The farther they went into the cave, the wider it grew. At the end, ice surrounded them on every side.
Light shone through the ice, red beside yellow, yellow beside cyan, layer upon layer.
The light did not illuminate their faces, only the walls.
The streak of light on the wall reached the ceiling and turned.
Several armored figures stood against the wall, their breastplates facing the passage. None moved.
An open space lay ahead, with one person standing at its center.
His armor extended from his shoulders to his feet in a single piece, without a visible seam.
Its surface was dark. Several streaks of light converged on it and sank inside, leaving nothing on the surface.
The armored man did not move. The ice beneath his feet cracked first.
Sasuke paused a step.
"...Tōsetsu."
The name fell onto the ice without an echo.
The armored man did not answer.
A hand emerged from the armor, and the light in the cave followed it through half a circle.
The light rose from below, passed through the layer of ice inside the wall, and shone on the armor's back. A grayish-white sheen appeared there, then dispersed farther up, vanishing at the top of the wall.
Kiyoshi took two steps forward and stopped. The ice beneath him gripped the soles of his shoes.
Naruto moved first. He sprang across the ice and drove a fist into the center of the breastplate.
There was no sound. His fist sank half an inch and stopped there. Its force went into the armor and never came back out.
Naruto's feet veered sideways, and his shoulder struck an ice ridge beside him. The ridge did not budge.
He retreated and shook his hand. When Naruto pulled back his fist, his fingers were spread.
The hand