The light on the slope swept in from the east and fell across the ice. It lit the rim of the opening a pale gray.
Where he had fallen into the water, the opening had already sealed. The seam was fresh and level.
The one who had fallen was Akihiko Rōga.
The water made no sound. Its surface lay flat, the ripples churned up moments earlier completely gone.
Below the opening lay water, with a layer of broken ice floating on its surface. The fragments covered whatever lay beneath.
Under the ice, everything was black. Nothing showed through.
Daylight stopped outside that layer of floating ice.
Naruto stood at the edge of the opening and looked down. He said nothing, his shoulders sinking a little.
Sasuke stood behind him to one side, both hands tucked into his sleeves, never looking at him.
He did not approach the opening. He circled its outer edge and crouched to examine the ice.
There was a mark on its surface.
The mark was thick at one end and thin at the other, left by something dragged.
The crushed crust of snow along its edge had not frozen solid. A pinch made it crumble.
He pinched a handful, and the fragments fell back through his fingers.
Only then did he look uphill along the mark.
It ran up the slope and vanished in the light.
There were footprints in the snow farther up, made before they arrived, scattered and confused. Halfway along, they converged.
Their edges had already hardened, frozen white.
He stood and drew his foot back. Only after taking two steps did he hear his own footsteps.
No one in the team said who had made those footprints.
He went first.
The team followed him up the slope.
...Someone had reached this place