[Naruto] The Demoness and the One Who Returned

At first, there was only hatred.

It was an untimely flutter of the heart, buried in the years she spent undercover: brief and searing, like a fire kindled in the snow, only to be snuffed out by her own hand.

She thought it was spring at last, arriving after a long, lonely winter. But when faced with that choice, he silently picked up his forehead protector and his duty.

When Kakashi turned toward Konoha, the sea wind blew hard, scattering everything she had left unsaid.

He never saw how she died.

Years later, deep in the forest, Team Seven came under attack.

He recognized the face of their assailant. That face had once seemed alive during his fabricated life as "Baishijin," and in countless silent nights had become the deepest, most untouchable wound in his heart.

The vengeful ghost of the past stood on the far side of life and death, bringing a killing intent tempered by years and a hatred that had clearly settled over time, stepping into his sight once more.

This time, when fate's blade was once again at his throat, when the scales of selfish desire and duty began to tip for a second time,

he knew he would not make the wrong choice again.

Theme: Is hatred not a kind of love, too?