Chapter 72: Childhood friends.

Preparing to leave the house, Toru for some reason felt watched again. So, he slyly scanned the surroundings, spotting a mysterious ninja silently watching.

(It's becoming more frequent, so I won't be able to start my investigation...).

Shaking his head, Toru looked forward and silently lamented. Ever since he met eyes with Itachi, this strange feeling of uneasiness filled his heart, making him unable to sleep at night, though he doesn't sleep much to begin with, however, that was the least of it right now, as first he had to take care of losing this spy who was so annoying.

So, Toru went back inside the house and quickly summoned a shadow clone.

"Make that guy stay away from my house..."

Toru gave an order and the clone nodded in response, to seconds later leave the house, acting like the original Toru.

(Now I'll wait a bit...) He said sitting on the bed and looking through the window curtains.

For a few seconds he could see the clone walking calmly in a random direction, so right now the spy must be following him.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Toru opened the window and stepped out, putting his feet on the tiles of the house next door. After this, he closed the window and left so quickly that his shadow could barely be seen moving back and forth.

(If this goes on like this, I'll have to kill the spies...).

This was becoming increasingly annoying, Toru felt that now he could no longer do anything without being watched, but at the end of it all it was his fault, for getting excited and showing all his power, although if he didn't, Konoha would surely end up destroyed.

(For great rewards-great sacrifices, eh...).

Stopping near the hospital, Toru sighed. These sacrifices were becoming more necessary as time went on. Sooner or later the time would come when these sacrifices would cease to be effective, thus giving way to the suffering Toru hated so much.

He suffered enough in his past life, at least in this life he should live a little calmer, without having a fixed goal, but unfortunately it was as if everything went wrong, as if something or someone wanted Toru's life to be tears and suffering, it was as if the world itself hated him.

(Ha~ heavy thoughts again, I must leave that for when I start my research. Right now I have to visit someone in the hospital...)

Yes, this was the reason why Toru had the spy follow a clone. Sasuke was in a coma because he was attacked by Itachi, who used a powerful genjutsu which is unknown so far.

So, feeling a bit bored before his investigation, Toru came to the hospital to pay his depressed friend a little visit.

"Uchiha Sasuke, what room is he in?"

Toru approached the nurse sitting behind the counter and asked. In response, the pretty brown-haired and brown-eyed nurse smiled as she looked at the boy who approached.

"Uchiha Sasuke, huh. Wait, you're the boy with the glowing eyes, the one who fought Gaara from the Hidden Sand Village during the last chunin exams?"

"Yeah, I guess...well, I just wanted to-"

"Wow, you're amazing. You're as strong as a Jounin-ranked ninja, everyone's talking about you."

"Yeah, but-"

"I can't believe such a small body has so much power. I guess it's because you're a ninja from our village..."

"Hey, wait..."

"It's still amazing. It must have been hard to become so strong as a kid..."

"Excuse me... I just asked where Sasuke was..."

After being interrupted so many times, Toru felt a bit overwhelmed. It seemed to be that the nurse is one of those people who talk a lot, but that didn't matter to Toru at all, he just wanted to know where the emo boy was.

"Haha, sorry. I always talk too much. Uchiha Sasuke is in room No. 123, visiting time ends in the afternoon, so you can take as long as you want."

With a sweet smile, the nurse looked at Toru. This woman, despite having seen the horrors of war, kept a radiant smile on her face. Perhaps she thought that if she did that she could calm the fear and sadness tormenting her heart.

Seeing this, Toru looked down at the ground, as for some reason this nurse's attitude reminded him of his mother.

"Thank you..."

Nodding, Toru turned around and headed to the second floor.

-Konoha Hospital Room No. 123.

Apparently Sasuke had suffered great damage to his brain due to the stress caused by Itachi's genjutsu, which is attributed with the name 'Tsukuyomi'. Although thanks to Jiraiya who arrived at the last minute, Sasuke was only narrowly saved.

Naruto was also present at the time, after all he was about to be kidnapped by Itachi and his mysterious companion, who was carrying a sword wrapped with bandages.

(Somehow I can imagine how it all happened...)

Standing in front of the stretcher, Toru saw Sasuke, who was lying down with some bandages on his arms. No doubt this scene was pathetic, after all Toru always saw Sasuke proclaiming that he would one day take revenge for what Itachi did to their families.

But those were just empty dreams, which would possibly come true. Still, after taking revenge....

(What will you do, Sasuke?)

If Sasuke someday gets to complete his revenge what will he be left with, how will he feel? Toru knew the answer to that, after all he already had a 'revenge' in his past life.

"I don't know if I told you before, but the path of revenge will only cause you more pain. That's why I decided to let go of the past and look to the future... at least my mother would have wanted it that way. However, you who are in search of that revenge, what have you achieved so far?"

Toru closed his eyes and shoved his hands into his pockets. Sasuke obviously wasn't going to answer, after all he was in a coma, which worried Toru, just a little.

However, he quickly recalled how he felt the first few days after his family's death.

"At that time, I remember feeling sad...angry and miserable. I didn't know what I had until I lost it, but unlike you, Sasuke, I learned to control my hatred, my emotions in general, only then could I avoid following the path of revenge."

Looking at Sasuke, Toru's eyes glowed, the Shigan had activated.

"Ha~ I know you're listening to me, I can feel it in your heartbeat, the speed with which your lungs pump air straight into your blood and the way you try to open your eyelids. However, you won't be able to do it, your brain has suffered great damage due to Itachi's genjutsu. It will take you a long time to recover, at least until someone skilled enough in medical ninjutsu manages to heal your wounds. Until that, you will forget that you are hearing my voice, you will forget what I am talking to you about, but that's okay, after all you won't listen to me and, when you wake up, you will try to convince me to join you in your revenge against Itachi. Obviously I will again refuse."

With a long sigh, Toru opened the window and sat down on the frame. Once there, he let the wind caress his face.

For a few moments he remembered some things from the past, when the Asahi and Uchiha clan had allied, putting aside past disputes, though this is something Toru didn't know, as these two clans held dark secrets that not many knew.

"If you die you won't be able to complete your revenge. I should be out there, training and strengthening you, so you can kill Itachi..."

Toru couldn't deny it, he too felt a deep hatred towards Itachi, he also wanted to kill him, he wanted to see him suffer, however, even though making his enemies suffer was Toru's specialty, he felt that if he did something like that he would end up throwing himself into a bottomless abyss.

(I don't know what Itachi is planning, but I don't care about that, it's none of my business. I have more things to worry about. Still, what happened that night... I should have died too, but since I wasn't home that day I survived, meeting the massacre in the end...)

The memory of that night came back to Toru's mind, remembering that that was the first time he cried for someone, the first time he felt such immense pain in his heart. Not even the experiences of his past life compared to the suffering he went through after that night, after all in that life Toru had lost the ability to show emotions other than the pleasure of having murdered his own mother.

But in this world it was different, Toru still had his emotions, he could feel sad, happy, angry or even excited. He is certainly someone very different now than in his past life.

(As siblings...)

Looking at Sasuke, another memory appeared in Toru's mind like a gentle summer breeze.

The two children, Asahi and Uchiha, both of whom grew up together as if they were siblings. Each had completely opposite personalities, yet this didn't stop them from getting along.

(Everything was so peaceful back then...)

With a nostalgic smile, remembering that he was once truly happy, Toru put his feet on the ground and looked at the scenery through the window.

Now everything had changed, everyone had changed too, hadn't they?

"Toru...?"

Interrupting Toru's peaceful mining, Sakura opened the door to the room and was surprised at what she saw.

"Hello..."

"Why are you here?"

"What, I can't visit a friend?"

Toru quickly answered Sakura's question with an expressionless face, but this girl only felt confused, as she had never seen a single interaction between Toru and Sasuke.

"Friend? Do you think Sasuke is your friend?"

"Hm? Yeah, I'm sure, he's my childhood friend..."

Sakura's eyes widened upon hearing this revelation, after all, even if she says she knows about Sasuke, she didn't know about this.

But it was simple, Toru is from the Asahi clan, Sasuke from the Uchiha clan, the two clans had an alliance, and this alliance happened just a year before the two were born, so it could be said that Toru and Sasuke are like brothers.

"I guess it's okay then..."

With a small bouquet of flowers in her hands, Sakura approached Sasuke and spoke softly, though Toru equally heard her.

"Hello, Sasuke-kun. I brought you something to make the room not look so drab. I tried to pick some that you like..."

Sakura had a slight sad smile on her face as she spoke to Sasuke. Toru watched all this with a neutral expression and wondered to himself if it was worth it to have turned Ino down.

(Yes it is worth it, if he hadn't we would both be in danger).

Shaking his head, Toru sighed and walked over to say goodbye to Sasuke before leaving.

"Maybe I'll be back tomorrow, so for the time being, stay with Sakura, I'm sure she'll annoy you more than me."

Saying this words that left Sakura with a vein swelling on her forehead, Toru left the room.

-Minutes later-

Having finished his visit to the hospital, Toru would now try to investigate some things about the history of the Uchiha clan and Asahi, in an attempt to find out if this is related to what happened that night five years ago.

But... it seemed that this would not be possible, as Toru felt observed again, although this time the spy had the appearance of a twelve year old girl, who had dark blue hair and two beautiful white eyes, as bright as ocean pearls.

(She... has been like this for more than ten minutes)

The truth is that since Toru came out of the hospital, Hinata had been following him while hiding behind a wooden wall. A few minutes passed like that, so Toru decided to stay waiting to see what this girl was going to do.

But surprisingly she came out of her hiding place, ready to talk to Toru.

"Good afternoon, Toru-kun."

"Hinata, what a coincidence."

It obviously wasn't a coincidence, but Toru decided not to say it, since doing so would embarrass Hinata.

"Um, yeah... Well, I just wanted to know if you... if you... if you... if you want to talk a little..."

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Author's note: I've died, but I've come back to life! I'll be posting chapters as before, so get ready. Well, I should be the one to prepare, since I'll be writing like a freaking maniac.