---
The moon hung like a quiet sentinel above the Hidden Leaf Village, casting silver light over the rooftops. Most of the village slumbered.
Noir did not.
He sat cross-legged in the center of his room, breathing slow, steady.
The afterimages of the Kuraseigan still pulsed faintly in his vision. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the cool wall, arms folded.
His thoughts wandered—to before this world.
To memories not just of jutsu and chakra, but of fiction.
To names like Gojo Satoru, the man who wielded Infinity. An unreachable gap, unbreakable, perfect defense.
And Obito Uchiha, with his Kamui, phasing into another dimension, untouchable by conventional means.
Noir opened his eyes, his amethyst pupils swirling with a faint glow.
If I'm really here—if chakra exists—then these principles shouldn't be impossible. Theoretically.
He formed a single hand seal, one he had practiced.
Nothing happened.
He tried again—reached for the strange pull in the back of his mind where the Kuraseigan connected to his thoughts.
Still nothing.
The third time, he tried combining a time-slowing visualization with spatial folding.
There was a flash. His fingers tingled.
Then—snap.
A pulse of pain slammed behind his eyes, causing him to gasp and clutch his temple.
"Too much…" he muttered, grinding his teeth. "I don't have the equations… no formulas… this isn't manga."
He leaned back, sweat cold on his neck.
But he didn't stop.
The fourth time… he did something simpler.
What if I'm not trying to travel through space… but fold it into a box? Like a container that exists outside this plane. A vault. A Pocket Dimension?.
He pictured a room.
Not a physical one—but a pocket surrounded by nothing. No decay. No heat loss. A still image in time.
A flash of violet light rippled from his eyes.
His chakra surged and bent—reality twisted, then snapped back.
Noir opened his eyes slowly.
A small void shimmered before him, barely the size of a basket.
He tossed the tea cup beside him into it—and it vanished without a sound.
He paused.
Reached out.
The void flickered, and the cup reappeared.
Steam still rose from the top.
"…Time doesn't move in there."
A rare, small smile tugged at his lips.
Not Gojo. Not Kamui. But something else.
Something… his.
He focused again, trying to name it.
"Tensei Kyōsō," he whispered.
The Space of Rebirth.
The beginning of something new.
A box between time.
---
The box faded from view a few seconds later. Noir sat still for a moment longer.
Not everything from his past life would be applicable here—but this?
This was the start of something special.
He stood, quietly satisfied.
Outside his window, the wind stirred the trees.
He didn't know it yet—but what he'd just created would one day be something even Danzo and Orochimaru feared.
For now, though… it was just a box that kept his tea warm.
And that was enough.
---
[End of Chapter 16]