The room was cold.
Not from the temperature, but from the intent behind it. The walls were steel, reinforced with chakra-seal etchings and layered suppression runes. The air smelled sterile, metallic, dead.
Ardyn sat in a chair at the center of the room, wrists unbound, eyes closed. He wasn't restrained. He didn't need to be. The room itself was a cage.
And yet, it was the others who were trapped.
[System Log: Chakra dampening field active. Suppresses abilities by 84%. Remaining Void access: 11%.]
Still enough, he thought.
The door creaked open behind him.
Footsteps. Calm. Calculated. Heavy with presence.
He didn't need to turn around to recognize the man.
Shimura Danzo.
The infamous shadow of Konoha. The man who operated in whispers and bloodstains. The founder of ROOT, Konoha's underground black-ops division.
Danzo stopped just behind him. "You're quite the enigma, boy."
Ardyn said nothing.
"I've seen hundreds of chakra flows in my lifetime. Yours… is unnatural. Twisted. Muted, yet… endless."
Still, Ardyn remained silent.
Danzo circled around to face him, one eye bandaged, the other sharp like a blade honed for war.
"No records. No memories. No origin. The Hokage may be content to observe you… but I am not."
He leaned in. "Tell me who you really are."
Ardyn opened his eyes.
The room dimmed.
A flicker of black lightning danced across his iris, gone in an instant.
"I am what your village was never prepared for."
Danzo's lips curled into a thin smile. "You speak boldly for someone in my hands."
"I'm not in your hands."
He stood slowly, ignoring the activation of the chakra suppression field. The lights above flickered. The seals on the walls hissed.
[SYSTEM OVERRIDE: PARTIAL DOMAIN EXPANSION ALLOWED | 5 SECONDS MAXIMUM]
"Who are you working for?" Danzo asked.
Ardyn tilted his head. "Do you think you're the only one who watches from the shadows?"
And then—
The walls cracked.
Dark tendrils shot out, weaving through the room like veins under skin. For five seconds, the Void bled into reality. The runes screamed as they were overwritten by an alien algorithm.
The lights burst.
Danzo took a step back. ANBU scrambled outside the door, their chakra signatures flaring in confusion.
And then it was over.
Everything returned to normal.
Except now… Danzo was sweating.
Ardyn sat back down.
"I allowed you that display," Danzo said, voice tight. "It changes nothing."
"Of course it does," Ardyn replied smoothly. "You won't report me to Tsunade. You'll cover this up. And you'll watch. Because deep down, you don't want to destroy power. You want to control it."
Danzo's fists clenched at his side.
"Tell me I'm wrong," Ardyn whispered.
Silence.
Then Danzo turned on his heel. "Put him under surveillance. Tier-2 clearance. No interaction unless ordered."
"Yes, sir," came the voice from outside.
The door shut with finality.
[SYSTEM NOTICE: DANZO FLAGGED AS FUTURE HOSTILE – OBSERVATION MODE ENGAGED]
[KONOHA INTEGRATION PROGRESS: 12%]
[SKILL GAINED: VOID PULSE – Disruptive aura that interferes with seal-based detection and minor genjutsu effects.]
Later that night – East District
Ardyn returned to the orphanage without incident. But he wasn't alone.
Someone was watching him.
He stood outside the building, moonlight casting his long shadow on the gravel path. Across the street, a figure perched on a rooftop. Hooded. Still.
Not ANBU.
Not a sensor ninja.
Not a threat.
Yet.
Ardyn raised his hand slowly in greeting.
The figure vanished.
He didn't follow.
Instead, he entered his room and sat cross-legged on the floor. His system interface flickered into view.
NEW TIMELINE NODE DETECTED:
NAME: SAI
AFFILIATION: ROOT
STATUS: Emotionally Suppressed, Potential Defector
DANGER LEVEL: LOW
INTEREST LEVEL: MODERATE
Sai.
A potential ally… or a useful pawn.
Three Days Later – Academy Grounds
Tsunade made good on her word. She arranged for him to be tested and integrated into Konoha's Genin track. Not because she trusted him, but because she wanted him monitored.
The academy teacher assigned to him was none other than Iruka Umino.
Kind. Observant. Soft in all the wrong ways.
Ardyn answered only the necessary questions, performed well in all physical drills, and aced the chakra control test—without revealing even a fraction of his true potential.
He let others underestimate him.
It made the power he would reveal later all the more terrifying.
During lunch, he sat beneath the academy's oldest tree.
Alone.
Until she approached.
"H-hey… you're the new kid, right?"
He looked up.
Hinata Hyuga.
Timid. Kind-hearted. Shy.
But powerful. And with blood that tied to secrets buried deep within the Void itself.
He said nothing.
She blushed and fidgeted. "I-I just… thought you might want company."
He tilted his head.
"…Do you often speak to shadows?"
Hinata blinked. "W-what?"
"You should learn to see what others hide in the dark. Before it sees you first."
She took a step back, unnerved.
And yet, she stayed.
He didn't push her away.
[NEW BRANCH OPTION: HINATA RELATIONSHIP PATH UNLOCKED – Outcomes Vary Based on Influence Level]
That Night – Hokage Office
Tsunade stared at the latest report.
Unregistered child. No signs of deception. Yet chakra signatures show irregular surges. Witnesses mention odd behavior. Multiple ANBU report momentary spatial disruptions in the East District.
Something wasn't adding up.
And now, someone had left a message at her door.
One word.
Scrawled in void-dark ink.
"Heir."
She crumpled the paper and stood abruptly. "Get Jiraiya."
"But, Hokage-sama—"
"Now."
Elsewhere – In the Forest Beyond Konoha
A cloaked figure stood at the edge of a stone altar, eyes glowing red beneath his hood.
Uchiha Itachi.
Beside him, a second presence shimmered into view. Black cloak with red clouds. Orange spiral mask.
Tobi.
"You feel it too," Tobi murmured. "Something unnatural has entered this timeline."
Itachi didn't respond immediately.
Then he spoke.
"…A disturbance."
Tobi chuckled. "And disturbances must be… corrected."
[CHAPTER END | NEXT: THE UCHIHA WHO SEES BEYOND FATE]