Uchiha Jīn had noticed Kuroha's talent from the very first day—his shuriken control alone made that obvious.No instructor wanted a prodigy to rot in mediocrity, and Jīn was no exception. If anything, he wanted to protect that spark before clan politics and village pressure smothered it.
And recently, life had become… complicated for Uchiha shinobi.With the clan and the village drifting further apart, every Uchiha who worked openly for Konoha walked a knife-edge. Those hired by Uchiha Jōan's merchant guild had it easier—they weren't caught between loyalties every time a mission assignment came down.
Which meant Jīn wanted Kuroha to succeed. Not just as a student, but as someone who might outgrow the clan's suffocating situation.
"Next!" another instructor called.
"I'll go!" A five-year-old stepped forward.He attempted the Clone Technique—chakra too thin, the smoke cleared with nothing formed.
Jīn corrected his posture, his seal timing, then moved on.
One by one, young Uchiha performed their attempts. Some botched the seals. Some lacked chakra.Then it was the turn of the clan head's younger son.
Uchiha Sasuke stepped forward with quiet confidence.Three careful attempts—then, with a soft puff of smoke, a proper clone formed beside him.
"Excellent, Sasuke," Jīn said, genuinely pleased. "Your potential won't fall short of your brother's if you keep training."
From a distance, Itachi nodded at his brother's progress.He rarely spoke, but the approval in his eyes was unmistakable.
High above, hidden in the branches, Uchiha Shisui watched as well.A faint smile touched his lips.
Sasuke too… another seed worth guarding.
Talent upon talent—if guided well, the clan had a future.
Sasuke bowed politely. "Thank you, sensei."
Then his gaze drifted to the last child in line.Kuroha.
Others noticed too—some expectant, some sneering.Waiting for him to fail.
"Kuroha, you're up," Jīn said.
"Alright," Kuroha answered lightly, but his expression sharpened.A breeze stirred his small training vest, giving him an un-childlike composure.
He moved through the seals flawlessly—but that wasn't the real technique.His chakra pathways didn't behave like a normal shinobi's. His core chakra was devoured by his eyes, so he had learned to imitate Jīn's chakra flow using his twin-pupiled dojutsu.
The seals were formality.The real work was inside the cells of his body.
Smoke erupted beside him.But instead of proper clones, two limp figures collapsed like deflated puppets.
Kuroha exhaled.
"Yeah… still not enough control. But close."
He dismissed the failed clones with a flick of his hand.
The field erupted.
"Hahaha—what was that?""He can't even make a real clone?""Looks like two corpses!""Total dead weight."
Kuroha ignored it and turned away.He'd heard worse.
Jīn remained stunned.Kuroha's chakra output had been immense—far more than a child his age should possess. It rivaled, maybe even surpassed, a newly minted chūnin. Yet the control was…
Chaotic. Too chaotic. Almost like his body isn't built to hold his own chakra.
No.He refused to believe a child with that much potential should give up ninjutsu entirely.
Maybe with age… maybe with patience… Kuroha would stabilize.
"Sensei, I've got something to do. Heading out early," Kuroha said, slinging a small pack over his shoulder.
He left the training field, mind already racing with adjustments to the Internal Conditioning Flow.Today's failure had exposed several cracks—and several opportunities.
Then, as he passed the treeline, he lifted his eyes toward a certain branch.
Shisui was still there, hidden expertly.
Kuroha smirked.
"So both of the clan's loyal saints showed up today. What a coincidence."
Shisui.Itachi.
Two geniuses devoted to the Will of Fire.Two men who, in another timeline, would help deliver the clan to its ruin.
Kuroha's thoughts chilled.
Shisui wasn't malicious—far from it. He begged Hiruzen for leniency until the end. Even planned to use Kotoamatsukami on his own people just to avoid bloodshed.But after Danzō ambushed him and took his eye, Shisui chose death instead of fighting back.
And Itachi…
The perfect disciple of the Hokage, who slaughtered the Uchiha from elders to infants for the "sake of the village."
People claimed the clan would have been wiped out anyway.That even if Itachi refused, Konoha would have destroyed them.
Ridiculous.
If Konoha openly exterminated a founding clan, the other clans would never trust the Hokage again.The village would fracture.
But with Shisui and Itachi willingly standing on the village's side?The extermination became "inevitable."
Yet even then—the Uchiha had power.With Shisui alive, with Itachi refusing, with Fugaku awakened… the clan could not have been erased so easily.
This time, the path would change.
Kuroha tightened his grip on his pack.
If he grew strong enough, he'd break the cycle himself.If not…
Then he'd take his father and everyone he cared about and run.
Survival came first.