Hidden Leaf Village – Hokage's Office
Tsunade stood by the window, her arms crossed, gaze locked on the distant horizon. The full moon illuminated the rooftops, but her thoughts were far from calm. Papers were strewn across her desk—reports of unnatural chakra surges, Root movement near the outskirts, and worst of all: Ren.
"Shizune," Tsunade said sharply. "Get Kakashi and Yamato. I want eyes on Danzo. Now."
Shizune bowed, worry etched across her face. "You think he's making a move?"
"I think he already has."
Forest Clearing – Moments Later
Ren's body trembled, not from weakness, but from the sheer magnitude of power coursing through him. The Root operatives lay in smoking heaps around him, their chakra signatures fading one by one.
Danzo stood untouched—unfazed.
"Impressive," Danzo muttered, dusting soot from his cloak. "But you're still just a boy playing with ancient fire."
Ren's voice came low and crackling. "And you're just an old man clinging to a world that's slipping through your fingers."
Danzo's arm shifted—bandages falling away to reveal the embedded Sharingan. "You think you're the only one who knows how to harness forbidden power?"
Ren blinked. In that instant, Danzo vanished.
He barely dodged the blow that came from behind. Danzo reappeared like a phantom, blade slashing through shadow and air. Ren's counterattack was immediate—shadow tendrils lashing out, forcing Danzo to retreat.
But something was wrong.
He struck Danzo again—his shadow flame engulfed him whole. But the elder's form simply... flickered out of existence.
Izanagi.
Ren growled, eyes wide. He's rewriting death itself.
Danzo emerged from the shadows once more, calm and calculating. "This is bigger than you, Ren. You're a threat not just to me, but to Konoha. To the world order."
Ren spat blood, but his smirk remained. "Then maybe it's time the world order changed."
Suddenly, the ground quaked—chakra pressure exploded from Ren, and the darkness around him twisted violently. The violet haze became a storm. The forest itself seemed to recoil.
A new voice rang out, clear and controlled.
"That's enough!"
Kakashi appeared in a flicker, lightning sparking in his palm. Yamato wasn't far behind, immediately weaving wood-style barriers to contain the chaos.
Ren turned, his Sharingan wild. "Stay out of this!"
"No," Kakashi said firmly. "You're losing yourself. Look at what you're becoming."
But it was Junko who broke through next—literally.
Uchiha District – Secret Chamber
Earlier that night, Junko had unearthed another scroll—one even older than the one before. It wasn't about the Raven King's rise. It was about his fall.
It told of an Uchiha so consumed by shadow that he turned against his own clan, his will no longer his own. Not because he failed to control the darkness...
But because he trusted it.
The scroll ended with a single name:
Rai.
Junko's heart dropped. The Raven King... wasn't the beginning.
He was the rebirth of something far worse.
Forest Edge – Reunited
As Junko ran into the clearing, her voice cut through the chaos.
"REN, STOP!"
Everything froze.
Ren's eyes—Sharingan still spinning—met hers.
Junko's voice cracked. "I know what you are. I know what the Raven King really is."
Danzo's eyes narrowed. "You shouldn't have read that scroll."
Ren faltered for just a moment. "Junko…?"
She stepped forward slowly. "This power—it's not just a gift. It's a prison. You're part of a cycle. One that ends in madness."
Danzo saw his moment. In a blur, he launched at Junko.
But Ren was faster.
A wave of shadow fire blasted Danzo backwards, slamming him into the trees with a sickening crunch. He didn't rise.
Ren dropped to one knee, panting, flickers of fire still burning around him. His skin was cracked with power, his chakra dangerously unstable.
Junko rushed to him. "We have to go. Before the others arrive."
Ren looked up at her, eyes tired, voice barely a whisper. "It's inside me, Junko. I don't know if I can fight it much longer."
She took his hand. "Then let me fight it with you."
To Be Continued…