light consumed him, Ishi's last thought was dry, irreverent, himself:
"I knew reincarnation had fine print."