The next morning, I woke with a decision already burning in my chest.
No more guessing.
No more waiting for the shadows to strike first.
If the other reincarnator wanted to play silent observer, I would drag him out into the open.
Because I was done playing defense.
---
At the Academy, the D-rank ambush had turned into the newest schoolyard legend.
"You should've seen it," Naruto said for the fifth time that day, arms waving dramatically. "I totally deflected, like, fifteen kunai with just a stick!"
"You tripped over a log," Sasuke replied flatly.
Naruto huffed. "Details!"
Even Iruka seemed impressed. He praised our reaction time, our teamwork, and for once, didn't scold Naruto for talking out of turn.
But behind the smiles, I saw the shift.
Some students looked at me differently now. Not just as Shikamaru's sister, but as something else.
A leader. A threat. A mystery.
And in this world, attention could be fatal.
---
At lunch, I slipped out of the building.
I wasn't surprised when he was already waiting.
The other reincarnator sat on the branch of a tree near the old training grounds, swinging one leg lazily, arms folded behind his head like this was all a game.
He looked down at me with a crooked smile. "You found me again."
I folded my arms. "You interfered. Why?"
"I said I wasn't your enemy." He dropped from the branch and landed with practiced ease. "I also said I wasn't your ally."
"That doesn't answer my question."
He shrugged. "You would've died if I didn't step in."
I narrowed my eyes. "And that matters to you why?"
He studied me in silence for a moment, then tilted his head. "You really don't get it, do you?"
"Get what?"
"You're the wild card."
---
That threw me.
"What do you mean?"
He paced slowly in front of me now, hands still in his pockets, gaze sweeping the trees as if searching for invisible listeners.
"You think you're here to rewrite a better version of the story. You're trying to save people. Change outcomes. Reshape events."
"Isn't that the point?" I snapped. "If we were given this chance, shouldn't we use it to make things right?"
He looked at me then—really looked.
And there was no smirk on his face this time.
"You don't understand what this world does to people who try to change it."
---
He sat down on a tree stump and motioned for me to sit. I didn't.
"I've been here longer than you. I was dropped in during the Third Shinobi War," he said quietly. "Civilian-born. Learned fast. Adapted faster."
"Then you know what's coming," I said. "You know what we could stop."
He chuckled bitterly. "Yeah. I stopped something once. Saved a girl from being assassinated during a border skirmish. She was supposed to die. But she didn't."
I leaned forward slightly. "And?"
"She lived for another month. Then she was tortured and killed by a missing-nin from Grass. Same war. Different knife."
His jaw tightened.
"That's what this world does. You change one detail, and the story snaps back twice as hard. It punishes you for trying to be a hero."
---
Silence.
He let that sit.
Then added, "That's why I don't use a name anymore. I left that part behind."
I frowned. "You don't even have an alias?"
He gave a humorless grin. "Call me whatever you want. I'm not trying to make a legacy. I'm just trying to get through it alive."
---
A breeze stirred the grass. My fingers curled at my sides.
"Then why are you still here?" I asked. "You're strong. You're smart. You could vanish. Live out your life quietly."
"Because every time someone like you shows up—someone who still cares—you attract chaos. Like fire in dry grass."
He stood now, walking toward me slowly.
"I saved you because I'm not heartless. But I'm warning you: stop before this world chews you up and spits you out. Stop before you ruin more than you fix."
I met his gaze without flinching. "No."
---
He stopped inches away.
"I can't watch people suffer and just stand by," I said. "Even if I can't fix everything. Even if it gets messy."
His eyes narrowed. "Then you'll break. Or worse—you'll break everything else."
I stepped back, voice sharp. "Then get out of the way."
He didn't move. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
---
That night, I returned home late.
The house was quiet. Shikamaru had long since gone to bed. My mother was out on patrol rotation.
I slipped into my room, closed the door, and let the mask fall.
My hands shook. My heart pounded.
I had a name now.
Not a real one—but a label. A presence. A shadow with a will of its own.
The Boy With No Name.
He wasn't my enemy. Not yet. But he was an obstacle.
Someone with power, with experience, and with a worldview that could clash with mine at any moment.
And I couldn't ignore him anymore.
---
I lit a candle and opened one of the Nara clan scrolls.
Not to study jutsu. Not to train.
To remind myself who I was.
Aiko Nara.
Shadow-born. Twin of the laziest genius in the village.
Reincarnated with knowledge I was never meant to have.
Walking a path that never existed before.
If fate wanted to push back, then let it.
I wasn't afraid of cracks anymore.
Because the fire in me burned too bright to hide.
---
Somewhere in the distance, the wind stirred the leaves of the forest.
The shadows whispered again.
And I whispered back.
---
[End of Chapter 6]