The road ahead

Tianshou's body was torn apart the instant he entered the spatial rift. All around him was pitch-black darkness, and his spiritual power quietly survived within that dark space, enduring it with no sense of time. Perhaps a year passed, perhaps ten, perhaps even a hundred.

He did not know how long he would have to endure such solitude and loneliness, but as long as he was still conscious, he had to keep living. Even if this is hell, I have to survive. I have to find out who I am...

Even if it took forever.

"Anyo, Anyo, wake up! Are you all right?" An anxious voice roused Tianshou's hazy consciousness. He thought to himself, Huh? Has someone new come to hell? Wonderful. Now I'll have someone to talk to.

He looked up and saw a delicate, lovely face. She was speaking in a strange babble, yet he could understand what she meant, which left Tianshou utterly puzzled.

The young woman finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him wake up. In a subdued voice, she consoled him, "Don't be too upset. Where there's war, there's death. We all have to learn to accept it. Even if you're an orphan now, you're still one of us Uchiha."

Before Tianshou could make sense of her words, all he could feel was that he had a body again. His surroundings were no longer pitch-black, but a world filled with color. Could I have... come back to life?

Two days. After two whole days without sleep or rest, Tianshou-or rather, Uchiha Anyo now-finally accepted the fact that he had transmigrated. When he woke after fainting that day, he discovered that his body had shrunk to that of a boy around eleven or twelve. His spiritual power, however, had grown to a level even he could not imagine. At least, he could not determine just how powerful it was. In any case, he could sense anything happening within ten meters without using his eyes.

According to the memories in this body, he seemed to have ended up in a large clan. However, his parents' marriage had been arranged by their elders. There had been no affection between them at all; instead, they felt a faint hostility toward each other. Neither was an outstanding member of the clan, so the child born of their union-himself-had shown no particularly great talent from childhood and received little attention from the clan.

On top of that, war was raging everywhere, so both his parents had gone off to fight. After one large-scale battle, he had unfortunately become an orphan. The moment he was told that both his parents had died, he fainted.

Far too fragile. So what if you're an orphan? Growing up alone isn't so bad. I'm used to it. Come to think of it, since I'm an orphan, should I change my name to Yasuo? Haha.

Uchiha Anyo was far too excited. Given another life, he felt as though it had fallen into his lap, and his thoughts raced wildly with excitement. Wait, the Uchiha Clan? Why does that sound familiar?

I remember now. Isn't that from the Naruto anime?

The renowned Uchiha Clan had been wiped out almost as soon as it appeared in the Naruto anime, but its strength was beyond question. After all, Konoha had been founded jointly by the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan, and Sasuke, one of the main characters, came from this clan too.

Wait. In the anime, Sasuke was the only member of the Uchiha Clan left alive in the end. Does that mean I'm one of the people who gets killed too?

That won't do. I've finally gotten another life. No matter what, I have to live it well. I never want to feel that loneliness in the darkness again. How about finding Uchiha Itachi and killing him ahead of time?

He dismissed the idea as soon as it occurred to him. Setting aside whether he could beat Itachi, even killing him would not change the Uchiha Clan's fate. Someone else would simply take his place as the executioner.

More importantly, he had no recollection whatsoever of Uchiha Itachi in this body's memories. With Itachi's level of genius, there was no way he would not have heard of him. The only explanation was that Itachi had not been born yet. He had probably arrived in an era before the main characters were born. Damn it. In that case, the only plot point I'm familiar with is the Uchiha massacre.

Sigh. If I'd known I would come to this world, I should have watched Naruto a few hundred times. I still remember watching a few dozen episodes when I was in school, then stopping. Later, I only got a rough overview through short videos, though I did know the general course of the plot.

Since I've come to this world, chakra must be the most important thing. After all, in the early part of Naruto, it was the standard used to measure a ninja's strength.

Uchiha Anyo stirred the chakra within his body, and a stream of blue energy gathered at his fingers.

Relying on the memories in his mind, he successfully performed the Three Body Techniques: the Clone Technique, the Transformation Technique, and the Substitution Technique.

After finishing, he sighed inwardly, gaining a new understanding of the world of Naruto. How incredible. Back when he went to Japan to steal treasures, most of the ninja he encountered used swordsmanship, concealed weapons, poisons, shuriken, and the like.

He could easily escape those things or even turn the tables and kill his attackers, so he had come to look down on ninja somewhat. Here, however, ninja stood at the pinnacle. A Kage Level ninja could easily destroy a country. They were practically the ultimate weapons of war.

So, if he wanted to live happily in this world, becoming a ninja was his only way forward. After all, strength was what truly mattered.

Having decided on his direction, his gaze sharpened at once. As far as he knew, chakra generally referred to the product of mixing spiritual and physical energy in equal proportions. After enduring such prolonged loneliness in the darkness, his spiritual power had reached an astonishing level, which was why he had just been able to perform the Three Body Techniques smoothly. But if he wanted to grow faster, his next step would undoubtedly be to train his physical strength.

Just as he made up his mind, the woman who had woken him two days earlier appeared. On seeing him, she said, "The clan has arranged for an elder to take care of you. You'll be living with that elder from now on."

Uchiha Anyo refused without hesitation. "There's no need. I intend to live alone. I'll make my own arrangements for my life from now on."

"Hm?" The woman's expression changed, and she scolded him. "What do you mean by that? The clan is doing this for your own good. You're just a child. How are you supposed to live on your own?"

Uchiha Anyo's expression remained cold, and he answered with silence.

Rebuffed, the woman gave a cold snort. "Fine. Do whatever you want."

After she left, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, he did not dislike this Uchiha woman. He was even grateful to her. He understood perfectly well that she had his best interests at heart. It was just...

He already had a vague idea of the road ahead, and he was deliberately erasing the traces of his connection to the Uchiha Clan. First, becoming Hokage was impossible. Konoha had never had a Hokage from the Uchiha Clan. Second, staying with the Uchiha was even more out of the question. That would certainly end in death. That left him with few paths to take.

Fortunately, he was young, both his parents were dead, and he had no close relatives left. He had also driven away the only woman who cared about him, which gave him much more room to maneuver.

He sorted through his parents' belongings, then packed up all his own possessions. He changed out of the clothes bearing the Uchiha emblem and took the compensation paid for his parents' deaths in battle. After looking at this "home" where he had spent a few days, he left without the slightest attachment.

Before leaving, he recalled the woman's name: Uchiha Mikoto. If I have the ability in the future, I'll definitely come and save you.