Authors Intro:
Hey Everyone! This is my New Story called "To Hell And Back" and it is the first in the series of angst/romance stories that involve NaruSaku. If you don't want an emotional and somewhat grim adventure filled with suffering, self doubt and maybe a happy ending if I feel like it …then this is not the story for you. I am new at writing here and am always looking for some constructive criticism and even some suggestions for the plot. If you have a good idea then drop me a pm. Also if you are looking for a laugh then I suggest my other sorry "Eyes of Eros".
First chapter here is NOT how the whole story is written but does play a key part in the thought processes of Naruto.
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Journal entry no. 769
The war is over. We have won. This is a day for celebration for all that we have gained but for those of us who have lived through it, this… this is a time of mourning for all that was lost. We may be free, but at what cost? The enemy promised us a world without suffering and death and all it would cost us is our freedom in a dream we would never know existed. In my honest opinion, it sounded like a reasonable trade, but the human will is unconquerable. Even in a dream world there would still be war. There will always be those who will prey on the weak in order to gain a further step ahead of others. Though we may understand each other better now, there will never be equality. There cannot be equality. If every man, woman and child was of equal rank, then there would be no will to excel. What motivation do you have if no matter what you do, you are still the same as everyone else beside you? And then what purpose do you serve if all you do is exist? Being equal in value makes you equally worthless if you cannot surpass the barriers that society places upon you and to exceed them makes you worth more than the rest. If mankind were equal in every sense then our evolution would cease.
Advances in medicine come from the advances in proficiency at dealing damage to the human form. Building design becomes stronger from the need to ward off stronger attacks, be these of nature or by man. Advances in metallurgy and other natural sciences stem from the need to improve weapons for defence. Hell, even the radio that plays music in the shower was made to communicate orders to soldiers on the ground. Though we live with many luxuries, many of these came from the sinister need to destroy. Necessity is the mother of all invention.
There is no greater source of income like an arms race either. If you can make something easier for a price then the odds are that someone is willing to pay and if one person is buying then others must pay as well to not be overwhelmed by a small advantage that could easily be avoided by a simple sum of money. War is very profitable. You have a product that the other person needs and if they don't get it then they will die. You can charge anything you want because they have no choice but to pay or die. It is blackmail on epic proportions. Armies need weapons, food, water, shelter, transport and everything they can get their hands on in order to survive. Even a humble bandage to stop bleeding has to come from somewhere. War is profitable and as long as there is a dollar to be made, then there will always be war. Peace does not come cheap and freedom is not free.
But when does it all become too much? Is there a time to cut your losses and run? How much is freedom worth if at the end of the day, all you see is death? How far can you go before you are so tainted by the hatred and pain that you can scarcely call yourself living? War is to protect ideals on how life must be lived but what if you sacrifice so much to defeat an enemy that you become it in the end? When do the lines between yourself and the weapon you carry blur to the point where you cannot see where one ends and the other begins? They say truth is one of the first casualties of war but I would put forward that in reality it is "innocence". Truth can be buried and found again. The innocence of a child lost on the battlefield can never be restored.
I lost many things in that war. Many of them were my friends, buried in a foreign land for a war they did not want. I also saved many lives those days and my faith in the masses to stand up for what is right and never back down was firmly forged on the final battle as we stood victorious.
It was a week later that I realised that I had lost more than I had ever thought possible. Then the cracks started to show and as I looked inside of myself, I found myself hollow. I turned to my friends for comfort but by the war's end, they barely knew me and I hardly knew them. Again I was thrown into the crushing black oblivion of my own isolation. But I had a promise to keep. I had to make things right.
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Thoughts? Questions? Queries? Review and I might give you an answer.
ParadoxPhilosopher!