Is

Darkness and silence, a place completely devoid of both noise and sound. In such a place, the Uchiha simply continued to 'exist'. He had simply accepted this place as his afterlife, a limbo-like state wherein he just continued to exist, torture for most humans but for Sasuke, who had grown up in Orochimaru's bases it was a blessing as the silence and darkness let him think and contemplate his life. All the while, his mind counted the passing minutes, a skill Orochimaru hammered into his subconsciousness to prepare him for the Tsukuyomi.

-[11.5... years later]-

6,054,535 minutes or 11 and a half years. That was the time he had spent in this place. He was losing his mind as any human would. The fact he could still behave, human, was proof of his iron will tempered by living with megalomaniacs, the like of Orochimaru and Kabuto and the obnoxious Uzumaki pair, one who lusted after him and another who... also lusted after him? 'Naruto was weird.' he thought with a mental chuckle. The only things that were keeping him sane were his thoughts and memories. But regardless of how torturous the current situation was, he would be a fool to not admit that it was also very beneficial for him. In these 11 years of endless thinking, he scourged his memories, which seemed in peak condition in this weird limbo space, improving his knowledge. Right now, he had just as much, if not more, knowledge than the infamous Orochimaru himself.

"INTERESTING THOUGHTS YOU HAVE" an androgynous sound, accompanied by what seemed like a chorus of hundreds of different voices, rang out, 'What the fuck? Where did the voice come from? Was it my imagination? Am I finally st-' "GREETINGS, UCHIHA! " The voice boomed, interrupting his thoughts. 'So, are you the Shinigami? If yes, can I go out of this... place?' he thought. "NO, I AM NOT A SPIRIT DEVOURER, BUT YES, I CAN HELP YOU LEAVE THIS PLACE". 'Well, that was easy, a bit too easy, there's definitely going to be a catch'. "YUP, I'M GOING TO REINCARNATE YOU TO A DIFFERENT WORLD ALTOGETHER, WITH A DIFFERENT POWER SYSTEM, INTERESTING AIN'T IT? WHAT DO YOU SAY". 'Yes' "HUH? YOU'RE GOING TO AGREE THAT EASY? AREN'T YOU GOING TO ASK ABOUT THIS MYSTERIOUS WORLD? OR ENQUIRE ABOUT ME? AREN'T YOU GOING TO QUESTION WHY I AM HELPING YOU?" 'Any place is better than this?'. "WELL, MY HOME ISN'T THAT BAD". Sasuke stayed silent. Not that bad? This place was literally a void.

"OH WELL, GET OUT UCHIHA", and suddenly Sasuke felt himself being pushed away by a mysterious force similar to the 'almighty push', after which he felt... the feeling of being alive. Euphoria rushed over him as he once again experienced the feeling of being flesh and blood, the pleasure of being alive made him intoxicated. 'So, this was why Madara acted like he was high after his true resurrection, huh?' But the feeling did not last, as he was quickly disappointed, cause, although this new body of his was intact, it was tens of times smaller and hundreds if not thousands of times weaker than his previous one. 'Why do I feel so weak?' "OH, YOU DIDN'T PAY ATTENTION, DID YOU?" Enquired the now-familiar loud voice, one, even more, obnoxious than his blond best friend's, something he thought should have been impossible. "YOU'RE REINCARNATED. THAT MEANS A NEW BODY, NEW WORLD, NEW PARENTS AND ALL THAT NEW SHIT. SO YOU'RE CURRENTLY INSIDE A WOMB." A shocking revelation for Sasuke, not because he was a baby again, but because it made him wonder about the power one must wield to perform such a feat, yet the being did not seem to experience a toll. He shivered in fear, for he understood from the brief conversations that even at his peak, he might not have been more than a mere nuisance to a being of this level.

-[12 days later]-

In the desolate part of the Shui Clan's palace, one of 7 founding clans of the Zhi Empire, that had aided the Zhi Clan, now the Zhi dynasty to overthrow their previous Sheng Dynasty around 700 years ago and currently ruled and now served as the rulers of the duchy named after them. One could hear screams of pain from a bedchamber, as a woman lay there in labour, accompanied by a maid and an aged midwife. The screams however died down as the lady fainted from the pain, causing the chamber to go silent. "Granny Hu, the lady, she fainted. What shall we do now?" "*Sigh* Calm down, Bai. Fainting during childbirth is rare, but not completely unheard of. I'll go pass the message to the Duke, you can go take some rest"

The midwife, hurried out of the bedchamber to report to her employer, not the Duke but his legitimate wife, Dutchess Shui, who had sent her here to make sure the childbirth went wrong or at the very least to ensure the death of the child. Unfortunately, it seemed there was a certain being that could not let her or her master's plan of killing the child come to fruition, for that would kill this being's new 'toy'. And so it struck as the midwife entered one of the dark, barely lit alleys of the estate. Before she could understand what had happened, half her body got encased in black goo, as tentacles then formed from the shadows and tightened around her neck, before slithering into her mouth, followed by her eyes turning to pitch-black as her body convulsed.

A few minutes in, Midwife Hu's body returned to normal, as she stared into the shadows. Perceiving a being unable to be seen by mortals, a blob of pitch-black goo, with hundreds if not thousands of eyes staring into her soul with their lustrous red irises. The blob, despite having no mouth, spoke in a loud androgynous voice, accompanied by what seemed like a chorus of hundreds of different voices, each fighting for dominance as the androgynous one came to the top, "THE CHILD HAS TO BE BORN". A simple sentence. Yet, the midwife took it as the command of God, maybe because it was in her new twisted perspective. The creature glanced in the bedchamber's direction, its eyes glazing as it peered into the future. When it seemed to snap back to reality, it seemed satisfied, and so it left. Disappearing as if it never existed. And unable to perceive the blob, the midwife also walked away, retiring for the night.

-[16 hours later]-

Once again, screams ensued, as the lady from the bedchamber once again experienced the pain of labour. This time, however, the midwife seemed much more cooperative. With wide eyes, Bai observed the midwife. Both she and her lady knew the Dutchess would try to make their lives harder by bribing the midwife, and it seemed true from what they saw in the first few days wherein she merely sat on a chair giving Bai vague instructions, but today... Bai couldn't tear her eyes from how efficiently and calmly the midwife moved, using her famed healing and massage techniques to aid the childbirth. Her hands cut through the air like swords on a battlefield, reminding Bai that the midwife was no common woman, but a 900-year-old servant and the nanny of the legendary Shui patriarch who rebelled against the Sheng dynasty alongside his 7 best friends 700 years ago.

And as if to prove her reputation, not even 10 minutes in, the cries of a baby filled the bed chambers. Within just 10 minutes, the entire thing was over. It seemed like a miracle to Bai, but as she looked at her mistress, sleeping peacefully. "Bai! Bring some warm water and towels. We'll have to clean this rascal. " "Y-Yes. ", the orders and the tone of the midwife caught Bai offhand. What happened that caused the midwife to change sides in a single night? Did the Duke suddenly start caring about her mistress and his child? Or was it the legendary patriarch who cared deeply for his bloodline that instructed his nanny to perform her duties properly? Bai did not know, but right now, she didn't care about that. Right now, she was only concerned about the health of her lady and the lady's newborn.

-[23 minutes later]-

Sasuke had just been born, it was weird for him to experience, but it one that his underdeveloped brain had already forgotten about. The first thing he tried to do was breathe, which he found hard to do until a hard smack on his bottom, followed by his body instinctively crying, cleared his airways enough for breathing. He then over-ambitiously tried to open his eyes but found himself unable to see clearly, 'A baby body, most likely undeveloped'. He also found his mind slower, taking a lot of focus to form a simple thought. 'Baby brain' he thought, before a small frown formed on his face, that he was now talking-no-thinking like Naruto used to, bothered him, but to the midwife carrying him, his expression appeared cute, a thought she did not bother expressing.

"Awewntch yuu kyuth?" It is what Sasuke's ears picked up. It took him a minute to decipher the strange language before discovering the voice actually dared to call him cute. His frown grew, making him look quite funny as the midwife chuckled, but he ignored her, deciding whether to be angry at the fact that his senses did not function properly or the fact that the source of the voice regarded him as a baby. Eventually, he decided neither, instead choosing to accept his new status as a baby. He then thought about what the new power system the being had informed him about would be. From the wording, the power should not be chakra, but he knew it would be similar. Physical and spiritual were the components of chakra, and these components were present in all living beings. Whereas they would be individually present in spiritual beings and even soulless beings, thus he knew he already had a huge advantage in all special energies just by being adept in chakra, even without them his experience in weapons rivalled that of TenTen, Konoha's weapon master and his hand-to-hand rivalling Lee, the successor of Guy. In fact, because of his Sharingan and superior physique, he easily surpassed them.

As he kept stressing his undeveloped mind with his thoughts washed away alongside the blood and filth that covered his body, the midwife cleaned him carefully. The warm water helped him put aside his thoughts and relax, not just his new body that did not have his usual resistance to exhaustion but also his spirit that had survived in the void, and eventually, he fell into a deep slumber. Watching him peacefully sleep were two pairs of eyes, one full of wonder and curiosity and the other stern yet kind. The former belonged to Bai, who stared at the boy's feminine looks that were almost the same as her mistress, 'in fact with some lady's clothing, no one could tell this young master from a woman', thought Bai as she soon got lost in her thoughts, unable to witness the changes in the midwife's expressions.

The midwife, He Yasheng however was staring at the boy with conflicting thoughts, the Dutchess, the favourite daughter of Duke He, patriarch of another one of the 7 founding clans had promised to grant her a Heaven-Earth Core Pill, a precious pill that aided one in syncing the spirit and Qi something that would aid her to instantly breakthrough to the Golden Core realm, something only one in a hundred thousand could accomplish, a feat that would take her around 100 years by herself, granted she did not die of old age by then. Of course, this would only be possible. Of course, that would only happen if she completed her task of killing the infant she was holding right now. But despite how hard she tried, she could not muster the power to even harm, much less kill the infant. When she thought of what the reason could be, she shivered, remembering the floating blob of black goo with its nearly immeasurable eyes that each seemed to peer right into her soul.

In the end, she decided it would be best to not offend such a being. After all, it entered the Shui Clan's estate, currently the strongest Clan in the Empire after the Royal family, with thousands of years of heritage, completely undetected. That, by itself, was a testimony to the being's power. She sighed, completed her duties, and a few hours later reached her own living quarters. Deciding to cultivate, she lit up incense that aided cultivators to keep their inner demons at bay, and sat on the mattress, legs folded, palms facing upward as her body relaxed. But before she could mobilise her Qi, she felt the black goo that had slithered down her through the last night, and before she could react, it entered her Dantian, and from there the goo slithered through her meridians and Qi veins, expanding them. After a few rounds, the goo started morphing into a small cyclone in the middle of her Dantian, devouring it and eventually gaining a gold colour. All the while, she watched dumbfounded; she was happy for she had reached the Golden Core Realm, but fearful of just how powerful must that being be to provide her with aid greater than the Heaven-Earth Core Pill, despite it being a basic rule that cultivators could not aid others in breakthrough.

As her mind rushed, she came to the myths she had heard in her early years, about gods descending to the mortal world, choosing champions, and having the capability to bend the rules of heaven and aid mortal cultivators in breakthroughs. "WELL, I AM NOT A GOD, IF THAT'S WHAT YOU WERE THINKING." the voice she feared boomed behind her, she swiftly turned but her body went limp letting her do nothing but look in fear as the being eyed her with its hundreds of eyes, "BUT WORRY NOT FOR WHAT I AM. KNOW THAT I AM GRACIOUS TO MY SERVANTS"