[The scene in the projection shifts to Konoha Hospital twelve years ago.]
[After the Nine-Tails' attack, the number of casualties was so overwhelming that the hospital couldn't take in any more patients. Temporary medical tents had been set up outside, stretching as far as the eye could see. Everywhere you looked, there were wounded shinobi groaning in pain, and the constant cries of children filled the air.]
"Eh? It's Aunt Mikoto!" Naruto pointed at the screen, his voice bright with excitement.
Sasuke looked up. Sure enough—it was his mother, holding his older brother's hand and carrying him in her arms inside the hospital.
"Aunt Mikoto…" Naruto blinked his wide blue eyes. "She looks really sad, doesn't she, Sasuke?"
"Yeah…" Sad? Why?
[No wonder there had been so much noise from crying babies earlier. Uchiha Mikoto was standing outside the newborn ward of Konoha Hospital.]
"Sasuke! Naruto!!" Sakura blurted out. "Inside that room—could it be…?"
"Hey, dead last!" Sasuke snapped.
"Ah, it's Naruto," Iruka said with a soft smile. "He was so well-behaved as a kid. Really adorable."
[In a small crib, a baby slept soundly. His golden hair shone just like it did now, and his chubby cheeks bore Six cat-like whisker marks.]
Naruto stared blankly. "That's… me?"
Seeing himself as a swaddled infant for the first time made his vision blur.
He didn't have photo albums. He didn't have parents. Uzumaki Naruto's memories practically began with the glares and whispers from the adults in the village. Watching that tiny baby in the crib, his heart twisted with emotions he couldn't even name.
So he had once been just a baby.
Not some Monster Fox.
Just an orphan left behind by war.
His mom and dad must have died protecting the village… It wasn't that he'd been born unwanted…
"Ino leaned forward. "Wait—so that means Naruto's parents died during the Nine-Tails' attack too?"
"Probably," Iruka said quietly. "A lot of kids lost their parents back then." He had been one of them.
[On the screen, Mikoto gazed at baby Naruto with deep sorrow in her eyes.]
["Kushina…" Her voice carried a trace of reluctance, overwhelming grief, and helpless resignation.]
The moment Naruto heard the name "Kushina," tears streamed down his face without warning. He didn't even understand why.
"Naruto…?"
"Hey, de—"
Gaara and Sasuke were the first to notice. Both froze, unsure what to say.
Even Sasuke, who'd been Naruto's classmate for years, had never seen him like this.
Eyes wide open.
Tears falling silently.
"Kushina," Naruto repeated under his breath, committing the name to memory.
Sasuke swallowed. "Th-that name came up earlier when the elders were talking. A lot of people in the village should know it. After the exams, we'll ask around, idiot!"
"Oh!" Realizing he was crying, Naruto quickly turned his back in embarrassment, wiping at his face and muttering that Gaara's sand had gotten in his eyes.
But everyone could tell.
The name Mikoto had spoken clearly had something to do with Naruto.
That also explained why she had known his birthday was two months after Sasuke's.
As for who Kushina was to Naruto… Team Seven already had their guesses.
His mother?
…
Far from Konoha, in Tanzaku Town, a woman and a crow watched the same projection.
"Kushina…" Uzumaki Mito could hardly believe it. That bright, warm-hearted girl from back then had left the world so early.
After Itachi had later used genjutsu to tell her what had happened in Konoha, she learned that the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki had changed twelve years ago.
The new one…
Was Kushina's son.
A child named Uzumaki Naruto.
I need to get to Konoha as soon as possible, she thought. I have to see that poor child.
…
[The projection shifts again, returning to the earlier moment when Kakashi and Itachi were speaking.]
[Dressed in ANBU uniforms, Hatake Kakashi and Itachi arrive at Konoha's surveillance post atop the Hokage Rock.]
["It's not just here," Kakashi says. "Lord Danzō has another independent ANBU branch called 'Root.' They're watching the Uchiha too."]
Tobirama's brows lifted slightly. "Root?"
"It's an independent branch formed solely under Danzō's command," the Third Hokage explained.
"And what of the Hokage's authority?" Tobirama said flatly. "A Hokage must walk ahead of everyone and bear the burden alone. That's why the Hokage needs ANBU—and only one ANBU."
"...I'm sorry, Sensei," the Third murmured.
Tobirama sighed. Having experienced the Fourth Great Ninja War and learned the full truth, his tone turned heavy.
"ANBU already operate in the shadows. Darkness within darkness... is like rot festering at the roots of a great tree. If left unpruned, it will eventually poison the entire trunk."
"...Yes."
"Let's keep watching."
[An ANBU teammate asks Itachi, "What are you going to do? Are you going to tell your clan they're being monitored?"]
Sasuke's fingers tightened.
What choice would his brother make?
What would he choose, if he were in that position?
[Itachi answers with a question of his own. "What's my next assignment?"]
[After receiving instructions, the teams rotate shifts as usual. The masked ANBU leave, and inside the surveillance room remain Captain Hatake Kakashi and the monitored clan's young prodigy—Uchiha Itachi.]
"...Itachi," Sasuke whispered.
This projection had revealed a side of his brother he'd never known. Another side of the Uchiha. Another side of Konoha.
[Countless screens filled the room, displaying every corner of the Uchiha district without blind spots.]
Sasuke watched intently.
Those familiar faces—once living, breathing members of his clan…
He hadn't seen the Uchiha like that in so many years.
The high-collared uniforms. The red-and-white fan crest on their backs.
It made his chest ache.
[As captain, Kakashi gently asks Itachi if he wants to switch shifts—if he'd prefer Kakashi take over the monitoring. After all, asking a teenager to spy on his own family was cruel. Anyone would hesitate.]
["It's fine," Itachi replies. "The Uchiha have already sensed the village's distrust." And besides…]
[On the screen, Itachi adjusts the Long-range Telescope. In his view appears the entrance to his own home. A young boy in Uchiha attire, small satchel on his back, walks out with a bright smile.]
"Ah! It's Sasuke!" Naruto burst out laughing. "You were so cute, Sasuke-kun!"
"Shut up, dead last!" Sasuke's face burned red.
[In the middle of his surveillance duty, the moment Itachi sees his adorable younger brother, a warm smile spreads across his face.]
[The strange projection even plays his inner thoughts aloud: "Sasuke… my little brother is so cute~"]
A perfect example of abuse of power. Assigned to monitor the clan—yet using high-end surveillance equipment just to peek at his little brother?
Standing beside Tobirama, Shisui couldn't help smiling at the tenderness in that moment. "Itachi…"
Meanwhile, among the Chūnin Exam participants, whispers spread.
"Isn't that abusing his position to spy on his own family?"
"He really loves his little brother, huh…"
"Hey, that Uchiha Sasuke…" Someone pointed. "Isn't that the stuck-up kid acting like he's hot stuff?"
"Pfft—"
Someone snorted first, and soon others were struggling to hold back laughter.
"Hahahahahaha!" Naruto laughed the loudest.
Sasuke's face turned as red as a tomato. He grabbed Naruto by the collar and shook him violently. "Stop laughing, you idiot dead last!"
"Okay, okay—I won't laugh… hahahahaha! My little brother is so cute, right, Sasuke-kun~?"
"Hmph!" Sasuke turned away angrily, refusing to look at him.
[As the projection continues, whether due to the higher-ups' distrust or the fear the two Nine-Tails incidents had instilled in the villagers toward the Uchiha—who were said to be capable of controlling the beast—]
[The Uchiha, who served as Konoha's Military Police Force, began finding it increasingly difficult to carry out their duties.]
[During routine patrols, they heard things like—]
["Out of the way, you Military Police!"]
["Yeah! Just hide like you did during the Nine-Tails' attack!"]
Among the villagers—
"The earlier footage showed the Uchiha were just following orders. They weren't hiding—"
"Don't be stupid! What if they were the ones controlling the Nine-Tails? If not for the Uchiha—if not for the Nine-Tails—would the Fourth Hokage have died?!"
"But there's no evidence that it was the Uchiha who released and controlled it—"
"Yeah, isn't it too soon to jump to conclusions?"
"Don't forget the masked man! Didn't he have the Sharingan?"
"Right—his target was the tailed beasts…"
"Could he be the one who released the Nine-Tails and caused the Fourth's death?"
Voices overlapped, each person drawing different conclusions. Whether the Uchiha deserved the discrimination or not—back then, the damage had already been done.
[In the next scene, enraged Uchiha shinobi restrain two villagers who had insulted them, tying them up and bringing them back to the police station for questioning.]
[The two men had merely been drunk and arguing in the street, but their arrest only deepened the villagers' fear of the Uchiha. The clan's reputation grew worse by the day.]
Tenten frowned. "They were just drunk and fighting. That doesn't justify arresting them, does it?"
Neji snorted. "The pride of a great clan backfiring."
Tobirama fell silent.
How was he supposed to put it? What terrible tempers, every single one of them!
If only they'd explained more. Just said a few extra words.
But for the fiercely proud Uchiha, that probably felt worse than being bled dry.
"Third," Tobirama asked sharply, "after Kagami and I died, were there no Uchiha who weren't this extreme?"
So many years had passed—how were they still like this?
Never mind that both Nine-Tails incidents really had involved Uchiha.
Even if they'd been wrongly accused, they should have faced it head-on and sought a solution—rather than clashing with the entire village!
Hmph! Just like that brat Madara—eternal children throwing tantrums!
"It's not that there weren't…" the Third Hokage said slowly.