Morals. Interesting thing, they are. They are flexible yet clad in steel, they are ingrained so deeply in our being we remain unaware of their existence. Knowing what they are and what yours are is completely different than thinking of them, and consciously acting by them.
So what do you do, when all that is stopping you, are these elusive things?
~*&*~
Everything is red. Red red, the pure red, not the imitations you see in clothing, paintings, even in the sky. But red, blood red, the red that everyone instinctively knows. Is it crimson? Minato blinked, his head tilted slightly as he once again turned his hands over, looking critically down on his red red hands, at a small piece of evidence - no, the witness to his recent victory.
Victory? Is that what it is called when a large untrained army comes up against a single encompassing, immovable force? An individual who is too strong, too powerful? Man has no right becoming that powerful, that strength should be reserved for the gods.
But you are a god...
No. No I am not.
Yes you are~ By your very own definition and actions, you are now no more mortal than Shinigami-sama - who you just so faithfully served.
No. I am not a god.
Yes you are. Look up, fool, and feast on the sight and see the power a god wields, the result spread before you like a banquet for your delicate eyes.
Turning his hands over again, Minato tried not to look already knew what he would see if he did. A sea of redred bodies limbs burns smell red red red scars in the earth brown redred blood smell breathe in - that's it, smell the burned flesh the smoke the death the red red blood of your enemies the metallic tang the results of your victory - see how the corpses of the slain are layed out so beautifully, dead within moments of your flash appearance and discarded so carelessly after you had slaughtered them? See, fool, how there is no order, no pattern? Just pandemonium - if the dead can ever cause chaos once they have reached this state...
When did I look up? All of this is already burned into my brain, seared into it, unforgotten from when I was slicing through flesh and bone and when the redredred blood flowed so easily from each fatal wound as a gushing torrent or the slightest trickle but always always flowing down down - look down - and oh god the earth is stained redredred there's pools of red and pale skin - bloodless flesh - is stained red from the literal sea of red red that is the result of - your power.
No. It was the plea of one on the breaking point, looking for some small piece of hope or sanity to cling to...
And everything slowed into a moment of absolute clarity. The sounds around him were filtered away, blocked out; eyes seeing but not recognizing; hands unfeeling where they gripped his hair tight; and there were long, endless moments between one beat of his heart to the next.
Think, Minato, you fool. Why am I here? Because an army of Iwa-nin were advancing on Konoha. Why are you the only one here? He distantly felt his throat tighten then relax in a swallow. I'm the only one here because if anyone else had come with, they would have died. I did my duty - to my friends, to my people, as a shinobi. I protected them - and I will come home to them without a scratch...
So why are you here, staring at your hands?
He had no answer, and so without another glance at the carnage left behind - that you caused - Minato left to get away from the redred battlefield while still wearing red splattered-clothes and the damning eternally redredred hands.
~*&*~
Disclaimer: There would be a lot of cannon yaoi if I owned Naruto. A lot of explicit cannon yaoi with many different pairings and situations and misuse of objects. Safe to say I don't own it, yea?
AN: And this is all I managed to write of a rabid plunny that attacked me earlier in the week. It decided it wanted to fuck with Minato. The basic outline of the plunny is gonna follow this, and if anyone wants to tease more out of it go ahead, I'd love to see what you come up with.
Morals - Fight leading up to the realization that all that is stopping you is your morals - because really, what can anyone do to stop Minato apart from what he allows to restrict him? After slaughtering the Iwa-nin, he comes home, sees the awe and fear in fellow nin's eyes, and the ignorant adoration of the civilians.
Still torn over Obito's death, and with Kakashi in turmoil, he is numb... How does he respond to Sarutobi and Kushina? Sarutobi pulls him aside and says something like "I know now is not the best time for this but I am favoring you to become Yondaime." Shock, pride, fear... But there is something else... he felt somehow vindicated in his slaughtering of the Iwa-nin, he liked it - which is what is causing all of this turmoil. His revenge clashing with his morals...
"I am one of the strongest ninja ever. There is nothing stopping me but my morals... and there is this howling inside of me, demanding a sea of blood to cover the elemental nations, to have complete fear and obedience from those I deign to let live...
I can be a god."
What was it that brought him out of it and reaffirmed his morals?