Konoha – Abandoned Shrine Grounds, MidnightPhantom moved through the mist like a ghost.
Every step was precise.
Every breath, measured.
This was no mission.
This was warcraft.
He stood before the half-collapsed shrine where the first memory lock had triggered days ago. The place was dead—no chakra signatures, no ANBU tails, no curious eyes.
But the moment he stepped past the threshold—
[Caution: Chakra Seal Triggered – Genjutsu Layer Engaged]
He didn't move. Didn't resist.
Let it pull him in.
Sometimes, you learn more by playing the enemy's game.
The mist thickened until even the moonlight vanished.
And then he was no longer alone.
A silhouette emerged from the shrine's inner sanctum—drifting, blurred, half-seen.
Not walking.
Floating.
It wore no headband. Its cloak was shredded, bloodstained. Its mask? The same as his.
A blank white ANBU porcelain.
"You broke the silence," the figure whispered.
"And so the gambit begins."
System Notification[Incoming Shadow Link – Null-Class 02]
[Accept Visual Interface Connection? Y/N]
[Warning: Psychological Disruption Risk: HIGH]
Phantom accepted without hesitation.
The world shattered around him.
Mental Network Interface – Phantom Memory WarHe stood in a city of wires. Darkened ruins with towers pulsing code like chakra. Symbols from broken timelines spiraled in the sky—Uchiha crests fused with sand, Kiri's Mist swirling into Leaf branches.
Across from him, the masked figure waited.
Null-02.
"You're late," it said again.
"And you're corrupted," Phantom replied.
The figure tilted its head. "Corrupted? No. I remember. Every erased mission. Every casualty we weren't allowed to mourn. Every life we ended under orders from ghosts."
Lightning rippled in the distance.
"You still think you're a shinobi," Null-02 said. "But we were never ninjas."
"Then what were we?"
"Weapons. Timeline erasers. Chess pieces moved by a hand outside of time."
And then Null-02 dropped the voice modulation.
It was a girl's voice.
"You don't even remember me, do you?"
His system pulsed.
[Partial Memory Trigger: File ALPHA-07]
[Reconstruction In Progress…]
A scream.
A girl beside him in Root training. Faster than him. Deadlier. They were both Phantom-class, both Null.
Her name wasn't in the file.
Just a codename:
ECHO.
Reality – Shrine GroundsThe Genjutsu shattered as she dropped the illusion herself.
And she stepped into the moonlight.
Black Root cloak. Twin blades at her hip. And a left eye replaced with a rotating chakra lens unfamiliar to any known clan.
"I killed the others," she said softly.
Phantom tensed. "Why?"
"Because they forgot who we were," Echo whispered. "But you… You almost remembered. That makes you dangerous."
"Then why not kill me?"
"Because you're the only other player on the board."
"So this is your gambit," Phantom said. "A shadow war behind the scenes."
She nodded.
"I want to burn Root down. But not just the organization—its idea. Its legacy. Its roots in reality itself. Danzo wanted to erase timelines. I want to rebuild one where people like us don't get erased."
Phantom's eyes narrowed. "You expect me to trust you?"
"I expect you to choose."
[System Trigger: Phantom Branch Activated]
[Divergence Point Reached: Join Echo's Gambit – Y/N?]
[Warning: This will alter mission trajectory.]
He stepped forward.
"If this is a game of shadows… then I'll play."
Echo tossed him a scroll.
It pulsed with heat.
"Open that when you're ready to see the full board. But be warned—once you know what the 'Chosen Directive' really is… there's no going back."
Meanwhile – Konoha's Outer WallA figure crouched among the trees.
Watching the shrine.
Its mask bore a single, blood-red streak across the left cheek.
"They've begun the gambit," the figure murmured.
"Time to inform the Elders."
It vanished into the trees, but not before tapping a communicator laced with Danzo's chakra seal.
The Root… was far from dead.
Back in the Hidden Quarter – Phantom's SafehousePhantom lit a low chakra flame and unraveled the scroll.
Inside were seven names.
One was his.
One was Echo.
The other five?
All missing.
All presumed dead.
Except they weren't.
They were still out there.
Scattered.
Sleeping.
Or hunting.
And each one had been programmed to reactivate under different conditions.
They weren't just time bombs.
They were players in a war no one remembered.
Until now.
At the bottom of the scroll was a single warning, burned in chakra-inscribed ink:
"When the seventh awakens, time dies."
And above it—
A name appeared that made Phantom freeze.
Naruto Uzumaki – Potential Trigger: Class-Alpha Awakening.