Chapter 1 – A New Chance
Sitting by the edge of a river, a young boy wearing loose-fitting clothes with the Uchiha clan symbol on his back stared at his reflection in the clear water, visibly confused.
He had short black hair, fair skin, and a childlike face that suggested he was no older than five.
As he studied his reflection, the boy furrowed his brow several times.
Confusion, fear, anger, pain, longing, happiness, pride, loneliness... so many emotions flooded the boy's mind as he stared at himself in the water.
'Did I go back in time?' he wondered after a while, only to quickly shake off the thought.
He looked at his reflection again, this time focusing on his eyes. His right eye, though black, looked visibly dull, while his left eye had turned completely white.
Focusing on the right eye, the once-black pupil suddenly turned red, with three tomoe slowly spinning before merging into a new pattern.
'The Mangekyõ... I really awakened it. So those memories...' The boy, Uchiha Sato, closed his eyes as he remembered his strange morning.
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When Sato woke up that day, it was as if he had suddenly emerged from a long slumber.
He looked around his room—a modest and somewhat unfamiliar space.
In his mind, memories drifted in and out randomly—some good, others not so much.
He saw his future self: a proud, impulsive young man. He saw himself become nothing more than a drunkard, an empty shell with no purpose.
He saw how he overcame hardships and found a new purpose. How he worked hard to create new ideas—only for them to ultimately fail. And finally, he saw his end, at the hands of a new generation—someone of his own blood who had become his executioner.
Sato witnessed all of this as his vision slowly deteriorated to the point where his right eye was nearly blind and his left had already turned opaque.
At first, he thought he had gone mad—maybe he had fallen into a genjutsu. But as the memories started to settle in, he began to calm down.
After what felt like a lifetime, he left the house and walked toward the river—a place where he used to train with his father before his death. It was a peaceful place, and going there helped him think clearly.
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Opening his eyes once more and seeing that nothing had changed in his reflection, Sato sighed, deactivated his Sharingan, tied a cloth over his left eye, and began walking back home.
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The walk from the river to his home was short, and soon Sato had arrived at the Uchiha compound.
Unlike the isolated prison it once was, the Uchiha now lived closer to the center of the village. Of course, it was still slightly removed, considering that, as members of the police force, they were also responsible for the village's prison.
Keeping criminals—especially ninja—in the heart of the village? No, thank you.
Looking around and seeing the clan members smiling, Sato couldn't help but feel a tightness in his chest as memories of 'that night' resurfaced.
He wandered among the shops for a while, watching people go about their lives happily, unaware of what the future held for them.
"Oh, is that little Sato? What happened to your eye? Did you get hurt during training?"
As he walked, Sato heard a voice call out to him. Turning, he immediately recognized the man.
"Greetings, Elder Hiroto. I'm fine—it was just a scratch," Sato said, bowing slightly and offering a vague explanation.
Uchiha Hiroto, although only thirty years old, was already considered an elder of the clan. Honestly, it wasn't a surprise. Between the high mortality rate among shinobi and Hiroto's exceptional skills in ninjutsu and genjutsu—not to mention awakening his three tomoe at a young age—he had more than earned the title.
Hiroto had also known Sato's grandfather. In fact, he had been his disciple during the years leading up to the founding of Konoha.
Hiroto studied the boy in front of him and, for a moment, was taken aback by his calm and respectful behavior. He knew Sato was a good kid, but he had always been extremely arrogant—even by Uchiha standards.
'Something happened? Was he defeated?' Hiroto glanced at the boy's bandaged eye and assumed he had finally been bested by one of his peers.
The thought made Hiroto slightly pleased—perhaps this would be the end of Sato's excessive arrogance. Still, he wondered what kind of child could match Sato at his age.
It wasn't an unfounded thought. At five years old, Sato had already awakened the Sharingan—even without trauma. He'd also been developing his chakra reserves well since learning how to refine them over the past few months.
'Could the clan have another prodigy? Well, I'll look into it later.'
"Elder Hiroto?" Sato called, seeing Hiroto nodding to himself in silence, pulling the man from his thoughts.
"Ahem, it's nothing. And stop calling me 'Elder'—makes me feel old. Just call me Uncle, got it?"
"Yes, Uncle Hiroto," Sato replied.
Hearing Sato call him uncle, Hiroto couldn't help but smile and nod, silently thanking whoever it was that had humbled the boy.
"By the way," Hiroto suddenly said, as if remembering something, "I was actually on my way to your house to talk to your mother. Want to come with me?"
"My mother?" Sato asked, his mind drifting to the woman he saw lying down when he left the house earlier.
Uchiha Mirai—his mother.
"What is it? She's not home?"
"No, but the talk needs to be quick. She's not doing very well," Sato replied, turning and heading down the path toward home, unsure of how he'd face his mother.