Akatsuki Hiden; Prologue; Part 2
In the valley, the wind dances over the splashing river water without a care in the world. Beside the valley, spreads a dense forest, many trees counting one hundred years or older. Those who wander through the forest are guided by faint light trickling through the leaves of these large trees.
Resting within the shelter of these trees sat a boy who, while appearing mature for his age, could not yet be considered an adult. His name is Uchiha Sasuke.
The story of Sasuke Uchiha and his desire for revenge, his overwhelming hatred, and his lonely life is a story for another time.
Currently, armed with the knowledge of his wrongdoings, with the goal of re-examining himself and his world view, he is traveling the Ninja World by himself.
It was thanks to Uzumaki Naruto that Sasuke, who was once captured in darkness, was now able to walk in the Sun. The same Sun that shines of Konohagakure. Sasuke, who had attempted to sever the bonds that connected his heart to Naruto and Konohagakure was stopped by Naruto. Thanks to Naruto, Sasuke is who he is now.
However, it was not only Naruto who helped him.
No matter how many times she was coldy pushed aside, Haruno Sakura was always there, like the sun on a warm spring day, bestowing upon his frozen heart an earnest love. Even Hatake Kakashi, Sasuke’s mentor and leader of Team 7, continued to trust Sasuke. There were countless others who helped pull Sasuke out of his darkness.
Sasuke walked through the forest, breathing in the refreshing air. Eventually, he saw a stronger light at the treeline.
“Hm? That must be the end of the forest,” he thought.
As he exited the forest and entered the light he was surprised by the scene spread before him. There, in front of him stood a young tree about his height.
“…The forests child, huh?” He murmured. He considered the sapling as the brilliant sunlight flowed over it. Not only that…
“White flowers…” At the base of the sapling, grew a thick carpet of beautiful white flowers.
The friendly wind carries with it the scent of flowers and the overall scene tempts Sasuke to make the acquaintance of the sapling. It is no small thing that viewing this scene would bring a sense of calm to the younger man. Only a while ago, Sasuke would not have gotten joy from this scene. Nor would he have noticed the existence of the flowers. While reflecting on his past oversights, Sasuke carefully avoided trampling the flowers by standing on his other foot.
“Let’s go!! Time to play paper shuriken!!”
Sasuke heard a loud and youthful voice approaching. A young boy, perhaps seven or eight, approached the sapling, weaving through the flowers. Sasuke noticed that he was wearing a striped hat.
“Fwoosh!” The boy made his own loud sound effects as he threw something with all his strength. Sasuke looked closer and realized that the boy was throwing paper folded to look like a shuriken. Of course, this was simply a harmless toy. While the boy obviously meant for the shuriken to fly straight, the strong wind blowing from the valley tore it to shreds.
“Waaaa! Look what happened!”
A little ways away another boy spoke up from where he was standing. This boy appeared to be more than ten years old. He had an intelligent face, but staggered and clutched his chest as if he was hit by a real shuriken.
“Wow! My shuriken technique actually killed you, Omitsu-nii!”
“You would like to think so, wouldn’t you Komitsu?”
From their manner of speaking, Sasuke gathered that these two boys were brothers. Omitsu being the older brother and Komitsu being the younger.
“Well, now it’s my turn,” Omitsu gathered the scattered paper shuriken that Komitsu had just thrown.
“You won’t land a hit on me!” Komitsu challenged while running away.
“I’m sorry little brother but you cannot defeat me.” Omitsu smiled at his younger brother and let the paper shuriken fly. He had skillfully thrown them so that the wind carried them towards their target. “Gottcha!” Omitsu exclaimed as the shuriken hit Komitsu’s hat.
“What the– why do you always win?!”
“You say that like you got hurt.”
“The Shuriken hit my head brother!”
“What a shame. Oh look! There’s something at your feet.” Omitsu pointed out a paper shuriken that had fallen on top of the flowers.
“Aaahh. I wanna look like you when you throw! Omitsu-nii, what’s your secret?” Komitsu looked down at the shuriken shyly.
“Knack, hm? I guess I just have good luck!”
“Liar! You should teach me!!”
Omitsu gave Komitsu a troubled smile and stroked his head. That simple gesture and facial expression brought to the surface Sasuke’s own painful memories of his own brother and role model, Itachi.
“Why do you always treat me like a child?” Komitsu pouted and went to pick up the paper shuriken. However, the strong wind blowing from the mountains swept the small paper shuriken away. “Hey Hey, wait up!” Komitsu reached out with both hands, tracking the flying paper with his eyes. However, the paper shuriken would did not stop.
“Komitsu!” Omitsu went pale, “There’s a cliff!”
Komitsu, who had been looking upwards at the flying shuriken, suddenly realized he was on the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley. Upon seeing the bottom of the ravine, he froze.
“Komitsu!” Omitsu began to run towards where Komitsu was frozen. However, another strong gust of wind tore apart the flowers and rushed towards Komitsu, pushing him over the edge. Omitsu reached frantically to catch Komitsu, but did not make it in time.
Komitsu closed his eyes as he and the paper shuriken plummeted towards the valley floor. “Open your eyes,” said a voice that Komitsu could only imagine would be Death coming to take him to the afterlife. However, it was Sasuke who was talking.
“Wh-Who are you?” Komitsu stared at Sasuke with round, surprised eyes. This man was literally standing horizontal to the water and valley floor with his feet attached to the cliff face! He was grasping Komitsu’s clothing in his hands.
“K-Komitsu?!” Omitsu appeared at the top of the cliff and then stoped and stared at the two in amazement. Sasuke merely walked up the cliff and deposited Komitsu safely at the top. The spell of tension dropped and both Komitsu and Omitsu collapsed into each other hugging and crying.
“Komitsu! You need to be careful and actually look when you move around! It could be dangerous!” Despite his scolding, Omitsu looked deeply relieved. Noticing Sasuke still standing there, Omitus bowed deeply while Komitus mimicked his deep bow. “Thank you so much for saving my brother, Komitsu!”
Sasuke looked down at the two brothers and then held something out. He had also rescued the paper shuriken.
“Oh! My paper shuriken!” Komitsu took the toy and looked up at Sasuke with curious eyes. “You’re a ninja aren’t you? You have Naruto eyes!”
This unexpected statement caused Sasuke’s eyes to widen. He looked at Komitsu startled, “Naruto…?”
“Yeah! You’re eyes are very swirly!” Somehow, Sasuke’s Rinnegan made Komitsu think of narutomaki. “So, are you a ninja?”
As Sasuke reminded himself to grow out his bangs to hide his eyes better, he responded to Komitsu’s question: “Yeah.”
“Wow! That’s amazing! Ninja’s are so cool!” Despite being in mortal danger mere moments ago, Komitsu was swept up in new excitement. “I wanna become a ninja too! Can you teach me Ninjutsu?”
“What are you going on about Komitsu? I’m so sorry. We rarely see people outside our family so Komitsu thinks it’s all a game. Please pay him no mind,” Omitsu gently pushed the pestering Komitsu aside. However, Komitsu only moved closer to Sasuke.
“Omitsu-nii, it’s not play! It’s training!” Komitsu’s bald insistence reminded Sasuke of his own youth. Hadn’t he looked at his own brother Itachi in the same way?
“Hmmm…” Sasuke breathed out and extended his hand for Komitsu’s paper shuriken. “Okay, give it to me.”
“Yes!” Komitsu happily handed the toy to Sasuke.
Sasuke quietly turned to observe the wind blowing from the valley as well as the whirling flower petals. He took aim and threw the paper shuriken towards the flower petals. Of course, his smooth throw could not even compare to the amateur efforts of the brothers. In fact, the paper shuriken even impaled one of the whirling flower petals. Both brothers stared open-mouthed at this display of skill.
“Despite being made of paper…” Omitsu gasped. He also assumed that Sasuke had not been using chakra and only his natural arm power.
“Naruto-nii! That was amazing!” Komitsu exclaimed as he gathered up the paper shuriken and shredded flower petals.
“My name. It’s Sasuke.” As expected, Sasuke couldn’t bear to be called Naruto.
Komitsu looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, then smiled wide and laughed, “OK Sasuke-nii!”
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