Two weeks.
Fourteen days.
Three hundred thirty-six hours.
It might seem little.
But for Naruto, it was an eternity.
Since his birth, the world had changed.
Not the one outside — the sky was still the same, the leaves of Konoha still danced in the wind, the jonin still trained, the children still laughed.
No.
He had changed.
And so had his parents.
Kushina had remained bedridden for nearly the entire first week.
The trauma of childbirth had scarred her deeper than she admitted.
Her body healed slowly, and her mind slower still.
But every time she looked at her son, her strength returned.
She spent hours watching him sleep, whispering to him, singing the old Uzumaki lullabies she had learned as a child.
Naruto reacted to every note, every vibration of her voice — as if he understood.
And truthfully, he did.
Minato, meanwhile, hadn't slept more than three hours at a time since that day.
His role as Hokage allowed no rest.
He had reinforced the security around their home, reassigned ANBU squads, and launched a secret investigation into the movements of Orochimaru, Obito, and even certain Council members.
But behind his orders and masks, something else lurked.
Fear.
A fear that Kushina might relive the horror of the attack.
A fear that Naruto was not what he seemed.
A deep, irrational fear that something was already slipping beyond their grasp.
Naruto, for his part, observed everything.
In silence.
Still in his crib — but his mind never stopped.
He had discovered the world.
Not through clumsy baby movements, but with the consciousness of an adult.
Every light, every sound, every flicker of chakra around him was analyzed.
His senses were sharpening, even if his body remained weak.
He rarely cried. Almost never.
But when he did, it was always on purpose.
To draw attention.
To be held.
To measure reactions.
And each day, he grew stronger.
[Time elapsed since birth: 14 days, 8 hours, 3 minutes]
[Skill: "Conscious Wakefulness" – Level 3]
[Genetic Progress: 42,000 points accumulated]
[Chakra Control: 7% of total potential]
[Partial Fusion with Natural Energy: 0.4%]
Kushina entered the room, her steps slow, arms folded across her chest.
Minato was already there, standing by the crib.
They said nothing at first, but their eyes met.
— "He hardly ever cries," she murmured. "Do you think that's normal?"
Minato hesitated, then slowly shook his head.
— "No… but nothing is normal, Kushina. He's unique. Like you. Like the two of us together."
She bit her lip.
— "He looked at me last night. Right into my eyes. I… I thought he was going to speak."
Silence.
Minato stepped closer to the crib.
Naruto, eyes wide open, was already staring at him.
He leaned over, gently resting his hand on the edge of the wooden basket.
— "You hear us, don't you?
You understand us…"
In response, Naruto blinked — slowly.
A deliberate blink.
Controlled.
And this time, it was Minato who stepped back.
"They're starting to see."
Naruto understood his mask was cracking.
He couldn't pretend forever.
Sooner or later, his parents would realize he wasn't just any child.
Maybe not today.
But tomorrow — certainly.
And he would have to tell them the truth.
But not yet.
Not now.
That evening, as rain began to fall gently again, Naruto felt something.
A flicker.
A current of chakra… ancient. Unknown.
He extended his awareness to its limit.
A subtle mental wave — a whisper of the world.
Someone was approaching the village.
Someone dangerous.
[System Alert – Abnormal chakra fluctuation detected southwest of Konoha]
[Threat Probability: 76%]
Naruto instinctively tightened his chakra flow.
He wasn't ready.
Not yet.
His body was still too weak.
But his mind…
His mind was sharper than ever.
In the living room, Minato jolted awake at the same moment.
An ANBU entered without knocking, kneeling immediately.
— "Hokage-sama. An unknown presence has been detected in the southern forest. Our trackers are en route. It may be—"
— "...him," Minato cut in.
He rose. Not another word.
His gaze had changed.
The gaze of a shinobi.
A father.
A man ready to kill.
In his crib, Naruto watched the moonlight slide across the ceiling.
He closed his eyes slowly.
And in his mind, one thought echoed:
"I am no longer a fetus.
I am a son.
And soon… I will be much more than that."