While Sora enjoyed his beverage, his mind wandered over the things that had happened recently. And in a sudden stroke of relaxation, two thoughts intersected.
'Seal. One-san. Soul. Sharingan. Inner world… NOooo, don't tell me'
Sora dropped his glass and entered his inner world with urgency.
The world was in "Bliss", a tranquil landscape of rolling green hills and a blue sky with cirrus clouds, reminiscent of Windows XP.
Sora ran to the center of his mind: a single computer, not too old and not too new. He started checking folder by folder, searching for whatever he might be looking for.
'This will take too long… but if I try it as an external process...'
He pressed Ctrl+Shift+Esc, and then, voilà.
"FOUND YOU!" he shouted, while trying to process the implications.
'He...he sealed me too... without me even knowing. But why?'
'Well... only one way to find out.'
He deleted the ongoing process. A warning popped up, asking for confirmation.
"Here goes nothing," he muttered, and then,everything stopped.
New information surged into him: things that had been sealed away,power, madness, and memories overwhelmed his fragile self.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" his soul screamed, as cracks appeared on his soul-body.
And finally, it was calm again.
In the real world, Sora opened his eyes.
Only moments had passed, but in his mind, it had felt like ages.
He took a moment to observe his surroundings, not just watch, but truly see them.
For anyone else, it would seem like nothing had happened. But to Sora, his spiritual attunement, the one that had unknowingly been sealed away, felt free.
Freedom to feel.
Freedom to see, to touch, to hear, and to smell again.
And now, he could finally hear someone talking to him.
"Good to see you free, Uchiha boy," said a deep and elderly voice. A voice that belonged to someone who had seen all that life had to offer.
"Where are you?" Sora asked, trying to move away from the origin of the voice.
The elder scoffed at his reaction and finally said:
"Open your eyes, descendant."
Sora did, and he could finally see the source.
It was an elderly man. His skin bore scars from times better left forgotten. His hair was a crumbling white, and his kimono was red with distinct marks.
But what unnerved Sora the most were those two empty holes, where eyes should have been.
At first, Sora thought the kimono was red.
But no, it had been white once, now stained crimson by the blood flowing from countless wounds.
Sora was horrified.
How could someone have done that to him?
"Are you alright?" Sora finally asked.
The question intrigued the elder for a moment. Then, he laughed.
"It's been a while since I met someone so innocent. I'm dead, kid. Now, ask the question that matters," the elder continued.
"Who are you?" Sora asked, now more understanding of the situation.
"We are remnants. A mass of death, despair, and madness," said the elder.
"We are... the ghosts of the Uchiha."
As he spoke, a legion of ghosts appeared behind him.
Different sizes. Some tall, some small. Men, women, children.
They felt sinister, purple and red oozing from them.
Some had mangled arms. Some had no arms at all.
Some were decapitated, carrying their own heads in their hands.
Women with slit throats. Men with missing jaws.
Even children... some no older than three.
All of them looked at Sora, with crimson red eyes.
Each pair marked with tomoe, each gaze filled with hunger.
He was the prey.
They were the hunters.
And just as they were about to pounce.
"Stop. Leave us alone," the elder commanded.
One by one, they faded away, until only he and Sora remained.
Sora dropped to his knees.
His body oozed sweat and relief. His lungs gasped for air.
He was lucky to be alive.
"How did it feel?" asked the noeyed elder.
"Like..." Sora breathed again, trembling.
"Like a pack of wolves eyeing prey. That's how I felt."
"Good," said the elder, nonchalantly.
Sora finally calmed down and started thinking about the implications of the seal.
"The seal... it was meant to protect me, right?" he asked.
The elder nodded.
"When someone dies in a gruesome, violent way, they become... this," the elder explained.
"We are remnants. Different from the normal 'ghosts' you may have heard about. We linger here... at least, we do."
"At least you?" Sora asked.
"Yes. Normally, souls of the deceased go to the Pure Land. But we... need cleansing."
"Once a week, torrents of tormented souls, victims of torture, homicide, rape, and worse, travel somewhere to be purified. We called it 'the Death Parade.' But we, thanks to the Sakura Samurai, are protected from being sent away."
"Senbonzakura retains you here?!" Sora asked, now feeling a flash of anger toward his 'friend'.
The elder shook his head.
"No. We asked him to," he said, with a tint of pride.
"Why?"
"Because we are Uchiha.
We sweat on the training grounds. Spilling blood brings us happiness.
We dry our tears while crushing the bones of our enemies.
Blood, sweat, and tears,those are all we will ever know.
And someday, a war will be waged. And our purpose will be fulfilled."
The elder spoke with a fanaticism that transcended death itself, as if he could already see rivers of blood flowing, the Uchiha fighting in their final, glorious battle.
Sora stared at him, eyes wide, struggling to process everything.
"So... when I looked into the abyss..." Sora said quietly.
"The abyss looked back," the elder finished with a cruel smile.
"And... how do you know about the war?" Sora asked.
"Because it happened before," the elder said cryptically.
"And now, you need to understand the Uchiha way.
Sato, come here." continued the elder
A mangled child stepped forward, intestines hanging from his body, blood oozing from countless wounds, crimson Sharingan glowing with three tomoe.
"What are you going to do?" Sora asked, nervous and unsure.
"To make you understand the family way," the elder said, stepping aside.
Sora panicked.
"Stay—stay away from me!" he shouted, hoping someone would come to his aid in the real world.
But when the elder stepped away, Sora realized, he was now alone in his inner world.
Sato approached slowly, and touched Sora's forehead.
Sora could only scream in agony.
________ ____________ __ _ _ _
I am Sato. Uchiha Sato.
They say war makes men of boys. But I was eight.
The smell of iron and ash was older than I was.
I grew up to the sound of steel,not lullabies.
While civilian kids played with toys, I played with shuriken,flinching at every miss, wincing through the sting of my brother's corrections.
"Again," my brother Tenma would say, his voice as sharp as his aim.
"An Uchiha never misses."
I wanted to be like him.
No, I had to be.
He was fire and lightning, unstoppable.
When he trained, the wind bent for him.
When he fought, the clan whispered his name like a promise.
He was my world.
And then the Senju took him.
They said he died standing, protecting the rear line, buying time with his blood.
I remember the silence that followed, not from the world, but from within me.
A silence that screamed.
I didn't cry.
I took his forehead protector, still stained with smoke and blood, and tied it around my head, even if it slipped over my eyes.
I stepped onto the battlefield with hands too small for my blade.
I killed.
I don't know how many.
My aim never failed me, Tenma had made sure of that.
I fought not because I understood why the clans fought, but because he died for it.
Because I couldn't let his death be meaningless.
Today, I was separated from the others by the river.
The mist was thick. The world felt cold.
I moved like he taught me,fast, low, without hesitation.
But there are things you can't see coming.
A shadow. A whisper. A flicker of silver through the fog.
A kunai slid into me.
I gasped. Warmth spilled down my stomach, too fast, too much.
I dropped to my knees, and the mud welcomed me like an old friend.
I clutched a shuriken in one hand.
His protector in the other.
My fingers are numb now, but I can still feel the metal.
I don't know if the clan will remember me.
I don't know if I made him proud.
But I fought.
I didn't run.
And I never missed.
My name is Sato.
I am Uchiha.
And I am not afraid.
_ _ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _
Sora vomited his guts out.
"Tenma... please, no..."
And then, like a hammer striking his mind, an idea hit him.
"No. I'm not Sato. Tenma is not my brother. These are not my memories."
Sora winced.
The smoke. The fire. The cold when the kunai split his guts.
The sensation of death reclaiming him.
Feelings that couldn't simply be forgotten.
'But they could be stored.'
And so, he did.
He created a folder in his mind, locking away every memory Sato had shown him.
Not to be erased, only to be stored.
To keep his soul intact.
The elder appeared beside him like a ghost.
"Continue," he said.
"Please... no, not again, please..." Sora begged, tears streaming from his eyes, despair heavy in his soul.
"You need to understand what it means to be Uchiha. And if you are overwhelmed by them, then that was your limit. Only the strongest will survive the battle, and the weak will only serve to make the victor stronger. Why do you think we all wanted to pounce on you? A fresh body, ready to be taken away and live again..." the elder smiled
_ _ _ _ _ _- - - - ___ __ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _
The Uchiha clan had gathered at the Naka Shrine.
Normally, only the jōnin and elders were allowed to attend the secret meetings.
But in times of war, anyone sent to the gathering was recognized as a man or woman of the Uchiha: entrusted to defend their pride as a family, and in turn, trusted by the family itself.
The place was packed.
At the center, the elders stood alongside the matriarch, conducting a farewell ceremony for the shinobi departing for the battlefield.
Yet, to the surprise of many, two indistinct four-year-old children accompanied the matriarch.
Both of them carried themselves with a seriousness that did not match their age.
Several ninja present tried to identify the Uchiha's waste, easily picking him out due to his nonexistent chakra pathways.
The rituals and blessings were completed at last.
Mikoto finally spoke:
"The patriarch's son prepared a farewell gift for all of you. Enjoy," she said, while Sora walked forward to stand in front of everyone.
The gathered shinobi had expected a gift from Itachi, yet it was the other child who stepped up.
Every pair of eyes followed him, their gazes sharp, trying to overwhelm him.
'I've had it worse,' thought Sora as he calmly activated his Sharingan, two tomoe spinning in both of his eyes, stunning the audience.
Beside him, Itachi followed, opening his own one-tomoe Sharingan in each eye.
The crowd was surprised 'Two geniuses'
Sora's demeanor shifted.
Though he had the frame of a child, the aura he emitted felt like that of a hungry wolf, ready to devour anything in his path.
Sora began to sing.
"I was raised by wolves
I was born to lead"
The air around them twisted.
A woman appeared, buried in a sea of corpses, as a wolf slowly approached her.
'An illusion,' most realized.
They tried to dispel it, but they couldn't.
"And I starve till there's no more mouths to feed"
The agony, the madness of survival, it consumed them.
The instinct to flee surged within their chests, but a wolf shows no mercy.
"There's a hand on my throat
And a blade at my feet
But the weight of the world won't bend my knees"
The wolf now stood before them, and its eyes burned with a deadly three-tomoe Sharingan.
Red, cold, merciless.
"Broken bones, battle scars
I have seen the bloodshed
Carved in stone, when it's my sword
They won't forget"
Before them stretched a long, dark corridor.
At the far end, Death awaited.
A test, they understood.
Then, Sora roared.
"No war, no peace
Till I lead them all
Leave me with my demons
Hear my voice call"
Each of them now carried a small lamb in their arms, a pure, innocent thing.
Around them, twisted creatures prowled, eager to devour.
The lambs represented something precious: beauty, innocence, hope.
"No fears or sorrows underneath these bones
Just blood, sweat, and tears
Is all I know"
Visions flooded their minds.
A future where they sat upon thrones made of corpses.
Powerful. Unmatched.
And surrounding them, the honored dead, the Uchiha who had passed these trials before.
The true battle had begun.
"I can use who I want"
They returned to the chamber of demons, shielding the lamb, fighting and failing.
"And I taste what I please
In this world I get all my fantasies"
Realization dawned.
The demons weren't the true threat.
The real test was whether they could sacrifice the lamb themselves, give up their own innocence willingly.
"There's a hand on my throat
And a child at my feet"
Now, they battled against the spectral figures of past Uchiha warriors.
Those who had survived the ritual.
"But the weight of the world
Won't bend my knees"
They fell, bloodied and broken, but they rose again.
A son fighting for his father.
A mother for her child.
A father for his family.
They fought not because they could, but because they had to.
"No war, no peace
Till I lead them all
Leave me with my demons
Hear my voice call"
Once more, the dark corridor opened before them.
A monstrous lamb awaited, offering a token: a bloody brand, shaped like a wolf's fangs.
"(Don't wash away my blood)
(Don't wash away my sweat)
It's all I know
(Don't wash away my tears)"
Their steps were slow, heavy — but determined.
"Don't wash my spirit
Don't cleanse my soul"
They sacrificed the lamb.
Their innocence — their final act of mercy — torn apart piece by piece to feed the wolf within.
"Can't break my courage
And I won't fall
'Cause that's all I know"
They took the mark — the blood of the lamb now a part of their being.
They were reforged: something faster, stronger, better.
"No war, no peace
Till I lead them all
Leave me with my demons
Hear my voice call"
Their bodies felt shredded, remade, stitched anew with blood and rage.
"No fears or sorrows underneath these bones
Just blood, sweat, and tears
Is all I know"
When the illusion shattered, the shinobi returned to the real world, gasping, panting, alive.
Their blood boiled with primal fury.
Their hearts roared for war.
And now, this pack of wolves was ready for blood.
_: _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _
A/N: Ta-da! Did you like it?. I wanted to make a whole chapter for the song, please listen to the song (blood sweat and tears from league of legends) while reading this (para mas placer).
So, a recap for those of you to lazy to understand what happened (or if you dont want to reread stuff that already happened). Senbonzakura sealed sora's perception to protect him from strong wandering ghosts that could potentially kill him and steal his body.
"the eyes are windows for the soul" so when this stupid tried to send reyriouku to his eyes to imitate gyo, the seal slightly opened and root people (who died recentrly ) tried to devour him and get his body. Senbonzakura left a failsafe (sakumo, due to respect for him for the sword). but our stupid protag rips apart the seal from his soul (it was intended to be open, but not so early) and baam, he could finally meet the legion. Mangled ghosts of the Uchiha who believe that a war is coming and "The sakura samurai" will lead them, because "it happened" (spoilers). Bear in mind that this type of souls usually get cleansed in a place, making it that once a weak a "death parade" happens. So now, Sora needs to undersantd what it means to be uchiha, how? relieving the memories from the legion in a contest of strenght to see who prevails. Sora wins, he devours them. A ghost wins, sora will be devoured by them and the ghost will replace him to live again. Thanks to his inner world shaneanigans, he is able to store those attacking memories away in a way that makes sense (so his identity doesnt get eaten away by memories). SO YEAH that. And why sakumo didn't help him? because he could not. Two or three ghosts maybe, but the legion, bitch please. Bear in mind that my boy will be traumatized (again). The LEGION will fulfill their purpouses for making my boy stronger and the other part to help him out for the future (spoilers)
And why mikoto allowed this? it was a political maneuver. She showed how the "waste" had a kekkei genkai related to illusions (imagine playing with the mind of a bunch of ninjas) and the sharingan (wich is highly unusual). That meant, a clan more united, clear a path for her children's future and make sure that they will be protected until they reach the adulthood.
A/N2: I will try to make the story move faster, and make each chapter like this, selfconclusive. The next important parts will be: consequences of SOra's actions, Fugaku takes the twins to war, end of war and the funeral, sasuke being born, kushina's pregnancy and 9 tailes attack.
Uffff, so yeah that.
Bonus scene for all of those who read until the end:
_ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ __
"Is it time, little lamb?"
"Not yet, my dear wolf. For his name is woven into countless times that never were."
"And when will the hunt begin, little lamb?"
"Soon, dear wolf... soon."