Rain fell softly over Konoha.
It wasn't a storm—just a persistent drizzle that painted the rooftops silver and soaked the earth beneath the trees. The village was quieter today. Slower. Most Genin teams had returned from missions, and the streets were filled only with the sound of droplets and the occasional splash of footsteps.
Hyuk didn't mind the rain.
He sat beneath a sheltered shrine behind the Haruno estate, far from the noise of the main household. His hands rested on his knees, and his eyes were closed. Meditation wasn't something he did often—not out of belief, but out of necessity. Stillness revealed what movement concealed.
Inside his mind, the world dimmed. Memories came in fragments.
A sharp voice.
Cold hands on his shoulders.
A woman's lullaby in a foreign tongue.
A blade, dripping.
A crest hidden in a drawer.
A warning whispered in the dark:
"Do not seek what was buried. Let the blood sleep."
His eyes snapped open.
---
Later that day, Team 7 stood at attention before the Third Hokage. The air inside the office was heavier than usual, and Hiruzen's gaze was stern.
"There's been a disturbance in the Eastern Bluffs," he said. "A patrol team vanished near the ruins of an old outpost. We received one emergency transmission before the signal was cut."
Kakashi stood beside them, silent as ever.
"This is still classified as a C-rank mission," Hiruzen continued. "But I won't lie to you. There's risk. You four are the closest capable team available."
Hyuk barely blinked. Danger wasn't something he feared.
Naruto bounced slightly on his heels. "Vanished? What kind of enemies are we talking about?"
"We don't know yet," Hiruzen said. "It could be nothing more than missing-nin or wild chakra beasts. But there's something else—" his voice dipped slightly—"the patrol's last message mentioned black veins covering the walls."
That got Hyuk's attention.
Sasuke looked intrigued. "Sounds like a genjutsu residue."
"Or poison chakra," Sakura added softly.
Hiruzen nodded. "Proceed carefully. This isn't a test."
---
The journey to the Eastern Bluffs took half a day. The terrain grew rougher as they moved away from the village: cliffs gave way to stone ridges, and mist rolled down from the mountains like fingers searching for something.
By dusk, they arrived at the ruins of the outpost.
The structure was half-collapsed, swallowed by ivy and moss. Something about the air here felt wrong—stale and sharp, like a wound left to rot.
"This place reeks," Naruto muttered, crinkling his nose.
Sakura scanned the walls. "There are… markings. Not chakra residue. Carvings."
Hyuk stepped away from the group, following an instinct he couldn't explain. Around the back of the outpost, beneath a broken archway, he found it.
A sigil carved into the stone.
A circular pattern of thorns, spiraling inward toward a Haruno clan emblem—but older. Stylized differently. Angled sharper. Almost tribal.
He stared at it, and something inside him pulled. A low hum stirred in his gut.
Sakura came around the corner. "Hyuk—what is that?"
He didn't answer.
She stepped closer, eyes widening. "That's… our family crest?"
Hyuk touched the stone.
It pulsed.
A surge of black static leapt out, forcing him back a step. The others rushed over just as the sigil faded.
Kakashi narrowed his eye. "Everyone, stay alert. This place just became unstable."
Naruto looked confused. "Why would the Haruno symbol be here? I thought your clan was mostly medical-nin and scholars."
Sakura nodded slowly. "This isn't even the current design..."
Hyuk spoke, voice low. "Because there are parts of our clan we weren't told about."
Kakashi's gaze sharpened. "What do you know, Hyuk?"
"Only what my father told me once," he replied, eyes fixed on the stone. "That there was a branch of the Haruno family long ago—outcasted. Exiled for forbidden practices. They were called the Thorn Vein."
Sasuke frowned. "Why?"
"They mixed their chakra with toxins. Blood-based genjutsu. They could poison a person's mind with a glance. They were assassins—silent and feared."
"Sounds like your kind of people," Naruto muttered.
Hyuk didn't deny it.
Kakashi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The village must have buried the records. I've never heard of them."
Hyuk's expression remained unreadable. But something burned under the surface now. A name. A power. A history—one tied to him whether he wanted it or not.
Kakashi stepped back. "We're not staying here tonight. This place is cursed. We move out and report to the Hokage immediately."
But as they turned to leave, the air snapped.
A tremor ran through the ground.
From the cracks in the wall, black vines burst out—twitching, pulsing with chakra, snatching toward them like living things.
Sakura screamed. Naruto cursed.
Hyuk moved first, slicing through the tendrils with a clean arc of his kunai. Sasuke lit his palm with fire-style chakra, burning the nearest vine into ash.
Kakashi shouted, "Form up! Defensive triangle—move!"
The vines retreated, but not before a single shape emerged from the shadows.
A figure cloaked in gray. Masked. Silent.
Hyuk's breath caught.
Because beneath that mask, just before the figure vanished in a swirl of black petals… he saw it.
The same Haruno crest—carved into the skin of their throat.
---
Later, after they returned to Konoha, Hyuk stood alone outside his family's estate once more. Rain still fell.
Sayuri found him there—his mother, quiet and composed.
"I saw your mission report," she said. "You found it."
Hyuk didn't look at her. "You knew."
Sayuri was silent.
Hyuk turned slowly. "Why didn't you tell me about the Thorn Vein?"
Her eyes shimmered with something unreadable—regret, maybe. Or fear.
"Because I didn't want you to become them," she said softly. "And because your father never escaped them."
Hyuk's fists clenched. The drizzle soaked his bangs, his jaw, his clenched knuckles.
He wasn't imagining it. There was something buried in his blood. Something the clan erased. Something coming back.
He would find it.
Not for revenge.
Not for closure.
For power.