(POV: Shiozaki Ibara)
Ever since I was little, I remember my parents being happy, praising and speaking of a noble higher being who cared about all of us. He gave us health and protected us from anything bad that might happen. It made me happy to know that someone was always watching over my family and me.
However, when I was four and they began taking me to church, I grew bored just sitting there and listening to the pastor read from that great book called the Bible. I could not understand how we could spend hours listening to what it said. I did enjoy singing, though, and my mother said I had a beautiful voice.
As I grew older, I began to understand why my parents took me to church. It was so I could know our Father in heaven, a beautiful and divine being who created this world and made us from the very dust of the earth. The boredom I once felt in church turned into curiosity and a desire to learn more.
I still remember the proud smile on my father's face when I asked him to buy me a Bible of my own. I read and learned many things: the greatest events in the history of Christianity, the sins that could lead us down the wrong path and into hell, and perhaps the most important lesson of all...
Good and evil.
Even at eight years old, I already had some idea of how to tell the two apart. Still, I had doubts. The Bible said that we should always turn the other cheek to our neighbor, no matter what they had done. I...
I did not know how to do that. Ever since preschool, I had been mocked for my beliefs. How could I not be? I was the only girl in an entire Japanese city who followed this religion. I remembered every insult and every whispered blasphemy. Throughout my childhood, I became the strange religious fanatic in my class. Even so, I did not let it affect me. I had God's love, after all. That was enough...
Right?
It was a question I was afraid to answer. How was I supposed to endure being treated that way? What had I done? Did believing in something different give them the right to treat me like garbage?
I only wanted to be a good person.
When I was eleven, some girls locked me inside one of the bathroom stalls at school and dumped the bathroom's trash over me. I had never felt so humiliated. I ran out of the bathroom and kept running. I do not know how, but I eventually reached the small church my family attended on weekends. Someone from the congregation called my parents to come for me, though it would take them several minutes to arrive.
Until then, I was accompanied by the young pastor who had recently joined our church. I told her what had happened, and I can still clearly remember the understanding, loving warmth in her eyes and the soft smile on her lips. She told me something that helped shape the person I am today.
When a community is threatened and suffers an unjust attack, it cannot remain passively indifferent if it wishes to think and act as Christians should. If its people do not want those who harm them to go unpunished, they have no choice but to prepare for the day when they must defend themselves and others...
Without hiding their identity, denying Christ, or denying that they belong to the Church, Christians are called to bear witness and fight without hatred or a desire for revenge. As far as humanly possible, they must protect themselves, their faith, and their lives, because that is how they show their love for God.
I could defend myself.
I could defend others.
I could protect the defenseless from those who harmed them without consequence.
I wanted to do good.
...….
Her legs hurt, breathing was difficult, and her body felt heavy. Nevertheless, Ibara did not stop. She ran with all her strength, ignoring the powerful shock waves and the ground trembling beneath her. She had to reach him. She had to find him.
She had to help him...
That was the only thought her clouded mind could hold as she ran toward the large purple barrier in the middle of the forest. He had to be inside, fighting those who had accompanied the invading villains. Her run became an awkward jog, and her breathing grew heavier as she drew closer to the strange, partly transparent barrier.
To her growing concern, it began to crack like glass. Its pieces disappeared as though they had never existed. Many questions filled her mind. What was that barrier? How many people had been fighting? From a distance, she had seen a display of fire, lightning, water, and earth. How could anyone possess a Quirk capable of controlling the elements to such a degree?
And what about those shock waves? One of the people fighting had to be Naruto, but who could keep up with him at that speed? None of those questions mattered now. She only wanted to find him and make sure he was safe.
When Ibara finally reached the battlefield, uncertainty filled her at the sight of a scorched clearing. Nothing remained except ash and earth burned black and dry. She walked through the area as she caught her breath. Finally, she spotted a blond figure in the middle of the desolate scene.
"You're just a nobody! A miserable failure! A coward who ran away and came to this shitty world! May Jashin-sama curse you! May you suffer for the rest of your pathetic days, and when you finally die, you and I will meet in hell! I'll torture you myself until the end of time!"
Ibara almost fell when she heard the voice. She was close enough to see what her friend held in his hands. Was that... a severed head? Thousands of questions passed through her mind.
"You damned son of a bitch! I'll kill you, do you hear me?! No matter where you are or how long it takes, I'll find you and kill you!"
The voice was full of anger and hatred, but how could a head speak? Without realizing it, Ibara continued toward Naruto. He was injured and covered in blood. The only thing her mind could focus on was that her friend was hurt and needed her help.
She quickened her pace, only to stop when she noticed a shape on the ground. Was it a person? Ibara did not know what to do when she saw Kakuzu lying motionless. With her heart pounding, she forced herself to breathe slowly and calm down.
Crack!
All the calm she had managed to gather vanished when she looked up and saw the horrifying sight of Naruto crushing the head in his hands. The wet, sickening sound of a skull breaking filled the clearing. Blood and brain matter splattered across the shinobi's hands, but he remained standing there, watching the scarlet blood run down his fingers.
"Naruto-o?"
That soft whisper pulled the Uzumaki from his trance. He slowly turned toward the voice.
"Ibara..."
A tense silence formed between the two teenagers as they stared into each other's eyes. Ibara's frightened green eyes met the shinobi's dark and somber gaze. Naruto lowered his hands and dropped what remained of the immortal Jashin follower's head. With his hands stained in blood, he silently watched the green-haired girl.
"..." Ibara trembled uncontrollably as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Her mind fixed on the image of her best friend. He was normally distant, reserved, sarcastic, and teasing, but deep down, he had a kind heart. Now she saw someone vengeful, fierce, and terrifying. "..."
She stepped back several times, panic in her eyes, before falling onto the ground.
"..." Naruto did not need to say anything. What could he possibly say? What he had done in front of her was more than a nightmare. He had just destroyed the image she had of him. How could she not be afraid now?
The tension between them was interrupted by weak laughter from Kakuzu. Still dying, he rolled onto his back and looked at the two U.A. students.
"So she's the reason for your change..." The rogue ninja laughed through his teeth and raised his eyes toward the sky. "But it doesn't matter... it's already done."
"What did you do?" Naruto approached and looked down at the Akatsuki member with disgust.
"If you think killing two idiots in costumes and a few others was the worst thing that could happen in this world, you have no idea what awaits it..." Kakuzu's breathing was slow and painful. He could feel his life gradually leaving his body.
"..." Naruto clenched his fists and walked heavily toward the fallen man, intending to finish him. However, someone stepped into his path.
"You can't do it!" Ibara stood between Naruto and Kakuzu like a shield, surprising both shinobi. She swallowed and gathered all the courage she could before meeting Naruto's eyes. "You can't kill him! He's a person who has made mistakes!"
Although her legs continued to tremble, she kept her voice firm. "He... he needs help!"
Naruto finally recovered from his confusion and frowned.
"Ibara... he killed your teacher..."
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PAT REON I'D:- Skythe ]