Saruto | The Bloodline Prophecy (Part 1)

Chapter 6: In Remembrance

As the birds chirped, I couldn't look away from my father's figure. What was I going to say? There was so much. Where was I to start?

Then I remembered. My grandfather had met his father in a similar situation like this. He told me moments like these are rare and should be cherished. When given the opportunity of this honor, it shouldn't be taken lightly. He had never met his parents in person before so the mere after image of that meant the world to him. It was the world to me.

"Dad?"

He stopped his tracks. I heard as the rubble beneath his feet crackled and skid.

Why was I so nervous? This wasn't the first time I had ever talked to him. What was wrong with me?

There was a long silence as he breathed in the freshness of the setting. He taught to cherish nature. To take in what was given before me before one day it would be taken away. He taught me the importance of the sky and stars. Of the moon and sun. It became an effortless wonder for me. It became my life. The study of stars. I made it my duty to learn everything I needed to know about it. It made me feel closer to him. Like he was looking down on me in both night and day, from the sun and moon. He was always there watching me.

"Saruto, let's sit."

In compliance I followed him to a grass hill that I watched him lay on. Mimicking his movements I did the same as I felt the blades of grass on my neck. As I looked up at the sky I saw clouds. I remember the days that he would take me out to this very hill to look at the clouds and find shapes and sizes of them. He told me that every cloud held the spirit of every shinobi before me and how I was the only one who could see. Each cloud represents the will of chakra that every person holds. I smiled.

"Dad?" I softly called out as I turned towards him, "How am I here with you?"
He turned back to me and smiled before looking back up at the clouds.

"Memory is a delicate thing ya know," I felt his breaths as he took everything in, "It can never be completely real but there is always something that it kept."

"So are you not real?" I wondered.

"That is entirely up to you."

As we both looked at the sky, I couldn't help but think whether it was real or that I was tricking myself. How elaborate could my own mind be? I was so conflicted and confused.

"How is your mother?" He said to break the silence.

Everytime we cloud or star gaze it became just a moment where we could open up to each other. It all came back to me in a wave of remembrance.

"She's strong." I laughed.

My father laughed as well as he threw his hands above his head before drying his happy tears. As she continued to look at the sky I saw a leaf shaped cloud. It was the spirit of my father's cloud. He seemed to notice it too because I saw as his smile turned to a frown.

He sighed before closing his eyes.

"Saruto," he spoke out in a serious tone to get my attention, "I am here to warn you."

Warn me. From what. The man in the forest. The man who craves my blood. His skin of white from the Otsutsuki clan. How did my father know about that? I suppose because of his eyes in the sky. The evil that the figure imbued into me reminded me of the toxic nature of his chakra, the power. How easy I was to succumb to it. The way he took away my chakra and fed on it. My kekkei genkai left my soul as it turned the moon to blood. The evil that resigned from his body. The way he made me feel. The inhuman nature of his presence sent chills to my core. I was scared of the way it made me feel. Weak and vulnerable.

"You hold much more power than what you realize, Saruto," he said as he looked dead into my eyes, "it's like nothing this world has ever endured and you have just scratched the surface."

I pondered hard on his words before the world started to fade into a white. I watched in a panic as the trees and grass faded, then birds and water, leaves and dirt. As I longed for the sky, I felt it begin to slip away, zeroing in on my father's cloud.

"No! Not yet!" I begged as I stood up. "I just got to see you again!"

I watched as he smiled at me.

"I am so proud of you, Saruto," he assured, "You have grown into a strong, powerful, and kind young man and I would have imagined no less of you."

"No, no please!" I panicked.

As I felt his hand on my shoulder he tilted his head to return a warm feeling of a father's love. A feeling that I have longed for years. Soon that warm tone turned serious as the clouds above me disappeared, all that was left was him and I. As I frantically searched for a way to hold on, his hands grabbed my face to his attention.

"You are the bond between the sun and moon," he spoke in an informational warning.

"I-I don't understand!" I desperately pleaded.

"Look to the past for the answer to the future."

And with those words he faded away completely. I was alone again in a world of glowing whiteness. Soon I succumbed to the fade as I drifted my eyes close. I will never forget your words father.