I Return to Konoha: Side Effects of ZeroSeven days from Suna, border outpost. Jack tossed the watch, caught it — still 「00-00-00」, but back cracks spread like an eggshell about to hatch.System prompt: 「Countdown paused (surface)
New status: Gate-ing in progress Coverage: 65%
Side effects: ①Soul-anchor notebook invalid ②Whispers 24/7 ③Threads semi-autonomous」He raised a hand; threads left his skin, writing in mid-air: 「Gate am I I am Gate」ANBU "Cat" captain warned: "Your hazard level now equals 'mobile A-class disaster'. Hokage orders: deliver to Level 5 — Seal Isolation Room."II Isolation: Weighing the SoulLevel 5, never-used "Cell Zero". Walls lined with rift-steel nails + Uzumaki tags + Hyūga lock-needles; chakra zeroed inside.Jack ordered onto "soul-weighing chair": Scale: 68 kg, "rift density" 21% — equivalent to a small tailed beast.Dr. Miki recorded, frowning: "Each 1% coverage rise, your 'human waveform' drops 1.5%. At 100%…" "—I'm no longer human?" Jack finished. "A 'Gate'," Miki adjusted glasses, "eternal, indestructible, continuously venting rift energy."III Whispers Materialised: The Woman's FaceNight 3 in isolation, whispers left audio and became "physical" — Dark-gold mist poured from Jack's orifices, forming a female outline opposite him, voice gentle: "I am the 'Ember Warden', also your future 'Gate form'. Call me——Eve.""Eve?" Jack sneered, "sounds like a bank clerk." "My duty is 'open', not serve." She raised a hand; walls showed visions:Konoha shredded by rift gatesNaruto, Sasuke, Sakura dragged into void by golden tendrilsJack standing on an eternal gate, faceless as statue"This is the inevitable future at 100% coverage." Eve sighed, "Unless——" "Unless?" "You find a 'successor', move the Gate out. You die, they live, world continues."IV The Third Option: Self-SealTsunade arrived with a never-public scroll: "Self-Seal · Gate-Eater Style"Author: Uzumaki Mito (First Nine-Tails jinchūriki)Principle: Use own soul as prison, seal "Gate" inside heart, never leakCost: Caster becomes "the seal itself", lifespan reduced to — 1 yearResult: World safe, but caster slowly devoured by Gate, finally petrifiedTsunade's voice low: "This is the third option I can give you." Jack stared, threads trembling at fingertips, as if afraid of the cage.V Decision Countdown: 10 DaysHokage council final decision:10 days decision periodIsolation prohibition lifted temporarilyAfter 10 days: either transplant Gate (find 03), self-seal, or — be 'dealt with'"Dealt with?" Jack arched a brow. "Premature elimination of mobile disaster." Tsunade's eyes complex, "I don't want to walk that path."VI Soul Anchor's Last StruggleDay 7 in isolation, Jack opened "Soul-Anchor Notebook" — Pages already filled by auto-thread, last line: 「I don't want to be Gate, nor doom another.
If someone must bear it, let me——
take the Gate where no one can find.」He closed the book, smiled at Eve: "I choose option four — 'Wandering Gate'." Eve silent for a moment, then showed near-human sorrow: "You'll wander forever, hunted, until 100% coverage…" "But," Jack whispered, "I'll steer the Gate's direction."VII Jailbreak: Rift EscapeDay 9 night, coverage hit 75%. Isolation rift-steel nails began to melt; threads turned liquid, seeping floor cracks — reverse-absorbing seal energy, re-casting short gate.Jack pocketed watch & notebook, stepped into the golden doorway — next second, a kilometer above Konoha, moonlit back stretched long.Alarms screamed through the village: "Zero isolation subject escaped! Level: S-class mobile disaster!" "Long-range kill approved! Spatial seal approved!"He glanced back at Hokage Rock, as if bidding hometown farewell: "Sorry, I'm taking the calamity——
away from your world."VIII Epilogue: The Eternal Gate WandersWind-blown dunes, Jack stood on desolate border highland. Watch no longer showed time, but direction: 「Gate-ing progress: 75% Nav: No-Man's-Land · West」Threads wove a micro-light gate behind him, like a backpack. He walked, the gate followed. From now on he is traveller, prison, and—— key.Whispers murmured gently: "Go, Warden,
become your own——
Eternal Gate."Sand covered footprints, not the dark-gold glow. Countdown stopped,
but the real story
has only just begun.