If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my Patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/Its_Zack/"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want!
/-\
The train's maglev hum was faint beneath their boots, but it filled the silence between Luro and Kiera as the tunnel stretched in endless darkness ahead. Light panels flickered sporadically along the curved ceiling, glitching with every third flick. It was a decommissioned route no city surveillance, no live drones. Just stale air and walls lined with old fiber bundles and steel veins that hadn't seen real power in decades.
Kiera walked with one hand on the hilt of her compact baton, shoulders tense but eyes sharp. Luro had pulled the old access logs from a municipal archive chip three weeks back, an Echo signal had pulsed from this line for forty-two seconds before vanishing completely. That same signal had been traced to a fragment of the ARASHI protocol just days ago.
"This feels like a trap," Luro muttered.
Kiera snorted. "That's optimistic. A trap would mean they think we're a threat."
The corridor bent slightly as they reached a switch junction. There, beside a rusted inspection panel, a small glowing glyph pulsed faintly.
Kiera crouched, gloved fingers tracing the symbol.
"Definitely shinobi-made," she murmured.
Luro leaned closer. "It's in Uzushio script. That's pre-integration. Sealing glyph, probably passive surveillance ward."
Kiera straightened, dusting off her palms. "Whoever left it wanted to know who passed through here. Which means we're not the first."
They followed the tracks further until the tunnel widened into a small station abandoned, but not untouched. A bank of old vending terminals flickered softly in the gloom, and the turnstile gates had been removed entirely. Stacked crates and fabric-wrapped bundles lay in a corner.
Someone had been squatting here.
Kiera motioned silently, sweeping left, while Luro moved to inspect the crates. Most were empty, save for a few faded rations, old tech parts, and a sealed data brick.
She turned as Luro held it up. "It's encrypted. Looks like a ghost format one of those military-grade, memory-staggered encoding bricks. You only get three chances before it wipes itself."
"Can you break it?"
"Maybe. I've seen these before. They were used by sector-aligned shinobi cells after the fracture wars. Used to carry clean copies of protocol stacks. Could be tied to ARASHI."
Kiera nodded slowly. Her attention drifted to the far corner of the platform, where faint scrape marks on the ground led toward a wall that looked too intact.
"Here," she said, kneeling and brushing away the dust. Her fingers tapped along the edges, then paused at a jagged seam.
Luro moved beside her. "Hidden compartment?"
She pulled her baton and jabbed it forward not hard, just enough to hit a sensor.
The wall split with a hiss.
Behind it lay a narrow stairwell plunging downward. Air filtered up dry, metallic, with the scent of ozone and faintly scorched copper. Something had been powered here, recently.
The two exchanged a look before descending.
Below the stairwell, they entered what had once been a data relay hub now stripped, gutted, and refitted. Fiber bundles had been ripped out and replaced with organic-looking cable mesh, pulsing faintly. At the center of the room stood a terminal a curved shell of unknown alloy, etched with swirling patterns that shimmered as Kiera approached.
Echo's sigil marked the floor beneath it.
"A shrine," Luro said, voice tight. "They're treating this like it's sacred."
"No." Kiera's eyes scanned the ceiling, then the edges of the walls. "This is a relay node. It's not for worship. It's for transmission."
She pulled a cracked data slate from her pack and started a passive scan. The screen came to life with swirling data trails archaic code, fragmented sequences stitched with what looked like chakra constructs, though digitally rendered.
Luro's eyes narrowed. "ARASHI isn't a weapon."
Kiera looked at him.
"It's a failsafe."
He walked slowly to the main console. "You remember that name Echo dropped in the last burst? Karasu?"
Kiera nodded. "The one tied to the vault coordinates."
"It's not just a name. It's a protocol subset. ARASHI-Karasu was rumored to be a cognitive fragment stored consciousness from a pre-integration shinobi. If Echo was trying to resurrect it…"
Kiera finished the thought. "Then Echo isn't acting alone. It's relaying orders."
Luro stepped back, visibly disturbed. "That means someone survived. Or someone was preserved. A shinobi mind, encoded and buried in the protocol stack."
"And it's waking up," Kiera said softly.
At that moment, the terminal pulsed. A low-frequency tone spread through the room like a breath.
A projection blinked into life.
It wasn't human not fully. A faceless, semi-transparent avatar, its features a blur of angular shadows and drifting script. But its voice was sharp. Male. Calm.
"Designated unit recognized. ARASHI-node 17 engaged. Awaiting input."
Kiera blinked. "It responded to you."
Luro stepped forward. "Request: relay status. Source: Karasu."
"Karasu: active. Containment parameters breached. Countdown initiated."
A chill swept the room.
Kiera's fingers flew across her pad. "It's on a timer. Whatever was locked up, it's not just stirring it's scheduled to wake."
The projection's light dimmed, and the avatar turned as if looking directly at Aiden though he wasn't there.
"Exile profile registered. Uchiha node proximity: high probability. Directive: converge."
Kiera felt her stomach twist.
"It's looking for him."
Meanwhile, across the city, Aiden stood on the rooftop of a crumbling administration block, watching a cargo zeppelin drift past the burnt orange horizon. His breath was even, arms folded. The wind tugged at his coat.
He'd been meditating.
Trying.
But his chakra was... restless.
Ever since he touched the sphere again, it had been harder to contain. Not volatile, just... aware. Sometimes, it responded to things before he thought them. At night, it pulsed faintly under his skin. A call. A warning. A memory.
He didn't recognize it. But part of him did.
Behind him, Drey approached carefully, holding two mugs of caf. "Brought you the least bad one," he offered.
Aiden accepted it wordlessly.
Drey took a long sip, grimaced. "I'm going to rename this flavor 'Despair with hints of charred wire.'"
Aiden didn't laugh, but the corner of his mouth twitched.
Drey sat on the ledge beside him. "Kiera and Luro checked in. Found something under the transit lines. An active node, part of ARASHI. Said it spoke."
Aiden didn't move.
"They think it's after you."
Still nothing.
Drey's voice dropped. "They said a name. Karasu."
Aiden blinked once.
Then twice.
"Do you know it?" Drey asked.
"No," Aiden said slowly. "But I've heard it. In dreams."
He set the mug down and stared at the horizon.
"I think something's waking up."
Drey glanced sideways. "You mean the protocol?"
"No," Aiden said. "I mean me."
Back beneath the transit lines, the avatar flickered.
It replayed a fragment of an ancient directive: a voice, distorted, echoing like a whisper from time.
"Preserve the bloodline. Secure the exile. When dusk rises, the storm begins."
Kiera met Luro's eyes.
Neither spoke.
But the silence said everything.
/-\
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my Patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/Its_Zack/"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want.