Since that day in October, Shorai kept strict watch on the village's situation, whenever he had time—mornings, academy breaks, just before training, and before bed.
"It has been more than a year since Shisui's death… Itachi wants to act…" He frowned. He was well aware of the subtle escalation, unnoticed by the people around him.
After another long day at the ninja Academy, he got home, eyeing the clock.
05:00 PM
Shorai sat by the window, the evening wind tugging at his hair, streaked white. The sky darkened, the first stars piercing through.
His mind raced.
"What should I do?" he whispered. "Stop it? But what then? A different path—perhaps even bloodier. I can't predict the outcome. I know what should happen… but does my presence already change it? Can I even alter something this big?"
He leaned forward, elbows on the sill.
"One path: I go in. Use the Reality Stone. Kill Obito. Kill Itachi. Or let them escape. Save half the clan—save Fugaku, Mikoto, Sasuke. But then what? A fractured Uchiha, hunted by Danzo anyway. Without a true shift in Konoha's heart, and Fugaku's, it's meaningless. And the cost… the entity's warning echoes—hidden consequences."
He closed his eyes.
Every simulation spiraled. Too many variables. Too slim of a chance to succeed. The Uchiha radicals, the Council's fear, Hiruzen's hesitation. The young, the old—hostages to a war they didn't start.
He failed to spot a clean way out.
08:00 PM
He exhaled.
"Enough."
He activated the Reality Stone.
The world softened. His consciousness expanded, slipping through the veil like a shadow through cracks.
He tuned into the Uchiha compound.
Thoughts. Emotions. Fear. Pride. Anger. A storm of minds.
Then—Itachi.
Cold. Focused. Resigned.
He wasn't in the compound.
He was in the Hokage's office.
Talking to Hiruzen.
Shorai's breath caught.
It was real.
It was happening.
10:00 PM
"He's preparing," Shorai murmured. "Midnight."
He pulled back slightly—just enough to hear his own room.
Thud. Thud.
"Shorai? You home?"
Tetsuo.
Shorai snapped back to his body. "Y-yes. Just about to sleep. Need something?"
"No, no. Sorry to bother. Good night."
The caretaker's steps retreated.
But Shorai didn't let go.
He reached out again—tuned to Tetsuo's mind.
"They're in their rooms. No issues."
A pause.
"Good. Keep watch. No one out. Third's orders."
A hushed voice. ANBU.
Shorai's pulse quickened.
Not the when, but the threat.
Hiruzen being informed too late.
12:00 AM
Three figures stood in the shadows outside the Uchiha district.
"All are to die," a calm voice said. Obito.
"You leave my family to me," Itachi replied.
"Zetsu will watch. No one escapes," the third voice growled.
Then—gone.
Shorai watched.
Through Itachi's eyes, through his own.
He saw Obito slip beneath the earth, moving like a ghost.
House by house.
No screams. Just silence. Then death.
He saw Itachi create a shadow clone, stand guard.
Then enter his home.
Sasuke had stayed late at the Academy, training alone—pushing himself as he often did. He returned just before midnight, unaware of the horror waiting in the compound.
Shorai saw his father's pride. His mother's love. His brother's final bow.
He saw the blade.
He saw the blood.
He felt the sorrow. The duty. The curse.
"Why… brother… why…?"
Sasuke's words echoed before losing consciousness.
"Enough," Shorai whispered, voice breaking.
He released the Stone. The visions, the weight of Itachi's grief—gone. Yet the horror remained, coiled in his chest. His hands shook, not from chakra strain, but from the echo: an emotional imprint left behind.
The clock read 1:17 AM.
He stared at the ceiling.
"I wonder… where are the other Stones?"
His voice was hollow.
"Mind alone could have changed their fate. Time… only with mine can I rewrite it."
He closed his eyes.
"Soon it will be two years since I remembered and since the Stones awoke. Where are they? Who could wield them? No one—unless they have a vessel. An Otsutsuki's body. Perhaps a Sage's body. Or a vessel forged in chakra itself."
He lay down.
And for the first time since his rebirth, tears fell.
"S-scary… I-I d-didn't consider the emotional response to stay… If I didn't know the source or what my intention was before activation, it would haunt and affect me a lot more than being aware."
He dreamed of fire. And silence.