The night was thick with silence, a weight that pressed down on the village like a heavy, suffocating blanket. The only sounds that pierced the stillness were the occasional rustling of leaves in the wind and the distant howls of nocturnal creatures. For most, it was just another quiet evening in Konoha.
But for the nameless teen, every second felt like an eternity.
He stood on the rooftop of the Academy, gazing out over the village below. His senses were on high alert, his eyes scanning the streets, the alleys, the shadows that hid the unknown. Every movement, every shift in the air, felt amplified. He could almost hear the whispers of the past, feel the distant echoes of the timeline that had once been.
The system had been quiet for hours. Almost too quiet.
Then, it happened.
A sudden surge of energy pulsed within him, a flood of memories—jumbled, fractured—rushed to the forefront of his mind. A mission. A target. A blade. Naruto Uzumaki.
His chest tightened as the realization hit him like a physical blow. He could feel the remnants of the forgotten protocol trying to claw their way to the surface. Code Phantom. It was always there, lurking beneath the surface, waiting to be reawakened.
"Activate Forgotten Protocols…"
The words came from nowhere, yet they resonated deep within him. The system, or perhaps something deeper, had spoken them. The Code Phantom was responding, its mechanisms stirring after being dormant for so long.
But the question lingered in his mind: What was this protocol? Why had it been locked away? And, more importantly, what was it going to make him do now?
His head swam with the fragmented pieces of his past—pieces that didn't fit, that made no sense. His training, his missions, his failures. It was all a blur, a shattered puzzle. But something about this moment felt different. The past was coming back, and he couldn't stop it.
He stumbled backward as the system activated once more, a cold, mechanical voice filling his mind.
"Protocol: Shadow Trigger initialized. Target acquired: Danzo Shimura."
The nameless teen's pulse quickened as the words sent a jolt of adrenaline through his veins. Danzo. The man who had watched him. The man who had claimed to want him.
"Shadow Trigger?" The words tasted strange in his mouth, foreign even, but he couldn't deny their weight. The protocol was alive again, and the power it offered surged within him, hungry for release. He wasn't sure what it would mean, but he knew one thing: he couldn't ignore it.
With a sudden, almost instinctual movement, he dropped to the ground, his body blending into the shadows. He wasn't just hiding; he was vanishing, becoming a part of the very darkness that surrounded him. The Shadow Manipulation he had used in the sparring session with Sasuke was nothing compared to this. The shadows seemed to obey him now, pulling him into their embrace, wrapping around him like a cloak.
He was the darkness.
For a moment, everything was still. Silent.
Then, just as quickly as it had come, the surge of energy dissipated, leaving him breathless, disoriented, and… alone. The shadows returned to their normal state, but the nameless teen knew something had changed. Something had been triggered. The Code Phantom was no longer dormant. It was awake, and it was calling him to action.
He remained crouched in the shadows, his eyes darting around as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. But there was no time to question it. He had to act.
And then he felt it—the presence.
It was faint at first, but as he focused, the sensation grew stronger. Someone was watching him. Not just watching, but actively searching. The sensation crawled up his spine, a prickling unease that filled his every sense. It was as though the very fabric of the village had shifted, like an invisible predator was closing in on its prey.
Danzo.
The nameless teen's heart skipped a beat. He had felt the weight of Danzo's eyes on him before, but now it was more than just a feeling. It was as if Danzo had somehow detected the activation of the protocol. Had he known this would happen? Had he been waiting for it?
The nameless teen's mind raced. He had to get to the bottom of this. He had to understand what Code Phantom meant, and why it was so important. But more than that, he needed to be ready for the consequences. Danzo wouldn't let him go easily. Not now.
And yet, there was still a part of him that wondered—was Danzo even the true threat here? Or was the Code Phantomitself the key to a much darker, more dangerous game?
He stood slowly, his senses alert. The shadows seemed to stretch and ripple with his movements, responding to his every thought. With a subtle flick of his wrist, he slipped into the darkness, moving toward the heart of Konoha.
The village was alive with the sounds of distant conversations and footsteps, but to him, it felt empty. The weight of the night pressed down on him, and for a brief moment, he felt the pull of something greater than the mission—something that could change the course of everything.
Code Phantom. Shadow Trigger.
His mind was no longer his own. He had been thrust into a world of forgotten protocols and hidden truths, a world that had been wiped from existence but was now clawing its way back.
And if he didn't uncover the secrets of his past, it wouldn't just be his life at stake.
It would be the fate of the entire village.
The nameless teen moved silently through the streets, his every step calculated, his mind focused. He was no longer simply a spectator. He was part of a much larger game—one with stakes far higher than he could comprehend. And now, the question was no longer if he would be found, but when.
He would have to confront the shadow that watched him. The shadow that had shaped his destiny long before he ever stepped foot in Konoha.
And that shadow would be none other than Danzo Shimura.