"Whew," said Adam, when they were back at Tazuna's house.
"Adam, that scared the hell out of me," said Kakashi.
"Good," said Adam, "because if it scared you, it sure as hell scared him."
"So who's going to do the execution?" asked Sakura.
"I dunno," said Adam, "I'll do it if no one else will, but if there's someone better, they can do it."
"I will," Naruto said.
"Sorry," said Adam, "I meant, if there's someone better, not someone who wants to show off. I should have made myself clearer."
"Arrgh!" yelled Naruto, "I'm sick of you and your better-than-you attitude!"
"I say it as I see it," Adam said, "I see you as a kid you grew up lonely, yes, but also annoying because you're used to getting your own way, since you had nobody to answered to. So, I have two words of advice for you. Grow. Up."
"But why did Sasuke become a Psyker when you said I'm better suited?!" asked Naruto.
"Ah, so this is a jealousy argument. You want to talk about jealous? Ok, I'll tell you," said Adam, his voice getting quieter, but also infinitely sharper, "I am jealous of everyone in this room right now, because they never had to kill their friends, or watch them get tortured, knowing that if you even breathed, you would be seen and their sacrifice would have been for nothing. I am jealous of everyone in this room right now, because they have never felt the fear that one moment you might be blind, or deaf, of anything, because someone made one tiny mistake in their measurements. I am jealous of everyone in this room right now, because their life has been a million, million times better in one day than mine had been my entire life. Do you want me to continue? I got heaps more."
"And you say I whine a lot," said Naruto.
"Oh, I'm sorry," said Adam sarcastically, "I didn't know you were so full of caring and compassion. I should have guessed that that one quality makes you stand head and shoulders above everyone else. I picked Sasuke because he has one thing you never will, even if you were an S-Class Psyker like me. Hell, even Sakura would be better suited than you."
"And what is that?" Naruto asked, looking Adam in the eye.
"Compassion."
"What! What do you mean?"
"I mean that Sasuke's love for people, although I know he sure as hell doesn't show it, is what set him apart. You Sakura, and pretty much every other girl, like him for his looks, and the way he's 'soooo cool'. Sasuke would protect each and every person in this room, no matter if it cost him his life. Could you, Naruto, do the same?"
"Of course!" said Naruto, hearing a slight challenge.
"Let's see, shall we?" said Adam, getting to his feet. With a puff of smoke, he appeared behind Sakura and grabbed her around the throat, hid other hand getting a kunai and pointing it at her neck. As soon as he saw Adam move, Sasuke was up and moving. As soon as the steel of the kunai touched Sakura's throat, Sasuke had leapt at Adam, trying to tackle him off her. Adam quickly spun to his left and flung the kunai at Sasuke, catching him in the chest, and throwing him back a good five feet.
"Sasuke!!" Sakura yelled, tears in her eyes.
"See what I mean?" asked Adam, releasing Sakura, who had fainted, and walking to Sasuke's side, who was wheezing from a punctured lung and coughing up blood, "Sasuke acted without conscious thought, trying to protect a teammate from a hostile target. You, however, did not act at all, and I doubt you would have."
He removed the kunai from Sasuke, who wheezed, "Grandmaster, why are you saving me? I failed. I didn't save her. In real life, she would be dead."
"No, Sasuke, you passed," said Adam gently, healing the puncture in Sasuke's lung, "In real life, you would not be fighting a Psyker, who could read thoughts and had a reaction time of within point zero one of a second. You did the right thing, and against another Shinobi, you would have saved her. Now rest, and let the healing work."
"Yes, Grandmaster," Sasuke sighed, slipping into a contented sleep.
"You inspire loyalty in Sasuke that I have never seen," said Kakashi, "He would die for you!"
"He would die for you as well, Kakashi-sensei," said Adam, for once adding the honourable suffix, "He would also die for Naruto, if needed. That is why I accepted him. A Psyker must be able to feel compassion. He needs to know who to kill, who to spare, and who to save."
He then took the kunai and opened Sasuke's shirt.
"What are you doing?" asked Kakashi.
"You'll see," said Adam, removing Sasuke's undershirt. He then got the kunai and carved this shape 済 into Sasuke's chest, just above the heart.
"Adam! Tell me what you're doing!" yelled Kakashi, shocked at what Adam was doing.
Adam remained silent. He then cut open his palm and pushed it into the mark. As their blood mingled, a blue light suffused the room. When it disappeared, Kakashi leaned forward to see. The skin had healed over, but the scar of the sign was midnight black.
"When a Psyker did something out of the ordinary," Adam explained, "he got a sign carved into him, describing what he had done. Normally it was performed by the Guild apothecaries, but since we don't have any of them…"
"So what does that sign mean?" asked Kakashi.
"This? It stands for 'Honour'. An apt sign I thought. Don't you agree?"
"I do," agreed Kakashi, "do you have any?"
"I have 'Honour', 'Sacrifice', 'Loyalty', 'Walking' and 'Death' together, and 'Safe'.
"How did you get—" Kakashi began, but he was interrupted by a snore. They both looked around and saw Naruto asleep on the floor. "—them?" Kakashi finished.
"Honour I got for throwing myself in front of a bullet that was going to hit an injured squad mate, before I was made immortal, so it still could've killed me. Sacrifice was from staying behind in an enemies' base, timing some C-4, and giving my squad time to escape while I covered them. Loyalty every Psyker gets after one hundred years of service. Walking Death is a personal one; I received it after I was given wounds that would have killed a human, and then managed to slay fifty opponents while escaping an underground cavern. Safe every Psyker gets after he successfully heals a person from death."
"Is that all?" Kakashi asked, surprised.
"No, overall I have at least a score of honour scars," said Adam, "but those were the only ones worth mentioning. Oh, I also have another personal one called 'Deaths Head'. I got it from performing my first public execution. It was, you might have guessed, a decapitation."
"Who was it?" Kakashi asked.
"The man I killed? He was a person who trafficked in weapons and drugs. Similar to Gatô, as it turns out…He had enough explosives to destroy a decent sized city. I publicly executed him in front of his lieutenants. I then got his head, skinned it, and gave the skull to them as a warning to disband. They got the message."
"You Psykers aren't ones for diplomacy, are you?" asked Kakashi with a smile.
"Wrong. We actually personally accompanied the prime minister of Australia and other people of importance on many visits to hostile and non hostile locations. Funnily enough, no one ever attacked us. Except for the first time; we were over in a place called America, a very big country. An assassin tried to shoot the prime minister. I was the Psyker assigned to his protection. I caught the bullet and threw it back the way it came. It hit the assassin in the head and killed him, flying out the other side. I then caught him, revived him, and left him for the 'normal' guards to interrogate him. Our input was always welcome in most discussion, since almost everyone knew of our way of knowing things we shouldn't."
"I see," said Kakashi, "I bet that got you into a bit of trouble."
"Every now and then," Adam smiled, "But for now, I'm going to sleep."
"Ok," said Kakashi, "Goodnight. And well done tonight."