Strings Of Destiny

First Kill

Welcome back to the chapter number 142 of "Strings Of Destiny".

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

"Demonic Voice"

"Flashback"

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Naruto stared at his hands as he started to clean the blood off of them in the water, the red lines that flowed into the water was not an unusual sight for Naruto how many times had he done this he wondered? Whether it was his own blood or someone else's he had always had to clean his hands like this. Just why had things turned out this way, he had only left the village to protect Nimato...now everything he wanted to protect seemed so far away...but then again perhaps that was for the best at least then he wouldn't be able to mess up their lives.

As he scrubbed the blood off of his hands he began to wonder which of the blood belonged to him and which part of it was from Nimato...these hands that had promised to protect his brother was now coated in his own brother's blood.

Just how far had he gone in his quest to protect everyone...Izumi had been right in not allowing him to capture that monk...if he had been willing to hand over one life for another where did it stop, right now it was just someone he didn't care about but what if in the future it was the choice of saving someone he cared about in the expense of another person he cared about?

Scrubbing his hand quicker in the water Naruto idly made notes that the wounds on his body needed healing as well, luckily Felix would be able to help with that.

"There clean" Izumi stated walking behind Naruto who didn't seem to hear her and continued to wash his hands and it wasn't until she placed her hand on his shoulder did he seem to be aware of her presence.

"...Did you say something?" Naruto asked looking up at her in his crouched down position and she frowned before tilting her head to the side a little.

"I said there clean..." Izumi repeated nodding down to his hands making Naruto confused for a moment before he turned back to his hands and to his surprise they were clean...he had been certain a moment ago they had been coated in blood.

Sighing Naruto stood up and walked past Izumi putting his hand on her shoulder for a moment before walking into the small cabin they were staying in for the night.

"Thank you for stopping me" Naruto said walking into the cabin leaving Izumi to frown for a few moments before she looked into the water there was no sign of any blood or anything like that...Just how long had he been washing his hands and had there been any blood in the first place? Izumi knew Naruto was going through an emotional turmoil it was no surprise he had a lot to carry on his shoulder and she could relate to his situation however she knew being forced to track down Nimato while keeping him safe was affecting him far worse than he let on.

Feeling a huge amount of pain in her chest Izumi put her hand to her heart this disease was starting to make its way to her organs and soon it would kill her time was flying by now it seemed these days her time was running out quicker than ever. Looking back she couldn't help but remember how slow time passed when she had just left Konoha everyday was just another struggle until she went to sleep.

Sitting down at the edge of the small lake Izumi looked into the water she was going to give Naruto some space since she knew how disappointed he was with not being able to stop Nimato being pursued by the Akatsuki.

With Naruto

"I see..." Naruto said as he stared at the holographic image of Pain who looked at Naruto with an emotionless stare.