The stranger did not wake.
Not when Daichi examined the seal lines across his chest.
Not when Minato pressed two stabilizing tags against the broken core.
Not when Kushina called him stubborn for nearly dying before choosing a name.
He remained motionless beneath the trees.
Breathing—
but barely.
⸻
The entrance to the sanctuary had disappeared again.
Only a solid cliff remained behind them.
No doorway.
No glowing symbols.
Nothing that suggested an ancient prison was hidden inside the mountain.
Kushina stared at it.
Seven days.
The Voice would escape in seven days.
And the only person carrying the vessel core they needed might not survive the next hour.
"Can you fix it?"
Daichi did not look up.
"No."
Kushina's jaw tightened.
"Can you keep him alive?"
A pause.
"Perhaps."
"That isn't good enough."
"It is the answer I have."
⸻
Daichi pulled the stranger's cloak aside.
The white vessel core glowed beneath the skin of his chest.
A thin crack divided its surface.
Light escaped from it with every heartbeat.
Not blood.
Chakra.
Red.
Blue.
Purple.
Gold.
Each color appeared for only a moment—
then disappeared into the artificial network surrounding the core.
Minato crouched beside Daichi.
"The fragments are trying to separate."
Daichi nodded.
"The core was holding them together."
"And now?"
"Now his body is becoming several different vessels at once."
Kushina looked at the unconscious stranger.
"What happens when the core breaks completely?"
Daichi finally met her eyes.
"So does he."
⸻
Hana sat several feet away.
Her back rested against a tree.
The faded circle on her neck had darkened again.
Not spreading.
Responding.
Every time the stranger's core pulsed—
her mark answered.
Kushina noticed.
"Does it hurt?"
Hana shook her head.
Then stopped.
"Yes."
Kushina moved toward her.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because he looks worse."
"That doesn't make you better."
Hana gave her a tired smile.
"You really do argue with everyone."
"Only when they make it necessary."
⸻
Kushina placed two fingers near Hana's seal.
The mark felt cold.
Beneath it—
a thin line of chakra stretched toward the stranger.
Still connected.
Still waiting.
Kurama shifted inside her.
"…the core is calling to the vessel…"
"Can we block it?"
"…temporarily…"
"How?"
A pause.
"…your chains…"
Kushina glanced toward Daichi.
He was already watching her.
Of course he was.
"What?"
"The Guardian Binding," she said.
"You want to use it again?"
"It kept Hana anchored."
Daichi looked toward the broken core.
"It may also hold him together."
Minato studied the seal lines across the stranger's body.
"If Kushina connects both of them through the same binding…"
Hana's expression tightened.
"The Voice could use the connection."
Silence.
She was right.
⸻
Kushina looked toward the cliff.
The Voice could hear through Hana.
It might also be able to reach the stranger through the vessel core.
Connecting them could save their lives.
Or give the fragment exactly what it wanted.
Daichi sat back.
"We need distance from the sanctuary."
"How much?"
"As much as possible."
Kushina looked toward the mountain path.
The stranger could not walk.
Hana could barely stand.
And the organization might already know where they were.
"Then we move now."
⸻
Minato lifted the stranger carefully.
One arm beneath his shoulders.
The other beneath his knees.
Kushina blinked.
"You can carry him?"
Minato glanced at her.
"Yes."
"He's taller than you."
"I noticed."
A faint sound escaped Hana.
Almost a laugh.
Daichi adjusted the straps of his pack.
"We travel until sunset."
Kushina looked toward Hana.
"Can you walk?"
Hana pushed herself upright.
Her legs trembled.
"Yes."
"That wasn't convincing."
"It was still yes."
Kushina moved beside her.
"Fine."
A golden chain formed behind her.
It wrapped loosely around Hana's waist.
Not restraining.
Supporting.
Hana stared at it.
"You could have just offered your arm."
"This is more efficient."
"And dramatic."
"That too."
⸻
They left the sanctuary behind.
The mountain trail descended sharply.
Mist still covered the ravine below.
Every step carried them farther from the Voice—
but Kushina could still feel it.
Not speaking.
Watching.
Through Hana.
Through the broken core.
Perhaps through her as well.
⸻
They travelled for hours.
Minato never complained.
The stranger's head rested against his shoulder.
His pale face remained motionless.
Occasionally—
one of the seal lines beneath his skin flashed.
Each time it did—
Kurama growled.
Not at him.
At the fragments inside him.
"…they are frightened…"
Kushina looked toward the unconscious man.
"The Bijuu fragments?"
"…they remember pain…"
"Can they think?"
"…not like us…"
A pause.
"…but chakra remembers…"
Kushina lowered her voice.
"Do you know which Bijuu they came from?"
Kurama did not answer immediately.
"…some…"
"Which ones?"
A heavier silence.
"…Matatabi…"
Blue fire.
"…Chōmei…"
Gold.
Another pause.
"…and others…"
Kushina felt his anger.
"They took pieces from all of you."
"…not all…"
"That doesn't make it better."
"…I know…"
⸻
Near sunset—
the stranger stopped breathing.
Minato froze.
"Daichi."
They lowered him onto the ground immediately.
The core beneath his chest flashed violently.
A crack spread across the white surface.
The seal lines around his heart began to separate.
Daichi pressed both hands against his chest.
"Minato, the outer network."
Minato placed four tags around the stranger's body.
A square barrier formed.
The mixed chakra struck it instantly.
Blue fire exploded against one side.
Purple energy hit another.
The barrier shook.
Hana cried out.
The mark on her neck turned black.
Kushina caught her.
"It's pulling her in again!"
"Then use the binding," Daichi ordered.
Kushina hesitated.
"What about the Voice?"
"If he dies, the core may return to it anyway."
That ended the argument.
⸻
Golden chains erupted from Kushina's back.
They wrapped around the stranger's arms.
His chest.
His legs.
Then another chain circled Hana.
The moment the two bindings connected—
darkness entered the seal.
Kushina gasped.
The forest vanished.
⸻
She stood in a white room.
Not the sanctuary.
Not her own mind.
A laboratory.
The stranger floated inside a tall glass chamber.
His body was unfinished.
No hair.
No color in his skin.
No movement.
Seal threads surrounded him like veins.
Masked figures watched from the other side of the glass.
One held a small white sphere.
The vessel core.
"Begin integration."
The core was placed into the hollow center of his chest.
The body convulsed.
Its eyes opened.
Empty.
Then—
chakra was forced inside.
Blue first.
The body screamed without a voice.
Purple followed.
Then gold.
Red.
One fragment after another.
The body's hands struck the glass.
No one stopped.
"Conscious response detected."
"That is impossible."
"Terminate the process."
"No."
A masked figure stepped closer.
"If it can suffer…"
A pause.
"…it can obey."
⸻
The memory changed.
The stranger lay chained to a stone table.
More human now.
More complete.
His eyes followed the researchers.
One of them leaned over him.
"Do you understand me?"
He tried to speak.
No sound came.
The researcher turned away.
"Language development delayed."
Another voice answered:
"Then teach it pain first."
⸻
Kushina's anger surged.
The chains around the memory shook.
The white room cracked.
A voice came from behind her.
Not the Voice.
His.
"Get out."
Kushina turned.
The stranger stood in the corner.
Older.
As he appeared now.
Seal lines across his face.
His mismatched eyes fixed on her.
"You're awake."
"This is not yours."
"I didn't choose to enter."
"But you are still looking."
The memory shattered.
⸻
Kushina opened her eyes.
She was back in the forest.
The stranger's hand had closed around one of her chains.
His breathing had returned.
Weak.
Uneven.
But alive.
Minato looked toward him.
"You're conscious."
His eyes opened slowly