Chapter 78: A Cold Night

A day passed since Toru visited Tsunade in her office. Somehow he managed to convince her to help with Lee's operation, after having a small debate about cell regeneration. The event almost ended in a fist fight.

Although it seems that in the end, everything ends up in Toru's favor.

Now that he had managed to convince Tsunade, all that remained was to carry out the operation successfully in order to investigate the Hokage mansion.

'I'm surprised that the Hokage agreed so easily. After talking for two hours about the odds of success, in the end we got 68% chance of success. If we add my Shigan to that, the odds increase to 73%. Using my eyes, I will be able to see the death lines on Lee's body, so I can prevent the operation from failing. If I have Shigan, Lee won't die'.

Everything has gone well up to this point. Now all that was left was to convince Lee to accept the operation. Although he didn't quite know how he was going to convince him, he's not good at talking to people, in fact, he was lucky he wasn't left in the hospital after talking to Tsunade, since, earlier, during their little debate about cells, she almost ended up hitting Toru.

'It's always hard to talk to those kinds of people. Now, I must hurry, I have to find Rock Lee.'

***

Effort can beat natural talent, that's what he always wanted to prove, but in the end his efforts proved futile. There is always someone who manages to surpass him.

'Toru...'

Lee clenched his fists tightly as he recalled the final test of the chunin exams. In that test, Toru proved to be one of the strongest ninja of the new generation. He is a prodigy, it's impossible to deny it.

Taijutsu and ninjutsu, Toru had a perfect control of these two skills. He was an almost perfect ninja, a talented ninja.

'I'll never be able to surpass them... Toru, Naruto... Sasuke...'

Each of those thoughts made him feel like crying. Knowing that he would never be able to be a ninja again had broken his heart. His will was breaking, darkness was taking over him. He was miserable...

But, then, like a small breeze announcing that night would soon descend upon the land, a black-cloaked figure appeared in front of him. His eyes glowed blue like the sky, showing him the golden lines all over existence. His scarf, as well as his cloak, danced to the rhythm of the wind.

Lee looked up and saw him.

"...Toru...?"

Lee's eyes slowly widened. He had a feeling he looked pathetic right now.

Toru looked at him standing on that metal bar. He was a little taller, so he had to lower his gaze so he could see Rock Lee.

The evening light gradually illuminated all of Konoha. Toru kept quiet, Lee did the same.

'Having to look up at him... I feel inferior...'

Lee smiled slightly as he wiped away the tears that peeked out of the corners of his eyes.

"Toru, what a coincidence..."

I lean my back on the bench while looking up at the ceiling.

He wanted to hide how he felt right now, but it was hard having someone watching him.

"Wrong, it's not a coincidence."

"Huh?"

"I just came to talk a little. I knew where to find you after doing a little research on you."

"If I think about it... that sounds a little creepy."

It seemed that this boy was recovering after hearing Tsunade's diagnosis, but this left some doubts in Toru.

"Hm... from your point of view, possibly."

After standing on the metal bar for a few seconds, Toru took a seat next to Lee.

"Haha... this is weird, don't you think?"

"I guess, everyone perceives reality as they please. I, for example, since I've been in Team 11, I see the world as if everything is painted in bright colors. With the sunlight gently hitting the earth and the morning breeze caressing the leaves of the trees."

Lee found this odd to hear. When he first met Toru, he saw a lonely, somber boy, even when surrounded by people, that's the aura Toru gave off. He didn't talk much, and if he did he always made everyone uncomfortable, the words he used were always too complex, as if he was a book writer.

But now that I could talk to him... it was different somehow. There was no trace of that boy with the shady personality anymore.

"What about you, how do you perceive reality now that you can't continue to work as a ninja?"

This was a question that made Lee lower his gaze sadly. He didn't know how to answer this question, but he still tried.

"It's like the world is black and white... with shades of gray that remind me how pathetic I am..."

"Hm... that's a somewhat curious answer considering how you used to act in the past. Someone who was this enthusiastic about taijutsu shouldn't see the world in that color... Where there are problems, there will always be a solution, you just have to look hard enough."

"Search... What should I search for...?"

This question almost made Toru smile, as this was going just as he planned earlier while heading to this place.

"Answers... it's that easy. You just have to look for an answer to everything you're suffering from..."

Looking down at his arms, Toru slowly began to remove the bandages. Lee watched this intently and, then, his eyes widened in disbelief.

'Scars?'

Different cuts and healed wounds were on Toru's arms. He could easily deduce that these scars were caused by years of training and deathmatches with enemies.

Toru had no talent, he got all this by training.

From the beginning, Toru was unable to use ninjutsu. He also had no way of knowing his affinity with the elements, but when he discovered it, he trained so much, that in the end he was able to create his own Kekkei Genkai. He was able to become strong by training too much, and those scars were the proof of it. Toru possesses a ninjutsu that causes injuries to his arms and legs, but over time he learned to control it, until this moment.

Lee was wrong to judge Toru, deducing that he was just talented.

"You were right, Lee. Effort is capable of overcoming natural talent. You know that better than anyone, and I understand you."

Lee looked at the ground, he was still trying to process this information. Someone who also grew stronger with effort, that was Toru, someone who understands Lee.

"Well, the search for the answer is left in your hands. You decide what to do, right now I have to go, as it seems someone else wants to talk to you."

He looked at the man with big eyebrows, Guy, who was waiting at the entrance of the place.

"See you later" Toru said waving goodbye, then took a small jump, reaching the roof of one of the nearby houses.

For a second, Lee looked surprised, but with this and Guy's intervention, Toru could be sure that this guy would accept the surgery.

'It was quicker than I thought. That's good, I guess. The color dilemma was a good explanation to get Lee thinking about what's going on and, if all goes well, tomorrow he should be in front of Tsunade asking for the surgery...'

Toru's chance to find out what happened that night five years ago was closer than he thought. Right now, he just had to wait patiently.

-Days later-

Time progressed normally. Rock Lee's surgery was a complete success, right now, he was in Konoha hospital, slowly recovering. Eventually he would be able to return to work as a ninja, so there was nothing to worry about.

Sitting on the roof of the hospital, Toru was thinking seriously about what he would do next. Now that he had managed to gain some of Tsunade's trust, he would have a better chance of getting the information he wanted.

'It's a little weird... It's weird to think that I cut open a child's back with a scalpel... I've done it in my past life with other people, but now I feel a little strange. Could it be because I still have the brain of a child?"

He folded his arms as he took a breath of air.

So far, Toru had killed over sixty people, so it was strange that he felt uncomfortable just thinking about his involvement in surgery.

'Well, now Lee will be able to continue working as a ninja. I also won a favor from the Hokage. Everything is going the way I want it to. Still, it's strange to think that no one has been spying on me these past few days. Still..."

The light in his eyes flared, the light of death.

"I plan to take care of the bastard who is spying on me shortly. Right now, I have to get started on my plan..."

Rising from that container of water, Toru looked at the landscape of Konoha and took a big leap.

While suspended in the air, he stretched out his hand, as if trying to reach for the clouds.

He closed his eyes and let the breeze caress his face. Then, after a long second, Toru was in free fall.

'Today... I will know the truth...'

Toru's body flashed in the sunlight, disappearing without a trace.

***

Every time he jumped on the tiles of the houses, they made a peculiar sound.

I already have my secret weapon, I just need to find that woman'.

Running on the wall, using the flow of chakra to be able to stick to the rock, Toru climbed the monument to the four Hokage.

He quickly appeared in front of the Hokage Mansion. He looked at it carefully while folding his arms.

'This starts now...'

***

Having to deal with all the tedious paperwork that came pouring into her office, Tsunade felt a little calmer knowing that the operation had been a success. Toru is very skilled with his hands, so much so that he even performed half of the surgery himself, which left her completely amazed. However, what made her more doubtful was Toru's shining eyes.

During the surgery, when Tsunade was going to cut a specific place with the scalpel, Toru grabbed her hand exerting a force that was not normal in a child of his age, no matter if he is a ninja, that force was not normal, obviously she overcame that force, but she still remembers what Toru said at that moment: "If you cut that, Lee will die".

Tsunade understood that Toru knew where to cut thanks to the dojutsu in his eyes. Somehow, this helped him to see the weak points in the human body, or so she thinks.

"Hm... What are you doing here?"

Just like that day, Toru arrived unannounced.

"I have a gift for you, Hokage-sama."

"Do you always bother people when they're busy?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to give this to you as a gift, take it as a reward for completing Lee's surgery successfully."

Reaching inside his cloak, Toru case a bottle with a clear liquid like water. However, there was something different, Tsunade could recognize that instantly. It was not water, but sake.

"Don't tell me you-"

"I didn't steal it, if that's what you're thinking. I bought it with my own money, it was hard to come by, no one wants to sell sake to a kid. I even had to leave Konoha to compare it in another town."

Tsunade looked at the bottle carefully. It was transparent, however, the smell of alcohol was strong, so much so that she could even smell the scent of sake being so far away.

"Okay, give it to me."

As a person with a problem with alcohol, Tsunade knew that this bottle of sake was special and above all, very expensive and hard to get. But Toru would not let this bottle slip out of her hands so easily.

"I have one condition. I need some books that I can only find here. If you allow me to read one or the other of those books, this bottle will be all yours."

"Tell me, what kind of books are you looking for?"

"Medical Ninjutsu, I'm interested in learning some of that."

"Okay, read whatever you want" Tsunade said, snatching the bottle from Toru's hands.

'Well done, now this will be easier'

Toru's plan, from the beginning was to do some research on possible places to find classified information, that is, information that only the Hokage has excess to.

This information could be in the least obvious place, so it wouldn't be in the library or the Hokage's office.

With this in mind, Toru let Tsunade enjoy her bottle of sake while he went out to explore the Mansion a bit.

Leaving the place, he encountered a man who had his right arm and eye bandaged. This man looked over his shoulder for a few seconds and then continued on his way.

Toru also looked at him for a moment, but decided to ignore him since he had things to do right now.

After a few minutes, he was able to walk through all the corridors he could access. Obviously some guards looked at him and asked him some questions, Toru managed to evade them by saying that he was leaving.

In the end, three suspected areas were found. Now it only remained to return at night, where the security of the mansion decreases drastically.

-Later in the evening-

Moving like a shadow through the trees, his footsteps provoked no sound. His cloak helped him to hide in the darkness and, in addition, his eyes help him to locate enemies easily.

He was behind a tree, observing everything in silence. He was waiting for the lairs to change shifts so he could infiltrate the mansion.

'This is where it ends, huh...'

His eyes twinkled slightly. The guards began their shift change and Toru took advantage of this to enter through one of the windows closest to the places he had previously analyzed.

His feet slowly touched the ground.

'Here we go, this shouldn't be that complicated. Hokage should be sleeping right now. With the sake I gave him, he should wake up at noon tomorrow, that's if he drank the whole bottle. I made sure to bring the replacement for the door lock I'm going to break.'

He moved down the hallway, maintaining the stealth of a true ninja.

On the way he encountered two sentries, but it wasn't that hard to evade them, he just had to hold onto the ceiling until those ninja changed their position.

'Ready, this is the first zone. I hope this is it, otherwise I'll lose time.'

Looking at the door in front of him, he pulled out the dagger he was hiding in his clothes and wrapped it in Shakuton. Slowly he cut the bolt, gaining access to this place.

Looking inside, he thought he had been lucky, after all, there were dozens of cabinets and shelves filled with different folders and documents.

'Looks like I wasn't wrong, now comes the hardest part, finding what I'm looking for.'

Toru closed the door being careful to cause as little noise as possible. After that, he quickly made his way to the shelves and began his search.

***

It seemed that the search had become futile. Right now, Toru had already gone through almost half of the documents, but found nothing regarding the Uchiha or Asahi clan.

'How long have I been here, two hours? If this continues like this, I won't find anything, what's more, they'll possibly find me before I find anything'

The search was endless, time was passing and this was not favorable.

"Wait... that over there is..."

A small sealed chest was among the shelves and cabinets, it was hidden due to the dust of so many years. It could hardly be seen among the darkness, but looking at the state of the chest, it was about four or five years old, just the time when the massacre of the Uchiha and Asahi clan happened.

The chest had about ten padlocks locked with different chains wrapped around the chest.

'In my past life, opening one of these was too easy.'

Remembering old tricks with needles, Toru opened the padlocks, revealing the contents of the chest.

'That's it!'

The dates on the corners of the leaves matched the year of the massacre. Only a few months after that event.

Toru felt his hands shaking, he was a little nervous, it almost seemed unreal that he had been able to get that information with a little patience and effort, but in the end it was all worth it, now he could find out what happened that night.

***

Outside the place, the night breeze was blowing. The moonlight covered the earth in its beautiful silver light, crickets and certain nocturnal insects began to emit the symphony of the night. The fireflies joined in this spectacle, accompanied by the darkness that showed through the trees with their eccentric light patterns.

At the same time, inside that Mansion...

Her hair covered her eyes. Her hands trembled and her breathing became shaky.

Slowly she clenched her hands, crumpling the sheets of paper.

'Damn...'

The contents of those papers... made Toru look at the floor unable to believe what he had read.