Our Father's Backs
A/N: For all the boys who follow the footsteps of their fathers.
There were many children in Konoha without a parent, or maybe both. War had taken them away, leaving their younglings to find their own path. It was comforting to know that the leader of the village, the Hokage, would watch over such ones and served as a father figure to all who felt lost. But for some, there were others that they followed, the shadows of their own fathers, or those they saw as fathers. For some, the father was a mere memory, a haunting tale of bravery behind a scarred name. A white ghost that echoes in the white light of the storms and the silver of a blade, but to those who see the one that followed his past, though half-faced, white hair flaming, they say, he's the spitting image of that one, and they see his back before them. For others the father was never present, lost amidst war and destruction, leaving a legacy behind and a carved face to gaze upon. But that face is seen and spoken to by one who follows him, who learned his powers and expanded his abilities and when they see the blue light swirl and gnash and spin in blades of gusting wind, they look upon him and see the back on the one he followed. And for the last, the father lives and is well, but the path he follows he chose from another man. One who showed him the way, and gave him the will of fire. And though he perished on the field and nothing could be done, the one who followed felt his back being watched and continued on. Thus the warrior be advised: be sure you follow a strong path and make strong your back, so that those coming after you will follow and succeed.
