A month into the academy, and somehow, Mito Uzumaki had already earned herself a reputation — half troublemaker, half prodigy, and fully unpredictable. The teachers had stopped pretending that her "innocent mistakes" were actually accidents after the third chalkboard explosion. By the fifth, they'd started flinching whenever she and Naruto exchanged a glance.
It wasn't her fault. Not entirely.
The seals she'd learned from the Uzumaki archives were too tempting to resist — a treasure trove of chaos waiting to be unleashed. She'd modified them, of course: a "Seal of Reverse Adhesion" that glued chalk to the teacher's hand no matter how hard they scrubbed, or her personal favorite, a silent "Ink Replication Seal" that caused notes to multiply endlessly across the blackboard until the classroom looked like a paper storm.
Naruto, naturally, was her willing accomplice.
"Big sis, what if Iruka-sensei catches us this time?" he whispered one morning, as they crouched under the teacher's desk, drawing a looping red seal that hummed faintly.
"He won't," she replied, smirking. "Besides, if he does, you can always cry."
"That's evil."
"That's survival."
When Iruka walked in and the chalk detonated into harmless but blindingly white smoke, the laughter from the students almost drowned out his exasperated sigh.
Almost.
Even Kurama snorted in her mind.
[Your creativity in pissing people off is commendable.]
"It's called tactical genius."
[It's called destruction of property and you should be made to pay it]
But beneath the humor, Mito could feel the tension simmering in the village. ANBU patrols thickened, whispers spread like wildfire, and even the ever-smiling Iruka carried exhaustion in his eyes.
Something was brewing.
Then came the night, the air was growing tense that evening and there was a strange mix of dread and something that Mito could not place her finger on.
She sat by the window, half-asleep, the moon tonight was blood red in colour, a signal that something ominous was about to happen. Then suddenly out of nowhere it hit her — a wave of anger, despair, and sense of death crammed into one single sense that slammed into her like a well-timed gut punch. A wave of chakra so heavy, so saturated with bloodlust and despair that it made her stomach twist. She bolted upright, all the dream gone from her eyes.
"What is this feeling? The all of a sudden loss of the chakra and this feeling of despair that is clinging to that chakra. Kurama, do you know what this is?!"
[This is a sense that you get with loss of life. But this much means that there is a massacre going on somewhere.] Kurama's voice was a growel, low and wary.
"A massacre," Mito whispered. "So much chakra… all of it snuffed out at once." Then the realisation struck her. The canon event, Uchiha massacre.
She focused, closing her eyes, reaching out through the flow of natural energy. The direction was unmistakable — south district. The Uchiha compound.
Her heartbeat quickened. She was already moving, chakra flaring faintly beneath her feet as she dashed across rooftops, but not without leaving a shadow clone to explain to Naruto what is happening and where she is if he could also sense this and woke up from that.
Each step closer brought the truth into sharper focus — blood on walls, the silence of extinguished lives, and the lingering stench of burning chakra.
Everywhere she watched, there were dead bodies of the Uchiha clan members, some with their head chopped of, while some with their guts cut open, still dying when she reached that place.
Looking at this scene Mito realised that no matter how much power she has, she will never be able to kill using that power if she cannot even look at a corpse in real life.
[It seems like the boastful girl finally learned about the reality. Well, at least the Uchiha were useful for something on their pathetic existence.]
"Shut up Kurama!" Roared Mito internally at the fox, unable to hold the disregard to life and the fact that she once talked about ending life, while she cannot digest the sight of a corpse.
When she finally stopped, Mito crouched behind the shadows of a crumbling wall. Ahead, she saw him — Itachi Uchiha — standing over his younger brother.
Sasuke's voice cracked the night. "Why, Itachi?! Why did you do it?!"
Mito's hands clenched. The weight of the boy's scream echoed through her bones. She wanted to look away, but couldn't.
Itachi's expression was unreadable, even as his Mangekyō Sharingan spun with quiet finality.
"To test my powers, Sasuke." Itachi said, his voice cold as ice. "the clan and the village was holding me back, so I cut of my tethers to weakness and now with the power of these new Mangekyō Sharingan it is only matter of time when I reach the same level of power as that of Madara Uchiha. But you Sasuke, you lack the hatred and drive to reach that level. So, I leave you alive.," he said softly. "If you wish to kill me, avenge what happened here, then despise me, hate me, and live. Come and find me when you have same eyes as me."
When Sasuke collapsed, sobbing into the dirt, Mito's stomach turned.
And then Itachi vanished in a blur.
But Mito wasn't done.
She jumped after him, letting her chakra flare deliberately — a signal. The Uchiha would notice; she wanted him to.
He landed on a tree branch outside the village walls, and when he turned, his eyes glowed faint red under the moonlight.
"So," Itachi said quietly. "Another witness." But internally he was wondering what the jinchuriki of the nine tails was doing here. As far as he knows, she and her brother are always kept under watch by the ANBU.
"I wouldn't call it witnessing," Mito replied, stepping from the shadows. "More like… trying to understand. I heard what you said to your brother and I still don't get it. Why would you slaughter children? They weren't threats. They weren't soldiers. Just kids. And don't give me that nonsense about that it was for testing your powers or gaining a new eye pattern. Because, if that were to be the case, your chakra would not be that much sunk into despair and regret."
Listening to her speak, Itachi's expression didn't flicker, as if whatever she was saying was nothing but useless rambling. He said softly as if speaking to himself, "You wouldn't understand."
"Oh, I think I might." Her voice sharpened, rhetorical. "Was it Danzō's order? Or the elders? Or did you just enjoy killing your own family?"
For a second there was silence between them, a very uncomfortable silence that make Mitos senses scream danger at her, but by the time she realised what was happening, Itachi has already started with his move.
A genjutsu struck her and Itachi disappeared from her sight.
[Careful, brat. This one's dangerous.]
"Yeah," she thought grimly, "I can tell."
Itachi's voice came from all directions. "You know too much."
A second later, the world melted.
The trees around her bled into red haze, the ground stretched infinitely, and whispers slithered into her ears — the beginnings of his genjutsu.
But then, Kurama's chakra surged.
[Pathetic trick.]
The illusion shattered like glass. Mito exhaled sharply, her own chakra flaring bright gold for a heartbeat.
Itachi's gaze narrowed slightly, the only show of emotion that he has had since the beginning of their fight. "Impressive. Most adults can't dispel that genjutsu so easily."
"Thanks," she said flatly, already weaving a seal. "Now it's my turn."
She slammed her palm against the ground. "Seal Art: Binding Web!"
Crimson seals erupted, lines crawling like veins across the soil, glowing faintly as chains of pure chakra lashed outward toward him.
Itachi didn't even blink. His body blurred, replaced by a crow that dissolved into feathers.
"Too slow." His voice was a whisper of the wind unseen where it came from. Then he appeared behind her. She ducked just as his kunai sliced past her ear, her reflexes sharper than most kids her age had any right to possess. She countered with a flash of chakra — a focused burst aimed at his center of mass.
He sidestepped effortlessly, grabbed her wrist, and twisted. Pain shot up her arm as she hissed, amplifying her arm with chakra, she yanking free just before his foot swept under her legs. She rolled backward, hands forming another seal for a fire release jutsu, channeling her energy like she'd trained to — precise, deliberate, lethal.
Her chakra grew into a fire ball that exploded mid attack into smaller fireballs, but Itachi simply watched her movements, his Sharingan tracing every twitch of muscle and dodging her attempts of attacking him.
"Too rigid," he murmured. "Too predictable."
Before she could react, he flicked a kunai — not at her, but past her, forcing her to shift her stance. The moment she moved, he was there — the air itself cracking with speed.
The edge of his kunai pressed gently, almost politely, against her neck.
Mito froze. Her pulse thundered in her ears.
"I could end this here," he said, his voice low, calm, detached. "You're strong for your age… frighteningly so. But strength without discipline is just noise."
She didn't flinch. "Go ahead then. Kill me."
He studied her — the steady defiance in her eyes, the way she didn't cower. Then, softly, almost imperceptibly, he changed tactics.
"If you care so little for your life," he murmured, "perhaps you'd care more for your brother's."
The threat landed like a blade in her chest.
Her breath hitched. "Don't. You. Dare." Her chakra flared, uncaring if any ANBU or any shinobi could sense her presence here as she pushed him away from her.
For the first time, his expression shifted — faint curiosity. "So that's your weakness."
When he withdrew the kunai into its holster, the air itself felt heavier. "Be grateful, Mito Uzumaki. I have no interest in spilling more blood tonight."
And with that, he was gone — disappearing into the treetops like smoke.
Mito stood there, trembling — not from fear, but fury.
Kurama's voice broke the silence.
[You're angry because he showed you your place.]
"No," she whispered. "I'm angry because he's right. I'm not strong enough yet."
The night pressed close around her, thick with silence and the faint echo of her heartbeat.
[So what will you do?]
"Fix it."
Her chakra flared, golden-red, washing across the clearing. There she could sense the ninja moving in the village now, ANBU perhaps or Danzo's root sweeping to take the sharingan from the corpses of the Uchiha shinobi, that were once loyal to the village.
She slipped back into her apartment in the chaos that was caused by the clan massacre. Seeing that Naruto was still sleeping in his bed with no care about what happened in the village, she exhaled a sigh of relief.
Moving to her room, she sat cross-legged on her bed, rethinking her fight with Itachi. When suddenly she sat straight focusing inward — reaching deep into her self-creation ability.
"I'll make something better," she muttered. "Something permanent."
In her mind, she built it — a network of energy conduits branching through her body, weaving through her cells and soul-like veins of light. Circuits that would connect directly to her EBR, capable of absorbing sunlight, kinetic force, elemental energy — anything the world threw at her.
[You're burning through three alpha-level units of energy for this. With this, you will only have enough energy for 1 omega level ability or 5 alpha level ability.]
"Worth it. Besides this ability would have taken entire omega level energy if I did not have EBR as my base to extend on."
Saying so, she defined the structure of the energy circuit and connected it to her first ability EBR.
The pain came instantly, like Fire under her skin. Her body convulsed as the circuits etched themselves into existence — invisible lines of power searing through her being. She gritted her teeth, sweat dripping down her face, vision fracturing at the edges.
Every nerve screamed, but she didn't stop. Not this time.
She'd seen what true power looked like — Itachi's unshakable calm, his mastery over death and fear.
If she ever wanted to stand on that level, to protect Naruto, to face gods and monsters alike — she needed this.
When the pain finally ebbed, Mito collapsed onto her back, staring up at the stars. Her whole body hummed with quiet, contained energy. The circuits pulsed faintly under her skin, alive, breathing with her.
[How do you feel?]
"Like I'm finally done being prey. I can feel the circuit replacing all my used energy in my fight with Itachi and training done before that. Thanks to EBR I have virtually unlimited energy, so the circuit not only absorbs external energies passively, but also spreads all the excess energy produced by the EBR throughout my body. Which overtime would make my food requirements almost non-existent and making the Strengthening of my body through energy permanent."
Kurama chuckled softly.
[Good. Then maybe next time, you'll last longer than ten seconds against your opponent.]
Mito smiled weakly, closing her eyes as exhaustion claimed her. "Next time," she murmured, "I'll make him regret underestimating me."
And for the first time since entering this world, the night around her felt less like a cage — and more like a promise.