Chapter 2: Asahi Toru

The cry of a newborn was heard in that room, where a woman was breathing with difficulty. You could easily see the different medical kunoichi carefully tending to the woman.

"It's a boy..."

A slight smile appeared on the woman's lips as she held her son in her arms. Happiness flooded her heart, she felt that those difficult nine months had been worth it. Regardless of how, he wanted to see that child he was holding in his arms grow up, she wanted to see him smile and live the life of a normal child. That woman wanted her son to be happy, away from the practices of her clan.

"We are done for today, we suggest you rest for a week. After that time you can move freely again"

The woman responded with a slight shake of her head, to which the kunoichi simply bowed and left the room, leaving the woman with her son.

"You're smaller than I thought. So cute, my little Toru...my little Asahi Toru"

The woman looked into the child's eyes, those eyes similar to those of a cat, eyes of a strange gray color, although the pupil was not like that of a cat, obviously.

"Your eyes... I don't know how they look like mine or your father's. How strange"

The woman looked into the newborn's eyes curiously. After all no one in the Asahi clan had eyes like Toru's, moreover, she had never seen a person with that kind of eye color.

"Such beautiful eyes that not many have. Somehow I feel proud"

The woman kept the smile on her face as she held the tiny hand of the newborn. The force exerted by the child was a bit weak, but for a newborn it was a lot.

"Kyouko..."

A man burst into the room, he had the same face as the boy who was with the woman, or rather, the boy had the same face as the man who entered the room.

"Kenji..."

The woman recognized the man instantly, after all he was her husband and Toru's father.

"I'm sorry I didn't come earlier, I had some things to do with the leader of the Uchiha clan"

"Wow, you care more about your job than your own son"

Kyoko held Toru in her arms and stole a glance at Kenji. She was upset with the man for not being present for the birth of his own child.

"Seriously I am sorry"

Kenji apologized, but an empty apology like that wouldn't be enough to please Kyoko.

"What am I going to do with you...? If you're so sorry, ask Toru for an apology"

Hearing the boy's name, Kenji's face changed from an expression of guilt to one of uncertainty.

"Toru? I wanted to call him Haruto, why did you decide without asking me?"

"Because I want and because I can"

"Seriously. At least you can still change in the registry"

Hearing that a mischievous smile appeared on Kyoko's face, after all she had already planned everything.

"Hahaha, too late. It's already registered as Asahi Toru"

"That because?!"

"Don't worry, we can put whatever name you want on the next one"

"The next… so that means…"

A blush appeared on Kenji's face as he realized what would happen in the future, so turning around so his wife wouldn't see the look Kenji was making, he said:

"Well, I guess I can let it slide this time"

(It was always easy to talk about it. Isn't it, Toru?)

Kyoko looked at her son, who was sleeping peacefully, as if no worry bothered him, after all he is a child, and children don't have worries, do they?

-Five years later-

With great speed that child moved between the trees. Every time he touched a branch with his feet some leaves fell off. A blood-red scarf could be seen on his neck, and a claw-shaped earring on one of his ears.

"Bird, dragon, tiger, monkey, ox, boar, dragon, bird, dragon, monkey..."

Jumping from tree to tree, the boy practiced hand seals, known to channel enough chakra to control the elements.

"Tiger, monkey, boar, bird..."

Over and over again, the boy repeated aloud the seals that his hands showed. Although he was a bit slow, his hands perfectly replicated the seals he had found in an old book of his father's.

"Hare, dragon, monkey, tiger, ox..."

The speed at which he used the seals increased the longer he practiced them. The dedication the boy displayed was admirable, he kept a neutral gaze while practicing the seals. So a few minutes passed until...

"Shakuton: Moeru Yona Kaze no ha [Burning Release: Blazing Wind Blade]"

Saying that, a small flame of two centimeters in diameter appeared, it was strong enough to stay lit for two seconds before disappearing completely. The boy looked at this flame with a neutral expression before a sigh escaped his lips.

"This will take more time, it's still not enough. At least I should be able to create a flame that stays stable"

The boy made his observation, apparently his chakra control was limited at his young age. Since he's a five year old he was obviously going to have a hard time managing his body's chakra, at least his hands and feet, which have the easiest chakra points to control.

"I'll try later..."

After saying that, the boy chose to return home, if his mother realized that her beloved son had disappeared, she would make a big fuss, something that the boy wants to avoid at all costs.

-Asahi Clan-

In an instant, the boy appeared. He had a large paper bag in his hands, filled with what appeared to be different pieces of metal.

His eyes looked in different places, to make sure that there was no one from his clan looking for him. If he was found, he would be locked up and scolded by his mother for more than two hours, and that would be a waste of time that the boy could not let go.

"Oh, Toru"

As the boy, whose name is Toru, passed through one of the doors overlooking the garden, a boy with black hair and black clothes called out to him. Toru recognized the boy the moment he saw him, after all the two grew up together.

"Sasuke..."

"Seriously. Your mom has been looking for you. Where have you been?"

"In the forest... trained. I also went out to buy some things"

With a neutral expression on his face, Toru shows him the paper bag in his hands. Sasuke went closer to see the contents, and what he could see were different metallic pieces, some were cube-shaped, others were spherical and the ones that remained were bolts and nuts.

"What are you going to do this time? The last time you did something your room blew up"

"You'll know that when it's finished. For now I want to leave these things in my room, I also want to wait for Itachi to continue teaching me how to handle the seals"

"The seals... are you still with that? When we go to the Ninja Academy we can practice them"

At Sasuke's words, Toru maintains a long silence of five seconds before answering.

"I just want to get a little ahead of myself, so I'll be ready"

Sasuke looked at Toru curiously, he always thought that Toru was a weird kid who always kept quiet, didn't talk to anyone and always did weird scientific things, but that didn't stop them from getting along.

"Okay, then I'll wait for you at my house. Nii-san is talking to dad, so come quickly before he leaves"

"Yes, I will do that"

After that talk, little Sasuke returned home, leaving Toru alone, looking at the sky with a poker face.

"Uchiha Sasuke..."

The Uchiha clan, from which Sasuke comes, is considered one of the most powerful clans in Konohagakure. The Sharingan and the Mangekyo Sharingan is the succession line technique that characterizes them, in addition to having great chakra control that allows them to use the elements of fire and lightning almost perfectly.

On the other hand, the Asahi clan, to which Toru belongs, has close relations with the Uchiha clan, it is considered one of the most powerful below the Uchiha. They are renowned for possessing the rare technique of imbuing objects with chakra, causing the objects themselves to take on the nature of chakra, turning any object into a deadly weapon. This technique of imbuing chakra into objects completely outperforms any technique that uses the flow of chakra, as they can imbue chakra into almost any inanimate object. Additionally, they are shinobi experts specializing in stealth, scientific research, and weapon makers.

In a nutshell, the Asahi clan is a clan full of prodigy shinobi that brings a large part of the military force to Konohagakure. So they are indispensable in case of a war, if it wasn't for the Asahi clan and Uchiha, Konohagakure would have been destroyed long ago.

"I should hurry up, Itachi is always very busy so I shouldn't waste time"

Toru continued on his way to his room, from which he left minutes later. For a boy of Toru's age, being a shinobi has become a dream that he is willing to fulfill. For as long as he can remember, Toru has wanted to be as skilled as Uchiha Itachi, which is why he runs away from home to train in weapon handling and ninjutsu.

-Uchiha Clan-

The leaves of the trees slowly fell from the branches of the tree in front of him, it seemed that the boy sitting in the entrance of his house was waiting for someone. He had black hair as well as his eyes, and he appeared to be ten years old.

"I still have a few things to prepare, so it will take a few weeks, will you two be okay until I get back?"

The boy looked to his side, where there was a boy very similar to him.

"Yes, I think so. Toru hasn't blown up his own house, so we'll be fine."

Remembering Toru's way of being, the boy replied. Somehow he knew Toru like the back of his hand, well after all he's known him for as long as he can remember.

"I understand..."

"By the way, Nii-san. What do you have to prepare?"

At the question, the boy's expression changed to an awkward smile, but that didn't prevent him from answering his little brother's question.

"Oh, nothing major. Investigations and stuff, nothing to worry about."

With a fake smile, Uchiha Itachi replies. As an older brother, it hurt him a lot to have to hide things from his younger brother. Even if those secrets were anything but pleasant, he was willing to protect his brother's life.

With nothing more to answer, Itachi casts his gaze to the sky, intense blue in color and with clouds of different shapes, Itachi's nerves calmed down instantly.

"Sorry for the delay"

A voice was suddenly heard, something that made Itachi return his gaze to the front, where he could see a boy with black hair and gray eyes. This one had a red scarf and an earring in the shape of claws.

"You're finally here, Toru. How long can you take to leave your toys in your room?"

"They're not toys, Sasuke"

Sasuke and Toru's gazes connected by a strange invisible beam, something that caused Itachi to interfere so that Toru doesn't melt Sasuke's brain with scientific facts.

"Wait. Toru, have you already forgotten why you're here?"

Itachi interferes between the two boys, reminding Toru why he met with him every day he could.

"Ah... yes, sorry. I was practicing the hand seals, but I only managed to cause a small flame that was not even two centimeters in diameter"

With a blank face and waving his hands, Toru explains to Itachi how he came to practice hand seals. In itself it could be said that it was a comical scene, since Toru's hand gestures contrasted too much with the expression on his face.

"You were wrong in this part, it's not a bird, it's: Dragon, boar, bird, tiger..."

As Itachi explained the hand seals, Sasuke and Toru paid close attention to the hand gestures. The two of them wanted to learn the art of ninjutsu, so each teaching from Itachi was worth a thousand ryo.

"And when you get to this seal you must place your hands in such a way that..."

In the distance, while Itachi was teaching his ninjutsu class, a woman with long black hair and dark eyes could be seen. He had a sad smile on her face, after all his son, Toru, wanted to follow the path of the shinobi, something that caused him immense sadness.

Throughout his life, he had seen many of his loved ones die in front of his eyes, all because they chose the path of the shinobi. She always wanted happiness, but in the end, that happiness always ended up vanishing in her hands.

"I can't force him, he has the right to choose who he wants to be..."

-Hours later-

Toru's shadow could be seen in the undergrowth of Konohagakure. After taking some intensive hand stamping classes he was keen to put what he learned into practice. So right now he was looking for a good place where he can use fire jutsu.

But his search was not going so well, since a few days ago he accidentally destroyed the place where he used to train and experiment with his homemade artifacts, so looking for another training place was difficult, considering the large amount of forest that yes, there was the possibility of failing to do jutsu and setting the village on fire by mistake.

"This is annoying"

Toru kept jumping from tree to tree for more than thirty minutes, but unfortunately he couldn't find a good spot. It seemed that his search would take forever, but the voices of some children made Toru stop what he was doing.

"How scary, his eyes..."

"Yuck, those eyes are ugly"

"It looks like a demon, is it a demon?"

"He has the eyes of a monster"

The cruel words of the children directed at someone specific made Toru keep watching in silence. From where she was he couldn't see who they were bothering very well so Toru was forced to get closer.

With a silent jump Toru hid in one of the nearby bushes and he could see a beautiful girl with white eyes, she looked quiet and had tears on her cheeks. Toru's first impression of the girl was that of a frightened kitten in the pouring rain.

"What disgusting eyes"

"We don't want you here, get out"

The children grabbed stones from the ground and started throwing them at the white-eyed girl. The sound of stones hitting the girl gave Toru an idea.

(Since they're hitting her, it's no problem that I hit them. That way I can test the Cloning Jutsu I learned from Itachi)

In the blink of an eye, Toru appeared in front of the white-eyed girl, something that completely surprised the children present.

"Who are you?"

Toru maintained the silence with which he arrived along with the cold gaze that characterizes him. I look around for a few seconds before speaking.

"Do you want to help me train?"

The children were taken aback by Toru's proposal, so they responded in the negative.

"Are you defending that demon?

"Do you want us to give you a beating?"

(Seriously, I waited longer than I could get. I'll just wear this and go home)

"Shinobi Technique: Cloning"

Performing the hand seals Toru summoned an exact replica of himself, something that made the children run away scared while shouting 'He's a shinobi, run'

"You... you... why?"

The white-eyed girl spoke, her voice was shaky, plus she was trembling in fear of what happened a few seconds ago.

"You have more strength than those kids, why didn't you fight back?"

"I... I... I just..."

"Your eyes could have served a lot, but you still didn't do anything about it"

"My eyes... my eyes are scary, my eyes are evil, everyone says so, they say my eyes are scary"

The white-eyed girl fell to her knees and began to cry. At this point Toru didn't know how to respond to this, so he said the first thing that came to mind.

"I wish I had eyes like yours"

Toru looked into the girl's eyes, white eyes like two shining pearls.

(The eyes of the Hyuga clan hereditary line, one of the three most powerful Dojutsu)

"What... what was that...?"

Toru looked up at the sky, and realized that it was getting late, so he couldn't stay in the forest any longer.

"I'm sorry I have to leave"

As quickly as he finished speaking, Toru disappeared, leaving that girl with peculiar eyes bewildered.