Fate Wheel | Naruto

𝟏𝟎𝟗| "Years until salvation"

CHAPTER 109 — YEARS UNTIL SALVATION
══════════════════

4 1/2 YEARS AGO

It had been two months since that day, the day that flipped my world upside down and changed my life forever.

No, that was wrong. It didn't change anything, it made me less oblivious to the truth. A truth I was unable to fathom, that soon my hands would be stained with blood and the people who I cherished and loved so dearly would die at the expense of my sins. I didn't anticipate the extent I would go to for the people I love, until I realised that there was nothing left for me to ruminate. I had to sacrifice everything I had, my mind, my body, even my soul, because that was all I had left to cherish in this world.

The stone of fate. That was what Sora called it, a stone that had the ability to show an individual their past, present and future— but it was more than that. It showed you every possibility of every outcome, it invaded every memory you had, every decision you made and the decisions you would make, every word you said and would say— it showed me a world where there was no world, everything was gone and only I survived. Only I was left behind like always, the people I loved chose me over themselves irrelevant of the fact that I could never truly be happy without them by my side.

I saw a world where Sasuke died in my arms a million times in a million different ways, and each and every time I felt the pain of my heart tearing into two- never seeing the light of day again, only a monster that stalked its prey in the darkness, who forgot what it meant to empathise, who forgot how he looked like, how his love felt like and reigned destruction upon the world and to herself.

I saw a world where the Oogami hadn't succeeded in their plans, where Anomie and Shigeki and the Owl and Ukan and the Raven all met their demise in countless of different ways. The world and its inhabitants safe from the wrath of the departure and Mazoku's tyranny, but they weren't there. I'd spent the rest of my days wondering whether the fate of the world was worth the lives of the people I loved when the only reason I continued to fight was for their freedom— and not my own. Never my own.

I saw a world where the Fugishima bakery flourished. The bakery had opened sale in Ame and every time I walked down the streets the sweet smell of cake and freshly made bread wafted into my nose. It didn't rain as often as I had expected, but when it did I felt it in my pores, on my skin, the moment it glided through the air and the second it touched the wet soils. Sasuke was by my side, we were happily married, twins, we had twins that we both held in our arms— but a hollow ache never ceased to welcome me every morning knowing that my children would never see their grandparents or aunt or any of my friends. Konoha merely being a memory we all chose to bury in hopes it'd dull the pain.

I saw a world where we all survived, every single one of us— but we weren't living. We were nowhere near close to living. Physical chains shackled us to a fate that denied us all of free will and liberty, where we were slaves at their disposal and the entire world had never known what it felt like to breathe clean air, only toxic fumes of Villages burning to the ground and barren lands that'd only seen humans fight against each other for survival and blood that incessantly spilt.

I saw a world where all the Lands were ravaged by the merciless storm that consumed everything in its path, nature, animals, terrains, humans. Not even the Oogami were able to survive its ultion.

I saw it all, in that moment I received the stone. I see it all, every day, as I wake up breathless from the nightmares that plagued my rest. In my sleep, I'd see it all again. The moment I closed my eyes even for a moment, I only replayed the moment it all fell apart. I couldn't cope with the burden of knowing that any decision I made could possibly lead to death and destruction. Nor could my body.