"They say the world is vast when you search for happiness, yet when it comes to sorrow and disappointment, it suddenly feels unbearably small."
A man sat on the edge of a rooftop, gazing at the dim lights of an unfamiliar city spreading beneath him. The distant hum of traffic, the occasional wail of sirens, and the cold breath of the night wind filled the darkness with life. Yet none of it reached him. He watched the city with empty eyes, as if the entire world below belonged to someone else. He had no family left, no home waiting for him anywhere. And perhaps worst of all… he had lost his reason to live a long time ago.
There were surely people in this world who were worse off than him. Perhaps somewhere else, on another rooftop, someone else was wrestling with the same thoughts at this very moment. Evan knew that. But knowing it did nothing to change the weight pressing on his chest. A faint smile formed at the corner of his lips as he murmured quietly to himself. "The meaning of life?" he said with a hint of mockery. "It stopped having any meaning when I was thirteen… I'm thirty-three now. How much longer can I keep postponing this?"
His name was Evan. An ordinary name attached to an ordinary life filled with quiet tragedies. Family members disappearing one by one over the years, friends slowly drifting away, and the lingering regret of loving someone he once believed was the center of his world. None of those things alone would usually push someone to the edge of death. But Evan's problem was not merely loss. What he had truly lost, long ago, was the will to keep living.
The city lights reflected faintly in his dark eyes, yet those eyes seemed to swallow the light rather than reflect it. The bustling streets far below, the cars rushing endlessly through the night, the distant silhouettes of people moving about their lives—it all resembled a stage play from where he sat. People entered, played their roles, and eventually exited when the curtain fell. Evan no longer wished to remain on that stage.
He pulled an old Zippo lighter from his pocket. The metallic click echoed softly in the night as he flipped it open and lit his cigarette. Taking a slow drag, he exhaled and watched the smoke curl upward into the dark sky. When he glanced at the pack, he realized there was only one cigarette left. His last one. A thin smile appeared on his face.
"Like cigarette smoke…" he whispered. "Slowly blending into the world until you disappear… I suppose that's everyone's fate." He watched the smoke dissolve into the night air. "Even if you leave a mark, it eventually fades away. At least for ordinary people." After a brief pause, he added quietly, "Probably less than one percent of people in this world are truly extraordinary. Trying to leave a mark among billions of lives… it's strangely fascinating. Struggling for significance without even knowing if it will last."
When the cigarette burned down to the filter, Evan dropped the stub to the rooftop and crushed it beneath his shoe. Then he stepped closer to the edge of the building. Suddenly, the frustration he had buried for years burst out of him like a storm. His voice tore through the silent night. "DAMN THIS UGLY WORLD!" His shout echoed between the buildings. "AND DAMN EVERYONE WHO CREATED IT AND TURNED IT INTO THIS!"
For a moment his breathing grew heavy, but the anger faded as quickly as it had appeared. Evan inhaled deeply and slowly opened his arms to the night. A strange, peaceful smile formed on his face. Perhaps he truly was happy in that moment. For the first time in years, he was no longer running away from anything. Without hesitation, he allowed his body to fall forward into the void.
As the wind roared past his ears, fragments of the past began flashing before his eyes. A small living room appeared in his memory. A young boy stood beside his mother, speaking with innocent determination. "Mom," the child said, "during summer vacation I'm going to buy a phone. I'll call you, okay?" The woman smiled warmly and nodded. "Alright, my son," she replied gently. "I'll be waiting."
Another memory surfaced. A classroom door opening. A student stepping inside and speaking to the teacher. "Sir, Evan's brother is here to pick him up." Evan walked outside into the schoolyard where his older brother stood waiting. The man looked at him for a moment before speaking softly. "Evan… stay calm." His voice trembled slightly. "Mom… passed away this morning." In that instant, Evan's world stopped moving.
The memories faded as the ground rushed closer. Strangely, a quiet sense of peace filled his chest. Then came a dull, heavy sound. People began gathering around the scene. Some pulled out their phones, scrolling absentmindedly across glowing screens. Others watched as if they were observing a scene from a movie. A few glanced briefly before continuing on their way. In the modern world, even death had become just another ordinary sight.
Darkness swallowed Evan completely. At first there was a distant ringing sound, then absolute silence. It felt as though he were floating in an endless void. For a fleeting moment, he felt the urge to laugh. All his troubles had vanished. For a very brief instant, he had found peace.
But that peace did not last. A sudden surge of light pierced through the darkness, and Evan regained a fragment of consciousness. He heard voices around him—shouting, footsteps, chaos—and a language he could not understand. A realization struck him like lightning. A curse formed in his mind. "Damn… so reincarnation actually exists."
At that very moment, the village of Konohagakure was engulfed in catastrophe. A monstrous shadow loomed across the sky as the legendary Nine-Tailed Fox, Kurama, rampaged through the village. Buildings crumbled beneath its immense power, and flames rose into the night as ninja rushed through the streets trying desperately to save the civilians.
Yet within a quiet room of the village hospital, a new life had just entered the world. A small baby cried restlessly, its fragile body trembling with each breath. The child's mother held him close, gently trying to calm him. At that moment, the door opened and a man stepped inside. He was a Konoha chunin named Kyotsuki. When he looked at the baby, he noticed the child's black hair and dark eyes—features strikingly similar to his own.
Kyotsuki gazed at his wife and child carefully, as if trying to engrave the image into his memory. Then he spoke softly. "Yuki… I have to go. The village is in chaos. There are people trapped beneath the rubble." He paused briefly before continuing. "I'll come back. I only stopped by to see you."
Yuki looked at him for a moment and then asked gently, "Wait… what should we name our child?" Kyotsuki thought for a few seconds before a small smile appeared on his face. "Arashi," he said. "He's already crying like a storm. The name suits him." Yuki rolled her eyes slightly, though she couldn't help smiling as she stroked the baby's back. "Alright then, Arashi-kun," she whispered. "Your father has given you a name."
Kyotsuki stepped outside into the night, where the devastation of the village was impossible to ignore. The sky glowed red from distant fires, and the ground trembled with every movement of the colossal beast rampaging through Konoha. Ninja units ran through the streets, pulling injured civilians from the wreckage. Without hesitation, Kyotsuki joined a rescue team struggling to clear the remains of a collapsed building.
Together they lifted shattered beams and heavy stones, their hands bleeding as they dug through the debris. Beneath the rubble they heard faint cries for help. After several minutes of exhausting effort, they managed to pull a small child free. The boy was terrified but alive. Kyotsuki handed him to another ninja before immediately returning to the rubble to continue searching for survivors. One by one they rescued those trapped beneath the ruins. Each life saved strengthened the determination burning in Kyotsuki's heart. Only hours earlier he had become a father. And this village… was now the world his son would grow up in.
Suddenly the ground shook violently once more. A deafening roar echoed through the night as one of the Nine-Tails' massive tails crashed into a nearby district. The shockwave surged through the streets like a violent storm. A damaged building nearby began to collapse. Someone shouted a warning, but there was no time left to escape.
The structure gave way with a thunderous crash. Kyotsuki tried to leap back, yet the falling debris was faster. A massive beam struck the ground beside him, and rubble exploded outward in every direction. Dust swallowed the street. When the cloud settled, Kyotsuki lay on the ground, unable to move. A heavy slab of stone pinned his chest, crushing the breath from his lungs.
His vision slowly blurred as he stared up at the dark sky. Distant voices called out, but they sounded far away, as if echoing from another world. In his fading consciousness, only one image remained clear—Yuki holding their newborn child. A weak smile formed on his lips. "At least…" he whispered faintly, "I managed to give him a name."
His breathing slowed. The pain in his chest gradually faded into numbness. As his eyes closed for the final time, the last thing Kyotsuki thought about was the face of his son, Arashi.
Hours passed. The battle and rescue efforts continued throughout the long night, but eventually the darkness began to fade. Along the distant horizon, a pale glow appeared as the first light of dawn touched the sky. Inside the hospital room, the soft orange light of the rising sun filtered through the window and spread gently across the walls.
Yuki was still awake, holding baby Arashi in her arms. The child had finally stopped crying. His small eyes blinked slowly as the warm morning light touched his face. Outside, the village lay scarred and broken, yet the sun rose as it always did. Yuki gently brushed her fingers through the baby's hair and whispered softly. "Arashi… this world can be cruel sometimes." She paused for a moment before continuing quietly. "But it is still worth living in."
As the newborn child breathed peacefully in her arms, the sun rose over the shattered remains of Konoha, marking the beginning of the first morning of Arashi's life.