(The valley is quiet. The air is still warm from the fires that have been extinguished on the ground. Arden stands, leaning on his katana, smoke and blood tearing his eyes. Minato lowers his weapon and walks away slowly. Both are breathing heavily, but there is something shining in their eyes that no war can extinguish—brotherhood.)
Minato:
"You're good, Arden…but don't forget—control is the key. Without it, even the biggest flame means nothing."
(Arden doesn't answer. He just nods, looking down. For a moment, he seems about to speak, but then… a voice from the shadows breaks the silence.)
Lyra (quietly but firmly):
"Enough both of you."
(A girl emerges from the mist, thin but sure in her step. Her lavender eyes glisten in the sun, and the medical belt around her waist bears the symbol of Thalassa — the Kingdom of Water. She holds a small box of bandages and an elixir in her hands. She looks over the two, disappointed but gentle.)
Lyra:
"If you want to kill yourself, do it when I don't have to patch you up afterwards."
(Minato laughs softly, almost relieved. Arden, however, looks away, slightly embarrassed. She sheathes the katana.)
Arden:
"It wasn't serious."
Lyra:
"Yeah? Tell that to your shoulder that looks like you burned it from the inside."
(he approaches him, puts his hand on his shoulder, and the water starts to glow slightly blue — the healing energy passes through his skin)
"Fire always leaves a mark. And I don't just mean burns."
(Arden holds his breath but says nothing. Minato watches them from a distance, calm, hands clasped behind his back. For the first time, he sees how someone can touch his brother without him reacting coldly or aggressively.)
Minato (quietly to himself):
"Perhaps she will…find what the war cannot erase from him."
(Lyra finishes her treatment, sighs, and looks Arden straight in the eye.)
Lyra:
"Don't fight for no reason, Arden. You have strength—but if you use it to prove to yourself that you're alive… you'll lose what makes you human."
(Arden slowly exhales cigarette smoke, his eyes soften for a moment.)
Arden:
"Maybe it's too late for that."
(Lyra looks at him, then turns to leave. At the exit from the valley she just adds quietly, almost in a whisper.)
Lyra:
"It's never too late for a flame to find a reason to burn."
(She leaves. Arden remains watching her, while for the first time there is something in his eyes that is neither anger nor indifference—but a question.)
Minato:
"Rest Vex. You're about to get your first real mission."
(The camera slowly pans out, showing a valley lit by sunset. Arden stands alone, hand on katana, looking in the direction Lyra went.
The wind brings smoke, but also silence.
From a distance, the narrator speaks softly.)
Narrator:
"Behind every flame, there is a reason why it burns…
Arden is yet to discover his own."
(Shadow HQ, in the center of San Valley. Night. In the center of the burning camp, a map of the region is spread out on a wooden table. Illuminated only by the flame of a lantern. Minato stands over it, and opposite him is Captain Amon, still in his armor, with the marks of battle on his arms. There is a silence in the tent after victory—a silence that never lasts long.)
Ammon:
"Fifteen days of cleaning... and again, silence. Like something worse is waiting for us."
Minato:
"War is never silent without a reason. When you stop hearing the enemy, it means he is already watching you."
(Amon laughs slightly, but his gaze remains serious. He points with his hand to the western part of the map.)
Ammon:
"Dust is rising in the west. Earth Clan—resilient bastards. If we don't press them now, by winter they'll cross the river and shut us down."
Minato:
"I know. That's why you're going. Take your men, head for the Western Front. They're your kind of adversary—stubborn and persistent."
(Amon tightens his belt, nods, and claps his fist to his chest in respect.)
Ammon:
"And you?"
Minato:
"North. The rest of Lightning Clan have retreated to the Voltaris Mountains. There are still enough to wreak havoc. I lead the Shadow."
Ammon:
"Senku... means your brother."
Minato (smiles slightly):
"And him. And his friends. Rin, Taro… and the medical squad. Lyra will lead them."
(Amon rolls his eyes, but with a smile.)
Ammon:
"A girl in the mountains. Sounds like a bad beginning to a song."
Minato:
"Or as a good start to a legend."
(Both laugh, but soon fall silent again. Their eyes fall on the map — places marked with red symbols of the clans: earth, fire, lightning. The war lasting five years has left furrows both on the map and on their faces.)
Ammon:
"How much longer, Minato? How much longer will we divide this world by element?"
Minato (quietly):
"Until someone lights a flame that hate won't put out."
(Amon looks at him, not fully grasping the meaning. Minato adds nothing. He just looks down at the inked name — Northern Front: Voltaris — and underlines it.)
(Just then, Arden enters the tent — unmasked. He pauses for a moment when he sees Amon.)
Ammon:
"Shadow without a shadow… I never thought I'd see you again without that fox on your face."
Arden:
"Neither will I see you alive again."
(Amon laughs and walks past him, slapping him on the shoulder.)
Ammon:
"I leave the North to you, Vex. Show them fire can still bite."
(He exits the tent. Arden looks at his brother and Minato just nods.)
Minato:
"Tomorrow at dawn we leave. You, Rin, Taro and Lyra. The north awaits us."
(Arden nods. He goes outside, and the wind blows the ashes of the campfires. The sky on the horizon is brightening — somewhere far away, in the mountains, the Lightning Clan is preparing another storm.)
Narrator:
"The West will sink into stone. The North will burn in flames."
Two leaders — two wars.
And between them… the flame that will decide the end."
(Twelve days of travel have passed. The Shadow Convoy is moving through the harsh northern mountains of Voltaris—snow, mist, and a cold, knife-slicing wind. At the head of the march—Minato, right behind him, Arden, Rin, and Taro. Behind them, a medical squad led by Lyra carries the wounded and supplies. The silence of the mountains is broken—first by a single whistle, then by hundreds…lightning strikes the ground.)
Minato (raising his hand):
"Ambush! To positions!"
(The ground explodes. Lightning Clan ninjas emerge from the mist, their eyes glowing blue. The battle begins — chaos turns to fire. Arden activates his power, his eyes glow a shade of red, and flames erupt from the ground, engulfing the first wave of enemies.)
Enemy Commander:
"Shadow! That must be him—the Vex! Take him down!"
(The five leap at him simultaneously. Arden moves fluidly, with precision — every move a blend of technique and instinct. The katana slashes through the mist, fires short bursts of fire — each movement turning the snow into steam. Rin and Taro fight him side by side, their faces covered in ash and adrenaline.)
Taro (yells):
"Vex! On the left!"
(Arden spins, creating a wall of fire that burns the arrows in flight. One of the opponents shoots lightning through the air and hits him in the shoulder—Arden stumbles but doesn't fall. Instead, he thunders through the pain and hits back with a wave of fire that engulfs the entire row of enemies.)
Narrator:
"There was no pain in his gaze. Only a fervor that knew no end."
(The battle continues. Blood mixes with the snow. Then, from behind the hill, there's a scream—a medical convoy! The Lightning Ninjas break through the back lines, attacking Lyra and her squad. Arden hears her voice, looks at Minato.)
Arden:
"Brother! Convoy!"
Minato:
"Don't go alone—!"
(Late. Arden is already running. Snow crackles under his feet, flames rising behind him. Katana in hand, fox mask shining through the smoke. Just then, he sees the enemy—a Lightning ninja leaping toward Lyra, weapon glowing with electricity, straight for her heart.)
(Arden doesn't think. He jumps between them. The sound of metal, mask cracking, and a flash of lightning.)
SFX: KRZAAAK!
(The fox's mask explodes. A shard of metal and lightning cuts across her left eye. Arden falls to his knees, blood pouring down his face, but the katana doesn't release the flame—he swings it through the smoke and slices the enemy in half. The opponent's body falls beside him, and the fire goes out.)
(Lyra bends over him, terrified, hands trembling.)
Lyra (in a low, tearful voice):
"Arden! Arden, can you hear me? Your… your eye—"
(He opens his eyes. Left eye dim but alive. He looks at her through the blood and ashes.)
Vex (hoarsely):
"More… worse…"
(Lyra presses him to the ground and begins to heal the wound, as the snow around them smokes with fire and lightning. The rest of the Shadow members arrive, ending the fight. Silence after the storm. Arden lies, his fox mask—cracked and bloody—slipping from his hand and falling into the snow.)
Narrator:
"That day, The shadow lost blood, but gave birth to a legend.
And on the face of the warrior, over the eye that looked at death, a trace remained -
not just a fight, but a feeling he thought he'd never have."
SCENE 4: "FURY OF FIRE"
(The night after the ambush. The sky of the northern front is covered with black clouds. The snow is melting from the heat of the blood. Arden lies in the tent, as Lyra tries to stabilize his wound, but outside — there is a rumble. The sound of fire. The sound of death.)
Narrator:
"That night, as a fighter struggled to open his eyes...
his brother — fought to close someone else's."
(Minato stands in the middle of the scorched valley, his armor glistening with blood. His eyes burn a dark shade of red — an older brother who has lost his patience. Around him, dozens of Shadow and surviving Fire ninja, ready to end the Voltaris Clan's attack.)
Minato (coldly):
"No one attacks my convoy. No one touches my blood."
(At that moment he raises his hand — signal.
The entire line of Shadows goes up in smoke. Circles of flame glow from the mist, the flames turning snow into steam and earth into ash. Screams ring out.)
(The Voltaris foes try to form a defense, but their lightning shoots against Minato's fire. He glides through them like ghosts, his katana glowing in a blue glare, each strike burning a trail through the air. A strike, a step, a flame — all in one breath.)
Enemy Commander Voltaris (panicked):
"Back off! Back off—"
(He doesn't get to finish his sentence—Minato cuts him in half in a flash of fire. The flames then wrap around his body and turn him to ash. Only the thunder trident falls into the snow.)
(Rin and Taro are beside him, their faces dirty, their eyes unblinking. They fight side by side with the veterans, every movement cold and precise. Fire dances around them, lighting them faces.)
Rin (quietly, standing over the body):
"For Arden."
Taro:
"For our Shadow."
(Minato walks through the smoke, stops in the middle of the battlefield. All around him — only the burned bodies of Voltaris ninja.
Snow mixes with the ashes, falling like a gray shower.)
Minato (breathes deeply, lowers his katana):
"War is not glory.
War is what remains when humanity is gone."
(He looks toward the horizon, where the smoke is still billowing—he knows that Arden lies wounded, but alive.
His eyes soften for a moment.)
Minato (quietly to himself):
"Hold on bro. There's a lot more to come…"
(Camera goes up high. The field below them is turned into a sea of flames.
A shadow stands in the middle of it — a symbol of revenge, but also of sorrow.)
Narrator (quietly):
"The fire that burned that night was not just a weapon.
She was a promise."