Demon of the Other Shore

Year 51 of Konoha, early summer.

The evening sun spilled freely between the buildings, and the streets marked with the Gunbai clan crest were unusually quiet.

Today was the Uchiha Clan's regular gathering. Except for those assigned to the Military Police Force, every clan member of Chunin rank or higher had to attend at Naka Shrine.

"Izumi, I'm heading to the training ground."

At a fork in the road, a little boy in a pale blue shinobi outfit bowed slightly to the girl before him. It was clear that he respected her.

"You really don't know how to take a day off, do you? Remember to come home early."

Looking at the boy, who still wasn't as tall as her, Izumi Uchiha wore a helpless expression.

As she remembered it, ever since he began training under Lord Yashiro, he had never once slacked off. Winter or summer, rain or snow, nothing could stop him.

"Got it, Izumi."

After a brief reply, Arata Uchiha headed toward the training ground.

Today, he had something very important to do.

"Oh, right. You were the one who beat up those Sarutobi brothers, Ki and Rin, weren't you?"

Izumi Uchiha, still standing there, seemed to remember something and called after the boy.

At the sound of her voice, Arata turned around. He didn't say anything, but a faint ripple of emotion stirred beneath his clear, handsome features.

"Those two annoying guys really don't know when to quit. I clearly warned them not to blab."

"Ah, so it really was you."

Izumi Uchiha blinked, seeing right through his silence.

Having confirmed her suspicions, the girl's expression grew animated as she continued, "No wonder they kept insisting they'd just fallen, no matter how Teacher Chuno questioned them. Those two proud guys couldn't bring themselves to admit they'd been beaten up by a first-year."

But—

"I don't know them, Izumi."

Arata denied it earnestly.

It was enough that the two hadn't admitted it themselves. After all, they were members of the Sarutobi Clan, and the Third Hoshikage still needed to maintain the village's outwardly cordial relationship with the Uchiha.

"Mm."

Izumi didn't call him out. She gave a soft hum, let the matter drop, then waved for him to hurry along and come back early.

But as she watched Arata's retreating figure, Izumi couldn't help thinking, He's only just started at the academy, and he's so tiny, yet he's always hiding something, just like Itachi. Are all geniuses like that?

Still, thanks. Those two really are annoying.

Arata was a reincarnator.

In his previous life, he had grown up in an orphanage. He was quiet and withdrawn.

He had no close friends and nowhere he truly belonged. The only things that seemed to bring him comfort were novels from his own country and anime from a neighboring one. One day, while saving a child from drowning, he sank into the cold river and never woke again.

When his consciousness stirred once more and his eyes found focus again, he had a new identity: Arata Uchiha.

That day, rain had fallen steadily beneath a dark, heavy sky. As far as he could see, there had been black mourning clothes and white chrysanthemums. The muffled sobs had been painfully clear, even through the rain.

Taking in those faint memories, he had been left with only the image of his parents shielding him with their bodies, and the roars of a Ferocious Beast that had echoed through the heavens.

I've always been alone anyway. It makes no difference.

Just as he pushed down the sorrow welling inside him, a gentle voice reached his ears. "Don't worry. Everything will be all right."

He looked up. The girl before him was only a few years older, with a beauty mark beneath her right eye.

She was Izumi.

She had lost her father in the Nine-Tails' rampage.

And after living two lives, Arata could clearly see her reddened eyes and the tears mingling with the rain. She was forcing herself to hold back her grief as she comforted him.

Later, the entire clan took in the helpless Arata Uchiha. Even Lord Yashiro Uchiha, an elder of the clan, became his first teacher.

After all, there were only a handful of recorded cases in the Uchiha Clan's history of someone awakening the Sharingan before the age of three.

The Sharingan was hailed as one of the strongest ocular techniques. It had many powerful abilities, including seeing the chakra inside others, casting genjutsu, and copying ninjutsu and Taijutsu.

Once an awakened user came into their own, they were invincible among their peers.

A saying even circulated through the Ninja World: "If you face a Sharingan-wielding Uchiha alone, run!"

More importantly, as a reincarnator, he had more than just the Sharingan.

When he reached the training area, Arata carefully checked his surroundings to make sure no one else was there, then sat down on the ground. A sharpened Kunai appeared in his hand. Before him lay a pale blue talisman inscribed with obscure characters.

The Kunai had been a gift from Uncle Yashiro for his third birthday.

"An Uchiha heir doesn't need wooden toys as a stepping stone."

Those had been Yashiro's exact words.

As for the talisman on the ground, it was called the Advanced Contract Talisman. It was the only tangible benefit he had received after reincarnating. It could randomly summon a great yokai from Heian-kyo and forge an unbreakable contract with them.

For the three years since his rebirth, Arata had wanted to reveal this trump card every moment.

But he had feared that his power was too weak to command whatever yokai he summoned, so he had kept the talisman until now.

However, with Itachi's meteoric rise and the clan's resources now flowing entirely toward him, Arata knew he couldn't keep being "ordinary."

Otherwise, the distance between them would only grow.

Without another moment's hesitation, he drew the sharp Kunai across his finger. Bright red blood ran down its edge, then slowly spread across the contract talisman as it dripped onto it.

"Demon of the Other Shore, heed my blood. Descend upon this realm and seal an everlasting pact."

The instant the words left his lips, the sky turned strange and ominous. A deathly silence fell over the surrounding area. Weeds, old trees, birds, beasts—all living things seemed to perish in that moment.

As the blue talisman shattered into starlight, a bone-deep chill enveloped the land, and snow began to fall strangely in the sweltering summer.

Amid the radiant starlight, a breathtaking girl in simple white robes slowly took shape.

"Human."

The words, spoken with icy disdain, snapped Arata out of his daze. A six-pointed snowflake mark gradually faded beneath the skin on the back of his right hand.

The contract was sealed!

Looking at the girl before him, Arata Uchiha opened his mouth, but in the end, not a single word came out.

He could clearly feel her displeasure and loathing. He could also sense, dimly, just how powerful she was.

The yokai girl before him, barefoot and standing tall, was none other than the lord of the Snow Plains—a great Yuki-onna!

Time passed in wordless silence.

The contract had not brought Arata any closer to this yokai from another world. Instead, it had become a thorn in the girl's heart, one that would be difficult to remove.

Perhaps only his death could pull out this thorn, a symbol of her humiliation.

"Sorry."

Only after a while did Arata Uchiha murmur. His dazed gaze slowly came back into focus.

"But right now, I have to borrow your power."

His voice grew more forceful.

"Demon Bind: Red Plum Under Snow."

This was the first yokai ability Arata had learned with the skill-point fragments he had saved up over three years. It allowed him to forcibly borrow the power of a yokai bound by contract.

Of course, if he wanted to unleash the skill's full power, he still needed the contracted yokai's approval.

At the same time, the violent surge of energy from the training ground immediately caught the attention of the clan's powerful shinobi. One after another, agile figures rushed through the dusk. Their crimson eyes all gleamed with black Magatama, and crazed expressions twisted the faces of many young Uchiha.

"How dare someone break into the Uchiha's restricted district while they're at a gathering?"

"Interesting!"

"Then let them feel the fear of being ruled by the Uchiha!"