The sky cracked.
Just once.
A hairline fracture across reality.
No sound.
No light.
But those attuned to the Eye—felt it.
Ino froze mid-step.
Her heartbeat skipped.
A cold breath passed over her skin.
Something ancient had moved.
Not rushed.
Not hunted.
But…
Planned.
Tsunade burst into the council room.
Scrolls slammed on the table.
Dozens of reports.
Missing bodies.
Shinobi gone without a fight.
No chakra residue.
No signs of struggle.
Only a scent left behind—
Dust.
Old paper.
Ink.
Like the inside of a forgotten library.
Shikamaru read the last line.
"It's him, isn't it?"
Ino nodded slowly.
"The silent one."
Flashback.
Inside the rift.
When Kaito shattered—
Some screamed.
Some burned.
Some dissolved.
But one—
Just watched.
Didn't resist.
Didn't run.
Didn't die.
He folded his hands.
And waited.
That was the dangerous one.
The Tactician Fragment.
Location: An abandoned shrine in the Land of Claw.
Deep underground.
Scrolls lined the walls.
Each glowing faintly.
Not with chakra.
But with future.
He sat in the center.
Robes clean.
Hair tied back.
Eyes closed.
A single ring spiraling inward.
Not out.
Different from the rest.
Refined.
He whispered to himself.
"Ino has begun the Hunt."
He opened his eyes.
"The final piece draws near."
Back in Konoha.
Ino prepared to move.
But she wasn't alone this time.
Team: Shikamaru, Sai, and Kakashi.
Small unit.
Silent.
Efficient.
Tsunade handed her the location.
"You'll find what's left of a town. No survivors."
Kakashi scanned the map.
"Coordinates match the old Deigan temple."
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.
"That place doesn't exist anymore."
Ino's voice was cold.
"It does now."
They moved fast.
Half-day travel.
No breaks.
No questions.
They reached the shrine by twilight.
A perfect circle of silence around it.
No animals.
No wind.
Just—
A faint scent of ink.
And dust.
Sai entered first.
Scrolls littered the walls.
But none were written.
All blank.
Yet they hummed with chakra.
Kakashi touched one.
It showed himself.
Dead.
Face-down in the village pond.
Ino warned him.
"Don't touch again."
Shikamaru found the staircase first.
It led down.
Farther than it should've.
Each step older than the last.
Some made of bone.
Some of petrified paper.
They descended in silence.
Until they reached—
Him.
The Tactician sat on a throne of unwritten stories.
He didn't move.
Didn't blink.
But they knew he saw them.
Ino stepped forward.
"You waited."
He smiled faintly.
"Of course I did."
Kakashi narrowed his eye.
"You're not hiding."
The Tactician nodded.
"Because I don't need to."
Sai summoned ink beasts.
Ravens circled.
The Tactician didn't flinch.
Shikamaru whispered.
"There's a trap here."
The floor beneath them glowed.
Formless seals.
Shifting like fluid.
The Tactician raised one hand.
And time paused.
Only Ino moved.
The others froze mid-step.
Like statues.
Even her breath struggled.
But her eye glowed gold.
The Tactician studied her.
"You carry the Eye without breaking."
Ino's voice was steady.
"Because I chose to close it."
He smiled.
"And that made you dangerous."
She lunged.
Psychic link initiated mid-motion.
Mindscape tore open—
But this one was different.
No chaos.
No reverse screams.
Only a perfect library.
Rows upon rows of scrolls.
All labeled with names she knew.
All blank.
Except one.
Her name.
Ino reached for it.
The Tactician appeared behind her.
"Careful. Reading your end spoils the journey."
She turned.
Eyes narrow.
"This is your world?"
He nodded.
"I catalog possibilities. Edit outcomes. Refine causality."
She gritted her teeth.
"You're just another ghost."
He frowned.
"No. I am the editor."
They clashed.
Not with fists.
With futures.
He showed her her own death—
Hundreds of ways.
Some slow.
Some peaceful.
Some cruel.
She bled from the nose.
Fell to one knee.
But she endured.
Because in every vision—
She saw him.
The real Kaito.
Behind every curtain.
In every thread.
Watching.
Waiting.
Still out there.
Still whole.
Her power surged.
A burst of light.
Her eye spun wildly.
The golden ring shattered his predictions.
One by one.
Every scroll caught fire.
The library collapsed.
And in that final moment—
The Tactician fell to one knee.
Smiling.
"You've seen beyond the end."
She didn't hesitate.
She erased him.
Not killed.
Erased.
Gone without residue.
Without echo.
No chakra left behind.
Just absence.
Back in reality.
Time resumed.
Kakashi stumbled.
Sai gasped.
Shikamaru grabbed his head.
The seals vanished.
The scrolls turned to dust.
Ino stood.
Unharmed.
Breathing slow.
Kakashi looked around.
"What happened?"
Ino whispered.
"He wanted me to win."
Shikamaru frowned.
"Why?"
She walked past them.
Eyes glowing faintly.
"Because he needed me to be ready."
Far away.
In the deepest edge of the rift—
The true Kaito opened his eye.
Not fractured.
Not broken.
Just waiting.
He whispered her name.
And smiled.
End of Chapter 112