On a small balcony, watching the full moon in the sky, Sato felt that something was wrong that night. It was too quiet.
Even living on the outskirts of the village, far from the busy centers, the Uchiha compound shouldn't be so calm, especially now when a rebellion is about to begin. Feeling this, Sato took an old cane beside him and, with some difficulty, stood up before going out.
As he opened the door with some effort, Sato couldn't help but pause for a moment. He had once been acclaimed as one of the most powerful of the clan in his youth; his talent did not make him a genius but a monster.
Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, and kenjutsu — all trained to the maximum. He was nurtured by both Naori and Kagami and was undoubtedly destined to become the patriarch when older.
This made young Sato grow arrogant. Although well controlled in front of Naori and Kagami, he often accepted challenges from others just to defeat them quickly and humiliatingly.
This made his presence often uncomfortable. Frankly, Sato couldn't care less. In his view, it was all because they were weak; since they couldn't defeat him in combat, they chose to distance themselves.
This mentality lasted until he was 12 years old when, on a mission, his team was attacked by unknown ninjas. His Jonin teacher and one of his companions died, another fled, and he—well, he survived after killing them all, but at a high cost.
At 12 years old, the genius Sato died, and in his place remained only the crippled Sato.
Of course, at first, he didn't accept that. How could he, a genius acclaimed by the whole clan, be reduced to a mere cripple? The clan was also unwilling to accept the situation, but after several months using different treatments and seeing that there was nothing they could do, everyone began to give up on him and started to focus on the other members of the new generation. After all, although Sato was a genius, he was not the only one.
Since that day, Sato lived in seclusion in a small house away from everyone.
He went through what he later described as the five stages of grief (It's a fanfic, let the young man be).
At first, he refused to accept his fate; then he felt anger at the clan members for abandoning him; then he started bargaining with other clans seeking help.
When all of that failed, he plunged even deeper into a dark place, spending days drinking alone inside his house, always angry and in pain. Because of that, he never married or had children.
It wasn't until a few years ago, when returning from buying liquor, that seeing an old companion walking with his grown son changed something inside him.
It was then that he noticed that while he sank in drinking and self-pity, the world kept existing. While he lived a mediocre life, surviving on the pension paid by the village and clan, thinking daily about his past, the world kept moving forward.
Sato looked at the bottle in his hands, and for a moment it seemed the heaviest thing in the world.
That day, Sato put aside the drink and began to train again. Obviously, that was extremely difficult. Besides his old injuries, his body did nothing but drink all day for more than 20 years, but he didn't care, and for a moment the shadow of the young genius seemed to return, bringing with it his days of glory.
In the following years, Sato remained in seclusion, but occasionally went out to buy supplies and learn more about the clan's situation. It wasn't hard to notice that the clan was being increasingly excluded; their actions as Konoha's police force had long been seen as annoying by civilians and members of other clans.
Besides that, the arrogant style of the Uchiha made it difficult to get close to their peers during missions, so although newly formed genin formed teams, when they became chunin or jonin, they ended up associating only with clan members to complete missions.
Sato observed all this silently and began to create plans to change the situation: police action methods, integration with civilians, children's mentality. Gradually, he started creating ideas and action plans, not to promote himself but truly to improve the clan.
Unfortunately, none of what he planned happened. On a night like tonight, the nine-tailed fox appeared in the village. From afar, Sato watched as the beast systematically destroyed everything around it, and worse yet, he vividly saw the Sharingan in the fox's eyes.
The next day, news of the attack spread like wildfire throughout the ninja world — the fox's escape, the destruction it caused, and worst of all, the death of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
A few days later, Sato was informed that the clan was moving to a more remote area. He did not complain, packed his belongings in a sealing scroll, and went to his new residence.
It wasn't until he settled in that Sato exploded; he destroyed furniture and tore scrolls. In his eyes, his Sharingan — which had not appeared for years — shone with a deep and frightening red, but before he could do anything else, he stopped and calmed down.
Sato sat in a corner, looked around, and realized all his efforts and planning had been in vain. Frankly, he had not even left the planning phase, but it was still frustrating.
Over the days, Sato noticed the surveillance around the clan. Living in the more isolated parts, he could feel the eyes of the ninjas sent by the Hokage watching his family all day.
This excessive surveillance gradually became too much to bear. For a proud clan like the Uchiha, having all their movements tracked and monitored was shameful. Moreover, the ostracism and hatred directed at them became unbearable.
They were the Uchiha, the founding clan of Konoha; if it weren't for them, this village would not exist.
With this mentality, the plan for a coup slowly began to take shape, and Sato could do nothing to stop it, and honestly, he didn't care anymore.
Things had reached a breaking point, and there was nothing he could do.
Knowing this, he once again isolated himself and started writing to pass the time. Nothing grand, just memories of his youth, his mistakes and successes, things like that, and today would have been another one of those days if he hadn't been so bothered by the calm surrounding the clan.
Leaving the house, Sato began to walk with some difficulty through the streets. He immediately noticed something was wrong when he saw that the compound, normally full of life, was desolate.
"What is happening?" he wondered as he headed toward the central area. "Has the clan begun to move?"
Questions accumulated along with discomfort as he walked with some effort until he passed a small house and stopped.
The smell was faint, almost imperceptible, but Sato felt it. No matter how worn his body was or how rusty his senses were, he could still smell it.
"Blood."
Apprehensive, he approached the house and cautiously opened the door, and seeing the scene, he immediately stopped.
A family — mother, father, and children. All dead. Sato did not recognize them immediately; he didn't know the name of every clan member, but he knew who these were.
Uchiha Koda and Uchiha Mika, both civilians who ran a small candy shop nearby. The boy, Uchiha Fuji, was their eldest son, only 4 years old, and as for the small bundle held by Mika...
Sato looked away; the scene was too terrible. His Sharingan glowed in his eyes as he moved on to the next house and saw the same scene. House after house, all he saw were bodies of his clan members.
After leaving another house, as he prepared to go to the next, he stopped and turned his face. At the end of the street, holding a sword and wearing an ANBU mask.
Sato watched the figure standing, staring at him, and noticed that beneath that mask was a Sharingan, and not just any Sharingan.
"Mangekyou," Sato thought.
He was a disciple of Kagami and Naori; the fluctuations in the eyes were quite perceptible to him.
"ANBU uniform, possessing Sharingan... Itachi, right?" Sato quickly realized who the figure before him was, and although he wanted to do something, he just stood still.
Sato could do nothing against Itachi. He was old, weak, and, most importantly, had no chance against the Mangekyou with his three-tomoe Sharingan.
Suddenly, Sato saw the figure glow and appear in front of him. With a swift strike, he saw Itachi pierce his chest before moving on somewhere else.
Sato fell onto the street, his Sharingan spinning as he thought about his life — his young arrogant self, his decline... the woman he once loved.
Unaware, every moment of his life began to be recorded as his Sharingan took a new form, his vision gradually darkened, his body weakened, and his heartbeat slowed.
"A new chance."
With that thought, Uchiha Sato died.