Solitude

Chapter Thirty Five: My Ninja Way

❝Hate only gives birth to even more hate.❞ ㅡ Orochimaru

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CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE:

MY NINJA WAY

                                     Her eyes were open, but she couldn't see beyond the tip of her nose; thick mist had risen from an invisible horizon, surrounding her in a cloud of nothingness. Her muscles were tense, ready to move her floating body and carry her away from that fog of uncertainty — but to no avail, for she was suspended in air, held in place by a shrouded force she couldn't win against. Her mind was awake, yet asleep — erratic, yet dazed.

Rei could barely recall the previous events to waking up in such an empty... place. She remembered reaching the edge of the forest, the pain in her chest upon leaving her friends, hands pushing her off of the clayed bird.

Had she trusted the wrong people... again?

Kotone had made her feel at ease; she had made her believe her choice was the right one to take, that her goal made sense and her actions were justified. Perhaps it had been her intentions all along — to make her feel less lonely, less misunderstood.

Her eyelids closed, and she breathed out a sigh of exhaustion. She was tired of lies, of feeling disoriented in a world that lost more sense with each passing day, of fighting for a cause that separated her from the people she cared about.

Opening her eyes, she found herself wondering if it was worth it — to live for another day in a world like that, so unfair and broken. But, at the same time, her heart begged in her chest and desperation crawled in her blood like an animal looking for shelter on a rainy day. Because deep inside, there was nothing Rei wished more for than a reason to keep fighting, an answer to the pain she couldn't push away.

If she stopped to listen to her heart, pounding like a caged storm, Rei would lose herself in a whirlwind of emotions and self-doubt, of never-ending thoughts and broken memories. And for some reason, while staring into the whiteness of vacuum, she took the first step into that frightening abysm of reminiscence.

First came anger and an insatiable thirst for revenge, and they arrived in the form of the people who had betrayed her trust. The smirk on the face of her former sensei was clear in her mind, like a reminder of her sadistic personality, of an undeniable fact. Suzume had relished in her misery and despair, the same way she had enjoyed ending her sister's life before Rei had even learned to say her name.

Pain was next to take shape in her heart, by the hand of desolation and the face of her childhood friend dying in her arms. The remembrance still brought tears to her eyes, and the thought of the one behind her dead fuelled her previous fury.

Her goal became clear as she travelled in time, but she had yet to find the calm that would help her analyse every memory — and her situation.

"I want to become the greatest Hokage of all! That way, people will recognize me."

His voice came from everywhere, echoing in the air as if he were shouting in a cave the words he had pronounced many years ago. Rei saw him in front of her, his blue eyes shining in determination and a gleeful green on his lips. The remembrance of Naruto, of the person who had brought her out of darkness and shown her a path she would have never found on her own, drew a sad smile on her face.

"I'll show you, Rei. I won't pull pranks anymore; I will train and become stronger! You'd better watch!"

Sadness formed within; the loss of her closest friend... having left the people she would never stop caring about... It was all too much for her to handle. But it was also enough to make her anger fade, if only for an instant.