Bam! Toru's small and frail body was slammed hard against the wall. He remained silent, lying on the floor as he tried to recover, but the man didn't allow him to. Kenji, Toru's father, grabbed him by the hair and lifted him off the ground.
"You're too weak. Are you supposed to become the clan leader like this?"
"Agh!"
Toru opened his eyes and felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. Kenji had kneed him before letting go and allowing him to fall face-first onto the ground.
The impact made him vomit. He clutched his stomach in pain afterward. His body felt incredibly weak, and his vision was becoming blurry. This wasn't training. His father was simply beating him to a pulp.
'It hurts... It hurts so much... I can't move.'
His face was normally expressionless, but this time there was a faint expression of pain on it. The sensation of being brutally beaten was strangely nostalgic, but that nostalgia was accompanied by a heartbreaking feeling in his chest. He felt as if tears would begin streaming down his cheeks at any moment, but he slammed his fist against the floor and forced himself to stand.
He raised his guard and charged forward, but Kenji looked at him and sighed. Once again, Toru was sent crashing into a wall.
"Otou-sama... I can't move anymore... I can't go on..."
At those weak words, Kenji frowned and tried to kick Toru, but someone appeared and blocked the attack. Toru raised his gaze and saw his mother. She stood in front of him, her arm extended as if she wanted to protect her son with her entire being.
"Stop hurting him, Kenji... Enough."
"Don't waste your time, Kyoko. This is necessary. Otherwise, he won't be able to become a shinobi—"
A sharp slap echoed through the room. Toru opened his eyes when he saw Kyoko slap Kenji across the face.
"What do you think you're doing, Kyoko...?"
His question was answered by the sound of Kyoko's sobs.
The woman's hand trembled, tears streaming down her cheeks. Where had the man she had fallen in love with gone? It was as if that shy and kind man had been devoured by the world.
Hearing his wife cry, Kenji sighed and silently left the room.
'Okaa-sama...'
Still weakened, Toru got up from the floor and approached Kyoko.
When he got close, she quickly wiped away her tears and turned around to give her son a smile.
"Forgive me, Toru-chan."
Her voice was as energetic as ever. Her smile was brighter than the sun, and this was something the boy couldn't understand. How could she smile like that after what had just happened? He simply couldn't understand it.
"It's okay..."
"If that's the case, how about we go get some ramen? I found a really good restaurant yesterday. I know the owner. He used to be a shinobi a long time ago. What do you think, Toru-chan?"
"Okay..."
Kyoko took Toru's hands. Her hands were warm and soft. They showed her kindness, they showed her true personality, but... Who would have thought those hands had once been capable of killing so many people?
At that moment, Toru was four years old.
***
Several days later, while Toru was leaving to meet Naruto, screams came from his parents' room. He stopped behind the door, his expression darkening.
"Kenji! Do you realize what you're saying?! If you do that, you'll be going against our village!"
"I've already made my decision as the leader of this clan. Kouta-san would have done the same. They all treat us like criminals, both us and the Uchiha..."
"Kouta would have never wanted this! My brother sacrificed himself to protect the village! I can't let you do this, Kenji! You need to think this through and—!"
A slap echoed through the room. Toru sighed, and then Kenji walked out without paying any attention to the child spying behind the door. After that, a deep silence filled the room, accompanied by the peculiar sound of tears falling onto the wooden floor.
He loosened the scarf around his neck slightly and entered the room.
"Okaa-sama."
"Oh, Toru-chan. I'm sorry. I didn't see you."
She quickly wiped away her tears and looked at her son with a smile. The boy closed his eyes and approached her. When he opened them again, he sat on the floor in front of his mother in the traditional Japanese sitting position and looked her in the eyes.
"I want to become a shinobi..."
"...Huh?"
Her eyes widened in shock. A fleeting memory passed through her mind. That day, five months before Toru's birth, Kyoko's older brother had been killed by the Nine-Tailed Fox.
"Why? You're very good at creating things. You could have a private tutor and join our clan's researchers. What do you think of that?"
"No. I want to become a shinobi."
Her son said this with a cold, emotionless gaze. There seemed to be a hint of anger in the boy's eyes, but even so, Kyoko didn't want this. Everyone she loved had died after choosing the path of the shinobi. If Toru became a shinobi too, she didn't want to see her little Toru die.
"Well... You still have time to decide. So it's okay."
She wrapped her arms around Toru and gently hugged him. Toru's body was a little cold, but nothing out of the ordinary. She enjoyed hugging her little boy, but she realized that he was growing up, and in just a few years, he would no longer need his mother.
"Fufufu..."
"...Okaa-sama?"
"Toru... Always remember this. Your grandfather used to say it very often: No matter how much pain and suffering we have to endure, I'm certain that in the end, we'll be able to watch the sun rise on the horizon..."
—Present Day—
The sound of a pencil moving across the surface of the paper distracted Hinata. She watched as Toru used a pencil to sketch the blueprints for what appeared to be a chakra battery. Somehow, the situation was relaxing, as there was always a strangely comfortable silence between them. It had been awkward before, but now they had both grown accustomed to it.
"How are things going at the Shinobi Academy?"
Toru spoke without taking his eyes off the notebook he was drawing in.
Hinata was startled by Toru's sudden interaction.
"Good, I guess... Although I wish you were at the Academy too..."
"I know... My mother forbade me from becoming a shinobi. I get tutored in the mornings, so it's not that bad."
"I see..."
A question arose in her mind. Why did Toru want to become a shinobi? It was something she didn't know, but asking about it would have been rude. Even so, despite the awkward silence that had once again taken over the scene, she placed her hands on Toru's shoulders and looked over his shoulder as he drew. Although it was difficult from that angle, she moved closer, her chest touching Toru's back.
"You've been doing things like this ever since I met you..."
"Really? I guess... It's the only thing I like doing."
"You're really good at drawing."
"Thanks? I guess..."
He closed his eyes for a moment and thought. Hinata's body was warm and smelled like flowers. It was relaxing somehow, so he allowed it. He continued drawing as if nothing were happening, while Hinata simply kept watching, pressed so closely against him.
However, a few seconds later, Toru stopped drawing to relax for a moment, and that's when Hinata realized how close they were. She quickly moved away from him and covered her face with her hands so he wouldn't see how red her face had become.
"I'm so sorry, Toru-kun! I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
But this didn't seem to bother Toru.
"It doesn't matter..."
"It doesn't?"
"Not at all. At the very least, you should ask permission before invading someone else's personal space."
"Well..."
Although she tried to follow Toru's words and ignore the subject, she remembered what Toru's back had felt like. It was a little cold, but it felt nice. However, after realizing what she was thinking about, she shook her head, banishing those strange thoughts from her mind.
She sighed and looked at the sky. It was already dark, and the moon was beginning to appear between the clouds. It was late enough for her to go home, but she wanted to stay with her friend Toru a little longer in this park.
'Friends... Are we friends...?'
She thought about it carefully, but she had never imagined such a possibility.
'Is this what friends do?'
Well, she had never had a friend, and considering that more than a year had already passed...
"I'll walk you home. Let's go."
Toru closed the notebook and stood up. He extended his hand, waiting for Hinata.
"Uh... yeah. Thank you, Toru-kun."
"Don't worry about it..."
She took Toru's hand, and together they headed toward the Hyūga clan compound.
***
At the same time, somewhere else, a boy held a bloodstained katana. His eyes glowed with the crimson light of the Sharingan. He moved at incredible speed through the houses. Doors and windows opened, and blood splattered as death followed in his wake.
With every step forward, his face and clothes became increasingly stained with blood.