The early morning sun cast a warm, golden hue over the village of Konoha. The rays filtered through the leaves of the surrounding trees resulting in patches of shade on the path towards the Konoha Hospital—the best hospital in the entire Ninja world.
A lone woman was trudging up the gentle slope towards the hospital, with each step causing a chorus of crunching sounds around her as she stepped on the crisp fallen leaves.
She was wearing a straw hat, and a small brown bag was hanging on her shoulder. She wore a simple dark-brown blouse with a long black skirt with a dark-blue kimono worn over it.
Soon she reached the entrance at the front of the building. A huge, radiant red stone which was emitting a gentle heat was placed just above the entrance to the building. The word "Medicine" was inscribed on it.
The woman paused at the door. With a shaky breath, she muttered to herself, "It has been three years since that incident. I hope he wakes up soon." She took a moment to collect herself, then pushed the door open, stepped inside, and walked to the reception.
The receptionist at the hospital glances up from the file he was looking at and notices the woman who walked over just as she was just taking off her straw hat. It was a fair-skinned woman with long, straight black hair with bangs hanging on either side of her face to roughly frame her cheeks and black eyes. She had a gentle and kind demeanour.
Recognition flashed in his eyes. "Good morning, Mikoto-sama! How can I help you today?"
"I am here to visit Hotaru," answered Mikoto.
The receptionist smiled helplessly. "You can go to his room, Mikoto-sama."
He thought for a second and added, "Mikoto-sama, you have been visiting Hotaru-kun everyday since that incident. Hotaru-kun's condition is still the same. You don't need to visit everyday. Even the head medical-nin said it is unlikely that Hotaru-kun would wake up anytime soon."
Mikoto could only muster a weak smile in response. She was once again reminded of that tragic incident from three years ago.
***
The Third Shinobi war was still in full swing at that time. Minato was deployed on the front lines leaving Kushina back home with their three year old son, Hotaru. A group of 10 ninja attacked Kushina, seemingly wanting to kidnap her for the tailed beast inside her. Wanting to keep Hotaru safe from the ensuing fight, Kushina led the attackers away from home.
But, it turns out that attacking Kushina was just a distraction. After Kushina and the group supposedly after her had left, another group of 4 ninja broke into the house and kidnapped Hotaru. And they would have gotten away with it, if not for Mikoto.
On that day, Fugaku took Itachi to the battlefield to show him the reality of the world he lived in as a shinobi. Angry with Fugaku, Mikoto went to Kushina, eager to vent her grievances. When she reached Kushina's home, she noticed the door was left ajar. Upon trying to sense chakra, she found no one inside the house. On the other hand, there were 4 rapidly fading chakra signatures going away from the house along with a very faint chakra signature.
Putting two and two together, Mikoto figured out the situation. She couldn't figure out where Kushina was, and she couldn't waste any more time on that.
She body flickered in the direction of the fading chakra and began pursuing them. Just based on their speed, the enemy were jōnin-level. She activated her Sharingan and started looking for an opening. Once she got close enough, she noticed that the enemy were leaving a blood trail behind them. And the Sharingan let her see that the source of the blood was Hotaru, who was bleeding profusely and yelling in fear, "Aunt Mikoto, save me!!!"
Mikoto felt a surge of anger upon witnessing this, along with confusion. 'They already have him. Why would they injure him?' she thought.
Then something bizarre happened. Seeing that Mikoto was about to reach them, they split into two pairs and ran in opposite directions. Then the ninja holding Hotaru tossed him high into the air. Then he executed a Wind-Water combination jutsu with his partner and the other pair did the same but with Wind-Fire. Both were aiming for Hotaru.
Mikoto was caught like a deer in the headlights by the strange turn of events. And by the time she recovered from the shock, she only had enough time to counter one jutsu. Hotaru was too far away for one body flicker to reach him and another to get him out of the way. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Mikoto decided to defend against the Wind-Fire combination jutsu as it is definitely the more dangerous of the two.
She molded as much chakra as she could until the last possible milli-second and executed her clan's Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique. The Great Fireball Technique hurtled towards the Wind-Fire combination jutsu and with a thunderous clap resulted in a massive explosion and a huge crater on the ground.
Mikoto was about to jump in front of Hotaru and block the other jutsu, but realised that her jutsu wasn't able to completely negate the previous one. Cursing her luck, she stood in place with her arms crossed in front of her, bracing for impact.
The Wind-Fire jutsu hit her in the arms, lifted her off her feet, and carried her along, breaking two trees with her body before stopping at the third.
The Wind-Water jutsu did the same to Hotaru, except that Mikoto body flickered behind him and absorbed all the impact damage from the trees he was about to crash into.
Leaning with her back against a tree, she slowly slid down its rough bark until she came to a stop on the ground below. Hotaru, still held in her arms, let out blood-curdling screams until his voice gave out, leaving him unable to produce any sound; his body twitched for a few more seconds before going limp.
Her consciousness flickered in and out, but when Hotaru stopped moving, a chill ran down her spine, jolting her back to reality. She knew she had to take action before it was too late. Furthermore, she could still sense the enemy hiding nearby, waiting to pounce if she lost consciousness.
The four ninja were cloaked in black robes, each donning identical white masks that do not have any distinguishable features.
"The woman is on the brink of unconsciousness. Looks like today is our lucky day. We get to claim a three-tomoe Sharingan along with the kid," one them whispered.
The man who appeared to be their leader pondered for a moment. "Let's not rely on her losing consciousness. Since the woman is determined to protect the kid at any cost, we will launch an attack on the kid with everything we have as soon as she drops her guard. That will force her to shield him with her body once more. After that, we kill her and take both the Sharingan and the kid. We don't need to drag her back with us."
Mikoto decided to check Hotaru's condition first. While remaining alert to her surroundings, she extended a tentative hand towards Hotaru's arm and felt for a pulse. A huge sigh of relief escaped her as she found a weak but steady heartbeat.
Mikoto had never been skilled in medical ninjutsu, but she silently thanked her lucky stars for having copied the Mystical Palm jutsu that one time she and Kushina visited Lady Tsunade at the hospital. Mikoto was reluctant to meet Lady Tsunade unless required. Kushina may not be aware of it, but the Senju and Uchiha have never been on good terms ever since the establishment of the village.
Yet, Kushina dragged her along anyway, insisting that Lady Tsunade was family and she wanted to introduce her best friend to her. The memory brought a fleeting sense of relief. However, medical ninjutsu was not something one could master merely by copying with the Sharingan.
Of course, the Sharingan wasn't entirely useless. It could provide a rudimentary understanding of jutsu and allow for basic usage. However, anything beyond that required a deep knowledge of medicine, the human body, herbs and even poisons. Not to mention, it demanded highly refined chakra control.
Feeling Hotaru's body with her hand while using the jutsu, Mikoto assessed his condition. The initial wound inflicted on him had worsened significantly, and he had lost a lot of blood. In addition, his skin was littered with numerous cuts, and he suffered from considerable internal blunt trauma caused by the Wind-Water combination jutsu. She focused on stopping the bleeding by healing the most severe external wounds before shifting her attention to alleviating the internal injuries.
The enemy noticed what she was doing and started to build up chakra. Their plan to launch an attack—
"MIKOTO! HOTARU! HANG ON! I AM ALMOST THERE!"
—was abandoned when a massive chakra signature rapidly approached.
The enemy was nowhere to be seen by the time a red-haired woman, looking extremely disheveled and out of breath, reached their location.
Mikoto barely managed to say…
"Kushi-ina… Hotaru… Hos… p-pital…"
…before giving in to unconsciousness.
***
Ever since that day, Hotaru has been in a deep slumber. What is worse is that his health has been deteriorating ever so slightly with each passing day.
Overcome with guilt over Hotaru's condition, Mikoto struggled to face her best friend, despite Kushina's assurances that it was not her fault.
Thinking about Kushina, Mikoto paused. Noticing that Mikoto stopped, the receptionist asked, "Is there anything else, Mikoto-sama?"
"Has Kushina visited Hotaru today?" Mikoto asked.
The receptionist consulted the visitor records before responding. "U… Uz… Uzu… Uzumaki Hotaru…" He looked up and said, "No, Mikoto-sama. You are the first one to visit Hotaru-kun today."
Mikoto nodded slightly. "Alright, I'll be on my way."
She then walked down the corridor toward the stairs, the sound of her footsteps echoing faintly as she left the receptionist to add her name to the visitor records.
Mikoto felt not only guilt for failing to save Kushina's son, but also a deep pain. After all, she was Hotaru's godmother.
She was a few steps away from Hotaru's room when an ear-splitting scream suddenly erupted from within, sending a jolt of fear through her.
***
A boy with long red hair lay sleeping in the hospital bed. If his frail body is anything to go by, he looked no more than four years old. His limbs were thin and delicate, with veins visible here and there. He had an emaciated appearance, and there was no hint of baby fat on him. His skin was pale, sickly, and lacked the healthy glow that sunlight would provide.
His hair was no longer the bright, red color that members of his clan were known for; it had faded to a dull shade, giving it a somewhat unhealthy appearance. However, despite these changes, his handsome features—clearly inherited from his father—still shone through.
It was a room for a single patient, with the bed located in the corner of the room next to the window. A bedside cabinet was nestled snugly between the window and the bed. A flower vase with a fresh, warm-yellow rose was sitting atop the bedside cabinet. A pair of wooden chairs, slightly worn from years of use, sat beside the bed, for visitors to settle in.
The air carried a faint scent of antiseptic mingled with the sweet aroma of the rose and other herbs in the room. Sunlight streamed through the sheer curtains, casting a gentle glow over the room.
The boy's eyebrows wrinkled for a moment, disturbed by the sunlight before his eyes slowly fluttered open revealing blue eyes. He attempted to sit up straight but found his body reluctant to cooperate. He failed a few more times in his attempt to sit up at once.
The boy frowned. 'What the f*ck is going on.'
He placed his hands on the bed, pushed himself up a little, and leaned against the headboard of the bed. He repeated this process, each time rising a bit more until he finally sat upright.
He rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his vision, but everything remained a hazy blur of colors. He could see blurred objects of different colors and he could make out where one object ended and where the other started. But, overall his vision was pretty f*cked up. He could also feel a dull ache in his groin area.
His frown deepened. 'Strange,' he thought. A slight panic welled up in his chest, unsettling him.
The room smell reminded him of a hospital and after looking around a bit more he concluded that it was highly likely for this room to be a hospital room. But why was he in a hospital?
Because he was pretty sure that before he fell asleep, the last thing he rem—
Before he fell asleep—
Befo—
Distracted by his lapse in memory, he looked down and found someone's frail, bony arms that were moving as he wanted—no, they were his pair of—what?
'What happened to me? Is this a dream?' he thought, desperately trying to convince himself of some comforting truth but failed. A wave of panic surged through his chest, tightening his breath. He could feel the cold sweat gathering on his brow, the room closing in around him like the walls of a confining cage.
He closed his eyes. 'Calm down! Deep breaths!'
It took time to collect himself, each second feeling like an eternity. He decided to recall what he did the previous day and work his way to how he ended up here. 'Alright. It's alright. Let's go through what I did yesterday. Yesterday, I—'
Huh? 'Yesterday, I—'
'I—'
'Who am I?'
He couldn't recall anything. Anything.
His eye widened in horror. 'WHO AM I?'
An overwhelming tide of panic crashed over him, making his heart race wildly.
His body finally found its voice that gave out three years ago, and he let out the same blood-curdling scream—only this time, it came not from pain, but from the sheer horror of his loss of self.
"AAARGH!!!"