The sunflower had become sentient.
Okay, not actually sentient. Probably. Haruto was like 80% sure it wasn't sentient.
But it was definitely *aware* of him in a way that was starting to get creepy.
"Haru, sweetie," his mother said one morning, staring at the balcony with barely concealed panic. "Your sunflower is taller than me now."
She wasn't exaggerating. The sunflower had reached six feet overnight. Its stalk was as thick as Haruto's arm, and the flower head—which had finally bloomed—was the size of a dinner plate.
It was magnificent.
It was also completely out of control.
"We need to do something about this," his father said, eyeing the plant like it might attack at any moment. "Before it breaks through the balcony railing and becomes the neighbors' problem."
*Or,* Haruto thought, *we could let it grow and see what happens. For science.*
"Can you... make it stop growing?" his mother asked Haruto hopefully.
Haruto looked at the sunflower. He'd been feeding it growth energy every day without really thinking about it. It had become routine—wake up, touch sunflower, think *grow*, go about his day.
Apparently, he'd been doing this for three weeks.
*Oops.*
He walked onto the balcony and placed his hand on the stalk. Instead of *grow*, he thought: *Stop.*
The sunflower didn't respond.
He tried again. *Stop growing. Please.*
Nothing.
*Okay, so apparently I can turn plants on but not off. That's a design flaw.*
"Well?" his father called.
"Can't," Haruto admitted.
His parents exchanged a look that clearly said: *What have we created?*
"Right," his mother said in her I'm-trying-not-to-panic voice. "Okay. We'll just... we'll figure this out. Maybe we can transplant it? To a park? Or a forest? Somewhere with more room?"
"We live in an apartment building in the middle of the city," his father pointed out. "The nearest forest is forty minutes away."
"Then we make it work! We're adaptable people!"
*My mother is in denial,* Haruto thought. *This is fine. Everything is fine. We definitely don't have a giant sunflower that's going to take over the balcony and possibly the entire building.*
The doorbell rang, and Haruto's mother practically ran to answer it.
It was Inko and Izuku.
"I brought snacks!" Inko held up a container of cookies. "I thought we could—" She stopped, staring past them at the balcony. "Is that a sunflower?"
"Yes," Haruto's mother said weakly.
"It's enormous!"
"Yes."
"That's... that's actually quite concerning."
"YES."
Izuku, meanwhile, had pushed past the adults and was now standing in front of the sunflower with stars in his eyes.
"Haru-kun!" He turned around, absolutely glowing with excitement. "You grew this?! This is AMAZING! It's so big! And healthy! And—and—and the flower is perfect!"
*At least someone appreciates my work,* Haruto thought.
"Izuku, sweetie," Inko said carefully, "maybe stand back from the giant plant?"
"But it's so cool!" Izuku was now trying to hug the stalk, which was too thick for his arms to wrap around. "Haru-kun, you're gonna be such a strong hero! If you can grow plants this big, you could—you could—oh! You could grow a tree to stop a villain! Or make a flower big enough to catch falling people! Or—"
"Or accidentally destroy our balcony," Haruto's father muttered.
"Don't be negative, Kenji," his mother chided, though she was still staring at the sunflower with concern.
"I'm being realistic. That thing weighs more than our couch. The balcony wasn't designed for this."
As if on cue, there was a very concerning *creak* from somewhere beneath the sunflower's pot.
Everyone froze.
"Was that...?" Inko started.
"The balcony," Haruto's father confirmed. "Definitely the balcony."
*Okay, so maybe I went too far with the growth thing,* Haruto admitted to himself. *But in my defense, I didn't know I could actually grow something this big. This is new information.*
"We need to move it," his mother decided. "Now. Before it falls and takes out Mrs. Tanaka's herb garden on the balcony below."
"Move it where?" his father asked. "It's six feet tall and probably weighs two hundred pounds!"
"I don't know! Outside! The park! Anywhere but here!"
While the adults argued about sunflower logistics, Haruto approached the plant. He placed both hands on the stalk and focused.
He couldn't stop it from growing. But maybe he could... communicate with it? That sounded insane, but then again, everything about his current situation was insane.
*Listen,* he thought at the sunflower. *You need to calm down. Stop growing. You're freaking everyone out.*
The sunflower swayed slightly in the windless air.
*I'm serious. You're gonna break the balcony. We'll both fall. That's bad for everyone.*
Another sway, and Haruto swore he felt something like... acknowledgment? Agreement?
*Am I actually talking to a plant?* he wondered. *Have I finally lost it?*
The sunflower stopped swaying.
Haruto stepped back, and for the first time in three weeks, he didn't feel the urge to make it grow. The connection was still there, but it felt... settled. Calm.
*Huh. So apparently, I can communicate with plants. That's either really cool or a sign that I'm going insane. Possibly both.*
"Haru?" His mother noticed him stepping away. "What did you do?"
"Talked to it," Haruto said honestly.
The adults stared at him.
"You... talked to it," his father repeated slowly.
"Yeah."
"And it... understood?"
"Maybe."
"Sweetie," his mother knelt down to his level. "Plants can't understand human speech."
*Tell that to the sunflower that just agreed to stop growing,* Haruto thought, but he just shrugged.
Inko looked thoughtful. "Actually, some plant quirks do involve a level of communication. There was a hero back in my day—Blossom, I think—who could sense what plants needed. Water, sunlight, nutrients. It's not that far-fetched."
"But he's one year old," Haruto's father said. "His quirk isn't even fully manifested yet."
"Early bloomers exist," Inko said. "No pun intended."
*Her puns are worse than Dad's,* Haruto thought. *I'm surrounded by terrible pun-makers.*
Izuku, who'd been quiet during this exchange, suddenly gasped. "Haru-kun! If you can talk to plants, does that mean you can make them do stuff? Like—like commands?"
*Kid's got good instincts,* Haruto thought. *That's exactly what it means. Eventually.*
"Don't know," Haruto said, because admitting he'd been essentially training a sunflower seemed like a bad idea.
"You should test it!" Izuku pulled out a notebook from his pocket—because of course he carried a notebook everywhere—and started writing. "We need to document your quirk's abilities! For science!"
*The kid is four years old and already taking field notes. He's going to be a terrifying analyst when he grows up.*
"Maybe later, Izuku," Inko said gently. "Right now, we need to figure out what to do about the sunflower before it becomes a safety hazard."
---
What followed was the most chaotic moving operation Haruto had ever witnessed.
His father called in favors from three coworkers. Between the five adults, they managed to carefully maneuver the massive sunflower—pot and all—down the stairs and into the street.
Haruto watched from his mother's arms as they struggled with his creation.
*This is my fault,* he thought. *I made a six-foot sunflower in a tiny apartment balcony. I am the problem.*
"Where are we taking it?" one of his father's coworkers asked, sweating profusely.
"The park," Haruto's mother decided. "They have that community garden section. We can plant it there."
"Will they let us?"
"They will if we donate it as a 'community beautification project.'"
*My mother is really good at spin,* Haruto observed. *She should work in PR.*
The procession to the park was quite a sight. Five adults carrying a giant sunflower, two toddlers walking alongside, and a growing crowd of curious neighbors following them.
"Is that the Senju's kid's quirk work?"
"I heard he grew that in three weeks!"
"Three weeks?! That's incredible!"
"Or terrifying. Could be terrifying."
*Both,* Haruto thought. *It's definitely both.*
Mrs. Tanaka, the elderly woman from the floor below, intercepted them on the street.
"Is this the plant that's been dropping seeds on my balcony?" she demanded.
"We're moving it now," Haruto's mother said apologetically. "I'm so sorry for the inconvenience."
"Inconvenience? I have sunflowers sprouting in my herb garden! Sunflowers I didn't plant!"
*Oh no.*
"The seeds spread?" his father asked weakly.
"Of course they spread! That's what seeds do!" Mrs. Tanaka pointed at Haruto. "You tell that child to control his quirk before he turns the entire building into a greenhouse!"
"Yes, ma'am," Haruto's mother said. "We're working on it."
Mrs. Tanaka huffed and marched back inside, muttering about "kids these days" and "uncontrolled quirks."
*I've made an enemy,* Haruto thought. *A sixty-year-old enemy with a vendetta against my sunflowers.*
They finally reached the park, where the community garden coordinator—a man with a flower-growth quirk himself—took one look at the sunflower and burst out laughing.
"How old's your kid?" he asked Haruto's parents.
"One," his mother said.
"ONE?!" The coordinator laughed harder. "Oh man, you're in for a wild ride when his quirk fully manifests. That's some serious growth acceleration!"
*Thank you, stranger,* Haruto thought sarcastically. *Very reassuring.*
They planted the sunflower in the community garden, where it immediately became the tallest plant by a significant margin. The coordinator assured them he'd keep an eye on it and let them know if it caused any problems.
"Though honestly," he said, grinning, "this is the healthiest sunflower I've ever seen. Your kid's got talent."
*Talent or obsession,* Haruto thought. *Potato, potahto.*
On the walk home, Izuku wouldn't stop talking about the sunflower.
"—and did you see how strong the stalk was? That means you could grow really sturdy structures! And the flower was huge! Huge flowers probably mean you could grow huge other things! Like trees! Giant trees! You could make a forest, Haru-kun! A whole forest!"
*Kid, if you keep giving me ideas, I'm going to accidentally grow a forest, and then we'll really be in trouble.*
"Izuku, honey, let Haru-kun rest," Inko said. "It's been a very eventful morning."
"But Mama! This is important! For his future hero career!"
*My future villain career, you mean,* Haruto thought, then immediately felt bad. *No, no. Hero career. I'm going to be a hero. A hero who eliminates threats permanently. That's still a hero. Technically.*
When they got back to the apartment, the balcony looked painfully empty.
"Well," his father said, staring at the vacant spot. "That was an experience."
"At least we still have the tomatoes and basil," his mother offered.
They all looked at the other pots, which Haruto had largely ignored in favor of his sunflower project.
The tomatoes had sprouted. And grown. And were now producing actual tomatoes despite being planted less than a month ago.
The basil had also flourished, creating a bush so thick it looked like it belonged in a greenhouse.
"Haru," his mother said slowly. "Have you been... helping these plants too?"
*Maybe a little,* Haruto thought. *Just casual touching. Light encouragement. Nothing major.*
"Sometimes," he admitted.
His father pinched the bridge of his nose again. He'd been doing that a lot lately.
"New rule," his mother announced. "No touching plants without permission. Not until you learn proper control."
*But—*
"No buts. You're too young to be growing six-foot sunflowers. It's not safe."
*I grew a six-foot sunflower and it was fine,* Haruto wanted to argue. *Well, fine-ish. Eventually fine. After we moved it.*
But his mother had that look—the one that meant arguing was futile—so Haruto just nodded.
"Good boy," she kissed his forehead. "Now, let's have those cookies Inko brought. I think we all need a snack after that adventure."
As they went inside, Haruto glanced back at the balcony one more time.
The empty space where his sunflower had been seemed to mock him.
*I'll get better at control,* he promised himself. *No more accidental giant plants. Probably.*
*Definitely.*
*Maybe.*
*This is going to keep happening, isn't it?*
---
That night, Haruto had a dream.
He was standing in a forest. Not a normal forest—everything was too big, too green, too alive. The trees towered overhead, their branches forming a canopy that blocked out the sky.
And he could feel all of it.
Every tree, every bush, every blade of grass. They were all connected to him, humming with energy and potential.
"Impressive," a voice said.
Haruto turned to see a man standing behind him. Tall, with long dark hair and red armor. His eyes were kind despite the scar across his face.
*Hashirama Senju.*
The First Hokage. The God of Shinobi. The original wielder of Mokuton.
*I'm dreaming,* Haruto realized. *This isn't real.*
"Real enough," Hashirama said, smiling. "You've been given quite a gift."
"A gift?" Haruto looked down at his toddler hands. "I can barely control it."
"Control comes with practice. Power comes with time." Hashirama gestured to the forest. "You have the potential for greatness. The question is: what will you do with it?"
*Save people. Stop villains. Change this world for the better.*
"By any means necessary?" Hashirama's expression grew serious. "Be careful, young one. Power without restraint becomes tyranny. And good intentions can pave the way to terrible things."
"So what am I supposed to do?" Haruto demanded. "Just watch? Let people die when I could save them?"
"Save them, yes. But don't lose yourself in the process." Hashirama knelt down to Haruto's level. "The greatest strength isn't in your quirk. It's in knowing when to use it—and when to show mercy."
*Mercy,* Haruto thought bitterly. *Mercy is what gets people killed.*
"Mercy is what makes us human," Hashirama corrected, as if reading his thoughts. "Without it, you're just another monster with power."
The forest began to fade, and Haruto felt himself being pulled back to consciousness.
"Wait!" he called out. "I have questions!"
Hashirama's smile was sad. "You'll find your own answers. Trust yourself. But more importantly, trust those around you."
"I don't—"
"Wake up, Haruto. Your sunflower misses you."
---
Haruto woke with a start, breathing hard.
*What was that?*
A dream. Obviously a dream. Hashirama Senju was a fictional character from Naruto, not an actual person who could visit him in his sleep.
But it had felt so real.
*I'm overthinking this,* Haruto decided. *It was just my subconscious processing everything. The sunflower incident. The quirk development. My general existential crisis about becoming a morally grey pseudo-hero.*
*Normal toddler stuff.*
He lay there for a while, staring at the fake stars on his ceiling.
Hashirama's words echoed in his mind: *"Mercy is what makes us human."*
*But what if mercy gets people killed?* Haruto wondered. *What if showing mercy to one villain means they kill ten innocent people later?*
There was no good answer. Just a series of impossible choices he'd have to make.
Eventually.
When he was old enough to actually do something about any of this.
*For now,* Haruto thought, *I'm just a toddler who accidentally grew a six-foot sunflower and traumatized his neighbors.*
*Baby steps. Literally.*
He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but all he could see was that forest, alive with potential.
And Hashirama's sad smile, like he knew something Haruto didn't.
*This is going to be a long childhood,* Haruto thought.
Somewhere in the park, his sunflower swayed in the night breeze, taller than ever.
---