The Last Rose

Yukan was sleeping in his bed, his face right next to the window.

The sun rays shone rights over his face and he got up slowly.

The sound of birds chirping on the trees came as Yukan bathe in the morning sun.

"Get up quickly, it's already 8 A.M. you lazy thing." His mother's voice came from the door of his room.

"Mom!! You ruined my vibe,"

'Well, anyway, today is my last day here, it won't be a good thing to fight with mom.' Yukan thought

Yukan got up, left his bed, washed up and left his house.

Today, all his batchmates organized a party for him since he was the first of them to go onto the battlefield.

He went to the ground first and saw Minato, Shikaku and Choza there.

"Aren't there any girls coming?" Yukan asked as he looked from left to right.

"??? We are here, can't you at least say hello to us?" Shikaku looked at him and said.

"...Hello," Yukan said as if completing a formality he was forced to do.

Minato kept a hand on Yukan's shoulder with a sad expression and shook his head.

"You mean, they are all dead? Will, I then have to marry a ma-" Minato once again caused a misunderstanding.

"No you idiot, they will come in the evening, when we have decided to eat. Right now, we will just roam around Konoha." Minato slapped the back of Yukan's head as he said.

"Yup, let's go to the marketplace first," Shikaku said as the four left.

In between their day out, when they ate lunch, Choza did not eat at all saying that he didn't want to mop the floor for weeks again.

In the evening, they all reached the restaurant where the whole batch was present.

After greeting everyone and looking around for a while, Yukan left the establishment to get a breather.

"Ah, all these roses are getting hard to handle." His hands were full of roses made of ribbons. Almost all of his female classmates gave him one.

He put all of them in the system subspace after ensuring no one was watching.

He had already received one from his mother and Mrs Myu before.

"..Only Tomato is left." Yukan looked at the empty street in front of him.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his back muscles.

When he turned around, he saw Kushina with a pouted face.

"Cute." He mumbled.

"What?" Kushina did not hear him properly.

"Nothing. Hey, why did you pinch me so hard by the way." Yukan said while keeping one of his hands on his back.

"Y-You just called me tomato again, right?"

"Just that? Alright, I'll leave now, I have to leave early tomorrow morning." Yukan was about to turn around and leave when he noticed that Kushina was hiding something behind her back, 'Maybe it is..'

"What is in your hands?" Yukan asked

Kushina brought her hands in front and put a rose in front of Yukan's face.

'I guess she did not know how to make it, it is uneven from almost all sides, but.. It is cute.'

"Is it for me?" Yukan asked without changing his expression.

"Y-Yes. Just take it, I am only giving it as an f-f-friend, t-there is no other m-meaning." Kushina said as her face got as red as a tomato, literally.

"Thank you, red tomato. Also, this is payback. " Yukan took the rose, pinched her cheek and disappeared.

Kushina once again pouted cutely but then she turned around and left the street.

After reaching home, Yukan placed Kushina's rose separately from the others, with the one he received from his mother.

He got ready for tomorrow, he stored some emergency rations in the system subspace, he polished his katana once again, he…

-4 years later-

In a barren area with rugged land, shouts and screams of people came from everywhere.

Corpses of people, no matter civilian or shinobi, child or woman, were fallen all over the place.

Rain was pouring down and in the middle of a field stood a 13-year-old boy wearing a mask and black cloak covering him from head to toe.

As the boy removed the cloak and mask, his facial features came into sight.

He had pitch black hair with a little scar on his face extending straight from below his eye to his upper lip.

He stared at the corpse he was standing on with cold eyes and took out his katana from the corpse.

A man wearing the same black cloak but a different mask appeared in front of him.

"Captain Sho, you had told me to remind you to not remove your mask and cloak while doing the mission." The man in black cloak said.

Sho was the codename of Yukan. He had received the name 3 years ago when he became a part of the ANBU.

Although Yukan was a part of the ANBU, being a student of White Fang, he was not forced to become a licking dog of Hiruzen.

"It's alright. The mission is over Tatsuya-San, they are all dead.. Haizz, I miss home again already."

"But captain, you came back from Konoha two days ago." The man, Tatsuya said.

Tatsuya was his real name and he worked with Yukan. Tatsuya was an Earth-style ninjutsu user with the rank of a jonin.

"I know. *Sigh* Check all the 40 bodies and ensure that none of them is alive. They were all just chunin so I don't think any of them could have made it through my attacks but, who knows? Maybe someone was lucky." Yukan said as he took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his hands clean which were previously full of blood.

Yes, Yukan had alone killed all these ninjas. Ever since he came to the battlefield with Sakumo, he had trained like hell and he got stronger.

"Ah! My back. I still haven't got back in form. Boys! Let's go on the next mission tomorrow, I have to get back in form." Yukan shouted.

"Hey, don't call us like that, kid, we are all older than you." A voice came from somewhere.

"Are you the captain or me?" Yukan said as he yawned and turned around.

He then walked back alone to the camp of Konoha with a pair of gripping gloves in his hands and a katana hanging on his waist.