Tu Sheng [Hokage]

As if he sensed that someone was looking at him, Haruno Shiro, who was waiting at the gate of the Ninja School, turned his head, his jade-like eyes shining brightly in the sunset.

"Sasuke..., long time no see." The voice that has gone through the voice change period is soft and hoarse.

The boy who was about the same age as Itachi gave him a small smile, and Sasuke's tightly clenched fists loosened.

That person was Itachi's former teammate.

He controlled himself not to show any rude expression, and asked in an almost suppressed voice:

"How strong is that man... Uchiha Itachi?"

The boy with pink hair and bright eyes smiled even brighter when he heard this, but this smile with complicated emotions seemed particularly dazzling in Sasuke's eyes.

"How can a guy who was promoted to Jonin at the age of 11 not be strong?" He seemed to be stuck in memories, his eyes wandering away from Sasuke's serious face.

"Ah, I saw Sakura."

Before Sasuke could say anything else, Haruno Shiro walked past him. The boy's long cherry-pink hair that reached his waist was tied into a low ponytail by a red ribbon, covering half of the white family pattern on his back.

"Let's talk next time, Sasuke."

[Forgive me Sasuke...next time. 】

Suddenly, those words overlapped with the familiar picture in his mind, and his heart seemed to be severely pained by an invisible force.

"Wait…"

"Brother!" The girl's voice overcame his

A figure with the same pink color threw herself into Haruno Bai's arms. With a happy smile on her lips and rosy cheeks, the girl rubbed her brother's arms. Her brother also stroked her sister's soft hair, smiling. Li Chengman is gentle.

This warmth stung Sasuke.

There was a flow of people between him and them, and the noise fell silent in Uchiha Sasuke's ears. His dark eyes were sadly hidden under the long, half-concealed eyelashes.

why…

That bit of luck disappeared from the child's heart after he realized he was alone, and was eventually filled with hatred.

Haruno Bai seemed to feel something. He raised his eyes and looked at the place not far away where someone was standing just now.

The child's malice is truly pure and powerful.

He raised the corners of his lips mockingly, then lowered his head and continued to listen to Sakura.

"My Ninjutsu and Taijutsu scores have been hovering around the passing line."

"what about others?"

"Full marks all!" The little child's eyes lit up when he mentioned the areas he was good at.

"Yes Yes-"

Haruno Bai narrowed his eyes with laughter and ruffled his sister's hair.

"Our little Sakura is the best."

"No, not as good as Sasuke-kun." She smiled, and her face turned red suspiciously when she mentioned the name "Sasuke".

"So, Sakura is quite concerned about him."

"no!"

He once again glanced meaningfully at the little figure in the distant sunset, and in a blink of an eye he saw Sakura burying her head in her collar shyly, her face as red as a cooked tomato.

I don't really like it...

As a sister-controller, Haruno Shiro's expression became a little distorted.

On the way home, Haruno Shiro held Sakura, who was still unconscious in the whirlpool called "Uchiha Sasuke", feeling unhappy and feeling the warmth coming from the child's hands, and his heart felt warm.

Sakura suddenly tugged on his hand, and Shiro looked sideways at his sister.

"what happened?"

"Brother, I don't have any tasks today."

"Yes"

After receiving the accurate answer, Sakura looked at Shiro with hopeful and pitiful eyes.

"Let's go to the tea house and have ice!"

"Sakura..."

The excited child was flicked on the forehead, and all the hope in his heart was wiped out.

"Ow!"

She covered her head and looked at her brother who was smiling angrily.

"It's almost winter. Does Sakura want to go to the hospital now that she's eating ice?"

I don't know which word hurt the child's sensitive heart. When Bai laid his eyes on her again, he met a pair of eyes that were filled with tears.

"Hospital…"

“I can still accompany my mother when I go to the hospital.”

Haruno Bai was silent. Seeing tears about to fall from her green eyes, he sighed silently.

I want to cry too...

"The temperature is getting colder now. Mom also said that girls should eat less ice-cold foods, right?"

He knelt down and hugged the child who had begun to cry.

"Mom...Is mom not going to live long..."

Yes, it's all his fault, Bai lowered his eyes.

Because he does things without considering the consequences. Sure enough, he will be hated like this.

He thought of Itachi's younger brother, whose dark eyes were filled with paranoid hatred. Will his Sakura look at him like this one day?

The little bit of beauty between brother and sister is replaced by despairing sadness at the mention of their shared mother.

He rested his chin on the top of Sakura's hair, his nose lingering with his sister's breath, and his slender hands helped the crying and sobbing child calm down.

Human beings are really fragile in the face of death.

He was so fragile that he wanted to cry.

The weak emotions that did not belong to the dragon family overwhelmed him.

The fate that even he cannot change is the heaviest sorrow.

The owner of the tea house recognized him at first sight. Even though he had not paid attention to this place for a long time, the old man who had been dealing with sweets all his life still entertained them very warmly.

The old man's kind eyes turned to the child in his arms.

"This is…"

"This is my sister, Haruno Sakura."

He put Xiao Sakura on the chair. Although the child had stopped crying, she was still immersed in the pain of losing her mother, as if the eyes that had just burst into light did not belong to her.

"What's going on?" the teahouse owner asked with concern.

"nothing"

Haruno Shiro smiled, and his pale face was tinged with warmth under the warm yellow light of the teahouse.

"Please bring me a red bean ball soup and..."

Shaved ice... If Mom and Shisui found out that they were eating this kind of thing now, they would definitely be beaten.

"Three-color meatballs."

"Aren't you going to eat matcha shaved ice today?"

"Ah..." His green eyes looked at the head that had been hanging down.

"It's cold, you'll catch a cold if you eat it."

He whispered without knowing whose words he was repeating.

They ate desserts in silence, and he swallowed the warm glutinous dumplings wholeheartedly. Haruno Shiro suddenly remembered that he had been in such an environment before, with two people sitting next to him who would never come back.

Sakura, who had no idea about the various entanglements between adults, drank her favorite red bean soup, and the lingering pain disappeared in her eyes.

"Brother, this is delicious."

The sparkling brightness illuminated Haruno Shiro.

He smiled softly and rubbed the top of his sister's hair across the table between them.

"This is perfect for the current weather."

"Brother will come and take you to drink whenever he has time."

Sakura looked at that dazzling smile and nodded heavily.

"Ok!"

This kind of day is as beautiful as a dream, even if it is so fragile that it will be broken accidentally without knowing when.

When paying the bill, the tea house owner finally said what he had wanted to say a long time ago.

"I have also watched you three grow up, even when your sister is your age, you come here every day."

The old man smiled at the little girl who looked at him curiously.

"Why...how did it become like this now?" The old man looked a little lonely, which was out of tune with the still bustling tea house.

Haruno Bai was stunned for a moment, and then realized that the old man was not complaining about why they suddenly stopped coming.

"I don't know."

He said with a fake smile.

One chose death under his nose, and the other was forced to a dead end under his nose.

The iron triangle composed of him, Itachi and Shisui had ceased to exist a long time ago.

Even Haruno Haku, the only one who seemed to be doing relatively well, had already had his hands covered in blood, and he was burdened with enough sins to send him to hell several times.

But no one knows, because...

Everyone who knew about it was killed by him.