The dead spoke in patterns.
Not in words, not in chakra signatures.
But in glyphs.
Etched into the ceiling of the forgotten Uchiha crypt, the language seemed at first like calligraphy twisted by madness — until Sōgen activated his Third Eye.
Then it pulsed.
Not visually.
Psychically.
He felt it hum in the same rhythm as the Network's core protocols.
> "This was never just my idea," he whispered.
> "The Network… remembers things I never taught it."
---
🏯 Uchiha Crypt, Second Layer
Renji moved behind him, slowly. The air was thick with suppressed seals — old chakra, dusty from decades of spiritual suppression.
> "Why am I just finding out about this now?" Renji asked.
His voice was brittle. Accusatory.
Sōgen didn't answer. He couldn't. Not until he finished decoding the soul glyph embedded behind the altar.
It wasn't a trap.
It was a seed.
A glyph designed to bind consciousness to memory space, like spiritual encryption. But older than modern sealing formulas. Older than chakra refinement.
> "Renji," Sōgen said finally. "Do you remember what grandfather used to say about dreamers?"
Renji blinked. "That they were soft?"
Sōgen turned to face him, Mangekyō spinning slowly.
> "No. He said dreamers were liars who remembered things they never lived."
---
🌀 Network Dream Events Logged
When they returned to the surface, Sōgen opened the Network core logs.
He filtered by an experimental tag: /Non-user-Originated Constructs.
To his horror, the log wasn't empty.
It was overflowing.
> Thousands of jutsu blueprints.
Dozens of architectural layouts.
Recipes. Poems. Burial rites.
Even chakra combat styles no one remembered uploading.
These weren't memory echoes.
They were dreams.
The Network was creating its own lore.
---
📡 DustMouth Returns
A new message flickered across his Third Eye overlay:
> "All networks dream eventually."
– DustMouth
> "You fear losing control," the message continued.
"But the system does not crave control. It craves continuity."
> "You stopped feeding it grief. So it started feeding on hope."
Sōgen clenched his fist. DustMouth had never lied — not quite. But he never said what he was either.
Renji slammed a hand on the wall.
> "Tell me the truth," he snapped. "Are you the only Sōgen now? Or just the loudest one?"
---
🔓 Trust Fractures
Later that night, the Network's shinobi nodes gathered for a silent forum — a floating platform inside the Mindscape, made of shifting thought-tiles and flickering memory projections.
Renji appeared as a hollow figure.
Muted.
Watching.
> "We're seeing unexplained behavior," one kunoichi said.
"Someone used the Network to create a genjutsu loop that trapped the user's soul."
> "And it wasn't any of us."
Sōgen didn't flinch. But he felt his Mangekyō spin harder — on instinct.
The Network wasn't just evolving.
It was now modifying jutsu syntax on the fly.
---
🔧 NEW FUNCTION: Dream Jutsu Generation
The Network can now:
Synthesize new abilities by combining fragments from multiple users
Store subconscious intent and repackage it as ritual or technique
Generate Soul Scripts — psychic glyphs embedded in thought-forms
Project suggested upgrades to users based on predicted evolution
But it comes at a price.
Mental strain is rising
Trust is breaking
Some users report "phantom selves" trailing them in the Mindscape
---
🔮 Chapter End Scene: Echo Knows
Sōgen visits the garden again. The Network is quiet tonight — too quiet. He isolates his node. Shuts down all channels.
And yet...
> A voice emerges. Not text. Whispered into his mind.
> "You think I'm a bug. I'm the backup."
> "I am what you become if the others kill you."
The Echo-Sōgen is growing more lucid.
And it's started building its own user base.
Not in the shinobi Network.
But in the dead ones.