Green. In front of my eye, the beautiful scenery was unveiled. The tall, broad, and mighty trees stood firmly. The flowers and short plants bloomed and sprouted at their full glory. The pleasant sunlight beamed through the gaps between the trees, brightening up the forest. The animals jumped and ran, moving across this bright forest with ease, filling this forest with liveliness.
But perhaps, what seemed the most amazing to me out of all, was the gentle drops of rain, so warm and soothing, plopping on me; the sun and rain, they co-existed in harmony.
'...That's right. This place is...' I subconsciously thought as I raised my hand up, before,
My eye widened. Slowly turning my head around, I was met with the sight of a blonde woman, whose dark-blue-coloured eyes exactly resembled mine.
Then, all of a sudden, this beautiful place morphed into a devastating ruin—within the blink of my eye.
The mad man's shadow now loomed over her. The woman closed her eyes in fright, knowing what was about to come, but forcibly smiled as the blood oozed out of her mouth. She then sang,
PUK!
PUK!
However, the woman didn't respond.
She simply sang.
PUK! PUK! PUK!
The terrifying noises of blood squirting and splattering all around filled the ruin that used to be a forest. The mad man continued to stab and stab over again, uncaring of the fact that his entire body was drenched in blood.
PUK! PUK! PUK!
The boy, whose presence was unknown to the mad man, could do nothing but curl up his trembling body. The tears fell from his eyes, as his mother's singing became fainter over time, and as the horrifying screams of the mad man continued.
'...Ah,' My mind went blank. My hands trembled, and my body was petrified. There was nothing I could do but watch, as the nightmare of my life replayed in front of my very eye.
'Ahh...'
I saw red. The rage that engulfed me—it was so great, that I could do nothing but scream,
"AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
<...Akashi.>
Then, my mother, who was thought to have passed away, whispered yet again. Regaining my senses, I shifted my teary eye at the semi-corpse. The mad man was gone, and the woman, whom I believed to have died already, somehow still had life in her.
<...Live... on... my... son... and... don't... forget... your heritage... the energy... release...> From her hollowed-out eyes, some light returned. The edge of her lips curled up, before she left the final message,
<...I love you.>
__________
"Haa... haa..." I found myself breathing heavily, having jolted up from my sleep. Sweating all over my body, I placed my hand on top of my face, trying to ease myself.
"...Seems that you are awake, Akashi," From my side, a voice was heard. Quickly turning my head around at the source of the sound in caution, I saw the man in green spandex, Maito Dai, sitting and gazing at the bonfire in front of him with a hollow expression.
Then I noticed. Looking around, the two of us were in the middle of the wilderness, a dark forest with the fire in front of Dai as the only source of light.
Looking down at my body, I saw that my torso was covered up in bandages. Looking to the side, the three swords, which weren't sealed to my shock, lied altogether. Having realized that it was Dai who brought me into safety, I looked back at him with confusion.
"Why did I save you, you want to ask?" Dai, who seemed to be in a low mood, stated, "It's just a simple means of paying you back, for saving my life."
He reached his arm down and gripped a leaf on the ground. Raising it up, he looked at it and stated, "But let me ask you a question."
Coming back to my senses and quickly sealing my swords back by taking out the spare sealing scrolls from my pouch, I nodded, "Go ahead."
"Those heads—the ones you handed in the bounty station back then—what were those about?"
There was no point to hide. Leaning my back against a cold trunk and looking up at the dark night, I replied in a monotone, "They belonged to the bounty hunters, specifically the ones who attempted to take mine."
"...I see," Dai muttered, leaning his face into his hands, "Do you believe that I'm too soft? Your act of coldly throwing someone's corpse around like that, and the merciless attacks on the foreigners whom we haven't met before—I couldn't help but be terrified back there. Letting my judgment cloud myself, I thought that it was a good thing that you died."
He became teary, and his tone became muffled in sadness, "But perhaps it was just me having been worn out. This mission wasn't meant to be like this in the first place. We were only meant to investigate and retreat, not to engage against someone like Kakuzu. To think... I am the only one to survive..."
Without responding, I stood up. Although I felt sore, and the pains indicated that I haven't completely healed yet, I walked over to Dai, and,
Thud.
sat down next to him, looking at the bonfire ahead of me now.
"...You know, back in my village, I'm known as the 'Eternal Genin.'" Dai, breathing out to calm himself down, then chuckled hollowly, "Unable to perform any sort of ninjutsu, I was looked down upon, and was told to give up the path of ninja all the time. However,"
Dai's voice shook as he continued,
"I couldn't dare to give up. I have a son, who lost his mother at a young age; I... I can't bear the fact that he is forced to have a failure as his father. It was, and still is my lifelong dream to reach the rank of chunin and prove to everyone... that they were wrong. But... looking at me now, I can't help but think that maybe... maybe they were right."
Dai shook his head with a forced smile, before saying, "Heh, I don't even know why I'm saying this to you."
The two of us looked at the bonfire silently. It was on the battlefield that we met, during the urgent situation. Logically speaking, there was no way for us to trust each other, with so little information to judge one another.
However, in front of this mysterious bonfire, I felt calm. For some reason, I felt as if there was no need to be cautious of this man.
Is this man, named Maito Dai, trustable? I truly don't know, and it was illogical for me to lower my guard. But at this moment, just for a small amount of time, I lowered my guard by a little amount.
"...Green isn't a bad colour for the sake of camouflage, but yours is too bright still. Change that suit of yours into something of better colour. If you are the Taijutsu expert, arm yourself with some defensive equipments, instead of a thin spandex."
Dai turned at me with surprise, as I spoke in a hoarse voice.
"When you return to your village, go and tell your son, that you took down the monster named Kakuzu, the S-ranked missing nin."
I closed my eyes and imagined Dai's son, a young and lively boy.
"Show others, of what you are truly capable of. Don't hide your mastery over the Taijutsu. Stand straight and walk proudly. Don't act idiotic, and act like a reserved individual. Stop screaming those weird words like 'youth' when you first met me, and do something with that bowl cut of yours."
I opened my eyes back up and looked at Dai, whose eyes were widened,
"You are much stronger than what you think of yourself. And I believe, that you are walking on the right path."
Coughing in embarrassment, I turned my head away, "It's just the words from an outsider. Just think of this as my token of gratitude—thank you for saving me, Maito Dai."
'And... that should be enough.'
I took in a deep breath, and stood back up. After briefly inspecting my tools, I began my walk away from Dai and the bonfire, to the dark forest that lied ahead of me.
"W-wait!" Dai then shouted from my back, having woken up from his daze, "Where are you going, Akashi?!"
"It's time for us to go back, Dai," I said without turning back, "to where we belong."
Too much time has passed already, and I've been away from my home far too long.
However, more importantly, there was something that I couldn't dare to show anyone. Through the recollection of my past memory, I've come to sight,
'The scar on my left arm, something that I believed to have acquired during my stay with Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato,
I gazed at my left arm, which was covered by the black cloak.
'...was present since back then.'
And knowing that the clean scar can only be formed intentionally, and judging by how the mad man was looking for something, I came to the conclusion... that my parents hid something within me.
"...Goodbye... Akashi..."
Without returning Dai's mumbled farewell, I disappeared into the darkness.