The files were supposed to be incinerated.
Danzo never left paper trails. Yet deep beneath the Hokage Monument, in an abandoned Root annex, the records remained—sealed inside chakra-locked drawers older than the Third Hokage's reign.
Sai moved quietly through the dark.
He'd been sent to retrieve the Oblivion Protocols—or what was left of them. But as he passed shelves lined with outdated mission scrolls and dead ANBU masks, something else pulled him in.
A drawer, humming faintly. Almost… alive.
He slid it open.
Inside, a black journal—worn leather, no title.
But when his fingers brushed the surface, seals on the drawer flared in warning:
[CLASSIFIED: ECHO-THREAD ACCESS – RESTRICTED TO PROJECT PHANTOM]
Sai hesitated. Danzo had warned him never to read the Echo Threads.
Curiosity won.
He opened the journal.
Elsewhere – Forest Outside KonohaThe Phantom leaned against a tree, watching Naruto sleep in the training grounds.
He hadn't planned to reveal himself so soon—not without stabilizing his system. But the kunai last night had changed everything.
[Thread Stability: 64%]
[Skill Unlocked: Echo Recall – Level 1]
You may now project memory echos of key bonds into physical manifestation.
Limitation: Duration – 10 seconds per memory shard.
He flexed his hand.
The chakra around his fingers crackled like static—dense, unstable. Even the ground rejected it. He was still a glitch in the system.
Yet seeing Naruto again… had anchored something.
But Naruto wasn't safe now.
Danzo would escalate.
And the Root clone—his backup—was still active.
[Mission Update Received]
Echo Signature Detected: THREAD 47 – Uchiha, Sasuke
Location: Valley of Silent Training Grounds
He froze.
Sasuke?
Why now?
Flashback – Year 7, Timeline ZeroA younger version of him—shorter, unmasked, bleeding—dragged his half-conscious body through the same training field.
Ahead of him, Uchiha Sasuke stood with his Sharingan blazing.
"You again," Sasuke growled. "You show up, and my memories glitch. Why?"
The Phantom didn't answer.
He'd been tailing the boy for weeks, per Danzo's orders. Monitoring early awakenings. Suppressing memory flares caused by the timeline reboot.
But Sasuke was different. Resistant.
Every time they fought, he remembered more.
Sasuke lifted his hand, chidori flaring.
"Tell me your name—or disappear again like a coward!"
The Phantom raised his blade in silence.
They clashed—once, twice, ten times.
And then—
A spark.
Reality tore.
And that battle had never been recorded again.
Erased.
Lost in the Echo Layer.
Until now.
Present – Valley of Silent Training GroundsThe Phantom arrived first.
Sasuke was already there, eyes locked on the horizon. He didn't turn as the masked figure stepped out of the trees.
"I knew it," he said. "You didn't vanish. You just hid better."
The Phantom didn't respond.
Sasuke walked forward.
"Back then, I couldn't land a hit. Now… I'm not so sure."
[Bond Echo Detected: THREAD 47]
[Would you like to activate the memory projection?]
"Yes."
The world shimmered.
And behind the Phantom, the air cracked—and a ghost of the past stepped out. A memory-phantom: their younger selves clashing under moonlight, the old battle playing out in full detail.
Sasuke froze.
"What—what the hell is this?"
The phantom said nothing.
The memory projection showed everything.
Sasuke watching his own younger self burn with anger. Their words. Their clash. The glitch that followed. The whisper: "He's not from this time…"
And finally, Danzo's voice: "If the Uchiha remembers, terminate."
Sasuke's fists clenched.
"You were sent to kill me."
"I was," the Phantom admitted.
"And now?"
"I came to remember what stopped me."
Silence.
Then Sasuke turned—and punched him hard.
Not with rage. With understanding.
"Next time, don't wait for me to remember you."
The Phantom's mask cracked slightly… but he didn't stop it.
[Thread 47 – Bond Strength Restored: 81%]
[Skill Evolution Available: Echo Recall → Phantom Replay]
Meanwhile – Root ArchivesSai flipped through the journal's final pages.
Each entry was a mission report, handwritten in a language that glitched as he read it—half ink, half chakra sigils. But one page pulsed with resonance.
PROJECT PHANTOM: TERMINATION LOG – UNSUCCESSFUL
SUBJECT REFUSED FINAL DIRECTIVE
INSTABILITY CAUSED TEMPORAL LOOPING
ORDER: ERASE SUBJECT VIA CLONE PROTOCOL – INITIATED
NOTE: THREAD 0 REMAINS UNACCOUNTED FOR
Thread 0?
Sai's hand froze.
There had been another.
Someone even older than the Phantom.
Or maybe… the Phantom wasn't the first glitch.
He closed the journal, eyes narrow.
Something bigger was unfolding.
And Danzo had lied to them all.
Konoha – Hospital Rooftop, MidnightNaruto sat watching the moon, still gripping the seal tag.
He didn't understand why his heart ached when he thought about the masked teen.
Why fragments of ramen shops, laughter, fights echoed in his head when he should have no memory at all.
But his gut screamed one thing:
I know him.
And somewhere in the shadows, the Phantom watched silently.
[Echo Anchor Reached – THREAD 90: Stable]
Naruto Uzumaki Bond Strength: 56%
Status: Memory Lock – Weakening.
He would protect the bond.
Even if it killed him.