The hospital smelled of antiseptic and quiet murmurs. I blinked, my body aching but my mind sharp as ever. Sitting beside me was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, his expression carefully softened, as if attempting to soothe a child.
"Take it easy," he said, his voice calm, almost fatherly. "You've been through… a lot."
I looked at him. Every word, every gesture, reeked of lies. He knew. He had always known. And yet, he spoke as if I were merely a boy filled with the naive Will of Fire. I nodded politely, a practiced mask over the storm of thought inside me. A boy playing along with the village's expectations—but I was far beyond the boy he thought he could guide.
When I was discharged, I left the hospital quietly, blending in as a child should, but with the mind of a strategist centuries ahead of anyone in Konoha. The village's streets blurred around me as I made my way back to the Uchiha Clan compound, a place that now felt like a mausoleum of potential.
The Naka Shrine loomed ahead, its centuries-old seals humming faintly under my gaze. I activated my Sharingan, the refraction of the ocular pattern cutting through the layers of protection. One by one, the seals fell, ancient jutsu unthreading themselves before my comprehension.
Inside, the shrine was a treasure trove. Scrolls of jutsu lined the walls—ninjutsu scrolls, taijutsu scrolls, genjutsu techniques—and at the center lay the famous Uchiha tablet, its runes whispering centuries of clan knowledge. Every piece of information I had taken from the compound now found its rightful place beside these relics.
But my task wasn't complete. I walked over to the vials, specialized for storing ocular power, and methodically dropped each Sharingan and Mangekyō eye I had collected from my fallen clansmen inside. The vials shimmered as they absorbed the chakra, the spiritual energy of each eye preserved perfectly for future use.
For the first time, I allowed a small smile. The Uchiha secrets—their power, their knowledge, their history—were now mine to command. And as the shrine hummed around me, I felt the weight of potential settling onto my shoulders.
This was not merely survival. This was preparation. The world would soon remember the name of Indra Uchiha, reborn, unstoppable, and unbound by the weakness of youth or the expectations of fools.