Chapter 1

There was little that could surprise Fugaku Uchiha. He was the clan head of the noble Uchiha clan. He has seen the worst this world has to offer, and it has hardened him. Being at the forefront of a world shaped by conflict will do that to someone, and he was hardly alone in this temperament.

Despite this, the Uchiha clan head couldn't help but hold a confused look on his face as he stared at his newly born twin sons, or rather, one of them in particular. To say that the younger twin was an unusual Uchiha was an understatement. He was born with hair evenly split between crimson red on the left and white on his right. His mismatched hair was followed by a mismatched pair of eyes: his left eye a bright turquoise and his right eye a dark gray.

The Uchiha have always bred within their clan, and there has never been an Uchiha with such odd features. Fugaku knew this, yet his mind never considered for a moment that his wife was unfaithful. He loved her as much as she loved him, of that he was certain. No, Fugaku was thinking of his son's future, and if the famous Uchiha bloodline limit would be affected by his heterochromia eyes, or if the condition that brought about this mutation did more than alter his appearance…

Fugaku Uchiha was brought out of his musing by the cries of both his newborn sons and a smile made its way to break the previous look of confusion he wore. He took a glance at his wife, who was gazing fondly at the two as she swayed them in her grasp tenderly, trying to pacify them. He chuckles inwardly as he slowly shakes his head. There he was again, thinking exactly as a shinobi would. Fugaku wraps an arm around Mikoto Uchiha with a contented look on his face. He would think about those issues later. For now, he was a father of three, and everything else was secondary.

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Shoto was a curious child, Mikoto gathered. Three years old and he was so eager to learn anything about anything. He held that same observant gaze that she had seen in Itachi, a look in his eyes that held intelligence and understanding.

She let out a resigned sigh. Having another genius was undoubtedly a great thing for the clan and the village, but she had seen what that had done to her eldest son. A child being whisked away from the rest of his peers and robbed of his childhood was something she didn't want to happen for a second time. She didn't want that life for Shoto, and neither did Itachi.

Mikoto was pulled out of her internal conflict by the sound of the door sliding open.

"We're home, mother." said Itachi. She could tell he was in a good mood. Her eldest son may not be the most expressive boy, but she was his mother. She knew how to read his moods, and it helped that he let the mask slip when he was in the presence of family. She's glad that he has Sasuke and Shoto to uplift his spirits. His awakened Sharingan was a reminder of what he had recently lost. She couldn't help but worry about his well-being.

She quickly set aside those thoughts and returned to the present with a warm greeting for her eldest son.

"Welcome home, dear." She then turns to the two boys trailing behind him, and she sends a loving smile to them as a greeting, "So, what were you boys up to today?"

"It was awesome! We saw Itachi do a super big fireball! It was like Whooosh!" chirped Sasuke as he adorably tried to emulate the motion of breathing fire with two interlocked sets of fingers.

Shoto nods in agreement as he passes a sideways glance to Sasuke, the ends of his lips tilting upwards slightly.

Sasuke then deflates a little, his previous enthusiasm lessened as he puffed his cheeks and wore a frown to better express his pouting. "But he wouldn't teach me how to do it though…" he then turns his head in her direction, with expectation in his eyes as he looks at her with a hopeful expression.

Mikoto couldn't help but chuckle at his antics, while she reached out her arm and ruffled his hair. "I'm sure he'll teach you when you're ready, sweetie." He let out an exaggerated huff at that.

"And besides, what makes you want to learn ninja techniques so early?" she asked, already guessing the answer.

"Because I wanna be like Itachi! He's so cool and I wanna be a ninja to be just like him!" he exclaims, pumping a fist in the air.

Itachi scratches the back of his head, with a slightly sheepish expression. No doubt a small part of him was swelling with pride. Pride not in his abilities, mind you, but pride in being someone his dear little brother looks up to.

"And what about you, Shoto?" she questioned curiously.

Said person averted his gaze slightly at the sudden attention. She watched as stared off to the side with a distant expression, then slowly turned back and looked into her eyes with determination written clearly on his face. "I'm going to become strong. Strong enough to save people. Strong enough to be a hero."

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A three-year-old Shoto let out an exasperated sigh. He and his brother Sasuke were together outside of the house, which wasn't unusual, as they were rarely seen separated.

Being outside surrounded by forest life was not something he expected to trigger a session of reminiscing about his previous life, but the environment that encircled the outskirts of the village had him drawing parallels to class 1-A's recent - yet not so recent - field trip. Their trip had quickly gone from quirk training to fighting real villains in live combat, where they - where he failed to protect his classmate Bakugou from being taken.

It all ended well enough. Bakugou was brought back through the combined efforts of himself, Midoriya, Yaoyoruzu, Iida, and Kirishima. But they had lost their symbol after that fight, with All Might losing his powers in front of the whole world. The symbol of peace was no more. A once bright flame now extinguished. Not even embers remain.

If the state of that world was anything like he had left it, he couldn't help but worry. What of his classmates? His friends? His mother? His siblings? Innocent people? At a time when he was needed most, he had essentially abandoned them. He could have made a difference. Some hero he was.

His classmates have certainly become real heroes by now, and here he was, trapped in a child's body for almost four years. Pathetic.

Midoriya would have certainly made something of himself. He was sure of it. Hell, knowing Midoriya, he was probably among the best that hero society had to offer.

And Bakugou, with all his abrasiveness, had ambition matched only by his ego. Yes, Bakugou wouldn't have settled for anything less than reaching the top, and Shoto knew he had the skill to do it.

Not to mention all the potential the rest of his classmates had. He never said it out loud, but he knew that many in his class held the capacity to become great heroes.

And what of him? Well, he was stuck here - wherever here was.

Shoto has long since dismissed the idea of this being a mental, or illusion-based quirk. No. All of it was too real. Reincarnation, or something of the sort, since he doesn't remember dying, has left him stranded in a world so unlike his own. No quirks, no industrial cities. This was a world of warfare and killers, of assassinations and stealth. This was a place where they raised child soldiers. Shinobi was what they were called. Ninjas.

He scoffed.

But he had his quirk. There was no doubt about it. He was constantly reminded of it by the stares he received from fellow members of the Uchiha clan. His signature hair color was a side effect of his quirk, although it was still dormant. A few more months and it would awaken once more.

He needed to be ready. He would need to use every tool available to survive. More than that - to save and protect. Otherwise, he couldn't call himself a hero.

Everyone has chakra, or at least they are born with bodies that have chakra networks. Shoto understood this to be the source of power his 'older' brother, Itachi, and other ninja wielded. Shinobi are trained to harness and utilize chakra, which is made out of a combination of physical and spiritual energies.

He had almost two years to gather information about this world. The first two being a hazy blur. His body at the time had not yet possessed the mental faculties to harbor his advanced mind and thoughts, so his thoughts and memories of that time were largely blurred.

"I did it! I did it! Shoto I got it!" Sasuke loudly exclaimed, snapping Shoto out of his thoughts.

Shoto sent him a questioning look.

Picking up on his confusion, he continues, "I got chakra! The same thing big brother Itachi has! I'll be breathing fire in no time!" He shouted, as he threw both of his arms in the air, hardly containing his anticipation and excitement.

"Really? How?" Shoto asked, his voice tinged with skepticism. He didn't know much about chakra, but he had (wrongly) assumed that he would have to wait until he was a little bit older to start trying anything with chakra. Undoubtedly he had subconsciously thought that chakra in this world awoke around the age of four, just like quirks did in his previous world.

"Yup! I just thought real hard and felt two powers coming together and then boom! It feels awesome!" Sasuke declares, and then eagerly looks at him, "Now you do it! C'mon, try it!"

He let an amused smile appear on his face as he took in his vague explanation. I suppose that's the best explanation I'll receive from a three-year-old, he mused. So the two powers he merged were the physical and spiritual energies, but how do I mold them together? Meditate? He closed his eyes and concentrated on bringing his focus to the core of his being, and he felt the two different energies that were supposed to feel foreign, yet they felt oddly natural, which was weird, considering he had lived 15 years without them.

Chakra felt… empowering.

His quirk was a natural extension of his body, like a muscle. Chakra felt different. Drawing on his chakra was like manifesting his being, his soul. Shoto did not like dealing with metaphysical concepts like this. He wasn't going to continue to make vague conjectures about this power. His understanding will come in time.

Shoto opened his eyes to an eager Sasuke and smiled at him. "Got it. Thanks, Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded rapidly in excitement, "Do you think Itachi will teach us how to do cool ninja stuff now?"

No. Shoto thought inwardly. But he didn't voice his guess. Instead, he replied, "Maybe."

"Yup! I'm gonna go tell mom!" Sasuke chirped.

Shoto watched him run towards the house, and a slight frown wormed its way on his face. Moments like these force him to remember the family he left behind. He had reunited with his mother after so long, only to leave her again, indefinitely.

And what of his new one? It was difficult for him to assimilate into a new family, especially when he wasn't particularly experienced in having a functional family.

But he will not play the outsider and be the one responsible for breaking the stability of his new family. He will not be like his bastard of a father. He held Sasuke and Itachi in the same regard he did Fuyumi and Natsuo.

Mikoto was a loving and kind woman, which reminded him of his mother in that regard. She was strict when she wanted to be and was always there to comfort Itachi when she saw the weight of his fathers expectation smothering him. Something he knew all too well.

Mikoto was a housewife, so she was more present in their lives than Fugaku was.

Fugaku was approached with careful apprehension from Shoto. It was relatively easy for him to come to see Mikoto as a motherly figure, but seeing anyone as a father was not something he could easily do. He held a heavy gaze on Fugaku's interactions with Mikoto, eager to find anything to prove him a bastard. He didn't want to have to deal with accepting a father figure in his life. Horrible as it was, he wanted him to be a piece of shit, so he wouldn't have to deal with the baggage of facing his past trauma.

Fugaku, unfortunately for him, and fortunately for the family, was a loving husband - although overworked. He was more or less always occupied with clan head duties and raising Itachi to succeed him. Sasuke and himself aren't given nearly as much attention, much to Sasuke's dismay and his delight.

"Shoto! Mom said to come inside cause dinner is ready!" yelled Sasuke, poking his head out of the small opening he made with the sliding door.

And with that, he pulled himself out of his internal conflict and made his way to the house.

He was powerless now, but he will walk down the path he walked once before. The words of his mother echoed in his mind once more:

"Decide who you want to become. And be all that you can be."