More than a thousand years had passed since Kaguya's fall. Even after the reestablishment of shinobi society, villains were still a constant threat.

To deal with them, the Five Elements Shinobi Alliance (FESA) was formed. The lands were divided equally among five nations, each named after the element most commonly wielded by their ninja.

Ninja from each nation now organized into teams, tracking down and neutralizing threats within — and sometimes beyond — their borders. Risking their lives had become a career, and it paid well.

Right now, the Land of Fire was dealing with unsettling rumors — whispers about strange beings, dubbed "Phantoms."

Officially, these sightings were written off as nothing more than urban legends, spooky campfire stories... at least, according to the leader of the Land of Fire.

The rumors spoke of horrifying creatures — slug-like monsters with massive arms and terrifying straight, blade-like teeth.

Though nothing had been confirmed, more and more villagers swore they'd seen them lurking near the borders.

At first, no one took it seriously. But when three villagers disappeared without a trace, investigations finally began.

Even then, the Hokage insisted that the disappearances and the Phantoms were "unrelated events."

He claimed there was no real evidence — no creatures, no threats.

But the truth was... no one really knew what the Hokage believed.

Was he genuinely unconvinced?

Or was he trying to stop the nation from spiraling into chaos?

What the Hokage didn't realize…

was that everything had already begun — and it was happening a lot closer than he thought.

Just a few dozen kilometers away, deep beneath the Great Fire Forest, a hidden laboratory thrived.

There, in one of the farthest chambers underground, four identical men were hard at work.

They were tall, slim, with long white hair and a sickly greenish tint to their skin.

Each wore the same black-striped, long-sleeved tunic and loose black pants, moving in eerie synchronicity as they hovered over a surgical table, experimenting on some strange, white sludge.

Next to them, a massive glass tank dominated the room.

Inside it floated a young boy — maybe nine or ten years old — suspended in a glowing liquid.

His skin was pale, his hair short and blue, and from the back of his neck, a thin root extended, connecting him to the tank itself.

For now, he seemed unconscious.

Then —

A red alarm light suddenly flashed.

Bubbles shot out from the boy's nose. His eyelids squeezed tight, fighting —

And then, slowly, they opened.

His eyes, crimson red, gleamed with a double tomoe around each iris.

Sharingan.

His hand clenched into a tight fist — and with a crackling roar, he shattered the glass, flooding the lab with the tank's fluid as he dropped to the floor.

"Dammit! MS06 has broken loose!" one of the men shouted, scrambling back.

"Relax! We just have to capture him!" another snapped.

"He's the only successful MS experiment! We can't lose him!"

The four rushed in, but the boy was far too fast.

Before a full minute had even passed, he moved like a blur:

— First, he struck one in the face and gut with palm blows, then finished with a sharp knuckle jab to the throat.

— He leapt toward the next, landing with both knees on the man's shoulders, twisting mid-air with a vicious snap of the neck.

— In a flash, he slammed the third into the surgical table, cracking his skull open.

The last scientist — standing guard by the door — could only mutter, "We never should've given him muscle memory and—"

Before he could finish, the boy launched forward, kicking him square in the face and sending him flying through the door.

The corridor outside was empty — for now.

Wasting no time, the boy darted into the nearest room.

Luckily, it was vacant — a small armory packed with ninja weapons, clothing, and scrolls.

It felt almost like a war cache.

One scroll caught his eye: "MS06 Experiment — Uchiha Sanada."

His own name. His own code.

It confirmed everything: everyone here was his enemy.

And he had no intention of sticking around to find out what they wanted next.

Sanada quickly gathered all the gear he could find:

— A black shirt with the Uchiha clan crest on the back.

— A dark brown jacket with deep pockets.

— Black pants and dark boots.

— Ninja pouches, kunai holders, and a sturdy backpack.

He also selected a collection of scrolls that felt important:

"The Uchiha Clan"

"Advanced Fire Techniques"

"Five Great Nations Mapping"

"Advanced Earth Techniques"

"Intermediate Taijutsu"

"Advanced Lightning Techniques"

"Advanced Water Techniques"

"Moon Style: Kenjutsu Techniques"

"Advanced Ninjutsu Techniques"

Sanada strapped on a katana — a Kusanagi-style blade — and got moving.

Back in the corridor, the bodies were gone.

The enemy knew he had escaped.

His Sharingan picked up chakra signatures rapidly approaching.

Too many.

Avoid fighting.

He picked the paths with the least resistance, cutting down a few three-man squads with surgical precision — one or two strikes was all it took.

Eventually, he found a massive staircase leading up.

At the surface, moonlight greeted him — but so did eight more enemies pouring out of the underground base.

Sanada smirked.

Outrunning them through the dense forest was child's play with his Sharingan active.

Once he lost them, he stumbled onto a hidden cave and finally stopped to breathe.

There, under the safety of darkness, he unrolled his scrolls and started reading.

First: "The Uchiha Clan."

It told an old, almost poetic story:

how half the descendants of the Rabbit Goddess's elder son inherited the Sharingan and became the Uchiha Clan.

How their cousins, the Senju, inherited different powers — and how their ancestors had once been bitter rivals, even if modern times knew peace between clans.

It also spoke of the Uchiha's natural affinity for fire techniques — pushing "Advanced Fire Techniques" higher up Sanada's reading list.

Next, he opened the file labeled "Experiment MS06."

It detailed horrific truths:

How the MS series was designed to eliminate the natural risks of awakening the Sharingan's full power — to create super soldiers born ready for battle.

Sanada — MS06 — was the only survivor.

He had technically died for a few minutes… but somehow, after merging his DNA with a sample from the Divine Tree, he stabilized.

Worse still, they had used the Tree's roots to implant battle memories directly into his mind — turning him into a living weapon.

The rage burning inside him was volcanic.

To them, he was nothing more than a lab rat.

He exhaled deeply, burying his fury.

Then he opened the scroll titled "Five Great Nations Mapping."

If he wanted to survive — and find out who he really was — he needed to know exactly where he was first.