How were they able to reach the power stone target so quickly again?
This time they won't get there so easy. Now they will have to reach 230 power stones, let's see if they get there fast again š.
______
It has been a whole day since Sasuke's recovery mission began, in fact, they had just found out that this mission was already over, so now the ninjas who were sent have returned to Konoha.
"I hope Toru isn't hurt, I'm quite worried about what happened during that mission."
Looking up at the sky while letting out a long sigh, Ino remembered that dream and the vision she had when Toru left the village along with the other boys. She felt that she should go along with him, yet... this mission was something that wasn't assigned to him, so it was impossible to accompany him.
Hinata, on the other hand, nodded her head, since, although she didn't know it, Ino had the same dream and vision as her at that time.
"I trust Toru-kun, so I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Yeah... you're right. There's nothing to worry about. Then let's hurry and go visit Toru, maybe he'll be in the hospital along with the others."
With a slight smile on their face, Ino and Hinata increased their speed, so they could get to where that boy was, but....
-In some hospital room in Konoha...
"Asahi Toru, we need you to appear in front of the Konoha Council, to stand trial for your crimes of treason against our village."
Crossing his arms, the man with the bandaged face stepped forward, at the same time, the masked ninjas placed one of their hands on the hilt of the katanas hanging from their waists.
Just a meter away from the man, Tsunade sighed and waited in silence, for some reason, she had a disappointed expression on her face.
"Wh...what?"
However, Toru didn't know what was going on. He frowned and looked at Tsunade.
"Is this some kind of joke? Because I don't understand. Hokage-sama, I need explanations. Since, if this is a joke, should I be laughing? I don't find anything funny in what they are saying, if it is, it would be hard to laugh."
Tsunade closed her eyes and sighed, and before she could speak, the man with the bandages interrupted.
"We have found evidence that you have been selling information from our village to Orochimaru and villages that are not in the Shinobi Alliance."
"What the...? That's ridiculous... I don't do that kind of thing" Toru said, but Tsunade interrupted.
"It's useless to lie, there is proof of your actions against our village. Toru, you must admit it."
Looking from left to right, the masked ninjas began to surround Toru as they watched him intently, this made him feel overwhelmed by this.
"I want to see the evidence."
Although he didn't know why he was being accused of treason, Toru tried to remain calm. With an expressionless face and ice cold gaze, he looked at the two adults in front of him, then looked at the masked ninjas.
His eyes scanned the environment again and again, for somehow, he felt in danger.
He made sure he had all his weapons where they should be, so again he looked at Tsunade, who at the same time looked at the man with the bandaged arm and eye.
"What are you waiting for, old geezer?"
"Hm! I'm the one who does the work you don't!"
Pulling out a small stack of sheets of paper, the man handed them to Toru, who received the documents.
He took the sheets of paper in his hands, looked at everyone for a second and then began to read.
'...What is this...? I didn't do any of this... Then how...? I'm sure I haven't been to any of these places, yet this clearly states in detail everything that 'I' was there...'
His eyes widened in disbelief. Dates, times and places excerpted, all in minute detail, as if Toru himself had acted against his village. He clenched the sheets in his hands and then looked up.
"This is fake, there's no way I-"
"You're wrong-you've already been investigated. The evidence doesn't lie. You will admit your mistakes and pay for it, our village punishes criminals and you are one of them" The man said, to which Tsunade nodded her head as she sighed.
Toru did not understand. The evidence was perfect, but he was sure it was fake, as he himself had not done anything that was on the sheets of paper, however, according to the documents, there were witnesses to it, people who claim to have seen him leaving Konoha.
His breathing quickened slightly and a bead of sweat ran down his forehead. He looked everywhere looking for a solution to this, but it was useless, even the Hokage himself was present, he had not denied anything that was going on, which said that she was in on it too.
"This is a lie. I didn't do anything, this evidence is false. I..."
He realized something. He had no evidence to be able to defend himself, there was nothing, for, the evidence against him was perfect, as if someone had crafted it.
Besides, rumors had circulated throughout Konoha that there was a traitor in the village, which made it even worse.
"You can't deny it, there's no better proof than that. Now you will go with us to the Konoha Council, where you will be judged for your crimes."
He closed his eyes and sighed. Tsunade, on the other hand, looked at this boy remembering everything she had researched about him, she kept silent as she reminisced. He, in a way, was very similar to Orochimaru in personality and mentality, there was no point of comparison, the two were exactly alike, or that is the conclusion she had come to in her research.
"Hokage-sama, this is a mistake, aren't you sure you have the wrong person?"
Tsunade narrowed her eyes at the coldness with which Toru was facing this situation. There was no expression on his face, his voice was calm and without any evidence of nervousness, it was... as if he was empty, soulless, but this was something Toru did unconsciously, he was always like that, even in his past life he had that little problem.
She touched her head painfully. She decided to leave all this work to that man with the bandaged arm.
"Take care of this, old man. I have to talk to the other ninja who were assigned that mission."
"You shirk your duties as Hokage, eh. I knew you were no good for this, from the very first moment."
"Shut up, you idiot. I have to go."
"Hokage-sama, wait..."
Toru got up from the stretcher and tried to stop Tsunade, but almost instantly, he felt hands grab his arm, throwing him violently against the floor. He watched as Tsunade slowly closed the door until everything stopped.
"Why are you doing this? I haven't done anything, I'm sure I haven't done anything against this village."
Toru, being lying on the ground face down, while one of the masked ninjas held his wrists to leave him immobilized, looked at the man in front of him, looking for a solution for everything that was happening, however, he found nothing, he was just lying there, not even able to move.
Then, at that moment, the man with half of his face bandaged, bent down to get a closer look at Toru. He approached him and said in his ear.
'Asahi Toru... Didn't you ever wonder why it was so easy to find the information you wanted so much?'
He felt a shiver run through his body as he heard this, he slowly looked down as his eyes were wide open. Toru hadn't thought about it until now, due to the fact that the information he found in those documents left him in shock, but it was illogical to have been able to find information that could turn the ninja world upside down in a chest, right in plain sight of everyone.
But then, this time... he heard something else.
"What do we do next, Danzo-sama?"
The Shigan in Toru's eyes instantly activated, the light of death slightly illuminated his face, that's when the names on those documents came to his mind.
'...Shimura Danzo...'
That name echoed in his mind, over and over again, in a single second the images of that night flooded his mind. He could see again his mother's blood covering the floor and the tears on her face.
His hair covered his face, and then....
"Shakuton: Shimikomaseru, Hiji dzuru no desutoroiyÄfisuto [Shakuton: Imbue, destroying fist of the rising sun]"
The intense destructive light covered his arms, causing the masked ninja to let go of his wrists. Almost a second later, he gave a small jump, climbing onto the hospital gurney.
The light on his arms intensified, immediately, he pulled out the daggers from his coat and looked at Danzo with murderous intent.
"Die..."
Appearing in front of Danzo, as if he had teleported, the daggers flared with Shakuton's light.
Clang!
The daggers and the katana of one of the masked ninja collided.
Toru opened his eyes and exerted more force on his arms, breaking the ninja's sword, to a millisecond later, cut him in half like butter. Blood began to spray all over the floor as if it were a great crimson waterfall, organs showed on the corpse cut in half, a cut so clean and perfect that it made Danzo look at this boy with disgust on his face.
Having killed the masked ninja, Toru looked at Danzo with the light of death in his eyes.
He did not hesitate at any moment, and attacked without mercy. He reappeared in front of Danzo, but he only looked at him with a neutral expression on his face, after all, another of his masked ninja appeared to protect him, although this was of no use, as Toru killed this one himself with a single slash of his daggers.
"You should know your position by now."
Danzo crossed his arms behind his back and sighed. This caused Toru to look around, he quickly realized that there were dozens of masked ninja waiting for him outside by the window.
He smiled, this was his victory.
'Those eyes are now mine...'
However, Danzo doesn't know Toru at all, as he slashed the door of the room with the daggers, leaving the place successfully.
"Go get him, don't kill him, but if you have no choice, do it without damaging his face, I need the eyes intact."
He gave an order, an order that the masked ninjas obeyed, following Toru at superhuman speed.
***
He ran through the corridors of the hospital as fast as his legs would allow him, but it seemed impossible to get out of the place, since at every exit there was an enemy waiting for him.
His mind whirled remembering everything he had experienced so far. For a moment he felt like he was back in the past, when his mother was still alive.
'Okaa-sama...'
Clang!
Hopefully he managed to block one of the surprise attacks from one of the masked ninjas. However, even if he managed to block it, all the patients in the hospital looked at him without understanding what was going on.
Even worse, the other ninjas caught up to him and surrounded him.
Toru was at the center of it all. Stares fell on him, all the people in the hospital remembering him for his exploits in the chunin exams. These stares somehow reminded him of his past life.
The stares of all the people who knew that research scientist whose name made the world tremble.
Toru looked at the ceiling of the place, and then....
The ninjas around him fell, blood spilled on the floor and the screams of the innocent were heard.
Toru's face was covered in blood, as were his daggers. His clothes, stained with the bright crimson red, then, sighed....
He walked slowly on his way to the exit. At the same time, the people present looked at Toru with horror on their faces. They quickly tried to communicate with the ninjas who were in the hospital, forcing him to hurry his pace.
But... Where would he go? Why was all this happening to him? Why did his life have to be this way? Why?
He held the daggers in his hands tightly, as he looked at the ground with a lifeless expression.
He finally left the hospital, but the first thing he found when he came out was a large number of masked ninjas, there were about a hundred of them, there were too many...
At this moment, only one thought exploded in Toru's mind.
He disappeared in front of all the ninjas. They looked for him with their eyes and managed to find him. He was running so fast that it was difficult to see him. He was jumping between the roofs of the houses at superhuman speed, but it still wasn't going to be enough.
Toru breathed heavily, he had burn wounds on his arms and not much chakra left due to his body unable to store that much chakra. The bandages on his arms were scorched, but he still had his mother's cloak, one of the few things he was able to salvage from his former home. This was the thought that was on his mind, he wished to return home, to go back in time, to return to that era.
The enemies did not take long to catch up with him, they were after him, for it was easy for them to catch a tired ninja.
'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'.
Three clouds of smoke appeared, from which three exact copies of Toru emerged. Together with his clones, they descended to the lowest part, blending in with the people walking around the place, this gave him a chance to escape, so now he could go to his destination without being interrupted for a moment.
***
He opened the window of his small apartment and stepped inside. He almost collapsed due to his condition, but he stood upright and took some scrolls out of the closet. He quickly opened them and threw all the things he could see upwards. He clasped his hands together, completing a seal and then....
"Seal! Seal! Seal!"
Everything his eyes could see was stored in the scrolls. Six scrolls in all. He looked at them for a second, as then his gaze remained fixed on the cabinet where that trunk with the few things he had retrieved from his former home sat.
He opened the cabinet and pulled out the trunk. Inside it, there was an engagement ring, golden and shining like the sun, with a small heart-shaped ruby fused to the golden metal.
He took a small string and tied the ring around his neck as if it were a necklace.
'Okaa-sama...'
Inside the trunk was also a picture of the main family of the Asahi clan. Asahi Kyoko, Asahi Toru and... Kitamura Kenji, who later went by the Asahi surname due to his marriage to the clan's heiress.
Toru saw this and squeezed the photo frame gently. However, he put the photo back where it was, sighed and touched his head painfully.
'Why is this happening to me?'
He couldn't understand no matter how much he thought about the situation.
Danzo had set him up, but despite that, he acted recklessly in discovering the identity of the man with the bandaged arm, attacking him without even a second thought. He had clearly read it in the documents, Danzo's name was there, along with the name of the elders of the Konoha Council and Sarutobi Hiruzen.
They were somehow involved in the murder of the Asahi clan, especially Danzo, Toru knew, the truth behind everything that happened that night when blood stained the walls of his house.
"Asahi Toru, come out of the apartment and surrender your weapons, or we will be forced to use force."
A voice was heard outside the house. He sighed tiredly as he closed the trunk, he looked at it for a second before his mouth let out a few words.
"Looks like I won't be able to take everything."
He stood up due to kneeling to see the contents of the trunk. He held the daggers in his hands and Shigan's light intensified, he looked at the door and squinted.
Meanwhile, outside the apartment, the masked ninjas were waiting for Toru. They knew he was inside, for they had already killed the three clones that were used as a distraction. Now they waited for him, holding weapons in their hands, ready to attack.
Clang!
The shuriken were stopped by the edge of the katana.
At that instant, Toru came out of the window like a swift shadow. Almost instantly, he disappeared into thin air, materializing again behind the masked men. He saw them for a second as he ran at full speed.
Everyone thought Toru was too fast for his age, however, that thought was now unimportant, as right now they had to capture him alive or, at the very least, with his head intact, so they could extract the eyes of death from his face.
Thus, the chase resumed.
Toru was ahead of everyone by twenty meters. The people below watched as a large number of ninjas chased a single one, so they quickly deduced that it was a criminal who had escaped, so most of them applauded the work of the masked ninjas.
One of them gave a small wave to the villagers, then waved his hand, indicating to everyone not to pay attention to them.
And, although Toru was tired, he had enough energy to escape and fight at the same time. Even so, his mind reminded him again and again of everything he had experienced up to this point.
The cold expression on his face slowly changed to one of worry and as part of his hair covered his face, he found himself back in that place, that endless sea of blood with the crimson sun rising in the sky.
He ran through the vast sea without holding back.
Drops of blood splashed every time his feet touched the ground. In addition, behind him there were about a hundred shadows chasing him. It was difficult to see their faces, as they wore masks, but despite that he could easily distinguish the weapons their hands held.
Katana, shuriken, kunai, staff, the weapons that most ninjas used.
Toru sighed seeing this and questioned himself.
'What will happen if I let them catch me...will they kill me? will they gouge out my eyes? will they beat me like my past life's mother did? will they break my mind? will they turn me into useless, eyeless trash? is that what will happen to me? all because I fell into a trap? what is this...why do I feel this way?!'
He touched his chest, right where his heart is. He tightened his cloak a little as he increased his speed so as not to be caught.
When he realized, he was no longer in that place full of blood. He had returned to reality.
He was jumping between the branches of the trees, at the same time, the small army of ninjas were chasing him relentlessly.
He looked at the road with nothing else to do.
'I... What have I been doing all this time? I don't understand... Why am I being treated like a criminal? I haven't done anything to be treated like this... Until now, I had completed missions together with Yamato-sensei, Hinata and Ino. Then why...'
Night slowly began to fall over the land. Everything was getting darker around him, just like the darkness that was embracing him right now.
He remembered... he remembered again what he read in those documents.
'Itachi was not to blame...'