Neon Shinobi: The Last Ghost

The rain came down in sheets, washing the streets in a ghostly glow as neon reflections flickered in every puddle. The city was restless, a beast that never slept. Naruto moved through the lower districts, past shadowed figures wrapped in synthetic cloaks, past beggars whose bodies were more machine than flesh, past towering monoliths of steel and circuitry.

The hunt had begun.

The voice from before still echoed in his mind, whispering in distorted fragments. "You are not alone, but you are not free either."

Who had sent that message? The enforcers? The one who had attacked him? Or someone else entirely?

His sensors flickered—movement in the periphery. He didn't stop walking, but his entire body tensed. A test. He shifted his sight spectrum, filtering out the neon glare. Heat signatures ghosted through the air, silhouettes hidden behind walls, tracking his every step.

They thought they were watching him.

They had no idea he was watching back.

Naruto exhaled, letting his chakra hum through the network of nanofibers laced into his metallic limbs. His body responded instantly, systems coming online with a silent pulse. He had learned something in his last fight—his power wasn't just his old chakra anymore. It had fused with the technology of this world, evolving into something new. His Rasengan wasn't just a sphere of raw energy—it was an unstable fusion of chakra, data streams, and compressed plasma. His movements weren't just instinct—they were enhanced by predictive algorithms, allowing him to react at speeds that no human could match.

And if that was the case…

Then his enemies had no chance.

A crackle of static—then the first attacker moved. A figure burst from the shadows, shrouded in a shifting cloak of active camouflage. Naruto barely turned as the assailant lashed out, a plasma-coated blade aiming straight for his spine.

Too slow.

Naruto twisted mid-step, his fingers catching the blade just before impact. The weapon crackled, struggling against his grip, but his cybernetic arm absorbed the heat, nullifying the damage.

The attacker barely had time to react before Naruto ripped the blade from their hands and drove a knee into their chest. The cloaking device shorted out, revealing a soldier wrapped in cybernetic augmentations, their face half-covered in a mechanical exoskeleton. They staggered, but before they could recover, Naruto was already behind them.

His fist came down—one strike, precise, calculated. The soldier collapsed, circuits in their body overloading as their systems fried.

But he wasn't done.

Two more emerged from the alleys, their weapons charged, targeting reticles locking onto him. Before they could fire, Naruto moved.

One instant he was standing in the rain. The next, he was a blur of motion.

A chakra-infused step sent him hurtling forward at speeds that bent the air around him. His foot touched the side of a building, and he pushed off, redirecting his trajectory mid-air. By the time the soldiers fired, he was already behind them.

He didn't waste a single movement.

His palm thrust forward—Plasma Rasengan.

The energy sphere formed in an instant, its surface shifting like liquid fire. He slammed it into the first attacker's back, sending them flying through a wall.

The last soldier hesitated. A mistake.

Naruto's hand shot out, fingers latching onto the soldier's visor. With one brutal motion, he ripped it off, exposing the terrified human eyes beneath.

The soldier gasped, frozen. Not a machine. A man.

Naruto stared at him for a long moment. Then, without a word, he released him.

The soldier didn't wait—he ran, disappearing into the depths of the city.

Naruto exhaled, letting the hum of battle fade from his body. He was getting stronger, faster. But with every fight, more questions rose.

Who were these people? Mercenaries? Enforcers? Or something worse?

And why did it feel like someone was testing him?

In the distance, something stirred. The city watched. The hunt was not over.

Not yet.