That night, the rain finally stopped.
Silence settled over the broken housing district. Hitomi slept beside him, curled under the thin blanket they shared, breathing softly.
Kaen usually slept lightly.
Survival demanded it.
But this time… sleep pulled him deeper than usual.
And then the dreams came.
Flashes.
Bright screens.
A cramped room filled with posters.
Instant noodles stacked carelessly.
Endless anime episodes playing one after another.
Naruto.
One Piece.
Stories about shinobi, pirates, heroes chasing impossible dreams.
Except this time… he wasn't watching as Kaen.
He was someone else.
Older. Sloppier. A shut-in otaku drowning in escapism.
Memories flowed rapidly — late nights without sleep, obsessive binge-watching, unhealthy habits, isolation from the real world.
And then another memory surfaced:
The Uchiha massacre episode.
Even in that previous life, it had disturbed him deeply.
The idea of a clan destroyed from inside… children caught in political cruelty.
He remembered thinking:
Good thing that's fiction.
The irony now felt suffocating.
Because here he was — an Uchiha child neglected by that very system.
Then the final memory arrived.
His death.
No dramatic accident.
No heroic moment.
Just exhaustion… unhealthy habits… a body pushed too far by sleepless nights and self-destructive escapism.
A meaningless end.
Kaen's eyes snapped open.
Cold sweat covered his skin.
The dilapidated ceiling came into view again. The faint smell of mold. Hitomi sleeping peacefully beside him.
Reality returned slowly.
"So… that was my previous life."
His voice was barely a whisper.
And then embarrassment hit him.
Hard.
He pressed his face into his hands.
"…Seriously?"
Out of all possible heroic pasts… he'd been an unhealthy anime addict who burned himself out.
No glory.
No pride.
Just wasted potential.
But after the shame came something unexpected.
Clarity.
That previous life had loved stories about strength, perseverance, freedom.
Yet he himself hadn't lived that way.
This life, however…
Was different.
Here, he had purpose.
Hitomi depended on him.
The clan's indifference sharpened his resolve.
And the system inside him offered tools he never had before.
Kaen quietly stood up.
Dawn hadn't arrived yet.
Perfect time to train.
Outside, the air was cold and damp.
He began his routine:
Running laps around the abandoned block.
Balance drills on cracked wooden beams.
Controlled breathing exercises — trying to extend Observation Haki further each day.
He also focused on endurance now.
Because one thing that past life taught him clearly:
A weak body limits everything.
Even dreams.
As the sun slowly rose, Kaen stopped training.
Sweat covered his small frame, breath steady despite the exertion.
He glanced back toward the house where Hitomi still slept.
A faint, rare smile appeared.
"Not wasting this life."
Not again.
And definitely not under someone else's neglect.
Inside his mind, the system remained quiet.
But Kaen could almost feel it waiting.
Waiting for the day Conqueror's Haki awakened.
Waiting for the moment he would stop merely surviving…
…and start shaking the world around him.