The Land of Waves was quiet—too quiet.
A light mist coiled around the trees, soaking Phantom's flak jacket as he crouched low beside Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. The mission to escort Tazuna had taken a sharp turn after the Demon Brothers ambushed them on the road. And now… Zabuza Momochi had shown up.
But this chapter wasn't about the Demon of the Mist.
It was about the cracks forming within Team 7—and the bloodline Phantom was never meant to remember.
"Stay behind me," Kakashi ordered, his Sharingan eye revealed and glowing faintly.
Phantom didn't respond. His gaze wasn't on Zabuza anymore—it was on the figure hiding in the mist.
Another presence. Slight. Precise. Watching from a distance.
He recognized the chakra pattern instantly.
Haku.
But more importantly—what lay buried inside Haku's blood.
Not Ice Release.
Something… older.
Something that tugged at the locked fragments in his own mind like a key brushing past rusted metal.
System Notification[Bloodline Detection: Class-S Anomaly]
[Signature: Mirror Pulse – Temporal Reversal Trait Detected]
[Compatibility: 38.2%]
[Warning: Fragmented Memory Data Correlation Detected – Bloodline Match Possible]
The words made his breath catch.
Haku's bloodline wasn't just a rare kekkei genkai.
It was connected to Phantom's own lost lineage.
A lineage Danzo tried to erase from every record.
Flashback Fragment: Unknown TimelineTwo figures knelt before Danzo in the Root chamber.
One had silver eyes and long hair bound in cords.
The other… wore a mask that was cracked through the left eye.
"They're not ready," Danzo said. "Kill them if they diverge."
"Even the girl?" the silver-eyed one asked.
"Especially the girl."
The memory shattered like glass.
Back in the present, Phantom's fists clenched.
The cold in his blood wasn't from the mist—it was from recognition. Haku wasn't just a mirror wielder. That blood carried a dormant ability from the same root family line as his own.
But how?
Danzo had wiped out everyone tied to the Mirror Pulse trait.
Unless…
Unless Haku was a survivor from another divergence.
Another timeline.
Phantom's pulse quickened.
That meant the game was wider than even Echo had hinted.
The fight with Zabuza raged. Kakashi unleashed his Sharingan fully, countering Zabuza's silent killing style, while Naruto and Sasuke protected Tazuna and Sakura clung to the edges of battle, eyes wide with fear and awe.
But Phantom didn't move.
He focused on the shadows between the trees.
There.
A flicker.
Haku.
He moved, quiet as death, threading through mist and illusion like a phantom. His kunai stayed sheathed—this wasn't a kill mission. This was extraction.
He needed answers.
And Haku might hold the key.
Edge of the Battlefield – Mist-Shrouded Trees"You're not supposed to see me," Haku said softly, voice calm as a still pond.
"I see too much," Phantom replied. "And not enough."
They faced each other under the veil of mist, alone but not unaware. Haku's chakra was restrained, elegant. Not hostile. Defensive.
"You're not from here," Phantom said.
Haku's eyes widened slightly. "What makes you think that?"
"Your chakra isn't local. It ripples like mine. Like Echo's. Like someone who shouldn't exist in this version of the world."
"You're mistaken," Haku said, though not convincingly.
"Then let me cut through the lie."
He flared his chakra—just enough to send a signal.
[Command Input: Code Phantom – Reactivate Forgotten Protocols]
[Unlocking Sequence… 27%]
[Temporal Link Detected – Mirror Pulse Memory Chain Initiated]
The world around them blurred for half a second. The trees flickered. The mist reversed like a video being rewound.
And for a heartbeat, they were somewhere else.
Another place.
Another time.
A mission room filled with black ops—ANBU who didn't speak.
Phantom and Haku—without masks—sat side by side.
They were partners once.
They snapped back into the present.
Haku stumbled, breath hitched. "No… no, you were—dead. I saw it."
"I was erased. Just like you were supposed to be."
Their eyes locked, no longer as strangers.
"Zabuza doesn't know what you are," Phantom said. "And Danzo will come for you the moment he realizes what blood you carry."
"He can try," Haku said, chakra forming around his hands like frozen petals. "I'll die before I serve again."
"That's not what I want," Phantom said. "I want you to remember."
Before Haku could respond, two things happened at once:
Zabuza let out a cry as Kakashi pierced through his water clone.
A kunai, marked with Root seal script, landed between Phantom and Haku.
Haku's eyes narrowed.
Phantom turned his head slowly.
A figure emerged from the mist, white ANBU mask with red talon marks.
"Null-Class traitor detected," the agent said.
Another Root assassin.
Sent not for Haku—
But for Phantom.
They attacked.
Phantom's blade met the assassin's in a clash that sent shockwaves through the mist. Haku backed away, uncertain. The Root agent fought like a phantom—no emotion, no pause.
But Phantom was no longer the weapon Danzo forged.
He countered the strike, flowed into a shadow spin, and slammed a chakra disruption seal into the assassin's chest. The agent collapsed—but not before whispering:
"The Council knows. Your bloodline has awakened."
Phantom's eyes widened.
His bloodline.
The agent dissolved into smoke—clone.
A warning.
Which meant the real assassin wasn't alone.
Haku stepped forward, expression unreadable.
"I don't trust you," he said. "But I believe we knew each other—once."
"We did," Phantom said. "And I think our past is about to catch up."
From deeper in the forest, more chakra signatures flickered.
Fast.
Organized.
Tracking him.
Danzo's real team was here.
Phantom turned to Haku. "If I fall, he'll find you next."
Haku shook his head.
"Then we don't fall."
And with that, they vanished into the mist—together.
Back at the battlefield, Kakashi turned suddenly.
His Sharingan caught the flicker of distant motion.
A blur of black and silver—
Phantom, retreating.
"Hmph," he muttered. "He's making moves of his own."
Naruto looked up from where he was helping Tazuna. "Did Phantom leave again?"
Kakashi didn't answer.
But the way his eye narrowed said everything.
In the Hokage Tower, Danzo stood before the council elders.
He held a scroll in one hand.
Phantom's bloodwork.
"A new threat is emerging," he said flatly.
"Another?" Homura asked. "We've barely dealt with the Uchiha fallout."
"This one is older," Danzo said. "And if he remembers everything…"
He handed over a single document, sealed in red ink.
It read:
Null-Class Directive Reinstated: Terminate Project Phantom.