Late at night, when Kimimaro and the other two were already asleep, Takizo lay awake, restless.
He turned his eyes toward Kimimaro sleeping beside him, recalling the words the boy had spoken earlier. A tight, suffocating pressure filled his chest, making it hard to breathe.
When had he first met Kimimaro?
It was when Kimimaro was just born.
Back then, hearing that a child had been named Kimimaro in the settlement, Takizo—barely three years old—was thrilled.
It was the first time since his arrival in this world that he had encountered a character he knew from the original story.
But joy was quickly replaced by dread, for the countdown to the Kaguya clan's annihilation had already begun.
From that moment on, Takizo paid close attention to Kimimaro, and the child clung to him, always calling him "brother."
Until Kimimaro was three years old. That was when the boy was locked in this place, and nearly three years had passed since then.
In all that time, Kimimaro had never again seen the outside world.
Takizo could open the cell door, but he could not break the chains fastened around Kimimaro's waist.
The longer he thought about it, the more suffocated he felt. He sat up, only to realize that Kimimaro had gripped his sleeve tightly in his sleep.
The pressure in his chest grew heavier. He pulled off his shirt, intending to step outside for some air.
"Hm? What's this?" His eyes caught something strange on the stone wall where Kimimaro always curled up. It looked like a face.
Takizo moved closer, sparks of lightning flickering at his fingertips to light the way.
Indeed, it was a face.
His own face.
"Kimimaro carved it," a voice spoke from behind. It was Kizuki, awake without his notice. "He said this way, brother could always stay with him."
The lightning at Takizo's fingertips flickered, casting shifting shadows across the stone-carved face.
For a long while he said nothing, then finally whispered, "I'm going out for a walk."
His voice was dull and heavy, like the last breath squeezed from the lungs of a dying man.
Without waiting for Kizuki to reply, Takizo left the cell, his footsteps echoing faster and faster along the passageway.
Until suddenly, they stopped outside the same cell where a prisoner had raged earlier that day.
Takizo lingered, waiting. Hoping the prisoner would provoke him again, so he could seize the excuse to vent his fury, to purge the suffocating pressure inside.
If he could do that, maybe he could convince himself that there was still time. That he should endure a little longer, gather more strength, raise his odds of survival just a little more.
The tunnel was silent except for Takizo's ragged breathing.
.....
The summer night was stifling, though the moonlight shone quietly over the still pond.
Takizo stood by the water, staring at the moon's reflection, his mind in turmoil.
Why was his heart so restless?
Was it Kimimaro's suffering? The mad words of the prisoner? The suffocating air within the clan?
Or was it simply that he could not control his own fate?
It was all of it.
For eight years, fear of the clan's inevitable destruction had bound him. He had done nothing but quietly sharpen his strength, too afraid that any small action might change the story and bring the end sooner.
He had endured for eight long years. But now he understood.
A Genin endures while waiting to become Chunin. A Chunin endures, hoping to rise to Jonin. A Jonin endures, longing to become Kage.
And those who make a habit of enduring… endure until they die.
Takizo no longer wanted to drown in the mire of patience. He wanted to struggle, even if that struggle dragged him under all the faster.
He laughed to himself.
"I don't know when the time bomb will explode, but I can choose to detonate it now." He scooped up a handful of water, letting it slip through his fingers. "And I can make the blast even bigger."
As dawn approached, Takizo stood tall, stretching as if his body brimmed with new strength.
Though he had not slept a wink, his mind was clear.
"Time to go. To Kirigakure. I should find a way to meet those famous figures… and then, for the Kaguya clan, for the village, for Uchiha Obito—I'll shake everything."
He chuckled, shaking his head. "So it turns out the madman was me all along."
After bidding farewell to Kimimaro, Takizo intercepted a squad of Genin leaving the village on a mission. He picked one of them, altered his facial bones with a disguise, and blended in without issue.
To avoid recognition, he slipped into an empty alley once inside Kirigakure, restoring his original features.
He undid the clan's traditional topknot, covering the two distinct dots on his forehead with a Mist forehead protector. At a glance, he looked every bit the part of a fresh academy graduate.
Wandering down the village streets, Takizo thought of the gate guards he had just passed, both of them mere Genin, and nearly burst out laughing.
"Obito, you've really done a number on this place," he muttered to himself. "Leaving the village gate in the hands of Genin—do they even know what they're watching?"
He cast a glance at the Mizukage's office in the distance, then wisely turned away, heading instead toward the ninja academy.
"Now that I think about it, do they let students out at noon?" He cracked his knuckles. "Not that I ever studied here…"
The Kaguya clan belonged to Kirigakure, yet were not wholly a part of it. They were more like a small ninja family attached to a great one, just as in the Warring States era.
Thus Takizo was not a Mist ninja in truth, though the forehead protector he wore was a gift from fate.
Whether that fate bore the name Uchiha, he could not say.
Lost in thought, he was suddenly startled by a shout.
"Ha! This lousy academy thinks it can hold me back? I'm going to be one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen!"
A small figure vaulted over the school gate, slipping past the grasp of pursuing teachers, and bolted toward the alley where Takizo was hiding.
Takizo grinned, pressing his palms together. "Thank you, fate."
He reached out as the boy dashed past.
"There's an ambush?" the boy cried. "Not enough! Water Release: Hydration Technique!" His body melted into liquid, slipping past the grasping hand.
He was just about to gloat when his eyes widened in shock. The hand that had tried to catch him crackled with lightning.
"Eh?"