Konoha.
Calm.
Too calm.
Ino walked through the streets.
Sunlight on her face.
Villagers laughing.
Children running.
Everything was perfect.
Too perfect.
A bird flew overhead.
It chirped once.
Twice.
Then froze in mid-air.
Like time forgot to carry it.
Ino blinked.
Gone.
The bird vanished like it was never there.
She didn't say anything.
Didn't panic.
Just walked.
Fingers slightly trembling.
In the mission hall, Tsunade looked up.
"You're cleared for duty. Welcome back."
Ino nodded.
No questions asked.
No memories questioned.
Everyone acted normal.
As if nothing happened.
But she knew.
It had.
In the mirror above the sink—
Her reflection blinked late.
A second behind.
It smirked when she didn't.
She shut the cabinet.
Walked away.
Didn't look back.
Elsewhere.
A forest.
Quiet.
Dead leaves.
A boy walked barefoot.
Black hair.
Torn robes.
A faint spiral in his eye.
He wasn't Kaito.
Not fully.
But he remembered pieces.
A version that didn't die.
Didn't shatter.
Didn't bleed out.
He was young.
Twelve?
Maybe thirteen?
And he was walking toward the village.
Not with hatred.
Not with curiosity.
With purpose.
That night.
Ino couldn't sleep.
Her mind didn't ache.
But it didn't rest either.
She sat on the roof.
Looking at the stars.
Waiting.
For what, she didn't know.
And then—
Sasuke appeared.
No noise.
Just presence.
"You've changed," he said.
She nodded.
"So have you."
He sat beside her.
"I saw it in your eyes. Before."
She didn't deny it.
Sasuke didn't press.
He just asked—
"What did it cost?"
Her voice was low.
"Everything."
Morning.
Mission report.
Simple task.
Escort two merchants.
Outside the gates, she met the team.
Naruto.
Sakura.
Choji.
And a new genin.
A boy.
Black hair.
Eyes dull.
But familiar.
Ino froze.
Not visibly.
Inside.
A fracture in her calm.
Naruto grinned. "This is Rei. Fresh out of the Academy."
Rei nodded silently.
Didn't speak.
Didn't smile.
Just looked at Ino.
Not creepy.
Not aggressive.
Just…
Knowing.
Halfway through the forest, the boy spoke.
Only to her.
"When did you first feel it?"
Ino didn't answer.
Choji and Sakura were too far ahead to hear.
Naruto was humming to himself.
She kept walking.
He did too.
"You've been marked," he said.
Ino whispered, "So have you."
Rei smiled faintly.
"Then we're both cursed."
Later that night.
Campfire.
Everyone asleep.
Except Ino.
Except Rei.
He sat across from her.
Eyes reflecting fire.
He tilted his head.
"You remember him?"
She didn't speak.
He did.
"I was him once."
She tensed.
He continued.
"But I'm not anymore."
She stared.
"You're a fragment."
He nodded.
"Shattered Kaito. Version twenty-seven. The one that ran."
Ino exhaled.
"So why are you here?"
Rei shrugged.
"To watch."
Flashback.
The moment Kaito shattered.
Every piece launched into a different timeline.
Some hostile.
Some empty.
Some already dead.
Rei's—still alive.
Untouched by major events.
Safe.
But aware.
That awareness led him here.
To her.
Ino's voice was sharp. "What do you want?"
Rei leaned forward.
"To make sure you don't forget."
She stared hard.
"I can't."
He smiled again.
"Good. Because the others are waking up."
Her heart skipped.
"…how many?"
Rei whispered.
"All of them."
At that same moment.
Somewhere in the Land of Rivers.
A girl knelt in a ruined temple.
Long black hair.
Eyes bleeding symbols.
She whispered a name into the wind.
"Kaito…"
And the shadows stirred.
In the Hidden Mist.
A hunter-nin vanished mid-mission.
No sign of struggle.
Only a spiral burned into the trees.
In the Hidden Cloud.
A genin stared too long into a pond.
Saw his reflection smile back—
Then switch places.
Ino stood.
Eyes scanning the woods.
Rei still by the fire.
"I'm going back to Konoha," she said.
He nodded.
"I'll follow."
She narrowed her gaze.
"No. You won't."
For the first time—
Rei looked confused.
But she was already gone.
Next morning.
She reached the village early.
Tsunade handed her a scroll.
Urgent.
Mission reassigned.
High threat.
Missing-nin reports.
Unmarked bodies found drained of chakra.
Ino didn't flinch.
She already knew.
It had started.
Outside the walls.
Rei stood in the trees.
Watching.
Not following.
Just watching.
He whispered.
"She's still the Key."
His spiral eye turned once.
Then he vanished into the wind.
End of Chapter 110