The room felt colder now.
Not because of temperature — but truth. Unspoken, locked down, and now cracking loose.
Tsunade hadn't moved from her place across the chamber. Her eyes remained fixed on Kaito, heavy with thought.
"The scroll," she said finally, "was hidden even from me until three years ago."
She nodded once. Shikamaru stepped forward, holding a sealed cylinder marked with five distinct ANBU-level chakra locks. He set it down carefully on the table between them.
"This," Tsunade said, "is the legacy of Project Raijin — the Leaf's attempt to recreate power we were never meant to hold."
Kaito stared at the scroll.
He didn't reach for it.
"What's in it?" Rei asked cautiously.
"Blood," Tsunade replied. "History. And a mistake."
She walked closer, voice low and tight.
"Decades ago, long before your time, there was a faction within the village that believed bloodlines were the key to future dominance. Not just inheriting them — creating them. They found traces of an ancient clan… forgotten by time, erased by war. Their chakra didn't flow — it surged. Unstable. Raw."
Kaito felt his breath catch.
He didn't need her to say it.
"They were stormbearers," she continued. "Children born during lightning strikes. Chakra fused with atmospheric pressure. They didn't control the elements. They became them."
"Then why were they erased?" Hinata asked softly.
"Because they couldn't be contained."
Takeshi's expression darkened.
Tsunade looked to Kaito.
"Records show one child survived the last purge. A toddler. Vanished during the Second War. A shinobi — believed to be an ANBU at the time — smuggled him out. No trace after that."
Rei glanced at Kaito. "Let me guess. Kid shows up later with no memory, gets raised as an orphan, joins the Academy, gets assigned to us?"
Kaito swallowed hard.
Tsunade nodded.
"Yes."
Silence.
Then Shikamaru spoke, voice low and analytical.
"The chakra signature inside that shrine… matched yours exactly, Kaito. We've run it against every known clan. No match. But the compression fields, the electromagnetic distortion — it's consistent with theoretical stormline genetics."
"I'm not from any clan," Kaito said slowly.
"No," Tsunade agreed. "You're not."
She paused.
"But you're something older."
Outside the tower, clouds had begun to gather.
Dark. Slow. Silent.
Later that night, Kaito sat on the rooftop of his apartment, hood pulled over his head, legs dangling over the ledge. Kuro lay at his side, ears perked but calm.
Rei joined him after a while. Didn't speak at first.
Just sat down, pulling out a rice ball and taking a casual bite.
"You okay?" Rei finally asked.
Kaito didn't answer right away.
"I don't know who I am anymore."
"That makes two of us. You're either the secret heir to a god-tier lightning clan or a science experiment that went way too right."
Kaito smirked. Barely.
"Helpful."
Rei leaned back. "You know, I always figured you were weird. The eyes, the way birds land near you when you're quiet, how rain avoids your side of the training field."
Kaito blinked. "Wait, what?"
"Bro. Rain literally arcs around you."
Kaito stared into the night. "Maybe I'm not supposed to be in the Leaf."
"No," Rei said seriously. "You're supposed to be with us. Whatever came before? Doesn't matter. You're part of this team."
The door to the roof creaked open again.
Hinata stepped out, holding a folder.
"Can I show you something?" she asked gently.
Kaito nodded.
She sat beside him and handed him the folder. Inside were scans — chakra resonance charts, seal diagrams, fragmented reports.
She pointed to one.
"This symbol… was found under your skin. Micro-seal. Hidden behind your chakra coils. We think it was meant to suppress something."
"What kind of seal?"
Rei leaned over. "Looks like something from the Uzumaki archives."
Hinata nodded. "And it's breaking."
Somewhere far beyond the village walls, beneath a ruined temple, the masked figure stood before a broken statue.
Lightning danced across his hands.
He turned to the shadows behind him.
"Prepare the next one."
A second figure emerged. Younger. Masked. Eyes burning with the same stormlight as Kaito's — but twisted.
"They sent a message," the masked figure said. "Now we'll send one back."
He raised his hand.
"The Leaf will learn what happens… when they try to bury the sky."