Chapter 1: The First Meeting
The village of Konoha bustled with its usual rhythm—merchants shouting from stalls, shinobi training in the fields, children laughing as they raced through the alleys.
It was a world at peace. Or so it seemed.
No one remembered that once, there had been ten great nations. No one remembered the five that had vanished overnight, swallowed by silence. Their cities, their people, their histories—gone. Not destroyed, not conquered. Erased.
Erased by the hand of a man no one remembered.
Raizen Uchiha walked quietly along the outskirts of the village. His white hair drifted in the wind, his face hidden beneath the shadow of a black cloak. He looked like a traveler, a stranger. And in truth, he was.
For though he had once belonged to this village, no one knew him. Not even his clan. Not even his brother, Fugaku Uchiha.
That was the price of his Eternal Mangekyō. To save the Uchiha from destruction, to silence the fury of the five nations who had turned against them, Raizen had cast his ultimate jutsu. He had erased their existence from the minds of the world—and with them, himself.
He was a ghost walking among the living.
Yet… there was one he had not expected to see.
A boy sat alone in the training yard of the Uchiha compound. His small hands gripped a kunai with perfect form, striking the target with flawless precision again and again. His movements were sharp, but his eyes—black and deep—held a weight that did not belong to a child.
Raizen stopped in his tracks, watching silently from the edge of the courtyard.
The boy turned. His gaze met Raizen's.
For a long moment, they simply looked at each other.
"…Who are you?" the boy asked, his voice calm, unafraid.
Raizen stepped closer, the gravel crunching softly beneath his sandals. "No one important."
The boy tilted his head slightly. "That's not true. You… feel different. Stronger than Father. Stronger than anyone I've met."
Raizen blinked, faintly surprised. Few could sense his presence, let alone a child.
"What is your name, boy?"
The child straightened. "Itachi. Itachi Uchiha."
Raizen's chest tightened. The name struck him harder than expected, stirring something long buried. He studied the boy closely, his expression unreadable.
"You're Fugaku's son, then."
"Yes," Itachi said, then hesitated. "Who are you to Father?"
Raizen looked away, his eyes narrowing faintly. "I… was once his brother."
Itachi's eyes widened slightly. "Brother? Then… you're my uncle?"
The word felt foreign, almost painful. Uncle. A bond that no longer existed. In everyone's memory, he had never been born. Yet this boy… this child of destiny… had spoken the word without hesitation.
"…Yes," Raizen said quietly. "Your uncle."
Itachi studied him again, then walked forward without fear. "You seem lonely."
Raizen let out a low chuckle. "Lonely? Perhaps. Or perhaps I am simply lost."
"Then," Itachi said firmly, his small hand tightening around his kunai, "I'll remember you."
Raizen froze. Those words, so simple, struck deeper than any blade. For the first time in years, someone had acknowledged him—not as a ghost, not as a forgotten shadow, but as family.
He looked down at the boy, his Mangekyō flickering faintly in the depths of his eyes.
"…Then perhaps," Raizen whispered, "you are the only one who should."
The wind stirred, carrying with it the faint echo of a past erased.
And so, in that quiet courtyard, began the bond between the forgotten shadow and the boy who would one day walk a path of darkness.