Ginchuriki Series 1/2 (C37 Final Chapter)
"And as my final two favors to ask all of you: first, I wish if I can be buried in Konoha, because here where I feel I belong, and second, Naruto must be in the dark about the truth of my death, to save him any regrets" Kai said at the end "Tushira, you now belong to a bigger family, I am sure that they will take care of you both"
The tail patterns all retreated to his back, then his symbol lit up and the moment it was fading he continued "I will be watching from up there to look after you from above, till we met, farewell"
Kai left them, a smile on his face cracked open eyes after they turned to his normal eye color, his bones rested, his lungs took a lifetime break, and his heart beat its final beat.
With an atmosphere of silent sadness, no shouts or screams allowing Kai's soul to leave in peace, tears got dropped from everyone around, the people who knew him and the people who didn't.
Saskue was looking at him, seeing in him his brother Itachi, the way he died and the look he died in, expressing his intentions in his last moments, remember the life he lived away from the people that he loved in the sake of saving them against that continuous feeling of his and the need of being around:
"After I thought that I found an alternative for my former person that I admired, this one too, was taking away from me!"
Saskue punched the floor in his bare hand reflecting anger and regrets, when Tushira came closer:
"Saskue, life goes on, accept what it was written for you and counter it with a smile"
"How could you be...How could you be that cold?!" Saskue couldn't resist not to speak.
"Saskue!" Kakashi tried to make him correct his mistake.
"All the people you knew are now dead, how could you resist not to level things to the ground, you know what does heart even mean!" Saskue reached the limits.
"Saskue calm dow..." Ino interrupted his speech.
"I do" Tushira said, knowing that Saskue isn't in the right situation to open a discussion with but she spoke "But without our beloved deaths, the future of us could be worse than the current, so remember that the future pain could be times worse than our current, that is the reason of me dealing with the current one with such ease, and just to say, I still have people from the past that I didn't lose" She spoke this when the sadness in her caused a tear to spoil from and to sneak out of her eyes cheating her calm facial expression.
Saskue thought about her words deeply, knowing that what she spoke might be right, without the Uchiha clan elimination, Konoha might not be here till now, the same result will be if Kai didn't sacrifice himself, if he thought twice he will find out that Itachi included, because if he didn't kill Itachi, he might still in the dark about the truth and to disrespect his name after he dies by the hands of other, all these collided and mixed thoughts, lead to the conclusion that what Tushira said was so straight and right, causing him to ask forgiveness.
Tushira just stood in front of Kai in silence respecting the cause of his fall, everybody imitated her sharing her unrevealed sadness and hailing Kai's death wishing him a peaceful eternity settle, when her Spiritual Chakra danced around her body so calm and with slow pace reflecting her salty sadness.
The next day, after Naruto was hospitalized from Kurama's hit, he regained consciousness, opened his eyes slowly, and saw everyone around:
"Good to have you back! Naruto!" Sakura said.
"Welcome back!" Chouji added.
"Good to see you around" Tushira in the back said.
"That hit was too hard, wasn't it?" Kiba mocked him.
"Guys...You are all here, thank you!" Naruto answered them.
"Are you feeling fine now?" Hinata said when she was carrying his hand.
"Never was better, seeing you all here is...Wait but why you are all dressed in black?!" Naruto paused he knew that a member was missing, "Wait...where is Kai?!"
No one answered, Saskue the one who was leaning on the wall, stood up straight and walked outside the room hating to know the continuation.
"Speak it!" Naruto offensively said.
"We lost him in the war..." Sakura said.
"You what..." His eyes got blurred by the tears that was forming "How is that even possible! The enemy was already down!"
"He died from injuries from the fight he had and the chakra release, broken bones, torn veins and blood loss, saving him was impossible..." Ino said trying to hide the truth.
"I couldn't be there to even say goodbye! What kind of friend am I!" Naruto blames himself.
"Don't worry, Naruto, I am sure that he understands" Tushira smiled.
"Tushira...I am...I... I don't know what to say" Naruto didn't find words to fill the gap.
"It is fine Naruto, he died in the sake of who he loved, that is enough reason kiss him goodbye with no tears" Tushira explained.
"Guys, the Hokage summoned you all to the funeral" Konohamru interrupted from the door.
"We will be there in a minute" Tushira answered, when everyone tongue was tied and tamed of speaking words.
"I am going there!" Naruto popped up.
"You can't just go there! You still not fully healed yet!" Sakura denied.
"I wasn't there when he died, but I won't accept to myself to stay here when he gets buried!" Naruto countered and said to Hinata "Tell them to bring me clothes, I won't just stay here!"
"Al... Alright, Naruto" Hinata did anything but obey his serious orders.
Naruto punched the bed that he was laying on and spoke with regrets "Dammit, I failed I failed!"
They all spawned in outside the village because it had no space to contain all the citizen, Kai's coffin was in the center, the cover was from glass, allowing to other to see because most of people didn't know him in person.
The moment of silence passed, most of people went back home, the weather turned to windy and soft rain started to fall, Naruto came near Kai to get a closer look at him, he laid his palm on the coffin frame and allowed salty tears to fall, begging Kai to forgive him.
"Naruto, stop it, things will get better" Kakashi said.
"Everything will be okay again" Tenten said.
"He died physically, but he is immortal in our memories" Iruka said.
Everyone tried to throw a sentence to make it easier on Naruto when suddenly Saskue interrupted immediately after Tushira's sentence:
"Naruto, it will be alright, time can heal everything, and after all, it wasn't your fault"
"It your fault!" Saskue popped up in the dead silence.
When everyone looked at him sharp looks begging him to step back.
Saskue confidently answered "Might the future pain be times worse than the current" and by that he tamed everyone's look and tongue.
"My...My fault?!" Naruto needed more details to form better idea.
"We all doubted in your abilities to control your fox in your remained chakra, your devilish pet unleashed an attack on Konoha and Kai tried to stop it, he succeeded and Konoha remained safe and saved, but the opposite was for him, you must...take full responsibility of your actions!" Saskue threw his sharp words on Naruto.
Naruto's tongue got tied, he became mute for seoconds, his eyes didn't know what to do with the extra load of tears:
"Was...Was I the...reason of all this?" Naruto seemed to talk to himself.
No one answered, making him throw assumptions alone:
"He once told me that he can't take it to be the reason to anyone's danger, but I made it worse, I killed him, how can I live with that? What I will say to his son? I am the one who killed your dad? By that I will lose both of them, and I can't take the entire burden by myself and go on, impossible, impossible!"
"Naruto stop taking thing too far! You are not the one who killed him, it wasn't you!" Hinata felt worried.
"The cause of his death was within my existence" Naruto refused the fact the he is innocent.
"The cause of the world is saved lies within your existence, the cause of the united and warm shinobi world that all live in lies within your existence, Kai's great burden of saving the world faded...within your existence" Tushira spoke.
Her speech stole everyone glimpses that suddenly turned on her.
"But Tushira, I still the one who kille..." Naruto spoke when Tushira interrupted:
"You are not the one who killed him, nor your inner beast" Tushira said.
No one understood the last section of her setence.
"But..." Saskue thought of correcting her.
"Sacrifices cannot be avoided, it is a certain thing we can't control, keeping things okay in exchange of nothing is a deal that fate can't offer, if it wasn't Kai it could be Konoha, if it wasn't Konoha and your beast, and if the last wasn't spawned in the battle we might be all doomed and not standing here kissing goodbye to our minor loss. In this life everything comes with a cost, let us just pay it with satisfaction and go on" Tushira explained her point.
Naruto rethought her words scanned them and received no flaws, which made it easier on him to accept the reality, he slowly slides his palm down the smooth glass, dried his eyes, took deep looks on Kai's happy face envied him for the honorable death that he gained and smiled at the end, when Tushira came closer to the other side of the coffin, her Spiritual Chakra influence on her body was visible, blurry fragile black rings, looks like they got made of sand grains, looking at her belly and thinking about her son while touching it gently, reflecting the sadness she had inside but the satisfaction and the faith that she believed kept it locked in her depths.