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The warm water from the shower head drenched him. He dipped his head back, letting the stream pass through his hair and down the drain. Once out, he dried himself with a towel, keeping the smaller one tousled on his hair. He wiped the fog from the mirror with his right hand, and in the misty reflection, he met his blue eye.
Were it not for earlier, Naruto would have no idea it was Father's Day. Family holidays were ones he never kept track of. When creating crafts for their parents back in the academy, he always signed them to and from himself.
His eyes fell to his navel in the reflection. His tan skin seemed as normal as any other, but deep in his stomach was the seal.
I wonder... what she would think if she knew.
His gut flipped. She could've already known. He'd been gone a long time. He never told her himself, but she could have. Just like he knew things about her she never told him.
"The Sato clan is a troubled and desperate clan... or should I say, was."
It was over two years ago, on foot with Jiraiya. They were passing the border of the Land of Fire, and the journey was long and tiresome but soon enough they'd find a teahouse to rest.
"Was?"
"By their own doing."
They were several months into their training together. The blonde's hair was messily growing and sticking out from his ears. He was slightly taller now, much stronger already, and his tracksuit was filled with rips.
"The adults... forced the next generation into brutal training, all in a desperate attempt to regain standing in the Leaf. The Sato clan had by far the highest child mortality rates in the village."
He walked closely beside Jiraiya, gulping as he gripped his book bag.
"They don't have any particular kekkei genkai, so you can see how throughout time they couldn't compete with clans who did."
The boy's voice shook, "So they... put the lives of their own children on the line for power. How could they..?"
"And all in vain," Jiraiya tipped his head back as if digging further into his memory. "Well. They do have some sort of historical importance, some sort of mark left behind. A jutsu."
A clan like that deserves to be forgotten, the young shinobi thought in disdain.
"The Sato Clan offered the village an exquisite chakra-extracting jutsu which exemplified Lord First's power. Even though their surname is forgotten, that jutsu is deeply intertwined as part of our history."
"I've never heard of it before..."
"That's because it's forbidden."
A silence fell.
"...It's a near-fatal technique, Naruto, one that requires a vast amount of chakra that could kill the user attempting it... and the Sato Clan had massive chakra reserves to bring it to fruition."
