Neon Shinobi: The Last Ghost

The air at Gridpoint Zero was thick with static, the scent of ozone clinging to the ruins of what was once a data hub. Towers of shattered servers loomed like the bones of some forgotten beast, their insides stripped bare long ago. This place had been dead for years, but something still pulsed beneath its surface—a signal, faint but persistent.

Naruto stepped forward, his boots crunching over debris. His sensors flickered, scanning for movement. The message had been clear. Someone wanted him here.

A low hum filled the air. Then, a voice—soft, synthetic, yet oddly familiar.

"You're faster than I expected."

A figure stepped from the shadows, their body wrapped in a sleek exosuit, plates of dark metal shifting with each movement. Their face remained hidden behind a visor, a cascade of data flowing across its surface.

Naruto didn't react. He had expected this. A test.

"You were the one in the archives," he said.

The figure tilted their head slightly. "And you're the anomaly. The one who shouldn't exist."

Naruto smirked. "Funny. I was about to say the same thing about you."

The air between them tensed.

Then they moved.

The figure struck first, their body blurring forward in a burst of kinetic energy. Naruto barely had time to register the movement before a blade of compressed plasma came slashing toward his chest.

He twisted, barely avoiding the strike, feeling the heat of the blade singe the edge of his synthetic skin. But his counter came instantly—his hand lashed out, fingers crackling with charged chakra.

The Plasma Rasengan formed in an instant, energy swirling with unstable force. He drove it forward—

The figure vanished.

A distortion in the air. A glitch in reality. Some kind of teleportation tech?

Naruto shifted his stance, eyes narrowing. He had fought teleporters before—Minato, Obito—but this wasn't the same. This was different. Less like warping space, more like rewriting it.

A voice whispered from behind.

"Impressive."

Naruto spun, fist lashing out—only to hit nothing but air.

Then the strike came. A sharp impact to his ribs, sending him skidding across the ruined floor. Systems recalibrated instantly, repairing the damage, but Naruto barely had time to recover before the next attack followed.

They weren't just fast. They were adapting.

Naruto grinned, wiping a smear of synthetic blood from his lip. "Alright. I'll admit it. You're good."

The figure stood a few meters away, their visor flickering. "And you're still holding back."

A pause.

Then Naruto laughed.

For the first time since waking in this world, he felt it—the thrill of a real fight.

The air crackled with power as he let his chakra flow freely, intertwining with the advanced systems in his body. His synthetic skin shifted, panels aligning into combat mode. His arms hummed with stored kinetic energy.

His opponent tensed. "Show me."

Naruto vanished.

This time, he was the blur.

His first strike shattered the sound barrier. His second came before the first had even landed. His third—

Connected.

The figure staggered, their systems struggling to compensate. Their teleportation glitched—just for a fraction of a second.

But that was all Naruto needed.

His palm slammed into their chest.

"Plasma Rasengan."

The explosion of energy ripped through the air, sending the figure flying through the remnants of a steel wall.

Silence followed.

Naruto exhaled, waiting.

Then, from the rubble, the figure laughed.

Not in pain. Not in anger.

But in understanding.

They rose to their feet, their visor flickering with something new.

"Now I see why they fear you."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Who's 'they'?"

A moment passed.

Then the figure lifted their visor.

Beneath it, their face was human. Scarred. Familiar.

"Because I used to be one of them."