Toshida Gaiden Chapter 13: Innocence Lost
(Music Continues with "Tenth Man Down" by Nightwish. Starting at 04:27)
Toshida and the Hyuuga clan member stare off against one another as bodies fall around them in a hideous clash of steel on steel as the battle for Tarawa Creek ensues around them. The Hyuuga charges the young cloud shinobi and Toshida finally has a chance to showcase his training to its full extent. The Hyuuga moves in high with a kunai strike the Toshida ducks underneath easily. Toshida raises his left hand to laterally swipe along the stomach of the attack Hyuuga but is unable to notice the Hyuuga's left hand curled up in a point with his thumb, middle and index fingers pressed hard together. Toshida feels a stinging pain in his left shoulder as the Hyuuga strikes the main tenketsu, cutting off the flow of chakra to Toshida's left arm and temporarily making his arm limp. Toshida is unable to follow through with his strike and the Hyuuga lands a strong knee strike into Toshida's face, knocking him backward but not off his feet. The Hyuuga moves in quickly and Toshida is struck with a hard open palmed strike to the stomach, sending a massive wave of chakra directly into Toshida's liver and kidneys. Toshida's face whitens with pain as he drops to his knees reeling from the pain of the Hyuuga clan's jyuuken upon his vital organs.
The Hyuuga moves in quickly to strike against Toshida and Toshida rises to his feet only to be struck yet again with a thunderous open-handed shot, this time to the chest, sending him back several meters and to the ground causing a heavy fibrillation to his heart and almost killing Toshida instantly.
The young boy clutches at his chest and tries to ignore his spastically beaten heart. He struggles for breath and tries to remain conscious as his heart beats faster and faster with more randomness. The Hyuuga looks down to Toshida and simply shakes his head at the child's broken frame.
"It is a shame kid. Someone your age should not have to die this way." The Hyuuga spins his kunai around once and then readies it in his hand, signifying his intent to kill Toshida. "When we meet one day in the after life, please forgive me. I only do this for my home."
Toshida looks at the white eyes of the leaf shinobi as he glares down on him. Time around Toshida seems to stop as the Hyuuga is the only thing that matters around him, and the moment of his death seems to soon be at hand.
"Dammit. This isn't good. I can barely feel my arms. Whatever he did to my left arm has stopped any chakra that I had flowing in it. I can't even hold this blade steady. I . . . I don't wanna die . . . I don't wanna die." Toshida's mind begins to panic and his life flashes before his eyes. From his times in the village of sin, to the fire that consumed it that infamous night, to his early days in the academy, and his memories of Seshen all the way up to the last time he saw Seshen and talked alone with the Raikage. "Those eyes of his, they can see everything . . . He is totally focused on me . . . I can't . . . I can't beat him like this . . . I don't wanna die!"
"I'm sorry kid." The Hyuuga says, as he sprints toward Toshida with his kunai at the ready. Toshida can only tremble in fear as his body is weak . . . and his mind even weaker.
As the Hyuuga gets only a few feet away from Toshida, a neighboring scuffle between two shinobi's spill into the path of the Hyuuga. The Hyuuga cannot stop in time and collides with the two shinobi, knocking all three of them to the ground.
"There's my chance!" Toshida shouts to himself, readying one of his blades in his still mobile right hand.
The Hyuuga kicks up to his feet quickly and turns around in time to see Toshida on his knees in front of the Hyuuga. With an almost flawless motion, Toshida kicks up to his feet and then takes another leap off the ground and higher then the Hyuuga's eye level. Toshida kicks forward with both feet and crosses his ankles over one another, clasping the Hyuuga's head in between his knees and shins. Toshida then uses all of his body strength to send his weight backward knocking the Hyuuga off balance and sending him tumbling forward only to land harshly on his back. Toshida then capitalizes on the Hyuuga's prone position and recovers his balance before he dives at the Leaf shinobi, plunging the sharp decorative blade in his hand deep into the ninja's chest.
(Music Ends)
The Shinobi lets out no scream, but a gurgled grunt escapes his lungs as the blade severs numerous arteries on its way through his body it is stopped by the hard earth underneath him. Any more force, and Toshida could have passed the entire blade through the shinobi's body. The scene becomes eerily quiet as only the faint sound of kunai clashing can be heard around the two. The young boy's face becomes flushed and blood begins to drip from his mouth as his circulatory and respiratory systems have been severely damaged. The Hyuuga's often always white eyes soon begin to become slightly bloodshot as he struggles for air.
Toshida can only watch in shock as life begins to fade from the boy only a few years older than him. A tear starts to run down the Hyuuga's face as he stares blankly off into the distance. The Hyuuga turns his head slightly to the still stunned Toshida as another tear runs down his cheek. The Hyuuga reaches up quickly with his right arm and clutches Toshida's throat and squeezing hard, hoping to take Toshida to the after life with him. Toshida tries to remove the shinobi's hand, but his previous attack on Toshida's arm has not worn off yet, and his arm has almost no strength in it, surely not enough to remove the Hyuuga's final death grip. Toshida struggles to get out of the Hyuuga's firm grasp but to no avail. He then reaches forward with his good arm and clasps the handle of his blade and then coarsely removes it from the Shinobi's chest, sending a brief geyser of blood out of the shinobi's chest, splashing partially on Toshida's face and chest. The shinobi releases his grip and then just stares blankly into Toshida's eyes as he takes his final breaths. The Hyuuga's body begins to twitch and convulse briefly sending a look of fear and shock into the shinobi's eyes just before he breathes his last breath . . . and all life fades from his eyes.
Toshida can only stare at the boy's lifeless body as the shock of his first kill is almost too much to bare. Toshida slowly lifts his hands up to his face as he can see the crimson blanket of the shinobi's blood covering his hands. Toshida stands to his feet unable to take his eyes off of the Hyuuga's dead body, still blankly staring at him, his eyes now returned to normal as the Hyuuga family's curse seal has faded upon his death. Toshida grabs his blades and readies to get back to the battle, still weary and in shock at what he has done.
As he returns his blades to their sheaths still covered in blood, he is oblivious to a leaf soldier moving in quickly behind him with a long staff in his hands. Toshida gets ready to move but is soon struck down as the leaf shinobi strikes him hard at the base of his hairline with a sharp Naginata, swiping off a section of Toshida's hair in the process. If the angle had been any different, the strike could have taken the boy's head clean off. Toshida falls limp to the ground as his blood and severed hair fall alongside him. Toshida lands next to the Hyuuga's corpse, his head turned so that Toshida now stares at perfect level with the young shinobi he had just killed.
(Music: Queue: Sadness and Sorrow (Piano Version) from the Naruto OST)
"I'm so cold . . ." Toshida mutters to himself as his eyes get heavy. "I'm sorry . . . I didn't want to kill you . . . I didn't want to hurt anyone . . . why . . . why am I here?"
"Why are we fighting here? Why? Why did I kill that boy?" Toshida looks around him and can see the battle continuing to unfold. No sound can be heard and Toshida can only watch as his countrymen fall to the ground around him. Shinobi after shinobi succumb to wounds or blood loss and fall to the ground where they give their final breaths. A leaf shinobi falls to the ground and is tackled by two cloud shinobi who then stab the shinobi to death with kunai before being struck down themselves, by a hail of shuriken from other leaf shinobi.
"Why was I trained for this? Why were we all trained for this?" A tear falls from Toshida's eye as he looks on to see both sides taking heavy casualties. Bodies fall around him and their killers soon fall after then. At his young age, Toshida is already learning to horrors of war . . . the life that is the shinobi's.
"Stop . . ." Toshida tries to say out loud. "Everybody just stop . . . Stop fighting . . ." Toshida's voice cracks as more tears flow from his eyes and the young boy soon cries as the scene around him tears at his fragile heart. "Please! STOP FIGHTING!" Toshida shouts as his voice cracks and he continues to cry intensely. He tries to claw his way across the ground but finds no strength in his arms and he only claws deeper into the dirt. "Please . . . just stop!" Toshida's sobs and pleading go unheard as the bodies continue to fall around him. He continues to try and claw his way across the dirt but his knees get no traction across the wet grass that is no more blood and mud, and his hands continue to just reach out to his comrades, as if trying to use his own hands to separate all the combatants.
Toshida's wound then begins to get the best of him, and his body falls weak. He can no longer continue crawling in the mud . . . he can no longer plead out loud to those around him . . . he can no longer hope for it to stop.
Toshida's mind races as his body slowly begins to give out, succumbing to the severe trauma afflicting his brain stem. "I don't wanna die . . . I don't wanna die here . . . I wanna go home Raikage-sama . . . father . . . Seshen . . . I'm sorry . . . I don't wanna die here . . . I want to live . . . I want to come home and just live a normal life with all of you. I don't want to have to hate anyone . . . or train to kill someone." Synapsesin Toshida's brain fire off randomly, putting numerous memories and images of his family, friends and associates in his minds eye.Finally, an image of his mother comes to his mind and he can remember her words about innocence and choosing his own path in life.
"I killed someone mom . . . and now . . . someone has killed me. I'm sorry . . . I let you down. I lost . . . my innocence didn't I mom? I . . . I just want to go back . . . and change it all. I want . . . to go . . . home . . ."
(Music Ends)
Then suddenly, a deep and dark voice echoes in Toshida's mind. "I will help make it happen."
Toshida's eyes widen as the frightening voice echoes in his mind sending fear through Toshida's entire body. "Who . . . who are you?" Toshida asks. "Where are you? I can hear you . . . in my mind."
"I am everything that you are capable of kid . . . I am the one that can do all the things you are afraid to do."
"But . . . how? How is that possible? You are supposed to be me?"
"You have a hell of a lot of power inside you kid . . . only NOW have you been willing to listen to it. But you have no idea how to use this power! So now . . . it's time for the power . . . to use you!"
(Music: Queue: Heavy Violence from the Naruto OST III)
Toshida consciousness then fades and his eyes glow green with the Ryuugan eye as the essence inside of him that had until that moment remained dormant, begins to surface. The wound on the back of his neck begins to heal as a thin layer of steam rises from the wound. Toshida's hair begins to split along their follicles, disbanding the dark black and revealing strands of pure white from the base of his skull. His skin begins to harden and crack until the surface has become like a set of light green scales. His eyes close as a wave of green chakra lifts him off the ground slowly, and his nails protrude outward like a set of talons and his teeth become serrated and sharp.
The massive chakra emanating from the young boy can be felt throughout the entire battlefield as for the first time . . . the dragon is awake and in full force.
"What . . . the hell is that?" One of the stunned Hyuuga shinobi asks out loud as the battle around him begins to come to a complete halt. Everyone in the battlefield now focuses all of their attention on the shining green orb of chakra that is being raised from the ground.
(Music Time: 02:00)
Toshida is now up right on the battlefield with his feet no longer touching the ground. His head hands in front of him as green chakra begins to form around his shoulders and along his back, before sprouting out in a series of long tentacle like protrusions from his shoulders, eight in all that spread out like a set of perverse wings. The chakra then flares up around Toshida's head, incinerating the cloth of his head protector instantly before the metal insignia can even begin to fall to the ground.
Toshida then raises his head up, and the dragon's eyes then glare across the battlefield striking fear into the hearts of all those that make contact with them. The eyes then glow bright as a smile comes over the face of the now transformed Toshida. His tongue protrudes from his mouth revealing a new split and forked look as he likes his lips, letting a thing stream of saliva to drop to the ground as a few drops are slung into the air.
(Music Ends)
"It's been too long, since I last tasted the fresh air. And even longer . . . since I tasted the sweet texture of flesh and bone."
Before the shinobi around Toshida can react, his chakra formed wings spread out and extend across the battle field, impaling over a dozen shinobi in the blink of an eye. Toshida then lunges forward and slashes the throat of two more shinobi with a single swing before he moves in closer and takes an inhumanly sized bite out of the side of the poor shinobi's neck, tearing off more than half of the shinobi's throat before he consumes it whole.
Both the cloud and leaf then waste no more time silently debating the purpose of the perverse creature and both sides then attack quickly. Kunai and shuriken fly at the beast from all angles but nothing is able to pierce the dragons iron-like hide. The cloud village shinobi unleash numerous lightning and ice jutsu's at the beast, knocking it off balance as the leafs move in to attack with taijutsu.
"Raiton: Shuurai no jutsu!" (Lightning bolt technique)
"Hyouton: Hieaisukoki no jutsu (chilling ice breath technique)
One leaf shinobi kicks high on the beast and connects with the left cheek of young boy. The kick that normally would have been able to crack rock with a single strike, does not even manage to wipe the sadistic smirk from the boy's face. The boy clamps down on the shinobi's leg with his sharp claws, causing the shinobi to cry out in pain, before his shin bone is broken in half and the rest of his leg torn off from the knee down. Toshida's tentacle like wings then plunge into the chest of the legless shinobi flooding the dragon's chakra into the shinobi's body. The dragon's chakra works on such a different level and frequency than regular human chakra. The dragon's tentacle like wings wrap around the very soul of the shinobi inside his body before yanking the shinobi's essence out of his now lifeless frame in a blue swirling orb that echoes with the screams of fear and pain of the shinobi's last moments of life, Toshida then incorporates the shinobi's soul into his own being as easily as if he were putting on a shirt.
The shinobi of the leaf and cloud look on in horror as they realize that they fight nothing of this world. The fight a monster than shows no remorse . . . and has no limit to what it is capable of.
Over the next ten minutes, shinobi after shinobi would try to kill the beast, by themselves, or in a large group of thirty or more, but all of them are soon cut down by the dragon's incredible power. Dozens of shinobi charge in fast against the dragon from all directions, striking high, striking low and striking head on against the young boy. The boy blocks each of the shinobi's attacks, punching one shinobi in the chest, fracturing his sternum and puncturing his left ventricle causing him to bleed internally. Another shinobi strikes high with a spinning kick, connecting directly with Toshida's head causing his head to flinch forward and straight into the tip of a leaf shinobi's spear. The spear pierces the cheek of Toshida and impales his head, the tip of the spear protruding out the back of Toshida's skull. Toshida looks to the spear man and clasps his throat with his hand. One of the tentacles moves through Toshida's arm and straight into the shinobi, removing his spirit and harnessing it in Toshida's body. Toshida then grasps the spear and removes it easily from his face as the wound quickly closes.
A large detachment of shinobi move in to attack Toshida armed with swords, spears, kunai and naginata. Toshida only smiles as he raises his hands in the seal of the tiger to his lips. Toshida takes in a deep breath that collects in his chest before he readies to exhale, mixing his oxygen with the dragon's volatile chakra.
"Ryuu Kisoku!" (Dragon's breath) With one firm exhalation, the boy unleashes a massive stream of green fire that spreads outward in a massive jet-like emission from Toshida's mouth. The wave sweeps across the battlefield incinerating everything in its path. Many shinobi are vaporized before they can even attempt to run away from the inevitable demise staring them down. As the fire stream stops more then three quarters of the entire shinobi fighting force lie dead or dying.
Four shinobi both cloud and leaf begin running away from the slaughter in a vain attempt to escape. With a quick flash Toshida then appears in front of them blocking their path. The first Toshida strikes high with his kunai only to have his wrist clutched by Toshida. The second shinobi moves in low with a sweeping kick to Toshida's legs that Toshida then blocks with the bottom of his foot. The next two shinobi both move into Toshida's mid section with another attempt at a kunai stab. Toshida clutches one of the kunai blades with his right hand and bats the second shinobi away with the first shinobi, lifting him completely off the ground and hurling him at his comrade. Toshida then uses the kunai to stab the first shinobi through the wrist, stabbing straight through some of his carpel bones. The sweeping shinobi leaps up and strikes Toshida in the face with a rising kick knocking the beast's head back and releasing his grip on the first shinobi. As the shinobi's foot comes back down after the kick, his leg is caught in Toshida's mouth as the dragon bites down hard on the shinobi's Achilles tendon severing it instantly. The dragon consumes the fresh meat for sustenance as it watches the injured shinobi try to squirm away.
The shinobi with the kunai through his wrist delivers a drop kick to Toshida's side knocking him only slightly off balance before he drops to the ground. Toshida needs only to perform a soccer style kick to the ribs of the shinobi to send him catapulting across the area more then twenty meters before he hits the ground with a punctured lung and ruptured spleen. The shinobi screams out in agony as his internal injuries and bleeding will eventually lead to his death. Toshida turns his attention back to rest of the shinobi that he had only moments before sampled. The shinobi tries to rise to his feet but without a vital part of his leg, he finds the task more then challenging. Toshida reaches out with clawed hand and clutches the frightened shinobi by the front of his jacket and lifts him clean off the ground and into the air. The shinobi struggles to release Toshida's grip on his form but it is all to no avail as Toshida laughs at the shinobi's futile efforts.
"Please!" The shinobi pleads, "I have a family back home . . .a son. Not even your age! "Please don't kill me."
Toshida's laughing stops as the shinobi's words spark something deep in his psyche. The green glowing eyes of the Ryuugan begins to fade away and amongst the cold whitish green tinge of his scale-like skin, Toshida's innocent brown eyes return.
"What . . . what's going on?" Toshida asks in a dazed and confused voice. "Who . . . who are you?" Toshida quickly drops the shinobi from his grip as soon as he notices the situation. Before Toshida can think or say anymore the voice in his head becomes louder then ever before like a hammer in Toshida's mind. He clutches at the sides of his head grimacing in agony as the voice echoes throughout his mind.
"You are no longer in control child. It is up to me now to finish what you were unable to even start!"
Toshida's eyes are forced back to the green tinge of the ryuugan just as the two previously attacked shinobi come up behind him. Toshida's tentacle like wings then shoot outward behind him and impale the two attacking shinobi with all their strength, removing both of their souls quicker then ever before. Toshida then reaches down without a second thought and tears the throat of the shinobi he just released, removing his larynx and a portion of his esophagus in a single attack. The shinobi lets out a grotesque gurgle as his life fades from his body very quickly, his soul being removed from his body by the tentacles spouting from Toshida's back.
Toshida then looks around the battlefield at the different contingencies of shinobi attempting to flee the area, and those who lie dead and dying. "So many souls here today . . . I think I am strong enough now . . . to claim them all."
The dragon closes Toshida's eyes as he concentrates all of his power around him and into the tentacle like protrusions from his back. The tentacle-like wings more then double in size and girth as they spread out from Toshida's body. Toshida raises his arms with his hands poised to the sky as his wings raise in unison along with him. Toshida opens his eyes as he looks across the battlefield and his wings churn and swirl around him, and with the clenching of his fists, the tentacles shoot outward seeking any and all souls that they may find. When they find a soul that has not passed on, the wings impale the prone shinobi and without removing the tentacle, extent and seek out the next target.
Kakashi can only watch as everyone and everything around him turns to ash and empty shells of human beings. Off in the distance the sun begins to set behind the dark black silhouette of the dragon possessed Toshida walks along the ashes of the battlefield, cinders and flames spreading across like leaves blowing in the wind. His whitish green tentacle-like wings spread out across the entire battlefield consuming souls left and right as the glowing green eyes of the Ryuugan glare across the vast wasteland of ash and broken bodies. Kakashi's vision slowly fades, and he collapses to the ground unconscious.
When Kakashi comes to, he looks around to see the scattered bodies of the fallen shinobi lying all around him. The fires of the battlefield have died out and the smoldering ashes are all that remain. The battlefield is filled with a thick white smoke that has spread for hundreds of meters in all directions, impairing vision in all directions and limiting Kakashi's line of sight to only a few meters. Moments later, the smoke begins to clear as if just for Kakashi, opening up a clear line of sight to an unconscious Toshida lying on the ground face down, his shinobi outfit tattered and torn and covered in blood.
Toshida soon begins to wake up from his slumber, tired and disorientated. His vision is blurry and his head pounds as if it were caught in a vice. He stumbles along blindly in the battlefield for a few moments before tripping and falling flat on his face. When Toshida turns around to see what he tripped over he can only see a dark silhouette on the ground. As he moves in closer, the smoke clears revealing a dead cloud shinobi. His eyes still wide open with a large gash in his throat, as if something had clawed through his esophagus. Toshida goes into a nervous panic and gets to his feet only to soon trip over another body. This time a leaf shinobi that has been reduced almost to a cinder with the exception of his head.
Toshida surveys' the area around him as the smoke begins to clear, revealing a battlefield riddled with the bodies of massacred shinobi. Toshida's eyes widen as he has no memory of what has happened. Toshida drops to his knees trembling in fear as his stomach begins to churn, as the smell and sight are too much for his young body to handle. He looks at his hands to see a thick coating of still wet blood soaking every inch. He rises to his feet and runs back toward the creek to wash the blood from his hands as the sight makes him sick to his stomach.
When he arrives at the creek, he quickly submerges his trembling hands into the water, sending ripples through the calm water of the creek. As he begins to calm down, the ripple's fade revealing his reflection in front of him. His face is also covered with blood and his hair hangs mated and damp also drenched with blood, giving it the appearance of sickening crimson dread locks. He quickly ducks his head completely in the water in an effort to remove the crimson mask on his face, nervously wiping his face and ringing out his hair under water to find some source of cleanliness in the sickening scene around him. As he quickly removes his head from the water sending a spout of water behind him as he whips his hair back behind him and begins to ring out the remaining blood with his still trembling hands. He spits of some water that ended up in his mouth back into the pond that has now turned red with the blood he has washed away. His attention is soon drawn up the stream to dozens of bodies and body parts that are floating in the water that he just used to cleanse himself. The thought and sight of all going on around him is the final straw for Toshida and he loses control of his bodily functions, and vomits profusely on the ground behind him.
After a minute of unleashing his insides upon the battlefield, Toshida can feel something in his mouth on the outside of his teeth that is rubbing against his gums. As he reaches in his gullet to remove the object, he can feel the course fiber texture of muscle tissue. He then removes the piece of tissue, revealing a thick tendon of muscle tissue ripped apart at both ends. The sight of the disgusting piece of flesh sends a storm of flashes and memories back into Toshida's mind as all of his atrocity's flood before his mind's eye in an instant. He soon realized the flesh in his mouth is the partially digestive piece of an unfortunate shinobi's Achilles tendon that Toshida tore away with his own teeth. That final thought is enough to make Toshida stumble into another tirade of intense vomiting.
"Wh-what . . . wh-what have I done?" A teary eyed and distraught Toshida says to himself. The tears flow from his eyes and he does what any child would do when they know they are in trouble . . . he runs away. Never looking back as he cries out loud like the child that he is at heart. No training could ever prepare a child from the taking of a single life, let alone the massacring of hundreds. "M-Mommy! I'm sorry . . . I . . . I'm SORRY!" Toshida screams as he runs with his eyes closed trying not to look at any of the shinobi as he runs home. But deep in his mind, he can hear all of the voices of the deceased, screaming in agony and anger as their last moments of life are preserved in Toshida's subconsciousness.
Kakashi stands in shock at all that has happened in front of from, and the site soon brings tears to his eyes as the site of all his slain comrades strewn about is too much, even for the seasoned leaf jounin to withstand. The scenery makes Kakashi sick to his stomach as everything around him seems so real. The sight's, the smells and even the feeling of the stale wind blowing across his face all seem as if they are happening to him. Kakashi then hears a voice coming from behind him as he watches the young Toshida running as fast as he can, crying and wailing at the top of his lungs, petrified of what he has become, and deeply remorseful of what he has done.
"I ran for almost three days trying to get away from this place." The older Toshida says, causing Kakashi to turn around to face him. Kakashi wants nothing more then to strike the sin shinobi, but finds himself un able to move in Toshida's memories. "I had become a monster . . . I had always been a monster . . . but it wasn't until that day that I was finally forced to see just how much of a monster I was . . . more then five hundred shinobi died on the battlefield that day. More then a third of them fell . . . because of me." Toshida lowers his head an offers a silent prayer of mourning that cannot be heard by Kakashi's ears.
As he opens his eyes and looks yet again across the battlefield he addresses Kakashi for the last time. "Now you may understand why I have been hesitant to tell show you what happened here. This was the day that I became everything that I strive to destroy. Not since that day has the beast taken so much control over my actions . . . and not since then had either village suffered such a loss. I was the only one to walk away from the battlefield unharmed. Anyone else that survived the battle . . . died from their injuries within a week. Every survivor would live long enough to tell their own cryptic tale of some kid from the cloud village that killed his own comrades as well as his enemies . . . that's why they came to refer to me only as "The Butcher." "The Butcher of Blood River," as Tarawa creek would run red with the blood of the dead for weeks."
Toshida turns to face Kakashi, "The war between the cloud and leaf stopped immediately, and the Raikage then sent one of his adjutants to the leaf village a week later in to sign the peace treaty between the two villages. The Raikage had heard of the exploits of the Hyuuga clan on the battlefield. It was because of them that our forces were unsuccessful in frightening the leaf from the battlefield. The Raikage wanted to learn the secret of their doujutsu at any cost. So he tried to sneak in a hidden agenda along with the peace treaty. One that from what I hear was . . . less then successful." Tears still run from Kakashi's eyes and his fists clench so tight that his nails pierce through his gloves and blood begins to flow from the palms of his hand.
Toshida notices the expression in Kakashi's eyes, and can see the blood flowing from his hand and he is quick to offer his final words on the matter. "I understand how you feel about me Kakashi. I stole your comrades from you . . . you wish nothing more then to avenge their deaths. Believe me when I say that I do not blame you. But also learn from me . . . there is nothing . . . that can bring them back."
Kakashi's vision once again begins to blur and he falls to the ground as the surrounding area returns to the present time. Kakashi's eyes open quickly with the tears he shed while visiting Toshida's memory, still running down his face. He quickly leans up and can see Toshida leaning prone against a tree several meters away from him, struggling for breath and holding his side as using the Ryuugan eye for such an intense purpose and for such a long time is more draining then any of his other techniques. It tempts the dragon's essence more then Toshida is willing to risk, which is why Toshida has only used the technique to that extent a few times before.
"So . . ." Toshida says, as he gasps for air. "Didn't you want to kill me?"