In the dim room, candlelight flickered, and a woman's cries of pain echoed through the air.
"Come on, hang in there! The baby's head is already out!" the elderly, white-haired midwife encouraged her.
Outside, a black-haired young man in a black yukata paced the corridor, anxiously waiting for news from within.
"He's here! Congratulations, Lord Natsuno, you're a father! Lady Tsubaki has given birth to a boy!" A little while later, the midwife slid open the shoji door and announced the news with a beaming smile.
Natsuno Uchiha paid her no attention and hurried into the room. He crouched nervously beside the bed, looking at the beautiful, exhausted woman lying there. "Tsubaki, are you all right? Where's our baby?"
"Honestly, you're a father now, and you're still so impatient. He's sleeping right here." Tsubaki Uchiha laughed and lifted a corner of the blanket, revealing the tiny infant beneath it.
Natsuno Uchiha carefully picked up the baby, his face lighting up with wild joy and excitement. "I have a child! I'm a father!"
"Waaah..."
Perhaps his voice had been too loud, because the sleeping infant woke. His nose wrinkled, and he opened his little mouth and burst into tears.
Natsuno Uchiha immediately panicked. He tried his best to soothe the baby, only to find that his cries were growing louder. He looked helplessly at Tsubaki Uchiha.
"Honestly, give him here." His expression made Tsubaki Uchiha laugh, and she chided him affectionately.
Taking the baby, Tsubaki Uchiha cradled him against her chest and gently rocked her arms. "Don't cry, baby. Be good. Mommy's here!"
Soothed by Tsubaki Uchiha's tender, motherly love, the baby's cries gradually quieted, and he slowly fell asleep.
Tsubaki Uchiha gently laid him back on the bed and gazed lovingly at the newborn, feeling the closeness born of their shared blood.
"Right, what should we name our baby?"
"Ye. Let's call him Ye Uchiha. May he dance freely on the wind like a leaf, unbound by worldly conventions," Natsuno Uchiha said after a moment's thought.
"Ye Uchiha? What a lovely name."
Tsubaki Uchiha gently kissed Ye Uchiha's forehead as she spoke, her face full of affection.
Natsuno Uchiha smiled and poked Ye Uchiha's chubby little cheek. Watching this heartwarming scene, he felt joy and happiness well up from the bottom of his heart. He truly wished this moment could last forever.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Four-year-old Ye Uchiha formed hand seals and spat a fireball about half a meter across from his mouth, evaporating the lake water and lowering its level at a visible rate.
With a few more wrinkles now lining his face, Natsuno Uchiha patted his son's head and said with a smile, "That's my boy!"
"Dad, if you keep doing that, I'll tell Mom you've been sneaking off to the Red-Light District behind her back," Ye Uchiha shouted, rubbing his aching head.
"Shh! You little brat, what nonsense are you spouting? Here's ten thousand ryo. Go buy whatever you want. And you know what to do, right?"
Natsuno Uchiha nervously looked around. Only after confirming that his wife was nowhere in sight did he breathe a sigh of relief. He gave Ye Uchiha's cheek a vicious pinch, pulled a ten-thousand-ryo banknote from his pocket, and threatened him in a low voice.
"What are you talking about? I don't know anything." Ye Uchiha swiftly took the banknote and obligingly played dumb, leaving Natsuno Uchiha thoroughly satisfied.
With his spending money in hand, Ye Uchiha left without looking back, clutching the large banknote as he skipped toward the shopping district in the clan compound.
Natsuno Uchiha stared ruefully at his wallet. Only a few copper coins remained. The secret stash he had worked so hard to save was gone just like that. The little brat was already fleecing his father at this age. Who had he gotten that from?
That evening, Ye Uchiha returned home laden with bags of all sizes, his face full of delight. He pushed open the door and immediately saw his father kneeling on a washboard, his face beaten into a swollen mess, frantically winking and pulling faces at him. Ye Uchiha's expression stiffened, and an inexplicable unease rose in his heart.
"Ye, you're home so late. Is there anything you'd like to tell Mommy?" A gentle voice suddenly sounded behind him, sending a chill down his spine.
Tsubaki Uchiha rested a hand on her son's shoulder and smiled at him. No matter how he looked at it, that impossibly sweet smile seemed to conceal murderous intent.
"Mom, I don't know anything!" Ye Uchiha said, pretending to be calm and forcing a smile.
That night, wails and pleas for mercy rang endlessly from Natsuno Uchiha's home, frightening the birds resting on nearby branches into a panicked flight.
The next day, Ye Uchiha lay on his stomach on the bed, glancing sideways at Natsuno Uchiha, who was kneeling on a cushion with bruises still covering his face.
"How did you get caught?"
"I happened to run into Clan Head Tajima when I went to the Red-Light District. Then that bastard got drunk yesterday and let it slip. His wife gave him a good beating, and he dragged me into it while he was at it."
Natsuno Uchiha rubbed the bruises on his face and sucked in a sharp breath, his expression full of resentment.
"That bastard has no loyalty. All those times I got caught, I never gave him away. Next time I see him going there, I'm telling his wife straightaway."
The Uchiha Clan Head, Uchiha Tajima?
Wasn't he Madara Uchiha and Uchiha Izuna's father?
Ye Uchiha's expression shifted slightly, but Natsuno Uchiha failed to notice anything unusual about his son and continued grumbling to himself.
During this rare father-son conversation, they also discussed how the Senju Clan had recently begun making deliberate overtures to several small and medium-sized bloodline clans. They seemed to be moving toward an alliance, and their underhanded maneuvering was getting out of hand.
The Uchiha Clan's leaders, who considered themselves the foremost power in the Shinobi World, had already decided to teach the Senju Clan a lesson they would never forget. They had begun gathering a force of elite Uchiha for a surprise attack on the Senju Clan, and Natsuno Uchiha was among them.
War between the two clans seemed about to erupt!
Although he had transmigrated into the Naruto World, Ye Uchiha had not known exactly which era he had arrived in. Softened by his peaceful, comfortable life, he had also subconsciously avoided confronting the fact that he was living in the Warring States Period.
Having always lived under the protection of his parents and clan, Ye Uchiha had never witnessed the wars outside. Through constant exposure to the clan's elders, however, he had learned of the outside world's cruelty. Countless bloodline clans rose and fell every day. Had the Uchiha not been powerful enough to deter every petty aggressor, they would probably have long since joined the ranks of the fallen.
"Dad, can you stay?"
Ye Uchiha's face was a little pale. For the first time, he truly understood the cruelty of the Shinobi World and no longer treated this Naruto World as a virtual game.
People died in wars. Even if this country's daimyo died, Ye Uchiha would not care. At most, upon hearing such major news, he would look as though it all made sense, sigh a little, then continue training in ninjutsu with his father. But if the one who died was someone dear to him, he would never accept it.
Ye Uchiha suddenly recalled the plot of Naruto.
Madara Uchiha.
Hashirama Senju.
Two future gods of the Shinobi World, capable of thrashing the nine tailed beasts with one hand.
Black Zetsu, the Shinobi World's devoted filial son, hiding in the shadows and scheming to stage his grand act of "splitting the moon to save Mother."
Hamura Otsutsuki's descendants, living on the moon and secretly observing events in the Shinobi World.
The extraterrestrial Ōtsutsuki Clan, Kinshiki Otsutsuki, and Momoshiki Otsutsuki.
The future Child of Prophecy, Naruto Uzumaki, and the Uchiha orphan, Sasuke Uchiha.
The waters of this Shinobi World ran deep.
Well aware of his own limitations, Ye Uchiha had no intention of ruling over the Shinobi World. He only wanted to live in peace until Naruto and Sasuke were born and witness the beginning of Naruto's story.
But now, everything had been shattered, because war was about to begin!
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