"Ha~ I hurt all over..."
Feeling like the worst shit in the world, Toru moaned a little due to the pain he felt. He had fallen from a great height, obviously his body is tough, but that doesn't mean he's immune to pain.
"No matter in what life, my body is always resilient."
Looking up at the sky as he tried to regulate his breathing, somehow Toru felt satisfied. He had fought a beast with a tail, used all his chakra and at the end of it all came away with the victory. It had certainly been a productive day, but it left some thoughts in this boy's mind.
The first thing would be to recover and perfect his jutsu. Another thing would also be to try to create a new artifact that would help him in his work as a ninja, but trying to make a grenade or a firearm would be a bit ridiculous, considering that he himself can create a fireball capable of disintegrating bodies and crystallizing sand. So ideas ahead of their time would be a waste of time and resources.
(My mind is full of ideas. I should think hard about what I will do from now on. For the time being, I'll get some sleep until someone finds me.)
Closing his eyes and letting out a long sigh, Toru relaxed, thinking he would have a quiet moment, but a strange wave of images came to his mind.
(Looks like the second clone already accomplished its mission. He also got to see Asuma-sensei in battle, that's another point in my favor.)
Nodding his head, Toru analyzed the memories that came to his mind, after all these memories were those of the clone he left together with Shikamaru. Seeing this, a smile formed on his mouth, the clone showed no mercy to the enemies, indeed, it could be said that he was merciful in killing them all in a single slash of the daggers. Although in a moment another squad of Sand Village ninjas appeared, they were more than Toru had faced, however, Asuma appeared using a knife.
(Asuma-sensei used chakra flow on the knife, it seems that he uses Fūton as a base to increase the sharpness of the weapon...)
Touching his chin, Toru tried to look for differences between 'Imbue' and chakra flow.
Apparently, chakra flow only gives the properties of the element to the weapon, an example would be Fūton, which increases the sharpness of the weapon. Another more specific example would be Raiton, which gives the weapon the property of paralyzing the enemy.
As for 'Imbuing', this literally wraps the weapon in the element used, including kekkei genkai, as well as Toru's Shakuton. This not only gives the properties of the element, but amplifies them to a certain extent.
(I think 'Imbuing' expends more chakra...).
Shaking his head and crossing his arms while still lying on the ground, Toru reconsidered using Shakuton combined with 'Imbuing', but someone's hurried footsteps made him raise his guard, even if he was lying on the ground.
"Toru..."
Looking into his eyes, Sasuke appeared through the leaves of the trees. Somehow, you could see in his eyes that he was uncomfortable, but that didn't matter, as Sasuke approached Toru and held out his hand.
"Hm... Are you just going to lie there all day?"
"Maybe, I can barely move..."
Sighing, Toru held out his hands and sighed. It was obvious that the chakra drain was too much for a twelve year old's body, so being tired was normal. However, Sasuke touched his head as he looked around the surroundings, it was exactly the same as in the past....
"Seriously...you always get everything explored..."
With a slight smile, Sasuke remembered the past, when the Asahi and Uchiha clan were allies. Those times were very peaceful, Toru repeated his strange experiments every day, most of them ended up exploding, so this made Sasuke shook his head.
"If you're referring to my experiments, those were just accidents caused by flaws in the internal structures, where-"
"Hey, you know that doesn't interest me."
Interrupting Toru, Sasuke felt uncomfortable just listening to him talk. He was always saying nonsense, at least that's how he perceived it.
"I'm fine with it, it's not like many people like what I like."
"You're reasonable, but we still have to go, Naruto and Gaara are over there. So get up."
"I can't Didn't I tell you, I summoned a fucking forty meter tall wolf. Try summoning something like that without passing out."
Sasuke sighed, this was strange, the way Toru expressed himself was different, but he still kept the same poker face as always. He was the same, but someone different at the same time.
(Ha~ I don't care, we have to hurry).
Not caring about Toru's pain, Sasuke grabbed Toru's arm and put it over his shoulders. This made Toru look at him strangely.
"What, if we don't hurry, more enemies of the Sand Village will arrive. We can't stay here."
Understanding this, Toru nodded his head and then a small smile formed on his mouth.
Sasuke's eyes widened unable to believe what he was seeing, Toru was smiling, that was something that even in his wildest dreams he wouldn't have seen. Until a few seconds ago, Sasuke thought Toru was someone who didn't know how to express emotions or simply lost the ability to feel after seeing his own mother's death. Yet somehow that sense of frustration disappeared.
(We grew up together, we're like brothers. So, I'll forget I ever saw this).
Looking straight ahead, Sasuke started to walk, at the same time helping Toru.
-Somewhere in the forest.
Being helped by Sakura, Naruto could barely stand up. He was exhausted, he couldn't move a bit. Still, the Kyubi's chakra will start to act any moment and heal his wounds, so tomorrow morning he will be completely healed.
"Where is Toru?"
Looking at the surroundings, Naruto was thinking about how Toru destroyed every hand of sand that rose from the ground. It was amazing to look at, as Toru was moving so fast that he could barely see his movements.
"I don't know, but..."
Looking at Ino, who had a blank look on her face, Sakura had many ideas of what was going on. Just as she worries about Sasuke, Ino worries about Toru, after all the two of them are....
"Sasuke, Toru!"
Watching the arrival of these two boys, Naruto stood up full of energy again. Sakura was impressed, as it seemed Naruto's chakra had no limits, well, she wasn't so wrong.
"Hello..."
Holding up his palm, Toru looked at everyone with a poker face.
Then, when Toru's voice echoed in the place, Ino's eyes widened in disbelief. She, who was thinking that Toru had already gone to the other world, felt ashamed of herself for thinking something so stupid. It was logical, if Naruto and Gaara were able to survive falling from such a great height, Toru would have too.
But at this moment, Ino felt something different than shame.
What happened next was something strange, in less than a second, Ino ran up to Toru while raising her fist. Everyone saw what happened, Toru was thrown backwards from a punch by Ino.
"It hurts..."
Lying on the ground, Toru looked up at the sky. He had a fist mark on his face due to being punched by Ino and this obviously left everyone confused, who looked at her without saying anything.
"Where did you get so much strength, Ino?"
Sitting on the ground, despite the pain, Toru felt curious about Ino's strength, after all this was the first time she hit him.
In response to this, Ino's face turned so red that it looked as if a small cloud of steam was rising above her head.
"I... I... I... You're an idiot!"
With small tears at the corners of her eyes, Ino left the place without looking back. That was sudden, but Toru saw this reaction as a new expression on her face, with a slight closed-eyed smile. Still, Ino's punch hurt too much, maybe it was because she was weak since she had used all her chakra, or Ino simply had too much strength.
"I understand you, buddy..."
Touching Toru's shoulder, Naruto sympathized, after all he too was taking hits from his teammate. Sasuke on the other hand, looked at this with a raised eyebrow.
(Time may change people, but I'll stay as I am, I'll make my hatred grow, I'll become strong and kill Itachi).
Clenching his fists tightly, Sasuke had an idea of what he had to do to achieve his revenge.
"But that was great, how you summoned that giant dog."
"It's not a dog as such, I said it before."
"Haha, it was a wolf, I know. But there was also that fireball you threw at Gaara. It exploded so much it shook everything..."
"Ah, that... yeah, I guess it somehow didn't work..."
Shaking his head, Toru no longer knew how to continue this conversation. This made him sigh as he touched his head, but then, opening his eyes unable to believe what had come into his mind, the expression on Toru's face changed slightly.
"It can't be..."
"Hm? What's wrong Toru?"
Naruto was confused by the change in Toru's expression, the same happened to Sasuke and Sakura. On the other hand, Pakkun came out of the bushes realizing that the place was safe. Everyone looked Toru in the eyes, they didn't understand what was going on with him as he was looking at the ground with a frown. And then, those words that completely changed the fate of Konohagakure came out of Toru's mouth.
"The Hokage... is dead..."
-In the stadium-
Eyes wide open, Hinata was in shock. In front of her, the most respected man in the entire village had fallen to the ground, bleeding out from the wounds her own former student inflicted on him.
At the same time, Yamato had a stoic expression on his face. He clenched his fists tightly as he searched for a solution to this, but it was too late.
"Orochimaru..."
Yamato looked at the man who caused all of this, this was all that man's fault. Then, with all the memories of the experiments Orochimaru performed on him, Yamato lunged forward as he clasped his hands together, making the wood come out in the form of roots from the ground.
However, it was impossible to break through the chakra barrier, there was no way to protect the Hokage. There was nothing he could do about it.
Standing in front of the barrier with a frown, Yamato felt useless, as, Hiruzen was already dead.
After this, the chakra barrier disappeared, then Kabuto emerged from the shadows and took Orochimaru over his shoulder, the four Sound Village ninjas did the same, disappearing from the place.
But this was not going to end just like that, Yamato would not let that man get away with this. So, creating a dozen wooden clones, Yamato followed them as fast as he could.
The ANBU ninjas on the spot followed him.
At the same time, Hinata felt weak. She was still injured because the central conduit of her chakra network was blocked.
"This can't be true... Toru-kun... please hurry."
-In the forest
"What? It's a joke, right? There's no way you'd know something like-"
"A clone... leave a shadow clone with Hinata. When a shadow clone disappears, all the information recorded by that clone goes into the user's brain. That's why I know..."
Hearing this, Naruto shivered, he didn't understand how this had happened. How could the Hokage have died?
Likewise, Sasuke gritted his teeth, as he had gone after Gaara so that in the end the Hokage would be killed.
"But... how did it happen, what was it?"
Sakura asked with an obvious look of confusion on her face.
"Orochimaru...I know you three know about him..."
Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were surprised to hear that. Toru knew about Orochimaru, meaning that he already had something to do with some of what was going on.
"So he..."
"It can't be, it has to be a joke. He can't die just like that, that old man was the Hokage, one of the coolest ninja in all of history! Why, why did he have to die at the hands of Orochimaru?"
Naruto is angry, he was so angry that for a moment his eyes turned a dull red color.
"Listen carefully. Orochimaru is after Sasuke... but... he's looking for me too. Apparently, one of his goals is to destroy Konoha."
"He's looking for you?"
Not understanding anything Toru said, Naruto was anxious, he didn't know what to do now that he was hearing this very bad news.
"It's probably because of my eyes... just like Sasuke. Still, I don't know much more than what I just told you. So we must return to the village at once. Ino should be halfway there by now, we'll meet her on the way."
Without looking back, Toru, despite the pain his body felt, stood up and ran as fast as he could.
Naruto's team stared at the ground as they tried to assimilate this news.
However, this was only the beginning, as something much bigger was being planned in the shadows, ten shadows that appeared to devour this world.
_______
Author's note: I have just written a chapter of more than six thousand words, although when it is published on this page it will be divided in two, or three, depending on my mood...
Well, leaving that aside, if this fanfic reaches 50 power stones, I'll post the next chapter right away. let the game begin!