The shelter was crowded with evacuees. While a few children had been playing and roughhousing under the adults' radar, now that a fight had broken out, the grown-ups quickly stepped in.
"Hayate! What are you doing?! Picking on someone younger than you—aren't you ashamed?"
Hayate Gekkō's mother stormed over and pulled him back, checking his arm with concern.
"He kissed Yugao!" Hayate shouted indignantly.
"It was Yugao who kissed Ranmo, alright? That's enough. Quit making a scene," she snapped, dragging her son away into the crowd.
The other children stared at Hyuga Ranmo, stunned.
They didn't usually interact with him much, and certainly never expected he could fight like that.
Off to the side, Itachi Uchiha, cradling baby Sasuke, silently observed with deepening curiosity. This boy... wasn't what he seemed.
Itachi had first discovered Ranmo could see at night by accident. One evening, he'd seen Ranmo quietly throwing away the food rations given to him by the village—only to return home and cook for himself.
It intrigued him, so he secretly observed him for two more days.
That's when he realized the truth: though blind during the day, Ranmo had perfect night vision. More than that, he trained in taijutsu alone, in secret, with fierce determination.
Despite his soft, pale, and delicate appearance, his strikes were fast, precise—and ruthless.
That relentless physical training directly explained why the Mirror System's defense mechanism had activated with such overwhelming power. It wasn't just the system—it was the foundation Ranmo had actually built on his own.
In fact, seeing Ranmo's dedication had even inspired Itachi to start his own solo training routine at home.
They were the same age.
And Itachi refused to fall behind.
The commotion finally died down. Yugao Uzuki pulled Ranmo aside, while the rest of the children were taken home by their parents.
The brief storm had passed.
Outside the shelter, the sound of explosions had dwindled, though anxiety still hung heavy in the air.
Some time later, a ninja entered and announced that the village was secure. The Nine-Tails had been subdued. It was now safe to leave the shelter in an orderly fashion.
Only afterward did the truth begin to spread: during the attack, many shinobi had fallen. Among the dead were Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki.
The Nine-Tails had been successfully sealed.
As for who it was sealed into, the details were murky. That level of information was restricted to the village's top brass. Still, whispers circulated—though no one dared speak openly.
---
Yugao escorted Ranmo back to his home and gently reminded him to stay safe before leaving to check on her own family.
Ranmo's house stood on the outskirts of the Hyuga compound, near the village's edge. It was quiet and isolated—a place where no one would bother a blind child the clan had cast aside.
Now, finally alone, Ranmo felt his mind igniting.
The torrent of Minato Namikaze's jutsu, abilities, and training methods surged in his brain—like a raging storm desperate for release.
Unfortunately, Ranmo still had no chakra.
Otherwise, with this knowledge in hand, he could begin true ninjutsu training.
That meant one thing:
Chakra was the key.
As long as he could awaken chakra, he'd have the foundation to wield everything he'd inherited.
Without wasting a moment, Ranmo located Minato's most fundamental chakra meditation technique in his memory—and began training immediately.
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