"The furnishings inside are almost identical to the Hokage Building in Konoha."
Uchiha Kage climbed the stairs cautiously.
But the hall and the other rooms were completely empty.Was this just a hollow shell of a building?
With a frown of suspicion, Uchiha Kage pushed open the central room's door — the Hokage's Office.
"Are you a ninja here to receive a mission? Unfortunately, there are no missions for you today."
The voice belonged to a blonde woman, bent over the Hokage's desk, her hand moving smoothly over paperwork. She didn't even look up as she addressed the young man entering.
"Tsunade—Tsunade?"
Wasn't the Hokage still that old man, Sarutobi Hiruzen?Why was Tsunade sitting here?Had he traveled through time again?
Uchiha Kage stepped hesitantly toward her.
"How rude of you to address the Hokage by name," she said — still without looking at him.
Only now did she lift her head to glance at him.
But Uchiha Kage noticed something strange.
Her gaze was empty. It was as though she wasn't looking at him at all, but at something behind him — or through him.
"That's... odd…"
Even if Tsunade didn't recognize him, she shouldn't have responded with such robotic movements.
"There are no missions for you today."
"You…"
Her calm expression, her flat voice, the repeating words...A bold idea suddenly crossed his mind.
"An NPC?"
Was she... not a real person?
Uchiha Kage stepped forward again, this time until he was right in front of her.
"You're being rude to the Hokage," Tsunade said again, her eyes finally shifting in his direction. But her face remained stiff and expressionless — like a perfectly crafted porcelain doll.
"Definitely an NPC," Uchiha Kage murmured.
He let out a sigh of relief and casually sat on the desk in front of her.
"No missions today, huh…"
"But... this is almost too real."
Looking down at the blonde woman's flawless features — round face, seductive figure — Uchiha Kage couldn't look away.An angel's face with a devil's body.
The pull of a mature Tsunade was simply overwhelming.
"Even her skin looks so smooth and fair."
Now certain that she wasn't real, he boldly reached out and touched her cheek.
"Stop messing around, this is the Hokage's office!"
Tsunade suddenly stood up.
Alive?! Was she alive?!
Startled, Uchiha Kage immediately pulled his hand back.
But after a moment of silence, Tsunade seemed to reset.She returned to her seat and resumed writing meaningless lines on her paperwork, like a robot.
"So she does have a third line of dialogue."
With no further reaction from her, Uchiha Kage relaxed again.Just a lifelike NPC.
Maybe… this really was a dream.
"Back then, I would've never done something like this. But now…"He smirked.
"Now I just want to be a villainous Uchiha."
"Let's see how real you truly are."
Tick.
Crimson blood dripped slowly from the frosty blade onto the cold, damp ground.
Ssshhh.
The trailing blade scraped against the floor, filling the dark enclosed underground chamber with a chilling sound.
"Why…?"
Uchiha Kage stared at the white-haired ninja approaching him. The dragging of the blade echoed in the silence, and he instinctively stepped back.
But there was no way to run. The cold steel was right in front of him, and the wall at his back was solid and unmoving.
Nowhere to escape.
"You damn Uchiha brat, born evil…"
Without any further words, the white-haired ninja unleashed his most devastating technique against the Uchiha boy.
Flying Thunder God Slash!
A blinding flash of white slashed through the darkness — and then came the burst of red.
Blood filled the chamber like a tide.
"!?"
Uchiha Kage jolted awake, clutching his chest, gasping.
A dream?
He stumbled into the bathroom.
His pale reflection stared back from the mirror, cold sweat dripping from his forehead — proof of the terror he had just lived through.
"Senju Tobirama… I swear, I'll dig you up and whip your corpse!"
He splashed cold water on his face. As his reflection began to calm, his expression turned grim.
It wasn't the first time he had this nightmare.
He had awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan at birth — but he was unlucky enough to be born in the era ruled by Senju Tobirama, the Second Hokage.
As a child, he had been imprisoned in a dark basement, studied and dissected like a rare creature. Tobirama treated him not as a person, but a dangerous experiment.
Until one day — either because he gave up, or feared the power of the Mangekyō — he simply killed him.
But strangely, Uchiha Kage hadn't truly died.
He had awoken decades later, back in the Uchiha compound, on the very night of the clan's massacre.
And this new body — it was several years younger than his last.
The Flying Thunder God mark Tobirama had branded him with was gone.
Being a child, he had escaped notice when crawling out from under the corpses of his kin.
But the side effects of time travel were clear — his Mangekyō Sharingan could no longer activate, and all his chakra had vanished.
Powerless, he lay low, hiding his identity, and enrolled at the Ninja Academy alongside Uchiha Sasuke.
"That may have been a dream... but before that…"
He felt it now — a surge of chakra returning to his body.The memory of thunder flashing, the feeling of that blade…
It was all too real.
The underground room. The NPC Tsunade.
Damn it… it's finally started.
"Why are you out so late today?"
As Uchiha Kage passed the ruins of the Uchiha compound, nearing the village gates, he saw a familiar blue figure waiting for him.
Uchiha Sasuke.
Ever since they had emerged from the massacre together, the two of them had become the only family each other had left.
"Had a nightmare."
"Nightmare?"
Sasuke remembered being blasted to ashes in his own dream last night.Could it have been... the same dream?
No. That's impossible.How could two people share the same dream?
He shook the thought away.
"I'll kill that man. You don't need to worry."
Sasuke assumed Uchiha Kage's nightmare came from the same source as his own: Uchiha Itachi — the traitor brother.
The man who slaughtered their entire clan.
For years, Sasuke had been haunted by the images of that night — rivers of blood, towers of corpses, and the sight of his parents being run through with a blade.The pain never faded.
His love for his brother had long since twisted into hatred.
"No, I…"
Uchiha Kage wanted to ask if Sasuke remembered the strange events of the previous night.But seeing the hatred in his eyes, he hesitated.
"I will kill him. And you—will rebuild the Uchiha clan."
Sasuke's bloodshot gaze softened slightly. His tone and expression eased, rare for someone so burdened with vengeance.
"That's been decided long ago."
Even if Kage was just a loser who hadn't awakened his Sharingan — he was still family. And family had to be protected.
"Also, take your lunch."
"Let me do it next time…"
Uchiha Kage held his forehead as Sasuke handed him a homemade bento box, insisting in a tone that allowed no refusal.
I always feel like this idiot thinks I'm his younger brother.
But in truth, Kage was older than him.
"See you at school."
Sasuke, still carrying the pride of a clan heir, vanished like a true shinobi — without waiting for a reply.