Konoha's gates rose before me like a memory I had buried long ago.
The village I had escaped as a child. The cage that had raised me in whispers of suspicion.
Now I returned not as prey, but as predator.
Cloaked in shadows, my Sharingan spun, tracking every patrol. The Senju cells pulsed through my veins, keeping my chakra suppressed, hidden beneath the noise of the village.
I wasn't here for revenge. Not yet
I was here for theft.
Naruto Uzumaki. The boy with the Nine-Tail
The Hokage wasn't a fool. Even a child jinchūriki required protection.
Four ANBU patrolled near Naruto's small apartment, their masks gleaming faintly in the moonlight. They stood on rooftops, silent and sharp-eyed, blades at the ready.
But they weren't watching for me. They thought the Uchiha were gone, erased.
Their mistake.
I moved like smoke. My Mangekyō flared—Kirisaki. The air itself split, an invisible line cutting across the first ANBU's throat. He crumpled before he could cry out.
The second turned, too slow. My kunai plunged into his chest, and my chakra severed his heart with surgical precision.
The last two fought back. One launched a jutsu of fire, the other a whirlwind of blades. I shed my skin—Iyashii—slipping past the flames, my body reforming behind them.
When it was over, four corpses lay in silence. Not even a scream escaped.
The path to Naruto was open.
Inside the small apartment, Naruto slept soundly, curled beneath his blanket. He looked younger than I remembered—just a lonely boy, dreaming of acknowledgment.
For a heartbeat, doubt flickered. In my past life, I had rooted for him. Laughed with him. Cheered when he won.
For a moment, I hesitated. In my old world, he was the hero, the one who carried hope on his back. But here? He was nothing more than a tool waiting to be chained by Sarutobi and Konoha.
Not anymore.
I lifted him gently into my arms. He stirred, mumbling in his sleep, but did not wake.
"You're mine now, boy," I whispered. "Not theirs.
Konoha would never forgive his disappearance. They would turn the world upside down to find him. So I needed a scapegoat.
I had already prepared the stage—explosive tags hidden throughout the Sarutobi compound. With a single seal, the night erupted. Flames roared skyward, smoke billowed across the rooftops, and shinobi scrambled to save their clan.
The screams and chaos drowned out everything else. No one noticed the shadow leaping over the village wall, carrying the boy away into the forests.
We moved quickly through the trees. My chakra was suppressed, the boy light in my arms. Behind us, Konoha burned with confusion and fury.
Naruto stirred, half-awake. "W-what's… happening?"
"Nothing you need to fear," I whispered. "Not while I'm here."
His small body relaxed against me, trusting, unaware.
Konoha woke to fire.
Half the Sarutobi compound still smoldered, its walls cracked and blackened. ANBU combed through the ruins, finding nothing but shattered bodies and scorched masks.
And Naruto Uzumaki… was gone.
The village buzzed with fear. Whispers spread like plague: the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki has been taken.
In the Hokage's tower, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood with clenched fists, his eyes dark beneath his hat. Smoke and anger coiled around him like an aura
"WHO DARES?!" Hiruzen's voice thundered across the war room, shaking the shinobi assembled. "Who would dare touch the vessel of the Nine-Tails under MY watch?! Bring me answers, NOW!"
ANBU knelt, blood still staining their armor. "Lord Hokage, the explosion's origin traces back to the Sarutobi compound. Evidence suggests betrayal from within."
The old man's jaw clenched. The thought of his own clan betraying him sent fire through his veins.
"It cannot be…" he whispered. "The Sarutobi would never…"
But doubt crept in. Doubt planted by careful hands.
The chamber door slid open. A slow, measured step echoed through the silence.
Danzo Shimura emerged, his bandaged face unreadable, his lone eye glinting like a blade.
"Hiruzen," he said softly, but his voice carried like poison. "You've grown blind in your age. Compassion has dulled your senses. This—" he gestured at the burning reports on the table, "—is the price of weakness."
Hiruzen's glare cut at him. "Danzo. You dare lecture me when a child has been taken from this village? Naruto is missing! The Nine-Tails is in enemy hands!"
Danzo's lips curved faintly. "Not in enemy hands. In traitorous ones. The Sarutobi clan has always enjoyed your protection. Perhaps too much. Perhaps they finally revealed their greed."
Murmurs rose in the room. The seeds of doubt found soil.