"Ino Yamanaka." I don't shout these words. There's no need to, everyone's attention is directed fully onto me already. It's not just the shinobi, some of the movie crew came out to see what we were yelling about.
A few have passed out, some have wet themselves in fear, others have simply fallen to their knees in defeat with tears streaming down their faces. "If you value what remains of our friendship you will say no more."
...
Ino musters up every scrap of courage she can find to speak. Even then she can't stop herself from stuttering in fear. "T-they have a r-right to know w-why you're g-gone."
"And I have the right to withhold that information from whoever I want to." I narrow my eyes at her and she shrinks on herself. "It is not your secret to share. So don't."
"If you l-leave I'm going to t-tell them!" She shakily threatens me. She's trembling behind Anko's back, she's - no one here - has ever seen me this pissed before. This unrestrained. This threatening. This exposed.
"You're just a girl playing at being a kunoichi. That's not how you threaten someone. This is how you threaten someone. Jiongu." I say and my loyal water minion falls down in a kneeling position before me. When I speak it is with all the warmth of ice. "If she shares that information slaughter everyone here except Koyuki."
"Alvarcus!" Kakashi roars at me in unrestrained anger. "That is too far!"
"You all need to get something threw your thick skulls!" I shout back. "I do not want to be here! I do not want to go back to Konoha! I can't be saved! Leave! ME! ALONE!"
I whirl back towards the trees and start sprinting towards them.
"Alvarcus stop!" Naruto shouts after my retreating form. "Alvarcus don't run away! Don't leave again! Please!"
There's real pain in his voice. This is hurting him, not physically but emotionally. He hasn't seen me since we got Tsunade together. He hasn't seen what I've become. But now he's seen it first hand. He knows now. And it hurts him to realize that I don't want to go back.
I don't look over my shoulder as I disappear from their line of sight. I don't spare them a glance.
...
"We fucked up." Shikamaru elegantly sums up the entire situation. "We fucked up bigtime."
"No shit!" Anko spins around and quickly looks over Ino. "You okay? You're still trembling."
"He's gone again." She says as tears start to form in her eyes. "He seemed so much better from last time. He was connecting with everyone again. He seemed like he was shifting back to his old self. I thought… I don't know what I thought but I didn't think he'd run away!"
"Shh Honey." Anko pulls the emotional wreck that is her student into a hug. "No one saw this coming. It's not your fault."
"It's not over." Naruto promises with determination. He has a fire brewing in his eyes and he stands tall despite everything that just happened.
"How the hell can you say that?" Shikamaru questions is bewilderment. "Did you not feel what he did? Naruto that was the worst killing intent I've ever experienced!"
"We'll see him again." Naruto confidently assures everyone. "Maybe not today, or tomorrow, or even on this mission but we will see him again. And when we do we try again. Then again after that. We try as many times as it takes until we bring him home. I refuse to give up on him even if he's given up on himself."
"Good luck with that." Shikamaru points at Ino. "Look at her, he made her like this. She's the one that he likes the most out of all of us. If he's willing to do that to her then what's he willing to do to us?"
"He won't hurt any one of us." Ino says between tears. "He… he cares about us. Even if he did all of that. He still cares in his own way."
"You two need to pull your heads out of your asses." Shikamaru scathingly shouts at his friends. "Did you two not see what he just did?! That is not how you treat people you care about! He threatened to slaughter everyone here! As far as I'm concerned he's an enemy now."
"He is our friend!" Naruto gets right in Shikamaru's face. "You will not hurt him more than he already is!"
"If we run into Alvarcus again we will treat him as a hostile threat. If he takes one malicious action against us we will remove the threat." Shikamaru narrows his eyes at Naruto, daring Naruto to challenge him. "That is an order from your team leader."
"I refuse." Naruto doesn't hesitate to deny the order. "I will not accept that."
"Then stay out of my way." Shikamaru growls out a warning to Naruto. "Enough of this! We're here to do a job! It has nothing to do with Alvarcus. We're going to rotate shifts guarding Koyuki. The order is Kakashi, me, Naruto, Anko, then Ino. Three hour shifts. Kakashi you start now."
Kakashi takes two steps and the water monster falls in step next to him. Kakashi turn his head to the cloaked figure. "I will end you if you try anything funny. If you so much as twitch and I don't like it you die. Understand?"
The monstrosity nods its acceptance.
"And why the fuck aren't you doing anything for Alvarcus?" Kakashi growls out to the Jiongu. "You're sentient, he's your host. You should care about him much more than anyone else here, even me. He's the reason you're alive but you've let him fall so far down the path of evil? Do you not care about your host at all?"
~Perhaps it is time I do something for my Host.~
...
"FUCKING DAMNIT!" I roar once I'm far away from everyone else. My roar is accompanied by a gigantic gout of flame that spears upwards to the sky.
"I am tired of this!" I shout and a furious surge of wind explodes from me, shredding several trees into splinters. "I am tired of people trying to get involved in my life! I do not want to make friends! I do not want to have happy meaningless conversations about my life! I don't want to deal with anyone!"
"No more!" I punctuate those words with a roar of lighting that pierces through several trees, leaving behind large holes in all of them. "No more people! No more idle conversations! No more beating around the bush! I do not care if they want to save me! I do not care if they think I'm a good person! I am not! I know it! The world knows it! Everyone but them knows it!"
"I am not here to rekindle past flames of friendship." I slowly go through hand signs. "I am not here to save a country. No, that's all meaningless. It all pales in comparison to what I am here for. I'm here to get something to help me stop a war. I don't have time for these pointless interactions."
"Summoning Jutsu!" I slam my hand to the ground with so much force it cracks beneath my palm.
"Sup Al?" Shirokumo casually greets me. "Wow it's fucking cold here."
"Shut up. I don't have time for pleasantries." I snarl at him, letting my anger at myself and the Konoha shinobi bleed into my words. "Where's Doto?"
"Well aren't you in a fantastic mood." Shirokumo grumbles at my obvious anger. "Right now he's on a train. I don't have his exact location."
"He's got a fucking train?" What the fuck?! No! Not important. I can break a train in two. "Where's he headed? I'll beat him there."
"To the caravan. That Koyuki is in. Which you're not. What's that about?" Shirokumo asks.
"They pissed me the fuck off." I snarl out as the conversation springs back to the front of my mind. "They want to save me. I got tired of dealing with that bullshit so I left. I have more important things to do than listen them try and feed me false hope and ideals."
"Ah." Shirokumo awkwardly says. "You know they might have a point."
"Goodbye Shirokumo." I dismiss my summon and he is forcibly sent back to the Nest. "I've already heard that from them I don't need to hear it from you."
I turn my head back the way I came.
"So Doto is after Koyuki." I start to retrace my steps. "Fine. I'll tail her until he shows up. Then I'll get what I came here for and get the fuck out."
...
A/N:
If we hit 500 Power Stones by the end of this week, I'll drop an extra chapter as a thank-you!
Thanks for the support! ;)
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