Disclaimer: This story is 100% AI-generated fanfiction based on the Naruto universe. Characters, settings, and lore belong to Masashi Kishimoto. No copyright infringement intended.
The kunai's tip never struck flesh.
Golden light swallowed Naruto whole, the world dissolving into a vortex of black-and-yellow chakra. He felt weightless, untethered, as if his bones had turned to smoke. When his vision cleared, he was kneeling in ash.
Ash.
It fell like snow, coating his tongue with the taste of burnt wood and iron. The Hokage Monument loomed ahead—or what was left of it. Hashirama's stone face lay in rubble, Tobirama's cracked down the middle, and Minato's… Minato's was gouged out entirely, replaced by a crude symbol: a spiral inside a crescent moon.
"Wh… Where am I?" Naruto croaked, stumbling to his feet. The air reeked of rot and smoke.
A scream echoed.
Three figures emerged from the haze—ninja with rusted forehead protectors and hollow eyes. One grinned, revealing blackened teeth. "Lookie here! Fresh meat for the pit!"
Naruto scrambled backward, but his legs gave out. The lead marauder raised a jagged knife.
Shink!
A kunai sprouted from the man's throat. He collapsed, gargling blood, as a masked figure dropped from the sky.
"Run, kid," growled the stranger, his voice gravelly and tired. He wore a tattered ANBU uniform, his left eye hidden behind a cracked porcelain mask. The right eye—a Sharingan—glowed crimson, its tomoe fractured and leaking thin trails of blood.
The remaining marauders lunged. The ANBU moved like a ghost, disarming one with a kunai flip before snapping the other's neck with a sickening crack.
Naruto vomited.
"You don't belong here," the man said, wiping his bloody Sharingan on a frayed sleeve. Up close, Naruto saw the cracks spiderwebbing across the crimson iris, as if the eye itself were crumbling.
"Is this… Konoha?" Naruto whispered.
The man barked a laugh. "Konoha's dead. Has been since the Nine-Tails won." He yanked Naruto up by the collar. "Stay alive long enough to find a rift. The gold-eyed ones hunt strays like you."
"Wait—gold eyes? What's that mean? Who are you?!"
Distant thunder rolled. Not thunder—explosions. The horizon flashed orange as a towering inferno devoured the skeletal remains of the Academy.
The ANBU stiffened. "Shit. They're here."
He shoved Naruto toward an alley. "Move. Or you'll wish the marauders got you."
Naruto's scar pulsed hot, the glowing line on his cheek casting faint light on the ash-choked ruins. "But you're… you're Kakashi-sensei, right? I recognize your voice!"
The man froze. For a heartbeat, his remaining eye softened—then hardened again. "Kakashi died with this village. Now run."
Cliffhanger: The ground trembled as a shadow peeled itself from the flames—a towering figure with glowing golden eyes and six swirling tails.