Konoha Cemetery, dusk.
The setting sun stained the entire graveyard a dark red. The shadows of the tombstones stretched long and far, like countless silent souls lying on the ground and gazing up at the sky.
Tianyi slowly walked in, his feet treading over the stone path. His pale eyes swept across the rows of tombstones on either side, each carved with a name—some familiar to him, others he had never heard before.
His steps stopped before a secluded grave. The headstone was small, even somewhat plain. There were no elaborate carvings, no lengthy epitaph—only a line of words and a photograph.
The photograph showed a young girl with a gentle smile and clear eyes, like a wildflower newly blooming in spring—unremarkable, yet impossible to look away from.
Rin Nohara.
Tianyi's gaze fell upon her smile and lingered there for a moment.
His fingers twitched slightly, and a metal shard flew out, silently slicing into the seam between the headstone and its base.
A moment later, he removed a piece of bone. He took a scroll from his robes, spread it out on the ground, placed the bone in the center of the sealing array, and formed hand seals.
"Seal."
The runes on the scroll lit up and drew the bone inside. Tianyi put the scroll away, rose to his feet, and gave the photograph one final look.
Wind swept through the distant woods, carrying several fallen leaves that spiraled around his feet. He said nothing, merely turned and left, his figure gradually fading into the twilight.
At the edge of Konoha, inside a hidden research facility, Tianyi walked through the corridors. The lights were dim, and the air was thick with the mixed smell of disinfectant and formalin.
Various anatomical charts and analyses of Sealing Techniques hung on the