Konoha – 04:43 AMThe sky was still inked in the quiet blue of pre-dawn, but his mind felt anything but still.
Phantom moved through the village like a shadow that didn't belong.
Every footstep on the tiled roofs. Every whisper of wind in the trees. Every flicker of light from the few still-awake Jonin patrols—it all felt foreign. Disconnected. Even though he walked these streets, a part of him floated outside the moment, always watching. Always calculating.
Because now, the system had changed.
Because now… he had unlocked Tier 1.
And the shadows whispered his name.
[Code Phantom: Tier 1 – Unlocked]
[Shadow Lapse – Reverse Consciousness Insertion: Ready]
[Skill Tree Path Chosen: Path of Shadows]
It had asked him for confirmation before.
And though he hadn't pressed the button, the system had taken silence as consent.
And now, a part of him was different.
He felt it in the way the world moved around him. Slower. Sharper. Like his perception had shifted to anticipate danger before it even unfolded.
But that wasn't what scared him.
What scared him… was that he liked it.
Flash Memory – System Echo (Recovered Fragment 003A)"The Path of Shadows isn't taught. It's inherited."
"Every time you kill, you remember."
"Every time you hesitate, you forget."
The voice wasn't Danzo's. It wasn't even the woman from the Vault.
It was his.
From another version of himself. A deeper timeline. One that had already walked the path to the end—and broken because of it.
And now, this path was open again.
The Academy Grounds – RooftopPhantom stood above the Academy, cloak rippling against the gentle wind.
Below, the Academy students trained. Laughing. Sweating. Fighting with sticks and chakra control drills.
Naruto was, as usual, running laps after detention.
Iruka-sensei watched him with an exhausted smile.
And then, Sasuke Uchiha turned.
Not toward Naruto.
Toward Phantom.
Their eyes locked for half a second—long enough.
Long enough for Phantom to feel the pull of something deeper.
Sasuke saw him.
Not just physically.
He sensed him.
[Observation Detected – Genjutsu-Immune Bloodline: Uchiha Precognition]
[Recommendation: Activate Shadow Lapse to disengage from line of sight]
He didn't.
He let Sasuke look.
Because it was time for some shadows to stop hiding.
System Overlay – Internal Dialogue"You walk the Path of Shadows now," the system whispered, voice cold and ancient.
"You are neither shinobi nor civilian. Neither child nor killer. You are the in-between."
"You are the anomaly."
"So what happens when the anomaly refuses to disappear?"
"Then the world recalibrates. Or burns."
Training Ground 5 – Restricted ZoneIt was one of the old ANBU arenas, long since marked 'abandoned.' Only Root used it now—and only under Danzo's personal authority.
But Phantom had a memory now.
Of blood on those sands.
Of a test that never officially happened.
And of a mask that didn't belong to any animal in the archives.
He stepped inside.
Dust clouded the old arena. Burn marks marred the ground, some still deep with scorched chakra traces.
And in the center of the ring stood a figure.
Sai.
Dressed in Root blacks. Ink brush in hand. Blank face emotionless.
"I was wondering when you'd come," Sai said, not turning.
"I didn't expect you to be waiting," Phantom replied.
"I'm not," Sai said. "Danzo is."
[Threat Level Detected: Moderate]
[Root Operative Classification: Watcher]
[Engage Y/N?]
Phantom's hand twitched, but he didn't draw a kunai.
Sai did.
"Ink Beast: Serpent Binding."
Three massive snakes erupted from his scroll, wrapping toward Phantom with blinding speed.
He didn't dodge.
He vanished.
Shadow step.
System Skill Active: Shadow Lapse[Shadow Lapse: Reverse Consciousness Insertion Active]
[User has temporarily altered enemy perception]
[Enemy will perceive 4 seconds of false sensory data]
To Sai, Phantom had disappeared. To Phantom, Sai was moving in slow motion.
He reappeared behind him.
Fingers at Sai's throat.
But he didn't crush it.
"Tell him," Phantom whispered, "I'm remembering. And I'm not running anymore."
Then he vanished again.
Elsewhere – Root Observation PostDanzo sipped tea without expression.
He had watched everything through a hidden camera.
"Sai failed," one of the masked agents muttered.
"No," Danzo said. "Sai measured him. And the results were conclusive."
He looked down at an old photograph—black and white. Faded by time.
In it were three figures.
A young Danzo. A woman in white robes. And a boy with a blank face standing between them.
"We thought the Path of Shadows would kill emotion," Danzo murmured.
"But now I wonder… if emotion was the key to unlocking the next phase."
Evening – Forest Beyond KonohaPhantom stood before a broken ANBU shrine.
The names of the fallen carved in stone.
His hand hovered over a name that didn't exist anymore. A codename only he remembered.
"Null-00."
The name flickered in his system overlay.
A ghost of who he used to be.
And beside it—an error code.
[Subject Record Not Found in This Timeline]
[Warning: Phantom is existing without registration in reality]
[Stability Risk: 43% and rising]
So he wasn't even real anymore.
Just a shadow clinging to a world that had moved on.
"Then I guess it's time to choose," he said aloud.
Path 1: Reintegrate into the system. Obey protocol. Fade.
Path 2: Break the chain. Become something new. Rewrite the script.
He stared at the options.
Chose neither.
Instead, he whispered:
"I walk my own path now."
New Path Created: [Phantom Divergence]
Warning: All future events are now unpredictable.
He smiled.
Let them try to predict a shadow that refused to stay still.