Hiroki nodded and turned away from her, hurrying back the way he had come from. Hanako burst into laughter as she watched him rush away in despair; it amused her when people fell for her tricks. Turning in the opposite way, she continued her way home. She still had the kunai in her hand, she noticed, and put it back away.
Hanako's house was filled with the smell of food as her mother cooked. "I'm back," Hanako put her sandals beside the door and entered the main room.
"Welcome home, Hanako," Akira smiled at her from the kitchen. Hanako returned the gesture, reaching to help her clean the counter. "How did it go with Shisui-kun?" she asked.
"Awful," Hanako said, discarding the used utensils into the pile. "I can't feel a single muscle in my body."
"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Akira said, looking at her daughter from the tip of her eyes. "Like your father's training..." Hanako almost dropped the dishes she was picking from the cabinet, but held herself. "You are becoming strong," Hanako's mother smiled.
"Probably," Hanako shrugged. 'Why did you have to mention Dad?' Hanako looked down at the plates in her hands, tightening her hands around them. The air around them suddenly became tense, making it hard for them to breathe.
Later that evening, Hikari returned from her mission and sat with them to have dinner. They ate silently, but Hanako barely touched the food in her plate. She didn't feel hungry at all. Finally giving up, she excused herself from the table and took her unfinished meal back to the kitchen.
There was a window over the sink, and strangely it was open. Hanako frowned and looked back at her mother sitting at the table. Did she leave it open? No, she couldn't have. She never opened that window at all. Hanako turned back to the window and put her plate aside. She was about to close it when a strange movement of a branch outside called her attention. Hanako couldn't feel any trace of chakra around, and she shrugged it off. But then she saw him. There was a man standing right outside her house. Without further thought, Hanako raced to the backdoor and swung the door open before rushing through it.
Hanako stopped when the cold breeze hit her; she didn't know what to do outside or where to follow. There wasn't a trace she could use to track down the man. She was about to go back inside, when a faint sign of chakra called her attention. It was moving in a direction away from her, and she followed it.
Hanako ran through the forest until she reached the edge of a cliff. There, she lost the trace completely, as if he had just vanished into thin air. Hanako took a deep breath as the breeze caressed her cheek, making her close her eyes. "Look who we have here..." Hanako recognized that low dark voice, and opened her eyes again with her Sharingan activated. "It's been awhile," he said, "since the last time we met." Hanako narrowed her eyes. The man who that voice belonged to was still hiding among the trees, mocking her from where she couldn't see him. "Rumor has it you killed your opponent in the preliminaries, who was also a formidable Genin from the Stone Village." Hanako didn't say anything, and he continued. "I see you haven't satiated you thirst for revenge."
"I have honestly no idea what you're babbling about," Hanako frowned.
"Come on," he scoffed. "They killed your father, mocked your clan, your village...and now they're going to betray it and watch it burn from the inside out." Hanako's eyes widened in surprise.
"What? How do you know that?"
"I have some valuable sources of information."
"What else do you know?" she asked again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Iwagakure's Plan
Start from the beginning
