Konoha – Intel Division Sub-Basement 3The doors hissed open with a magnetic pulse. Phantom stepped inside.
The light here didn't flicker. It hummed—artificial, clinical, devoid of warmth.
This place didn't belong to the Hokage.
It belonged to the people who didn't officially exist.
The ones who worked in the shadows of shadows.
He was here because of the whisper in his memory—Fragment 004B.
"You weren't the only one created."
That whisper had led him here, to an abandoned wing of Konoha's Intel Division, long sealed after a data breach no one remembered.
Except the system.
[System Alert: Hidden Terminal Detected – Activation Possible]
[Skill Requirement: Shadow Decryption Lv.1 – ACQUIRED]
[Initiate Data Link: Y/N?]
Phantom didn't hesitate.
"Y."
[Connecting… Syncing with Lost Root Node...]
[Welcome, Phantom-Class Operative Null-00]
[Encryption Layer: 19/19 bypassed]
[Accessing Memory Lock Cluster – CODE: MIRAGE]
The screen came alive.
And his world cracked.
Recovered Memory Fragment 004B:He wasn't alone in the room.
There were others—five of them.
Each strapped into a chair. Each wearing a different mask—wolf, hawk, serpent, fox, and him… the blank one.
Danzo's voice echoed.
"You are the Null-Class. Operatives untethered from identity, bloodline, and even time."
"If you die, the world forgets you."
"If you succeed, it never knew you existed."
And then something else spoke.
A mechanical voice.
"Shadow Enlistment Interface Activated. Phantom Protocol Initiated. Timeline Control Engaged."
That was the first time he'd heard the system speak.
Not in his head—but in the real world.
Present – Konoha, Intel Sub-LevelPhantom reeled back from the monitor, eyes wide.
The others.
There were others like him. Glitches.
Null-Class wasn't just a title. It was a designation for anomalies. Ones that operated outside the normal timeline. And the system—they hadn't installed it.
They had created it.
Or worse… stolen it.
The data stream continued flowing.
[Recovered File – Timeline Revision: Project Mirage]
[Objective: Assassinate High-Risk Variables in Pre-Event Timelines]
[Known Variables: Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Senju Tsunade]
[Status: Aborted. Protocol Reset. Operatives Lost in Time.]
He stepped back.
So that was it.
He hadn't just been sent to kill Naruto.
He had been sent to delete him from the timeline.
And not just Naruto.
Sasuke. Tsunade. Anyone whose influence could alter the "Chosen Directive."
And what was the Chosen Directive?
He found the file.
But it was locked.
[Encrypted Layer: Forbidden-Level Clearance]
[Access Denied.]
That's when the alarms began.
Not outside.
Inside the system.
[Intrusion Detected: Null-Class 02 ACTIVE]
[Location: Proximity Unknown – Signal Interference Present]
[Warning: Another Phantom Has Been Reactivated.]
He wasn't alone anymore.
Another Phantom had awakened.
Elsewhere – Root Holding VaultA cry echoed.
It wasn't human.
A low, raspy breath from something struggling to breathe through its own hate.
Inside a capsule of frozen stasis, a figure twitched.
Its face was wrapped in surgical bindings.
Its eyes—closed for years—snapped open.
Glowing red.
The voice came not from its throat, but through the chakra frequency still synced to the Root system.
"Null-00… you're late."
"I've already begun unraveling it all."
Konoha Surface – Training Ground 3Sasuke Uchiha threw another kunai at a tree stump, embedding it inches from the bullseye.
His Sharingan flickered on for a brief second.
"Again," he muttered.
He was on edge.
Because every time he blinked… he thought he saw something.
A flicker of movement in his periphery.
Not a chakra signature. Not a sound.
Just… something.
Watching.
He was used to being watched—Danzo's men always had their eyes on the last Uchiha. But this was different.
It was personal.
It felt like an echo of something he hadn't lived… but had almost lived.
Hokage's Tower – Intelligence RoomYamato reviewed the scan from the sub-basement.
"What the hell were you trying to access down there?" he whispered.
He froze the screen.
Zoomed in.
And his breath hitched.
A blurred frame of a boy. Dark hair. Konoha uniform. Emotionless stare.
"Who are you?" he whispered.
The Hokage entered behind him. Tsunade narrowed her eyes at the screen.
Then stiffened.
"You found him?"
Yamato turned. "You recognize him?"
"I don't," she said slowly. "But my chakra does."
The implications hit them both like a wave.
"That kid… shouldn't exist," Yamato muttered.
"But he does," Tsunade said. "And now the entire code is unraveling."
Phantom's Safehouse – Hidden QuarterPhantom sat in silence.
He could feel it now.
Another Null-Class was awake.
And unlike him… this one hadn't forgotten.
[Shadow Enlistment – Emergency Ping Received]
[Signal Origin: Unknown]
[Message Received: "You broke the protocol. Now I'll break you."]
He closed the interface.
But the message repeated—burned into his vision.
"You broke the protocol. Now I'll break you."
He looked down at his hand.
It trembled.
Not with fear.
With clarity.
Because now he knew.
This wasn't about survival.
This wasn't about Naruto or Sasuke anymore.
This was about the system.
The truth behind Root. The erased missions. The stolen years.
And a war not across nations—but across timelines.
He wasn't a soldier anymore.
He was a rebel.
Final Line – CliffhangerThat night, a kunai embedded itself in his doorframe.
Attached was a black slip of paper.
No ink.
No chakra trace.
Just four words burned in with heat:
"NULL-02 HAS AWAKENED."