Late autumn, Year 48 of Konoha.
At the Hatake residence, white lanterns swayed gently in the morning breeze, like a string of silent tears.
The low, drawn-out sound of chanting came from inside. Monks from the temple were performing rites for the deceased.
Shinji Uchiha stood at the gate in a solid black kimono, a white mourning sash tied around his waist.
His face was expressionless, his gaze calm as he watched the mourners arrive one after another. Beneath that calm, however, lay icy killing intent.
Yesterday, his teacher, Hatake Sakumo, had "died."
Shinji's fingertips trembled slightly inside his kimono sleeves.
Not from grief, but anger.
"Shinji." Hizashi Hyuga emerged from the house, also dressed in black.
His Byakugan remained active, monitoring the flow of chakra within a kilometer. "Miwako is in the back with Kakashi. The boy... still won't speak."
Shinji nodded.
Kakashi was six that year. Three days earlier, when Shinji had brought him back from the training grounds and told him his father had "committed suicide," the boy had merely blinked, then continued practicing his shuriken throws.
But Shinji had seen him train three times as much as usual that day, until bloody blisters formed on both hands.
"Give him some time alone," Shinji said quietly. "Before Sakumo-sensei 'left,' he worried about him most."
The funeral followed traditional Japanese rites.
Last night had been the wake, when those closest to the deceased kept vigil before his spirit and chanted sutras.
This morning was the farewell ceremony, the formal parting with the deceased.
In the afternoon, the coffin would be taken to the cemetery on the village's western outskirts.
The mourning hall had been set up in the residence's largest tatami room.
A black banner bearing the white character for "mourning" hung at the front. Beneath it stood