The wind howled as dusk fell over Konoha, casting long shadows across the rooftops. Somewhere in the underbelly of the city, the boy known as Phantom stood on a rusted pipeline overlooking the abandoned Sector Nine. Blood dried on his palm, bandaged now with torn cloth. His breath was calm—but his mind was a storm.
He'd walked the Fallen Path.
He remembered Kari. Her voice, her death, her place beside him in a world that no longer existed.
But there was someone else.
A face blurred by static.
A voice that haunted the edges of his dreams, deeper than even the Root programming could reach.
Tonight, he would find it.
Elsewhere in the Hokage's Tower, a scroll sat sealed with five chakra-locks. Hiruzen stood before it, fingers tracing the kanji etched along the surface.
"Classified: Project Phantom - Timeline Alpha Rejection."
"Kakashi," the Hokage said, his voice low.
The jonin appeared a heartbeat later, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a battered copy of Icha Icha Tactics.
"You've read this?" Hiruzen asked.
Kakashi nodded, eye narrowing. "Not since before the Uchiha purge."
"And you never told him?"
"I didn't think he survived the fold," Kakashi replied, gaze drifting. "That boy... he was a myth. A ghost from the first draft of this reality."
Hiruzen sighed. "He's not a ghost anymore."
[Memory Reboot Pending]
[Triggering Fragment Detected]
[Subject Identity Match: "Kakashi Hatake" – Former Squad Leader]
[Would you like to access suppressed file: "Mission Black Veil – Final Orders"]
→ [Yes]
Phantom collapsed to one knee as the memory override slammed into his mind like a kunai through the skull.
He was standing in a field of white.
Snow falling.
Bodies littered around him—all wearing Leaf headbands.
And ahead of him stood Kakashi—face bloodied, Sharingan spinning.
"You're not supposed to be here!" Kakashi roared. "This mission was redacted! Your existence was—"
"Erased," Phantom finished, stepping forward in the memory. "I was disavowed."
Kakashi's voice trembled. "You were thirteen."
"And already beyond saving."
[Memory Complete – File Unlocked: "Black Veil Protocol"]
[Status: Reaper Class Operative – Assigned Target: Naruto Uzumaki]
[Final Outcome: Mission Failed – Timeline Rewritten]
[Casualties: 137 | Status: Forgotten by All]
[System Verdict: Ineligible for Resurrection – Ghost Protocol Initiated]
Phantom stumbled back in the real world, heart hammering.
So that was it.
He had been assigned to kill Naruto.
He had failed.
And the cost of that failure had been the collapse of an entire branch of time.
A world where the Leaf fell from within.
A world where Phantom had been the executioner... and the martyr.
That was the part that hurt the most.
Because now, even Kakashi—the man who trained him—couldn't look him in the eye.
Back in the Academy, Naruto stood on the rooftop.
He didn't know why, but his chest felt heavy. Like something big was coming. Something old.
"Hey," he muttered, "old man, what're you hiding?"
Below, Sakura called up to him. "Naruto! Come down already, class is starting!"
But Naruto didn't move.
He just stared up at the moon.
"Someone's watching us," he whispered.
And he was right.
In the far edges of Konoha, masked ANBU operatives moved in silence.
But these weren't regular operatives.
They were Ghost Division.
The last remnants of Danzo's off-the-books assassination squads. Trained in the shadows. Forgotten by history.
And they were hunting Phantom.
Not to kill.
But to reclaim.
That night, Phantom stood before a derelict shack on the outskirts of the Training Forest.
The place looked abandoned—but his senses screamed otherwise.
He stepped inside.
And immediately, the seal embedded in the door activated.
Chakra chains burst from the floor, wrapping around him, pinning him to the wall.
[Warning: Suppression Seal Engaged]
[System Access Severed – Physical Strength Reduced 45%]
"Well, well," a voice said from the shadows.
Kakashi stepped forward, Sharingan glowing.
"Took you long enough."
Phantom didn't struggle. "You knew I'd come here."
"I remembered this place," Kakashi replied. "We trained here. You and Kari."
The name twisted something inside Phantom.
"I need answers."
Kakashi narrowed his eye. "Then tell me this—what's the last thing she said to you?"
Phantom hesitated.
"Don't let them turn you into nothing."
Kakashi's jaw tightened. He lifted a hand—and the chains dissolved.
They sat together in the dust and silence.
Two ghosts from two timelines.
Phantom finally asked the question.
"Why didn't you save me?"
Kakashi didn't look away. "Because they convinced me you weren't worth saving. That you were a broken tool."
"And now?"
"I think they were wrong."
Silence.
Then Kakashi pulled out a sealed tag and placed it on Phantom's arm.
"This will keep Danzo from tracking you. For a while."
"Why help me now?"
Kakashi looked him in the eye. "Because I remembered what it felt like to lose Obito. I'm not doing it again."
Outside, unseen by either of them, a figure watched from the trees.
Sai.
Holding a sketchbook, hands trembling slightly.
He drew Phantom's face again.
Then tore the page out and let it drift away.
Behind him, a single Root operative whispered, "Orders?"
Sai didn't respond.
Because for the first time in years… he wasn't sure whose side he was on.
[System Alert: Bonded Memory Triggered – "Kakashi Hatake: Unsealed Connection"]
[Skill Tree Updated – Shadow Legacy Techniques Unlocked]
[New Passive: Ghost Adaptation – Enhanced resistance to detection, memory manipulation, and reality bends]
[Synchronization: 84%]
Phantom's body glowed with faint blue light.
Power surged through his limbs.
The past wasn't just catching up to him.
It was arming him.