Chương 58: Awakening

Tsume turned and saw Shin standing frozen behind her.

"Move it!" she barked. Shin blinked and turned his head, but his eyes were distant — unfocused, like a person who'd just surfaced from deep water and hadn't yet found the sky. The gate guards were watching him. Some studied him openly. A few exchanged knowing looks, as though they recognized him. Shin looked at Tsume's darkening expression. He said nothing. After a long moment, he lowered his gaze and fell into step behind her.

"Don't go home for the next few days," Tsume said, not slowing.

"Stay at mine. And don't go back to school."

"What... happened?" Shin's voice came out barely above a whisper.

"You just saw for yourself." Shin stopped walking. He stood there and stared at Tsume's back. She took a few more steps, then stopped too. She didn't turn around. Faces flashed through his mind. Sasuke. Fugaku. Mikoto. A cascade of memories — fragments, disconnected — playing in no particular order.

"Are they all... dead?" he murmured, head bowed.

"... Yeah." Tsume's voice was quiet, her back still to him. Her expression was hidden.

"They're all dead." Everyone who's been kind to me... Everyone I've gotten close to... Do they all end up like this? My last life was the same. Is this one no different? His head snapped up toward Tsume.

"Auntie—" He drew a sharp breath, forcing his voice steady. The rest of the words wouldn't come.

"Shin." Tsume said his name softly.

"Let's go home." She turned and started walking again.

"... Okay." His voice shook. I want to hold the line. This last line. Kiba. Hana. And you. The Inuzuka compound. Hana wasn't out on a mission — she'd been home the past couple of days, managing housework and keeping an eye on Kiba's daily routine. She was tidying the living room when she heard the front gate swing open. Thinking it was a visitor, she hurried out to the yard.

"Mom?! Shin?!" Hana's eyes went wide at the sight of them.

"You're... back already?" She looked from one to the other, confused but pleased. They'd only been gone two or three days — far too soon to be returning from a trip.

"Time to come back." Tsume gave a flat reply and walked past her toward the living room.

"Shin." Hana came over and lifted his pack and sword from his shoulders, carrying them for him.

"Why so soon?" She smiled as she asked. Shin kept his head down and said nothing. Hana felt something off. She glanced toward Tsume, thinking, and after a moment seemed to put the pieces together. Tsume met her eyes and gave a small nod. He knows. Hana exhaled — a long breath, like she was trying to push something heavy out of her chest.

"The Uchiha... what happened to them is terrible. Other than the traitor, only one person survived." Shin's head whipped around.

"You said there's a survivor?"

"Sasuke Uchiha, supposedly. Your classmate." Shin stood still for a long moment. Then he spun on his heel and walked toward the gate without looking back.

"Shin! Where are you going?!" Hana called after him. He didn't answer. He didn't slow down. But at the gate, Tsume appeared in a flicker — Body Flicker — and blocked his path. Shin stopped. He looked up at her.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tsume's voice was ice.

"I want to see him."

"Do you even know where he is?" Shin's fists clenched at his sides. He didn't answer. He just stared up at her, jaw set, eyes unblinking.

"Shin..." Hana stood behind them, worry etched across her face. Tsume looked down at him — at the stubbornness in those eyes — and folded her arms. The two of them stood like that, one tall and one small, decades apart in age, but locked in a standoff that felt like equals.

"Konoha Hospital," Tsume said. Something shifted behind Shin's eyes. He said nothing. He lowered his gaze, stepped past her, and walked out. Shin made his way through Konoha's streets. He stopped at the Yamanaka Flower Shop and bought a bundle of narcissus. Ino wasn't there — class would still be in session — and the woman behind the counter was elegant and poised, with features so similar to Ino's that she had to be her mother. This novel is published on a different platform.

Support the original author by finding the official source. He didn't linger. Narcissus in hand, he walked to Konoha Hospital. Something was different here, too. He'd been to this hospital before, but the air felt heavier now — a low-grade tension that pressed on everything. At the reception desk, the nurse looked up when he asked for Sasuke Uchiha's room. She studied him for a long time. Asked him several questions about who he was, how he knew the patient. But she didn't turn him away.

She gave him the room number, and he followed the corridor until he reached the door. He knocked. A low voice from inside: "Come in." Shin frowned slightly and pushed the door open. Four old men stood in the room. One of them was Lord Hokage. The other three he didn't recognize. They were all white-haired, deep into old age. One wore glasses. One was a woman. The last had bandages wrapped around his head, covering his right eye, his entire right arm hidden beneath his robes, his left hand resting on a cane.

"Lord Hokage." Shin bowed quickly. On the bed, Sasuke lay with his eyes shut. His brow was deeply furrowed, and he showed no sign of waking.

"Ah — it's Shin." The Third Hokage's gaze settled on the boy and softened. All four pairs of eyes fixed on him. Every one of them looked surprised — and every one of them seemed to know who he was.

"So this is Shin Takami." Koharu Utatane spoke first.

"Tsukasa Takami's boy?" Homura Mitokado murmured. The three elders studied him openly. Lord Hokage was the only one who didn't stare.

"Here to visit Sasuke?" The Third Hokage glanced at the narcissus in Shin's hand and smiled warmly.

"You two must be close." Shin nodded.

"I heard you left the village?"

"Yes, Lord Hokage. I just got back."

"Getting out and seeing the world — that's a good thing." The old man chuckled.

"But it's more dangerous out there than in here. Inside these walls, everyone will look after you." Shin didn't know how to respond. He stayed bowed.

"Well — we should be on our way." The Third Hokage turned to leave.

"Stay as long as you like."

"Take care, Lord Hokage." Shin bowed deeper. The four of them filed toward the door. Koharu and Homura followed close behind the Third.

"That boy is the class valedictorian, isn't he?"

"Seems like a fine young man. Tsukasa Takami raised a good son." Their voices drifted in from the corridor. Danzō was the last to leave. At the threshold, he paused — and turned his head to look at Shin. Shin was still bowed in farewell, head low. He didn't see the look. The moment Danzō stepped into the hallway, his expression collapsed into something cold and hard. Beneath the bandages, his right eye — Shisui Uchiha's Sharingan — had felt it the instant the boy walked through the door. Clear. Unmistakable.

The presence of Kotoamatsukami. Shisui Uchiha's other Mangekyō was on this boy. Danzō's left eye narrowed to a slit. …… The room was quiet. Only the sound of Shin's footsteps as he moved to the bedside. He stood there for a long time, looking down at Sasuke's face. The furrowed brow, the faint trace of something like terror still lingering in his expression — as though even unconscious, he couldn't escape whatever he'd seen. Shin sighed softly.

He reached out and pressed his fingertips gently against the crease between Sasuke's brows, trying to smooth it away. It didn't help. He brushed the hair from Sasuke's forehead, then turned and walked quietly toward the door. Outside, he found Tsume leaning against the wall beside the doorframe, arms crossed, perfectly still. She glanced at him when he emerged.

"Done?"

"Mm."

"Let's go." She pushed off the wall and headed for the exit. Shin followed in silence. He didn't know why she'd come. She hadn't gone inside — just stood out here, waiting, as though she'd been guarding the door....... They walked back to the Inuzuka compound together, and Shin didn't leave the house again. That evening, Kiba came home from school. The moment he saw Shin standing in the living room, the sullen look on his face vanished and was replaced by something bright and startled.

Akamaru scrambled into Shin's arms, tongue working furiously across his face. Kiba circled him like a satellite — talking nonstop, asking questions, rattling off stories, one thought crashing into the next until even he'd lost track of what he was saying. Shin smiled through it and answered every question. He talked about the Land of Rivers, the things he'd seen. The sand shinobi they'd run into.

"Tch — those sand shinobi sound weak as hell. How'd they even make genin?" Kiba sneered. Shin didn't bother correcting him. That night, at Tsume's insistence, he stayed over. He and Kiba shared a bed — they'd done it often enough as small children, and neither thought anything of it. Dawn. Shin carefully peeled Kiba's arm and leg off his body, slipped out of bed without a sound, and dressed. Kiba and Akamaru didn't stir. The living room was empty. The yard was empty. Hana and Tsume were still asleep.

He washed up, left the compound alone, and walked through the near-deserted streets. A handful of shopkeepers were setting up for the day, but otherwise the village was quiet. He found his way to Konoha Hospital again. At Sasuke's door, he didn't knock — he assumed Sasuke would still be unconscious — and pushed the door open. Sasuke was sitting up in bed, eyes open, staring at nothing. Shin hadn't expected that.

"You're awake," he said, stepping inside. Sasuke turned his head. His face was blank — a handsome, empty mask. His eyes were flat, lifeless. But when they registered who it was, something flickered in them. A ripple. He didn't respond. He looked away. Shin's expression grew complicated. Silence filled the room. Shin stood and watched him. After a long time, he spoke.

"I'm glad you're alive." No reply. The silence pressed in. Shin understood — whatever Sasuke had been through had pushed him to the edge of breaking.

"There's nothing left..." The voice was so faint that Shin leaned closer to hear.

"There's nothing left..." Sasuke said again. Shin pressed his lips together. He didn't respond. Sasuke brought both hands to his face and pressed them over his eyes. His body began to tremble. Tears spilled through the gaps between his fingers. Sasuke... The sight was too familiar.

"Sasuke—" Shin opened his mouth, wanting to comfort him, but precisely because he understood what the boy was feeling, the words wouldn't come.

"... Hang in there."

"What would you know?!" Sasuke's voice cracked out from behind his hands.

"Bastard!" He lowered his hands slowly.

"What could you possibly know..." He turned to face Shin. His features twisted, contorted — almost savage.

"Sasuke. You have a long road ahead of you." Shin's voice was low. Sasuke lunged out of bed. Still in his hospital gown, he seized Shin by the collar with both hands and wrenched him close.

"Do you have any idea?!" His face was wild, his words fractured.

"I have nothing left!" He screamed it into Shin's face, fists white-knuckled on the fabric, looking down at him from the height advantage.

"I know," Shin said quietly.

"No!!" Sasuke shoved him away and staggered back two steps.

"You don't know! You could never understand!" He pointed a trembling finger at Shin, laughing and crying at the same time, his expression unhinged.

"You don't understand!!" He grabbed the vase on the bedside table, hoisted it over his head, and hurled it to the floor. The crash was enormous. Porcelain shattered outward, shrapnel skittering across the tiles. Water splashed everywhere. The narcissus he'd placed in it the day before were shredded by the shards.

"No... you don't understand... you could never understand..." Sasuke sank to his knees. His hands covered his face again. His whole body convulsed. The sounds that came from him were muffled, wretched — choked sobs dragged out from somewhere so deep they seemed to scrape against bone. Shin stood over him and watched. He said nothing. …

"So weak..."

"You're not even worth killing." …

"If you want to kill me — then hate me. Despise me."

"And live on in disgrace..."

"Until the day you possess the same eyes as mine."

"Then come find me." …

"Shin." After a long time, the sobs subsided. Sasuke's voice came out raw, scraped hollow.

"Shin Takami..." He lowered his hands. He raised his head slowly. Shin saw his eyes — and went still. The black irises were gone. In their place: red, vivid and blazing, with a single black tomoe spinning lazily around each pupil.

"Let's..." Sasuke drew a shuddering breath.

"Let's fight."