The next morning brought rain.
Not the soft kind that cleansed the earth—but cold, heavy rain that beat down on the cadet training fields like war drums. The sky above was a bruised gray, and the instructors decided to cancel morning drills.
Most cadets stayed huddled indoors.
I didn't.
The forest beyond the walls of the training camp wasn't exactly off-limits, but venturing too far into it without a squad was discouraged. Which, of course, made it the perfect place to find answers.
I moved silently between trees slick with rain, each step light on the soaked undergrowth. My Sharingan scanned every branch, every shadow.
It was still there.
That thing from last night.
Something unnatural.
A flicker—left. A branch moved—right. My reflexes snapped into gear. I leapt into a tree, scanning from above, pulse steady.
Then I saw it.
A figure.
Humanoid, tall, cloaked in mist and shadow. But wrong. Limbs too long. Skin pale and thin. No ODM gear. No weapons. No breath.
It turned toward me—no eyes. But it saw me.
I dropped to the ground, hand forming seals without thinking.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu."
A burst of smaller fireballs sprayed outward in a fan. The forest lit briefly with flame—and the thing vanished.
Not burned. Not destroyed.
Gone. Like it was never there.
Only the rain remained, now turning steam where fire met foliage.
And in the dirt, left behind—
A footprint. Human.
But something else beside it—an engraving. A small spiral mark, barely visible in the mud. My eyes widened.
It wasn't just a spiral. It was a symbol.
The Uchiha crest.
---
Back at the Barracks – Later That Day
"What happened to you?"
Eren asked the moment I returned, soaked, muddy, and quiet.
"Morning jog," I replied flatly, peeling off my damp jacket.
Mikasa was watching again, pretending not to. Armin sat nearby reading a book about Titan anatomy, though his eyes occasionally flicked to me with subtle curiosity.
I kept the discovery to myself—for now. That mark in the mud was impossible. If I had Madara's powers, that made some sense. But the idea that someone else—someone from my world, or my power—existed here?
That was something entirely different.
---
Meanwhile – At the Capital, Military Headquarters
Commander Erwin Smith stared at the report on his desk.
A cadet.
Not just skilled. Not just unusual.
But impossible.
"Performed flame-based attacks with no known technology or gear support… survived direct combat with a Titan using unknown techniques… reportedly moves faster than ODM gear allows..."
He frowned. "Sounds like a ghost story."
Levi leaned against the wall beside him, arms crossed.
"I saw it," he said.
Erwin's eyes snapped up. "You saw him?"
"During the breach in Trost. Barely a second. One of the Titans went down, its head turned into a cinder. No blades. No cannons. Just fire." Levi's expression was unreadable. "He looked right at me. Red eyes. Like a demon."
Erwin leaned back in his chair.
"And he's in the 104th, you're sure?"
Levi nodded.
Erwin steepled his fingers. "Keep watching him. If he's a threat—we deal with it. If he's an asset…"
"…then he could be what we've been waiting for," Levi finished.
---
Training Field – Two Days Later
"Today's drill is advanced sparring," Keith barked. "Paired combat. Real contact. No weapons."
I stretched lightly as cadets drew lots.
Mikasa got Reiner.
Jean groaned when he was paired with Connie.
And me?
"Looks like I'm your lucky partner," said a deep, confident voice.
I turned. Annie Leonhart.
Cold eyes. Lethal posture. A fighter to the bone.
She studied me like a blade sizes up its wielder.
"Don't hold back," she said.
I smirked. "I was about to say the same thing."
The sparring began.
Annie moved first—fast, low, precise. A leg sweep meant to take me off balance. I dodged, barely. Her movements were surgical. No wasted motion.
I blocked a strike, went for a counter—she pivoted, ducked, and aimed for my ribs.
I caught her wrist.
And that's when her expression changed.
Surprise. Just a flicker. She twisted out of it and backed off.
"You're not normal," she said flatly.
I activated Sharingan.
She tensed. Not fear—recognition.
"You've seen eyes like these before," I said.
She didn't deny it.
The next exchange was brutal. She came at me with techniques no cadet should know—brutal grapples, joint locks, fluid counters.
I met her. Step for step.
And then—I saw it.
For the briefest second, something shimmered beneath her skin. A glow. Like heat. Like steam.
I whispered, low enough for only her to hear: "You're not the only one hiding something."
Her eyes narrowed. "You saw that?"
I didn't answer.
But the fight ended in a draw.
We stood apart, neither of us breathing hard, though sweat clung to our foreheads.
Instructor Keith called it a tie, begrudgingly.
As Annie walked away, she glanced over her shoulder.
"We'll talk. Soon."
---
That Night – In the Forest Again
I returned to the mark.
It was gone.
But something else waited in its place.
A stone. Flat, smooth, engraved.
I picked it up and read the inscription etched into it.
"You are not the first. But you may be the last."
Beneath it, three symbols.
A Sharingan.
A Titan's eye.
And something I couldn't recognize—a third mark. A spiral like a whirlpool with chains around it.
I closed my hand around the stone.
Something was coming.
And I wasn't the only monster inside the Walls.