Under a clear blue sky, with lush greenery and pleasant scenery all around, the land before them truly lived up to the name "Peachspring."
Because Madara's Edo Tensei body retained senjutsu sensitivity, he immediately realized that what made this place special was not just its beauty.
"So much natural energy…"
They had only crossed a single gate, yet the density of natural energy here was several times higher.
"Even the three legendary sacred lands—Mount Myōboku, Ryūchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest—might not be much stronger than this."
"My Anyin Ninja Village is located deep within this valley," Akira said, leading the group along the ancient stone path winding through the forest.
Madara asked quietly, "Akira, you said earlier that you were once violent and short-tempered… and that you caused your parents' deaths. What happened?"
"…"
Akira lowered his gaze.
Buried memories surged through his mind.
A person's character is shaped by their upbringing.
In his previous life, Akira's real name had been Lin Akira.
He was a "left-behind child."
His parents had gone to distant cities to work, leaving him in the countryside with his grandparents.
His grandparents were old and sickly.
All they could do was make sure he had food.
Emotional companionship and proper education were out of the question.
As a result, he grew up self-centered and undisciplined far too early.
Later, he attended a middle school filled mostly with neglected children and troubled youths.
Kids shaped by broken families and failed parenting.
Fortunately, Akira was not inherently bad.
He was smart and could distinguish right from wrong.
He didn't immediately fall in with bad influences.
But good times never lasted.
In his second year of middle school, his grandparents passed away one after another.
His parents were still busy making a living and rarely contacted him.
For the first time, Akira felt crushing loneliness.
It was from that moment on that he started hanging around delinquents.
In the eyes of teachers and parents, he became "corrupted."
Deep down, he knew his grandparents and parents were not at fault.
Then was it his fault?
Maybe.
He couldn't regulate his emotions.
He couldn't pull himself out of loneliness.
That was his fault.
He couldn't discipline himself.
He couldn't become the obedient child adults wanted.
That was also his fault.
Knowing he was wrong—yet still continuing—made everything worse.
Later, he became the only student in that obscure middle school's history to enter a top high school's elite class, ranking in the city's top hundred.
The outcome seemed good.
But…
His temper, impulsiveness, and habit of solving problems with his fists—those bad traits—had already taken root.
Carrying that ticking bomb inside him, Akira entered high school.
The heavy academic pressure forced him to focus on studying.
By chance, he became obsessed with Naruto.
At first, he was attracted by the flashy hand seals and dazzling jutsu.
Gradually, he became moved by the bonds, love, and hatred between ninjas.
He longed for that world.
Sometimes he couldn't help thinking:
If only I had been born there…
It was escapism.
Even though he was now seen as a "good student,"
A deep sense of alienation from reality never left his heart.
Then, near the college entrance exam…
The bomb exploded.
A girl he had never even spoken to accused him of cornering and molesting her in the girls' restroom.
Her boyfriend, a local thug, rushed into Akira's classroom with others.
In front of teachers and classmates, they beat and humiliated him.
From that day on, his reputation was ruined.
A top student labeled as a pervert.
The school only gave him probation because of his grades.
Classmates avoided him.
Some whispered behind his back.
A teacher told him bluntly that he was disappointed.
That Akira's talent was wasted.
That he'd become trash in society.
When Akira confronted the girl in private, asking why she framed him,
She looked into a mirror while applying makeup and said arrogantly:
"Blame your face. You look like my ex who dumped me."
Akira said nothing.
He took out the compass he always carried.
Unscrewed the sharp needle.
And stabbed it straight into her eye.
Pulled it out.
Then, amid her screams, he stabbed her face again and again.
Until the stainless steel tip bent against her cheekbone.
Under ambulance sirens, police sirens, and countless phone cameras…
His life was over.
All because of one moment of rage.
But he didn't regret it.
So be it.
With a trace of guilt toward his parents,
Akira pressed the bent needle—along with the compass leg—into his own temple.
Ending everything in the most violent way.
A final salute to his lifelong sense of alienation.
And the world… responded.
Lin Akira's body turned to ashes and returned to the village where he'd grown up.
But his soul crossed dimensions.
And entered the world he had longed for.
After ten months of darkness in the womb…
Uchiha Akira was born in a remote village in the Land of Lightning.
It was as if fate wanted to compensate him.
He was given loving parents.
Endless care.
The parental love he had lacked.
A monk once read his fate and said:
"This couple has no children in their destiny."
"But this child is destined to have siblings."
Two years later, his younger brother Jin was born.
A family of four lived happily.
Akira felt he had finally found home.
He swore to protect this happiness.
But nothing is perfect.
The village they lived in was hostile to outsiders.
His parents had fled there to escape enemies.
For their children's sake, they endured humiliation.
Akira's violent tendencies came with his soul into this new body.
This was a ninja world.
Without modern restraints.
A perfect breeding ground for violence.
But for his parents' sake, he endured.
No matter how much the villagers insulted, abused, or beat him,
He clenched his teeth and reminded himself:
Endure.
Endure.
This place can only trap me temporarily.
A wider world awaits.
Until one day…
His brother Jin was lured away and mauled by wolves.
Nearly killed.
The beast he had suppressed for years broke free.
He grabbed a kunai from his father's hidden ninja pouch and charged out.
Blows he could never dodge before…
Didn't touch him at all.
When he regained awareness—
Twenty-seven bodies lay on the ground.
And two tomoe had appeared in each of his eyes.
As before, after venting his rage, he felt relief…
But his family paid the price.
For two years, they lived as fugitives.
Eventually, their Uchiha bloodline was exposed.
To their sworn enemies: the Blood Pond Clan.
And the one who came was their strongest warrior—
Miojin Enka.
The man who once troubled Sasuke in Sasuke Shinden.
Akira's parents lured him away to buy time for their sons.
The Blood Dragon Eye was cruel.
Trap someone in genjutsu.
Control their blood.
Turn them into living bombs.
Akira would never forget that moment.
His tears mixed with his parents' flesh and blood.
Despair and darkness twisted his heart.
His two-tomoe Sharingan evolved directly into Mangekyō.
He was ten years old.
From then on, hatred consumed him.
He became a raging demon.
He hunted Blood Pond survivors across the world.
Three years.
He wiped them out completely.
Including Enka.
Only then did he understand:
Revenge is self-satisfaction.
The dead gain nothing.
The living suffer more.
During those three years,
Even his gentle, soft-hearted younger brother Jin—
So different from him—
Awakened Mangekyō in despair, believing Akira had died in battle.
Skipping his previous life, Akira finished recounting this part.
He sighed deeply.
"Jin never knew…"
"That I deliberately let myself be caught in the Blood Dragon Eye back then…"
"…just to stimulate his awakening."