Beacon of Hope

Spoils of blood

Tomaru Namiko, that was the name of the son of the feudal lord of the Grass Land. I did some research on this man before talking to Kakashi Sensei.

Sai was my accomplice in this situation to get information. Was it something illegal? Yes, it was. But in this world, all powerful people use their dirtiest techniques to collect private information; compared to those atrocities, what I did was even a bit childish.

After talking to Kakashi Sensei, we both came to the conclusion that Tomaru was indeed particularly interested in Sasuke's eyes, that his vision problem was exactly what motivated him to get his hands on them.

I delivered the results of the blood tests without any changes, I saw no need to do such a thing since Sasuke was not in his best physical condition. And so the days passed more and more painfully.

Naruto told me that he had also asked to see Sasuke, but they did not approve of his visit. There was no reason, no one was allowed to see him.

When he told me such an event, I kept my silence, thinking that even though Naruto was my good friend and he also wanted Sasuke to be free, I could not tell him about my suspicions. I had no right to tarnish the reputation of the hero of the Fourth War.

Considering that he was a candidate to take over the position of Hokage when Kakashi Sensei retired, to put him in such a situation would be to throw away all his efforts and sacrifices. Listening in silence was my only option.

Every morning, in front of the mirror, I saw a different Sakura: a cheerless woman with a pair of sad dark circles under her eyes; with a painful emptiness in her soul and no desire to go on. Life itself was the torturous way I was punished.

My curtains were always closed and the darkness of the apartment became my companion.

I searched endlessly for a way to help Sasuke, but my sleepless nights were in vain. I couldn't find a reasonable way to solve things.

At the Ninja Academy, I was taught to defend my people, to protect the lord, and even to sacrifice my own life for the protection of my people. I believed it, we all believed it, and we grew up listening day after day to the will of fire tattooed on our minds, urging us to be great shinobi in the service of a nation.

But how does one maintain such courage? Fighting in the war was survival, and the satisfaction of saving the world turned into resentment. Seeing the faces of villagers and powerful men living in happiness, ignoring the fate of one of the heroes who was hidden in a prison, yes, hidden as if it was a shame to show it to the world, preferring that he die forgotten.

In my heart, that feeling of empathy for others was slowly dying, sacrificing so much for nothing was not a very attractive desire. I decided to be a ninja, I decided to protect the village, but I loved my parents and Sasuke more than any of them.

If I ended up in prison, I was sure that none of the villagers would lift a finger to help me. No powerful man would do anything for me because their lives were already served in golden cups and they had nothing to worry about, unless they couldn't find another doctor efficient enough to cure their ailments, then maybe they would let me see the light.

But Sasuke was an Uchiha and they hated that lineage. All they could wish for was to have his eyes.

The reason I couldn't stop thinking about all this was because of the last and final meeting of the wealthy men who ran the five major nations and some feudal lords from not-so-wealthy countries.

I did something forbidden on that occasion, but after I returned from the Land of Grass, I couldn't just sit idly by. Sai helped me with all my investigations, and for several days he kept an eye on our own feudal lord to find out when the next meeting would be.