Tragic News and Origins

In Konoha Year 38, Konoha had secured the upper hand on every battlefield. The Sand Shinobi had surrendered, the Mist Shinobi had failed to set foot in the Land of Fire, and only the Stone Shinobi and Cloud Shinobi remained locked in confrontation. Konoha had won this war!

As news of victory reached the village, both civilians and the ninja left behind let out long breaths of relief. The war was finally over! The next day, Konoha's higher-ups organized the villagers and the remaining ninja to welcome the heroes home at the village gates. Yamanaka Tohru was among the welcoming crowd.

"Look, they're back!"

The sensory ninja and barrier unit were the first to detect the troops in the distance. Before long, Konoha's ninja forces appeared on the horizon, and the villagers' cheers grew louder as they drew nearer.

Using his small size to his advantage, Yamanaka Tohru squeezed his way to the front of the crowd. Three people led the procession: Princess Tsunade, one of the Three Legendary Sannin; Orochimaru the Cold-Blooded, another of the Three Legendary Sannin; and Konoha White Fang, Hatake Sakumo.

Orochimaru had been stationed in the Land of Water, successfully repelling several invasions over the past two years. Tsunade and Hatake Sakumo had thoroughly crushed the Sand Shinobi of the Land of Wind, and even Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law had died beneath Hatake Sakumo's blade. As for Jiraiya, he should have been in the Land of Rain teaching Nagato's trio by now!

At that moment, Konoha's higher-ups, led by the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, all wore smiles. The heroes had returned, and they deserved everyone's respect and praise!

"Lord Hokage, we have not failed our mission!"

"Good! Excellent!" The Third Hokage looked at the three before him, his heart full of comfort. The saplings of the past had now grown strong enough to shelter Konoha from the wind and rain!

"Sensei, let the heroes of this war go home first." With that, Tsunade waved her hand. The ninja army split apart to either side, revealing nearly a hundred stretchers at the very rear of the formation. Most of these ninja had suffered fatal injuries and died despite failed rescue attempts. Those who had fallen on the battlefield had long since been reduced to nothing but bones.

The Third Hokage's expression also turned solemn as he had the welcoming crowd make way for these heroes. Every stretcher bore what had once been a living life. Yamanaka Tohru was swept up by the atmosphere as well. He had been a doctor in his previous life, and birth, aging, sickness, and death had not meant much to him. Yet the deaths and injuries of wartime were still difficult for him to comprehend. So this was a real world. People really died here!

After all the stretchers had been carried into the village, the Third Hokage announced that everyone was dismissed. He knew that what these heroes needed now was not a welcoming banquet, but reunion with their families.

Yamanaka Tohru suppressed the emotions in his heart and followed the Yamanaka Clan members back to their compound. The moment he entered, he saw Yamanaka Seiko and Yamanaka Inoichi listening to Hatake Sakumo say something. Yamanaka Seiko kept wiping away her tears, while Yamanaka Inoichi's eyes were red as well.

"Tohru! Your uncle is gone!" Yamanaka Inoichi's voice was soft, but it struck Yamanaka Tohru like a bolt from the blue. Since the day he had been born, that gentle man had often held him and played with him. That man had taught him how to walk, taught him how to form hand seals, and given him warmth like that of a father.

Yamanaka Inoichi believed that Yamanaka Tohru had only been two when his father went to war, so the image of his father should have long faded from his mind. But he did not know that Yamanaka Tohru was a transmigrator. Moreover, having practiced the Yamanaka family's secret techniques for strengthening mental power since childhood, his memory was extraordinary.

"Lord White Fang! Who was it?" Yamanaka Tohru lowered his head, his voice calm.

Hatake Sakumo also assumed that Yamanaka Tohru had long forgotten his uncle, so he answered casually, "The Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Roshi."

"Is that so? I will kill him one day!" There was an unshakable determination in Yamanaka Tohru's voice. When he raised his head, tears streamed down his face uncontrollably.

"Auntie! This, this is—"

"As expected of his son! Seiko, it seems Tohru remembers everything from the day he was born. This child's mental power is far too strong." Hatake Sakumo looked at the five-year-old child before him.

"Tohru, you remember your uncle?"

"Of course I remember him. How could I forget?" Until just now, the Naruto world had felt more like a game to Yamanaka Tohru, and the people around him had been NPCs. Aside from the family he cherished, everyone else had seemed dispensable. But the return of Konoha's ninja army today had made him realize that this was a real world. Coupled with Yamanaka Akito's death, the double blow awakened his father's bloodline limit within him—the Sharingan!

A scarlet single tomoe appeared in Yamanaka Tohru's eyes. An eerie silence fell over the room. "Auntie, is Tohru's eye the Sharingan?" Yamanaka Inoichi broke the silence.

"That's right. Tohru's father, my husband, was from the Uchiha Clan."

"Inoichi, you understand the consequences if what happened today is exposed, don't you? Awakening the Sharingan at five years old—would the Uchiha Clan allow such a genius to remain in another family? You are the next head of the Yamanaka Clan. Are you still willing to take in Tohru and his mother? This could bring great trouble to the Yamanaka Clan."

"Lord Sakumo, Auntie and my little brother will always be my family. Unless they wish to leave themselves, the Yamanaka Clan will always be their home."

"Good! Since that is the case, only the people in this room can know about this."

"Yes, I understand." Inoichi's attitude made Seiko feel especially warm. She was truly happy to have such family.

After the three reached an agreement, Hatake Sakumo bade Yamanaka Seiko farewell and left. What remained was a Yamanaka family matter, and it was not his place to interfere.

"Tohru, don't be sad. Your uncle wouldn't want to see you like this either."

Yamanaka Akito's death truly grieved Yamanaka Tohru deeply. But when he awakened the Sharingan, that grief had already turned into motivation to move forward. As long as he evolved the Sharingan step by step until he opened the Rinnegan—or became powerful enough to simply seize Nagato's Rinnegan—his uncle could be revived. What he needed now was strength!

A week later, the Third Hokage held a funeral for Yamanaka Akito and Konoha's fallen heroes.

Before Konoha's Memorial Stone, every ninja wore black. The stone bore the names of ninja after ninja who had sacrificed themselves for Konoha's peace.

After the funeral, Yamanaka Seiko called Yamanaka Tohru and Yamanaka Inoichi into her room and told them about events from many years ago.

Yamanaka Tohru's father had been an Elite Jonin of the Uchiha Clan named Uchiha Kagami. He had never appeared in the original story. Unlike ordinary Uchiha clan members, his father did not possess the fire nature; his only nature was lightning!

The Uchiha Clan was renowned for its Fire Release ninjutsu, yet Uchiha Kagami lacked the fire nature and suffered discrimination from some clan members. That continued until the year Uchiha Kagami awakened the Sharingan at the age of ten!

The earlier an Uchiha awakened the Sharingan, the greater their talent. Uchiha Kagami had awakened it at ten, making him a rare genius even within the entire Uchiha Clan. He received the clan's focused training. At sixteen, Uchiha Kagami became a Special Jonin through his exquisite Lightning Release and Three-Tomoe Sharingan. At eighteen, he officially became a jonin. He was then sent by the village to the Land of Wind battlefield, where he encountered Yamanaka Seiko, who was still a Medical Ninja at the time.

On the Land of Wind battlefield, the Sand Shinobi's puppet masters were exceptionally skilled with poison. A Konoha ninja could be poisoned by the slightest carelessness, and without the aid of a Medical Ninja, they would quickly die. As a result, seventy percent of Konoha's Medical Ninja had gathered on the Land of Wind battlefield, including Yamanaka Seiko.

What followed was a cliché tale of a hero saving a beauty. Uchiha Kagami protected Yamanaka Seiko on the battlefield, and Yamanaka Seiko later saved the poisoned Uchiha Kagami. Over time, feelings blossomed between them.

In Konoha Year 31, Uchiha Kagami and Yamanaka Seiko got together. Since the war was still ongoing, news of their marriage was not made public. At the time, only Uchiha Kagami's friend and captain, Hatake Sakumo, knew. In Year 32, Yamanaka Seiko became pregnant. That same year, Uchiha Kagami encountered Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law on the battlefield. Outnumbered two against one, Uchiha Kagami died at their hands.

Yamanaka Seiko was devastated, and Hatake Sakumo notified Yamanaka Seiko's cousin, Yamanaka Akito, the head of the Yamanaka Clan.

The Uchiha Clan had always been at odds with the Hokage, while the Yamanaka Clan supported the Hokage. If Uchiha Kagami had still been alive, Yamanaka Seiko would not have had too difficult a time in the Uchiha Clan. But now that Uchiha Kagami had died in battle, Hatake Sakumo could not bear to see his friend's widow bullied by the Uchiha Clan. Yamanaka Akito also cared deeply for his younger sister, so the two immediately agreed. They decided to conceal Yamanaka Seiko and Uchiha Kagami's marriage, have Yamanaka Akito bring Yamanaka Seiko back to the Yamanaka Clan, and raise the child in the Yamanaka Clan after he was born.

That was how Yamanaka Tohru grew up in the Yamanaka Clan. Yamanaka Seiko had planned to tell him of his origins if he awakened the Sharingan, but she had not expected that day to come so soon.

"Auntie, don't worry. Tohru will always be Yamanaka Tohru. The Yamanaka Clan will always be your home!" Yamanaka Inoichi was now the head of the Yamanaka Clan, and his words represented the clan's stance.

"Mother, you were a Medical Ninja?"

"Yes. When I was younger, I studied under Lord Yakushi Tenshin for a time. I entered Konoha Hospital at fourteen and remained there until you were born."

"Mother, does our Yamanaka Clan have a talent for medical ninjutsu?" Yamanaka Tohru recalled that Ino Yamanaka knew a little medical ninjutsu in the original story, and his mother was also a Medical Ninja. With his understanding of the human body, combining that knowledge with medical ninjutsu would greatly help his Lightning Release training.

"Because our Yamanaka Clan cultivates secret mental techniques, our Chakra control is naturally excellent. Using some simple medical ninjutsu is no problem, but deeply studying medical ninjutsu is not so easy."

"Mother, then—"

"Tohru, we can talk about that later! Ninja Academy registration is in three days. Go make your preparations. Brother Inoichi and I have something to discuss!" Yamanaka Seiko interrupted Yamanaka Tohru. Though he was curious about what his mother wanted to discuss with Yamanaka Inoichi, her attitude was too firm, and he could only nod and leave.

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