I don't remember the journey to this village. Only fragments—flashes of silver light cutting through darkness, the faint hum of power thrumming beneath my skin, and voices speaking in hushed urgency. Then, warmth. A steady heartbeat beneath my cheek, arms wrapped protectively around me.
The first face I truly remember was hers.
Mito Uzumaki.
Her hair was the color of autumn leaves, long and flowing like a river of fire. Her eyes, sharp yet kind, held a strength that needed no words. And when she looked at me, I felt something unfamiliar—something that settled deep in my chest like an anchor.
Safety.
"Konoha will be your home now," she had said, kneeling in front of me, her hands firm on my shoulders. "And I will be your mother."
I had only stared at her then, trying to understand what that meant. I had a mother. A father. A family that had sent me away. The memories of them were distant, like echoes of a life that no longer belonged to me.
But Mito's voice was steady. Certain.
So I nodded.
At first, life in Konoha was quiet. I was given no clan name, no formal title. I was simply a child under Mito's care, living in the grand yet secluded Senju compound. To the villagers, I was an outsider—an orphan taken in by the wife of the First Hokage. Some whispered, some speculated, but no one questioned Mito's decision.
She treated me as her own, but I knew, even then, that I was different.
My body carried a weight that the other children did not. Chakra coiled within me like a living thing, shifting, restless, unnatural in its vastness. My instincts were too sharp, my awareness too keen. I learned to watch, to listen, to blend in without revealing too much.
The Hyūga were the first to notice.
"He has the look," I overheard one of them murmur during a clan gathering. "Pale skin. Those eyes. He must be a Hyūga half-blood."
A part of me wanted to correct them.
Another part knew better.
I belonged to no clan. No village. My true heritage was something no one could begin to comprehend. If they wished to believe I was one of them, then so be it.
The misunderstanding suited me just fine.