"What… your eyes—"
Uchiha Shin stopped himself mid-sentence.
For a brief instant, when his gaze met Kuroha's, it felt as if he had fallen into something vast and endless. Not darkness. Not pressure.
Depth.
Like staring into a night sky with no visible boundary.
The sensation faded just as quickly, but the unease remained. This was his first time meeting Kuroha in person, yet an uninvited question surfaced in his mind.
Is this child truly just a defect?
Shin cleared his throat and changed the subject. "First day at the training grounds. Your parents didn't escort you?"
"No need," Kuroha replied calmly. "This place is basically my backyard."
He walked past Shin and entered the field.
A small backpack hung from his shoulders, almost as large as his frame. The contrast made him look oddly solitary.
Backyard…Shin's eyelid twitched.
Only one family in the district could afford to say something like that.
"Assemble," Shin called out, turning to the other children. "We have someone new joining us today. This is Uchiha Kuroha. From now on, he trains here with you."
The reactions were immediate.
"That's him?"
"The one with the strange eyes?"
"My parents told me to stay away from him."
"He's dangerous."
"He's an outsider."
Children were honest in the cruelest way possible.
Kuroha listened without expression. Then he took a single step forward.
"My name is Uchiha Kuroha," he said. His tone was level, unshaken. "Remember it."
He paused, eyes steady.
"One day, you'll look up to it."
The whispers resumed the moment he turned away.
Kuroha didn't linger. He moved to a tree at the edge of the grounds, set his backpack down, and sat cross-legged beneath its shade.
He closed his eyes.
There was no point competing for acceptance. He wasn't here for that.
As chakra circulation began, the world narrowed.
"It's ridiculous," a voice scoffed nearby.Uchiha Itachi watched from the training field, hands relaxed at his sides. "The son of a merchant talking like that."
With eyes like those, it wasn't even certain whether the boy could ever awaken proper Uchiha ocular abilities.
Sasuke looked up at his brother, curious. "Nii-san, why do his eyes look like that?"
"He's different," Itachi replied, resting a hand on Sasuke's head. "Focus on your training. Become strong enough to be useful to the village."
Sasuke nodded firmly. "I'll catch up to you."
Not far away, a young girl around Itachi's age glanced toward the tree. Unlike the others, her gaze held sympathy rather than disdain.
"Is it fine to leave him alone?" another instructor asked quietly, approaching Shin. He glanced toward Kuroha's seated figure.
"Let him adjust," Shin answered. "He's just arrived."
Beneath the tree, Kuroha's focus deepened.
Chakra moved through his body far more smoothly than expected. No resistance. No blockage.
Too smoothly.
It poured through him, circulating again and again before gathering toward his eyes. His vision sharpened as if a veil were being lifted layer by layer.
It's pulling chakra on its own, he realized. Like a drain.
The sensation intensified.
When Kuroha opened his eyes, the world had changed.
He could see forward as usual, but also sideways.
And behind.
Every direction at once.
His field of vision stretched outward into a seamless sphere. No blind spots. No gaps. Beyond that, faint strand-like patterns appeared inside the bodies around him.
Chakra pathways.
He inhaled sharply.
This is… similar to the Hyūga's ability.
Near-complete spatial perception. Fine chakra visibility.
Not perfect. Not stable. But undeniably real.
For several minutes, Kuroha simply observed. Training forms. Chakra flow. Minor inefficiencies in posture and breathing.
Then the world blurred.
His vision snapped back to normal. His head throbbed, a dull pressure behind the eyes.
"Five… maybe six minutes," he muttered, rubbing his forehead. "Still too unstable."
The cost was clear.
Almost immediately, hunger followed. Sharp and overwhelming.
His stomach protested loudly.
Kuroha reached for his backpack just as a shadow fell over him.
He looked up.
A girl stood there, smiling gently. Around seven or eight, with soft features and crescent-shaped eyes when she smiled.
Uchiha Izumi.
"You're here alone?" she asked. From behind her back, she brought out a lunch box. "Take this. I made extra."
The warmth in her voice was genuine.
"Thank you," Kuroha said, accepting it without hesitation.
If there's a chance… he thought briefly, I'll keep her alive.
He opened his own bag and pulled out a roasted bird, handing it over. "Here. Trade."
Izumi blinked, then laughed softly when she saw the contents of the bag, packed to the brim with food.
"You brought all this to share?" she asked gently.
"No," Kuroha replied. "This is mine."
The answer landed with perfect seriousness.