“Shinra Tensei!” The air ripped in half as soon as those words left the man’s lips and a blinding light enveloped everything around them. The ground cracked underneath their feet from the shock wave and Akashi saw Sakura’s foot slip into one of the cracks. Akashi whipped towards her and reached a hand in her direction. Chains burst out of his body and wrapped around her, pulling her towards Akashi and switching their positions. Her green eyes widened when she saw his red hair pass her.
Her body flew out of harms way and Akashi stepped onto the cracked ground, his torso following his legs as he slipped through and into the darkness.
_
“Just how many times is this going to happen?” Here he was again… After so much time, he was back in here. With the fox. “Just how many times are you going to risk your life, and mine, for people who do not care for you?” He wondered that too… Why does he do it? Why does he keep trying so much? So hard? For people who do not even acknowledge him.
He still had no answer to that.
“Do you just not understand? Do you not see it? Are you just naive?” It asked from within the crimson cage that bind it in place. “Do you get some sort of twisted pleasure from being used by others?” No… That wasn’t it… Neither of those things was the truth… He just…
He just hoped someone would see him.
See him for who he was..
See him from who he is…
“So that is the reason? You just want to be seen? … … There are better ways of being seen…”. Its low tone made the water ripple around him, creating swirling patterns. Indeed there are… He… He wanted to be accepted? No… That wasn’t the right word… He didn’t know the word… He didn’t know what he wanted… What he wants?
What is it that he wants?
“You have changed… I no longer feel that sense of positivity in you… The sense of hope…”. Akashi looked at his reflection in the rippling water. Hmm… The fox may be right about one thing…
Indifference was what he felt most of the time…
A throbbing sensation wrecked through his body at the thought.
“Are you sure about that? Indifference? What? No rage? No anger? No pain? No hurt? No anguish? No sorrow? Nothing else? You know, little human, you cannot lie to me”. It said, nearing the cage, one crimson eye peeking through the darkness.
“It seems that I cannot… You have always been the first one to find out what I felt and what I thought”. He stepped closer to the cage, one rough finger brushing down the crimson bars. “You are the one who was with me the longest…”, his hand breached the cage, extending towards the majestic beast, “…one who was with me every step of the way…”. The fox came closer, its dense fur finally coming to light. One large hand reached towards Akashi, dark orange fur finally coming to light.
Akashi’s hand touched the thick fur and the boy found it unexpectedly soft to the touch. They stared at one another through the cage, violet clashing with crimson. Then, as the fox shifted, Akashi slowly pulled back and stepped away from the cage. The fox looked at him, eyes staring straight at him. “And yet… You are the one I distrust the most… One I cannot allow into my life, for if I do that…”, his hand curled into a fist as it dropped down to his side, “… it will no longer be my own”.
The expected slam came and Akashi watched as all nine tails of the beast relentlessly slammed into the cage.
“You! You dare deny me again?! You think you can survive without me?! You think you are anything without me?! You are nothing! You hear me?! Nothing!” It roared and roared and roared, voice shaking the sewers around them, the walls slowly crumbling away and falling into the water near Akashi.
“As are you… You are nothing without me”. He tilted his head, no expression on that pale face. “You are still stuck inside that cage… Still not able to do anything… Still not able to be anything, except a prisoner in my mind”. He turned around, back facing the beast, and started walking away, the water splashing with each step he took.
“The skins of those you love will fly as my banners!” It roared from behind him and he stopped in his tracks. Slowly, he faced it, violet eyes staring without fear, without hate…
Without anything…
“You know you cannot scare me with that, right? After all…”, he fully faced the beast, standing tall in the dimly lit sewers.
“… I no longer have anyone I love…”. His lips curled into a small smile, barely noticeable, but the fox noticed it… Oh, just how it noticed it. Then, when the red head turned around, the fox could only watch as the boy disappeared and left it alone…
Alone once again…
_
As he came to, he immediately felt the pressure on his body. He couldn’t move an inch. A breath escaped him when he shifted and the weight of the debris collapsed even further onto him. This can’t be happening… He couldn’t even summon the chains out of his body… Trying, and failing, to take a breath, he grit his teeth.
Yet again, this was what he got when he tried to save someone…
Luckily, he noticed the blade in front of him, nothing too big was around it. Closing his eyes, he activated the seal. Before his feet even touched the ground, a rumbled resounded behind him as the debris fell down. He sighed and bent down to grab the blade. It didn’t look too damaged, a couple of scratched here and there, but nothing too major… That was good…
If the seal had somehow been damaged, who knew how he would get out of there…
If he even would…
A wince left his lips as his body curled into itself. Shit! Naruto! The burning sensation was back, but it didn’t feel like before, it felt way worse and way stronger! What the hell is happening?! Naruto had definitely shifted into his Nine-Tails form, but why was his body hurting this much?! Did he shift to more tails immediately? That was the only plausible explanation for what was happening. Either way, he bent over, clutching at the seal on his stomach. The fox wasn’t helping, not at all!
He could feel it in his mind, trying to break the gates open, trying to set itself free.
Violently shaking his head, Akashi tried to calm himself. He cannot shift now… He won’t allow the fox to control him anymore! Not again! Never again! He was his own person! And nothing will get in his way! Nothing will influence him! Nothing will cloud his mind! Nothing will cloud his judgement! But, no matter how much he convinced himself, no matter how much he tried to fight it, the pain was too much.
Without another option, he raised a finger to his mouth and bit in.
“Summoning Technique!” He slammed his palm onto the ground and an enormous amount of smoke filled the space he was stuck in. The debris from above him flew away, as something much bigger than it took its place. Loud thuds resounded from before him as the smoke cleared and revealed the thing in front of him.
“Akashi”. The beast’s deep voice said from above, form just a silhouette because of the blaring sun.
“Cornelius…”. Akashi forced out, feeling out of breathe as the pain racked through his body. “Get me out of the village…”. He wobbled on his feet, knees giving out, but before he could crumble onto the ground, giant teeth bit into his clothes, pulling him up. He relaxed his body, swinging through the air as he was brought up and out of the hole he was in.
Then, as the beasts form was no longer obscured by the sun’s rays, it was revealed. Abyss-black fur shone in the sunlight as the strong muscles shifted under its skin. Crimson eyes narrowed as they looked around, searching for any signs of danger.
It turned its head around and swung Akashi onto its back. “Hold on”. It said and bent its knees, before it took off in a giant leap, almost looking like it was flying through the air. The ground rumbled as its feet slammed into it, before it took another leap, jumping over what remained of Konoha’s walls. It landed into a forest, flattening a couple of trees in the meantime. Turning its head back, it gently took Akashi into its mouth and settled him onto the ground, lowering itself along with him.
“Cornelius…”. The boy whimpered out, arching his back as his nails turned into sharp claws. The wolf barred its teeth as it watched the boy struggle on the ground… The fox was eating him alive and he couldn’t do anything about it…
“I’m here, little one, I’m here”. It nuzzled its giant snout at the boys side and closed its eyes. As another tremble racked through his body, the wolf leaned away. “What can I do? What do I do to ease your pain?” It asked, desperation heavy in its voice.
“Get away from me… Leave me now, I cannot hold this back for any longer…”. Akashi sighed out, claws digging into the soft earth beneath him. He was going to turn soon and he couldn’t stop this… Not any longer…
“I am not leaving a fellow pack member in danger!” It growled out and Akashi flinched back at the sound. It felt too loud… “And I am not leaving you!”
“Cornelius! You must leave! I ask that of you! Please! Just do as I say!” He yelled at the wolf… If he turned and the wolf was near him, he would hurt him and that was the last thing he wished to do. “Please!” He begged, feeling his teeth sharpen inside his mouth. The wolf made a choked noise inside its throat, before it disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the boy alone.
“You damned fox! Stop trying to make use of the situation!” He screamed into the ground and felt his chest constrict. Even talking hurt, not to mention what the screams did.
“Why should I? This is the perfect opportunity!” It growled out in his mind, sending another wave of pain into his body.
“Perfect opportunity?!” He demanded and leaned back as a sharp flash of pain went down his spine. Sweat dropped down his temples and he groaned, as his head started throbbing. This was not supposed to happen!
“Indeed, little human, perfect…”. It whispered in his mind and he glanced at his hand. A bubbling, orange, layer had started spreading along his arm and towards his shoulder, reaching behind it. It covered the whole of his body and he lowered himself onto the ground. It hurt… Damn it! It hurt! It felt like his body was being torn apart and put back together! “Why don’t you just surrender? Wouldn’t it be easier that way? No more pain. No more anger. No more anything”.
He let out a scream as everything increased tenfold. The pain was tearing him apart, clouding his thoughts. No! He cannot let it control him! He cannot let someone else control him! Control his life! A tail burst out from his lower back, followed by another one in an instant. “Let go!” The fox roared inside his mind, but he had no intentions of doing that. Not anymore!
Another tail popped out and he crumbled onto the ground, barely holding himself together. He clenched his teeth shut as the skin on his hands started peeling off, revealing crimson skin underneath. Just as the fourth tail started forming, everything suddenly stopped and the orange layer started disappearing from his body. His hand healed a couple of moments later. He released a breath in relief at the feeling. Seems like Naruto had managed to snap out of it… Somehow…
He shifted and pushed himself to his feet, shakily, but he still managed to stand still.
Now… He glanced to the side. It is time to find Naruto… He could sense him not so far away from there, actually. But, he wasn’t alone. Two more people were with him and he didn’t recognise either of their chakra… One felt familiar, but he didn’t know from where… Bending down and grabbing the blade he had dropped, he sheathed it and bent his knees.
He disappeared from the forest, leaving nothing behind.
_
He ran and ran, until he reached something which looked like a giant tree. It wasn’t a tree, because he could sense chakra from every part of it… and… it looked like a part of it was opened, leading inside. He carefully stepped towards the entrance. Naruto and the other two people were inside. He leaned to peek through the side and there they were, all three of them in plain sight.
Then, a dark-haired death-like man started speaking. He spoke about the pain he went through as a child. About the time his parents got killed by Konoha ninja. About the time he met Konan, the woman next to him, and Yahiko, one of the Pain bodies. He spoke about the war they went through, the battles they’ve witnessed. He spoke about his meeting with Jiraiya. He said Jiraiya took them in and spent time with them. Jiraiya had refused to teach them to fight, but after he witnessed Nagato killing a Konoha ninja with his Rinnegan, he accepted and started teaching them.
Jiraiya said it was so they could protect themselves. Three years passed and he left them. The tree of them founded an organisation and started getting famous. It was then, that a man named Hanzo appeared. He offered them an agreement and they accepted. They didn’t know that it was a disaster waiting to happen.
“What happened?” Naruto asked, looking at the man in front of him. Akashi could feel where this was going to.
“Yahiko died!” Nagato exclaimed, surprising Naruto. Akashi wondered how he was even surprise, it was obvious as to what was happening and what was about to happen.
“He died?” The blond questioned.
“It was all a trap laid by Hanzo, because he thought that we would try to steal the power over Ame from him…”. Nagato explained, trailing off. When they were supposed to do the peace negotiations, he said that they were surrounded by Hanzo’s men and Konoha’s ANBU squad. He said that Hanzo worked with a man named Danzo, from Konoha, so they could get rid of them. Danzo?! Akashi grew alarmed at the mention of the name. Was Danzo involved with everything bad that ever happened?!
That man… Akashi despised him with his whole being…
Nagato said that Danzo was working with Hanzo so he could secure his position as the Hokage. No wonder… Akashi thought. The man always had some ulterior motive at hand.
Hanzo had threatened Yahiko, that if he didn’t die there, he would kill Konan, who he had previously captured. He had thrown a kunai towards them and told Nagato to kill Yahiko using that. A shiver went down Akashi’s spine at those words. He… Nagato? He glanced at the man. Did he have to do the same thing he had to do? Kill the person closest to them?
Konan begged the two of them to leave and leave her behind, but neither of them could do that. It was then, that Yahiko told Nagato to kill him. Akashi took a small step back at those words… Kill him? Just as Shinya had told him? To kill him? With his own hands?
Nagato said that he wanted to protect them, no matter how much pain and suffering it brought. That reminded Akashi of himself. He just wanted the best for the people he loved… For Shinya… But things still turned out the way they did…
Nagato had picked up the kunai, intending to talk with Yahiko, wanting to clear things up, but he didn’t have the time to even say his name. Yahiko had run into the kunai, killing himself with it.
Akashi felt a throb inside his chest. This was what the world did? This was what the world caused? Pain? Endless pain?
After defeating Hanzo, Nagato became the leader of the organisation since Yahiko was dead…
“Even thought I had grown up, nothing had changed…”, he said, “… It was the same as when my parents died… I was wrong”. He looked at Naruto. “I noticed that the answer that I came up with was nothing but bullshit”. Naruto lowered his head to stare at the ground. “I owed him my life, he was my dream”, Nagato continued, “He was an irreplaceble friend to whom I would have gladly given my life to protect”. Akashi knew the feeling of being ready to die for someone… He had know it very well… Now? He had nobody to die for.
“Yahiko’s death… That is my second pain”. He finished and Akashi had heard enough. The man before him was nothing more than a man who wished for peace… By any means necessary…
By any means necessary?
Would the world be better if there was nobody on it? Was the world the problem? Or the people on it?
He wondered…
Then, a shout rang from the inside. “There is no such thing as true peace! As long as we exist in this accursed world, there won’t be any such thing”! Nagato had exclaimed and those words struck a chord deep within Akashi.
Did that mean that if there were no people, there would be no more war?
No people no war? He blinked his eyes.
No world. No people… No war? Peace?
Was peace even attainable? Was it even a realistic thing? A thing such as peace?
He was snapped out of his thoughts when he sensed an enormous amount of chakra being concentrated from within. A few moments later, he could see bright green lights emitting from within of Konoha’s wreckage. What was this feeling? Then, suddenly, his eyes widened as he caught one specific chakra signal.
Kakashi? How was he alive…? Did…? He turned to look towards Nagato and the breath was knocked out of him. The man held his hands up in a hand-sign and his hair had turned a deathly-white colour… Did he…? He had… He had used a technique which… brought the dead back to life? His hands clenched at his sides as his teeth grit together.
Bring the dead back to life…
How… He clenched his eyes shut.
How unfair.
“War brings death, wounds, and pain to both sides… There’s nothing harder than accepting the death of a loved one…”. That was the truth. It was hard… It was so hard to accept that Shinya was no longer with him… That he would no longer see his face, hear his voice…. No longer hear his jokes, hold his hands… Nothing… He disappeared, leaving nothing behind himself… Leaving Akashi alone in this cruel, cruel world.
“And so we convince ourselves that they cannot die… Especially your generation, who do not know war… You look for meaning in death… But there is only pain and hatred, which you do not understand, that consumes you… People die like trash… An everlasting hatred accompanied by a pain that cannot be healed… That is war…”. The man said and Akashi stepped back, not wanting to hear any more.
Without alerting the others of his presence, he disappeared from the place he was at, leaving a red flash in his wake.
_
Of course… There was nothing there… Everything had been flattened… Destroyed…
The great oak tree that once stood there was no longer existing in the world. It was ripped away, never to be seen again.
This was his comforting place… One he visited all of the time… One he wished to see now when he needed comfort the most… But it wasn’t there… It was ripped away along with the memories of the place… Even thought Akashi knew he would never forget them, they were no longer at that place, but now, only in his mind…
He turned back and disappeared, leaving nothing there…
Just dried dirt…
_
Akashi stood on the sidelines, far enough so nobody could see him, and watched as Naruto was greeted back by the villagers. He watched the happiness appear on their faces at the sight of them… He watched the wide smiles on their faces as they looked at him and congratulated him. He watched as they reached towards him, floocking around him like family, asking if he was alright or if he was hurt. He watched as he was taken in their arms and thrown in the air, before they caught him, as he laughed in return.
He watched as Naruto was seen as a ‘Hero’.
None of this made sense! How could it?! They hated them since the beginning! Did horrible things to them! The scar on his neck was enough proof of their cruelness! And yet! He saves them once! One time! And they suddenly see him as a ‘Hero’!
None of it made sense! His heart hurt… It fucking hurt and he could no nothing about it. He watched as happiness radiated from everyone… And there he was… Standing on the sidelines…
Feeling like the world around him is collapsing…
_
Days passed and Akashi felt less and less like himself..
Everything looked monotone to him… Everything sounded monotone… He felt monotone…
“Do you finally understand? This is how the world works… This is how the world always worked… This is how it will always work… There is nothing you can do about it, but accept it… Do you understand? Just accept the pain and the anger… Accept everything… Fill yourself up to the point where you cannot feel anything anymore…”. The fox would whisper things like that ever so often… Bringing him closer to the edge each time the words left its mouth.
He left the confinments of his couch and stood up, raising a hand in a hand-sign. There was something he needed to do… Something… But he didn’t know what… It just gnawed at the back of his mind… There was something… Something? But what? Something… Something which only the fox could reveal? That kind of feeling filled him… Steering him towards the Tailed Beast and he did it… He went to it…
_
The sewers were just like before, not a thing had changed since the last time he was there…
“Did my words finally reach out to you? Did you finally understand? There is nothing left for you here… Not a thing… The more you stay here, the more pain you will feel… Naruto got what he wanted, but what about you? What about your wants and needs? Nobody cares about you, isn’t that right? Nobody came to visit you… Nobody came to check up on you… Not even dear little Sakura who you saved from certain death…”. It said only the truth… And Akashi knew that… He knew everything…
He had decided already…
There was only one thing he needed to do…
For as long as he was in this village, he hadn’t know anything other than pain and anger… The only good memories he’s had were the memories with Shinya… But even those ones were written over by the memories of his death… There was nothing left for him in this village… Absolutely nothing…
“I have… I did not need your words to understand any of it… I had realised it myself… But… There was a small part of me that hoped things would get better… Happier, almost? Easier? I do not even know what I expected… This place always had the habit of ruining my expectations… Who would have thought I would be here one day? Wanting to leave the village for good? Speaking with you like this?” He watched as the fox neared the cage, crimson eyes not as angry as they were before…
“So you finally understand how it feels, huh?” It asked, a somber expression taking place on its face… Akashi found the situation to be almost funny… He never thought things would end up like this… With him being in so much pain he had no other option than to leave… Leave the village…
“I finally understand what I must do…”. He said, reaching a hand towards the cage. At the same time, the fox raised its own and placed it onto the crimson bars.
“And what is that?” It questioned, even thought it knew the answer… It could see it in the boy’s eyes… In his expression… In the way he moved… He had finally understood all there was to understand.
“The only way to rid the world of pain is for the world to disappear along with it”.
_
This was it… He was doing this… He was finally doing this… He was finally going to be free from the heavy chains that bind him to that place… He glanced at the destroyed village… The moon’s cold rays overlooking everything there was to overlook.
“Akashi?” The said boy froze in place at the sound of his name being called. “What are you doing here? And what’s with the bag?” He turned to the side and saw Naruto standing there with his hands in his pockets. The blond was looking at the bag on his back. When he received no answer, he took a step forward, but he, too, froze when he saw the lack of expression on his twin’s face. “You… You’re… leaving?” He mumbled, disbelief clear on his features.
“I am”. There was no need for lying… No need for distraction… No need for anything, but the truth… That was the only thing Naruto deserved… The cold, harsh, truth.
“Why?” The blond asked, taking a step forward. Akashi narrowed his eyes at his brother. Was he serious right now? Was it not obvious? Did he not realise the things Akashi had to go through?! Did he not know about anything?!
“Even after all this time, you still remained at the same level of naiveness”. Naruto flinched back at the tone of his voice. “How do you not know? Are you acting dumb? Did you not realise it? After all this time?” With each question, he took a step forward, getting closer and closer to the confused blond in front of him.
“Realise what?” He dared to ask, baby-blue eyes almost glowing under the moonlight over their heads.
“That the more I am here, the more I feel like dying”. He could see the gears turning inside Naruto’s head, before everything seemed to click in place. The blond’s eyes widened at that.
“What…? You…?” He stumbled on his words, not knowing what to say… Akashi wasn’t surprised at that… He never knew what to say to him… And even after all this time… He hadn’t changed at all…
“I am leaving and you cannot stop me”. He turned away from the blond, about to teleport away and leave as soon as possible, but a hand wrapped around his wrist.
“No! You can’t leave! Whatever it is you’re going through, I can help! I can fix everything!” It sounded like he was pleading, but is was nothing more than static to Akashi’s ears.
“I cannot leave the village or I cannot leave you?” The redhead enquired, a twisted sense of satisfaction filling him up at the sight of pain on the blond’s face. “You mean like you left me? I cannot leave you, but you can leave me? Is that what you are saying?” He ripped his hand out of Naruto’s grip, the blond not even trying to grab his hand again.
“Both! I’m saying both!” He yelled at him, gritting his teeth as he finished. Both? He said both? What did he mean by both? Akashi wondered.
“And why is that?” He questioned.
“This village is something our father held dear! He died protecting it! Protecting us!” Those words did nothing but force them apart, but it seemed Naruto did not yet realise that.
“Protect us by sealing the Nine-Tails inside of us? Is that what protecting is to you? Condemning us to this pain?! To this burden we had to carry?! The burden we still carry?!” He raised his voice towards the end, seeing how Naruto’s eyes widened at the mention of Minato sealing the Nine-Tails inside them. He lunged forward and slammed the blond into the tree behind him. Naruto gasped as the air was forced out of him. “Yeah, I know about Namikaze Minato! The great Fourth Hokage! I met him, too! I told him I hated him! I told him I blamed him for everything!” He growled out to Naruto.
Then, Akashi didn’t have enough time to block the knee that came into his stomach. He hissed and released the hold he had on the other boy, jumping back away from him. “Shut up! It wasn’t dad’s fault! He did it to protect us!” Naruto angrily screamed back, fists clenched at his sides. Is this what they were going to do? Fight? Fight over something as worthless as this?
“He was a lunatic! And that lunacy got him killed in the process!” As soon as those words left his lips, he had to crouch down to evade a kunai thrown at him.
“Just shut up! I’m not going to let you talk about dad like that! Neither am I going to let you go!” Naruto raised his hands into a hand-sign and multiple clones appeared around him. “I’m going to stop you from leaving the village!” The clones dashed at Akashi with mirrored expressions on their faces.
Determination.
“Like you stopped Sasuke?!” Akashi taunted and Naruto grit his teeth at that. “You couldn’t stop him! What makes you think you can stop me?!” He side-stepped a punch and brought his blade out. The clone disappeared as the blade cut through its head. “You’re weak! You’re nothing but a pathetic little boy!” One clone jumped at him, while the other went from underneath him. Akashi spun on his feet and slashed the blade around him. The sight of his spinning looked like he was dancing to something unheard to others.
“Shut up, Akashi! Stop this!” The real Naruto yelled from in front of him, Rasengan spinning wildly in his hand. “Don’t make me do this!” He begged, reluctance swimming in his eyes.
“I am not making you do anything! Step down!” He bit out, desposing of the last clone in the meantime.
Naruto grit his teeth as his body trembled. “I can’t do that!” He argued back and Akashi had enough of him.
“So be it!” He took a kunai out of his pouch and threw it at the blond. Naruto moved to the side as it swished past him and he didn’t notice Akashi already appeared behind him. “You just could not stay out of this, could you?” He reverse-gripped his blade and went for a hit at the back of the neck. As soon as Naruto was hit, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Akashi’s eyes widened and he whipped his head up.
Naruto was descending upon him with a Rasengan aimed at him. “Akashi!” He yelled out as he thrust his hand forward. The said boy was forced to bring his chains out to stop the hit. The jutsu slammed into his chains and Naruto pushed his hand forward, trying to break the chains, but failing in doing so. “What?!” He exclaimed as he was forced to back away. The chains hovered around Akashi, not a scratch on them.
“You cannot defeat me”. Akashi threw those words at him. Naruto took a step back and raised his hand to his lips. He bit into his thumb and slammed his palm onto the ground.
“Summoning Technique!” He yelled out and a big amount of area around them was filled with quickly receding smoke, one which revealed a giant toad once it cleared away.
“Why did you call me, Naruto?” The toad questioned and turned to Akashi once Naruto had pointed at the redhead.
“We need to stop him!” He said, pointing at Akashi.
“Aye, aye!” The toad reached behind himself and grabbed a giant sword. “This will be easy!” It said, confidence radiating off its body. Akashi couldn’t agree less. As it raised the sword up and reverse-gripped it, Akashi used the moment to do a jutsu of his own.
“Summoning Technique!” He slammed a hand onto the ground and the area around them was filled with similar smoke. Once it cleared away it revealed Cornelius.
“Akashi!” The giant wolf exclaimed as it blocked the sword that came down, biting into the hilt.
“Cornelius!” The boy yelled back, gripping the sword in his hand. “Take care of the frog!” He pointed at the toad as he said so. Gamabunta got a furious expression on his face.
“I am a toad!” He screamed, pushing Cornelius away from him.
“I do not care what you are! Cornelius, do it!” The wolf gave a barely noticable nod and dashed at the toad, knocking him away and pushing him a great distance away from Naruto and Akashi.
“Akashi! Stop! Please!” Naruto begged once again, but Akashi would not listen.
“There is nothing for me here! The more time I spend here, the more I hurt! The one thing that kept me here was taken away from me! I was forced to do things you could not even imagine! The whole ninja system is fucked up! I cannot handle any of it anymore!” He gripped at his chest as the pain increased when the words left his lips. “I had lost Sasuke… I found out about mom… Then you left… I learned about Minato… I found someone I grew to love with all my heart and they were ripped away from me not even four months ago…”. Naruto froze in his tracks at those words.
“You…”. He trailed off, not knowing what to say to that.
“I was tortured for weeks because Tsunade cared more about bringing Sasuke back, then my own mentality… After that, I was sent on a solo mission to bring Sasuke back at all costs… Whatever I had to do… I found him… Even stayed with him for a while… You had come so close to finding him, but I let them know you were coming and they escaped…”. Naruto took a step back at the newfound information. What the hell had happened? What else did he not know?
“You know… Sasuke asked me to stay with him… Not to come back to Konoha, but you know what I did? I came back. I came back because I thought things could become better… I came because you were still here… But now, I realised something I should have realised long ago…”, he glanced at Naruto, their eyes clashing.
“… This world is a cursed world… One destined to cause pain and suffering to the people on it… The only solution for peace would be the total and utter destruction of the world… Do you know why?” He asked, but didn’t receive anything in reply.
“Because there is no such thing as true peace and as long as we exist in this accursed world, there won’t be any such thing”. Naruto felt like he was slapped when those words left his brother’s lips. He had been there when Nagato said those words… Naruto couldn’t stop him from hearing them… If only he never heard them, maybe things would have turned out differently.
Chains slithered down Akashi’s left arm, wrapping around it and around the steel of the blade. The chains blended in with the steel, giving off a golden glow.
“This is where we settle this… Come at me, brother!” Akashi went into a stance, awaiting Naruto’s approach. Even though there was great reluctance in Naruto’s eyes, he still went through with it. He bit his lip as he created his clones. The Rasengan was made soon after.
“Is there still no way for me to talk you out of this?” Naruto questioned and received a shake in reply.
“No… It is too late for redemption now, little brother!” He dashed forward, the blade pulled behind him to give him more speed. Naruto did the same. As they whipped their hands forward, their jutsu’s collided.
The world went into a standstill as the air around them ripped in half. Akashi grabbed the blade with both hands and pushed forward, forcing it through Naruto’s Rasengan. But… It just wouldn’t go through! He grit his teeth and just pushed and pushed and pushed! There was a brief moment in which Akashi had looked into Naruto’s eyes and was met with tearful ones.
I’m sorry. He saw the blond mouth those words to him, over the light of the Rasengan. That was all it took for Akashi to force himself even further. A scream left his lips as he poured everything he had into his sword. The Rasengan flickered and Naruto’s eyes snapped wide. Then, in a moments time, an explosion so fast caught the both of them in its blast. He heard steel snap and something whizzed past his cheek, barely missing his head.
They were thrown back, both slamming into trees as the explosion covered them and everything around them.
_
When Akashi came to, he found that it hurt to breathe. As soon as he tried to take a deep breath, his throat constricted and a cough left his lips. Something wet and warm splashed against the inside on his mouth, but he already knew what it was. He leaned away from the tree, legs immediately giving up from under him. He slammed into the ground and a groan left his lips as pain across his body intensified. He glanced ahead of himself and saw a still knocked out Naruto. Seems like the both of them suffered pretty badly… Neither Cornelius, nor Naruto’s frog were in sight.
Pushing himself up, he stumbled forward, almost falling again, but he managed to stay upright. Glancing to the side, he saw the the remains of his blade. Seems like it couldn’t handle the pressure of the force. He needed to get out of there as soon as possible. Another cough left his lips and he brought a hand up to cover his mouth. Blood splashed across his palm and he crouched down, placing his palm onto the ground. “Summoning Technique”. He forced out and smoke appeared in front of him. “Chrono… Take me far, far away from here”. He hadn’t even looked at the wolves in front of him as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and blackness greeted him like he was an old friend.
_
He opened his eyes and found himself in the all familiar sewer. Slowly sitting up, he noticed he was laying the the water… Why did he have to come here again? What was the point of this? He wasn’t dying… Nor did he come here of his own free will…
So why was he here?
“Because I needed to see you”. A female voice resounded from behind him and he froze in place at the sound of it. “Because I needed to talk with you”. He slowly stood up, heart thumping inside his chest…
Thump…
Thump…
Thump…
He gathered the courage to turn around and was met with a sight he thought he would never see.
A redheaded woman was standing there with a smile on her face. Her hair was the same shade as his was and that was all he needed to see. His arms wrapped around her, before she could even open her eyes. “Mom…?” His small voice asked and his body started trembling. “This is you, right…? This is really you, right? Please tell me this is really you!” He pleaded, arms tightening around her body.
“It’s me, you know?” Ah… His heart throbbed inside his chest at the confirmation.
“I have wanted to meet you for the longest time already… And now, you are finally here…!” He stuffed his face into her hair, a sob ripping out of his throat. “Mom! Mom!” He weeped out. “Mom!” His frame shook with each sob that left his lips. “Mom! Everything hurts!” Kushina felt her heart break as those desperate sobs of ‘Mom!’ left him. Her body shook along with his. He said he was hurting… Now she was hurting along with him… Her baby was hurting… And she could do nothing to stop it from happening.
“Shh… You’re alright… Mommy is here… Shh”. Her hand covered the back of his head as she pulled him closer. Damn it… She never expected for this to happen… For him to be like this… “Mommy is here, now”. She comforted her son, gently patting the back of his head.
The scenery around them changed into something more pleasant than a sewer. The wind blew over them as the sunny sky looked down upon them.
“Mom… I cannot handle things anymore…”. He whispered into her neck. “I cannot deal with the world anymore… Everything hurts… The more I tried, the more I failed…!” She pulled him forward and carefully lowered him on the ground, sitting next to him. He leaned back and his tear stained face sent a harsh pain through her body. She hated this… She hated seeing her baby cry…
“Akashi? Are you okay?” She asked, placing her hand on his cheek, wiping the tears away. He sniffled, identical violet eyes glistening with newfound tears. “Everything is okay…”. He reached a hand forward and took her hand in his own.
“Mom? I… I left Konoha…”. His voice trembled as the words left his lips. Kushina felt her eyes widen at the confession. He left Konoha? Why? What happened?! “I could not handle it anymore…”. He lowered his head at the admittance.
“May I ask what happened?” She leaned forward, wiping the still sliding tear from under his eyes. She felt him nod and he raised his head to look at her.
“Yeah…”. Her hand gripped his and he opened his lips as the story of his life was about to be retold.
_
As the last words left his lips, Kushina burst into tears. She couldn’t believe it! Konoha! The Konoha she grew up in! Tsunade?! Tsunade allowed for all of that to happen to him?! And Sarutobi! Not to mention Sarutobi! She told him to take care of the kids with her dying breath! And what did he do?! He left them alone! To be hated! Rejected! The village hated them! The village wanted them gone!
Damn it! They almost got raped! Her babies almost got raped!
A finger wiped at her face and she looked at Akashi. He was looking at her with pain in his eyes… So, so much pain… She wondered how it all fit inside him at that point…
“You know… Things were good while Shinya was with me… I could almost forget about everything that happened… But some things are not meant to be and he was forcefully taken away from me… By my own hands…”. She watched as he grit his teeth at that… He was so strong… To be able to be like this… To handle everything…
“Then, I’m glad you had him… I’m glad you had met someone who understood you and loved you, just like your father understood me and loved me for who I was”. There was a brief moment in which she could swear she saw something dangerous flash across the boy’s features at the mention of Minato… She could swear…
“Minato, eh?” He asked out loud and she was taken aback at the indifference in his tone. “I met him… A while ago…”. He admitted and she felt her lips curl into a smile. “I hate him”. Her eyes snap wide at the confession.
“What… What?” She stumbled on her words as she stared at her son, wide-eyed.
“I hate him… If only he had not sealed the half of Nine-Tails in me… Things would have turned out better… If he had sealed both halves inside himself and disappeared alongside it, half of the things that happened, would not have happened”. She couldn’t believe she was hearing this. Akashi blamed Minato? He blamed him for what happened?
“Akashi…?” She asked and watched as his expression shifted into something more vulnerable.
“You should understand… You were the previous Jinchuriki, right? The burned on my shoulders was too heavy… I could not handle it… Not anymore… Everything just kept getting heavier and heavier, until I was forced onto my knees…”, he bit his lips, before continuing, “… Mom, I kneeled so the world could stand…”. He gripped at his chest and Kushina felt identical pain in her own chest. “I could not just sit back and take everything on… No matter how strong I am, the pain had gotten stronger and stronger and it just kept getting bigger and bigger…”.
“Akashi?” She asked, seeing his expression change into something else.
“Mom? Is it bad if I want the pain to end? For it to stop? For the world to stop hurting me? For the world to disappear? Is it bad that I want that?” She didn’t know what to say as an answer, so she kept quiet. “It is, is it not? How could that be good? How could any of that be good? But… Even if it is not good, it needs to be done… The pain needs to end and the only way for that to happen is…”, he trailed off, glancing away from her. She dreaded his next words.
“… if the world disappeared…”.
There it was… The answer… How could it have ended up like this? For her son to start hating the world? How? Was this her fault? Was this Minato’s fault? They’ve failed, haven’t they? They’ve failed their son… They’ve really failed…
The tears dripped down her cheeks at the thoughts. Minato… She wondered… This is our fault… Everything is our fault…
“It’s okay, Akashi”. She finally spoke up. “It’s not bad for you to want that… I understand how you feel… I understand that you want the pain to end… Everything is all right… Everything is fine…”. Her voice broke near the end and Akashi glanced at her in worry.
“Mom? What’s wrong?” He asked and she felt even worse when he called her ‘Mom’.
“I’m sorry… I’m so, so, sorry!” She sobbed into her hands. “I’m sorry Minato and I failed at protecting you… I’m so terribly sorry!”
Ah… Those words again… They just can’t stop being said… Thrown around the place all of the time…
“Are you sorry?” He asked her, and she let out a sob. “Are you really sorry?” She raised her tear-filled eyes to look at him. Instead of them mirroring her own, she found only indifference in those irises of his.
“I am”. She forced out, throat already feeling raw…
“I hate those words… People always throw them around, without ever meaning them…”. She flet some kind of inexplicable fear at those words. Maybe it had something to do with the way he looked at her… With those glazed over eyes of his… She didn’t know…
She didn’t know…
“I think our time is running out”. He suddenly announced. And yes… She could feel it too… She could feel herself slipping away… “I am glad I got to meet you, mom… I really am… Goodbye”. He threw her a closed eyes smile, before he disappeared from in front of her, leaving her alone.
She couldn’t help but think…
That smile was not real…
_
He blinked his eyes open and was met with the dark sky. Multiple growls resounded around him and he weakly turned his head towards the nearest one.
“Get away!” The wolf growled out, not noticing Akashi had woken up. The said boy glanced in front of the wolf and was met with a sight he didn’t expect. Familiar raven-hair… Familiar abyss-dark eyes…
“I am not here to harm him…”. The Uchiha told the wolf, while glancing at all the other wolves around him. They didn’t look like they believed him… Not one bit.
“Liar!” Layla bit out, nearing closer to Akashi in an attempt to shield him from view. Akashi saw the world around him spin in circles and his eyes almost fluttered closed.
“Everyone… Do not hurt him…”. He said as everything around him turned black and his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
The last thing he felt were hands wrapping around his body and pulling him up.
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