Darkness.
Heavy. Cold. Absolute.
Ryuki floated in it. Not swimming. Not sinking.
Just… suspended.
Memories flickered like lightning behind closed eyes—fragments of faces, blood, pain, loss.
Then a whisper cut through it all.
"Do you understand what you've done?"
A voice, ancient and bitter. Not human.
Ryuki's body moved on its own, eyes snapping open—But this wasn't the real world.
This was the Inner Domain.
Cracked ground stretched for miles. The sky hung low, red and pulsing like a living wound. Floating above it all…
The Eye.
His eye.
That broken Dojutsu, glowing in a web of black cracks. Rotating slowly, whispering to itself.
"You forced it open again."
"Unfinished. Incomplete. You tempt the laws of causality."
"Again."
Ryuki clenched his fists. "I don't care."
"Then you'll pay."
Lightning streaked across the red sky.
Pain returned—raw and searing, crawling across his face. The veins around his eye throbbed. Blood seeped from the corners of his inner vision.
His body convulsed.
The Dojutsu pulsed again.
Then—
Silence.
When Ryuki woke, the world smelled like disinfectant.
White sheets. Dim light. A window half-open to cold breeze.
Konoha's hospital.
He tried to sit up.
"Don't."
A voice.
Calm. Cold. Familiar.
Sasuke.
He stood at the foot of the bed, arms crossed, sharingan spinning once before fading.
"You pushed it again."
Ryuki didn't answer.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "That Dojutsu of yours… it's dangerous."
"I know."
"You could've died."
"I didn't."
"…Idiot."
Ryuki smirked, though it hurt. "Thanks."
Sasuke sighed. "You were out for two days. Kakuzu's dead. Hidan's… in pieces. They're making sure he stays that way."
Ryuki's smile faded.
"Who dragged me back?"
"Naruto and Yamato."
"And the others?"
"They're fine. Kiba broke a rib. Sai took a hit, but he's healing." A pause. "You should've waited for backup."
"I couldn't."
Sasuke stared at him for a long moment. Then looked away. "You sound like Naruto."
"…He'd have done the same."
Silence settled between them. Heavy. Familiar.
Then Sasuke turned back. "That Dojutsu—does it always do that? Reverse time?"
Ryuki shook his head, barely. "Not time. Events. Just for a moment. One strike. One consequence. It switches cause and effect."
"That's… terrifying."
"It's incomplete."
Sasuke frowned. "You said it was broken. Is that literal?"
Ryuki reached up and touched the bandage over his eye again. "Yeah. Like someone shattered it. Pieces missing. Seals burned into it. I don't even know its name."
Sasuke was silent again. Then he said, quietly, "You should speak to Kakashi. Or… the Hokage."
"No."
"Why?"
Ryuki looked him dead in the eyes. "Because if they find out what it can really do… they'll seal it. Or take it."
Sasuke didn't argue.
Didn't need to.
They both knew it was true.
Elsewhere.
Far from Konoha.
Deep within the crumbling shrine beneath the Land of Rivers…
Zetsu slid out of a stone wall like black oil.
He was not alone.
Madara's statue loomed in the background, half-finished. Eyes closed.
And sitting cross-legged in front of it… a boy with pale skin, red eyes, and silver hair.
He opened one eye.
"Ryuki used it again?"
Zetsu nodded. "Yes. The Dojutsu flickered. But it's still fractured."
"And the seal?"
"Unstable. But weakening."
The silver-haired boy smirked.
"Then we wait."
He turned his head slightly, revealing the mark on his neck—the same ancient seal that pulsed in Ryuki's inner world.
"The more he uses it… the more the gate opens."
Zetsu smiled darkly.
Back in Konoha, the door to Ryuki's hospital room creaked open again.
Eri stood there. Quiet. Pale.
She didn't say a word.
Just walked to his side.
And took his hand.
Ryuki didn't look at her.
Didn't need to.
He simply whispered, "It's coming. I can feel it."
She nodded once.
And the screen faded to black.
End of Chapter 118.