Night had completely fallen over the world. The moon was high in the sky, and the cold air was somehow comforting.
Finally, standing in front of the main Hyūga family's home, Toru looked at Hinata.
"I had a lot of fun..."
She looked down somewhat nervously, but Toru's answer reassured her.
"I had fun too."
Hearing this, Hinata raised her gaze and saw Toru's silver eyes. He was mysterious. A year had already passed, yet she was still discovering new things about this boy. He was interesting, and once you got to know him, he could even be funny. So hearing Toru say that he had enjoyed himself somehow made her happy. It was as if that feeling was mutual between the two of them.
However, a voice suddenly rang out. A man's voice called Hinata's name. She immediately reacted by looking down and tightly gripping the sleeves of her sweater.
Following this, the door behind her opened, and a black-haired man with white eyes, identical to Hinata's, stepped outside.
"Where have you been, Hinata?"
From the man's words, Toru could tell that Hinata was a little frightened. She tried to answer, but her voice was broken and even shyer than usual.
"You keep disappearing without telling anyone. I'll have to punish you for this behavior and... uh..."
The man realized that Toru was there. Well, he already knew someone else was present; he could see him with his eyes, but he didn't recognize the boy.
"Who are you, and why are you with my daughter?"
Judging by the man's stern tone, Toru immediately knew that if he didn't answer properly, he would get into trouble. So, he sighed and bowed.
"Please forgive my insolence. My name is Toru, and I'm the son of the Asahi clan leader. I've known Hinata for a long time. I walked her home because it's very late, and someone might try to hurt her."
The man's stern expression softened slightly.
"I see. So you're Kyoko-san's son. In that case, I have to thank you. Now go home. The son of a clan leader shouldn't be wandering around alone without protection."
"I understand. Thank you for your consideration. Good night."
After that, Hinata watched as Toru silently walked away through Konoha's lonely streets. She wished she could see him again tomorrow, but she would probably be punished for coming home late. In any case, father and daughter entered the house, but the man said nothing more after that.
The man, Hiashi, simply returned to the table, where dinner had already been served.
Hinata sat beside her younger sister, while Hiashi sat across from them. The three of them ate dinner in silence.
***
'Ha~. Okaa-sama is going to scold me again...'
He walked with his hands in his pockets, somewhat dejectedly staring at the ground. Although, well, if he managed to get into the house without her noticing, nothing would happen...
'As if that's possible...'
No matter what, Kyoko always managed to find Toru wherever he was, and that was quite an inconvenience. In the end, he only had to endure the next two hours of his mother's lecturing.
With every step he took, strangely enough, blood was spilled. He was getting closer to his home, but the more steps he took, the more corpses fell to the ground one after another.
***
The man's head rolled across the floor. He had already managed to kill them all. There was only one thing left...
He stealthily entered the room at the end of the hallway. He opened the door, and his eyes widened in disbelief when he saw her there. The woman had her back to the door, holding a cup of tea beside a half-eaten pastry filled with fruit.
The woman seemed to smile.
"So... this is what we've come to, isn't it, Itachi-kun?"
***
Toru was already outside the house. However, a strange smell reached his nostrils. He opened the gate to the Asahi clan compound, and his eyes widened when he saw the lifeless bodies of everyone from his clan. The doors and windows of the houses were open. There was blood on the ground and walls, along with shinobi weapons, as if some of them had tried to defend themselves.
'What is this...?'
He didn't understand the feeling that was beginning to form inside his heart. He felt a slight pain in his eyes, but even so, ignoring it, he continued walking farther and farther inside.
Everywhere he looked, he found nothing but the lifeless bodies of the shinobi from his clan. His breathing became heavier, and soon he found himself running.
He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. However, because of the strange and painful feeling inside him, he fell face-first onto the ground and scraped his forehead. When he raised his head, he was already standing in front of the gate to his home's garden, but that strange smell and that strange sensation were there as well.
With difficulty, he stood up and opened the garden gate. The first thing he saw were three slain shinobi guards, killed by shuriken. Toru had seen them before, but he never knew their names. He only knew that they protected everyone who lived here.
'What's happening here...?'
He still didn't understand, so he walked farther inside, entering the house.
As he passed through the hallway toward his mother's room, Toru's eyes widened in disbelief when he saw his father's head separated from his body. He felt his stomach twist, and inevitably, he vomited. He fell to his knees and clenched his fists tightly.
Although this man was an idiot, he was still his father. This only made the heartbreaking sensation in his heart grow stronger, causing his mind to begin wandering strangely. He touched his head in pain and stood up again. He continued walking and soon found himself in front of his mother's room. The door was open, and there was blood near it. That heartbreaking sensation in his chest, like a horrible pain that caused no physical damage, only grew stronger.
After hesitating again and again, he entered the room, and his eyes widened in shock. His feet were touching the blood of that woman...
"Okaa-sama..."
He took a step forward, and some of the blood splashed beneath his feet. Kyoko had her back against the floor, with a massive wound across her back. Her blood had spilled from her body and spread across the area near the door.
The boy moved closer and closer, then slowly took her into his arms. His eyes hurt, but that pain faded when he felt a different kind of pain. He clutched his chest in agony, and a tear rolled down his cheek.
"Okaa-sama, aren't you going to get angry with me for coming home late?"
His face was completely expressionless, but tears began streaming down his cheeks. This was a feeling he had never experienced before. It was painful. It was horrible.
"...Aren't you going to scold me, Okaa-sama...?"
He never received an answer. There was nothing but silence in that place.
He held her gently, and the pain in his eyes grew stronger. He dug his fingers into his mother's back, and for the first time in his entire life, an expression of pure rage appeared on his face.
'Who did this...? Who was it...? Who? Who? Who? Who?'
Toru's clothes became stained with his mother's blood.
"WHO THE HELL DID THIS?!"
He screamed as loudly as he could, but at that moment, the pain in his eyes became so intense that he passed out beside his mother's corpse.
—Elsewhere—
A bandage covered the man's arm and part of his face. He held his cane and looked at his subordinates.
"Bring me Asahi Kyoko's eyes. The others will take care of the Uchiha clan."
The shinobi standing before the man nodded and disappeared from his sight.
"Hm... The power of Death is mine now..."
—Days Later—
The leaders of different clans attended the funeral of the two clans, Uchiha and Asahi. Everyone was dressed in black, and the leaves began falling from the trees, their colors having turned brown, almost reddish, withering days after they fell to the ground.
The wind was strong, making Toru's scarf sway with it.
The last thing Toru remembered was finding his mother in that state, but everything afterward was blurry. He woke up in the hospital, and two days later, he was summoned to attend the funeral of his family.
The Hokage was also there. He spoke with Toru, but... what had he said? Toru wasn't in the mood to listen to anyone. He simply stared at his mother's grave with lifeless eyes.
'If only I had been there...'
He loosened his scarf slightly and slowly walked away from the place. Sasuke was standing in front of him. He approached and said something, but Toru ignored him once again.
'Toru... I promise... I promise he'll suffer... For your clan... For mine... For our revenge...'
Sasuke swore this because that day, he had lost a friend and his older brother.