Haruto arrived in a cave with a flower in his hand. The cave had a portion of the roof opened up and allowed the light of the sun entry into the dark cavern. The sunlight fell on top of the pool of water that formed from water that ran through the cave system. And at the far end of the cave were three stone tablets with different symbols on them that stood side by side. One of them had the Konohagakure forehead protector symbol etched in the middle of the stone and the Kanji for Oil just below it. The second stone held the symbol of a fan, the Uchiha clan symbol, and below it were a few clouds, the symbol of the Akatsuki. And the last one held no symbols but a name, Misaki. Haruto got on one knee as he looked at the three stones with a sad smile on his face.
"I am back again grandfather, godfather, Misaki." Haruto said with the sad smile still on his face, "I got back from a one year request and thought it would be best I visited now of all days. Wendy has grown and she's doing great, and everyone in the Guild is doing well too. I can't believe I still do this, Kakashi-sensei must have rubbed off on me. A young man talking to two stone tablets, hahaha."
"I wonder what you two would think of me if you saw me now. The crying child hiding behind a mask of joy and idiocy now hiding behind a mask of indifference and coldness. Grandfather I guess I really haven't changed much from my past huh, still the same boy hiding behind a mask just grown up. Hahaha, you're right grandfather, I have become a coward. I refuse to get closer to anyone in fear of losing them. Misaki, you would probably be laughing at me for being such a coward. But how would you three really think of me now?"
***
A twelve year old Haruto was hopping through the trees heading towards his destination in a hurry. The village he was heading towards was located near the border of Rain country and it was one of the few places he was allowed to go. His grandfather had allowed him time off today as he had things to attend to with some of the Akatsuki members, thus he was allowed to have his time off. Though the months with his grandfather were enjoyable, he had received time off so he went to this village to check it out on his first break and he made a great friend. A girl by the name of Misaki, she was around his age just a little below average height with long black hair that reached down to her waist and two bangs of hair that framed her face that reached down to her chin. She was one of the few that he was close with and to be honest he enjoyed her company more than the others.
And today was the day he would get to enjoy it with her once more. The trees opened up and allowed him to jump down onto the ground and sprinted towards the far side of the town where Misaki's house was located at. Knocking on the door, Haruto waited for someone to open the door, but no one came so he continued to knock until he decided something was up and looked around for a way of entry in the house. Spotting a window opened on the second floor, Haruto added chakra to his feet as he sprinted up the wall and made his way down the room to look for Misaki. Haruto noticed the girl's form laying on the couch, a smile appeared on his face as he made his way towards her silently using his training as a shinobi. Standing just behind her, he reached down and shook her.
"Wake up, Misaki!" Haruto yelled with a smile as he shook her. He continued to shake her until he got a weird feeling and turned her around. His face froze as he caught sight of Misaki, the young girl had her eyes opened and a sword wound in the middle of her chest with blood seeping out and falling down onto the red couch blending with the material perfectly, "Misa…ki?"
"Misaki… It's no time to play jokes, Misaki." Haruto said in shock as he laughed a bit and his vision became blurry as tears formed in his eyes, "Come on Misaki. I'm sorry for pulling that prank on you last month. Please Misaki wake up."
Haruto shook her a little while more calling out for her, but it was no use. Lifting her body up, he brought the deceased girl into a hug and held her close as his tears freely fell from his eyes and he wept for his deceased friend. The redhead Uchiha continued to sob for the girl as his body was shivering from all the crying. That was until he could sense a few people behind him, lifting his head, he gently laid Misaki's body onto the ground as he turned to face the other people present in the house. He spotted a group of rogue shinobi from Iwa with their slashed forehead protectors tied around various areas of their body. The entire group consisted of five members all male.
"You were the ones who killed Misaki?" Haruto asked/stated as his head hung down and his bags shadowed his eyes from the view of the five deserters.
"So what if we are, brat?" one of them asked.
Haruto's eyes shifted from his regular golden to blood red with three tomoes spinning around his pupil madly. His head still hung, a kunai appeared in his right hand as he held it in reverse grip and he lifted his head slowly and the five caught sight of the Sharingan and they froze. The redhead Uchiha had an expression full of hatred and his eyes screamed for the five shinobi's death. Rushing forward, Haruto didn't even allow them a chance to defend themselves as he sliced one of them in the throat and he used his free hand to stop one of them from slicing his head off with a kunai. Cutting off the missing nins other arm, he twisted the other arm in a odd angle and the kunai was forcefully released and Haruto released the man's arm and grabbed hold of the kunai and proceeded to stab one of the kunai in the man's heart and twisting it and kicking the body towards the other two shinobi. Jumping towards the two downed shinobi, Haruto tossed his kunai and it impaled the man directly in the head killing him instantly and the redhead grabbed the other missing nin's head and twisted it in a complete 180 angle. One of the remaining missing nins appeared with a katana poised to impale him in the back, but Haruto's eyes shifted from the regular three tomoes to a straight edged shuriken.
"Amaterasu," Haruto murmured as his eye strained and a tear of blood was released and the approaching shinobi was caught in black flames and burned into ashes almost instantaneously. Walking towards the remaining shinobi who was wide eyed from the horror he had just witnessed, the man was trying to back away from the redhead and he tripped and fell onto his bottom. If he was not scared then it would be a wonder, Haruto had a stain of blood on his face and his hands were smeared in the liquid.
"Pl-please l-let me go!" the man begged as he continued to back away from the approaching redhead.
"I'll let you live, if you give me one thing." Haruto answered with no emotion in his voice as he stared at the begging man before him with no emotion whatsoever.
"W-whatever y-you want!"
"I'll let you live if you bring Misaki back." Haruto stated simply.
"I-I c-can't bring back a life."
"Then why?" Haruto asked as he was standing before the man, "WHY DID YOU HAVE TO TAKE HER FROM ME?!"
"WHY?!" Haruto demanded once more as he began punching the man relentlessly, not even giving him a chance to speak.
The action continued until Haruto stopped and fell onto his knees as he felt completely sick with himself. During the time with Madara he had little time to go into the outside world as he solely focused on his training and Madara had skimmed through the part of killing. Yes it was important but Madara saw no use in making his grandson do the action yet as he was still not much of a threat for any experienced shinobi and asking him to face anyone would be foolish. And now here he was in the house of his deceased friend with a flurry of emotions building up in his body. How could he not, this day he had completely murdered five men in gruesome ways and he saw his first real friend before his feet died
***
"I really miss you, Misaki." Haruto said as he got up from his knee and placed the flower before the tablet that read 'Misaki'.
Turning around, he began retracing his steps away from the cave. The memories of the past lingered in his mind as he continued to think about the one person that he came to love as a child.