[I] (2/3)

Months later, when the fog of his mind cleared to acceptable levels, something else rang alarm bells in his head.

He still wasn't over the fact that he'd died, and that he couldn't remember his past life very well, but a realization was beginning to overshadow that depression.

And that depression was starting to evolve into conflicted rage.

Why? Because of his name.

Haruki meant 'spring child', and it wasn't a bad name all things considered, but that wasn't the issue. No, it was his surname that bothered him.

Haruno.

His full name was Haruki goddamn Haruno.

And as he stared out his window at the mountain high above, a mountain with three giant faces carved into it, he had to accept his fate.

His name was Haruki Haruno, and he was born in a world of ninjas. Naruto, the elemental nations, the shinobi world, whatever you wanted to call it.

What the fuck.

One one hand, yay! He perhaps wasn't a normal person to be happy about being born in this world of monsters and warlords, but he just couldn't help it. In his past life he'd dreamed of a day like this. Where he could be reborn in a world with honest to god super powers.

And it was even one of the worlds where pretty much anyone could become powerful if they were ruthless enough. His favorite! Having a bloodline was a factor, sure, but there were plenty of ways you could become extremely powerful without one.

Being born in a world where everything comes to talent and luck would have sucked ass.

On the other hand… uh, wait, why was he angry again? Man, being a toddler really sucked when he had to both control his emotions and think clearly.

It was uh… Oh! Right. Sakura.

The issue wasn't what most people would assume. Lots of people harbored some form of hatred for the uselessness that is Sakura and most would be dismayed at the thought of being related to such a person.

But nah, that wasn't it.

Honestly, he didn't mind Sakura even if she wasn't as prominent as Sasuke or Naruto. And her 'physical abuse' was all just very badly done gags by the author in his attempt to portray a teenage girl. In the real world, she'd likely just be a normal person. Naïve in the beginning, since she was a child, but eventually learning the truth of the world and growing to match it.

If anything, he respected how powerful she became when she started much, much, weaker than pretty much everyone else. Even Ino had a better start than she did.

It was his existence in relation to her that was the real issue. He wasn't the super manipulation mastermind 'all according to keikaku' type of person, but he wanted to use his future knowledge for… something. Anything, really.

And now he couldn't. Because he was directly related to Sakura, being her older brother. Plus, his existence could've invalidated hers. What if she was never born in this timeline? That'd ruin just about everything.

Literally. Without her, the world likely would end many times over.

If anything, he was underreacting rather than overreacting at being her brother. It meant he had to be the one to fix all the stupid issues this world concocted if Sakura was never born. That, or sit back and risk the world ending.

Like, what if all the filler was actually real? And the movies? If so, he might as well give up now because he could barely remember canon, much less all those.

To sum it all up, he was at a crossroads.

A crossroad that took him weeks of moping around and brooding to ponder about. It was the choice to take the path of less resistance, and simply treat chakra like any other magic system- becoming a civilian and studying it for fun…

Or to become a ninja. A trained killer, and a powerful adversary.

He was old enough to walk and talk by now. The children of this world were monstrously advanced in comparison to his past life so he had to make this choice now. To dedicate his life to saving the world? Or…

Wait.

Did he even have to make that choice?

Just because he became a ninja didn't mean he had to do something that drastic. Naruto and Sasuke would still be born, irrelevant of him. And they were the prophecy children, the fated rivals and all that.

Not him. Definitely not Sakura.

He didn't have to worry about them, in hindsight. Or the world, for that matter. If the world was that fragile and easily destroyed, or as easily conquered, it would've been done years ago.

If he looked at things realistically, this life wasn't some anime centered around a child pariah's journey to being recognized for his hard work and making friends. This was just one weird reality.

His weird reality.

Which meant that his decisions shouldn't be based on anything except himself. So what did he want? What was important for him, ignoring the excitement of possible superpowers?

…

…Family.

Guilt rooted itself deep in his gut as he thought about them. The family that he had before this one. He may not have been entirely to blame, but he could tell his own shortcomings had contributed to their end. To his end.

So he made a vow; That failure would not be repeated.

He'd become a ninja, stronger than a Jonin. Stronger than the Sannin and all the Kages combined. The mere thought of challenging him would be seen as ludicrous. Laughable.

Like Hashirama had done with the village long ago.

And then he'd protect his family with his presence alone. Unlike Hashirama though, he would focus on techniques theoretically anyone could use. Techniques that he'd bind to his blood, and pass down to his descendants after his death.

If this village burned? His family would be strong enough to walk on the ashes, and that was final.

Nothing, and nobody else mattered.

[Neural shift detected in cognitive patterns.]

[Scanning for changes…]

[Critical neural reconfiguration detected, designated as vow "Redemption"]

[Objective "Acceptance" has been successfully achieved. Initiating reward: Synchronization]

[Activating Protocol Path #763 - codename "Shinobi".]

[Commencing synchronization process with host.]

[Warning: Estimated duration for full synchronization is 34,310 hours.]

"…Huh?"

⊱───────⊰☯⊱───────⊰

If anyone had explained to Mebuki, in graphic detail, how stressful having a child was, she likely would've thought about it more. She loved her little flower, but still, she would've hesitated.

That hesitation would've vanished a second later but at least she could say she had braced herself for this.

Alas, she hadn't. And thus, her stressful life began.

She was aware her little flower wasn't a normal child. She'd been aware of this since he was first born. Since the doctors had blatantly said they'd never seen a child be born and just stare at them.

That staring didn't last long since babies needed to scream after being born, but it was a sign that something was… off. And now that little Haruki didn't need to scream just to keep living, he continued to just stare at her half the time in blatant confusion.

Which, as cute as it was, had started to concern her.

From all the books she'd read and all the people she talked to, developmental issues started when the child was young. Why wouldn't her anxiety spike after hearing something like that?

The other parents were jealous of her, saying how they wished their child was as quiet and easy to handle as Haruki. She was just being 'too paranoid'. Ugh. Even Kizashi, the buffoon, had told her that it didn't really matter in the end.

She would've kicked his ass six ways to Sunday if he hadn't elaborated that it didn't matter because he'd love Haruki either way- developmental issues or not.

While that was sweet, and saved him from a swift knuckle sandwich, it wasn't really the issue. Of course they'd love their child either way, but she wanted to know what they were dealing with here.

So she took him to every doctor she knew, and she kept getting back the same thing. They'd note her concerns, and tell her to wait. Problems, if they existed, would make themselves more known with time.

And that's what she did.

She waited.

And waited.

Slowly, she was losing patience, but she waited some more.

A year and a half passed like a hurricane. Every day her anxiety grew as she watched her child grow. She started pulling out her hair, biting her nails, getting little sleep even when Haruki didn't cry at all.

And damn did he grow fast. He forced himself to walk, just standing over and over despite his legs being too weak to even try. Instead of naturally learning how to speak he'd hear a word and whisper it to himself again and again until he got it right.

For a while, Mebuki felt like she was missing out on her child's, well, childhood. He was growing so fast it was astonishing.

But at the same time, infant years were frankly just cooing over how cute he was and being astounded at his growth speed. There wasn't much to miss.

…Though she did wish sometimes that he was a bit more normal.

His first word was "You are already dead," And for some reason he kept screaming "What?!" right afterward, giggling uncontrollably. She still didn't know where he got that from, but she was convinced it was Kizashi's fault.

Maybe not directly, but her husband kept showing Haruki his favorite TV shows. It was totally his fault.

And his growth just didn't stop. He kept improving, going from barely walking to running from place to place. From barely understanding a few words to speaking more coherently than her husband sometimes!

That was a low bar though, to be fair.

Every time she took him to the park, she would hear whispers about it. People loved their gossip, especially parents bragging about their perfect child. She'd hear them talking about how he was a prodigy. A genius. But that wasn't it, was it?

She couldn't explain why, not with logic, but he wasn't a genius. A mother knows her child, and even if he was smart for his age, there was more to it. He was… strange.

Her love for him never wavered in spite of that, but she noticed things.

Sometimes he would just sit there, gazing at nothing and moping. He'd frown heavily whenever he saw something that even resembled fire. There were countless times where she walked into him just standing there, staring in contemplation at his own hands.

But still, she waited.

That was, until something just… clicked.

There was no explanation for it, but one day he was just… happier. And from then he'd never been the same.

Instead of ignoring every toy they got him, he'd play with them in honestly odd ways. He'd run around the house and throw things at his father just for a giggle, enjoying when Kizashi would playfully chase after him. Cartwheeling, backflipping, handstands.

He was much more active than a child his age should be, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that he started to actually let himself be a child. To enjoy his childhood.

After all that stress, it was a relief to see him so carefree, as children should be.

The fact that his gleefulness had evolved into wanton destruction of the house was less than ideal, but it was better than watching her toddler be depressed.

Finally, after almost three-and-a-half years of 'strange', she could relax.

Well, relax as much as a mother could with a terrifyingly intelligent hellion running around.