[Timeline: 2 years before 3rd Raikage death. 4 years before Naruto was born]
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The Room Was Silent Except for the Strained Breath of Aya
The air was thick with tension. The sharp scent of sweat and medicinal herbs mingled with the low, rhythmic grunts of effort. Aya Hotstushi's brow was furrowed, beads of sweat tracing paths down her flushed cheeks. The third and future fourth Raikage paced just outside the heavy wooden door, their usually confident faces marked by an unfamiliar worry.
This was no ordinary moment.
Not because of the raging war that swallowed villages and shinobi alike, that was distant thunder in comparison. This was something far more intimate, far more personal.
Aya's breath hitched again. The midwife, a woman with calm eyes and hands steady from years of experience, encouraged her softly. "One more push, Lady Aya. Soon, soon you'll hold your child."
Aya gripped the rough-woven blanket beneath her, summoning every ounce of strength she had left. The room was suffused with a pale, flickering candlelight that danced on the wooden walls, as if the shadows themselves were holding their breath.
And then—
A piercing, fragile cry shattered the silence.
Warmth and Light
Rukon's first sensations were confusion and warmth. He had not yet opened his eyes, but felt the tender grasp of small hands, soft fabric wrapped tightly around him. A rush of sensations heat, muffled voices, the dull ache of confinement.
Have I died? The thought was vague but insistent, swirling through a fog in his mind.
Am I in the afterlife? Surely, he reasoned, if he were dead, he'd see the divine judge, or some ethereal gatekeeper. Or maybe a hospital if anyone had tried to save him. But that was impossible. Nobody would have bothered.
He blinked, reluctantly pulling his eyelids apart.
The first thing he saw was a woman's face, flushed and glistening with sweat, bent low over him. Her hair was tangled, dark and thick, framing eyes filled with fierce, exhausted love.
The midwife's voice cut through his swirling thoughts, calm and clear: "Lady Aya, he is a boy."
The woman holding him, Aya, gazed down at him with a mixture of relief and awe. Rukon could not explain why, but tears welled in his eyes. A strange, deep stirring of belonging tugged at him. The warmth of her arms, the softness of her voice it was like an anchor in this new and confusing existence.
Aya cooed softly, brushing a stray lock of hair from his brow.
Outside the Door
The footsteps of two men echoed softly down the corridor. The third Raikage, Ay Hotstushi, walked with measured steps, his expression carved from stone but his eyes betraying the hidden weight he carried. Beside him was his younger son, the future fourth Raikage, a man of raw power and fierce determination both men burdened by the ongoing war but pulled here by a more urgent concern.
They paused at the door, the muffled cries of a newborn cutting through the tension.
Just as the future fourth reached to push open the door, the midwife called out. "Raikage-sama, your daughter has given birth. Come see your grandson."
They entered quietly, the air thick with relief and unspoken emotion.
The future fourth Raikage moved forward instinctively to take the baby from Aya's arms, but she held him back with a look sharp as a lightning strike.
"You may be the elder brother," Aya said, her voice steady but laced with unyielding strength, "but first our father."
The mark on his arm the scar left from their last sparring match was a testament. She had pushed herself close to the limits of her strength, nearly matching the old man himself.
The future fourth's face twisted in a mix of frustration and respect, but he stepped back, allowing their father to approach.
Ay Hotstushi took the child gently, his large hands surprisingly tender. For all the ruthless battles he had led, all the enemies he had crushed, this tiny life softened something within him.
"You have become a grandfather," Aya said softly, eyes shimmering with unshed tears.
The war, the bloodshed, the loss it all seemed to fade for a moment in the presence of new life.
--
The third Raikage looked down at the baby swaddled in his daughter's arms. The child's dark eyes stared back, alive and unblinking, already calculating the world around him.
"A name," Ay mused aloud. "Have you thought of one?"
Aya hesitated, swallowing the lump in her throat. Her husband and she had planned to let her father choose, a final honor and blessing.
But that honor had been taken from them months ago cut down by an assassin from Iwagakure.
The silence hung heavy.
With quiet resolve, Ay spoke, "Kaien." he whispered, the name already settling into the room like a prayer.
The name held power, a hope for strength and perseverance.
Inside the Rukon's Mind
Rukon, now Kaien, was trying to piece it together.
He was in the Naruto world, reborn into the Hotstushi clan of Kumogakure. A clan known for two Raikage in recent history the third and the future fourth. Strength and speed were their birthright, their legacy, their burden.
This was no ordinary rebirth.
The Third Great Ninja War raged outside, but here, within these walls, the war felt distant, almost irrelevant.
Here, strength was respect, fear, and survival.
If I had been reborn in Konoha, he thought, I would have always been a threat something to watch, something to fear for being powerful.
But here? Here, power was honored. That meant opportunity.
This battle could be deadly for kumo, if grandfather dies. I, first, have to prevent it. I don't remember the exact timeline. But, I will save him. This will be detrimental for not just kumo but for myself as well.
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A/N: I have assumed the timeline.