Thomas Stone knew he was being followed the moment the forest went silent.
Birds vanished mid-call. Insects stilled. Even the wind felt like it was holding its breath.
He did not turn around.
He kept walking.
The woman clutched her son tighter beneath his cloak as they moved through the narrow forest path. Thomas adjusted his pace—slow enough to appear unguarded, fast enough to keep distance from the village ruins behind them.
But his chakra was already coiling.
One tailer. Skilled. Confident enough to stay close.
That confidence would be his mistake.
Thomas reached a narrow clearing where scorched stones lay half-buried beneath fallen leaves. He stopped abruptly.
"Stay behind me," he murmured.
Before fear could form a question, Thomas knelt, pressing two fingers to the ground.
His hands blurred.
Tiger → Ram → Horse → Snake
"Fire Style: Smolderbind Array."
Chakra sank into the earth like a breath drawn inward.
Nothing happened.
The woman frowned, confused.
Then—
The forest ignited.
Flames burst upward in a circular wall, erupting from the ground in precise, controlled columns. Fire licked the air silently at first, forming a blazing cage where the tailer should have been.
Thomas rose, eyes sharp.
"Now," he said coldly.
The flames collapsed inward.
But they closed on nothing.
A ripple in the air answered him.
The fire trap collapsed inward.
Empty.
Thomas's eyes widened—
Movement.
A sharp whistle sliced through the air.
"—!"
Thomas twisted on instinct, but not fast enough.
Steel kissed flesh.
A kunai tore past his guard and grazed his upper arm, ripping cloth and skin open in a thin, vicious line. Blood sprayed against the bark of a nearby tree.
The blade buried itself deep into the trunk behind him, still vibrating.
Thomas hissed, stumbling back a step as heat rushed to the wound.
"So you can bleed," a voice said calmly from above.
Thomas snapped his gaze upward.
The tailer stood balanced on a high branch, cloak fluttering slightly, posture relaxed—as if he hadn't just drawn first blood. His covered face angled downward, one eye glowing red through the dusk.
The Sharingan rotated slowly.
Thomas clenched his injured arm, forcing chakra through it to slow the bleeding.
"Cheap shot," he growled.
The tailer shrugged.
"You laid a trap," he replied. "I answered."
He flicked his wrist.
Another kunai dropped—not thrown, simply released.
Thomas reacted instantly, forming a quick hand seal as he spun aside. A burst of flame erupted where the blade struck the ground, deflecting it into the dirt with a sharp clang.
The tailer vanished.
Thomas felt it—chakra displacement—behind him.
He pivoted, fire blooming along his forearm as the attacker appeared mid-strike. Steel and flame collided inches from Thomas's throat, sparks exploding between them.
For a heartbeat, they were face to face.
The tailer's Sharingan locked onto Thomas's eyes.
"You hesitate," the man said quietly. "Because you're protecting something."
Thomas shoved him back with a burst of water chakra, creating space.
"And you're reckless," Thomas shot back, blood dripping from his arm. "Because you think you're untouchable."
The tailer landed lightly, kunai spinning between his fingers.
"Not untouchable," he corrected.
"Just early."
The forest darkened around them.
The tailer appeared several meters above the trap, flipping backward through the smoke with impossible grace. He landed soundlessly on a tree branch, crouched like a predatory animal.
Thomas's breath hitched—not in fear.
The forest didn't calm after the first clash.
It howled.
Trees smoldered. Steam rolled low across the ground like a living thing. The woman and child huddled behind a fallen log, the air around them still warm from near death.
Thomas Stone stood between them and the unknown.
Blood trickled down his arm.
He wiped it away with his thumb and raised his gaze.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
Across the clearing, the tailer straightened slowly from his crouch. His cloak was scorched now, edges glowing faintly like dying embers. One sleeve hung loose, revealing nothing beneath but more bandages.
Only the eyes mattered.
The Sharingan rotated lazily, as if amused.
"That's your first question?" the man said. "Not why you're here?"
Thomas exhaled smoke.
"I already know why I'm here," he said. "You don't belong in that answer."
The man chuckled.
Then he vanished.
Thomas reacted instantly—twisting, forming a hand seal mid-motion.
A surge of water blasted upward behind him, intercepting a blade of fire aimed straight for his spine. The impact detonated, throwing sparks across the forest floor.
The tailer reappeared on Thomas's left, knee driving forward—
Blocked.
Thomas caught the strike and slammed his elbow into the man's chest, following with a burst of fire chakra at point-blank range.
The blast hurled the tailer backward, carving a burning trench through leaves and dirt.
Thomas didn't let him recover.
He formed another seal, palms spreading wide.
Flames rose in a ring around the clearing—higher this time, angrier. The heat pressed in from all sides, turning the battlefield into a furnace.
"Answer me," Thomas growled, advancing. "Are you with the ones who did this?"
The Sharingan flared.
The tailer laughed—laughed—as he slid to a stop on one knee.
"'Did this'?" he echoed. "No. This was already done long before I arrived."
Thomas's eyes narrowed.
"So you watched."
"I listened," the man corrected. "To screaming. To begging. To promises that meant nothing."
He rose, spreading his arms.
"Villages always sound the same when they die."
Rage snapped inside Thomas like dry wood.
He attacked.
Water surged from beneath the tailer's feet, launching him skyward. Thomas followed, leaping impossibly high, fist wrapped in swirling flame.
The tailer twisted midair, fire exploding from his body in a violent counterburst. The collision cracked the air itself, sending a shockwave through the treetops.
They crashed back to the ground in opposite directions.
Thomas skidded, caught himself, and thrust his hand forward.
A compressed blast of fire roared across the clearing, cutting a burning path straight for the tailer's head.
The Sharingan spun faster.
The man ducked—but too late.
Flames tore across his shoulder, flesh sizzling beneath cloth.
He hissed in pain.
Thomas didn't stop.
He chained the attack, shifting chakra flow seamlessly—water rushing in behind the fire, crashing down like a tidal hammer.
The tailer slammed into the ground, coughing violently.
Thomas was on him in an instant, knee pressed into his chest, blade hovering inches from his throat.
"Who sent you," Thomas demanded. "Say it."
The Sharingan stared back at him—unblinking.
"No one sent me," the man said calmly. "I followed you."
That made Thomas pause.
"…Why?"
The man's lips curved beneath the bandages.
"Because you don't run," he said. "Because you still protect strangers. Because you don't understand yet."
Thomas's grip tightened.
"Understand what?"
The forest flickered.
For a fraction of a second, Thomas wasn't looking at the tailer anymore.
He was standing alone—villages burning behind him, bodies at his feet, his hands drenched in blood that wouldn't wash away.
He staggered back instinctively, breaking contact.
The illusion snapped.
The tailer rolled free, gasping.
"Careful," he said. "That was mercy."
Thomas steadied himself, heart pounding.
"You could've killed me," he said.
"Yes," the man replied. "But then who would ask the questions?"
They circled each other again, both injured now, both burning.
"Are you one of them?" Thomas asked. "One of the Five?"
The Sharingan flickered—just slightly.
"No," the man said. "But they know my name."
"Then whose side are you on?"
The tailer tilted his head, considering.
"I walk ahead of what's coming," he said finally. "Sometimes I warn it. Sometimes I hunt it."
"That doesn't answer anything."
"It's not meant to."
Fire erupted beneath Thomas's feet.
He leapt back as a wave of flame tore upward, trees igniting instantly. The tailer emerged from the inferno like a wraith, both hands blazing, chakra roaring uncontrolled now.
"Last question," Thomas shouted over the heat. "Why follow me?"
The man stopped.
For the first time, his voice lost its amusement.
"Because," he said, "your son will change everything."
Thomas's blood ran cold.
"What did you say?"
But the moment was gone.
The tailer slammed his hands together, fire and smoke exploding outward in a blinding vortex. Thomas shielded his eyes, forming a seal—
Too late.
When the smoke cleared, the man was gone.
Only scorched earth remained.
Thomas stood there, breathing hard, mind racing.
My son…
He turned back to the woman and child, forcing calm into his voice.
"We're leaving," he said. "Now."
High above the forest canopy, the tailer watched from the shadows, Sharingan slowly dimming.
"Kelvin Stone," he murmured. "Let's see if you survive long enough to matter."
And somewhere far away, a boy slept—unaware that his name had just been spoken like a curse.