[POV: Shiro]
"Please don't kill me! Please, I beg you! Spare my life!"
His foot slipped on the slick blood, sending him tumbling past Hikaru's lifeless torso. He scrambled to hide behind Daiki's corpse, screaming, "You disgusting bastard, I'm begging you!"
His pleas were useless. Obito's cold gaze never wavered. Mitsuro's neck snapped, the dry crunch of bone echoing in Shiro's ears. Obito released the lifeless body, letting it drop to the ground. Then, Obito's Fire Style jutsu consumed Shiro. His skin burned, his bones shattered… and then, darkness.
The sound of a book flipping echoed in his mind.
"The Book of Truth has closed."
He was panting and sweating, but his body was still in one piece. The Book of Truth had closed once more. This was his third and final chance to see the future, and just like always, it ended in an early death. His only gain? The painful realization that there was no easy way out.
In the dark shadows of the forest, a child with an Uchiha face ran quickly. This time, not for a simulation, not to cheat—just to survive.
Three years had passed since he entered this world. He was born into the body of an orphaned Uchiha clan baby, with a cursed gift: The Book of Truth.
This book gave him the ability to see the future. But unlike all the cliché stories, he had no limitless power, no instant growth. No chakra, no experience, no ready-made skills. Just one thing: the ability to see the future.
And even that came with a deadly limitation: he could only flip through the book three times a year. Each time, he was only allowed to watch one person's destiny up to the moment of their death—even his own. Every choice had a price. Every mistake cost him a chance.
And this time, the third page of the year was spent on his own destiny. The result? A body burned to the bone and a pain that still made him tremble.
Every time, just looking. Just seeing. He could learn tricks by observing the lives of others, but only within the limits of his weak body. Grand jutsu, S-rank techniques? They were out of reach—that is, if the person he'd chosen had even practiced them. At best, he would get something like basic exercises or simple C and B-rank techniques.
Now, he had no more chances. He knew what was going to happen tonight. It was that cursed night: the Uchiha clan massacre. Everyone's death. He had seen what would happen to him nine times through the pages of the Book of Truth. In one scenario, he had survived to the age of seven; in another, he had burned right at the beginning. But now… he had used his last look and knew that none of them led to salvation.
Death after death, disappointment after disappointment, had crushed his foolish hope. He had tried everything: fighting, begging for mercy, even faking his own death by slitting his throat. None of it had worked. In every simulation, death was waiting for him. This made him focus more on escaping, perhaps to find a way to survive.
However, amidst the consecutive pages of the Book of Truth, one strange detail caught his attention. Uchiha Mitsuru, the orphanage teacher, was acting unusually. It was as if he knew what awaited them on that cursed night. Shiro didn't pay attention at first; in most simulations, he was only focused on saving himself. Sometimes he would run away alone, sometimes he would fight or seek revenge, and he almost never thought about the fate of the other children or Mitsuro. To be honest, he didn't care.
Until finally, the real time arrived.
This time, unlike before, he sat in a classroom he had run away from many times in his simulations. In that same classroom, Mitsuro said he intended to flee the village. A spark ignited Shiro's suspicion. Why would he make such a decision at such a critical time?
When Mitsuro went out to buy baby formula, Shiro activated his ability for the eighth time and read the Book of Truth. The image before his eyes came to life: Mitsuro was gathering the children and leading them toward the river.
Shiro had seen that three groups of Anbu or Root Chunin were lying in ambush there. In that same simulation, after getting into a fight with them, Mitsuro ordered the children to run, but their fate was nothing but a kunai in their heads or backs. As a result, Shiro warned Mitsuro and the others not to take the river path. Contrary to expectations, Mitsuro listened and changed the route.
Shiro immediately opened the Book of Truth for the ninth time:
Mitsuro guided the children toward a mysterious cave. With a clumsy but effective speech, he convinced them to hide in the cave for a while and sealed its entrance.
From the outside, the plan seemed flawless.
But Mitsuro had not considered one thing: Zetsu.
Zetsu sensed his chakra and gave his coordinates to Obito. Obito appeared silently inside the shelter. A lightning-fast attack. Mitsuro didn't even have time to prepare a single jutsu. His neck was broken, and several black blades were thrown toward the children; one burned, another was sliced in half. Not even the infant survived.
And finally, it was Shiro's turn. Obito had mercilessly burned him.
"…I thought if I was reborn with Uchiha blood, a great destiny awaited me… But now…"
Shiro looked at his small body—he was still too young for the academy. He was only three years old. Barely three. Damn it.
"…I guess there's no other way now. Desperate times call for desperate measures…"
"I need to make a choice that's useful to me."
Staying with Mitsuro and the others was pointless. They were weak, and their fate was certain death.
In the simulations, there was a small glitch: in the futures shown by the Book of Truth, The simulated Shiro couldn't use the Book of Truth, otherwise he could have imagined countless futures and been saved. At the very least, if he was to live to the age of seven, he should have been able to use this ability twelve more times. And that number meant an endless ability to get stronger and learn in the future.
He had immediately replaced himself with a bunshin to go with the teacher and the children, and he himself headed toward his goal. He wanted to draw attention to a certain point without making a sound! With the thought of an attack on the clan, the Uchiha would rush into the area, causing a commotion and chaos, ultimately creating the perfect environment for his escape.
"Um… hey, System? I've just turned three and entered my fourth year… can you give me another chance to use the book?"
The cold, mechanical voice of the system echoed in his mind:
"[Ding! The number of uses of the Book of Truth has been exhausted. Please wait two months and twelve days, then select the target for the reading of destiny.]"
"Damn you, you useless trash!!"
One hour remained until the Uchiha massacre.
Hey everyone, what's up?
I recently finished the 20th chapter, but before publishing it, I went back and re-read from the beginning! I thought it was pretty good, but there was an issue. The character Shiro in my original draft was actually the main character from a published fanfiction!
That's right, my main character wasn't born into the world of Naruto; he was born into the world of a real, published fanfiction. That was my initial idea, but after twenty chapters, I decided it would be better to abandon it. I'll make Shiro the main character of a fictional fanfiction instead. This way, I'm showing respect to both my readers and other authors, and I'm not copying their work.
This puts my conscience at ease,
But it forced me to rewrite some sections and forge a new path. I must confess, altering a path you've already walked is much tougher than I had imagined.
I hope you can understand and give me some suggestions for the writing. Thanks for your patience and interest!