Gengetsu alongside the other swordsmen and few Anbu stared at the blonde man inside the cold and semi-dark room illuminated by the lone dull light in the ceiling. His fists were clenched and he stood rock still as he stared at the table beneath him.
Mei's eyes became moist when she saw him gasp for breath as the flood of emotions he had been holding back overwhelmed him.
Mangetsu and the others didn't blame him when he fell to his knees and lost all self control.
Only the Mizukage stepped forward and walked towards the broken man without fear or hesitation as he too had endured a pain like this years ago. It had nearly destroyed him until the thought of protecting his own son, the sole legacy of his beloved wife pulled him back from that edge of darkness.
He knelt beside the young man whom he now considered one of his most trusted officers and the closest thing to another son he could ever have and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"How?" the man whispered miserably as his eyes became moist.
"She was part of a squad responsible for capturing one of the spies hiding in our village. Things went south when they tried to apprehend the traitor, she bolted and Ino alongside her team gave chase. There was a fight and the traitor took everyone out alongside her in the end. This was all we could recover, Naruto. I'm truly sorry" confessed Gengetsu honestly, as he glanced at the half charred arm that once belonged to the wife of the man beside him now.
Tears fell from Naruto's eyes as he hesitantly reached out to touch what was left of the woman he had loved.
His heart broke into a million pieces when he touched the blackened skin and felt fading embers of her chakra which destroyed any illusion of the limb belonging to anyone else.
But the fact that he felt another whisper of a different energy in that flesh made him freeze.
When he looked back at the Mizukage, the man could not look into his eyes as he had seen Naruto had arrived at the most frightening conclusion.
"She was pregnant"
The Anbu's inside the room inched their hands closer towards their weapons when the air inside the room turned extremely cold and full of a powerful chakra that felt sinister in nature.
There were only a handful moments in his life when Gengetsu had been truly scared. When he mustered the strength to look up and face the man whom he had revealed that bitter truth to, he was left speechless.
In that moment, he saw something break inside of Naruto as the last Namikaze wept tears of blood and his usual red eyes developed a black colored slit pattern. The raw pain and heartbreak that he felt from the blonde was palpable as his own eyes moistened a bit.
"Ninjas are nothing but disposable tools in the eyes of their nations. There is no honor, no light...no hope in this dark world"
Madara's words tore his heart apart as the raw rage and hatred inside of him threatened to burn everything to cinders.
"You let her die"
Gengetsu flinched on hearing that brutal accusation but it was the despair and sadness in Naruto's eyes that rankled something deep inside of his heart. It reminded him of the moment when his wife's father had confronted him with the same feelings in his heart for the loss of his only daughter. The man had lashed out in pain and anger but Gengetsu had never been able to forgive himself for not being strong enough to save the person he had loved most in his life.
It was why he had made himself stronger and swore to not let others experience similar pain for as long as possible.
Only to fail again and again.
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The Seventh Swordsman
Fanfiction"My sword is yours in victory and defeat", Naruto remembered pledging those words to the Second Mizukage as he became one of the feared Seven. He swore to defend Kiri, to protect its people and serve its Kage until his dying breath. But he also made...
