Land of Fire. Northeastern border.
Fourteen years before Naruto.
The forest made no sound.
Any skilled shinobi would know what that meant.
Birds did not fall silent without reason. Insects did not vanish all at once. And the forests of the Land of Fire always knew when something passed through them that did not belong.
The woman was running.
Not with the desperation of someone afraid to die, but with the resolve of someone who already knew she would—and only wanted to reach her destination first.
Kimi Uchiha. Twenty-two years old. Former jonin. And inside her body, an unborn child she carried through the trees as if it were the last thing in this world worth protecting.
Because it was.
A hundred meters behind her, three black figures moved soundlessly between the trees.
ANBU—but not Konoha ANBU.
Their masks were smooth and white, featureless and expressionless. Faces without souls.
The first one spoke in a calm voice that somehow made the words even more terrifying.
"Kimi. Stop. This is simpler than you think."
She did not stop.
"The child. That is all we want."
She ran faster.
Then the forest ended.
Ahead of her was a cliff. Black stone dropped into a deep ravine where even sound seemed to disappear.
There was nowhere else to go.
She turned around, her back to the drop, one hand pressed against her stomach.
The three figures stopped in front of her. Ten meters away. No more.
The second one spoke.
"A foolish choice for a clever woman."
Kimi smiled. It never reached her eyes.
"I agree."
She looked up at the sky. Then she closed her eyes.
And began to weave a seal with trembling hands.
The first figure moved immediately—but he was too late.
The seal was complete.
Space around Kimi Uchiha cracked as though the air itself had fractured. A black light—something beyond any color found in nature—burst from her chest and wrapped around her entire body.
The three figures froze.
The first one even took a step back without meaning to.
"That… that seal is forbidden. Where did you—"
He never finished.
Kimi fell backward into the ravine.
And the black light swallowed her before she ever reached the bottom.