🌀 Chapter 2 – Part 1: Birth
"I was born into light… and into fear."
I felt everything.
Not like a child. Not like a ninja.
I felt the world opening.
The warmth that had carried me for nine months turned scorching.
My sanctuary contracted, closing in on me.
The liquid that protected me churned, then rushed away.
My mother’s heartbeat quickened — irregular, frantic.
Her chakra trembled, fraying as the pain surged.
And I understood.
Kushina was giving birth.
I felt her muscles tense.
Her belly clenched.
Her breath became short, ragged.
Each wave of pain traveled straight to me.
And I could do nothing.
Say nothing.
Stop nothing.
I was a prisoner of a miracle.
---
— "KUSHINA!!" Minato shouted.
I heard him for the first time... with almost divine clarity.
His voice, sharp and anxious, tore through the space.
Hands pressed against my mother’s belly.
Female voices.
ANBU all around.
A sealed chamber.
Chakra barriers.
An emergency ritual.
All of it… for me.
I was being born into the terror of the world.
But at the center of that chaos…
I felt love.
Kushina was crying, screaming, sweating. But she didn’t give up.
Each contraction was a storm.
And Minato, despite the fear, despite the looming threat, remained there —
his hand in hers, forehead against hers.
— "Just a little more, Kushina… I’m here. I swear, I’m right here."
And I could feel them.
I felt their bond.
I understood what they were risking just so I could take my first breath.
---
And suddenly… the world changed.
My body was pushed. Compressed.
The birth canal pulled me in.
My skeleton bent under the pressure.
My chakra flared.
I was suffocating.
Burning.
Then — light.
And cold.
Air struck me like a blade.
My lungs, dormant until now, inflated violently.
And I screamed.
Not because I was in pain.
Not because I didn’t understand.
I screamed because I had just been born into a world I had chosen to change.
---
Arms held me. Gentle. Careful.
I felt tears falling onto my damp face.
— "He… he’s beautiful, Minato… He’s here… He’s ours…"
Kushina’s voice was broken by pain, but carried by the purest love I had ever felt.
Minato, standing behind her, stared at my small body with wide eyes.
I wasn’t just their son.
I was their hope.
He knelt beside us, laying a trembling hand on my head.
And I felt his fear.
Not for himself.
For me.
— "Naruto…"
He whispered my name like a sacred vow.
And I understood, in that instant…
I wasn’t a baby.
I was a fragile miracle.
A danger.
A secret.
A prayer.
---
I opened my eyes.
I knew I shouldn’t have.
A newborn shouldn’t — couldn’t — open their eyes so soon.
But I needed to see them.
Minato gasped.
Kushina’s eyes widened.
— "His eyes…"
They weren’t red.
Not glowing.
Just… deep.
My gaze held the awareness of an adult —
and the vulnerability of a child.
And in that gaze, I told them everything I couldn’t say:
> “I see you. I know you. I love you. And I won’t let you die.”
Minato leaned closer, moved, nearly shaking.
— "He has… awareness. Kushina… this isn’t normal."
She smiled faintly.
— "Nothing ever was, with us."
---
I felt my chakra synchronizing with theirs.
The bond between us wasn’t just one of blood.
It was an energetic fusion.
My birth had torn open a breach between their souls and mine.
I felt their memories.
Their loneliness.
Their struggles.
Their love.
And they, perhaps without realizing it, felt my promise.
Kushina pulled my tiny body tighter against her chest.
Her hair clung to her sweat-drenched face.
— "I was so scared… So scared…"
Minato came closer. He wrapped us both in his arms.
His white cape gently crinkled against my ears.
— "We’re alive. All three of us."
I believed it was true.
I believed the worst was behind us.
But deep inside…
I felt the shadow.
A presence.
A void.
It was coming.