His Journey Begins
This is my first ff, so any criticism is greatly appreciated.
This first chapter is a trial chap so until I fix all the mistakes in it I won't update the story.
[4012 words]
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Prologue
His Journey Begins
{3rd person view}
Year 34
''Ahhhhh'' deep into the night all that could be heard were the screams of a woman going through labour. Beside her bed stood her father, stricken with worry for the wellbeing of his daughter.
''My lady, one last push, the child is nearly out'' the midwife told the woman
''Ahhhh'' with the last push the baby was finally out, however, the woman's body soon fell limp right after and lost its pulse.
The midwife rushed to her side to check her condition, but upon touching her pulseless body, she just shook her head at the elder before her.
Looking at his dead daughter's body, the aged man let a few tears roll down his face before coming to grips with the situation and picking up his grandchild.
Looking at the crying child in his hands, he decided to name the child.
'' My child, your name shall be Arata Uchiha, a name fitting for a newborn like you, a child with a new story waiting for him to explore'' he said as he looked at the child with tender but tired eyes.
Suddenly, the baby's body started convulsing and spasming within his arms, the grandfather started to panic and he started madly shouting at the midwife ''What's happening to him!''
'' Elder, the child seems to be experiencing a panic attack due to a sudden surge of chakra within his body'' the midwife hurriedly said as she took the child from his arms and spread her chakra throughout the baby to try to calm the child down and to check for any anomalies in his condition. While she was checking the child, she caught sight of the baby's eyes that flashed a deep red with a single tomoe spinning madly around, her chakra stopped spreading throughout the child, as she stared in shock.
''Then what are you waiting for help him you fool!'' the elder yelled in panic
However, the midwife just continued to stare in a daze.
''E.. elder, quick look at his eyes, it's the sharingan'' finally out of her stupor, she told the elder.
Following her eyes, he caught sight of his grandchild's eyes and his pupils started dilating in shock.
'How is this possible, he shouldn't even have enough chakra to open it in the first place' he thought to himself.
The elder continued to look at the child as the midwife once again spread her chakra in a calming manner, calming the child from his panic attack.
'' Take him to his cot and keep an eye on his condition until he fully calms down, and you understand the severity of the information you hold, correct?'' the elder questioned threateningly
''Yes!, not a word will leave my mouth Elder Masahiro'' she quickly complied, scurrying out of her former mistress's room.
Once she left, the man quickly let out a deep sigh, contemplating the chaotic day he just experienced. His eyes, once again, settled on his daughter's body, a torrent of emotions rushed to his head, still unable to get over his daughter's untimely passing.
'' Izumi, you've left me too now'' he whispered as he left the room to the clan head's office to report the events which occurred to his grandchild.
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{Clan head's office}
''Knock,knock''
''Who is it?'' A deep voice responded.
''It's me"
''Ah, masahiro come in, take a seat''
The doors to the room were slowly opened as a stoic faced man entered. The years were evident on his wrinkled face but his body spoke another story, as his hard trained muscles undulated with every step he took into the room.
'' What brings you here, so late into the night, elder Masahiro? '' the clan head asked as he looked up to see the elder taking a seat in front of him. The clan head had a similar face to the elder signifying that they were distant relatives of some kind.
''Ryuuji, to be honest, I'm not here as an elder, I'm here as a friend asking you a favour'' the man responded in a weary tone, clearly tired of all the events that had occurred.
''I see'' the clan head responded, his tone increasing in seriousness, as he noticed the importance of the situation since his stubborn friend was asking a favour.
'' My daughter… she lost her life giving birth to her child'' the man began slowly.
'' My condolences, Masahiro''
''Ryuuji...Thank you, however, that isn't why im here'' masahiro responded as he shook his head
''Then what is it?''Ryuuji raised his brows in confusion.
''My grandchild, he awakened the sharingan''
'' What, are you serious, Masahiro?'' Ryuuji responded, as his stoic face morphed into shock before composing himself once again upon seeing the nod his friend gave in response to his question.
''Haaah, Masahiro, you understand what telling me this means, right?'' the clan head sighed in resignation as he asked his friend.
''Yes, I'm aware I'm putting a heavy burden on the child from a young age but this is the only way I can confirm his safety'' Masahiro responded.
'' Your grandchild's talent is evident from how young he awakened his sharingan, however, if you understand what the burden of grooming your grandchild into my successor means then why are you asking me a favour?''
'' I'm afraid, I'll be joining my daughter soon enough, I won't be able to teach him until he reaches adulthood and so I ask you my friend, will you be willing to take my mantle as his guardian after my death?'' Masahiro questions in a grave tone.
''I'd be honoured, Masahiro''
''I see...thank you...truly, thank you, Ryuuji''
The two stood in silence for a few minutes as they digested the deal they had just made.
''Now, Masahiro, you understand that his life and marriage will also be decided for him as well, as a child outside of the clan head's family will have to marry either a direct relative or a child of the clan head as a means to secure our position within the clan'' the clan head informed.
'' I'd rather his future be decided than him being orphaned for the rest of his life in this cruel world'' Masahiro responded.
''I understand your resolve, Masahiro, now go rest, we will discuss this further on another date''
'' Well then, Good night'' Masahiro slowly stood up and retired for the night. Leaving the contemplating clan head to his devices.
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{Arata's view}
'' your name will be Arata Uchiha''
What, where am I? Why am I being named?
I was just driving in my car then...
Suddenly, an influx of memories invaded my mind, going through all the events of my past life, all until my death.
When I experienced my death again, I couldn't stop my body from spasming from the shock and pain that I experienced from seeing my death once again. I kept spasming until I finally fell unconscious when a calming energy passed through my body.
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{A day later}
Once, I woke up again and calmed myself down. I remembered a word the old man mentioned in my name.'Uchiha'. Wait, wait please tell me they're just weebs, naming their children after their favourite show.
If I really did reincarnate in Naruto, then I really am screwed. I'm in a world where child soldiers are thrown around like trash and since I'm a Uchiha, the people who pride themselves as elites, there is no other way to live a good life other than to become a ninja.
After tiring myself with existential breakdowns and overthinking things, my young body finally shut down.
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{2 weeks later}
After panicking for a few days, it turns out not everything was doom and gloom, from what I understood and from what my baby eyes could barely see, I had quite a lot of servants assisting with my childcare meaning that I was the child of someone important, which meant my future wasn't as unstable as I thought and like I thought, the old man wasn't a weeb, he was full born Uchiha with the whole stoic and emotionless act and everything the Uchiha are known for.
But what surprised me was how emotional his voice was, everytime he talked to me, his voice was full of emotions as he coddled me like any parent would and treated me with care. It was quite the unnerving sight to behold, an old man trying to coo a baby with an emotionless face. Still it reassured me that i most likely hit the lottery with my guardian since Uchiha's aren't normally so nice.
As for my past life, I didn't really have much attachment to it, being an orphan and all, however, I still did have close friends. But I understand I have to let it go before it hinders my life here especially, in such a cruel world where they throw away ninjas like toys, and I'm not so naive to think I could somehow go back to my old world where I have no place to be anymore.
What annoyed me the most was the language barrier. It was japanese, meaning all I had to rely on to understand my Grandfather was my anime experience, and as you thought that barely helped. So, I really had to listen well with my baby ears to get any semblance of understanding.
As for my knowledge of what occurred in the anime, I remember a fair amount, but not enough to remember the specifics of all the events and nowhere near enough to remember hand signs or how to form the signature jutsus of the characters. I always wondered how those mc's in fanfics somehow remembered the hand signs and how to form the signature jutsus despite them being in the world for years. I guess it will remain a mystery or I will just chuck it up to plot armour. Speaking of plot armour, do I get one as well, even a bastardized version of it will do.
(author: your fate is within my hands, now dance to my tune muhahaha)
I digress, the baby life isn't so bad, my grandfather makes up for my missing parents with his emotionless affection, and let me tell you I have no idea where they get the bottled milk but that thing is a thing of gods. Seriously , how can they make milk taste so good?
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{6 months later}
Finally, I can understand them, I can understand the japanese that they've been spouting for 6 months. My hard work has finally paid off and with my comprehension of the language I gathered as much knowledge as possible from what the servants gossiped while taking care of me.
From what I understand, we're quite far from the Uchiha massacre, which gives me time to decide whether to run away or to take measures to stop it, either way I have to decide fast. To be specific, Tobirama's death was just announced and Hiruzen has just been given the seat of third hokage. Such information did relieve me a bit, since I knew I had some time to prepare for all the crap that occurs in the second and third ninja world war.
As for my family, as I thought, my only relative was my grandfather, a highly regarded uchiha elder. To be honest, I really am thankful to have him. He is quite the anomaly within the Uchihas, he always showers me with affection, which I responded in kind. I wasn't rude enough not to nor do I want my ruse to be exposed or him to be suspicious of me and, of course, Im not dumb enough to even warrant the idea of telling him, I dont want him to abandon me anytime soon. In all honesty, having a parent's affection was something I never had before, so getting some now helped stabilise my mental state.
Oh, I've also begun to crawl. Being a baby was both nice and infuriating. Being able to laze around to my heart's content without any judgment thrown your way was quite a luxury, however, that is if you were able to move, with me being reduced to a baby's body, I could barely crawl, so my boredom reached an all time high. So, I've been trying my best to get myself to start to walk around, but, my young body doesn't have enough muscle for any standing so I'm stuck with crawling.
Speaking of crawling, due to my recent exercises, I've begun to be labeled as a genius for being able to move so early in my baby career, a label I would rather not have, since I don't want the clans expectation to be so high of me but I guess, It is inevitable since once my voice box develops enough, I'm sure as hell am going to talk my head off to stave off my boredom, saying ''ahhhhhs, ooh'' don't count.
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{1 year later}
It's been a year and now I can confidently speak to my grandfather with half eligible words. When I first said '' jii-san'' to him, his stoic expression shattered into nothingness and he started praising me with tears streaming down his eyes. Heh, even the great Uchihas famed stoic face cant resist the cuteness of a baby's first words.
Other than that, I figured I might as well figure out a goal for myself to walk towards and after much deliberation I have finally decided to work my ass off to laze around for the rest of my life without worry of who's going to massacre my family every three seconds. Quite a grand goal to say the least, since I'll have to at least reach the level of a kage to even have some semblance of that peace, not ignoring all connections and good relationships I require for backup for old coots like Danzo and the rest of the council who seem to have some kind of grudge against the Uchihas.
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{2 years later}
I'm now 3 years old, close to reaching 4. Like I previously said, due to my fast learning, my status of genius is being solidified and what everyones waiting for is the beginning of my training. Quite nerve racking since apparently I'll be starting tomorrow. Other than that, I've been getting on quite well with my grandfather. He really is a treasure. Honestly, I think this is the cheat that God gave for my reincarnation, screw having a jinchuriki in your body, screw having a rinnegan. All that is crap in front of my grandfather. The man once cooked me cookies, freaking cookies in the Uchihas. Even his Stoic facade can't even hold when he's near me. He coddles me with affection to the point I cant handle it anymore and I start running away from him. So as you understand if you didn't come to like a grandfather like him, you must be an emotionless brick.
Other than my Grandfather, my understanding of Japanese has increased quite significantly, to the extent I can say japanese tongue twisters without difficulty. One of my most proud achievements. As for my body, I've been playing around the mansion as much as possible to build my body's muscle, for some reason though stepping out the mansion was prohibited, to the extent they had constant guards in front of the gates of the mansion. It is quite fishy to have so much security for just an elders child. I have been connecting some dots together, since I've heard the clan head hasn't been able to produce any male heirs. But, out of my fast comprehension of the language, I don't have any meritable achievements, so I instantly threw away the idea that I was the clan head's successor.
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{The next day}
{Third POV}
In front of a mirror stood a young child readying himself for his training, he stood 110cm tall, his black hair unkempt except for a unique tightly tied braid along the left side of his head, a result of the servants experimentation while they were playing with his hair. Surprisingly, though, he came to like his unique hairstyle. His black eyes shimmered in the light with a playful tone yet hidden deep inside was a calculative light that only relaxed when beside the boy was near his grandfather.
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{Arata's POV}
I walked down the mansion corridor to the large dojo outside. Upon reaching my destination, I knocked on the door waiting for a response.
''Come in'' a voice laced with seriousness resounded throughout the room.
Responding to my grandfather's order, I came in quietly, finding my seat beside my grandfather as he sat in meditation.
As I waited for my grandfather to finish, I scanned the room, memorising the layout for any future situations. Ever since I gained full capabilities to walk, I finally set out to carry out my glorious goal of lazing around to my full capabilities in the future. I gained a habit where I always familiarise myself with everything in the room before I can laze around to my heart's content. In this instance though, it was just out of my boredom that I resorted to my habit, I was more than safe beside my grandfather.
After waiting for half an hour, my grandfather opened his eyes.
'' Good work keeping your patience and keeping an eyes on your surroundings, even with me by your side you never know what'll happen''
Happy about the praise, I nod enthusiastically. Throughout the years I've been with him, I've truly started to see him as my parent. The eyes he gives me are devoid of anything but love and care for myself, something I truly began to cherish, something I have begun to wish to protect.
''But before we begin your training, Arata, what is your goal?'' He asked, any resemblance to the silly old man gone, only the stoic visage of Masahiro, a uchiha with no prior status, who climbed to the rank of elder with nothing but discipline and hard work, a man I learned to respect and idolise.
'' I want to be strong, strong enough to laze around for the rest of my life without worry, surrounded by my family and children who won't have to fear the dangers this world has'' I respond truthfully.
''I see...how will you achieve such a position in life''
'' I'll climb to a position where no one will question my abilities, if need be i'll climb to be the clan head and if that's not enough i'll become hokage. However, such a position will more than likely hinder my goal instead with me being have to hold the weight of the village in my hands''
I take a deep breath and continue
'' To reach such positions, I will require many connections, such connections that I will form mainly during the academy where all the clan heirs will be. After that, I will most likely join the anbu, and then climb to a high rank, then my devotion to the village will be unquestionable. Being within the police force won't be enough. The police force only serves to force a wedge between the uchihas and the village, as it can be considered to be the uchihas unit rather than the villages due to the majority of the force being uchihas, once another war sparks, that will be my opportunity to strike and then I will show my capabilities to the world,therefore , solidifying my position within the village and within the shinobi world''
Taking another deep breath, I continue.
'' However, the whole plan will rely on my talent. If I have no talent then as much as I hate to say it, I will stay a civilian and build a business. Even if I do have talent, my plan will have to be adjusted many times due to the random events that I cannot predict that may occur in the future. Even though, my plan is very idealistic, this is best I can do before I truly experience the shinobi world''
Finally finishing with a long message, I stare at my grandfather with resolve, a resolve to reach my goal.
My grandfather just looks at me in contemplation, his face void of emotions. Finally, he lifts his head high up, looking up to the ceiling and letting out a hearty laugh that shook the dojo.
'' Truly, you truly are my pride, Arata'' he continued laughing deeply with pride oozing out of his laughter.
His words truly made me happy, the recognition he gave me truly made me feel joy, a joy i've never experienced before, any child would be ecstatic with how much pride was oozing out of his grandfather's tone of laughter.
'' Arata, it looks like me and Ryuuji have chosen well this time''
I looked at in confusion, what does he mean?
'' To be honest, many of your stated requirements for your goals have been somewhat accomplished already''
my brows further scrunched up in confusion, really what is he saying?
'' Your talent has already been confirmed from the moment you were born, child. Once you were born, you somehow gained the sharingan, it was a mystery as to what stimulated you to activate it. However, it still gave us a testament to your latent talent''
His information stunned me. Me with the sharingan. I somehow have the sharingan. But, thinking about it, it does make some sense as the memories of my death and the panic attack experienced during my birth provided enough stimulation for an early awakening for the sharingan but to open it requires a sufficient amount of chakra and yin energy to sustain it, so that's why he most likely assumed I have high latent talent. Ever since my birth, I've never accessed my chakra as doing it without guidance would be both reckless and immensely idiotic. One wrong move and my chakra coils would be damaged, trashing any dreams of using jutsus, and so I wisely waited. But, my grandfather's next words continued my surprise.
'' During that time, the clan head was looking for a successor as he had great difficulty to conceive a heir and he was only able to conceive a girl this year, but it came with the sacrifice of his wife, as her aged body couldn't take the stress of giving birth. So your birth and your sharingan, gave you the temporary position of successor. As for why its temporary, if you didn't have the qualities we wanted then you would lose that position'' he stated
'' I see, so from what I can gather from your attitude, I guess I pass''
'' yes, you did, but your position can be usurped at any moment if a better candidate appears, so don't slack off with your training''
I took some time to contemplate and digest his words.
'' So, I guess my marriage and my life will be decided for me if my position does become permanent''
'' Yes, my child, I apologize for forcing upon you such decisions, however, as you can see, age is beginning to catch up with my body, I don't have long before I join your mother, so I had to ensure your future after my death'' he said solemnly
My eyes began to water for a bit, before I forced down the tears. Such a reaction is uncommon for me, but I guess my young body comes with unstable emotions and the fact I was truly shaken that my first parent would leave me so soon didnt help much.
'' I see… grandfather, I'll make you proud'' I said with a determined gaze.
'' You better...and now let's get on with your training, you cheeky brat'' he said with a large grin that made his previous stoic facade seem like a dream.
He really is the best grandfather you can have, someone I can truly respect and idolise.