Year 23
Fukashi paced nervously in front of the closed bedroom door, gnawing at his fingernail, teeth clattering in anxious rhythm. Shadows danced across his face from the flickering lantern nearby.
Beside him, Shinichi sat slumped in a chair, his head rocking with drowsiness. A thin line of drool slid form the corner of his mouth, his baby-fat cheeks still soft despite the leaner build he'd developed over months of training. At four years old, his growth had surpassed his peers; his posture, his eyes, everything about him now hinted at the gravity of someone much older.
The day had started like any other in the courtyard, filled with drills and discipline. Then came the cry. Minami's water broke, and they sprinted back inside. Himiko, "Baba," as Fukashi always called her, was already at work, her healing hands steady and confident.
At this stage, surprisingly, Konoha still lacked a central hospital. Births still unfolded inside homes or clan elder's compounds, guided by generations of chakra-enhanced midwifery. And although the threat of death during birth for Kunoichi was low, the moment still carried its weight.
Then –
"Uwahh! Uwah! Uwahh! Uwahh!!"
The sound echoed through the walls like a bell of new beginnings. Fukashi burst into the room, with eyes filled with anxiousness and anticipation.
"Minami!!!!!!"'
Himiko gave him a withering glance, but instead of swinging her cane, she simply sighed.
"…Why does this feel so familiar….?"
She felt little tired at the moment. Uchiha Himiko gained more wrinkles on her face, her skin looked a shade paler compared to before, and her white hairs lacked the luster they still had when Fukashi and Minami visited her late at night with bedridden Shinichi. She said nothing more.
The sound of the newborn stirred Shinichi. He blinked awake and saw Baba falter ever so slightly. Silently, he reached for her arm and helped her sit down.
"Grandma Himiko…. are you alright?"
Himiko looked at him with something between pride and nostalgia. She gently stroked his hair and smiled.
"Call me Ba-chan, Shin-chan. And yes, I'm just tired, not dying. Now go to your mother and your little brother. They need you more than I do."
She had sensed from years past that Shinichi carried a weight too heavy for a child. Detached. Quiet. Unreachable. Like Madara before the spiral.
Perhaps, she thought, this newborn would be the key.
Shinichi nodded and approached his parents. Minami, pale but glowing with warmth, sat upright with Fukashi at her side. A bundle of white cloth rested in her arms.
When they saw him, both lit up.
"Shin-chan, come here. Meet your brother."
"Otōto...," he murmured.
He looked down. The tiny infant squirmed quietly, searching for warmth. And Shinichi felt something stir inside him – an ache, a flutter, or a tremor he couldn't define.
'Such pure and innocent life… Am I worthy of such a gift?'
In the years since his rebirth, Shinichi had studied the shinobi way and seen its brutal truths. To him, it echoed the Imperial Knight Order of his previous life; just, more color and less silence. But watching this delicate newborn, untouched by war and bloodshed, stirred something raw and ancient in him.
He was different from other infants he encountered. He was... a blood relative he never had, but only dreamed of.
Guilt gripped him.
'I took countless lives. I bathed in war. I was a blade, not a brother…'
Minami leaned forward and gently guided Shinichi's hand to the baby.
"Here, Shin-chan. Say hi."
The baby reached out instinctively and wrapped tiny fingers around Shinichi's pinky.
That spark, one gentle touch, lit a fire in his soul. One tear slipped free, then another, until rivers ran down his cheeks. He couldn't stop them. Didn't want to.
'I always longed for this…'
Memories flooded in: the market street filled with laughter, families walking arm in arm while KuroiOkami stood silent in the shadows, blade hidden beneath his cloak. His pendant clutched tight. Missions. War. Assassinations. His surrogate family in Knight Order. Kaishin. Yeon. Ouchi. The pain of survival.
He'd told himself that blood didn't matter. That family was built through suffering and shared battle. He saw the truth now; he had simply believed he was undeserving.
'But this life… it will be different.'
Minami and Fukashi watched Shinichi sob without a word. Minami's eyes glistened. Fukashi froze. He had never seen his son cry before.
Shinichi held his brother's tiny grip and whispered inside:
'Kaishin… Ouchi… Yeon.. Nawaki… Kamako and Kurako… Muromachi… everyone… I'm sorry. I failed you. But this time... I'll protect him. This time, I'll be more than a weapon.'
And just like that, the dam was broken.
***
In a realm of endless white, where translucent water rippled like glass beneath his feet, Uchiha Shinichi stood with head bowed. A reflection shimmered below, echoes from a life once lived.
As he whispered his vow to protect his new family, faint silhouettes stirred across the horizon of his heart. One by one, figures materialized above the water's surface: Kaishin, Ouchi, Yeon; the Masters of Outer Knight Orders. Behind them stood Nawaki his adjutant, and Muromachi, Kamako and Kurako; the subcommanders of each Master knights. Their forms slowly gaining clarity, as if drawn back from the edge of memory.
"I love you all," Shinichi murmured, voice heavy with grief and gratitude. "I'll never forget what we endured. The injustice we faced. The wounds we shared. The mountain trials. The traitors we struck down.. our vengeance for fallen kin. And that final day…"
The boy's figure shifted. From shinobi child to battle-scarred warrior, KuroiOkami emerged, a grandmaster clad in blood-soaked armor, the steel of a life long lived. Tears dropped from his eyes, sending small ripples across the surface. Their reflections distorted for a moment, only to return clearer than before. Every face smiled back at him. a silent understanding.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," he said with a trembling voice. "I was rash and as a fool. I failed you all as your leader…
...
But I have no regrets… living as KuroiOkami with you all."
He steadied his breath, eyes wide with newfound resolve.
"I have a new goal now. A new family. They matter to me just as much as you did. I was too weak before, too helpless. That will never happen again. I'll protect them, no matter the cost."
The KuroiOkami's armor began to crack. The war-stained façade peeled away until only Shinichi remained, his true self, small and trembling, but unbroken.
"To do that… I need to let you go."
He looked up, eyes brimming with tears, and raised his arm.
"Enjoy your peace in the afterlife. Don't come back to this cruel world. I love you. I LOVE YOU ALL!"
The knights smiled and waved, fading into specks of white light. Shinichi kept waving back, harder and faster, smiling through the tears. One by one, they dissolved, carried off by the wind into eternity.
And then –
He opened his eyes.
Three tomoe spun within his crimson irises.
He was no longer KuroiOkami. No longer a weapon forged by grief.
He was Uchiha Shinichi.
***
"Shi-Shinichi… Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"Shi-Shin-chan, please don't cry. It breaks my heart..."
Fukashi and Minami rushed to their son, panic rising as they watched him cry for the first time, tears flowing like a silent storm.
Shinichi slowly opened his eyes, wiped his cheeks with his sleeve, and looked up at them.
"…Mom. Dad."
""???!!!!!""
"I love you… I love you both so much!"
Minami gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as tears cascaded down her cheeks. Fukashi stood frozen, overwhelmed, his own tears spilling quietly down his face.
'I've been foolish.. hurting them by keeping distance. All this time… they only wanted to love me.'
Shinichi could feel it; his parents' longing, their sadness, the silent wounds they'd carried from his coldness. And for the first time, he understood.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know how to handle all this. I pushed you away, but I've always loved you. I won't do that again. I promise."
Minami and Fukashi embraced Shinichi tightly, a warmth years overdue. The silence between them was now filled with laughter and sobs and pure relief.
Then – Fukashi sniffled and suddenly blurted:
"I've got it! Let's name him Kaito! He stole Shinichi and Minami's heart and united our family again!"
Minami squinted, unimpressed, "…Why are you excluded here? Do you not love us, FUKASHI?"
"AH! I misspoke!" Fukashi hurriedly backpedaled while waving his hands. "He stole my heart too! That's why I said the name!"
Shinichi giggled as Minami rolled her eyes with a chuckle. They both nodded.
"Then it's settled," Minami smiled. "Kai-chan it is."
"…Kaito," Shinichi whispered, repeating it like a sacred vow. "Kaito."
He etched the name deep into his heart – into the place that once ached with absence. A new bond, a new beginning.
From the shadows nearby, Uchiha Himiko watched in silence. Her sharp, aged senses caught something shifting in the air around Shinichi. She opened her nearly eternally-closed eyes and exhaled sharply.
'He's matured again… His chakra has stabilized. That boy– He just evolved his sharingan… perhaps even to the next stage. Could it be… another Madara? Or more?'
She quietly packed her satchel, slipping past the doorway without a word. Her cane tapped softly on the wood as she walked into to the light.
'But it's too early to say. Madara was the first and only to reach the Eternal Mangekyo in a thousand years. There's no guarantee Shin-kun will do the same... though…'
Her lips curled into the ghost of a smile.
The warm sunlight bathed the home in gentle god. The winter had passed. Spring had arrived with a new life, and a renewed bond among family.