"So you're sacrificing your humanity to spare yourself pain?" Tsunade gently asks. "Alvarcus the bonds that you make with people will last lifetimes. Just because you can lose someone does not mean you will."
"How can you say that?" I weakly ask the voice in my head. "If I might get hurt again then why even form the bond in the first place?"
...
"Alvarcus you do not have to stand alone." She assures me. "You will not lose them because they can stand on their own two feet, and should they stumble you'll be there to catch them before they fall. One person cannot become all powerful. No matter how hard you try there will always be things that you can't do. That is why these bonds are important. Because when it is your turn to stumble and fall it will be your friends who reach out and catch you."
"But they have to hate me now." I hang my head in shame as I perch in a tall tree overlooking the convoy of trucks. I've beaten Naruto and Koyuki here, they're still moving through the tunnel. I had the advantage of moving at shinobi speeds while Naruto is walking with a civilian on his back. "How can I possibly go back to being friends with them?"
"Do you not remember what Naruto said to you?" Tsunade asks. "One day someone is going to reach out to you to pull you from your darkness. Alvarcus every single one of them extended their hands to you. All you have to do is take them."
"But it's far too late for that!" Orochimaru cuts in. "He already swatted them away. He's lost that chance."
"It is never too late." Tsunade assures me. "All you have to do is take their hands. All you have to do is start to let people in again. All you have to do is allow yourself to care. There's no reason to be afraid of opening yourself up and letting these bonds form."
Two very surprising things happen in the next moments. The first is Naruto with Koyuki still on his back bursting out of the mouth of the tunnel at top speed. The second is a train barreling out a fraction of a second after they did.
Naruto and Koyuki tumble down a small slope and crash into the snow. Naruto is clearly exhausted from the all out sprint that outran a train and Koyuki is staring at the train in terror.
"It's been a long time, Koyuki." A male voice says over a loudspeaker that's mounted to the train.
"I-I know that voice." I hear Koyuki say to herself with my Jiongu enhanced hearing. "It's Doto."
"It's been ten years." Doto steps out onto the roof of one of the train cars. "Come, let's get a look at that face."
Doto doesn't get a good look at his long lost niece because he's distracted by something else. That something else is roughly two dozen logs and a small avalanche of snow slamming into the side of his train. Except Doto doesn't seem particularly bothered by the sudden turn of events, if anything he seems mildly amused at the feeble attempt to damage his vehicle.
"There you have it men!" Sandayu, who has changed into plate armor and strapped a sword to his hip, shouts to the surprisingly large group of men behind him. There has to be at least fifty gathered in total, all here to attempt to overthrow Doto and see their Princess. "Princess Koyuki has returned, with her at our side we will be victorious!"
A loud cheer sound from the gathered residents of the Land of Snow.
"CHARGE!" Shouts Sandayu as he begins to sprint down the snowy hill at the train. "FOR KOYUKI!"
"FOR KOYUKI!" The men answer his charge with one of their own.
"They're going to die." Tsunade's voice regretfully points out the obvious. "None of them can stand up to shinobi. Naruto is too far away to make a difference. Only you can save them."
"There's no need to save them." Orochimaru apathetically says. "They are worthless to you."
"I'm sorry Doto-sama, I thought we already suppressed all traces of a rebel faction." Nadare turns to Doto. "Shall I fix that?"
"No." Doto denies, he has something different in mind. "These kind of people only respond to one thing. A show of absolute force."
The sides of the train cars all open up to reveal a machine of sorts. I have no idea what it's made to do exactly but I can promise one thing, it's made to kill.
"What will you do?" Tsunade asks me. "Will you save them like the good person you truly are?"
"Or will you hide behind your mask of a monster and let them die like I would?" Orochimaru asks.
What will I do? Will I throw myself in harm's way to save the lives of fifty people or will I watch and do nothing? Will I step up or will I step aside?
"Orochimaru has sunk his fangs deep into you, hasn't he?" Anko says in disgust. "I remember you, before you left. You wouldn't idly stand by as others suffered."
"READY!" A strong voice shouts over the loudspeaker.
"She's right." Kakashi agrees with Anko. "Remember our first C-rank? I was set on returning to the village because we were lied to about what the mission entitled. But one of my genin, moments after taking a life for his first time, stood up and looked me straight in my eye and said 'we can't let a whole country die.' What happened to that shinobi? Where is he now that another country is in need?"
"AIM!" The strong voice says again.
"You used to call him sensei." Naruto alludes to Kakashi. "You used to call us allies. We fought together, we saved Konoha from being trampled by a jinchuriki. You used you own body as a shield for me and because of that you lost your original heart. Alvarcus I thought you died to protect me. Only one other person has ever shown me that kindness. Someone as good as that, someone willing to do anything to protect his friends, is who you are."
"FIRE!" The strong voice shouts for the last time as countless kunai launch out of the many holes on each train car. The charging men have no chance to stand up to that. If no one does something they'll die in the next three seconds.
"You're not him." Naruto viciously says. "You're not someone who stands by when he can make a difference. You're not this uncaring and disconnected person."
I suddenly appear between the charging men and the wall of cold steel with determination set on my face.
"I will not allow these people to die!" I fly through hand signs faster than I ever have before, so fast that only someone with a Sharingan could have a hope of seeing what signs I used. "BURDEN OF ATLAS!"
The wind bends to my iron will, it feels like the sky itself is falling down upon me. The snow blasts away from me and the ground cracks under the sudden all powerful force. The charging men are violently forced to the ground or thrown back the way they came. But most importantly, the entire wall of kunai that was launched out of the train is forced to the cold ground. Countless kunai are launched from the train and every single one of them are blown downwards the instant they come in range of my jutsu.
Yet my knees do not bend despite the intense pressure I'm subjecting myself to. I do not have the luxury of buckling like the rest of the civilians behind me because the moment I fold is the moment they all die.
So I will not fold. I will endure despite the humongous drain on my chakra. I will endure because I have had enough of not caring. I will endure because I refuse to be this apathetic monster that I've slowly turned into.
...
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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