- I am
still alive.
Iris
When Naruto looks into the eyes of his people, they tell him: 'You are
our hero, you are our savior, you are our damnation turned salvation turned
Hokage.' and then somethings tightly wound inside of him twitches, and pulls,
and snaps like the back of the man who must hold the weight of the sky on his
shoulders.
When he looks into the eyes of those who know him more intimately, they
say: 'You did what you had to do, and that is all we expected of you, our
friend.', and then his fists clench tightand his jaw straightens with his back
and he stands tall. Though he is a monster, they are all apart of his
pack in their own small ways and they look tohimfor strength, for leadership,
for pride.
The only eyes that bother him are those of his beloved, because in them
he sees nothing. Where once there was an inquenchable flame, a beastial
tenacity and an almost egomaniacal will to burn brighter than the hottest star,
there is now only a soft smile and a slight tinge of jealously because the only
thing a demon can love is the power another demon holds over it so finely.
Naruto takes the stairs to the stage as though they led to his
execution. The podium is empty. The floor is devoid of anything but a stand and
a microphone.While the stand contains his next-life, the microphone contains
the bitter cyanide pill he must swallow to kill that which he used to be.
The crowd makes small, self-gratifying noises as they see a shock of
blonde hair. They are expectant of his speech. They are expectant of their
leader. Naruto wants to tell them that I am not your hero. That I am not you
messiah. That I am nothing but a shinobi, and that is all I will ever amount to
be. I am a killer. I am a murderer. I do not save. I do not right wrong, I only
create chaos. I halt life. I snip the strands of fate. I cull possibilities of
the young while supporting the weight of the old and you will all crush the
life out of me before I am old enough to see my grandchildren.
And Naruto is right. And Naruto is wrong. And he finds that it is not
entirely too unfair to Konohagakure when he does not smile back to them as he
takes his Hokage helmet with bloodstained hands, jaded, red-flecked eyes and
the charred, slightly melted necklace of Uchiha Itachi hanging around his neck.
:The price of recognition is the price least willing
to be paid:
- Finis