He stayed silent as Gaara gripped onto Naruto.
He stayed silent as Gaara’s expression twisted into that of fear.
He stayed silent as they came to a stop near the other ninja.
“Naruto! Akashi!” Sakura exclaimed and ran towards them. Gaara slowly released Naruto and gently lowered the sand he was on as Akashi silently stared at the blond boy.
“There’s no time to explain,” Gaara said, “Hokage! Come with me!” He extended his hand towards Tsunade, before he glanced at Naruto, “Heal Naruto as much as you can while we’re en route.”
“I’ve depleted my chakra. I can’t use Medical Ninjutsu anymore,” Tsunade answered, “Take Sakura. She can still help a little.”
“How did Naruto end up like this?! What happened over there?!” Sakura demanded, looking between the unresponsive Akashi and Gaara.
“Just come!” Gaara forced out, “Don’t waste time! I’ll explain later!”
“Quickly, Sakura, get on the sand!” Shizune said from besides Tsunade.
“Right!” Sakura answered and immediately began the healing process.
Akashi sat still as the sand was raised and the four of them took off.
He blankly stared at Naruto’s unmoving body.
This was his fault.
This wouldn’t have happened if he went after him.
This wouldn’t have happened if he…
… was stronger.
Little one, this isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have stopped this from happening.
Isn’t my fault…? How is it not my fault? My chains broke… They lost… I lost and this happened.
With trembling fingers, he took Naruto’s hand in his own. It was cold… So, so cold. How was it possible for him to cool off so quickly? He… Kurama was ripped out of him…
A Jinchuriki without a Tailed Beast is no longer a Jinchuriki…
Naruto was going to die.
His little brother is going to die in front of him.
Because of him. Because of his weakness.
Kurama, can I help him? Is there a way for him to survive? Any way?
Kurama remained silent and that was the only answer Akashi needed.
There was no way to save Naruto.
His teeth pierced through his lip as the realisation flooded through him.
There was no way to save Naruto.
The hold he had on the blond’s hand tightened.
There was no way to save Naruto.
He lowered his head, eyes clenched shut.
There was no way to save Naruto.
The tears wouldn’t fall.
He can’t save Naruto.
_
“Hang in there! Don’t give up!” Sakura begged from besides him, “You are strong! You will make it!” She sounded so sure of herself, but it proved useless as her healing faltered.
“Sakura… The Nine-Tails is no longer inside of him,” the boy in front of her mumbled out, “Medical Jutsu won’t work on him.”
Her eyes widened as she stared at him, “No way!”
“Madara got him.” Gaara answered, looking ahead.
“Then how do we save him?! What do we do?!” Sakura asked, desperately searching for an answer, “Akashi! You also have the Nine-Tails inside of you, is there any way for us to save Naruto? Anything?!” She could only watch as he shook his head and his body trembled.
“I don’t know… I don’t know.” Akashi mumbled out, gripping onto Naruto’s hand as if that was the only thing which kept him grounded.
“We’re going towards the Fourth Hokage, he might know something!” Gaara sped up.
_
A few minutes later, they reached to where Minato was.
He was there alongside Kakashi, facing down Obito.
“Kakashi sensei!” Sakura called out as Gaara lowered the sand onto the ground.
“What happened?!” Kakashi asked.
“The Nine-Tails was extracted from Naruto!” Sakura glanced down at Naruto, “At this rate he’ll-!”
“Naruto…” With heavy steps, Minato stepped closer to the blond.
“Minato… Is there anything we can do?” Akashi’s quiet voice resounded, “Is there anything I… can do?” Minato looked at the redhead’s hunched over form. Just from one look, he could see.
Akashi was destroyed.
His, paler than usual, hands were holding onto Naruto for dear life. His head laid on the blond’s shoulders and Minato noticed that his own shoulders were trembling.
“Dad…” Akashi sobbed out, “Dad…” his whole body shook as the words left his lips, “Dad… Help him… Please,” the boy’s plea invoked harsh pain in Minato’s chest, “Help me, tell me what to do… I’ll do anything I can, I’ll gladly give my life for his own… Please,” he watched as Akashi slowly raised his head to look at him and the breath was knocked out of his chest, “If I need to die so he can live, I’ll do it,” a tear slipped down the boy’s dirty cheek.
Minato couldn’t do it.
There was no way he could do it.
Both of them were his sons.
There was no way he could choose one.
As if his internal conflict was noticed, Akashi spoke up, “Don’t mind me, please… Naruto needs to be saved… If one of us needs to survive, we all know it’s him.”
Nothing was going to change Minato’s mind.
And Akashi saw that, so he took it all upon himself.
Akashi! What are you-?!
Knowing what the redhead was about to do, Kurama tried to stop him, but he was only a voice inside his head.
Silver chains burst out of the boy’s body, knocking everyone around him away, leaving only himself near Naruto.
“Akashi?! What are you doing?!” Kakashi yelled out as his feet touched the ground, “Whatever it is you’re planning to do, stop!” There was no use in trying to stop him.
Akashi had made up his mind.
He reached a hand towards Naruto’s cheek and laid his palm atop it, “Otouto… I know I’ve failed you… I know I’ve failed mom and… dad, I know I’ve failed everyone I’ve ever had the chance to know, but this time… This time I won’t fail you,” his fingers slipped down the blond’s jaw, before they settled onto the area above his heart, “Not this time.”
“Akashi! Stop it!” Minato desperately yelled, but he couldn’t get closer, the chains blocked his way, “Please! We’ll think of another way!” He tried… He really tried.
“I’m sorry.” They watched as one of the chains pierced through the boy and straight into Naruto.
You idiot. That was the last thing Akashi heard, before his world turned dark.
_
As he opened his eyes, he realised where he was.
Back in the sewers.
Why was he there?
He had given Kurama away, so why?
Why was he there? Why was he back there?
There was no one there with him.
“You are mistaken if you think that.” A voice resounded through the dimly lit space around him.
It wasn’t a voice he had heard before.
Sitting up from his lying position, he was met with a sight he didn’t expect.
A man was hovering above the water in front of him. A man… who didn’t quite look like a human being.
“And you are?” The man gave him no answer, instead he floated over to him, “I asked you a question… old man.” He had realised the man looked quite old as he neared him.
“Never had I expected I would meet someone like you.” The sound of his voice surprised him, it didn’t sound as old as the man looked.
But… Someone like him? What did he mean by that?
Pushing off the water with his hands, Akashi felt his fingers slip through and his gasp was muffled by the water as he went under.
Then, as if nothing happened, he found himself standing still and facing the man, “What the hell did you do?” He glowered at him, staring straight into his Ri-!
Rinnegan?!
“Every thing is created to make balance in this world,” the man said, not answering Akashi’s questions, “Every strand of grass… Every grain of earth… Every leaf on the trees… Every animal… Every human… Everything,” Akashi didn’t understand what was being said to him.
What nonsense was this man spewing?
Balance? As if there was something like that.
“What are you talking about?” He took a careful step back as the man blankly stared at him, “What the fuck are you talking about? Balance?” Nothing the man said made any sense to him.
“My name is Hagoromo,” he suddenly introduced himself, “You may have heard of me by another name… The-“
“… Sage of Six Paths.” Akashi finished his sentence. The man in front of him… was the creator of Ninjutsu? He was actually looking at the man who started all of it?
The man who was the cause of the chaos that wrecked the world?
Taking another step back, Akashi clenched his fists. Really… The whole situation was hilarious. It was really… really hilarious.
So hilarious that he couldn’t stop the laugh from bubbling out of his lips. He closed his eyes as the sewers echoed.
“Is there something which caused you such… happiness?” Hagoromo questioned.
Happiness? Happiness? Happiness? Happiness? Happiness?
“You were the one who created Ninjutsu.” Akashi looked at him, hands relaxed at his sides.
“I was the one who created Ninshu, the Ninja Creed, not Ninjutsu.” Was he… serious? Who was he kidding?
“Oh, no… no, no, no, no,” Akashi shook his head, lips curling up into a light smile, “You did… You were the cause for Ninjutsu, so you are the creator… You spread your knowledge to other people and they used Ninjutsu against each other,” he looked at the rippling water beneath his feet, “They used Ninjutsu to start wars… They used Ninjutsu to kill, to pillage, to destroy.”
The man remained silent.
“Have you nothing to say for yourself?” Violet eyes met purple ones and Akashi couldn’t look away, “Have you no sense of right or wrong? Do you… not understand what had been done to this world after you died?”
“I understand.” Akashi almost laughed again.
“I think you do not,” he growled out at the man, hands twitching at his sides, “So many people had died in those pointless wars… So many things had been destroyed as a result of that… All because you wanted to connect with people?”
Even though the man said nothing about connecting with people, Akashi could sense it. The want for connections…
The want for peace?
“The peace you wanted was oil to the flames in which wars were created,” he took a step towards the man, “The peace you wanted only encouraged war,” he stood in front of him, not looking away, “The peace you wanted brought us here.”
Hagoromo stood still, not saying anything in return. His blank expression hadn’t even shifted.
“You should have never shown the ‘Ninja Creed’ to other people… You should have kept it to yourself…” The static in his ears didn’t stop, “Chakra should have never even existed.”
“Neither should have you.”
What? What? What? What? What?
He…?
“You… What the fuck are you talking about? All that nonsense about balance… What do you mean by that?” The words repeated inside his mind, but he couldn’t understand them.
“Neither should have you.”
“Balance is important for the world and your existence had shifted that balance.”
His existence had shifted the balance? Of what? The world?
As if his life mattered that much.
“My life isn’t important, so why should it be important to the world? Why should it disrupt its balance?” It made no sense. He was a nobody. A boy who failed everyone in his life.
So why? Why was the man telling him the opposite?
“You were never supposed to be born.”
The words were stabbed into him before he could prepare himself for them.
He was… never supposed to be born? Really? His life… never should have been? Really?
“Your sole existence is something which never should have been.” The words in his mind were said out loud.
“So why is it that I’m here? Why am I still alive then?”
He needed an answer. He needed an answer. He needed an answer. He needed an answer. He needed an answer.
“That isn’t something that I know.” Was the answer he received.
An answer which answered nothing.
“You… don’t know? Then what do you know?!” He took another step forward, invading the man’s personal space, “Tell me, why is it that even though I wasn’t meant to be here, I was broken each and every day, over and over and over again?! Why was I in pain for most of my life when I wasn’t even supposed to have this life?! Why was I betrayed by people I trusted, when that trust was something which wasn’t supposed to be real?!” He reached his hands towards the man, intent on grabbing him by the shoulders.
He only passed through and his body slipped under the surface of the water…
… just to be placed right back, dry as if he had never touched it.
“That isn’t something that I know.” He received the same answer.
An answer which answered nothing.
“Why are you here?” He didn’t expect an answer for that question.
But he got it.
“I do not know why you were brought into this world, perhaps fate had something to do with it… But, your life isn’t meaningless, your life is important, your life will determine the fate of this world.”
That was an answer he didn’t expect.
“The fate of this world? Don’t make me laugh!” He snarled at Hagoromo, “What do you see inside me?! What is it that I have, that could save this world?!”
“I never said you were going to save it,” the man said, “All things come to an end, the same is for human life. It is fate that you will one day die, but it is also fate which will decided if you will die when your hair turns grey, or die today,” he neared Akashi, “It is also fate for this world to die… Today, tomorrow, in a hundred years, in a thousand years or even in a million years,” Akashi didn’t dare move as Hagoromo leaned closer to him, their faces inches apart, “You shall decide if the world ends today or if it remains to see another sunrise.”
Him? He was the one who was going to make the decision?
Was that decision even his own? Was that decision his to make?
“Why me? Why does such a heavy burden fall onto my shoulders? What is it that makes me so special?”
This time, he wasn’t sure if he wished to know the answer.
And when you least want one, you are sure to get it.
“Nothing. You are not special. Nothing about you is special. You were just… chosen by fate.”
And the answer came.
“Then… if I’m not special, how am I supposed to determine the fate of the world? Kurama is no longer a part of me… He is within Naruto now.” There was no way for him to accomplish anything now, he had given his life up for Naruto.
His life was now in Naruto’s hands.
“As fate would have it, you were given those chains, were you not?” Hagoromo leaned away from him, “Use them… You know what to do, don’t you?” The man asked and yes…
… Akashi knew what needed to be done.
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