Far away from the lively settlement of the Ōtsutsuki clan, a few figures could be seen dashing silently through the leaves between the dark trees of the Forest of Death.
A dark haired kid, no older than seven or eight years old, was accompanied by a similarly aged girl, whose dark hair made apparent their status as relatives.
"Takeshi, your eyes…"
"Don't talk." He shut her up in a breath.
Had there been sunlight, the vibrant cherry color of his eyes would give away any passer-by of his affiliation to the renown Uchiha clan of Konoha.
Steadying his breath again, the boy silently thanked his foresight.
Not unlike Haru, Takeshi was reborn eight years ago in the Uchiha clan as a transmigrator as the elder son of a loving couple in Uchiha clan. It was not long before his birth was followed by another, his sister Hisane.
Takeshi's memories of his past life may have been somewhat fuzzy as well, but as a former Naruto fan, he knew more than anyone else that being born in the Uchiha clan was as much of a blessing as it was a curse.
Since he was born, behind the smiles and laughs of a fainted carefree childhood, he has been preparing himself for this night. Soon, he understood that no matter how fast he advanced in the shadows, no matter how strong he would become by then, he would be powerless to change the fate of the Uchiha.
His aim then shifted. Instead of saving the clan, he might as well do something that might actually be within his capabilities. Save the ones he cared about in this life. A closed circle that encompassed merely his family, but even then, he was left powerless too when coming back from the academy with his sister, he noticed the faint smell of blood lingering by the gateway of the Uchiha compound.
His parents didn't make it.
His mind stirred for a while, but he decisively choose to leave on the spot, taking his confused sister with him. Every single seconds of escape mattered most than anything else.
By now, they've been fleeing for over an hour, and the night fell. He was glad that in his preparation, he made sure to work on both their running staminas in the past.
"We should be far enough for now, let's take a break."
Hisane, who has been out of breath for a while, collapsed on the ground, panting heavily. After a short while, Takeshi spoke first.
"Hisane, what I'm going to say will sound like madness."
"What's going on ?" She replied, anxious.
"The Uchiha clan… Is no more. I knew this was going to happen eventually. Because of the coup project, Konoha acted preemptively, and killed everyone."
His reply came to her ears like the drums of the apocalypse. As if the coldness of the night finally came to her sense, her small body began to shudder as her eyes widened.
A part of her wanted to dismiss his declaration as nonsensical. To deny. But shortly, she believed his words, for she knew that her ever serious and reliable brother would not deceive her about such a thing.
"Mom… Dad…"
Her cute face crisped as her eyes watered. As she began to cry silently, a bright red color emerged in stead of the dark in her tearing pupils.
Next to her, filled with no less grief and sorrow, Takeshi knelt. As Hisane began to sob in pain, her brother took her in his arms, making her feel the warmth of his presence.
"I'm sorry."
But she cried louder.
Slowly, the unimaginable heartbreak his sister undergone before his eyes turned Takeshi's blood chillingly cold. For Takeshi, who knew well who slaughtered his parents, family and kin, no matter the reasons and justifications, for as long as he had a breath of life within him, their deaths would never be able to quench the thirst of his boundless fury.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Itachi, Obito, Danzo… All of them.
They would survive. Thrive. And one day, not only would he feed their dead bodies to the worms, but he would extinguish all generations of their lineage before burying them in a common pit without a tomb.
Such was the only way they would pay for their unforgivable crimes.
A week passed in a flash on the more serene land of Shirogakure. Late in the afternoon, after an uneventful day at the academy, Haru joined his parents in the living room accompanied by his new friend, Isshin.
The latter seemed to go along well with his father, as he enthousiastically shared some more recent funny and embarrassing anecdotes of his own father Honma Shigemoto, patriarch of the Ōtsutsuki clan, who burst out laughing a few times, much the quiet exasperation his Hisame who was somewhat frustrated by his lack of etiquette.
"You've grown kid, time flies. I remember the day of your birth. We were invited by your father to a banquet." Genji said, reminiscing. "Anyway, you young folks should spend some time together. I've got work to do anyway. Are you staying for diner, Isshin ?"
"I won't, thanks for the proposal but I did not notices my parents so it's best not."
"Alright, you'd be welcomed to any time you want !"
Genji left the living room for his study, and Hisame was busy in the kitchen. Haru and Isshin were both left alone.
"So ? Ready for the first round of the interclass battle tomorrow ?"
Haru shrugged off, visibly unconcerned.
"I'm facing some random girl from the branch, I guess I'll just be going along the motions."
Although it was a bad habit to underestimate the opponent and be careless, everyone Haru had fought with so far were sophomore students, aged six to nine, from the main family. Comparing them with a peer aged girl from the branch was akin to the difference between a Chunnin and a kid from Konoha's academy.
Not to mention that he was not actually four year old mentally himself. It truly felt like bullying to him.
"Eh… I did the same back then. But I lost in the semi finals against my sister in the end."
"How strong is she ?" Haru asked, curious.
"She's really good. I'd say she's a bit better than Fujisuke, whom you've beaten a week ago. We don't talk much about that though." Isshin explained, serious. "Mom has been training her a lot on chakra nature transformation lately."
"I see." He replied, as expected the Ōtsutsuki princess he thought. "Let's go outside for a walk. Walls have ears here."
It's not that Haru didn't trust his parents, but some things still required privacy.
The two of them went strolling through the streets of the Shiro village, walking leisurely.
Unhurried, Isshin asked a lighthearted question first.
"By the way, why are you still wearing make up ?"
Haru, a bit speechless, shrugged lightly. "Mom likes it. I told her that I don't mind, as long as she was the one to make it."
Truthfully, Haru had already some somewhat androgynous features. At his age, he didn't went through the testosterone rush yet, so the make up really doesn't help it. Indeed, he looked a bit feminine, but as long as his mom was happy he didn't care much.
"What do you know our clan's origins, Isshin ?" Shifting the topic, Haru asked.
"Not much more that what everybody knows I guess." He replied after thinking for a bit. "A thousand year ago, Ancestor Hamura and his brother defeated their mother, Kaguya, and sealed her here on the moon. Since then, we've been the safe keepers of that jail, though personally I believe that it's more or less a symbolic purpose now. Nobody lives that long."
Haru was a bit surprised at first by his answer, but soon he understood. Although, some people of the clan have lived for over two hundred years thanks to the vitality of the Sage Body, they had no concepts of immortality. It was something that could only be obtained by evolving the Kekkei Mora, which even Hamura and Hagoromo failed to achieve.
"You're wrong." Haru shaked his hair, before lifting his head to look at the stars.
Isshin stayed silent, listening to what Haru would say.
"Can I trust you ?"
Uh ? Isshin was surprised but nodded.
"I know a lot of things." Haru said, looking back at Isshin. His eyes were solemn. "And I'll tell you only if you promise to stand by me, not to ask how I know."
Isshin has always a smart, quick witted kid. Being born as the youngest son of the Honma household meant that he has had the best instruction there was in the whole clan.
Though his parents were a bit biased towards his sister for her strong ninshu talent, part of which he lagged behind her was actually his lack of purpose. To him, the Ōtsutsuki clan were people who revered strength for no practical reason, and lived in a celestial cage that held nothing but a grave.
He was curious. He felt that his life should be more than this.
"Alright. But I won't call you boss though." He answered with a cheeky grin.
Though it may have looked like he answered a bit frivolously, Haru smiled lightly in acknowledgment. There was no need to say everything out loud, confirm, or guess with intelligent people. That's why he had chosen him.
"Who would like a pink haired underling anyway.."
"That's a bit mean."
"That's just retribution, you mocked my mom's make up first."
"Fair enough."
"Let's get back to business," Haru stopped, waving his hand. "Kaguya is not dead, because she is immortal. That's the main reason why she was sealed and not killed in the first place."
"How is that even possible ?" Isshin asked, confused.
"She is not human. She's an alien life form."
Isshin's eyes widened. "Wait. Do you mean that we…"
"Exactly. The revered bloodline purity of the Shrine of the Blood, basically comes down to how much of an alien we are."
"I didn't expect that." Isshin was a bit dumbfounded, but started thinking quickly. "So basically, I'm about fourteen percent alien. That's good to know. Anything else ?"
"A lot." Haru replied. "Actually our Ōtsutsuki clan is a mixed, hybridal family between the terrestrial humans, and the foreign Ōtsutsuki race. All our Kekkei Genkai and specials abilities are basically watered down version of their powers. What really matters however is that Kaguya is still alive and trapped beneath our feet, and her people, who wield powers beyond your imagination, must be scouring the cosmos searching for her and our planet."
Isshin's expression grew more solemn with every words.
"Yet that's not our main problem, nor why I sought you out."
"What is it then ?"
Haru paused in his steps. He looked around the people in the streets, busying with their daily lives with some regrets. As he turned to Isshin, he took a deep breath before telling him.
"I'm not to sure about the exact time, it should be within half a decade. Those people you see now, will all die. Isshin, our clan will go extinct, and it's not something we have any power to change." Haru revealed. "I don't want to die Isshin. I don't want the people I care about die either. We need to escape Shirogakure, Isshin."