"AAAHHHHHHHH—!!"
Late at night in the Uchiha compound, a shrill scream split the silence.
Uchiha Fugaku was in the middle of a very pleasant dream—imagining himself as the Fourth Hokage, restoring the glory of the Uchiha clan, smashing the heads of the other four Kage in battle, leading Konoha into a golden age while villagers cheered his name and called him the greatest Hokage in history—
Then something kicked him in the waist.
Thump.
He rolled right off the bed and cracked his head on the floor.
"Ugh—what's going on…?" Fugaku sat up, still half-asleep, face full of confusion.
On the bed, Mikoto was clutching her stomach. Pain was written all over her pale face, sweat beading on her smooth forehead. Seeing Fugaku sitting there dazed, her patience snapped. She glared at him and hissed through clenched teeth:
"Did you… not hear me screaming?!"
"Uh…"
Cold sweat instantly broke out on Fugaku's back.
Blame the damn good dream—he really hadn't heard a thing.
"You—"
Mikoto had just opened her mouth to scold him when a bolt of pain ripped through her belly. She couldn't even get the words out. Her slender fingers dug into the sheet, her face twisting, veins standing out on her forehead.
Her voice trembled as she squeezed out a few words:
"Can't you see… I—I'm going into labor!"
The last word tore itself out as a scream.
"W–what? You're in labor?!"
Only then did Fugaku fully wake up. Panic hit him like a kunai to the face.
"But isn't the due date… three months from now?!"
"AAAHHHHHH!!"
Mikoto curled up, every muscle taut from the pain, her features contorted. "Go—go get someone! Get someone, now!"
"Hold on, Mikoto!"
Seeing her like this, Fugaku's heart jumped to his throat. He completely forgot about clan head dignity, spun on his heel, and bolted out the door.
"Someone! Get over here! Call the med-nin! Mikoto's in labor!"
"What? Lady Mikoto is in labor?!"
"No way! She's only seven months along, how—"
"Shut up and move! Didn't you see the clan head's face? Go get the medics!"
Voices exploded across the compound. Several silhouettes vaulted over the walls and sprinted toward Konoha Hospital.
Thankfully, ninja were fast.
It was only a handful of minutes before the medical-nin rushed back with them.
"Over here! Hurry! Mikoto's inside!"
Fugaku was a wreck, sweating and shaking, dragging the medic along by the arm straight toward the bedroom.
"All unrelated personnel, out!"
The medic's expression went cold as ice as she pushed everyone else back out the door.
Fugaku clenched his fists, palms slick with sweat. He stared at the doorway, muttering under his breath like a mantra:
"She'll be fine… she has to be fine… she has to be fine…"
From inside came Mikoto's screams.
One wave louder than the last—so raw and painful that the people listening in the hall felt goosebumps.
"Is… is childbirth really that terrifying?"
Some of the younger Uchiha women were already pale.
"Why… why is it this bad?" Fugaku completely lost his composure. He'd never imagined having a child could put Mikoto through something like this.
A few older Uchiha ladies gently tried to reassure him.
"It's okay, clan head. It's her first child, so she's not used to it. Normally it doesn't hurt this badly…"
But not a word made it through to Fugaku. His eyes never left that doorway.
Gradually, Mikoto's screams weakened.
Everyone's hearts leapt into their throats. Silence at a time like this was more terrifying than any cry.
That was when the medic inside suddenly screamed.
"AAAHHHHHHH—!!"
"Not good!"
Fugaku's pupils shrank. He rushed forward, ramming the door off its track.
"Don't—don't come in yet—!"
The medic tried to stop him, but it was too late.
"What happened—holy—!"
Even as clan head, calm and steady by nature, Fugaku nearly swore out loud on reflex.
"Clan head?!"
"What's happening?! Clan head!"
The Uchiha waiting outside were about to charge in as well.
But before they reached the doorway, Fugaku spun around. His expression was twisted with something between shock and fear.
"All of you, stay back! No one approaches! Everyone, leave the area now. That's an order from your clan head. Did you hear me?!"
His tone admitted no argument.
The others looked at one another, baffled, but the authority in his voice was absolute. Even though curiosity burned in them, they slowly backed out of the courtyard and waited farther away.
Only after making sure nobody would barge in did Fugaku turn back.
Fear flickered in his eyes as he stared at the figure on the bed.
"What… what is that thing…?"
Mikoto had already passed out from the pain, limp against the pillow.
Under normal circumstances, Fugaku would've been at her side, heart aching.
Right now, he had no room for that.
If she weren't his wife, he might have already drawn his blade and ended whatever lay in her stomach.
Because the thing in Mikoto's belly was horrifying.
Her abdomen was swollen to an extreme, the skin stretched so tight it gleamed. It protruded in a grotesque arc, so thin it was almost translucent.
Through it, they could clearly see two tiny handprints bulging out, clawing at their mother's womb as if trying to tear their way free.
And there—pressed flat against the inside of her belly—was something like a face.
Humanoid, but twisted and wrong.
Just looking at that distorted little visage was enough to chill a person's blood.
"Fugaku… what do we do?"
The medic swallowed hard, forcing herself to look away from Mikoto's abdomen.
She'd delivered hundreds of babies over the years, maybe close to a thousand. She had never seen anything like this.
Could you even call this… a "child"?
Fugaku's expression was dark as an ink stain. Light flickered in his eyes as his jaw clenched, clearly caught between instincts as a father and fear as a shinobi.
Grotesque? Yes.
But this was his first child.
After a brief struggle, he forced out a question.
"If we… give up on the child, can we save Mikoto?"
The medic hesitated, then answered carefully:
"No. The fetus is already fully formed. It's very dangerous for the mother. My professional recommendation is: deliver the baby, and then…"
She didn't finish the sentence.
She didn't need to.
Fugaku understood.
"Then we deliver."
His voice was low but firm.
"No matter what, we must keep Mikoto alive."
The medic nodded.
"Understood. I'll do everything I can to save Lady Mikoto."
She steadied herself, took a deep breath, and approached the bed again.
The delivery was… simple.
Too simple.
The moment she cut into Mikoto's abdomen, the "child" practically forced its own way out.
She quickly stitched the wound, arrested the bleeding, and stabilized Mikoto's condition with practiced ease.
Only after finishing did she turn to look at the newborn.
Which, since birth, hadn't cried.
Hadn't made a sound.
"Is that… really a baby?"
The medic's eyes widened.
Seeing Mikoto's faint, exhausted face, Fugaku's temper flared. Rage boiled up from his chest. He snatched up a kunai and stalked toward the crib.
"You damned monster," he snarled. "How could my child—our child—come out like this?!"
He raised the kunai, the blade glinting inches from the infant's throat.
And at that moment, the baby's eyelids slowly fluttered open.
Blood-red eyes stared back at him.
In those tiny pupils floated a single, jet-black tomoe.
Buzz.
The kunai froze, suspended half an inch from the newborn's neck.
Fugaku's breathing hitched.
"Sh–Sharingan… Newborn Sharingan…"
A baby, not even a minute old, with a fully awakened Sharingan.
In the face of the blade, the child showed no fear at all.
Instead, it reached out with its tiny, chubby fingers, tapping curiously at the edge of the kunai. The corner of its mouth curved up.
"Ba… ba… ba…"
The little gurgling laugh was soft and clear in the silent room.
Fugaku stood there frozen for a long moment.
Then, finally, he exhaled a long, rough breath and lowered the kunai.
He put the weapon away, gaze complicated as he looked down at the baby.
"…I don't know," he murmured, "if your birth will prove a blessing or a curse."
He paused, then continued more clearly:
"But from now on… your name will be Itachi. Uchiha Itachi, born with the Sharingan."
He placed a hand gently beside the tiny head.
"I hope," Fugaku whispered, "you'll bring glory to our clan."
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