Three days after the A-rank sampling mission, Hokage Tower sub-basement five—the deepest sealed vault. Air reeked of old camphor and preservative, a mausoleum that had never seen sunlight.On the stone table lay three items:Black chest (50g A-rift core)Crystal timer: 「6 years 364 days 12 h」—one day closer to "Nulling"A scroll marked「Top Secret · Special Jōnin」:"Living Seal Feasibility Study (Broken-Cloud Sample)"Beside them, Jack's new ID:Name: Jack HarperPosition: Warden of the Rift · 1st GenClearance: S-class secrecy, full vault accessDuties: monthly seal maintenance, weekly sync checkNote: when timer ≤1 year report to Hokage and prepare "last affairs""Sign, and duties bind you." The vault librarian—an old woman under 1.5 m, voice like metal on glass—offered a "dimension-steel" pen, tip jet-black.Jack did not hesitate—survival demands selling oneself to rules first. Golden thread flickered at his fingertip; he wrote. The scroll levitated a blood-red line: 「Contract Sealed · Soul Bound」System prompt: 「'Living Seal Plan' full reading rights acquired
Side effect: -0.5 day per reading hour (stackable)」 "Even reading costs life… generous." He smiled wryly and broke the wax.I The Plan: Seven Years for SevenThe report was brutally blunt:Objective: Use high-sync subject (No.02) as "replaceable seal core," compress A-rift gate to "controllable zone," expected control cycle: 7 years.Method: Subject = prison. Via Uzumaki seals + Hyūga tenketsu locks + modified Four Black Fog Array, transplant 50g core into thorax (above right ventricle), forming a "mobile rift compression chamber."Risks:Rejection (quarterly seal tag replacement)Mental contamination (whispers, hallucinations, split personality)At countdown zero subject "nulls" and releases full gate (≥B-rank disaster)Mitigation: when timer ≤1 year perform "core transplant" — move chamber to new sync (No.03); original dies."Humans as USB drives, swapped every seven years." He closed the scroll, chest tight. Yet the thread danced, crawling toward the black chest—eager to open.II Surgical Rehearsal: Compression Chamber in Rib-cageA hidden door slid, lights blinding white—practice OR. ANBU medical chief Dr. Miki waited, eyes glowing with scientific benevolence."Today is simulation." Miki pushed a transparent bio-puppet, mechanical heart visible, "We insert core fragment, you guide sync, I record rejection curves."Jack lay on the table; threads extended to the puppet's thorax like IV lines. Anaesthesia injected, chest opened, rice-grain fragment placed beside mechanical heart—readings spiked, metal wall cracked!Threads swarmed, wove a "spiral nest," clamped the shard, numbers fell. Miki scribbled, ecstatic: "Rejection peak suppressed in 0.8s, three times faster than expected! Your 'threads' are natural sutures!"But the female whisper rang clearer than ever: "They'll make you a cage,
cages can't hold—
me."Sweat soaked his back. System: 「Simulation success ① Compression formula (incomplete) ② DP +100 ③ Contamination risk +5%」III Countdown Accelerator: Reading = BurningTo master "mitigation," he stayed seven days, ten hours daily. Cost: -3.5 days; gains:Full seal diagramsAnti-contamination: "self-memory anchor" vs whispersTransplant manual (backup)On day seven evening he closed the last page; timer ticked: 「6 years 360 days 07 h」"Five days for intel—worth." Rubbing temples, he saw threads form words on desk: 「Time ≠ salvation Choice = future」IV Warden's Exclusive ToolsBefore exit the librarian handed him a set:1.「Compression-chamber pendant」—spiral talisman, holds 1g core for daily practice2.「Rift scalpel」—dimension-steel, cuts gate edges without being devoured3.「Countdown pocket-watch」—soul-bound, ±10 min error4.「Soul-anchor notebook」—write "self-memories" daily to prevent personality overwriteSystem added: 「Set bonded, untradeable, indestructible
DeBuff: each compression use +1% coverage」V New Order: Search for No.03As Jack stepped out, Cat-face appeared with an even higher sealed order: 「Top Secret · S」Mission: find potential "Sync Subject No.03" as next transplant receptorRange: entire shinobi world (priority: new-gen in Great Five)Duration: long-termNote: zero disclosure, zero casualty, zero inter-village frictionHe stared, fingertips cold. —Seven years from now, he must die—or pass this mobile prison to another innocent.Threads spun gleefully on his knuckles, celebrating the future "roommate".VI Epilogue: Watch & HeartbeatDeep night, Konoha rooftop. Jack raised the「Countdown Pocket-Watch」; each tick synced with his heart—as if two clocks lived in his chest: one pushing life toward the end; the other urging him to find a third option.He exhaled toward the moon, whispered: "Six years three hundred sixty days, enough to dismantle the prison, —or dismantle myself."