Young Kaede

Spring passed and autumn came; a year had gone by.

At the Uchiha Kaede household—

"Kaede, you can only play by the door, okay? Don't leave the courtyard. Understand?"

A gentle female voice warned him as he sat by the door. Uchiha Kaori was in the kitchen, clattering away as she cooked.

"I understand, Mother."

A soft, childish voice came from his mouth.

Sitting on the steps by the door, he gazed into the distance.

"Ha! The Hokage? The Uchiha? They're all traps—"

He was used to getting his teammates into trouble, but this time, it seemed he was the one who'd been set up.

Now a year old, he'd learned to speak. From his parents' conversations, he'd learned who he was, where he was, and roughly when he was.

This was the world of Naruto, a cruel yet captivating place. It should have been something to make him happy. But when he learned that he'd been born into the dangerous Uchiha Clan, he felt both excited and afraid.

The exciting part was that he might get the chance to pilot a giant robot someday. How cool was that?

There were plenty of things to fear. For starters, the Second Shinobi World War was still underway, and that terrified him.

His father, Uchiha Mingye, had gone to the battlefield with his clanmates not long ago. He was genuinely afraid that his messed-up fate would pull something like "sacrifice your parents to unlock boundless power" just to force a cheat ability on him.

And that seemed to be a common problem for the Uchiha Clan.

Though he still had the memories of his previous life, right now he was Uchiha Kaede, the child of Uchiha Mingye and Uchiha Kaori. He was a member of the Uchiha Clan, a current resident of Konoha, and just one person in the shinobi world.

During his first year of life, he hadn't left the house once. His parents were so protective that they feared he might suffer even the slightest injury.

The only people he'd met were the clan members living nearby and his parents' friends who came to visit. The only person he'd met with any real standing was an elder of the Uchiha Clan.

His parents' unmistakable affection and wholly sincere devotion had led him to start seeing them through the eyes of a newborn child.

He'd long since thought through the reality he had to accept.

"But what am I supposed to do now? Where are you, my dear system? Take pity on me and show up already. I'm getting impatient waiting.

"Tsk, what if there really isn't a system? There isn't one..."

He raised a hand and looked at his soft, slender arm. Looking down, he saw his short little legs. Aside from a blue bear-head birthmark on his right arm, he had nothing going for him.

"First, I'll set myself a small goal: grow up safely and don't die young. At least I was born before Itachi. Otherwise, wouldn't that obsessive lunatic stab me in the back?"

He thought to himself with a self-deprecating smile.

"Kaede, come eat."

His mother, Uchiha Kaori, called him from the kitchen.

"Coming!"

He made his way slowly into the room and sat across from his mother.

"Mother, when is Father coming back?"

"Kaede's such a good boy, already worrying about your father. Don't worry. With his strength, he'll come back safely."

Uchiha Kaori smiled warmly, her eyes narrowed. But as she turned her head, the sadness in her eyes gave her away.

"The brutality of war in the shinobi world means that even a kekkei genkai shinobi like the Uchiha can die horribly on the battlefield if they let their guard down. Mother's only trying to comfort me. It seems even she, who knows Father's strength, isn't very confident."

He grew even more worried and hoped his dear old dad would return safe and sound.

Perhaps the Sage of Six Paths had heard his thoughts.

"Hey! Are you eating? I wonder if you saved me anything."

A familiar voice came from the doorway.

"Mingye?"

Kaori looked at the man standing at the door. The bowl slipped from her hands, and she threw herself into his arms.

"It's good that you came back safe."

Her eyes red, she carefully examined her returning husband, afraid he might be injured.

"The fighting at the front is fierce. The Rain Country and—"

Uchiha Mingye noticed his wife's look and stopped. He didn't continue. They deliberately avoided discussing the war around Uchiha Kaede, unwilling to expose him to words like "war" at such a young age.

"What a lovely pair of parents! Maybe only a madman like Uchiha Fugaku would take four-year-old Itachi to a place like the battlefield."

His thoughts were full of malice.

"How long can you stay in the village this time?"

"I'm escorting the wounded and the dead back. I may have to return tomorrow or the day after. Things at the front are very bad."

His parents spoke quietly, keeping well away from him. They didn't know that his senses were naturally sharp, and he heard every word they said.

"Did we lose a lot of clan members?"

"Yes. The Rain Country faces the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Earth, and the nations are fighting one another as well. The front lines are brutal, and we've suffered heavy casualties. I was assigned to escort the bodies because a few of the clan members among them had awakened their eyes.

"If you have time, go help out next door."

Uchiha Mingye spoke of the clan's losses with deep sorrow.

"You mean..."

Uchiha Kaori covered her mouth, tears welling in her eyes.

"Alas! They're all dead. I fought with everything I had, but all I could do was bring back their bodies."

"Poor Obito. He's even younger than Kaede and has lost his parents. Why don't we..."

Kaori grabbed her husband's arm and looked at him hopefully.

"That stubborn old woman won't agree to us adopting Obito."

Mingye shook his head and replied.

"I'll visit them often. I was the one who delivered Kaede, after all."

She knew her husband was right. Obito's stubborn grandmother would never agree.

"That's enough. That's just how the shinobi world is."

Mingye looked at his son, sitting far away and eating. He was truly worried that he might be the next one to die on the battlefield. How devastated would his wife and child be when his clansmen brought back his body?

"Obito?"

At the name, his eyes narrowed as he remembered the man who had turned the entire Shinobi World upside down for love. His madness had all come down to the person he loved.

But...

"Damn it, he slaughtered his own clan for a woman. Wouldn't that mean he'd come after me?"

A wicked idea occurred to him. He could ask his parents to take Obito in, then—snap—strangle him to death. That would settle things once and for all.

"But changing the direction of the story wouldn't be a good thing for me right now!"

After all, Obito was just a tool Uchiha Madara had picked from the Uchiha Clan because he thought he had potential. If Obito were gone, another "Obito" would inevitably take his place as a tool.

That could leave him with a dangerous blind spot, sending his risk level through the roof.

"Dear little Obito, I'll be keeping an eye on you."

A host of ideas instantly filled his mind.

Kaede finished dinner in peace and went to bed, unaware that his father had quietly placed a wooden Kunai beside his pillow.

"Tomorrow's Kaede's birthday. It's a shame that I can't be there for him as his father. I really am a failure of a dad."

"Don't say that, Mingye. Kaede is a good boy. He won't blame you."

Kaori gently held Mingye.

"Let's give him this Kunai for his birthday. Kaori, I have to leave."

"Be careful. Come back safe."

The village had issued orders not long ago, calling the clan's shinobi back to the front lines. Uchiha Mingye had only just returned, but now he had no choice but to lead his clanmates back to the battlefield.

Leaving the house, Uchiha Mingye hurried toward the village gate to assemble with the Uchiha shinobi who were already waiting for him.

"Mingye-sama, what's the battlefield like?"

Behind a neat black robe and a mane of unruly black hair was the Uchiha's fiery Gunbai.

The young Uchiha asked Mingye a naïve question.

"It's a terrifying hell, and the shinobi's final destination."