---
[Time: 4:21 AM – Uchiha District, Kagami's House]
The house was silent, blanketed in the stillness of early morning.
Kagami hadn't slept.
He sat cross-legged on the bedroom floor, surrounded by scrolls, notes, and three glowing chakra crystals—each set to different sensitivity thresholds. A slow exhale misted the cold air in front of him.
The experiments weren't for power. They were for preservation.
Yuki Uchiha's lungs had grown worse. Every minute he wasted was another moment closer to the decline of the one person—aside from Obito—he couldn't lose.
His brush moved quickly.
> "Designing prototype microseal: chakra-infused pollen-based array for alveolar repair. Requires trigger upon breath intake. Limited adhesion unless bonded with…"
"…tree sap with high chakra receptivity—likely pine resin? Test against rat lung tissue."
"Need sample. Capture later."
He glanced toward the covered cage near the window. The mouse inside squeaked faintly. He reached over, scribbled "Don't name it" beside the cage.
He'd already made that mistake twice.
---
[Time: 5:10 AM – Small Garden Behind the House]
Kagami stepped out into the frost.
The snow had hardened overnight. It cracked beneath his steps as he walked carefully to the small shrine stone tucked beneath the sakura tree—now bare and clawing toward the gray sky.
He knelt and poured water over the old roots.
He whispered only one thing:
"Please let her breathe easier today."
Then he stood and returned inside, jaw tight, eyes blank.
---
[Time: 6:00 AM – Living Room]
He was back at the table. Fresh ink. New scroll. Still no sleep.
His designs had shifted—now he was working on a chakra-purifying breathing mask. The seal layout for the vents was maddeningly delicate. Five hours of calculations had failed to stabilize it.
He tore the scroll in half.
Then immediately redrew it again.
---
[Time: 6:38 AM – Grandmother's Room]
A small cough. Then another.
He was through the door before the second one finished.
She blinked at him blearily. "You're awake early again, little ember…"
"I never slept."
"Oh." A tired smile. "Just like your grandfather. He'd burn through scrolls all night if it meant one more technique."
Kagami adjusted her pillows, measured her forehead with the back of his hand, checked her fingertips for temperature and oxygen hue.
She laughed softly. "Still treating me like I'm a patient."
"You are a patient."
A pause.
Then she reached out and touched his cheek.
"And you're just a boy."
He leaned slightly into her touch for a second too long.
Then withdrew, nodding once, quietly.
---
[Time: 7:07 AM – Kitchen]
Kagami prepared breakfast with meticulous care. Every slice of ginger, every portion of rice, every temperature.
He'd read once that food temperatures could help or harm lung congestion depending on timing. Warm early. Cool later. Obito wouldn't care, but Obito could eat gravel and survive.
Yuki needed precision.
---
[Time: 7:29 AM – Dining Room]
Obito stumbled out of his room with a blanket half-draped over his head.
"Whyyy is it so cold today—Kagami, you look like a ghost. Did you sleep?"
"No."
"Of course not." Obito plopped down, grinning. "Let me guess. More seal nonsense?"
Kagami didn't respond.
Obito poked him in the side.
"You're gonna turn into a scroll one day."
Still no response.
Then Obito leaned forward, suddenly more serious. "Hey. Don't burn yourself out. Baa-chan wouldn't want that."
Kagami's chopsticks paused mid-air.
Then he resumed eating.
Quietly.
But he shifted his chair slightly closer to Obito.
---
[Time: 8:02 AM – Inner Compound Walkway]
They walked together down the cobbled path toward the academy district. Obito had a mission report to deliver. Kagami didn't speak, only trailing beside him like a shadow.
"Hey," Obito said after a long silence, "you know I'll get stronger too, right? I'll protect you. And her. I'll become Hokage and make sure—"
Kagami stopped walking.
Obito turned, confused.
Kagami's voice was cold. "You talk too much about dreams when you don't even study chakra theory."
Obito blinked.
Then burst out laughing.
Kagami stared at him like he was malfunctioning.
"I'm serious," he added.
"I know," Obito said between snickers, "that's what makes it so perfect."
---
[Time: 9:12 AM – Archive Tower, Lower Level]
Kagami had special access. The Uchiha elders had once scoffed, but when he began fixing old jutsu manuscripts no one else could understand, they'd relented.
Today, he studied the Nidaime Hokage's personal scrolls.
Tobirama Senju had been a genius.
Kagami read slowly, fingers brushing the old ink.
> "Spatial summoning gates anchored through three-point seals. Require blood tax, chakra imprint, and spatial memory imprint from the user."
Kagami's fingers paused.
That was… similar to what he'd been trying to create for a sealed medical environment.
A sterile, compressed space to keep his grandmother safe…
He copied the page meticulously.
---
[Time: 12:47 PM – Market Street]
He bought medicinal herbs. No eye contact. Few words. He was known as "the quiet one," "Obito's pale brother," "the ghost boy."
He didn't care.
What he did care about was the cough he heard from the vendor three stalls away. It was thick. Wet. He watched the man exchange coins with a civilian.
Pathogen spread vector. If Yuki passed by here…
He dropped the herbs and left instantly.
---
[Time: 2:30 PM – Home Laboratory Room]
His "lab" was really just a storage room converted with shelves, notes, tools, and several rats he hadn't named. He tested compound mixtures with pine resin and filtered oil. One turned acidic on contact with chakra.
He marked it: "Weaponize potential?"
Then discarded the thought.
This was for healing. Not war.
---
[Time: 4:18 PM – Back Garden]
He found Obito lounging on the grass, arms behind his head.
"Back early," Kagami said, sitting nearby.
"Yeah. Kakashi ditched again. Probably training. So I thought, hey, let's stare at the sky until our problems disappear."
Kagami lay down beside him, silent.
After a few moments, he asked: "Do you think the stars have chakra?"
Obito blinked. "What?"
"They emit light. Radiation. Vibration. Could that be… resonance chakra?"
"...You need more sleep, Kagami."
Kagami turned his head.
"Probably."
But for the first time all day, he smiled.
Only a little.
Only for Obito.
---
[Time: 6:12 PM – Grandmother's Room]
She was asleep. Her hand clutched a small photo—Kagami's baby picture, with Obito holding him.
He closed the door softly.
Then stood outside it for twelve minutes.
Just in case.
---
[Time: 8:00 PM – Dining Room]
Dinner was quiet. Obito talked about missions. Kagami made note of his chakra fluctuations mid-speech. Yuki laughed at both of them.
Kagami added a few medicinal herbs into her soup without telling her. Taste-neutral.
She ate every bite.
---
[Time: 10:00 PM – Bedroom]
Kagami sat in the dark again, by candlelight.
He added another section to his main scroll.
> "Project: Ember Core
Objective: seal-enhanced support system for advanced pulmonary degeneration.
Estimated completion: 6 months."
He paused.
Then wrote:
> "I will not let her die."
He underlined it.
---
[Time: 11:45 PM – Roof of the House]
Kagami stood in the cold, arms folded, breath slow.
The wind cut through his thin robe. He didn't flinch.
He was calculating time.
Time lost.
Time he still had.
Time he'd buy—no matter the cost.
---
Would you like me to continue to Part 3 of Chapter 1, starting from the next morning and going even deeper into his early projects, interactions with the Uchiha clan, and growing tension within the village?