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Chapter Text

Bryce Mills was sixteen years old when he died in an empty hospital room with no one there to comfort him.

He probably should have been more distraught about that but, honestly, his death had been a long time coming. For the last ten years of his life, he had been confined to his bed. He couldn’t move most of his body, couldn’t breathe without a machine, and couldn’t even talk to the few visitors that showed up. All he could do was handle the remote by his side and watch whatever show he could find on whatever streaming service the hospital bought each year. This time they had decided to buy into Crunchyroll. Despite the poor ending, it was the happiest year of Bryce’s life. So many heroes pushed him forward, telling him to never give up, to never surrender.

A shame that he’d have to disappoint them.

Bryce could feel his life begin to exit his body. It didn’t leave fast, didn’t sprint away, instead it felt as if his soul was an old man lazily stretching as he rose from bed. He missed his family and wished that they were there with him. His parents only visited once a month now, hardly the somber daily visits back when there had still been hope for recovery. He wished today had been one of those days.

If only, Bryce thought, If only I could be stronger.

His eyes slowly stretched to catch the rays from the television and his face broke into a small smile at the sight of his favorite show playing across the screen. It wasn’t a happy scene, but it was one of his favorites. Naruto and Sasuke lay dying, same as him, but they were together. Brothers. He felt slightly less alone to as he saw his heroes preparing to die with him. In the back of his mind he remembered what would happen next. Sakura and Kakashi would come down and save the two idiots, but he pretended he didn’t know that.

If only you were here, Bryce thought. If only you didn’t have to be. If only I had friends like Naruto. If only I could survive like Sasuke. If only I was strong like Sakura. If only I was smart like Kakashi. If only. If only. If only.

Bryce’s vision blurred as tears flowed down his eyes. The screen became invisible to him and he was alone again. The air given to him through the machine felt heavy and painful. Eventually, he stopped breathing at all. It wasn’t fair. He was too young. He should have been in the final stretch of his high school career, not dying in a bed. He should have been running and laughing and loving, not leaving the world alone.

If only I was there, Bryce thought, finally closing his eyes as his short life ended far too soon.

*********************************************************************

Haruno Koichi was born amongst death and despair, the air filled with the screams of the dying and the broken.

Koichi didn’t know what was happening. How could he? All he knew was that he had been taken from a world of comfort into a world of pain. His mother’s voice was absent from the chaos and Koichi flailed his weak arms around in an attempt to find her, feeling nothing but hard ground and warm blood.

He was alone.

For the first few minutes of his life, all Koichi did was lay on the cooling ground and cry his rage and fear into the air. The other screams joined his in an orchestra of suffering. Koichi hated the sound and attempted to drown theirs out with his own but they seemed to rise with him. They were like a pack of wolves howling at the moon, until they were suddenly silenced.

Screams gave way to soft groans and begging. Koichi’s cries were hurled in the empty void, demanding to be heard in the silence.

“What in the- is that an infant?” a voice asked, though Koichi could not understand the meaning of the words. Footsteps came closer to Koichi before stopping a few feet in front of him. “Oh. Oh wow.”

“These sick bastards. Attacking a pregnant woman? They’ve really reached a new low,” a different voice spat.

“Are there any survivors?”

“None that won’t die in the next few minutes. It seems the child is the only one left.”

“Another orphan. Damn it! Kirigakure is getting brave.”

“Their funeral. We’ll show them how brave a vengeful people can be.”

Warmth surrounded Koichi and he screamed louder as he was picked up into the air. His throat began to hurt and his eyes grew heavy as the little energy he was given began to flag. It had not been an easy entry into the world.

“Hey little guy, sorry about this. I’d tell you we’d avenge your mom over there but… well that doesn’t really matter you you does it? Damn. It isn’t right you have to grow up alone.”

“Maybe he doesn’t.”

“What do you mean? Don’t you see his family over there? There’s no saving them.”

“That’s not what a mean. You see his hair? I don’t know about you but I’ve only heard of one clan with pink hair. Think they’re related?”

“Maybe. I guess it couldn’t hurt to ask if they’ll take him in. Whirlpools swirl together, right?”

“Whirlpools swirl together.”

Their minds made up, Koichi felt the air buffet his face as they began to move, rejuvenating him with energy. He cried to the wind, for what exactly he did not know. He cried for his lost mother, whose warmth he had felt only for an instant. He cried for the pain in his throat and in his body, pain that should have no place on an infant. He cried for the world he was brought into, a world of pain and torment.

Most of all, he cried because there was still someone screaming in his mind.

*********************************************************************

Haruno Koichi was three years old when he first entered his uncle’s smithy.

It was a strange place, full of smoke and heat that made his memories swim with forgotten fear and desperation. It warred with the wonder and curiosity at something new until the fear finally stepped aside, leaving Koichi to his own decisions. He smiled and crept further into the smithy, staring at all of the weapons and tools on the walls in wonder.

His uncle was in the room too, but Koichi was careful to avoid his gaze. The man was too focused on the weapon he was forging to notice the three year old sneaking under the tables. Grinning at his expert stealth, Koichi began to move towards his unsuspecting uncle, a bottle of glitter at the ready, when he looked at the bottom of the table.

There were strange drawings carved into the wood. Symbols that Koichi had never seen before stared back at him, carving a web of mystery that was far more interesting than a sparkling uncle. One of the carvings was glowing with faint blue lights dancing through the lines and symbols. Koichi turned his head and smiled at the symbol before turning back to his prey. It was pretty, but there was something much more important at stake here. He would ask about it later.

Before he could move forward with his plan, Koichi felt curiosity swell up within him. He tried to resist but it didn’t work, it never did, and he found himself looking back at the symbol. He hated it when these feelings invaded him. Koichi didn’t want anything to do with them but they snuck up on him as easily as shadows, filling his soul and pushing aside any conflicting feelings Koichi may have.

With no choice left but to go along with his curiosity, Koichi stepped closer to the symbol. It was almost hypnotizing as it pulsed, filling then draining the symbol of its bright blue with every beat. Koichi watched the blue, mesmerized, and raised his finger to lightly touch the symbol.

Pain filled his entire arm as the blue fled the symbol and struck into Koichi’s body as if he were merely another drawing attached to the circle. Another cog in the machine. Sobs escaped his mouth as a strange feeling of… was that guilt? Guilt filled his body and caused his cries to double. Why was he feeling guilty?

“Oh, my boy, what have you done?” Koichi’s uncle tutted. Warm arms collected Koichi and brought him to the furnace that was his uncle’s chest. The heat chased away the guilt and the pain, draining them from his body like a whirlpool drained the ocean.

“I was gonna- the feelings- glitter- glowing symbol- blue- it hurts!” Koichi eventually settled on, feeling the rumbling of his uncle’s chuckles. A pout snuck onto his face at the sound and he looked away. “It’s not funny, Uncle! It really hurt!”

“Oh, yes, yes, I’m sure it did, son,” his uncle said, still laughing. “That is why we didn’t want you to be in here. We were scared that you would hurt yourself. I’m just happy you still have all of your fingers and toes.”

“I could have lost my fingers?!” Koichi screeched, foreign panic overtaking him. “I need those!”

“I’m sure you do. Luckily, you only messed with one of my seals instead of my weapons. Be very careful next time you sneak in here, yeah?” his uncle suggested, moving back to the forge with Koichi still in his arms.

“Next time?” Koichi asked, peeking up from his arms to look at his uncle’s face.

“Well, it seems like we can’t really stop you. Besides, it’s always good to get a look at the family business. You’ve always been too curious, might as well control it,” his uncle snickered, readjusting Koichi so he could change the position of whatever was in the forge.

Curiosity. Koichi shifted uncomfortably as he heard that word again. He didn’t like thinking about that emotion, but he felt it so often. It didn’t make any sense, but he couldn’t even ask his uncle about it. How could he explain that he had feelings that didn’t feel like his own. How did he explain that the voices and thoughts in his head felt more than an imaginary friend? In the end, he didn’t. Instead he only moved on with the conversation and tried to ignore the creeping guilt returning to his chest.

“The family business?” Koichi asked. His uncle had never told him what he actually does. He knows that he makes weapons and junk but what if that was just a… just a…

Hobby.

Yeah! What if that was just a hobby? Like how he played with his toys whenever he wasn’t running around the village. Or how he would read books with shinobi and monsters battling one another. Or how he would dance whenever he heard one of the street performers. Or how he would chase after one of the bored shinobi with whirlpools on their head.

Wow, he had a lot of hobbies.

“We may have to work on your focus before we bring you into it,” his uncle commented lightly, poking Koichi in the forehead.

“No! No! I can focus!” Koichi yelled, waving his arms in front of wide eyes to prove his point. Based on his uncle’s laugh, it didn’t work; yet, instead of taking him out of the forge, his uncle merely gestured towards the weapons and tools on the wall.

“There is the family business, son. This is what a Haruno can do.”

Confused, Koichi looked at the various weapons on the wall. His uncle could use all of these? His eyes widened as they caught sight of a small knife in one of the corners. That was a… a…

Kunai.

Yeah! A kunai! The men with whirlpools on their heads carry those everyday. He remembered his aunt pointing them out one time. She called them shinobi, like the ones in his books, and said they were there to protect them all.

Wait… but that meant… uncle was…

“You’re a shinobi!” Koichi screamed, ignoring his uncle’s wince. “That means I’m a future shinobi! Is Auntie a shinobi too?! Are we all shinobi?!”

The more he thought about it, the more he could feel his own feelings combine with the foreign ones. Excitement, fear, happiness, hope, determination, so many feelings filled Koichi’s heart that he felt he would explode. Just to be on the safe side, an exploded shinobi is a poor shinobi, Koichi tipped his head and screamed in pure excitement. This was the greatest!

“Is everything alright in there?!” his aunt yelled from the other room. Koichi heard his little cousin cry from the same room and winced. He didn’t mean to wake him up.

“Everything’s fine! Sorry!” his uncle yelled back, raising an eyebrow at Koichi as if to ask ‘see what you’ve done?’

“Sorry, Uncle,” Koichi said with a smile still firmly in place. He couldn’t bring himself to give in to guilt again, he was still too excited. “So, you’re a shinobi?” he asked, bouncing in his perch as he waited for the answer.

His uncle smiled slightly and shook his head, “Ah, my boy, how could I be a shinobi? Shinobi are tools of destruction. They are hired to kill and steal and demolish whatever their employer wishes. We are smiths. We create for ourselves before anyone else. Shinobi die in the shadows. Harunos live in the light.”

His uncle stayed silent for a few moments after that, Koichi doing the same as they both took in his words. Eventually, his uncle sighed and Koichi could not tell if those were tears in his eyes or sweat.

“Do you see why we cannot be shinobi, son? Do you see why we are so much more than a weapon in the night?” his uncle asked, his eyes pleading with Koichi to understand.

No.

“Yes,” Koichi said instead. He didn’t want to see his uncle sad. He was rewarded with a wide smile and laugh as he was spun to face the forge once again.

“Ah, what a smart nephew I have! If you’re smart enough to understand that then you can watch me forge this masterpiece I say!”

“Yeah! I’m smart!” Koichi yelled out. As he listened to his uncle laugh and watched the steel move under his command, he wondered what the feeling in his chest was.

Longing.

Longing? Why would he feel that? The voice held no answer and Koichi put it out of his mind, staring at the steel in wonder instead. He would create things. He wouldn’t destroy. Maybe that could be cool too.

*********************************************************************

Haruno Koichi was six years old when he met his best friend.

His feelings were in turmoil again. Natural nervousness warred with foreign excitement as he stared at the large doors that led to his future. The Academy was where they were taught, trained, and raised to become citizens of Uzushiogakure. Koichi, a future smith, would be in the same classes as future shinobi, seal-makers, merchants, and every other profession under the sun. He would learn self defense with the Hoshigaki and sealing with the Uzumaki while working towards a future of working steel.

He wouldn’t be a shinobi. He wouldn’t shame his clan like that, but both of his feelings agreed that it would be nice to. It would be nice to run across rooftops, saving princesses and protecting their way of life. It would be nice to have children look up to him and tell him their dream was to become the same. It would be nice to have so much power, so much freedom, at his fingertips. But he knew that shinobi life wasn’t in his future. Another path stolen.

Could he trust himself to keep that sentiment while learning the skills of a shinobi? Could he trust himself to not sign up for the shinobi forces as soon as they taught him about combat seals? Could he trust himself not to listen to the foreigner’s excitement, fear, hope, lust, longing and give in to the desire?

Do you even want to?

“Hey! What are you looking all mopey for?!” a loud voice saved him from answering as a human missile slammed into his back and knocked him to the ground. Groaning in pain, Koichi stood up on shaking legs and looked up at his assailant.

She was a picture of red. Red clothes, red hair, red face, the only other color in sight were her bright blue eyes that were already watering at the sight of him. She bounced from one leg to the other as she flitted around him like a hummingbird, making small sounds as she checked for injuries.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay? I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you!” she said, tears falling down her face. Koichi was about to stand and let her know that he was alright before she continued, now ignoring her victim. “Oh my gosh! What if I killed him?! I don’t know of any good places to hide a body! Wait… what if I don’t hide it? Can I say it was an accident? Would that fly?!”

“What?” Koichi asked.

What… child… hiding bodies? the Foreigner agreed as a strong sense of disturbance filled Koichi.

“Oh! You’re alive! Thank the sea! I was scared they were going to lock me away!” the girl cried, latching onto Koichi to certify his life. Though, as her arms grew tighter, Koichi started to wonder if she was trying to finish the job.

“Air!” Koichi choked and the girl backed off, covering her mouth with a hand.

“Oh my gosh! Sorry! Are you alright?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine, you don’t have to check,” Koichi gasped, moving back slightly. The girl looked at him strangely before rolling her eyes with a chuckle.

“All right, you can stop joking now, I didn’t squeeze that hard. My baby brother hits harder than that in training,” she laughed.

“Training? What kind of training do you do?” Koichi asked, concerned. He still felt bruises forming from where she grabbed him, what kind of training made that seem normal?

Shinobi.

“Shinobi training, duh!” the girl confirmed, shrinking back slightly as Koichi’s eyes bulged outward. “Is… is that weird?”

No. Just for you.

“No,” Koichi said, slowly. “I just didn’t know shinobi training started for people so young. I’m going to be a smith and my uncle won’t let me anywhere near the forge yet. Says I’m too immature or whatever.”

Glitter… forge… weeks to clean.

Koichi ignored that with six years of practice and watched as the girl’s face returned to the vicious red. He wondered what would happen if she stood in front of a red wall. Would anyone be able to see her? That sounded like a thing shinobi would do.

“Oh! You must be from the Haruno Clan! I should have guessed from the hair,” the girl said, rubbing the back of her neck. “My parents tell me that your family has some really good smiths! What’s your name?”

“Haruno Koichi?” Koichi asked more than said. What was happening?

“Oh! Happiness and one! Nice one!” she cheered, pumping her fist in the air.

“Thank you?”

“My name is Uzumaki Sango, but you can call me the First Uzukage if you like,” Sango said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Despite them being the same height, she seemed to tower over Koichi with the announcement and he couldn’t help but be impressed.

“I thought there were only five kage? My auntie told me so just last night and she’s never been wrong,” Koichi pointed out, reasonably he might add.

“Well, she isn’t this time either. There are only five kage right now. When I’m a shinobi, I’ll be so great and strong that they’ll have to call me a kage! I’ll make this village one of the greats, we should have been since the beginning!” Sango preached, adding a few air punches to show just how powerful she would be.

Sunshine and cheer filled his head and he could almost picture a fox rising behind Sango’s head. No, that wasn’t right. It looked like a fox but Koichi had never seen an animal with nine tails before. Maybe it was from a different land.

“Well, good luck!” Koichi said, not knowing what to say. Sango nodded in thanks before looking at him carefully and releasing a grin that would be terrifying if it wasn’t missing some teeth.

“Who needs good luck? All I need is my awesome strength,” she said, patting her arms where Koichi was sure thick muscles would one day lay. “But I could probably get the job faster if I had some cool gear. I heard that the Haruno Clan even made the Seven Swords of the Mist! If I had weapons like that then I would be Uzukage in no time!”

Sango closed her eyes and nodded at the information, the smile never leaving her face, before suddenly widening them and placing a finger inches from Koichi’s face, “Well, that settles it! I’ll be the First Uzukage and you’ll be my amazing sidekick who builds my gear! We’ll be unstoppable!”

“What?” Koichi asked, shocked at the sudden turn of events. When did this happen?! “I can’t be your sidekick! I don’t even know how to make weapons yet!”

“You’ll learn! You’re a Haruno, how hard can it be?” she said, waving the worry away.

“But- but I barely even know you!”

“That’s easy to fix! You’ll just have to be my friend and my sidekick! Easy peasy!” she laughed, twirling in the face of her triumph.

“I’m not even a shinobi! I’ll only slow you down!” Koichi yelled, shame burning his face as he admitted his greatest fear. The Foreigner shared his feelings of uselessness, of weakness, of shame. He loved his uncle, loved his clan, loved the idea of being a smith, but he knew that choosing that meant he would be weak. Useless. He didn’t want to bring down such a lofty dream with those feelings.

“Ha! As if! You’ll be as much of a shinobi as me soon enough!” Sango laughed, grabbing his arm and finally bringing him off the ground.

“But I’m a Haruno! We’re not shinobi!” Koichi argued, staring at the strange girl. How did she not get it?

“Ah, Koichi, that’s so silly! Whirlpools might come in different sizes, but we can all bring down ships! Even if we don’t get the same title, you’ll have training same as me. We’re all shinobi in Uzushiogakure!” Sango cheered, the smile never leaving her face. “Now come on, sidekick! We’re going to be late if you keep on moping!”

With that, she fled the scene, leaving Koichi no choice but to follow her, a smile growing on his own face. For six years he had been told he wouldn’t be a shinobi. For six years he had been told that he would have to choose between dreams. Shinobi or smith. Clan or village. Now… now he was being told he could be both. It was all he had ever wanted. All he had ever dreamed.

Not weak.

No. No he was not. He never would be again.

When Koichi got home later that day, smile still on his face and heart singing as he told his aunt about his day, he could feel his happiness glow alongside the Foreigner’s. He skipped into the forge to observe his uncle work and patiently waited for the man to finish hammering out a billet. He was making a sword for the Second Village Leader, he needed to focus on that more than anything.

Eventually, his uncle paused in his work and wiped his face with a rag. Seals lit up on the cloth and instantly drained all sweat that had accumulated onto it, leaving it dry once more. Koichi remembered his sensei going over all of the different uses of seals and the smile on his face only grew. His uncle using seals was basically proof of what Sango said, right?

“Uncle? I have a question,” Koichi said as soon as his uncle stopped his work. The man chuckled and rubbed a hand through his pink hair, tangling it into the braids before turning back to Koichi.

“You caught me at the perfect moment, son. What can I help you with? You old enough to have girl problems yet?” his uncle asked, waving his eyebrows as Koichi rolled his eyes.

“No, it’s not that,” Koichi mumbled, suddenly nervous. “It’s just… somebody told me today that all the people of Uzu were shinobi. Does that mean that you’re a shinobi too? I mean, you live in Uzu, right?”

His uncle smiled slightly at that and Koichi felt his hope drain away as his uncle shook his head, “Ah, my boy, how could I be a shinobi? Everyone here knows how to fight, that’s true, but shinobi fight for blood and riches. We fight for honor and our way of life. Shinobi die in the shadows. Harunos live in the light.”

“What does that even mean? What even is the light?” Koichi pouted, turning his head away.

“One day you will understand. Not today though, today I want to hear all about your first lesson at the Academy,” his uncle deflected, smiling broadly when Koichi’s pout disappeared at the memory of Sango. Yet, that memory brought more than joy, and Koichi turned to his uncle with pleading eyes.

“One more question?” he asked.

“Always,” his uncle chuckled, patting him on the head.

“When can I start learning?” Koichi asked, his chest filled with hope. He might not be a shinobi, none of his family seemed to be, but he wanted to do something worthwhile! His uncle’s chuckle turned into a full laugh at the question before his eyes settled on him.

“Soon, my boy, soon.”

*********************************************************************

Haruno Koichi was eight years old when he made his first blade.

The handle was crooked, the sides were covered in scale, and the tip was round, but the edge was sharp and the balance was decent. None of it mattered to Koichi. This blade was his. Something he made with his own two hands. He didn’t care if the edge chipped whenever it was used or if the handle was one bad swing away from breaking. It was his.

Ours.

“Good work, my boy,” his uncle said from behind him, rubbing Koichi’s hair fondly. “I don’t think we’ll be selling that one but it’s not bad for a first attempt.”

“I had a good teacher,” Koichi said with a grin, not taking his eyes off the cooled steel. There were markings on all sides from where he had tried to copy his uncle’s seals, but they didn’t cool his blade faster or make the edges sharper like they did for his uncle’s weapons. Instead they only sat in the metal, cold and useless.

Pretty.

Yeah, that’s true. At least they were pretty.

y“That you did, boy. Maybe one day you’ll even share these “That you did, boy. Maybe one day you’ll teach these lessons yourself. I’m sure your cousin would love the help when he gets to be your age,” his uncle pointed out. Koichi nodded, not thinking twice about it. Family taught family after all, and it would be nice to finally be able to share something outside of the Academy.

“Now,” his uncle sighed, sitting down on one of his stools near the force and bringing Koichi closer. “I wouldn’t be much of a teacher if I lied to you. That blade is nice for a first try but there is plenty wrong with it. Do you understand why we can’t sell it?”

“It’s not good?” Koichi asked.

“Ha! That’s one way to put it, I suppose. But why is it not good?”

“Well… the tip is messed up, the handle is crooked, the edges are weak-”

“Yes, yes, I can see, son. Why did all of that happen? Why is the blade not good?” his uncle asked, waving his hands as if he was hurrying Koichi along.

“Because… because I don’t know how to make it good?” Koichi asked, grinning when his uncle nodded.

“Exactly! And how would you? This is the first blade you’ve ever made! You have no clue as to what style will fit you best. You don’t know what weapon you’re talented at forging or what seals to hammer into the steel. More importantly, you don’t know the Haruno secret,” his uncle pointed out.

“We have a secret?” Koichi asked, leaning forward eagerly.

“We’re the greatest smiths in the world! Of course we have secrets! I will tell you them all one day, but for now I will tell you our simplest one,” his uncle said with a wink before standing and moving towards the weapons hanging on the wall. After a moment of consideration, he reached out and grabbed a sword that had seals crisscrossed over the blade.

“Any smith can make a weapon. But only a Haruno can make a Legend. It was a Haruno who crafted the Three Spears of Iron that united the Samurai Clans. It was a Haruno who crafted the White Chakra Saber for the Hatake Clan. It was a Haruno who crafted Madara Uchiha’s famous gunbai. Our worst work is still passed down through generations as family heirlooms and the pride of clans. There are masters out there who have been forging for forty years that cannot dream of forging pale copies of our craft. Do you know why?”

Before Koichi could answer, the sword roared as flames covered the blade. His uncle danced to the same rhythm, swinging the blade around his body as he fought off an imaginary assailant. Suddenly, he thrust the sword forward, his grin illuminated by the flames as a small jet of fire slammed into a padded target on the opposite wall.

Chakra fire.

“Harunos can build Legends because we can wield Legends. A Haruno cannot sell a weapon until they have become skilled with it. How can I sell a farmer a hoe without testing its weight? How can I sell a shinobi a kunai without testing its balance? A samurai a sword without testing its edge? I can’t. It is not the Haruno way. There is no weapon more dangerous than one in the hands of a Haruno. We create them. We master them. We are them. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I think so,” Koichi whispered, still staring at the scorch mark. Chakra fire. He had never seen his uncle use something like that before. He knew the seals needed chakra, Sango would kill him if he forgot, but that was something else. That was ninjutsu, something powerful and primal he had only seen a few people use.

“Uncle,” Koichi started, still staring at the scorch mark, “Are you a shinobi?”

“Ah, my boy, how could I be a shinobi?” his uncle asked, setting the sword carefully back on the wall. “Shinobi sneak and spy through every village and home. We show off our skills and products with pride. Shinobi die in the shadows. Harunos live in the light.”

“Now, enough of this shinobi talk. Let’s go outside and I can teach you what a kunai is supposed to feel like,” his uncle said with a smile, handing Koichi a kunai with no seals whatsoever.

Casting his earlier train of thought out of his mind for now, Koichi grinned back at his uncle and followed him outside. His mind went back to the scorch mark on the wall and his grin only grew. Shinobi or not, one day he would make weapons capable of that. He swore it on his pride as a Haruno.

*********************************************************************

Haruno Koichi was thirteen years old when he graduated from the Academy.

The graduation ceremony was held one week after the Second Shinobi World War began. Civilian parents held their children tightly, barely holding back tears at the pain guaranteed to follow their new headband. Shinobi parents, the ones who weren’t on the front lines, only nodded solemnly and promised their children all the training in the world. All the training it would take for them to survive. Some even swore that they would end the war themselves.

A village in ruins appeared in Koichi’s mind. Rubble was so common that it was impossible to tell what the stones once made up. There were no walls, no buildings, simply stone and destruction. The only symbol visible was a lazy swirl on one of the stones, cold and silent as a grave.

“Pinkie!” Uzumaki Sango yelled, bringing Koichi away from the concerning image. It was just his imagination. The village would be fine. “Pinkie? You listening?!” If anything, Sango would be able to irritate their enemies away. Assuming they could get past their defenses and shinobi in the first place.

Have I ever lied?

“Ignoring me isn’t going to change your name, you know? I might just make it official once I get into office. My first decree!” Sango cheered.

“It was worth a shot, Uzukage-sama,” Koichi teased, smiling back when Sango flashed him a grin for the title. Looking at the grin, he put the thoughts of crumbling stone and empty seals out of his mind. There were more important things to worry about.

Wrong.

“So, you’re a shinobi now. I’m not sure the world is quite ready for that. Sure you don’t want to give it another few years?” Koichi asked, ignoring the flare of hope in his chest. He couldn’t tell if it was his or the Foreigner’s. Either way, he crushed the feeling before it could spread. He already knew the answer, it would be stupid to believe anything else.

“Nope,” Sango said, popping the ‘p’ before twirling. “If the world isn’t ready then neither are those Mist or Cloud bastards. They won’t know what hit them when they see me on the field.”

“No, no, they won’t,” Koichi agreed with a sad smile. In the distance he heard Sango’s mom call her name. With a wink, his closest friend turned around and began to leave.

Red hair over a red body. Blood all over the ground with no one but another corpse and a baby to comfort her. A roar in the distance as the light faded from her familiar blue eyes.

“Wait!” Koichi called, reaching out a hand and reddening when he noticed eyes turning to him. He probably could have been quieter but it didn’t matter to him as much as Sango’s twinkling eyes and raised eyebrow.

“What’s up, Pinkie? You know my mom doesn’t like to be kept waiting,” she teased, but her shoulders were stiff, as if she were preparing for what he was so desperate to say. Koichi himself wasn’t certain of his words, but he didn’t have time to think about them. Instead he just opened his mouth and blurted out the first things that came to his mind.

“Don’t die,” Koichi said, whispered really, as both he and the foreigner worked together to form the phrase. He winced as soon as he said it. Nobody could promise something like that because nobody could guarantee it.

Yet, as she liked to remind him, Sango was far from nobody.

“Of course not. Who do you take me for? You’re talking to the first Uzukage, you know?” Sango said, winking a final time with a grin before turning back to her mother, who was tapping her foot impatiently. Koichi watched her leave, a small smile on his face as well.

She would be fine.

“Powerful friends you have, son,” his uncle said, ruffling Koichi’s hair. Koichi nodded slightly, reassured by Sango’s confidence. He couldn’t imagine anyone defeating her in combat.

Fairly, maybe.

Koichi blanched at that thought and shivered slightly. One on one, he was sure Sango could take on anyone, but what if they teamed against her? What if she was alone?

“What’s wrong son? Are you alright?” his uncle asked, turning him around and squatting to stare at him in the eyes. Koichi shuffled a bit before steeling himself. He couldn’t let Sango fight alone. He had to help her somehow. But to do that… to do that he couldn’t be a smith. There was only one thing he could do.

“I want to be a shinobi,” Koichi said, glaring at his uncle to hide any fear he had at the admission.

His uncle froze, not moving an inch as his face paled as well, making the strangeness of his hair color all the more apparent. Looking to the side to make sure there weren’t any listeners, his uncle grabbed Koichi by the arm and the next thing he knew they were back at their house, behind the smithy.

“Whoa, what, that was ninjutsu! I knew you were a shinobi!” Koichi yelled in outrage, pointing a finger at his uncle, who just waved it off with a frown.

“Ah, my boy, how can I be a shinobi? Shinobi start wars they can’t win for prizes they don’t want. Haruno only fight when the cause is just. Shinobi die in the shadows and Harunos live in the-”

“Shut up! They don’t die! You can’t just blow me off this time, Uncle!” Koichi yelled, his hands balling into fists. “That was a shinobi move! I know it! Sango’s mom uses it all the time! If you’re not a shinobi, if you’re so into the light, then how the hell do you know it?!”

His uncle scowled and crossed his arms at the question, “It’s just a trick one of my customers taught me for a blade. Helps me get around faster, nothing more. Now, what is this nonsense about you wanting to become a shinobi? The path of shadows holds nothing for us but pain and death. The path of the light is-”

“Enough about your damn light!” Koichi screamed, shocking his uncle into silence. “What is the point of ‘living in the light’ if you can’t even protect the ones you care about? I’d rather die as a shinobi a hundred times than lose everything as a Haruno once,” Koichi said, scowling when he felt the tears falling down his face. His scowl weakened as arms began to enclose him and fell apart all together as his uncle held him close, his yells transforming into sobs instead.

“Oh, my boy, this is about that Sango girl isn’t it?” he asked softly, pressing on without waiting for an intelligible response. “She’ll be all right. She’s made of strong stuff. The Uzumaki Clan isn’t renowned across the continent for nothing, you know? I’m sure she’ll make it out of this okay.”

“But… but what if she doesn’t? What if she dies? I need to be there to protect her! I can’t do that as a Haruno…” Koichi whispered, closing his eyes in shame. Why couldn’t he have been born a Hoshigaki or an Uzumaki? Why’d he have to be born useless?!

You aren’t-

SHUT UP!

“Ah, my boy, my sweet, sweet boy,” his uncle soothed, patting Koichi’s back lightly. “You don’t have to be a shinobi to protect those you love. You don’t have to go die in a war to protect your friend.”

“But how else can I help? Someone needs to watch her back!” Koichi protested.

“That’s how shinobi protect their friends. They fight and bleed and kill so that their allies stay safe and live to protect them in return,” his uncle said, patting Koichi’s back one more time before walking towards one of his working tables and picking up the flame sword still hanging above. “We are Harunos. Our protection belongs with our weapons, armor, and Legends. Shinobi defend their comrades from blades and ambushes, true, but Harunos make them strong enough to handle it themselves.”

Koichi stayed silent for a moment. The image of a fallen Uzumaki, because who else could it have been with that hair, lingered in his mind as he stared at the sword. He thought back on it and realized that she had no weapons more special than kunai. Would she have survived with his uncle’s sword at her command? Haruno weapons turned average shinobi into A and S-class, of course she would have.

“Teach me,” Koichi commanded, standing tall as he looked at the blade. He would protect his friend from this war in any way he could. If the best way was to remain in the village and equip her with the best weapons he could make, then so be it. His uncle grinned at his words and carefully set the sword down..

“Very well, son. Your apprenticeship begins now. When we’re through, you’ll be the best Haruno of us all, I can feel it,” his uncle said, that grin still firmly on his face. Koichi smiled back, though he could tell it was weak. He didn’t really care about fame or fortune or being the best.

He just wanted to save his friend.

He just didn’t want to be useless.

*********************************************************************

Haruno Koichi was sixteen years old when he made his first Legend.

Three pronged. Weapon of the sea. Crown of the gods. Perfect for water nature. Yes, good, yes. A muscular man stands atop a rock, holding his weapon aloft. Lightning rains from the heavens as the seas rise up in fury.

Koichi kept the image in mind as he carefully carved the seals into the Trident. It was an odd weapon, one that Koichi has only seen the odd fisherman use, but the Foreigner would not stop bombarding his head with images of a man wielding it. A god he called him. If the trident was good enough for a foreign god then it would be perfect for Sango.

With a final shift of his arms, the seal underneath his carving tools glowed a brilliant blue before fading back to black, blending with the black iron he had used to craft it. Breathing a sigh of relief, Koichi stood up and grabbed the trident before facing it towards the scorched target in his smithy. He had brought it with him for memory’s sake when he bought his own small shop a few months before. Now would be the first time he used it.

Better make it count.

Koichi breathed slowly in and out. The seal he was testing took him days to carve. If there were any flaws with it then he may have to reforge the entire weapon. Praying to all of the gods of his world as well as the strange foreigner god, Koichi raised the trident over his head and channeled chakra into the metal as it spun.

To his relief, water began accumulating around the prongs as the trident spun. After only a second of gathering water, he shifted and swung the trident towards the target almost like a sling.

“Poseidon’s Wrath!” Koichi yelled, listening to the Foreigner as lightning shot up the shaft and into the water just as it formed a water bullet with his shift in chakra. With a cheer, he turned around before the sparking water bullet even hit the target, holding the weapon above his head as if he had just conquered the world.

“I did it! Yes!” Koichi cheered, before almost dropping the weapon as he heard a loud crash behind him.

Oops.

Slowly, Koichi turned around and saw a hole where the target used to be. Sparks jumped from the jagged edged of the wall and Koichi sighed when he realized how expensive it would be to get a new sealed wall. Suddenly, a flash of red appeared through the hole and, next thing he knew, he was face to face with Uzumaki Sango.

The very person the trident was for.

Isn’t it meant to be a surprise?

“Oi! Pinkie! Are you alright in there?!” she asked, her eyes roaming his smithy as if there was nothing wrong with sticking her head through a hole with sharp edges. Just another day for Uzumaki Sango. Koichi cut off his thoughts as her eyes drifted towards the trident in his hands. He quickly hid it behind his back the best he could and gave her his most charming grin.

“Uzu! Hey! What are you doing here?” he asked with a chuckle, burying the urge to rub the back of his head. That would be a little awkward.

“I’m looking for you, you jerk, and it’s Uzukage-sama,” Sango huffed, backing out of the hole and heading towards the entrance to his smithy like a civilized person.

Hide the evidence.

Koichi quickly threw the trident underneath one of his worktables before covering it with a sheet. He event threw some old powder and dust over the sheet to make sure it looked old and ignored.

Carefully. Hide the incredibly expensive evidence carefully.

“I’ve been kicking it in the village for over a week! For a week everyone I know has been congratulating me on my victories and my new apprenticeship. For a week I have gotten a pat on the back and congratulations from just about every single person in the village,” Sango ranted as she went around the wall, her words beating through the muffling walls as she finally appeared in the doorway.

“Except one,” she said with a frown, narrowing her eyes at Koichi. “I don’t get it. You had to have known I was in the village. You had to have known that the pathetically named Village Leader has named me his successor and apprentice. Yet, it was your aunt that invited me here for dinner before you even gave me a congrats. I’ve met her like twice, what gives, Pinkie? You don’t want to be my smith anymore?”

“What? No! That’s not it at all!” Koichi protested, moving forward to reassure his friend only to wince as she backed away.

“Oh, it isn’t? Then what is it, Pinkie? You just don’t like the look of your friend now that she’s the Red Menace? My body count too high for you? Too much blood on my hands, you know?” Sango asked, her frown deepening and her eyebrows furrowing with every word.

“Of course not-”

“Then why haven’t I seen you?! I thought after being away for four months you’d be happy to see me instead of avoiding me like I’m diseased, you know? This isn’t a big village, Pinkie. You can’t miss someone for so long without trying to,” Sango accused, pointing a finger towards him menacingly. Koichi gulped at the sight, he once saw her shoot a water bullet from a finger alone.

Like looking down a barrel.

Yeah, whatever that meant.

“I’ve been busy, Uzu. Nobody has seen me for like a month. I’ve been working on a… project,” Koichi said, rubbing the back of his head. The frown lost some of its intensity but Sango’s eyes were still narrowed as she considered Koichi’s words.

“What kind of project keeps you busy for so long?” she asked, moving forward and backing Koichi into his table.

Act dumb.

“Uh, a big one?” Koichi said with a nervous laugh.

Not that dumb! Love that movie.

What in the world is a movi-

“Really?” Sango asked, raising an unimpressed eyebrow as she moved even closer, trapping Koichi against the desk as she glared at him from a few inches away. “After all this time, I thought the least you would at least be honest with me, you know? I guess shinobi aren’t the only ones that lie. At least they’re better at it.”

With a final huff, Sango turned around and began walking towards the door. Koichi spotted her hand making a few seals and sprinted forward to grab it, stopping her from completing it. He expected her to yell at him for that for most. They had done it enough when they annoyed each other as children, after all.

He didn’t expect being flipped to the ground and staring at a kunai with his own Haruno symbol pressed into the handle.

Nice going.

“Are you insane?!” Sango yelled, pocketing her kunai immediately and bringing Koichi to his feet before checking him for injuries. “I’ve spent four months in a warzone and you think it’s a good idea to stop me from making seals?! I thought you were supposed to be smart!”

“Sorry, sorry, I just wanted to show you what I’ve been working on,” Koichi muttered as Sango continued to look him over for broken bones. She had gotten a lot faster since he had seen her.

“Wait, you were serious? I thought you were just making up an excuse, you know?” Sango said, finally satisfied with his health enough to punch him for scaring her. He silently thanked every god there was that she had not become a medic-nin. He wasn’t sure if the village would be able to handle her bedside manner.

“What would make you think that?” Koichi asked as he walked back to the table from earlier and bent down to pull off the sheet.

“Well, you’ve never been slow to brag about your work before, you know?” Sango muttered, rubbing the back of her neck.

Koichi stopped pulling off the sheet and turned back, narrowing his eyes, “What’s that supposed to mean? I don’t brag.”

Ha!

“Uzu, put away the scroll, I show you this kunai I made! Uzu, stop training with your team, check out my totally awesome sword! Uzu, I made armor! Check it out! What do you mean you’re busy eating with the village leader?” Sango mocked. Koichi felt his face burn and looked away sharply, suddenly focused on the sheet again.

“That last one is an exaggeration. You were done eating when I saw you,” Koichi muttered.

“By two seconds. I counted,” Sango laughed before peeking over his shoulder and staring at the trident on the ground. “What is that? You blowing me off to make fisherman tools?”

“It’s not just a tool, it’s a weapon. I call it Poseidon. Let me show you what it can do,” Koichi said, a grin on his face while looking at his best work.

“Poseidon? Really? What does that even mean?” Sango said, her cheeks puffing slightly. She always did that when she was trying not to laugh.

Stilling grinning, Koichi grabbed the trident and, a few seals later, he was outside his smithy and heading towards one of his clan’s training grounds, laughing as he heard Sango complain about the head start.

Even with it, he still arrived to the field after her. She was standing in the middle of the clearing with a smirk on her face and looking at her nails, acting like she had all the time in the world. When she looked up and saw him her smirk turned into a grin and she laughed, twirling as she looked around the training ground.

Koichi followed her lead and smiled himself. It was his favorite training ground, a small clearing with a few trees circling the area. Few Haruno came to train there at all, which was true that day as well. He and Sango were the only ones there, which gave him plenty of room to show off the trident’s abilities.

“My, my, Pinkie, this seems like a very private place. Not a soul in sight, you know?” Sango mused, the grin still on her face. “All that drama and you were just trying to get alone with me. Who would have guessed?”

“Shut up,” Koichi laughed, his face burning. Sango pouted for a second but Koichi was too focused on the trident to pay attention. With a soft burst of chakra in the right places, the seals on the weapon glowed with restrained energy, revealing the power that lay beneath.

“Whoa, that’s a lot of seals,” Sango whispered.

“Just wait until you see what they do,” Koichi said, raising the trident and making a small circle in the air with the prongs. A circle of water appeared around the prongs with the movement and, with another flash of chakra, quickly expanded to surround both Koichi and Sango.

“Collar of the Gods!” Koichi and the Foreigner screamed as they slammed the butt of the trident into the ground. Immediately the circle released outwards, slamming into the trees and digging halfway into the trunk. The marks were blackened thanks to the electric current in the water as well and Koichi grinned as he heard a few fall down.

Now that was Legendary.

“Collar of the gods?” Sango asked behind him before exploding into cackles. Koichi’s smile slowly fell as she kept laughing.

“What? You all have your ninja names for attacks. What’s wrong with my names?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“Nothing, nothing, just… collar of the gods,” Sango whispered, her face reddening and her lips shaking until she finally erupted into laughter once again. Koichi sighed and sat down, resigned to his fate of listening to his best friend laugh at his expense for the next dozen minutes. When she reached the five minute mark, he laid down on his back and watched the clouds lazily float by.

Much, much later, Sango finally managed to suppress her humor enough to have a conversation, though a few giggles still pushed their way out now and then. She stood up, walked a few steps, and crash landed into the grass beside him, eventually rolling over and staring at the clouds with him. How she did not have brain damage by this point was beyond him. Koichi stayed silent a few more moments before Sango giggled again and pushed his shoulder.

“Alright, alright, I’m done laughing. That was actually a pretty cool weapon. Not worth ignoring me all week, but hey, I can help get your priorities back on track while I’m in the village, you know?” Sango snickered, before side-eying him and his lack of response. “Hey, now, I just complimented your weapon. You can stop acting like a Nara and thank me?”

“A Nara? What’s that?” Koichi asked, his eyes tracing a dog shaped cloud. He wondered how clouds decided what shape to be in. Was there a smith in the sky shaping them like he shaped his weapons?

In a worth where you can walk on water, anything is possible.

What’s so special about that?

“Oh, yeah, you wouldn’t know would you? I fought with one on the western front. They’re real lazy bastards unless they get motivated. Then they’re just scary,” Sango said, giggling into her hand. Koichi smiled as well and nudged her with his shoulder, as if anything could actually scare her.

“Lazy, huh? Doesn’t sound too bad. Maybe they’ll adopt me.”

“Like you could ever stop making weapons. You’re too good at it now, in too deep, you can never escape.”

“Damn. There goes my cloud watching career,” Koichi sighed. The two looked at each other before laughing at themselves, slowly standing up as Koichi looked over his weapon once more.

“It’s a nice weapon,” Sango said eventually, “You’ll definitely get a good price on it. I can even suggest some rich chunin who could use a Legend like that to get jonin if you like.”

Koichi pretended to think about it for a moment before shaking his hand and handing it out to Sango, “That’s fine. I think I’d rather just give it to you.”

“What?!” Sango yelled, stepping back a little with her head shooting from Koichi to the weapon then back again. “Pinkie, this isn’t some kunai or a new sword, this is a Legend. I can’t just… I can’t just take this! You could retire from selling it alone!”

“Then I’ll sell the next one. This one is yours. Something to remember your favorite smith by when he’s too distracted to talk to anyone,” Koichi chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. He didn’t expect her to refuse the gift.

“Koichi,” Sango said, “I’m serious. I can’t take this. Armies have battles each other for weapons like these. Last week an entire squad of us were wiped up trying to steal some of the Seven Swords of Kiri, which your ancestor forged. A Haruno Legend can’t just be given away.”

“I think a Haruno should be the one to decide who should receive a Haruno Legend, don’t you?” Koichi asked.

“I can’t accept a gift like this, Koichi,” Sango said, her eyes tracing the weapon like it was the last time she’d see it.

Not a gift.

“Fine. Then it’s not a gift,” Koichi shrugged, smiling slightly when Sango tilted her head. He was one of the only ones she revealed these tells of hers to. She couldn’t afford to be so transparent to everyone when her ambitions were so high. He felt pride fill his chest at the thought. “It’s tribute, to the first Uzukage.”

With the smile still on his face, Koichi held the weapon up in his hands and slightly bowed towards Sango, “Please accept my tribute, Uzukage-sama. It would make this one proud to see the first Uzukage of Uzushiogakure wield one of my weapons.”

At first there was no response to his words. Koichi felt sweat start to drip down his face as the silence stretched on. He couldn’t really think of anything to say if she refused again and he didn’t really want to sell it. Maybe he could take it himself and become a pirate raiding the Land of Mist. That would be better than staying here in embarrassment, right?

Yo ho ho, it’s a pirate’s life for me.

“I accept,” Sango whispered, carefully lifting the weapon from Koichi’s hand and interrupting the strange song being sung in his head. Relieved, Koichi straightened his back only to be grabbed by the front of the shirt and brought forward. His eyes widened as he felt Sango’s lips on his own. Before he could react, she had stepped away, giving him a wink and a smirk as her hand flashed some seals.

“Thanks for the tribute, Pinkie. Don’t be a stranger next time, yeah?” she said, giggling at whatever expression was stuck on Koichi’s face. With a final salute, she had teleported away in a swirl of leaves. That was new.

Well then. That happened. Hello? Koichi? Are you still there? Not again. I won’t be trapped in a body ag-

“Whoo-hoo!” Koichi responded, jumping in the air and punching the sky. He was grinning so widely that his cheeks hurt and he fell back onto the grass with closed eyes and a content sigh. That… that had been wonderful. Unexpected, sure, but wonderful nonetheless. That was how Sango was anyway, so he shouldn’t really be surprised. He wondered when she’d catch him off guard the next time.

Why not surprise her? Uno Reverse Card.

Yeah! Whatever that means! He would find her in the village and ask her on a date. That would be nice. Happy with his decision, Koichi slowly opened his eyes and

Saw his uncle standing two feet over him with the widest grin he had ever seen. Koichi felt horror invade his soul as his eyes slid down to the giant camera wrapped around his neck.

“No,” Koichi whispered.

“Yes,” his uncle grinned back, bringing up the camera to take another picture of his despairing nephew.

“How did you even hide from us? Sango is a shinobi!” Koichi protested before glaring at his uncle. “You’re a shinobi aren’t you? I knew it! You’re a shinobi in disguise who will use those photos to blackmail me! I’m on to you now!”

“Ah, my boy, how could I be a shinobi?” his uncle laughed. “Shinobi keep secrets in the dark and hardly ever reveal what they have found. Harunos are more than happy to post these bad boys all over the village. Shinobi die in shadows.”

“Harunos live in the light. You know Sango won’t be happy about this. She doesn’t need a scandal before she shoots for Uzukage,” Koichi pointed out, feeling his chest puff out with pride.

“Oh, please, like a little scandal could hurt her chances now. She’s one of the best shinobi to ever come out of this village and she’s still so young! Besides, the war is almost over, any dissent to her rise to power will disappear once we have peace,” his uncle chuckled, waving the air as if that would wave Koichi’s worries away.

Almost over? Wait… oh no.

“Still, I don’t want to put her through that. At the very least you should tell her what you’re going to do,” Koichi scowled, crossing his arms as he stared down his uncle.

The war ended only one way, didn’t it? How could I have forgotten?! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Now we’re out of time!

“Don’t worry, I’ll ask her. I don’t think she’ll have much of a problem with it though,” his uncle said with a chuckle.

Death, rubble, destruction. Red hair and red clothes drowned in red blood. No hope. No survivors.

“Why do you think that?” Koichi asked, wincing at the images being slamming into his head. What was going on with the Foreigner?

We need to leave. Take your family, take Sango, and go far away from here. Go to Konoha. Go to Suna. Go to Kiri! Just go somewhere! Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run.

Will you shut up?!

“Who do you think gave me the camera?” his uncle said, laughing as he teleported away from the training ground with a few hand seals. Koichi stared a the spot where his uncle had been for a few moments before his brain rebooted.

“Wait… she planned this?!” he yelled, close on his uncle’s heels.

We’re doomed.

*********************************************************************

Haruno Koichi was seventeen years old when his world burned to the ground.

I told you. I told you. I told you we should have ran. I told you we should have hid. I told you we should have left. Why didn’t you listen?!

“Where’s Sango, have you seen her?! Where is the Uzukage?!” Koichi ignored the Foreigner as he yelled at the guard of the Village Center. His aunt stood nervously behind him, holding his whimpering cousin close as the crowed scrambled around him.

Before everything went to Hell, Sango had been standing on top of the Village Center, waving to the people below and accepting the newest kage crown to exist. Almost everyone had gathered to the village to see the momentous occasion. Skeleton crews were left at the border, distant relatives returned to the streets, even some noblemen from the Land of Fire and all of the nobles of the Land of Whirlpool had shown up.

It had been a wonderful ceremony. The sun had set a few hours before, candles and banners filled the air, families in their best clothes stood in the streets. Then Sango had stepped atop the tower and smiled at the people who would be her subjects. The war was almost over and the conflicts on the border had slowed to a snail’s pace as both sides began to think of peace. Most villages may have waited until the end of the war to change leadership, but Uzushiogakure was not most villages. The village leader would step down and use his time to ensure the war continued on its current path while Sango ruled the village and defended an nation that had never been invaded. It had been perfect.

It had been.

Then, before she had even been able to give an opening speech, the outer barriers were breached and ships filled with shinobi had been spotted on the coast. For the first time since its creation, Uzushiogakure was being invaded. Sango had barely even been able to look at him, only being able to spare a trembling grin and a wink before she disappeared from sight. She probably meant to be reassuring, but worry ate at his bones as the crowds of panicked civilians ran through the streets.

“I’m sorry, Haruno-san, I don’t know! You need to go with the other civilians! We will be escorting you all to the safe-houses and the harbors immediately! Come on, there’s no time to was-” a loud explosion cut the man off as the smell of smoke filled the air.

Koichi’s head shot to the side and his mouth dried as he noticed where the smoke was coming from. The west side of the village. That was where the Haruno district was.

“Uncle,” Koichi whispered, clenching and unclenching his hands as he stared at the rising smoke. His uncle had had to skip the ceremony to focus on finishing a Legend for the village leader. His uncle had talked about nothing else for a month after he thought of the village leader ending the war with a Haruno weapon at his side.

Little chance of that now.

“Go,” Koichi heard his aunt say behind him. He turned to see her staring at him with hard eyes and a tense line for her mouth. “Go. I will find somewhere safe for us. Find my husband and do the same, son.”

Koichi nodded to her, starting to walk away before suddenly stopping. He turned slightly to see the shinobi he had just been yelling at holding his arm tightly. The man had a frown on his face and looked at Koichi with ashamed eyes as he held him firm.

“I’m sorry, kid. Uzukage-sama told us to keep you all safe. I can’t let you run off.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll be fine with it,” Koichi said, trying to smile to reassure the man. His frown didn’t budge.

“Orders are orders. Don’t worry, civilian, we’ll keep you safe,” he said, finally releasing Koichi but still staring at him to make sure he escaped. Unluckily for the shinobi, he wasn’t any regular civilian.

“Hey, what are you-” the shinobi’s voice cut off as Koichi made the seals for a shunshin, teleporting just far enough away to start running towards the Haruno district. He would apologize to the man later and tell Sango how dedicated he was to his job. That should be enough to make up for running away.

Granted we don’t all die beforehand.

“Shut up,” Koichi whispered. Civilians ran past him on the street as he sprinted towards the cloud of smoke in the distance. He could see people he’d known all his life running by him with fear on their faces. His neighbor, one of his distant cousins, a redheaded child, so many different people all with the same look on their face. Not one of them looked at him twice. Not one of them tried to stop him.

Is this what war looks like?

Eventually, after what felt like forever, Koichi came across his house. Or at least what was left of it. The entire building was on fire. He could see his old room at the back of the house collapse and whimpered at the sight. Koichi fell to his knees as he stared at his home of sixteen years turn to ash.

The place he had been raised. The place he had learned how to make a blade. The place he had learned how to use chakra for the first time. The place he had made his first Legend and asked Sango out on their first official date. It was all disappearing before his eyes. Did his uncle get away safely?

We should go before anyone finds-

Koichi’s head shot up as he heard voices in the distance. He narrowed his eyes, wondering if it was the Foreigner or something else. A laugh, high and cruel, rose above the crackling flames and revealed the identity of the owner as easily as a picture.

Shinobi.

Run!

Panicking, Koichi ran to the one place that he could think of.

Not there you idiot!

Koichi barely paid the voice any mind as he burst through the door to his house, the smoke instantly assaulting his eyes and lungs before he dropped to the ground. The air itself seemed to be on fire, the heat pressing down on Koichi as he crawled through the house. At least no shinobi would follow him in here.

Yeah, gee, I wonder why? Maybe because it’s a burning building!

“Quiet, I need to focus,” Koichi whispered. There was only one place that would be remotely safe from the flames. His uncle’s smithy. With the way he loves to wave that fire sword around, there have to be some sort of seals keeping out flames, right?

Let’s hope so.

The smoke swarmed his body, looking for any entrance to his lungs as Koichi desperately kept his mouth covered. The heat was even worse, mocking him and ridiculing him as he crawled as fast as he could toward the door to the smithy. Or maybe that was just the Foreigner.

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!

Yes, it was definitely the Foreigner.

The heat and smoke chased him all the way to the smithy door, and Koichi quickly stood up and pushed his way through the door. As soon as he entered, the air cleared slightly, but the smoke still circled him and the flames still licked at his sides.

“No,” Koichi whispered as he saw the state the smithy was in. Half the building was just gone. Luckily, there was less fire and smoke in the room, but all of his memories were still gone. Half the weapons he had helped his uncle make had disappeared under rubble. The forge that he had made his first knife in was in shambles. Was there anything left?

We should have never come here.

“Do you ever stop talking? Uncle! Are you here?!” Koichi called out, moving to search the rubble. Something hit his foot as he stepped forward and Koichi jumped back quickly. He slowly looked down to see a man with a Kiri headband on his head. His neck was twisted in an odd angle and his face was frozen in shock. He had never seen his death coming.

What the hell?!

Koichi stared for a few moments before shaking his head and moving on. Even though he had been his enemy, the shock on his face and the angle of his neck was just unsettling. It was strange to think that if the shinobi had been alive then it would be his neck twisted. His face frozen for eternity. Would the man have spared so many thoughts to him?

Why aren’t you freaking out over this? It’s a dead body!

You’ve been showing me dead bodies ever since I was eight, Foreigner. I know what they look like.

Oh… I’m sorry.

Before Koichi could respond, a cough echoed through the air. Koichi’s eyes shot towards the eyes as his hands balled into fists. He didn’t have any weapons on him but his arms were strong and his chakra sung through the muscles. It wouldn’t be any different from swinging a hammer.

“Koichi, is that you, my boy?” a weak voice asked from the corner of the room.

“Uncle?!” Koichi asked, running to the corner immediately. He paused as he saw three more bodies with various wounds before shaking his head again and pressing on. Now wasn’t the time to think about it. His uncle was propped in the corner of the room, a broken war hammer handle in his hands and blood leaking from his stomach. Koichi winced when he saw the wound and followed the blood to the large pool slowly spreading from his uncle. That wasn’t good.

“Ah, it is you. Good, good. I am happy that theirs’ won’t be the last faces I see before it ends,” his uncle said, chuckling slightly before abandoning it to a coughing fit.

“Don’t say that, Uncle. I’m going to get you out of here. Don’t worry,” Koichi said, kneeling down to take his uncle’s hands in his own. His uncle dropped the warhammer shaft and accepted the grip. He was cold.

“I wish I could have given the hammer to the village leader earlier. Worked well before the resistance seals burst. Wasn’t able to finish them when these bastards broke in. Power seals still worked fine, though. You should have seen the look on their faces when I tore through the wall there,” his uncle laughed, wincing with every breath. Koichi stared at his uncle for a moment before smiling softly. He had been right.

“You’ve killed before, haven’t you, Uncle?” Koichi asked.

His uncle stopped laughing then, instead turning to Koichi with a small smile and a glint in his eyes, “Once or twice, son. Once or twice. I haven’t been completely honest with you, I’m afraid.”

“You were a shinobi?”

“I was. Only for a few years but I saw my fair share of service. I served in the First Shinobi World War. Was a captain for a while there,” his uncle whispered, his eyes distant as he recollected his memories. “I never thought I’d fight again. I never wanted to.”

“You were a hero,” Koichi said.

“No. No, shinobi are never heroes. Especially not in war,” his uncle sighed. “But you don’t need to hear that. All you need to know is that I was a stupid kid who thought he could end the war by himself. I was the first Haruno shinobi in a hundred years only to end up a smith in the end. I’m glad you didn’t repeat my mistakes, my boy, you don’t need the memories I have.”

“So. I was right, then?” Koichi asked, smirking when his uncle laughed. He didn’t wince this time. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

“Yes, yes, you were right. More or less, anyway. I guess you deserve to know that after thirteen years of accusations,” his uncle said. After that he didn’t say anything for a long time. Neither did Koichi. The two simply stayed there. Uncle and nephew. Father and son.

“Uncle?” Koichi asked, breaking the silence.

“Yes, son?”

“What do I do now?”

“Now? Now you leave. You leave this old man behind and leave this older village behind. I’m not sure if we can win this war and I don’t want to risk your life over an uncertain victory,” his uncle squeezed his hands as he said it, as if that made his words hurt any less.

A village made of rubble. Stones flung around a desolate wasteland with no rhyme or reason. It was impossible to see what they would have combined to form. The only visible evidence of a past was the swirl on a large stone, lazily surveying the graveyard it called home.

“I can’t just abandon the village, Uncle. I can’t just leave everyone here,” Koichi protested.

“Then don’t. There is a boat that belongs to the Haruno Clan on the southern side of the village. It’s hidden in an old training ground and should be able to hold about twenty people. I was a spoiled rich kid, my boy. My father was the richest Haruno to ever live. I used to smuggle my academy class away from the Academy every other week,” his uncle chuckled, quieting down and adopting another far away look to his eyes. “Grab whoever you can find and save who you can. Then get out of here.”

“So, you want me to grab a boat and sneak other civilians away behind our enemies’ backs?” Koichi asked, dumbfounded. “I don’t think I can do that. Sneaking around in shadows and smuggling others away? I’d have to be a shinobi to do that.”

His uncle huffed at his protests, “A shinobi? Ah, my boy, how could you be a shinobi? It was shinobi that destroyed our village. Shinobi that brought the war to our doorstep. Shinobi destroyed almost everything that we call home. You have lived your entire life learning how to create. You will create a new future. I know you will.”

Koichi shook his head in disbelief and gripped his uncle’s hand tighter at the words. His uncle lightly squeezed back, as if he couldn’t feel any pain from Koichi’s grip. “How can you say that, Uncle? How can you have so much faith?”

“Because I believe in you,” his uncle said with a smile, as if that were the simplest thing in the world. “As long as you stay alive, the Haruno clan will live on. As long as you stay alive, Uzushiogakure will live on. Save as many as you can, my son, but keep yourself safe first. You are our future.”

“I’ll try, Uncle. I’ll try,” Koichi promised, patting his hand again.

“Good, good. Stay alive, Koichi. Remember, shinobi die in the shadows. Harunos live… in the… light,” his uncle whispered, coughing up a spat of blood as he slowly lowered his head to the ground. With more explosions in the distance and flames licking the walls, his uncle shut his eyes for the final time, his face half covered by the flickering shadows of a burning village.

“Uncle? Come on, talk to me, Uncle. Uncle!” Koichi shouted. He choked on a sob as he slowly lowered his head to his uncle’s hand, still being kept in the air by Koichi’s own.

We have to go.

“No! No, I can’t leave him!”

Go, Koichi! Or we’ll all die for nothing!

“I won’t leave him! I don’t want to leave him…” Koichi whispered, tears running down his face.

Please Koichi. Do it for him if not for yourself.

“Fine… fine! I’m going! Now shut the hell up, you bastard! Get out of my head and leave me alone!” Koichi screamed, searching the burning smithy for anything he could use to help his escape.

“There,” Koichi whispered, marching towards a sword halfway buried by rubble. He could still remember his uncle swinging towards the target and the flames that burst from the steel. He could still feel the wonder and hope that filled him when his uncle displayed the powers that almost seemed shinobi like.

What are you going to do with that?

“I can’t leave without my little cousin, Foreigner,” Koichi said with a shake of his head, brushing off the rubble to grab the hilt before running outside the smithy. “I can’t just run to the boats or to the safehouse. I have to go back and make sure my family is safe.”

Are you crazy?! That’s the first place they’ll go! They’ll kill you!

“Then my family is in danger. Stop arguing. I’ve made my decision,” Koichi growled, turning back to the tower and marching forward. He had to find Sango. He wouldn’t lose her too.

Please just run… I don’t want to die.

Koichi softened for a moment before shaking his head with a laugh, “Die? Who do you take me for, Foreigner? Shinobi aren’t the only ones who can fight.” With narrow eyes, Koichi looked forward and saw two shinobi ahead. Flames seemed to be everywhere. On the houses, on the sides of the streets, Koichi couldn’t see anything that wasn’t bathed in fire. Shadows and light warred against one another and finally illuminated the shinobi ahead enough for Koichi to get a good look at them. One had a Mist headband on and was laughing with the other.

There was a small body with pink hair between the two.

Stop! Don’t fight them! We can sneak around the buildings.

“Didn’t you hear my uncle, Foreigner? Only shinobi die in the shadows. I won’t be killed like a cowering rat. I am a Haruno and I belong right here! In the light!” Koichi asked, channeling chakra into his sword and growling when he saw one of the shinobi turn. Too late. Koichi roared as he pushed the sword forward and sent a torrent of flames towards the shinobi. One tried to make seals, but he was too slow. The shinobi screamed as fire bit into their bodies and Koichi only stopped pushing when he heard them fall silent. With a gasp, he stopped his flow of chakra and stared at the three burning piles where the shinobi and body used to be. They were little more than candles now, banishing all of the shadows that dared to come near them.

Washed in the light of burning bodies and holding a Legend in his hand, Koichi stepped forward and began marching to the center of the village. He would save as many as he could and then…

And then he would survived.

*********************************************************************

Haruno Koichi was seventeen years old when his world burned to the ground. He was seventeen when his uncle died, seventeen when his village was invaded, and seventeen when he lost almost everything he had ever known.

He was seventeen when he decided to save what was left.