So this was the newborn Uchiha Itachi.
Bundled in swaddling cloth on the bed, the baby was small, quiet, and expressionless.
Sogetsu felt a strange pang in his chest.
Who would've thought this child would one day become the fuse that blew the Uchiha clan apart?
"Well?" Mikoto's eyes sparkled. "Isn't he cute?"
She moved with unstudied grace, sliding her arms under the baby and lifting him gently.
"Itachi~" she cooed softly. "Look, your future master came to see you~"
She looked at Sogetsu, eyes shining, clearly expecting praise.
"You don't know how well-behaved he is. He hardly ever cries or fusses. And the moment he was born, he opened his eyes!"
Madam… you're making it sound like this is my achievement, Sogetsu thought silently.
…Although, to be fair, he probably did contribute a little.
As if sensing the newcomer, the baby in her arms slowly blinked his eyes open.
Just as Mikoto had said.
No crying. No wailing.
He simply stared at Sogetsu, dark eyes quiet and oddly clear, then reached a little hand out toward him with a soft, curious sound.
"See?" Mikoto's smile brightened.
"He really likes you."
"Yes. He's… very sharp."
Sogetsu met the baby's gaze, letting his Spirit Vision deepen.
Ripples of light danced in his eyes.
There it is.
As he'd suspected.
Deep in Itachi's tiny body, something slumbered.
Not chakra. Not bloodline limit.
A sliver of pure, foreign spirituality.
A twisted, incomplete Extraordinary characteristic that, even fragmented, still held the weight of a full Sequence 9.
"Fallen pathway traits," Sogetsu thought, eyes narrowing behind his glasses.
"There's a trace of corruption in his inner world."
He probed further.
The baby's spiritual landscape wasn't clean or transparent like a newborn's should be. Instead, it was veiled in a faint, shadowy mist—as if someone had quietly draped a black cloth over the sky.
If he listened closely with his senses, he could just barely pick out something like a whisper. Not in any human tongue, but full of layered rhythm and madness.
A whisper he knew very, very well.
The muttering of the "True Rapper"—the false god whose anchor he'd tied into Mikoto's charm.
It wasn't obvious yet. Itachi's Sequence was still low. The "infection" only brushed across his mind, like distant thunder.
But Sogetsu had no doubt:
This child was born with a diluted Extraordinary characteristic of the Hanged Man pathway.
Sequence 9: Secret Supplicant.
What an unexpected bonus, he thought.
A casual move—a "charm" tossed to Mikoto back then, mostly as an experiment—and it had actually resulted in a new Extraordinary being born into this world.
"I see you like him very much too~"
Mikoto laughed when she noticed the way Sogetsu kept staring.
"When he turns three, he can start studying under you. You'll teach him well, right?"
"I will."
Sogetsu smiled back.
"I'll make sure he gets the best guidance I can give."
Never mind clan ties.
Just for being a Hanged Man pathway seed, Itachi was worth cultivating carefully.
A translucent overlay flickered at the edge of his vision.
[Side Quest: Omniscient & Omnipotent, Part I]
[Train and later absorb a Sequence 1 characteristic of the Hanged Man pathway.]
[Reward: Hanged Man Pathway — Uniqueness]
Sogetsu's gaze sharpened subtly.
He read the lines twice, then let his eyes cool again.
"Lady Mikoto, I still have work to handle at ANBU," he said gently. "I've seen the child now. I'll come visit again next time."
Mikoto's shoulders drooped a little.
Her teeth caught her lower lip.
"…Alright," she said softly. "Come see Itachi often. He really likes you~"
Whether she was talking about Itachi's feelings or her own, even she might not know.
Sogetsu could only smile politely and make his escape.
—
Ever since he'd learned—helped ensure—that Kirigakure and Iwagakure were planning to start a war with Konoha, the entire village had shifted.
On the Hokage's orders, missions were cut back.
Teams were recalled.
Jōnin out in the field were quietly summoned home; reserves were mobilized; supplies hoarded.
The storm had not yet broken, but everyone could feel the pressure change in the air.
Even the Legendary Sannin had been notified.
Tsunade and Jiraiya both received summons to return.
Neither had bothered to answer.
The village was a bow, already drawn.
The string creaked.
A sense of invisible tension coiled around every street, every rooftop, every watchtower.
And the one who'd done the most to bring all of this about walked through it as if strolling past someone else's play.
Uchiha Sogetsu clocked in and out of ANBU headquarters on schedule, his days looking outwardly as plain as ever.
But he still had quests to complete.
So he went back to the Konoha Hospital.
Back to his white coat.
Back to his "mental health counseling."
It turned out that among shinobi, the ratio of people with problems in their heads to people without was… impressive.
The number of ones with serious problems was even better.
Still, Sogetsu wasn't reckless.
He didn't accept just anyone as a "patient."
He focused on elite jōnin—those whose status was high enough to matter, whose minds were worth tuning.
Every session, he made tiny adjustments.
A little hypnosis here.
A subtle suggestion there.
Later, in dreams, Dreamwalker would slip back into their minds, reinforcing the changes. Layer by layer, their psyche was gently nudged into more… useful shapes.
One of his current "frequent flyers" sat in the chair opposite him, ponytail a bit messier than usual, dark circles under his eyes.
"Thanks again, Sogetsu," Nara Shikaku said sincerely. "If it weren't for you, I don't know what I'd do."
"It's no trouble, Shikaku-san."
Sogetsu smiled mildly.
"This kind of thing… a lot of men go through it, especially lately. You don't need to beat yourself up over it."
"Listening to you say that makes me feel a lot better."
Shikaku scratched his head, awkward and relieved.
"You don't know how bad it was. These last few weeks, every time I fell asleep, my dreams were… cough… me and Danzo. You know?"
"…Yes," Sogetsu said.
His smile froze for half a second.
"I know."
"Your treatment helped a lot," Shikaku went on, brightening. "The dreams have calmed down. I can finally look my wife in the eye again."
He straightened, chest puffing out.
"I'm going home to show that 'tigress' who's boss."
Still muttering to himself, he left the consultation room in a far better mood than he'd arrived.
Sogetsu watched him go, then pressed his fingers to his brow and exhaled slowly.
"If it weren't for Danzo, this quest would've taken twice as long," he muttered.
Thanks to Danzo's… transformation, the upper ranks of Konoha were in a state of psychological chaos.
Which, for Sogetsu, was perfect.
So far, he'd successfully hypnotized or mentally "tagged" ten elite jōnin.
[Side Quest: A Proper Therapist V]
[Hypnotize or gain psychic control over at least ten elite jōnin / Kage (10/10).]
[Reward: Ariana's Night Emblem]
"Night Emblem, huh…"
Sogetsu eyed the phantom icon on his interface, mouth quirking.
"I wonder—if I call out 'Mother of the Night'… will anyone come save me?"
He chuckled to himself.
Then leaned back in his chair, feeling the weight of too many plans and too little time.
He really needed sleep.
After the upcoming war—and the inevitable chaos that came with it—he'd see if he could steal a few days to just lie down and not think.
For now, though, there was still a drama to direct.
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