Alright, Father. I will fetch him," Sukonai said, bowing slightly. She left the room in silence, moving swiftly to find a small, medicinal herb. She carefully extracted a few drops of its bitter essence and placed them into Atori's mouth. Slowly, Atori began to regain consciousness, his eyes fluttering open. He looked around in confusion. "Sukonai? Where… where am I? What happened to me? I felt like I was in a bottomless sleep!"
"Silence, Atori!" Sukonai interrupted sharply. "Come with me at once!" They moved stealthily, slipping through the back door while the grandmother continued her conversation to distract Naron. Sukonai quickly searched for a weapon—the legendary sword, [Shiraton]. This was the blade of the real Atori Uchiha, not the vessel 'Kai' who now inhabited his body. Suddenly, she found it. "Let's go, Atori!" she urged.
As they sprinted away, Atori understood nothing. He scrambled to keep up as Sukonai barked, "Increase your speed! From this moment on, you are a Rogue Ninja."
Atori froze in his tracks. "A Rogue Ninja? What does that mean? Am I wanted?" He was completely bewildered, yet he forced himself to move as they ran with ninja speed, leaping over the rooftops and through the ancient trees of Konoha as night fell.
"Listen to me," Sukonai said, never breaking her stride. "From now on, I am your sensei. I will teach you combat, Genjutsu, and how to awaken your Sharingan. I will teach you to reach the level of the original owner of this body. My brother was incredibly powerful. My father, Naron, relied on him for all his special missions. And why wouldn't he? You were the Right Hand of Madara Uchiha. Yes, you! You were one of the greatest swordsmen and warriors in Madara's elite organization, (The Red Moon)."
Atori felt like his mind was going to explode from the shock. Madara's Right Hand? Madara Uchiha? And I am this monster? Just as he began to search within himself for answers, Sukonai suddenly stopped. Without a word, she launched two kunai toward a nearby bush. Clang! Two figures deflected the blades.
"Show yourselves!" Sukonai demanded. "Do you think I haven't sensed your presence for miles?"
Two men emerged from the shadows, their eyes glowing red as they activated the Sharingan. They spoke in chilling synchronization: "Atori, where do you think you're going? Have you forgotten Lord Madara's orders? The mission has been activated. Why did you not show?"
"Atori has lost part of his memory," Sukonai stepped in front of him, trying to shield him. "He knows nothing of you, nor of the mission. Let us pass. We do not want to fight."
The two Uchiha men burst into mocking laughter. "You do not want to fight? We know you two are the elite of the organization, but Lord Madara's orders are absolute!"
One of them moved in a blur of speed, lunging directly at Atori. Atori froze, paralyzed by fear and confusion. Just as the attack was about to land, Sukonai intervened. She unleashed a devastating kick that caught the man square in the face.
The man was stunned. He wiped the blood from his lip, staring at her in disbelief. "She is powerful! And you… You really are not Atori. The Atori I knew would have killed me before I even made my move!" He laughed again, his voice twisted with malice. "Now I will kill you both and take your place at Lord Madara's side! I will exploit this opportunity. After all, you are Rogue Ninja now. No one will care what happens to you."
"Enough talk," Sukonai said coldly. Her eyes shifted into the standard Sharingan. "Atori, get back! Guard that sword with your life. This is your first lesson. Watch closely."
The battle between the Uchiha began. Sukonai charged toward the two men. One of them immediately triggered his jutsu: [Ninja Art: Earth Style – Forest Earthquake]. The ground beneath them began to move violently, and massive trees were ripped from the earth, flying through the air. Sukonai countered with her own power: [Ninja Art: Phoenix Fire Sage Technique]. A torrent of small, intense fireballs erupted from her mouth, swirling through the debris like sentient embers, homing in on the two attackers.
The ferocious battle raged on for twenty minutes. Suddenly, one of the men appeared directly behind Sukonai. He smiled in triumph as he plunged a sharp kunai deep into her back. "It's over!" he declared.
The man began to laugh, but a strange sensation suddenly choked off his laughter. "What? My body… I cannot move!"
The true Sukonai emerged from behind him, her eyes shifted into a pattern unlike any standard Sharingan—the legendary [Mangekyou Sharingan], emblazoned with a sinister Black Hole sigil. The man looked at her in absolute terror. "What is this? Are you... Sukonai?"
"Yes," she replied, her voice empty of emotion. "This is your end. I placed you in my illusion before you even touched me. And inside this illusion, I rewinded time exactly four seconds—before you stabbed me. And now, you die!" The man screamed, his life extinguished in an instant.
Sukonai turned her chilling gaze toward the second man, who was now paralyzed by fear. "So, Madara's mission is to capture the Kyuubi (the Nine-Tails) and tame it to use in his final battle against the First Hokage (Hashirama)?"
The second man was paralyzed, unable to respond. Atori, meanwhile, watched everything from a distance, completely lost. The man finally spoke, his voice trembling: "Who told you this? Was it your father, Naron? Or your brother, Atori? You are just a fifteen-year-old girl… how can you know these forbidden secrets?"
Before the man could escape, Sukonai intercepted him and captured him. She dragged him toward Atori, calling, "Come here."
Atori arrived to find her Sharingan deactivated. A trace of blood flowed from her eye, and her vision was starting to blur. "This is your first lesson," she said, her voice dry. "Draw that sword and kill him."
Atori recoiled in horror. "What? No! I will not! I have never killed anyone in my life—not in my old life, not here! Never!"
The captured man began to laugh, realizing how bizarre this situation was. But Sukonai did not hesitate. She suddenly lunged forward and stabbed the man herself, finishing him instantly. Then, she turned to Atori and delivered a powerful punch to his jaw, sending him crashing to the ground.
Atori wiped the blood flowing from his nose and mouth, looking at her in shock. "You fool!" Sukonai shouted, her voice trembling with rage. "Forget 'Kai' and forget your old world! You are Atori Uchiha now! You are in the Golden Age of Shinobi, the era of wars. Here, the strong consume the weak! If I had left you, my father or Madara would have killed you without hesitation!"
Silence fell over the forest. Atori slowly picked himself up from the ground, wiping the blood from his face. When he looked at her again, his expression had changed completely. A new, mysterious fire burned in his eyes. He said in a quiet, but resolute voice: "Then… I will change this cruel world."
Sukonai stopped dead in her tracks. Change the world? Atori, the original Atori, would never have said something like that. She looked at him for a long moment, then sighed. "Indeed," she said. "If I had let you go to Naron or Madara, they would have slaughtered you. Let's go. I will tell you now who Atori really was, and how he became the monster that everyone feared
First, we must leave the village's perimeter and rest for a while. We need to set traps around us," Sukonai warned. "As I told you, we are wanted now. Those two we just killed were nothing compared to what's coming. But mark my words: If we encounter Madara, just run. Do not get reckless, do not try to fight. He will kill you in a fraction of a second. He is truly terrifying—the uncrowned Hokage."
Atori let out a sharp, unexpected laugh. "Run? No... I won't run. I will fight him."
Sukonai looked at him, a faint smirk crossing her face. The spirit of the Uchiha is finally waking up within you.
[Author's Note]
My friends, this is the end of Chapter 5! Thank you so much for reading this far. I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback in the comments. Don't forget to support the story with your Power Stones!
See you in Chapter 6: Secrets of the Dark Past