The leaves of the trees fell from the branches as they felt the strong morning breeze. The arms of a beautiful woman held a small and healthy infant, who was sleeping peacefully.
"He always sleeps so much...I wonder if that's normal"
The woman was concerned when she saw her son, in a way it was rare for a baby to sleep for more than two days, well, he's still breathing so no problem.
"If only he were here, he could watch his nephew grow up"
The woman's eyes pointed to the sky, while a nostalgic and sad look appeared on her face. The bitter memories of her brother's death during the Nine-Tailed Beast's attack made her want to cry.
"Looks like you woke up"
The woman returned her gaze to the child in her arms, he had opened his eyes, strange bright gray eyes.
"I never get tired of seeing him, he is very cute. You are very cute Toru-chan"
The boy just looked at his mother with a sleepy expression, something that made the woman smile. It had been a few weeks since Toru's birth and the Kyubi's attack, but everything in Konohagakure seemed strangely peaceful, there was no dispute between clans, no group of ninjas wanting to attack the village, everything was very... calm.
"Oh, kenji"
The woman saw her husband go through the front door, however, he completely ignored her. She thought that Kenji was just tired, so she went to welcome him with Toru in her arms.
It didn't take long for her to reach the door, where she saw Kenji kicking off his sandals.
"Welcome, darling. How did it go?"
Kenji just looked at the ground with a disappointed expression before replying.
"Nothing important, I just... need to be alone. Can you do that for me, Kyoko?"
Kenji looked up to meet his wife's eyes. Seeing this gesture Kyoko only responded with a slight shake of the head, then Kenji went to his room.
"He's never behaved like this, maybe if he's tired..."
Kyoko looked at Toru and remembered her brother once more. The brother who sacrificed himself to save his sister and brother-in-law. Kyoko's brother's name was Asahi Kouta, this man was the leader of the Asahi clan for five years.
Kouta sacrificed himself on behalf of Konohagakure during the battle against the Nine-Tailed Fox.
-Two months ago-
The beast's tails slammed into the ground, killing a large number of ninjas who tried to stop it. The blood of all those people was stained everywhere the eye could see.
"We have to stop it! Otherwise the monster will destroy the village"
One of the ninjas shouted as he tried to find a way to stop the beast, which was getting closer to Konohagakure, but he couldn't think of anything, the only thing that was present in his mind was the fact that he was going to die. in the claws of the fox.
"Please, Kouta. There must be another solution"
The voice of a woman was heard among the people who had been rescued, that woman was Kyoko, who at that moment had Toru inside her womb.
"It's a ninja's job to protect his village, I also do it to protect you and Kenji"
Kouta looked at Kyoko sadly, it was obvious that he was going to die, but still he wasn't afraid, since he was doing this for the happiness of his sister and his best friend.
"But... if you die..."
"There will be no one to lead the clan? Is that your excuse? That's what Kenji is for, I entrust the clan to him"
After saying that Kouta's body flickered for a second before disappearing, leaving his sister with the refugees.
Not even two minutes had passed when Kouta appeared on the front lines alongside some of the strongest members of the Asahi clan.
"Ready our weapons, and don't waste chakra, we will need it more than ever"
Kouta looked at the big beast with annoyance, he had been taking care of his sister for seven months so he could see his nephew being born, but now all of that had gone to waste because of the tailed rat in front of him.
"It's time to start with this"
Kouta paused for a second to think of his loved ones one last time before charging into battle. He was determined to die for his village, after all the members of the Asahi clan, in addition to being prodigies in the ninja trade, were great protectors of Konohagakure.
"Forgive me little nephew, I won't be able to be there for you. We won't be able to train together, I won't be able to see you grow up either, but... please, protect Kyoko, I know you'll do well"
A smile formed on Kouta's face before his hands began to make the hand seals. In less than five seconds the seals were finished, and by the time he was done, a few words left his mouth.
"Shakuton: Noboru Taiyi no Seirei [Release from Burning: Spirits of the Rising Sun]"
Saying that, three fireballs appeared in front of him, seconds later orbiting around Kouta. Once the jutsu was finished, between his hands he held two kunai, which seemed to have steel threads attached to them.
"Will I be the one to discipline this bad dog?"
A bad joke came out of Kouta's lips, surely it was to calm his nerves, or maybe he had already gone crazy, but one thing is for sure, he wanted to fight with all his might against the beast. But the beast looked at him like an ant, so with one of its tails it tried to crush Kouta, but his speed was very great, he was not a Jonin rank ninja for nothing.
"Even if I die, I'll rip one of your tails off"
Kouta threw one of the kunai at one of the trees, which stuck to it. Using the kunai with the steel thread attached to the tree, Kouta propelled himself using the strength of his arms, quickly reaching the fox's head.
"Here's a gift from me"
The fireballs orbiting around Kouta began to release spikes made of the same element as the fireballs. Each thorn of fire impacted the beast, but they failed to do any damage to the fox, and then, while Kouta was in the air, one of the fox's tails managed to catch him, taking him straight to the ground with terrifying speed.
The instant Kouta hit the ground, he had already lost his life.
-One year later-
Little Toru was about to celebrate his first year of life, so his mother tried to have a small family celebration with Kenji.
"Okay, everything is ready"
The dishes were already on the table, and the different types of food would make anyone hungry. Kyoko watched all this with pride, even though she was a great kunoichi in the past, in the present she was a great mother and housewife.
"Only Kenji is missing, I hope he's not late again"
Kyoko sat down with her son in her arms, there was not a day when she was away from little Toru, she always had the little boy close to her, but the fact that she is with her son all the time had an explanation, and that is that her son was strangely intelligent much more than any child of the clan. Little Toru's intelligence worried Kyoko a little, the little boy was almost always silent, didn't show any facial expression and spent most of the day sleeping.
"It seems that your father is late"
Kyoko put her eyes on the corridor that connected the room with the path to the exit, seconds later a sad expression formed on her face.
(When was the last time we talked?)
After Kouta's death, many things in the Asahi clan had changed, Kenji became the leader of the clan, an alliance with the Uchiha clan was established, the productivity of weapons manufacturers was increased, the scientific researchers of the Asahi clan began to focus on developing new types of jutsu that use technology, which was revolutionary at the time, and finally, the heir to the Asahi clan had already been decided, and that heir was little Toru.
After thinking so much, Kyoko came to the conclusion that Toru shouldn't become a ninja, after all she didn't want to see another loved one die in front of her eyes, but if Toru chose to be a ninja, she couldn't refuse.
The sound of the door brought Kyoko out of her thoughts, this made her get up from her seat and go to the entrance of the house to receive Kenji, who at that moment had returned from working with the Uchiha clan.
"Welcome honey. I made dinner, I was wondering if you had already..."
Kyoko was silent for a moment as her husband walked past her without even looking at her.
"Kenji...what's wrong?"
Kenji didn't reply and walked into his room without even meeting Kyoko's eyes. In response to this, Kyoko just stared helplessly at the ground.
(Kenji... I can't understand you anymore, why are you doing this to me?)
Kyoko slowly walked back to the table where she had placed all the food she had prepared. He placed it in different wooden boxes and left it aside.
"I... I really can't understand you anymore"
-Three years later-
Like a rag doll, Toru was thrown to the ground. You could clearly see the bruises on his body.
"Get up, if you are so weak you will not be able to be the leader of our clan"
The man who spoke was Kenji, who at the moment was giving Toru some defense classes, if that's what you can call classes, since Kenji was just hitting Toru with no mercy.
(It hurts a lot... I don't want to do this anymore, it hurts)
Toru tried to get up from the ground. He himself was holding one of his arms in pain, in addition to the blood that came out of one of his lips.
"Too weak, you won't be able to inherit the clan if you keep this up"
Kenji grabbed Toru by the hair and lifted him into the air, seconds later kneeing him in the stomach. Toru fell to the ground, throwing up what he had eaten a few hours ago.
(It hurts... I don't want to fight anymore...)
Toru looked at the ground with a neutral expression, all parts of his body ached, he couldn't move, it had been two hours of the same thing, over and over again he was beaten by his father.
"I can not anymore..."
Kenji frowned at Toru's words and tried to hit him one more time, but was interrupted by a woman.
"Don't hurt him anymore"
Kyoko faced Toru, who was still trying to recover from the torture he had received.
"Don't mess around, this is necessary for..."
A loud bang was heard in the training room. Kenji's face was looking to the right, and Kyoko's hand was raised in front of Kenji's face.
"Kyoko, what do you think you're doing?"
Without meeting his wife's eyes, Kenji asked, but his question was not answered, instead the woman's sobs could be heard as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Hearing his wife cry, a sigh escaped from Kenji's lips, who seconds later left the room.
(Okaa-sama...) Toru put his hands on his stomach, at that moment it was the place where he felt the most pain.
"Forgive me, Toru..."
Kyoko spoke while looking at her son with a beaming smile on her face. It was as if what had just happened had never happened.
"Does not matter..."
Toru looked at his mother's smile, in his mind he wondered how can he smile after what happened?
"Do you want to eat ramen? Yesterday I found a restaurant that sells delicious ramen"
With the same smile as a moment ago, Kyoko took her son by the hand and helped him up.
"Thank you..."
Kyoko's hands were warm and gentle. Who would have thought that she was once capable of killing other people?
-Just a few years later-
Time passed quickly, by then Toru had developed a strange obsession with scientific research and the work of the shinobi. He almost always spent a large part of his time creating weapons and artifacts to help the shinobi in their work.
"I still have to get the clock hands to build the stopwatch..."
Toru looked at the roof of his house a little tired, he hadn't slept at all because of the ideas that filled his mind. Every idea that came to Toru was written down in a small book, which was a gift from his mother.
"I still can't build anything 100%. The money Okaa-sama gives me every weekend isn't enough... huh?"
Toru heard screams coming from his parents' room, so he went straight to them to find out what was going on. A few seconds later Toru was already at the door of his parents' room.
"You can't do that! You will be against our village!"
"I have already made my decision as the leader of our clan. It is necessary to move forward, we need more power"
"How can you say that?! I can't allow you to do something like..."
A knock was heard in the room, making Toru's gaze darken. Seconds after that, Kenji walked out of the room, completely ignoring his son who was peeking on the other side of the door.
A deep silence formed while Toru had only stood in front of the room, and only a few moments later the sobs of the woman could be heard inside the room.
Without thinking twice Toru entered the room.
"Okaa-sama..."
Kyoko quickly wiped away her tears and looked at her son with a smile.
"What's wrong Toru-chan?"
Toru felt strange, his mother's ability to fake emotions was terrifying and depressing at the same time. A few seconds of silence later Toru decides to speak.
"Okaa-sama..."
Kyoko waited patiently for Toru's words.
"I want to be a ninja"
"Than...?"
Images of Kouta being killed by the nine-tailed beast came back to Kyoko's mind like a storm.
"Why? You are very good at creating things, you could join our research team"
Kyoko moved a little closer and tried to convince Toru, but that didn't work.
"No, I want to be a ninja"
Toru's cold gaze made Kyoko feel pathetic, once again one of her loved ones was taking the path of death, the way of the ninja.
"Well…you have three years to decide what you want to be…so…I guess that's fine for now"
Kyoko hugged Toru as she tried to hold back her true feelings, but she couldn't, so she did something that was very difficult for anyone, she turned her feelings into sincere words.
"Tor..."
"What is Okaa-sama?"
"No matter how much suffering you are going through, in the end... you will always be able to see the rising of the sun on the horizon with a smile"
As the words left Kyoko's mouth, Toru just looked at the woman in front of him... the woman who was smiling radiantly, more radiant than the sun itself.
And those words... were more than Toru remembered seeing such a depressing scene...
Because the blood spilled on the ground, the woman's tears were still seen on her face. He had a large cut on his back, probably caused by a katana.
"Why...?"
Toru looked at the lifeless body in front of him, as a tear escaped from his tear ducts.