Prologue Part II - A Sister's Love, a Brother's Burden

If there was one thing about recent times that Sasuke appreciated, it was the roadside diners that had become commonplace. He wasn't the only one. Hana was greedily slurping away what was left of his third plate that morning while he sat next to Sasuke at the bar.

"Ah~ That was great," Hana said.

Sasuke sighed. "You keep overeating, Hana. You'll realize what a bad idea that was when we get back on the road."

Hana rubbed his head and smiled while the waitress behind the bar walked up to them. "Anything else I can get you two gentlemen?"

Sasuke put his chopsticks on top of his empty plate. "No, thanks."

"OK. What about your son here?"

Sasuke made a face. "He's not my-"

"Could you tell me where the restroom is, miss?" Hana asked.

The waitress pointed.

"Thank you."

Hana left his stool to head to the toilet. Sasuke was still scratching his face.

"This is the fifth time somebody confused us for Father and Son..." he said.

He watched the waitress take his plate. Then he quickly snatched the chopsticks on top, and caught his chokuto's blade with them before Hana could bring it down over his head. Hana didn't show disappointment when his surprise attack failed. Rather, he smiled and backflipped two stools away. He jumped on the bar and ran up to Sasuke while holding the sword in a reverse grip.

He slashed diagonally, but Sasuke ducked. Then he rolled over to Sasuke's left where he had no arm and began swinging furiously. Sasuke weaved around each slash easily, then countered by poking Hana's forehead with his chopsticks. That threw Hana slightly off balance, which gave Sasuke more than enough time to grab his leg and flip him up into the air. Knowing what was coming next, Hana guarded with the chokuto's blade. The back of Sasuke's fist still held enough force to knock him into the kitchen through the serving window.

The sound of falling pots and pans could be heard. Everyone in the diner, including the waitress, were shocked and wide-eyed. Sasuke calmly put the chopsticks back on the plate, and starting digging in his cloak. He pulled out a packet containing 1,500 ryo.

"That should be enough to cover the meal and the damages; plus a nice tip." He stood and looked toward the kitchen. "Hana, I'll be waiting outside."

Hana groaned while picking himself off the kitchen's floor. "...Y-yes, Master."

Over half a year had passed since Sasuke found Hana in the ruins of Guruma Village. The two had come a long way from the snowy domains of the Land of Iron. They were now traveling through the Land of Earth on their journey to find the man responsible for the destruction of Hana's village. Though, the suspect in question had not repeated this carnage a second time. This made it harder for Sasuke to sniff out his trail. He had to go back to following rumors and questioning people he and Hana met on the road.

He hated this not only because passerby and heresay gave horrible directions, but also because every third person the two met confused them for Father and Son. Sasuke understood why they make this observation. Hana did look like him quite a bit with his dark eyes and jet-black hair. Hana hair was significantly less spiky and longer, though. It also grew very fast. In the past seven months, Hana's hair already reached his shoulders.

"Hana, in the next town we reach, we're getting you a haircut," Sasuke said while he and Hana walked up a steep road.

Hana smiled. "OK! Hey, can I get whatever type of cut I want? Wait!" Hana stopped. He unsheathed Sasuke's sword. "I can cut it myself!"

Right before he shaved off a lock, Sasuke grabbed the blade with two fingers. He shot Hana a look.

"This chokuto is not a replacement for scissors. Don't use it anyway you wan-"

Hana smiled slyly and turned the blade. By the time Sasuke realized what Hana was doing, it was too late. The sword made a small cut in Sasuke's thumb. Sasuke pulled his fingers away. He watched a drop of blood leak off his thumb contemptuously.

"I guess that haircut is going to have to wait," Hana said cheerfully.

Sasuke licked the blood off his thumb and sighed. "Fine. I'll teach you a new technique once we get to town."

Hana held up the sword and its sheath and cheered. Sasuke just kept walking up the road, feeling more drained than usual. Over half a year of dodging ambushes and countering surprise attacks, and the thing that finally gets him is a sly trick some nine year old thought of on the fly. It made Sasuke realize how old he was getting. It also made him smile a bit.

'Honestly... how could I have fell for that?' he wondered.

His smile disappeared when he saw smoke rising from beyond the height of the road. Sasuke hurried to the top with Hana behind him. When the pair reached the hill, they had a bird's-eye view of where the smoke was fuming from. It was a small town a few miles away. Sasuke knew that just because there was smoke doesn't mean the Sharingan user was there. It could have just have likely been a random fire or bandits. Sasuke glanced down at Hana. It was obvious what the youth thought the fire was.

"Hana... remember what I always tell you," Sasuke said.

Hana kept glaring when he said "Never let your emotions overtake your rationale."

Sasuke sighed. "Doesn't seem like you plan to take that to heart... Oh, well. Let's hurry."

When they reached the town, Hana caught a terrible sense of deja vu. Buildings were still aflame in spite of the town's ninjas trying their hardest to put them out. The wounded were being carried off to the hospital en masse. The worst was seeing family members crying while hugging their deceased kin.

"Master... I only remember a little bit about that night," Hana began. "Tell me – did my village look like this town when we left it?"

Sasuke took in the destruction. "No. This town will one day recover from what happened today. Guruma never will."

Hana stared at the ground while Sasuke walked off to find somebody in charge. After a while, he went off on his own as well. He took a depressing tour of the tarnished town. It got uglier the deeper he got. It was like a typhoon had come through town.

'But what was the point? Why did he have to do this? Why did he have to destroy Guruma and kill everyone? …Why?"

"Why?!" Hana shouted at the sky.

He was seething with rage and sorrow. Then he put his hand over his chest and took deep breathes.

'Remember what Master said: never let your emotions overtake your rationale.'

After calming himself somewhat, Hana continued walking. He stopped when he heard sobs echoing from an alley he passed. He looked in it and saw a boy, about his age and with orange hair, hugging his legs and weeping beside a dumpster. Hana approached him with a smile on his face.

"Yo. How's it going?" Hana asked cheerfully.

The boy peeked up. Then he buried his face in his knees again.

He sniffed. "Go away..."

"Aw~ Now, come on. Don't be like-"

"Go away! You flat-chested girl!"

"Uh... I'm flat-chested because I'm a guy like you."

The boy sniffed again. Then he looked up with a perplexed face. "...Really?"

After spending a minute wiping snot and tears off his face, the boy named Soma explained to Hana what had happened.

"So you can't find your older sister, eh?" Hana asked.

The boy nodded. "I haven't seen her since yesterday when I ran away from home. ...I originally didn't want to see her, to be honest. You see, me my sis live by ourselves. Our parents died a few years ago, so sis is the one who takes care me. But she's always coming down so hard on me, even when I get things right. Like last night, I told sis I wanted to go to Iwa and attend the academy there. Iwa's academy is way better this town's, plus more missions come through Iwa, so it'd be easier for me to earn money. Sis completely flipped out. She hit me and said that there was no way I was going to Iwa alone, and that it was dumbest idea ever. I got mad and started yelling back at her, then stormed out the house."

Hana, who was sitting on the dumpster, looked down at him. "So what were your last words?"

"…'I hate you. I never want to see you again. Next time I talk to you, it'll be at a cemetery.' And now... that might actually be the case..."

Tears started welling up in Soma's eyes again. Before they could fall, Hana smashed his head in with the butt of Sasuke's chokuto.

Soma messaged the swelling bruise on his head. "Ow! What was that for!?"

"That was for all the diligent big sisters around the world! They're in tears right now!" Hana proclaimed. "Do you know how lucky you are to have a big sister who cares enough about you to smack you around? They're are people with nobody but themselves who would kill for that!"

Hana recalled a brief memory of Tsubame bonking his head when he did something stupid in training. She was always tough on him, but he knew it was because she knew she had to be. Hana hopped off the dumpster.

"Come on," he said to Soma.

Soma made a face. "Huh? Where are we going?"

Hana smiled. "To look for your sis, of course."

The two searched for hours. Hana scouted from rooftops, while Soma stuck to the streets and alleys. They asked people in town and a few of Soma's neighbors but none of them had seen his sister either. The sky went orange, and they still had not found her. They sat on the front steps of a broken home, their spirits crestfallen.

"...It's pointless. Sis is gone. I can't believe it..." Soma said.

Hana looked at Soma. He hadn't been the one to lose his sister, yet he still shared Soma's pain. Hell, he might have known the pain better than Soma did.

"Hana?" a familiar voice called out.

Hana looked up. Standing before him was Sasuke.

"Master..." he muttered.

"It time for us to go, Hana. I talked to the police chief. He had gathered up descriptions of the person responsible for this. The descriptions fit our man perfectly: a robed man with a staff and red suns in his eyes."

Hana gripped his pant leg. That man's eyes resurfaced in his memories. "Right... We should go." Hana stood. Then he froze. "Wait, Master. Can we wait for a while? I promised Soma that I'd help him find his older sister."

Sasuke looked at the Soma, who felt a shiver go up his spine. "We finally catch up to the man you said you'd swore to kill to avenge your clan, and you're going to put off your revenge to help a boy you just met this morning? Is your resolve that flimsy?"

"No! It's not, I swear. It's just... well," Hana scratched his cheek. "I can't go back on a promise. Soooo you could say my resolve isn't flimsy so much as it's... whimsical, I guess?"

Sasuke parted his mouth a bit. Then he smiled and snorted.

'This honest idiot... He's just like that guy,' he thought.

"Fine. I'll be at the gate," Sasuke said while walking off. "You have until dark to meet me there, otherwise I'm leaving without you."

Hana smiled and bowed at his master's back. "Yes, sir!"

Thus, Hana and Soma continued their search. This time they questioned every person they came across, whether they be young, old, ninja, townsfolk or even toddlers. Eventually, they learned that somebody fitting Soma's sister's description had been among those taken to the hospital. They ran as fast as their legs could take them. Soma almost jumped over the front desk while asking about this sister. The surprised nurse calmed him and gave him and Hana permission to visit her room.

When they entered, they found a girl with long orange hair looking out the window. Her face lit up with surprise when she saw Soma in the window's reflection.

"Soma?!"

Soma almost started crying again. "Chiaki! Chiaki, are you OK? You're not hurt too bad, right? Are you gonna have to go through surgery?"

Chiaki was overwhelmed by her brother's compassion. "I'm fine, Soma. So stop jumping around every-"

"Sis, are really-"

"I said quit it!" she planted her fist in Soma's head.

He quit it indeed, with tears welling up in his eyes. "Why do you always have to hit me?!"

"Because you're always doing something stupid!"

"Not always! What about last night when I told you I'd support us by becoming a shinobi in Iwa?"

"That was stupid too, you idiot! Why the hell would I let my ten year old little brother travel hundreds of miles away from home by himself just to became a ninja? You can do that here where you have a house to come home to, you friggin dummy!"

Soma pouted. "But... I'd be relying on you for everything. You already take care me. You shouldn't have to-"

"I'm your big sister. It's my job to do all the bothersome things that keep you out of trouble. I have to. You're so stupid you'd just die in streets like a hobo otherwise."

Chiaki said the last sentence while rubbing her brother's head. He snorted, though his cheeks were still red. Chiaki finally gave Hana some attention.

"Can I ask who you are?"

"Hana Fujikaze. Nice to meet, Miss Chiaki."

"Likewise. You helped my brother, right? Thanks for that. He tends to cry like a little girl when he's by himself."

"Yeah, I know. He was like that when I found him."

Soma made a face while his big sister laughed. Hana chuckled at the two of them. Then he looked out the window and saw how dark it was getting. His face turned white.

"Oh no... I've got to go!"

"Already? Come on, stay," Chiaki insisted. "I'd like to get to know one of Soma's friends."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm kinda in a rush. It was nice meeting you two! Bye!"

Hana dashed out the door, leaving Chiaki and Soma looking strange.

"So he's your new friend, Soma?"

Soma smirked. "Uh, yeah... I guess."

Sasuke had a sour look on his face when Hana finally arrived.

"You're late," he said.

Hana was on his knees, trying desperately to catch his breath. "Y-yeah... I know. Sorry, Master."

"Forget it. We need to hurry if we want to catch up with the Sharingan user. Also... I still have to teach you that new technique."

Hana made a surprised face. He had honestly forgotten all about that.

"Are you going to teach me now?" he asked.

"When we get further from town. It's not a move that should be practiced with too many people around. In fact, it's not a move I should be teaching you at all. It's almost useless without the Sharingan... but you have the Windmill Step, which may be even better for this type of skill."

"What's the skill called?"

"It's a technique that chirps like a thousand birds..." Sasuke looked back at Hana. "I'm going to teach you the Chidori."