The Ninth Orphan

The Hokage's office, the day after the funeral.

Shuo Ye was brought from the safe house to the Hokage Tower by an ANBU agent. It was a tall building, its red roof especially striking in the afternoon sunlight. He followed an ANBU wearing a dog mask down a long corridor, passed through several checkpoints, and finally stopped before a wooden door.

The ANBU knocked.

"Come in."

When the door opened, Shuo Ye saw the Hokage's office in its entirety once more.

The room was large. The bookshelves against the walls were crammed with scrolls and documents, while several unapproved reports lay spread across the desk. The windows were open, and the afternoon sunlight and wind poured in together, making the papers on the desk rustle.

The Third Hokage sat behind the desk.

He was still wearing his Hokage robes, with his conical hat hanging from a wooden rack on the wall. A pipe rested between his lips, lit this time, pale bluish smoke drifting from the corner of his mouth and unraveling into wisps in the sunlight.

"Sit." The Third Hokage pointed at the chair in front of the desk.

Shuo Ye sat down. The chair was taller than he had expected, and his feet could just reach the floor. He placed his hands on his knees and kept his back straight.

The Third Hokage looked at him and took a puff from his pipe.

"Shuo Ye," he said. "I called you here today to discuss a few matters. Matters concerning your future life."

Shuo Ye said nothing.

"You are Uchiha Takuma's son." The Third Hokage spoke as if stating a fact rather than asking a question. "Takuma's position within the clan was... chunin. Your mother, Ayano, was Uchiha Mikoto's cousin."

Shuo Ye knew all of this. But the Third Hokage had deliberately brought it up, which meant he was formally sorting through Shuo Ye's family ties—standard procedure for arranging guardianship.

"Under Hidden Leaf Village law, a minor orphan must be assigned a guardian," the Third Hokage continued. "You are seven this year, still five years away from the minimum age to become a ninja. During those five years, you will need someone to care for your daily needs."

He paused, removed the pipe from his mouth, and set it on the desk.

"The Uchiha Clan... no longer has anyone who can serve as your guardian."

For several seconds after those words, the office was silent.

"I have already contacted a married couple," the Third Hokage said. "They live in the western part of the village. They are retired ninja. The husband is Fujiwara Heizo, and the wife is Fujiwara Kazue. Both are in their sixties and have no children. They are willing to serve as your nominal guardians."

"Nominal." Shuo Ye repeated the word.

The Third Hokage glanced at him.

"You are perceptive," he said. "Yes, nominally. The Fujiwara couple are advanced in years. They can still care for themselves, but it would be inconvenient for them to look after a seven-year-old child around the clock. In practice... you will need to take care of yourself most of the time."

Shuo Ye lowered his head.

Take care of himself.

At seven years old. Cooking for himself, washing his own clothes, cleaning his own room, arranging everything on his own.

Before the clan massacre, his mother had done all those things. Every morning, she woke at five-thirty to make breakfast, prepared a lunchbox each for Shuo Ye and Sasuke, then saw them off. Whenever they came home in the evening, there was always a lamp lit inside.

Now, that lamp would never light again.

"As for living expenses," the Third Hokage continued, "there is still some property in the Uchiha Clan District. By inheritance custom, you and Sasuke will each receive a portion. However, most of the clan district's assets will be temporarily taken over by the village."

"Taken over." Shuo Ye repeated it again.

The Third Hokage's expression did not change. He knew Shuo Ye was repeating his wording—this seven-year-old child was using that method to express a certain attitude. But he did not explain what "taken over" specifically meant. He merely continued.

"The portion you inherit includes the house registered under your parents' names and a small plot of land. The house is the one you are currently living in—the one at the southeastern corner of the clan district. The land is not large, around two hundred square meters."

"Can I keep living there?"

"Yes," the Third Hokage said. "The clan district will not be demolished. But most of the houses will be sealed. The one you inherit is an exception."

The Third Hokage paused.

"Sasuke's situation is similar to yours. He inherited the house registered under his parents—Fugaku and Mikoto. It is also within the clan district."

The two of them. Both living in the clan district. Both alone in an empty house. Surrounded by hundreds of sealed, uninhabited buildings.

"As for your schooling," the Third Hokage changed the subject, "you are currently a first-year student at the Ninja Academy. I recommend that you continue your education. After the clan massacre, the academy will grant you some time off. But once the leave ends..."

He did not finish.

Shuo Ye knew what came next.

Once the leave ended, he would return to the academy. Return to those whispering crowds. Return to classmates who looked at him with complicated eyes.

From today onward, the surname "Uchiha" no longer meant pride and talent. It meant massacre, bloodshed, and a tragedy the entire village discussed.

"Third Hokage." Shuo Ye suddenly spoke.

"Hmm?"

"My Sharingan," he said. "Do you know about it?"

The air in the office abruptly changed.

Not the temperature, nor the light. It was something subtler—the aura radiating from the Third Hokage tightened in that instant. Like a seasoned hunter suddenly realizing the prey before him had said something it should not have.

The Third Hokage's gaze settled on Shuo Ye's face.

His eyes—those eyes everyone called the "Professor," eyes that saw through everything—remained fixed on Shuo Ye's face for a long time.

"The Sharingan is the Uchiha Clan's bloodline limit," the Third Hokage said. "I am not surprised that you possess it."

He did not answer directly.

"But I do not intend to use it in public," Shuo Ye said.

The Third Hokage looked at him for several more seconds.

Then he smiled.

It was a faint smile, with barely any movement at the corners of his mouth. But the corners of his eyes did curve slightly.

"Your caution is much like your father's," the Third Hokage said.

Those words made Shuo Ye's heart tighten.

Like his father.

He did not know whether he should be happy or sad. His father, Takuma, was already lying beneath that nameless gravestone.

The Third Hokage put the pipe back between his lips and stood. He walked to the window, his back to Shuo Ye, and looked out over Hidden Leaf Village.

"Shuo Ye," he said. His voice carried in from the window, scattered somewhat by the wind. "Hidden Leaf Village will not abandon you. You are a child of this village."

You are also an orphan this village created with its own hands.

Shuo Ye did not say those words aloud.

"The Fujiwara couple will come to pick you up tomorrow." The Third Hokage turned around. "You may return to your home in the clan district first. Gather the things you need."

He paused.

"Sasuke will as well."

Shuo Ye stood and bowed to the Third Hokage. There were no unnecessary words. Then he turned and left the office.

By the time he came out of the Hokage Tower, it was already getting late.

The dog-masked ANBU did not follow him—the Third Hokage had allowed him to return to the clan district alone. Along Hidden Leaf Village's streets, he saw many familiar things.

The ramen shop's banner fluttered in the wind. A new batch of flowers stood outside the flower shop—white lilies and yellow sunflowers. Several children chased and played in an alley, their laughter carrying far away.

Everything was normal.

As if nothing had happened.

As Shuo Ye passed a row of homes, he heard two people talking. A middle-aged woman and a young man stood outside their house, making no effort to lower their voices.

"Did you hear? Over in the Uchiha—"

"Yeah. It's awful."

"You mean those children... only two are left?"

"Two. One is named... Sasuke? And the other one..."

"I don't know. I think his name has something to do with night."

"Ah."

The woman sighed, and the two of them went back inside. The sound of the door closing echoed once through the alley.

Shuo Ye did not stop walking.

He kept going.

When he reached the entrance to the Uchiha Clan District, he stopped.

The stone torii was still there.

The fan crest carved into the stone pillars was exactly as it had always been. But beyond the torii, there was no one on the road now. The doors and windows of the houses on both sides were tightly shut, and some doors bore seals—official Hidden Leaf Village seals stamped with the Hokage Tower's mark.

The entire street was empty.

Shuo Ye passed through the torii.

His footsteps echoed down the empty street, one after another, like the tolling of a bell.

When he reached his front door, he saw it.

The door was closed.

Just like before.

But Shuo Ye knew that after pushing it open, no one would be inside.

He reached out—faint traces of blood still lingered beneath the nails of that hand—and gripped the doorknob.

The metal was cold.

He pushed open the door.

The entryway light was not on.

The house was dark. The air smelled of old wood and dust—only three days without anyone living there, and it already smelled dusty. Sasuke's spare ninja sandals still sat on the shoe cabinet in the entryway, with a patch of dried mud on their uppers—mud from when they had sparred at the Naka River last week.

Shuo Ye's shoes were in the lowest compartment. His mother's slippers were in the highest.

His gaze lingered on those slippers for two seconds before withdrawing.

He walked into the living room.

Three teacups still sat on the table. They had not eaten dinner on the day of the massacre—while his mother was preparing it in the kitchen, she received notice of a clan gathering and hurried out. The water in the cups had dried up, leaving pale rings along their inner walls.

The sofa cushion was still where Sasuke had last left it—crooked. His mother always scolded Sasuke for that, but Sasuke never changed.

Shuo Ye stood in the middle of the living room and looked around.

This was his home.

From now on, it would be his home alone.

Seven years old.

He went to the door of his room and pushed it open. The bed was neatly made—the quilt he had folded himself on the morning of the massacre. His Ninja Academy textbook lay open on the desk, turned to a page titled Ninja 101: Basic Hand Seals. At the corner of the desk sat a small clay vase holding a dried wisteria flower.

Ino had given it to him last time.

He picked up the vase and looked at it in his hands for several seconds.

The wisteria had completely withered. Its petals had turned dark brown, and they would crumble at the slightest touch.

Shuo Ye put the vase back where it was, then sat at the edge of the bed.

The bed was soft. The bedding smelled of sunlight—his mother had aired it out the day before the massacre.

He lay down.

There was a water stain on the ceiling—a leak from last year's rain. His father had said he would fix it when he had time.

His father had not fixed it.

He never would.

Shuo Ye closed his eyes.

Darkness covered everything. He lay in his own bed, breathing in the lingering scent of sunlight on the bedding and listening to the sound of his own breathing in the empty house.

The seventh orphan? No. He was the ninth.

Hidden Leaf Village had nine named orphans—an especially cruel number, but he remembered it. In the original story, someone had counted them.

Nine orphans, each with a vastly different fate.

And he—Uchiha Shuo Ye—was the newest among them.

Outside the window, the sky darkened. No one came to turn on the lights.

And no one would ever come again.