The clock ticked, one second at a time.
Meatball sat across from the Hokage's desk, one leg crossed over the other, arms folded tight against his chest. Sabuko's mother stood beside him.
Hiruzen sat behind his desk, smoking his pipe as he looked over several documents. By the window, Might Guy stood with his arms folded and his eyes closed, not moving an inch.
"The deadline's approaching," Meatball remarked. "To think we have to wait for some deadline before you'll go looking for my son. Especially after you spouted that NONSENSE about enemies being sent after him!"
No one answered. His fingers drummed against his arm.
"You filled his head with nonsense." He looked at Guy again. "Made him believe effort alone would somehow make him fit for this life."
Guy didn't open his eyes. "I BELIEVE IN MY STUDENT."
Meatball's eye twitched. "Belief doesn't stop a blade."
"NO!" Guy shouted, rattling the windows. "BUT IT TEACHES ONE TO STAND AFTER BEING CUT!"
Meatball stared at him, then scoffed. "How poetic."
The clock kept going.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
And then—
BANG.
The office doors burst open, and everyone turned.
'SABUKO...!' Guy's eyes snapped to the door. 'MY STUDENT, YOU MADE—'
"!!!" Guy's eyes narrowed.
Sabuko's mother froze.
Even Meatball couldn't get a word out.
Sabuko stood in the doorway, and for a moment, nobody spoke.
'Blood...!?' Hiruzen thought. 'And those are...!'
He was covered in blood, his face caked red. Dirt, mud, and dried blood coated every visible inch of him. Bandages wrapped his wrist, foot, and torso, all soaked through with red. A cat was tucked under one arm.
"I brought the cat," he said, then turned to his clones. "Throw those two in here."
The clones tossed the Mist ninja onto the floor.
Guy's eyes went to the one that wasn't moving.
'He's dead...?' He looked back at Sabuko. 'My student... I...'
Guy's fists clenched.
'What have I done...?!'
Sabuko took one step into the office. Then another.
"These are two Mist ninja who came to kidnap me," he said as he walked. "The live one'll tell you who sent him."
He reached the Hokage's desk and set the cat down. "Here's the cat, sir."
Hiruzen nodded.
"LORD HOKAGE!" A chūnin hurried in after him, out of breath. "He showed me his mission scroll, so I let him through! I've verified his identity... and those two are confirmed Hidden Mist shinobi!"
"Thank you," Hiruzen said, his eyes never leaving Sabuko. "Stay by the door."
'To think a genin this young did all this...' The chūnin swallowed and stepped back. 'Our village really is full of monsters, isn't it?'
Then Sabuko turned to look at Meatball.
His mother's hands flew to her mouth.
Meatball shot to his feet, his chair scraping violently across the floor.
'...Can't kill him here. The Hokage's here, and so is Guy. They'll both try to stop me.'
His eyes snapped to his mother and lingered on her pale, trembling face.
'What a convincing actress.'
He exhaled.
'...Well. Once the Mist ninja spills the truth, Konoha's ninja will arrest him before I get the chance. Fuck.'
'FUCK! FUCK!' Sabuko clenched his teeth.
"You got lucky, old fuckers," he said, looking at both of them. "I didn't expect you two to be here."
"I wanted to kill you both the second I dropped off the Mist ninja and the cat."
"!" Hiruzen's eyes snapped open.
"!!" So did Guy's.
His mother's face froze.
'Parents,' Sabuko thought. 'In my last life and in this one. I almost died for real this time. I'm making sure you're off my back for good.'
"Both of them, Lord Hokage," he said. "The Mist ninja said my father and my mother plotted to have me kidnapped and locked in a cell until I'd... 'learned my lesson,' was it?"
His mother's eyes went wide. Her chin dropped, and she cast a short glance at Meatball.
"Y-you...?" she murmured. "Hone— you... really?"
Hiruzen said nothing. He simply watched the boy face his parents.
'Can't even look at me while she whines, the fucking hag.' Sabuko glared at her. 'I knew it. She was in on it too. And even if she wasn't...'
His fist clenched.
'She would've been, eventually.'
A flash of his old life. His mother's nod, the one that sent him out the door and into homelessness, after the landlords told her what kind of son she had.
'All it takes is one confident adult shouting at you about me, and you believe every word. Twenty-five years you knew me, and it didn't matter. Well, you'll never have power over me again, you fucking whore.'
The gummy toy, squished against the pavement.
'That's what parents are.'
"Your life's over," he said, looking at Meatball, who was still standing. "You filth. I really wish I could've shoved that poison down both your fucking throats."
Guy closed his eyes. 'I hate this. This... this isn't youthful at all.'
Then he opened them.
'But... I have no right to intervene. Not in this.'
Sabuko turned and walked away.
Behind him, his mother sank to her knees with a loud THUD.
'Real convincing, actress. Bitch.' Sabuko's eye twitched.
Guy's shoulders loosened, and the Hokage exhaled.
'At least it's over,' Hiruzen thought, closing his eyes.
Meatball's lips parted. "Look at you..." His voice trembled. "Sabuko. So hurt."
'...?'
Sabuko stopped, barely a meter from his parents.
Meatball looked down at the dried blood on Sabuko's hands, smeared on like war paint.
"Look at what being a foolish ninja has made you." His voice cracked.
"You're bleeding. Filthy. Forced to drag killers around and finish missions at any cost, all for measly rewards."
Meatball inhaled.
"And now you want to kill us both. Your own parents."
He exhaled, his brows knitting deeply.
"Is this life really so much better than being with your father?"
Silence filled the office.
'This fucker's got some nerve...!'
Sabuko shook once.
"...So I should stay until you decide to adopt another kid, you bastard?" Sabuko growled.
His breathing went shallow.
"How... HOW DARE YOU!" Meatball erupted. "EVERYTHING I DID WAS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!! AND THIS IS HOW YOU THANK ME?! WITH THIS LANGUAGE AND THESE CHILDISH THREATS!? YOU'VE MADE YOUR MOTHER CRY!! YOU SHOULD APOLOGIZE—"
"That's enough! Be quiet, Kanto!" Hiruzen's voice cut through the room.
But for Sabuko, it was already too late.
Your fault. Your fault. Your fault.
Perverted son.
Get out of our house.
Disrespectful.
A body falling. The gummy toy on the pavement.
Sabuko's fingers found the kunai at his hip.
'He can't be left alive. If I don't end them here, I'll be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.'
His vision tunneled on Meatball's chest as he drew the kunai.
"!!" Meatball flinched.
'I won't be homeless again.'
Sabuko's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
Guy's weight shifted onto his front foot. Hiruzen half-rose from his chair.
'THIS IS BAD!'
---------- SOMEWHERE IN KONOHA ----------
"Thanks for helping me out today, Sabuko-kun," Ino said as they finally reached her family's shop.
"D-did we really have to go to six shops?" Sabuko's clone asked, carrying a towering pile of clothes and shopping bags.
"Of course! I'm a lady, you know!? Shopping is part of my identity." She flicked her hair as she turned around. "Hmph. I don't expect a man like you to understand."
"S-sure," Sabuko mumbled from behind the pile.
"Oh, yeah. As promised, I'll tell you about Tora."
Sabuko peeked out from behind the pile.
"There's a catnip field right outside the village, in Sector 3," she said with a smile. "How do you think I learned about catnip?"
Sabuko's eyes widened.
'Right. She told me she learned about it on her missions with Tora... I wasn't paying attention. Damn, kid.'
He chuckled.
"HAHAHA... you got me there, girl."
"Don't call me girl," she said. "Ino's fine!"
"And..." She smiled at him warmly.
"You're welcome. Thanks for the help, Sabuko-kun. It was fun watching you struggle over some stupid cat." She giggled.
Then her eyes flared.
"But don't come around here too often, okay? I don't want people getting the wrong idea." She jabbed a finger at him as he set her shopping down.
"Sure, sure..." He chuckled.
'Guess I'll disperse now.'
"See you later!"
POOF.
---------- BACK AT THE OFFICE ----------
"..." The original Sabuko froze mid-motion.
For a moment, he could still smell the flowers from her shop.
'A catnip field, huh?'
I'm asking about you. Not Sasuke.
His grip on the kunai loosened. Just slightly.
'She spent the whole day dragging me around... It took so long, I already found the damn cat, you stupid kid.'
His expression softened, and a chuckle slipped out.
'And these two are my... Sabuko's parents.'
He looked at the kunai in his hand like he didn't recognize it.
'If I do this, I'm the criminal. Not him. They lock me up, and he gets to be the victim, since he's some bigshot merchant.'
'And I lose everything. Again.'
His fingers uncurled one by one. The kunai slid back into its holster.
'I'd almost forgotten.'
'Showing what I really feel... that'd just doom me all over again.'
"...? Go on...?" Meatball's voice shook. "...Just what did you intend to do to us with that kunai?"
"Nah, nah." He waved a hand with a smirk. "I was just messing with you, old man. That's way too extreme. I don't wanna be a criminal."
Everyone blinked.
'Messing with him?' Hiruzen studied the boy's hand, still trembling at his side. 'No. That was real. And he stopped himself.'
'Young Sabuko...' Guy slowly let out the breath he'd been holding.
"I was also kinda pissed, since the Mist ninja said you sent them after me," Sabuko added. "It was pretty scary, so I was in a really bad place. They were about to kill me, after all."
"I had to kill one of them, too. And I've never killed anyone before, so I was a little shaken up."
Meatball straightened and cleared his throat.
Sabuko's eyes drifted to his mother. She was still on her knees, staring at Meatball like she'd never seen him before.
'...She really didn't know?'
He looked away.
'Tch. Whatever. Doesn't change anything.'
"So I lashed out," Sabuko said. "I wasn't really gonna kill you and throw my life away."
He smiled.
His mother's shoulders sagged as she took in his easy smile, unable to say a word.
"...T-those accusations and nonsense aside," Meatball said, "if you'd just come back to us, you could have avoided all this pain."
Guy looked at Meatball.
'Even now, he's still blaming young Sabuko.' Guy's fist clenched again.
"So why, Sabuko? Why choose this life over us?!"
Guy's grip only tightened. 'As infuriating as he is, he has a point, young Sabuko. I doubt this is what you had in mind when you chose to stay a ninja.'
'I'd like to arrest this man,' Hiruzen thought. 'But I want to see how Sabuko answers this.'
"You replaced me with another son, dude. On, like, what? Day three of me running away?" Sabuko said simply.
"..."
"..."
A crow flew by.
Guy's and Hiruzen's expressions went flat.
'That's awfully blunt. And makes perfect sense,' they both thought at the same time.
Meatball blinked. "That is... beside the point. It was for your own good! And you were about to kill us just now!"
"Uh, no. And... no?" Sabuko raised an eyebrow and scratched the side of his head, smearing more blood into his hair.
"What kinda son wants to go back to a dad who literally adopted another kid after one argume—"
"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Meatball shouted. "You make excuses for your behavior... and joke or not, you just pulled a kunai on me AND YOUR MOTHER! I'll make sure you're locked away where you can't hurt anyone!"
Sabuko tensed.
'That stupid fucker has no idea how much trouble he's in...' Sabuko exhaled. 'But I can't get angry. Not again.'
'Just take it—'
"I didn't see a kunai being drawn, Lord Hokage."
Guy stepped forward, placing himself between Sabuko and Meatball.
Hiruzen took a slow pull from his pipe.
"...Neither did I."
Meatball's face drained of color.
Sabuko blinked and looked up.
'...Sensei?'
Guy's wide back filled his vision.
"But this—"
Guy clenched his fist.
BTOOOM.
"IS NO FATHER!"
His fist connected with Meatball's jaw and sent him flying into the wall.
"BLRURHGBURHN...!" Meatball scrambled on the floor, clutching his bleeding mouth.
His wife didn't move. She stayed on her knees, staring at him.
Hiruzen sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, but said nothing.
'...That's at least a week of paperwork.'
"Young Sabuko," Guy said, his voice low.
"You got hurt because of me. My training. My expectations." He half turned his head toward Sabuko.
"So it's only fair that I get angry on your behalf now!" He turned back to Meatball.
Sabuko blinked, his mouth hanging open.
"You..." Meatball growled. "You'll face consequences for this... from me... from the Hokage—"
"Send everyone you have, Mr. Kanto. As for the esteemed Hokage, I'll accept any punishment he sees fit." Guy jabbed a thumb at his own chest.
"Because a real, youthful man knows he's irreplaceable! Unlike you!"
Meatball growled, tasting his own blood.
Sabuko turned back to Hiruzen.
"I... uh... um... I... finished the mission before the deadline... right?"
Meatball stared at the back of Sabuko's head from behind Guy.
"Y-yes," Hiruzen said. "You completed it."
"C-cool. Thanks." Sabuko nodded and stepped back.
'This nonsense aside,' Hiruzen thought, watching him, 'this boy just went through one of the most traumatic experiences every ninja must eventually face.'
'Alone, underqualified, and unprepared.' Hiruzen glanced at Meatball. 'With Mist ninja sent after him by his own father. A father who replaced him with another boy.'
He looked back at Sabuko.
'And yet he completed the mission with three hours to spare, kept the target safe, and delivered a live Mist ninja for us to interrogate. All while doing whatever he had to do to the other one...'
'And keeping himself alive.'
Hiruzen swallowed subtly, lowering his chin as he examined Sabuko's body.
'And more than that, instead of lashing out, he calmed himself on the spot and returned to reason when he had every reason not to.'
His eyes drifted to Guy.
'...Unlike certain jōnin.'
Hiruzen's fist clenched beneath the desk.
'Every jōnin in Konoha can object all they like. My own son can claim he isn't ready... but,'
'This boy will make a wonderful ninja, even as he is.'
"Alright, you lot," Sabuko said, turning to his clones. "Time to disperse." He formed the seal, and they vanished.
'Ah... fuuuu... I forgot... the exhaustion... comes back to me...'
His eyes rolled back and his knees buckled. Guy caught him before he hit the floor.
"YOUNG SABUKO!"
Sabuko hung limp in his arms. Guy looked down at him, and his lips stretched into a trembling smile as tears burst from his eyes.
"YOU... YOU DID IT, MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT! YOU DID IT IN SPITE OF YOUR FOOLISH TEACHER... YOUR FOOLISH TEACHER... I'M SORRY!!"
"Don't shout," Sabuko murmured weakly. "Head hurts..."
"OF COURSE!" Guy lowered his voice by approximately three percent. "YOU DID IT, MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT! I AM SORRY!"
Sabuko groaned.
Meatball blinked from the floor, his hand rising, then stopping. Guy already held Sabuko securely against his chest. Sabuko's mother hurried over instead.
"Sabuko... Sabuko, look at me."
His eyes opened halfway. He looked at her, then at Meatball behind her, and finally closed them.
And fell into a peaceful sleep.