Gimme your powerstones.
...
They both stared at each other as the words left his mouth. Out of the two of them, Duy looked to be a lot more worse for wear, his breathing ragged and uneven, his green spandex torn in ragged patches that showed the bruised skin beneath. On the other hand, beside a few stubborn marks of dirt on his black shirt, Hidetada did not look much different from how he had at the start of the fight, save for the beads of sweat track-lining his forehead.
With a wide, white grin, Might Duy agreed, his loud voice ringing out against the sudden, heavy silence of the forest. "It has been good practice fighting against you, Hidetada. I have never fought against anyone as skillful as you. This does nothing except motivate me to TRAIN EVEN HARDER!"
A weary sigh escaped his lips as Hidetada sat down on the ground, though his eyes could not hide the sharp, lingering excitement of the spar. He let his weight settle, his back touching the rough, ancient bark of the tree behind him.
Duy jumped up onto a thick branch, his voice echoing back through the pillars of wood as he bid the Senju Heir a goodbye for now. "YOSH! I must train myself even harder! I WILL DO A THOUSAND SIT-UPS AND TWO THOUSAND PUNCHES BEFORE PERFORMING TEN THOUSAND PUNCHES WITH EACH HAND!"
'This man can't be real,' Hidetada couldn't help but think, his hand working the tension in his jaw. 'I wish to believe that he lies about all these things, but then I'll just be lying to myself.'
With a slow shake of his head, he looked up toward the sky. The work ethic of Might Duy was unreal, a mountain of effort that few could even perceive. While he considered himself hardworking, Hidetada's own drive came from the simple joy of being in a world with 'magic', especially after living in the grey, boring world of his previous life. It was difficult to describe to anyone born here.
To put it simply, he enjoyed practicing everything related to chakra, be it Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, or any other form. It arose from the sheer contrast of his previous mundane mediocre life. Chakra was the greatest gift anyone could have given him, and he never grew tired of the way it felt, or the various ways it could be used.
Staring past the leaves of the trees that latticed the sky, he could tell the day was still a bright, brilliant blue. Fluffy white clouds moved across the expanse like slow, silent ships. A sense of ease enveloped him as the sharp edge of adrenaline began to leave his body, replaced by a deep, resonant hum of calmness. A peace entered his consciousness as he stared at the sky mindlessly, getting lost in the shifting green of the canopy and the rhythmic, distant sounds of the living forest.
It would have remained that way had he not been reminded just how hot the afternoon had become, the air thick and heavy following his spar against Duy. Removing his sweat-soaked shirt, he hung it on a gnarled tree root beside himself before forming a half-hand tiger seal. The water vapor around him condensed instantly, drawn together by the pull of his chakra until it pooled into a sphere of clear, shimmering water. Hidetada drank the liquid greedily, the coldness cutting through the heat in his throat, before letting the rest fall over his well-defined chest and abs, providing a cool sensation.
Wanting to relax, he slid further onto the ground and laid one arm behind his head, using it as a pillow as he gazed up into the great blue dome above. The warm air contorted around his form, the heat of the earth and the cool of the water pulling him toward the soft, dark embrace of sleep.
Hidetada almost drifted off, his mind drifting through random thoughts before it caught upon a single, jagged question. What lay beyond the borders of the Shinobi continent? It was curious; no one seemed to have the answer. Considering the strange, impossible things that happened in this world, the rest of the world could be empty or filled with endless water for all he knew. What about the size of the planet they now inhabited? It was called Earth; it looked like his original Earth and shared the same flora and fauna. The size could not be that different, as he had felt no extra pressure from gravity when he was reborn.
The thoughts kept him awake until he sensed a familiar chakra signature entering the Forest of Death and heading straight toward him. How did so many people have access to this training ground? He had been under the impression it was off-limits to most.
"Especially for an Academy student," Hidetada said, the words falling into the quiet air, his gaze did not tear away from the sky as he spoke.
Mikoto paused at the sound of his voice, perched high in the branches of a nearby tree. He reiterated his thoughts without looking at her, "I thought that Training Ground Forty-Four would be off-limits for an Academy student."
Jumping down from the tree with the grace of a cat, she blinked owlishly at him and replied curiously, "Shouldn't you be more worried about how I found you?"
The words reached his ears as he lifted himself up, his palms touching the sun-warmed ground behind him for support. He smirked at her. "I could, but then you would reply by saying, I quote, 'I have my ways.', would you not?"
That was exactly what she had been planning on saying...
Her dark eyes tracked the lines of his face before falling onto his naked upper body. A sudden flush rushed across her cheeks as she took in the defined, corded muscle.
Quickly, she tore her gaze away and turned around, shouting in an agitated voics, "Why are you not wearing anything! Put some clothes on!"
Hidetada only chuckled, the sound low and calm. "You are going to be a kunoichi. The naked body should be the least of your worries."
Mikoto opened her lips to retort before pausing, her eye twitching slightly. He was correct. Painstakingly, she turned back around, trying to control her eyes as they threatened to slide downward. 'It does not befit the Heir of the Uchiha Clan to act this way!' she tried to remind herself fiercely, even as her eyes strayed from his face to the muscular torso once more.
With an amused sigh, Hidetada took his black shirt and pulled it on. He doubted she would be able to converse with him normally if he remained as he was.
A breath she did not realize she was holding escaped her as Mikoto watched him put the cloth back on, feeling a small, secret spark of disappointment that the shirt was back in its place.
"So, what are you even doing here? I thought you had your classes right now." Hidetada glanced at the sun's position in the sky, confirming his thoughts.
The Uchiha girl shifted uncomfortably under the weight of his gaze before smiling awkwardly and sitting down on the grass opposite him. "I skipped my classes." Shrugging her shoulders, she continued, "It's not like they are teaching anything I don't already know."
Hidetada hummed, the sound vibrating in his chest before smirking at her. "I don't think your father would be happy to learn that you're skipping school."
She stuck her tongue out, scrunching her nose and closing her eyes playfully. "That's if he gets to know." The expression on her face brightened as she added, "I forgot, but I wanted to thank you for dropping me at the Uchiha District and giving me your popsicle. I can return the money—"
She was cut off by a short snort as Hidetada waved his hand loosely in the air between them. "Bah. I already knew you were following me; that is why I bought it in the first place. Also, it was the least I could do, taking you home. Do not thank me for it."
A chuckle escaped his lips at her upright, formal expression. He leaned back against the gree again, staring at the dancing leaves above them, a thousand shades of green shifting in the light. He did not truly care about her skipping classes; it was a waste of time anyway. Tearing his gaze away from the leaves, he looked at her face. As he watched her, he tried to reconcile the image of the legendary mother of Sasuke with the young girl sitting in the dirt before him. This girl was the one who would give birth to the
reincarnation of Asura.
Staring into her eyes, he tilted his head and asked her seriously, "Say, Mikoto, what is your dream?"
She paused, the flow of her thoughts snagging on the question. she mulled over the words deeply, her eyes growing distant, before she spoke with a soft, small smile. "I wish to have a big family when I grow up." Her face dimmed slightly as she continued. "Our house feels quiet and dreary because there is no one in it except for me and my dad."
The rest of her words lay unspoken, a hollow space in the air. She stared into his warm brown eyes wistfully. "I want to have a house filled with happy moments and laughter. And I want to be strong enough to protect it."
Hidetada raised an eyebrow. He had been expecting many things—ambition, power, status—but not this. Most of all, he had not realized her mother was gone. Not knowing what to say exactly, he instead opted to nod respectfully, "That's a noble dream to have."
In both his previous life and the current one, he had being in the presence of his parents and siblings. He had never known how it felt being an only child. Yet from what his friends had once said, it was a lonely experience. Though he had tried to move on from his past, he would never truly forget the faces and names of his first family, no matter how much time flowed by.
A dull, familiar ache set in his heart as he remembered them, but the same philosophy that had kept him going then remained his anchor now.
"...-bout you?"
The voice drew him back from the grey mists of memory. He saw Mikoto looking at him with open curiosity. It took him a heartbeat to realize she had been speaking. Hidetada replied quickly, "Sorry, I did not hear what you said. Could you repeat that?"
"I was asking, what about you? What is your dream, Hidetada-san?"
"My dream..." He paused, the words hovering in the air like smoke. If someone had asked him that when he was first reborn, he would have said his dream was to return home, no matter the cost.
But as the years passed, the ache had dulled into something manageable. There were too many bonds here now, too many threads of fate he had woven into this world to ever truly go back.
As for what his dream was now.
"Tell me, Mikoto. Why do you suppose we were cursed with the burden of free will?" Hidetada did not wait for her response. He turned his gaze toward the horizon, his voice steady, carrying the weight of a judge delivering a final verdict.
"Look at the cycle we inhabit. Since the dawn of existence, humanity has mastered only one craft: the architecture of agony. Every facet of our civilization is merely a byproduct of war and the pursuit of pain. We seize land, we crush dissent, and we butcher one another without a second thought for the consequences. We bleed the same salt water, we share the same fragile anatomy, yet we remain obsessed with the borders that divide us. To achieve a fleeting, selfish spark of 'happiness,' man is content to reduce nature, animals, and his own kin to ash."
He narrowed his eyes, the coldness in his tone sharpening.
"Thousands of wars. Millions of corpses. And yet, the world has never once paused to acknowledge the wail of a grieving mother or the hollow silence left behind by a fallen brother. You observe this carnage from your pedestal high in the sky and you wonder: was free will a mistake? Was the gift of chakra merely a match tossed into a powder keg of human depravity?"
Hidetada turned to her, a passionate fire burning in his eyes.
"My answer is yes. Free will was a necessity. Not because humanity deserved it, but because the chaos it creates is the only forge capable of tempering a savior. God granted us this 'virtue' so that we might finally reach a breaking point where repentance becomes our only sanctuary. It is through the absolute pressure of torture and the crucible of war that a true force of nature is born. Only by mastering the very tools of our destruction can one man bring this world to heel."
He slowly raised his hand, clenching his fist against the sky as if crushing the very air between his fingers.
"I am that force. I am the culmination of a thousand years of ripples in the weave of fate. The sins of the past have converged to create me, and I alone possess the resolve to act as the savior this world fears to ask for. This is not a choice; it is a mandate. I will see this world unified, or I will see it burned until only the obedient remain. Anyone who stands against that tide will be erased. It is that simple."
He lowered his hand, his gaze locking onto Mikoto's with a passion that only appeared when he was being true to himself.
"My grandfather was a fool who believed that love could bridge the gap between human hearts. Hashirama was strong, yes, but he was a coward. He lacked the stomach to bear the weight of a million sins. He wanted the result without the sacrifice. I, however, see the world for what it is. I embrace the blood that must be spilled. I welcome the hatred that will be directed at my name."
He paused, the silence stretching thin between them, heavy and suffocating.
"Tell me, my dear Mikoto. What is a decade of agony compared to a millennium of paradise?"
His voice dropped back to a calm, melodic baritone, the feverish edge replaced by his usual serene tone.
"My dream is the end of all dreams. I will build a peace so absolute that it will endure for a million years after my bones have turned to dust."
...
A special thanks to DamnedThrice and Hector for subscribing to my $20 membership and also to Nik for subscribing to my $7 membership on patreon, I really appreciate it. Thank you.
...
Read up to 20 chapters ahead on my Patreon: Patreon.com/dekiru77
...
Word Count: 2491.