Chapter 138: Blood on my hands (1)

"Ora!"

"Ha!"

Kicks, punches and swift skills of two aspiring shinobi kids cross each other. In front of that teenager, those two kids are giving all their chakra in order to beat the other.

"You're not going to win this time, Toru" Uchiha Sasuke smiled defiantly, with a glint in his eyes full of passion for the fight.

Unlike this kid, Toru just kept his poker face the whole time while evading and blocking Sasuke's punches.

The teenager watching them, Itachi, smiled at seeing the rivalry between these two boys. Little Toru doesn't think so, though. As it were, Sasuke is the one who strives to be stronger in taijutsu.

Bam!

Holding Sasuke's wrists, Toru bumped his head against his and looked him in the eyes. At the same time, Sasuke struggled to break free from Toru's grip while trying to push him away using his head, but this didn't seem to work.

Moreover, Toru's calm attitude at this moment irritated Sasuke, who gritted his teeth hard and stepped back a little and then slammed his head against Toru's a second time.

'¡¿?!' Itachi's eyes widened slightly when he saw blood splattering from the foreheads of these boys. This was no longer training, as Sasuke was beginning to despair at the sight of his own weakness. So, as an older brother, he interfered right away by stepping in between the two boys and pushing them to make them fall.

"Hah... hah... hah... hah..." He put his hand to his forehead and then looked at his with a frown. Blood was on his hand, the blood of... no, that was his own blood. "What the hell are you, is your skull made of stone or what!" It certainly hurt Sasuke quite a bit from the blow. After all he lunged hard to try and hurt Toru, but it backfired.

In response to this, Toru pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped off Sasuke's blood.

Itachi could only sigh at the sight.

"Sasuke..."

"It hurts!"

Letting out a small groan of pain after Itachi hit his forehead with two fingers, Sasuke touched his forehead.

"I had told you before that you must learn to control yourself, right? If you get carried away with your emotions, things go wrong, just like a few seconds ago."

"Itachi-san is right" Toru stood up and dusted off his clothes. "If you show impatience in a fight, everything will go against you."

Itachi saw that this observation was quite accurate. Toru is quite intelligent, a quick learner and his reaction speed is not normal. Basically, he is a taijutsu prodigy. If one does not take into account his ability to perform ninjutsu, Toru would be a great shinobi. It's a pity Kyoko won't allow him to attend the Shinobi Academy alongside Sasuke.

'Nee-san is quite strict with Toru. But... I can understand, I know better than anyone' The reason why Kyoko doesn't want her son to become a shinobi....

"Toru-chan!" A woman's voice echoed through the trees of the forest. Almost instantly, Toru's face became so pale and cold that he seemed to have died on the spot.

Sasuke saw this and smiled. Everyone knows that Toru hates being next to Kyoko, as she is... so to speak, very cloying.

Unnoticed, Toru was slowly walking in the opposite direction where the voice was heard, but Itachi looked at this and sighed. He instantly pointed at Toru and shouted, "Sasuke! Toru is trying to run away! Get him!"

"This is my revenge, Toru!" Sasuke jumped on top of Toru and held his arms. Toru's eyes widened when he heard someone's footsteps approaching, so he tried to free himself, but he was against the ground and couldn't move.

Sasuke smiled in pleasure at this. Although he lost to Toru before, but now this is his victory. Well, this happened because Toru was in his moment of weakness, so it was obvious that this would happen.

At last, the owner of the voice appeared and looked at Toru with a frown. "Toru-chan... I've been looking all over for you. You always run away like that. At least tell me when you go out."

He sighed and touched her forehead to the ground. "If I did, you wouldn't let me out..."

"That's not true, Toru-chan!" Kyoko approached Toru. It seemed that Sasuke had prevented Toru's escape, so she was grateful for that. Still, when Sasuke let go of Toru, Kyoko's eyes looked at the blood on Sasuke's forehead. "Sasuke-chan!!! What happened to you! Your forehead is full of blood!"

"Long story."

"Long story!"

"Long story"

The three boys responded in unison. This only left Kyoko uncertain, but she decided not to ask any more questions. She now had her beloved son in front of her, so her maternal instinct kicked in and she took him in her arms, pressing him tightly against her chest.

"Ugh... Okaa-sama... I can't... breathe" Toru tried to let go, but for some reason Kyoko had too much strength. He felt dizzy and then... fainted from lack of oxygen.

Sasuke reached over and touched Toru's head with a branch he found lying on the ground. "Is he dead?"

The woman let go of the boy after hearing that. This caused Toru to regain oxygen and come back to life.

Itachi could only laugh at this. Kyoko loved her son so much and felt no shame in showing her affection. Still, for Toru this was not good. He felt suffocated every time Kyoko acted this way, but there was nothing he could do about it, just wait for her to get tired.

'It would seem that they are a united and happy family...' Itachi felt nostalgic. He had so many things on his mind that he couldn't just think so much about his family with the exception of Sasuke. Although Itachi also saw Toru as his second younger brother, someone to guide him to be a good person in the future.

'It would be perfect... a future filled with peace, just like this moment' Itachi smiled tenderly as Toru was smothered on his mother's chest again.

Everything was so peaceful, so beautiful. Even Sasuke couldn't help but laugh after seeing this. This was... without a doubt, perfect....

However... this beautiful scene, soon turned dark.

The trees and dirt floor were replaced by walls and wooden planks. There was blood splattered everywhere Itachi looked. His hands trembled, his gaze filled with fear for a moment and then....

In his hands he felt the cold hilt of the katana filled with blood and the scream of a child was heard right after that.

The beautiful scene of that mother hugging her child was replaced in front of his eyes, like a strange blizzard of black feathers. Now there was a child screaming in despair with the corpse of his mother in his arms.

The pool of blood filled the ground. The salty smell of blood made Itachi recoil as he looked into the boy's eyes, which glowed strangely, in a beautiful blue color like the sky.

Itachi dropped the katana, letting it fall to the ground and then looked down at his hands. His eyes widened in horror as he saw the blood on his palms....

And then... a loud rumble was heard, thunder echoed in the distance.

***

When the lightning stopped, the thunder rumbled in a strange melody combined with the rain of the moment. Itachi opened his eyes and cold sweat poured down his forehead, which mixed with the rainwater that soaked his clothes.

His eyes, a little sleepy, looked at the sky and a sigh came out of his mouth.

He saw his hands again, but this time there was no blood. However, that feeling of guilt and sadness was still present at that moment.

'The time is near' He squeezed his hand gently forming a fist. He narrowed his eyes and went back to thinking again. However, a presence made up of chakra began to approach.

He knew immediately who it was, after all, he was the one who called out to it.

"Why?" that monochromatic-eyed boy looked at Itachi and asked. A few moments ago, a raven with a sharingan in its eye appeared and used genjutsu to share with him the message Itachi wanted to give him.

(I need to talk to you) Was what a version of Itachi said that Toru saw inside the genjutsu. Although just a second later he activated the Kodō Shigan to not fall for that trick again.

In response to Toru's question, Itachi kept silent and looked at him. A blurred image from the past interposed itself in front of Toru. It was a strange vision of Itachi, who still remembered that weird kid who hated sweet things, who hated to have his personal space invaded and in the end... hated Itachi for what he did.

He could still feel the blood on his hands, but he decided not to think about that so much, since Toru was now in front of him.

"Itachi?"

"Hm... it's nothing" He shook his head as he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Follow me" And then he continued walking in front of Toru as he crossed the entrance to Amegakure.

He just stared at Itachi in silence. He didn't understand why this guy had so suddenly called him to the entrance to Amegakure. Moreover, he managed to get the crow through Pain's gaze, though possibly Nagato had allowed it.

It was confusing, but surely Itachi was coming for the medicine for his illness. So, if they were going to the lab, in that case Itachi is going in the opposite direction.

'What are you planning, Itachi?' The light of death flashed in his eyes. He didn't want to admit it, but he still wanted to know what was going on.

Suddenly Itachi appears and this is what happens. Quite suspicious.

***

They passed over the long bridge that led to the large village after crossing the lake. Soon, they entered the commercial area of Amegakure and walked in silence.

People held their umbrellas to protect themselves from the rain, while Itachi only wore his hat as did Toru.

People watched them. Two members of Akatsuki walking quietly through the streets of this hidden city of the world. Everyone recognized them, everyone talked about them, but neither of these two shinobi listened to anything of what the others said, because now, even though the rain and the people were too noisy, they only heard the silence of their own footsteps.

...

"Hm?" Toru felt something hit his shoulder after a girl's moan of pain reached his ears. He looked to his right, and saw two girls in strange clothing, very different from typical shinobi or villager clothing. One of them was now on the ground after having collided with Toru.

"Ouch... it doesn't hurt, but...!" The silver eye of that girl who wore a cloth patch on her left eye opened when she saw Toru's face. She was immediately speechless as was the girl accompanying her.

"Are you all right? They're not even carrying umbrellas and they don't look like they're from here" Toru's eyes flashed dangerously. 'Though if that's true, Nagato would have noticed by now.'

In response to this, the girl, with black hair and a strange black dress with leather boots the same color, stuttered again and again trying to find the right words.

She looked at the girl next to her. She was blonde and silver-eyed. She wore a white shirt with long sleeves, a blue skirt with long black stockings that covered her legs, she also had short black boots very similar to the girl next to her, who had a very striking black dress.

"We're so sorry, Ott-...I mean, onii-san" The blonde-haired girl took her sister by the hand and bowed. After that, they both ran off at an absurd speed.

This seemed ridiculous to Toru, but when he looked ahead, Itachi was waiting for him. So he simply let out a sigh and continued on his way leaving the two strange girls aside.

***

A few minutes passed after that, they both arrived at a slightly uninhabited part of the village. The buildings were a bit empty and there weren't many people.

Toru recognized this place, as he usually meets the Ajisai team here. So, being familiar with this place, he jumped up and climbed up one of the buildings. When he looked down, Itachi was gone.

"Toru, how old are you now?"

Not giving a thought to such a sudden question and that Itachi was now by his side, Toru sighed and then answered. "I was about to turn seven when you exterminated die clan" He looked at the rain with an expressionless face. "It's been nine years since that happened. So you should know by now, right?"

Itachi just closed his eyes and didn't answer.

To be continued...

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First chapter of the week. If you want another one then you will have to reach 150 power stones. See you soon.