Hello everyone,
I know it's been a really long time. We just had a blood moon and I still didn't have time to send this out! I've needed the time to grow a lot as a person, as a writer, and as an analyst of Naruto. I want everyone to know that I never planned on discontinuing or abandoning this story, ever. I never forgot about it or about you guys. I simply had to go through a lot of my own living before coming back to it. I have taken your comments and reviews to heart, and over the time I have not been writing I have almost the entire rest of the storyline fleshed out, paired with the storyline of Boruto. Going through the war arc has been hard with Hikari, as you know I don't make any alterations to the cannon. That being said I rewrote this chapter many times. I hope it's enjoyable, as this is the last war arc chapter.
For those who care to continue this journey with me, your continued support truly means so much to me and keeps me writing. I don't ever want to disappoint you. I'm looking forward to having more time coming up to write more frequently, and I do have friends holding me accountable, even if I can't come out with chapters as quickly as I did with my first story. I look forward to showing you more about the future of the Uchiha and Senju. Anyways, on with the show!
"The Appointment in Samarra"
Story as told by Death
"There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, 'Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me.'"
"The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, 'Why did you make a threating getsture to my servant when you saw him this morning?'
"That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight.. in Samarra."
-W. Somerset Maugham, 1933
Sixty meters down, Hikari blindly climbed through the darkness of the tunnels under the battlefield. Remote viewing below her feet, she sensed a river of chakra coming from many directions, flowing towards the tree.
From what seemed to be all around her, Black Zetsu chuckled darkly. "Come down, Senju. You're expected." Hikari scowled, looking around in a blind and vein attempt to pinpoint the creatures location. The presence, barely having been a presence at all, seemed to have disappeared.
Hikari landed silently on the damp ground of the cavern below which was faintly illuminated by the glow of far off torches. Surrounding her, twenty thousand dormant white zetsu stood connected together by roots of chakra. Hikari's wide eyes surveyed her surroundings, calculating an escape route until she noticed the very walls of the cave were lined with giant roots of the tree above. These roots connected to the earthy tubes which linked each clone to the collective.
Hikari slowly followed the web's direction, marveling silently at the way in which these primordial beings were so deeply intertwined with each other, one Zetsu a reflection of the next, inseparable iterations of people.. Things which spanned onwards as far as she could sense.
The earth rippled underneath Hikari's feet until it connected at a single point. She halted. One large root stood at the center of the cave, and when she looked up to see, she could only gasp in horror. The woman's blood ran cold.
Before her, the upper torso of the late Hashirama protruded from rock and earth. His form, ravaged by time, stood like a statue with his arms outstretched and face in anguish, as if to embrace the cold and impartial nature of reality itself.
"Great grandfather.." Hikari stepped forward to examine the tortured form, sensing her ancestor's life force blend and merge with the tree itself, and therefore with the tubes which gave the Zetsus life. Hashirama was being used as an energy source.
Hikari reached her hand outwards, if only to touch his cheek, but found she was unable to move any further. A cold, painful sensation ran across her foot and ankle, then quickly up to her arm and the back of her neck. Once again, a dark laughter from behind.
"It's over. You can let go." Hiakri looked behind her, unable to move her head, and saw two bright eyes in the shadows.
"So, you finally come out from hiding. If it was over, then why take the risk and allow me to come down all this way?" The woman turned to face him, eyes fierce. " You've been watching me all this time. If you knew me at all you'd know I will not go down without a fight." The creature grinned with jagged teeth.
"I know you more than you can imagine," the creature said. "You joined the Akatsuki to run from your shame in the leaf village, you joined the war to run from your shame for being left alive and even now at the end of things, you run still from your shame at being unable to do anything but hide away while the others stand and fight. Why do you keep running?" Hikari struggled harder, in an attempt to evade the shadow's questioning.
An idea flashed through her mind. "Why didn't I see it all along?" Each time Hikari killed a Zetsu clone, a tree emerged out of his body. If it was wood style that created these creatures, it was a wood style kekkei genkai they'd need to flourish. A growing feeling of disgust arose inside her abdomen.
"You've been planning this from the beginning…. So I'm to fuel the tree, am I? You used me." The creature chuckled again.
"I merely watched as you played your part. You and your team killed many Uchiha that could have stood against the infinite tsukuyomi. You kept Itachi alive and his mind occupied as I put the final pieces of my plan into place. You even provided Obito with the illusion of security as he began the war. He became overconfident, and will soon be overtaken."
"That's big talk coming from a shadow. If you're so strong, why let me leave the Akatsuki?"
"I have lived on this earth for eons, child, and I know that your kind cannot separate from their true nature no matter how they try. You are a runner, Senju. To escape vulnerability, you took control on the outside to avoid looking at your own shadow. Why search amongst the branches for a truth that lies only in the roots? All along, since the day your mother birthed you, you thought you were free to choose whatever path you wished, and lived under the illusion of growth from one samsara to the next. I did not use strength, child, I did not need to. Nature knows what it's doing. You chose this path. All along, you were destined to stand here and die beside the Tree."
Hikari's stomach dropped as she grasped the implication of his words. Trying to shake the persistent feeling of utter futility away from her thoughts, she attempted to turn into ether, but found she could not. It was as if he had stifled her abilities and the siphoning of her chakra grew steadily stronger. "Softly die now…become a part of the Great Mother."
I have to get out of here! Hikari thought, summoning all of her willpower to get away. From deep in her core, she suddenly felt a jolt of chakra, and used the opportunity to evaporate. Hikari racked her brain for any insight she could remember about the cave she found herself in. She thought of the months she spent hiding near the Akatsuki hideout, going through books of jutsu in the then called Madara's study.
"Our battle will take place near the Land of Lighting," he had said. "If all goes as planned, we shall be directly above the very soil I first regained my strength after my battle at The Valley of the End." Hikari looked with him at a map that sat on the table before them. She traced her fingers around the battlefield, eyebrows furrowed.
"There are no forested areas near here. That will put me at a slight disadvantage," she looked to him to see his shoulders rise and fall with a quick chuckle.
"On the contrary, the wide expanse will give me the tactical advantage I need. You need not worry about your woodstyle, Senju. The infinite tsukuyomi will give rise to new growth."
Hikari cursed and shook her head as she moved as quickly as she could through the endless cave towards the torches in the distance. Above her, she began to feel the rumbling of several of the true Madara's attacks. The man who had been Itachi's true mentor must have been defeated somehow.
So the Great Mother must form a wide expanse of trees. He must have planned to have me fight alongside him to gain the upper hand, and then would have disposed of me towards the end, or used me to fuel his jutsu. And if he did not, Zetsu would have taken me. Did Zetsu know I would betray him all this time? Hikari was well aware that Sasuke must be close by now, just overhead, fighting with the Allied Forces. If she had not turned into ether, she would remote view him. Sasuke…. Stay alive!
On the battlefield, Sasuke fought onwards with Naruto against the man cloaked in white. In the back of his mind, he began to contemplate all that he had learned from the sage of six paths.
He gave us his power, he treated us like equals… like brothers.
Naruto was not his brother, nor would he ever be. Nevertheless, he could no longer deny that he and the blond headed fool shared something that could not be erased simply by casting him away as he always had. They shared a bond. A deep bond, and it was the depth of their tie that fueled his evident discomfort with it. Naruto's chakra shown brightly and fiercely as they continued coordinating attacks effortlessly, each reading the will of the other intuitively.
Sasuke had always preferred to be alone. If he was honest, he didn't know how to be anything else. Isolated from his brother, he had been an inconvenience which ultimately lead Itachi to be manipulated. If he had never existed, he would never have been made into a bargaining chip. Isolated from his own clan's agenda, because he was unworthy of inclusion. From his father because he had never been strong enough, from his classmates because he was too strong, he even raised himself from the time he was eight years old as he had no distant relatives to support him. The few connections he had made in life had only slowed him down or caused him pain. As the two reincarnates continued their defense, Sasuke became very clear of two certainties.
The first: Sasuke's destiny had always been exile. The world always seemed to be better if he was out of the way as much as was possible.
And therefore the second: He and Naruto had an undeniable tie from birth until the grave. They were stuck in a cycle that spanned lifetimes. And Sasuke felt trapped by it.
"As you run and hide from your nature, you disintegrate… and just get closer to death," the voice of Zetsu taunted her from behind. Hikari searched blindly for the openings in the cave to escape to the surface, but could not find them. Floating over the white Zetsu Army, Hikari thought about ways in which she could sever the roots of the God tree, ending the war. Almost as if to answer her thoughts the shadow chuckled.
"Unless the roots are utterly destroyed, they will defend themselves and regrow. You'll burn alive before you save the world of Ninja." The woman swore, realizing she was quickly running out of chakra. It would be only another minute before she'd be forced to take physical form.
Zetsu was almost upon her. The woman felt her foot materialize, and she began to fall down into the swaths of clones. Just as quickly as she was materializing, the painful sensation of having her life force sucked out returned. Hikari silently swore again.
Is this really where I die? The woman felt Zetsu's tight, dark embrace close in around her. For the first time since her attempted suicide, Hikari felt a familiar peace at the prospect of her death. I suppose in the end, all of our bodies return to the Earth… all of our chakra returns to the same source…. No matter if the Shinobi world continues for hundreds of years, humanity will continue to cycle through the cycles the rest of life is beholden to. No matter how far we run and how high we rise, it's the Earth we return to. Hikari felt a small smile appear on her lips.
"Itachi… I might be with you soon."
But just as the woman's vision began to fade, the black creature's awareness jolted away from her.
"Madara…" Without another word, the creature faded away, as if summoned to the battlefield against its own volition.
Hikari fell to her knees, and then onto the cold floor beneath her. Consciousness almost fading, the woman noticed the flow of chakra emanating from the ground once more. Chakra meant to nourish wood style clones. Chakra that must have not just come from her ancestor, but from thousands of lives. Hikari turned her head numbly, looking at one of the roots, and tore it partially open. Liquid slowly poured over her fingers, colorless in the all but pitch black darkness.
Without fully knowing why, half caring whether she lived or died, her hand scooped up the liquid, and put it to her lips. And so the woman drank the lifeblood from the tree, and slowly felt vitality seep back into her bones. Hikari had not slept in days. She had barely eaten, and had run as fast as her feet could carry her up until this point. With the first few gulps of liquid, Hikari found her body gave out on her, and her vision began to swirl.
Time passed, whether it was minutes or hours she could hardly tell. The woman wandered aimlessly forwards, towards the battleground, head swimming from what could just as easily have been fatigue from days of running and fighting without sleep or sustenance, or from the effects of the chakra that flowed beneath her. In half a trance, Hikari allowed visions to swim past her eyes. Visions of a different time, in a different age. From a time when the ninja world began. A time when chakra connected people together like the clones she walked among. Healing chakra for everyday ailments, fire to cook with and warm a hearth, water to shape the rivers which brought fresh food to eat, earth to harvest and build shelter. A simpler time. Hikari saw a woman with long gray hair, looking at the moon. And a tree, extraordinary large, reaching up to the sky.
Up overhead, Hikari was aware that black Zetsu clung now to a dying Obito, who was seemingly at his end. A bit closer, Sasuke and Naruto were attempting to fend off Madara's attacks with senjutsu.
Why have I stopped running? Why am I not going to them?
In her mind, Hikari looked at the tree further, and it grew nearer and nearer to her. Visions passed of shadows beneath the trunk, and even further down, something of significance lay.
Searching among the branches for what only appears in the roots…
Loud thuds could be heard overhead, and it seemed by the looks of it meteors burned in the sky, yet Hikari continued walking in a trancelike state. Could these visions be memories? She looked deeper.
No…. the woman gasped in horror. For in the shadows, lying in the earth beneath the tree, were humans, strewn together and linked with roots, turning white, until they resembled the very creatures she now walked alongside. With that, Hikari's eyes shot open wide.
It finally all made sense.
The white zetsu who spoke of the Great mother were ancient people. She was walking among the dead. They had been created through the chakra of a large tree, which took up vast amounts of land. The eye of moon plan was not simply a scheme to cast the world in illusion, meeting the deepest of needs and desires, it was intended to turn the world of ninja- no- all of humanity into fruit for the tree.
Finally her feet started to run again. And fast. The cave began to expand upwards as she ran, and she put her will into shaking off the effects of the earthy elixir. She had to relay the message to Sasuke.
Above, she checked and saw the boy was desperately trying to stop the onslaught of attacks as the sky rained down on them. They were out of time. Madara flew up towards the moonlight, basking in his victory.
Hikari, you have to join him. He has to stop now. Itachi's feint voice sounded stern.
Hikari began to run up the wall of the cave.
"Sasuke, it's a trap! Fly DOWN!" The woman used all her mental energy to scream it into his mind. It seemed the boy might have realized what would happen just before she had shouted it. She began to run upside down, on the ceiling. The earth was thinner here, she realized, and in the darkness felt only earth and stone. Hikari could sense the signatures of three shinobi nearby, one of two she correctly assumed was Naruto. The boy flew down, and the wings of his susanoo opened to shield around his comrades. Sasuke now stood with Naruto, Kakashi, and the pink haired kunoichi, Saukura, safe. And Hikari stood on the ceiling of the cave, directly underneath them.
For a moment, all was silent. A split second later, light burst forth from the sky. Hikari mentally scanned her array of jutsu for an escape. Sasuke stood not ten feet above her, but she knew that his wings could not penetrate the earth that kept them apart. She could attempt to leave her body the way she evaded Itachi's tsukuyomi in the past, but it was unlikely to last long, and would most definitely cause her brain damage if it did. She could attempt to utilize wood style to cover herself in shadow with wood, but her common sense told her that a jutsu designed to eradicate humanity would find her even in the shadows. While it was silent overhead, Hikari suddenly heard a distant rumbling not far away as the roots around the cave rushed upwards to swallow those on the battlefield whole.
Hold still, Hikari.
The woman did as her husband instructed, remembering that while the light shined directly over her, Sasuke was indeed keeping her safe by disrupting the light with his rinnegan. However, Hikari knew she didn't have much time. She remembered the words her husband once said:
People learn who they truly are at the moment of their deaths.
Surrounded by darkness at the end of an age, Hikari finally found the true heart of her power. She saw clearly the place from which her radiance shined. Deep in her bones, tension released deeply, from the willful part of her which constantly resisted being controlled, which defied the odds, which survived, which resisted, which fought, hid, ran, and deep in the center of her being she smiled, and to her husband she said:
"I understand it now. I understand what Zetsu did not see. For hundreds of years we have fought to escape the cycles of hatred, pain, grief and loss that cause us so much suffering. We've felt stuck and trapped by samsaras for time immemorial. And Madara thought he could do us a kindness by helping us escape the pain when it all seemed so futile.
Our predecessors, Madara and Hashirama became the strongest shinobi seeking peace born from strength and love. The two of us sought out to follow their example and become even stronger. And we did. We grew into their strength and into their wisdom. And yet even they didn't see what I see now."
My love, you see it too?
"Yes. It's like the day you stopped me from ending my life with the Izanami. They were running. Just like we all do. They were running to a future without suffering, trying to escape it. And in resisting, it only made them suffer so much more deeply. It kept the cycle going. It kept us all stuck in place and it brought us to where we are today. It brought us to the end of the world."
Hikari thought of all of the pain she had witnessed in life, and all of the pain she learned about in history. She took it into herself and felt it with her heart. And yet the pain could not hurt her. Instead, a tender compassion welled up inside her, and she smiled.
"I will learn to embrace the cycles we're all in. I will accept them. Each of the experiences humanity has been through is important. Even the pain. I don't want to reject or deny any of our humanity. And I don't want to live in a fantasy. Real or not, a world of perfect dreams is one dimensional. I want to learn to love each and every part of life, every corner of it. We need our shadows. If not, how would we ever be whole? I want to learn how to love all of it. That is where my true strength lies!"
Itachi smiled. Looking at him, she understood now, why those she knew from the pure land did not stay there forever. Itachi lived in a world much like the dreams she did not want to live in. He would one day choose to live again.
The roots of the Great Mother continued spreading, and as the rumbling increased, Hikari realized that they were nearing even her cavern. The light of the moon was moving, and in a matter of minutes, it would be at an angle which would put her at risk of being taken by it.
It won't end like this. It can't. No more escaping. We all have to heal ourselves. Pein was right after all, when we hold space for our suffering, it does bring us all together. As long as we try to bypass it, we'll be torn apart! Sasuke and Naruto have to fight for it. The perfect world that I want to live in…. It's right here. Hikari thought one last time about joining the shinobi who still lived. She even put her hand on the cold earth above her. Itachi gently put his etheric hand on her shoulder. He was right. What they were about to encounter was beyond the limits of her capabilities to assist.
Every jutsu has a weakness… Itachi's voice seemed fainter, though she knew he would stay nearby the both of them. He was right. In time, the earth and the moon would be at an angle where the light would no longer take effect.
"I have no time…." Hikari looked down at the ground beneath her at the graveyard of ancient men women and children which grew from the tree. There was not even enough time to hide inside a zetsu clone. If she somehow managed to, it's link to the tree would continue to suck chakra out of her all the same.
"Trust yourself, Hikari. You know the way." A justu that propelled all of humanity into an ideal world that she did not want to be a part of. Hikari slowly smirked and knew what she had to do.
I will accept the trauma of the world down to the deepest roots. I will accept even this.
The light was waning from the spot where she hung. Hikari's normal fierceness had evolved, carried by a grace and innocence which is shared only by young children and the elderly. A timeless self assurance and wisdom flowed through her body, which propelled her from the ceiling of the cave into the air to meet the tree head on. Before she even hit the ground, earth embraced her. Hikari's gaze was overtaken with blissful illusion, and she was swallowed whole.
Above the ground, Sasuke stood by himself, waiting. Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi stood and sat nearby, yet they were only vaguely on the periphery of his mind. Instead, Sasuke allowed visions of his brother's life to play in front of his eyes once again.
…Itachi's earliest memories of childhood, uncorrupted by the world when life was only learning and play. Experiencing the love of their mother and father….
…. His young thoughts and wisdom around the cycle of life, impacted by trauma, yet pointing to something very true he could not fully comprehend. Life was a battlefield. Itachi's inner world, in which he found an escape and freedom from his burdens….
….Throwing himself off a cliff feeling unfit for this world. Befriending a crow, which despite its nature to steal flesh off bone, seemed gentler than the nature of humans. Not only that, but the feathery creature had found a way to thrive in the midst of death. Itachi looked at the bird which realized it would not make the human child into a meal and found a small glimpse of hope…
….The indescribable rush of wonder he felt upon looking at his baby brother for the first time. For in that moment, he knew that in the world there was not just death but also life, innocence, joy. A deep soulful urge to protect the very reason humans sought to live in this madness…
...Itachi's privately held ambitions to be the Hokage, to rid the world of conflict. This memory caught Sasuke by surprize, as with what little he understood about his brother, he never expected he had ambitions to take power in the shinobi world...
…. The simultaneous delight Sasuke's own presence brought his brother, coupled with the sinking feelings of protectiveness and guilt which grew stronger year by year. It was as if the elder brother was covered in danger and impurities which would sink their sharp teeth into him, trapping him. Itachi had both wanted to spend every day with his younger brother, to feel an end to loneliness, and had the urge to stay as far away as not to drag him further into the darkness. Guilty for pulling him into she shadows. A sinking feeling deep in his gut as if to say 'don't get to close, stay in the light, walk a straight and true path.. anywhere but here...'
... standing on a post overlooking the compound on the night of the massacre, watching Sasuke's little feet run himself home. Realizing while it was too late that he had made a terrible mistake, and that perhaps it was Sasuke who would have one day not only saved the clan, but become elected Hokage in order to appease them...
Privately, buried deep within the confines of his own heart, Sasuke understood that he was grieving his brother still. Alone and shrouded in shadow, Itachi took all of the pain on by himself with the dream of ridding the world of conflict. Even if it meant pushing away his own brother. The young Uchiha looked now at Naruto who was conversing with Kakashi and Sakura.
You always pushed me away, brother, to keep me from the truth. Now that I know the truth, the cycle is being broken and all chakra is being stripped from the world of ninja besides the tailed beasts. I never could have walked the path you set for me, but I will become a kage... a shadow. Brother, I will take all of the pain and follow you, right into total darkness.
The young Uchiha understood that before he was to attain his goals, he needed Naruto and the others to continue on. But when their fight was over, Sasuke would sever his ties for good.
Konoha...
Lush grass could be felt underway as Hikari ran swiftly through the warm summer air. Leaves blew overhead as she ran towards the wooden cottage she knew to be her home. Hikari burst in through the door to find both her mother and father sitting at a dinner table, smiling warmly.
"My darling, you're home!" Her mother rose from her seat to wrap her in a warm embrace. "And who do we have here?" Hikari looked behind her to see two dear friends and former teammates, Mitsui Inazuma and Yoji Aburame. Hikari laughed.
"Only the best friends I could ever ask for!" Each greeted her parents respectfully, yet casually, finding no need for formalities, as Hikari had her friends over often.
"I'm so glad you're not back too late! Dinner is served." Before they knew it, they were being served warm home cooked food, piled onto their plates.
"Made with love," her Dad added, in his sweet and peaceful voice. "Must have been another slow day, is that right? Seems like the work is getting lighter and lighter these days." Hikari gestured towards Yoji.
"With Yoji's insects, we finished in almost half the time! The village doesn't get many commissions these days, since the Era of Warring Villages is all but over. Mitsui has even been melting some of our old weapons to turn them into electric wires for the city!" Her father laughed.
"What a world."
"And where is Itachi?" her mother asked. Now Hikari nodded her head.
"Now he is working late. He's got several meetings this week with the land of Lightning and Water, but he promises he'll still be here to visit once a week!" The woman smiled, shoulders relaxed and face contented.
"I'm grateful for that. I'm proud of you, you know. You've always had such fine judgement, and there's no one else I'd pick to fill your his role. It's only a matter of time."
The next day, Hikari made her way to the Uchiha compound, waving to several passerby near the entrance. She stopped at a couple shops to pick up some things, slung them over her arm in a bag, and headed towards the head Uchiha residence.
"I brought gifts!" She exclaimed, walking in the door. Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha sat in the kitchen, and as they turned to see her their expressions became warm. Mikoto smiled, rose and walked over to give the younger woman a tight embrace.
"You know you never need to get us anything! Here," she took the weight of the sack and set it on the kitchen table. "We'll all head out together in about an hour. I know Itachi wants you up on the roof of the Hokage house with him for the ceremony, so we'll be down below front and center." Hikari smiled, looking down, not with nervousness but with anticipation around what she was going to ask next. Mikoto seemed to realize it.
"Is something on your mind? You know Fugaku and I are right behind you with all of this, no matter what happens." Hikari chuckled and chided herself for being bashful.
"It's nothing bad, everything's perfect- it's just- well I have one more thing for you both." Fugaku, who had been standing just behind his wife thoughtfully raised his eyebrows with curiosity and stepped forward to join the two women. Hikari reached into her small purse to bring out a thin, petrified wooden medallion, beaded before meeting at a jeweled pendent, carved by artisans with the Senju family crest on the hilt. In addition to the symbol, an Uchiha crest was neatly carved into the middle. Both Uchiha looked at it, surprised. "It's a family heirloom. I added to the design. Today, the era of warring villages will be over. We'll finally have peace. But also, we, the clans who created the Hidden Leaf Village will witness the correction to an injustice." Hikari looked off, through the windows of the kitchen to the outside where the boys were undoubtedly having a thoughtful conversation. "Itachi will be made Hokage. We'll work to unite the villages under one banner with balanced power, so we cannot disintegrate ever again. We'll do everything we can to stay together, like a family." Hikari looked into the eyes of both Uchiha. "I wanted to give you this because you are like family, to me. Will you accept it?" Mikoto looked to her husband, as if to tell him that they would. Fukagu nodded, very pleased.
"A fan to fuel the fire, and wood to nourish its growth. That petrified crest would be difficult to break. You have my blessing. One day, when the two of you are ready, I hope to be a family by blood." Hikari laughed.
"Not yet! We want to enjoy our youth just a little longer!"
"Just think of how much we'll be able to do... together."
Itachi and Hikari sat on top of the great stone faces, looking out at the village, which was built anew. It was a celebration of the first Kage to be elected since the Era of Warring Villages. Children laughed and sang through the streets below, festive lanterns were being hung in preparation for the setting sun. Hikari felt on top of the world. She looked over at her lover and the two smiled, looking deeply into each other and feeling at home. Hikari was at total peace here by his side.
Yet suddenly, this peace felt like something she could barely describe... empty. A feint sick feeling welled in her stomach. For this smile did not belong to Itachi. Those were not his eyes. A burst of chakra ran through her mind.
How could I forget? This is a dream.
The man she loved completely wore a heavy weight on his shoulders, and when he smiled it was not lightheartedness that emenated out of him. The man she loved smiled with a wisdom that could only come from years of experience, and a warmth that was for others but that he could never feel for himself. This Itachi carried himself free of shame, and free of pain.
This was a man she was so deeply happy for, that seeing him this way sent her soaring ever higher, but it was not Itachi Uchiha. Another burst of chakra into her mind.
"Something's wrong." The man put his arm around her, attentively waiting for her to continue.
"What could be wrong, my love?" She shook her head.
"No, that's the thing. Nothing is wrong. Nothing can be." Hikari looked around and realized that she had forgotten the rush of adrenaline she somewhat loved which pumped through her veins as she ran from oncoming pursuers. The catharsis of pushing herself to the limit not because she wanted to but because she had to go further than she was sure she was able to. And the pride that swelled when she continued to grow in strength, even when it was hard.
"I don't understand." Color began to fade from her vision, and as Hikari looked around she saw that the very world she lived in was as if she was looking around in a house without windows.
Hikari remembered a happy time when she once connected to the man before her. Glimpses of a different time, when things were much different.
'There is a difference between belief and awareness. And there's a difference between a permanent heaven and the Pure Land. I can explain it to you, but it's going to take some time I have a story for you...
Imagine if you had been kept indoors, in a big house without doors or windows your whole life. The people in this house have never even heard of anything beyond what they know inside until one day, someone appears in the house out of nowhere and tells you about this thing called the sky, and this outside world with grass and sunlight and trees. Most people would call the person crazy, but some in the house might like the idea and choose to believe in it. They might find it so appealing they create an entire belief system around this person's story. Still, they have no way to prove it to themselves because they have never seen or felt the things in an outside world.
Then one day, this strange person leads you into a room inside the house you've never been inside before. In fact, most people simply aren't able to find this room at all. And there is a door. You go outside the place you have always been, and for the first time, you see the sky. You see the trees. You can touch them with your hands. You no longer just believe that they exist, you are conscious that they do. I imagine such an experience would be overwhelming for you, and you might try everything in your power to tell yourself it isn't real. But you simply can't un-see what this person has shown you. When you go inside again, you can choose to tell people what you have experienced. But most people refuse to believe you. They might even go searching for the room, but for some reason they just can't find it. You no longer just believe in the sky, you are aware of it.
I don't believe in the Pure Land, I'm aware of it. I know it's there because I can perceive it with my extra senses. I can get into that room, and I can see the door, so to speak."
Awareness... I have to see the sky.
"I have to see the sky." Itachi looked at her again confused.
Then look up, Hikari. You're here with me, you're completely safe and free. Look at the joy on the faces of our villagers. Think of the justice which has brought us here. You're loved. Nothing could ever hurt you. Stay here beside me. Forever."
Hikari allowed the warmth of her lover sink into her bones and nestled into him closer, savoring the perfect moment. She enjoyed the sounds of the parade beginning below them, the smell of his skin, the taste of dango on her tongue. It was a perfect serenity that had lasted as long as she could remember. And yet while in her five senses she was in perfect bliss, she had forceably become aware of more. Another pulse of chakra to her mind. In that moment she just "knew" that there was something more to this world, and she needed to wake up.
"Itachi... if you truly love me, I need you to use your Tsukuyomi on me now." The man hesitated and shook his head.
"No, Hikari. I would never hurt you."
"Then send me into a world of pleasant dreams." The man's eyebrows lowered, as he realized he could not. He could not send her into a world more pleasant than the one they were already in. He looked at her, blankly. The smile in his eyes and on his face became completely empty. Plastic. The woman rose.
"In the deepest corners of my heart, I want this reality to be true. Believe me I do. But in my soul, I know that there is more to you and I. There is more to this world than this. And I must return to it." Hikari would need to disrupt the flow of chakra to her brain from inside the illusion at the same time the pang to her brain returned. Slowly, she stretched her awareness and felt the edges of it. "This is a perfect world, and I want nothing to do with it." If Hikari made her move now, she would not be risking anything. She took one last look at this Itachi, the man he could never have grown to be, and kissed him one last time.
"Goodbye." Her head panged once more. Hikari took the plunge, and threw herself right off of the cliff.
The woman tore at the cocoon which encased her with all her strength, ripping herself away with a yell. The woman fell to the floor, panting and shaking, as she was caught by two cold, gloved arms.
Hikari was once again in the darkness, as if woken from a deep sleep. She could tell the tree had siphoned out so much of her chakra, and her body felt feint as if almost empty. Slowly, the woman began to orient herself, adjust to the figure who firmly held onto her, remembering the world she had once tried her best to escape from. Yet now, back in the world that was breaking apart and bursting at the seams with unresolved trauma, inside her heart that was still deeply aching with grief, she had never felt so peaceful. Hikari sighed, tilted her head upwards, and laughed at the sky.
