The aftermath

__1 month later at the Uragiru's residence__

It was early in the morning,the sun was still hidden,Kuki woke up extra early today because of the pain in his healing wound. It's been like this for the past few weeks.

The pain gradually lessened, but the feeling of how helpless he was In the grasps of Yonbara continued to haunt him.

In the past month,Kuki had been constantly visiting his father in the village's hospital many times,his dad was no longer able to walk again because of his spine injury and he had one of his arms amputated by the madman he and Isane encountered.

Seeing the state of his father,Kuki came to a harsh realization,in the shinobi world,being weak is a sin.He vowed to get stronger to protect his family and Hanabi Hyuga whom he plans to meet in a few years.

When Kuki first visited his father,he noticed that Higeki's expression had never wavered from his usual bubbly and optimistic self.But as his son,Kuki knows that Higeki is suffering,he had to held back his tears to keep up a strong image.Because of his dad refusal to express himself truthfully,from then on,every time Kuki visits his dad,he would cry as hard as he could so his father doesn't have to.

Kuki's mother and grandfather had noticed this too but didn't mention it,knowing that it's necessary for Higeki's recovery.

Compared to his father,Kuki's wound wasn't too bad but it was still too much for a kid to bear.His mouth ripped from the right corner of his mouth to below his cheeks causing him,the position of his wound causes Kuki immense pain whenever he drank or eat anything.Due to this,Kuki refrain from eating and drinking for as much as he could,in just the span of just a month,Kuki lost 12 pounds.

Ever since that day,to cover up his healing wound,Kuki had been wearing bandages wrapping around his neck right above his nose.As for why it wasn't just around his mouth,Kuki thought that wrapping this way felt cooler.

Today was the day the doctors said that his scar healed completely,Kuki hurriedly lit the candles in his room to get a better look at how he would look without the bandages.

"Steel release: Hanabi knife creation justu"Putting his hands into the triangle seal his mother taught him,Kuki gathered and formed his gray chakra creating a knife with the image of a chibi Hanabi ingrained in it out of thin air before catching it.

With a very sharp and strangely cute knife in hand,Kuki carefully slits the bandages wrapping his face open while humming to himself the melody of a lullaby of the shinobi world that his mother used to sing to him.

After putting the bandage scraps into the trash bin,Kuki returned to his desk,opening the drawers as he pulled out a mirror while he closed his eyes.

'Here goes nothing' Kuki anxiously thought to himself while he opened his eyelids while directly facing the mirror.

He stared at the mirror in a daze,the scar on the right side of his mouth was hideous and grotesque,causing Kuki to immediately run to the bathroom just to throw up.

"I'm…..hideous"Kuki thought to himself while frowning.