We returned to class with our bodies sore and our tempers even more so.I had a couple of band-aids on my cheek and one on my arm, courtesy of the infirmary, though I doubted they'd do much for my pride.
I sat in my seat, pretending everything was normal. Naruto gave me a toothless thumbs-up from his desk. Shikamaru just sighed and muttered something about "how troublesome it is to mess with the Uchiha."
And speaking of the Uchiha…
Sasuke walked in a few seconds after me. He moved like nothing hurt, even though I knew it did. There was a small swelling on his jaw that would definitely sting when chewing. I felt proud.
"Haruno Sumiko."The voice came from the door. A Chunin from the village, serious and expressionless, leaned halfway into the classroom.
All eyes turned to me.
"The Hokage has requested your presence. It's urgent."
The air froze in my lungs for a moment. I glanced at Iruka-sensei, who gave a small nod, though I saw a flicker of worry in his eyes.
I stood up, my legs a little wobbly from the fight, and walked toward the door in silence, half the class's gaze burning holes into my back.
And just as I passed by Sasuke, his voice cut through the air like a kunai.
"Called in quick for punishment. Maybe they'll teach you some manners."
I paused. I didn't look at him—I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. I just smiled faintly to myself.
"Jealous because, for once, someone else stole the spotlight?" I said quietly, without turning.
I heard the sound of his teeth grinding.
And I kept walking.
When I arrived at the Hokage's Tower, he barely greeted me. Just a glance I couldn't quite read.From the shadows, a masked figure emerged with the icy chill typical of ANBU. In the blink of an eye, with no warning, I was escorted to an unfamiliar place. The air reeked of old parchment, spent incense, and a faint trace of dampness clinging to the stone walls.
Confusion gripped me at first—but it vanished the moment I saw my father standing at the center of the room. His posture was rigid. His expression unsteady. Something was wrong.
"Why am I here, Father?" I asked, forcing my voice to sound indifferent.
The eyes watching me from the shadows were sharp as blades. Hostility clung to the air like a silent threat. But I didn't let them see my discomfort. Especially not Dibuko, the ANBU captain. His gaze settled on me with that same contempt I knew too well—only this time, there was something else in it… a flicker of satisfaction that chilled me to the bone.
"Sumiko… there's something you need to know," my father murmured.He didn't use my honorific this time, like saying it plain would somehow make it easier. His skin was pale. His voice, brittle. Kizashi took a breath, closed his eyes, and said the words that would split my world in two:
"Your mother… is dead."
No.No. No. No.
The blow hit instantly—dry and brutal. I felt the air rush out of my lungs, like my entire chest collapsed under the weight of sudden, absolute terror.
My mother.Dead.
No. Please. It had to be a lie.But Kizashi wouldn't lie about something like this. He loved her.
"What… what the hell are you saying?"My voice cracked. I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails dug into my skin. It couldn't be. She couldn't be dead. Not her. She was strong—a formidable ninja. Besides, she was under Konoha's custody.
It was absurd. Unthinkable.
She was surrounded by protection, sealed behind barriers, unreachable by my uncles. Her family was powerful, sure, but not enough to breach the village's defenses—defenses set by the Hokage himself.
Our nations were at war, but that didn't make her an enemy of the Leaf. There was a treaty.She had betrayed her own homeland to keep me safe.And all for what?To end up dead?
This was bullshit.
I stood frozen, motionless, trying to absorb the news. Trying to keep the dignity she would've wanted me to have. But I couldn't. Not with those judging eyes around me. Not with Dibuko here. Not with my mother… gone.
Everyone in that room was useless. Hypocrites who never cared about her or me. We were nothing but political pawns in a war we didn't ask for.
Rage filled me. I clenched my fists until I felt a warm, thick liquid between my fingers. Blood.
Tears slipped down my cheeks. And with them came only one feeling: hatred.The same hatred I had tried to suppress for so long.The one I buried under every hateful glare, every venomous whisper, every unfair blow…And now, with her death, I couldn't hold it back anymore.
I clutched the necklace she gave me, desperate to hear her voice again in my mind.
Father stepped forward. He hugged me, tightly. And I let him, burying my face into his chest.
"Sumiko, I'm so sorry… this hurts me too, she was—"But I didn't hear him anymore. His words became distant echoes. Irrelevant.
Only the truth remained. Raw. Brutal. An open wound that wouldn't close.
Everything she did. Everything she sacrificed… vanished.
"Sumiko, we're doing this for your future."
I remembered her voice, her hands on my face, the day we said goodbye.The day my life was bound to the Haruno name.
"I don't want you to hate. I want you to love. I want you to live a normal life."
But how?
We bet on a future with no guarantees. A place where we wouldn't have to run anymore.And it all crumbled.
Finding out the people chasing us were our own relatives was hard. But worse was realizing they might not even be the ones who killed her.
And that shattered any peace I had left.
I no longer knew who the true enemies were.I didn't know anything anymore.
All I knew was that, in my father's arms, reason disappeared.Only pain remained.
And then I broke.
The tears I had tried so hard to hold back came pouring down.
Mother, you asked me not to hate…
So give me strength. Because right now, all I want… is to destroy everything.