It was the next day, and Shiori kept thinking about their conversation. After seeing Oni's reluctance to answer personal questions, Shiori changed the subject to a more general route.
She told him about herself, her travels, and her mission to find the meaning of peace. She didn't go into many details since she didn't want to bore him. Thankfully, Oni took immediate interest in the conversation and asked her a few questions that gave her something to think about.
"I'm just tired of seeing all the hurt. There are many natural causes for the hurt, such as sickness and accidents. It is inevitable for people to feel the pain and the hurt. People even hurt each other without meaning, too. But when there is so much of it already, why would people decide to actively hurt each other even more?" Shiori said.
She was tired of it, of all the pain and suffering. People were hurting so much. A thief steals some coins to survive, but it hurts the person who stole it from, who may have needed those coins just as much.
The world was a cruel place, and it was understandable. To survive, you had to be selfish. But how much pain was acceptable? Why those few coins may make a huge difference for someone who was barely making ends meet, it wouldn't even be noticed by a wealthy noble.
It wasn't a simple matter of wealth or deserving. It wasn't a matter of distributing the pain. There were many hard-working people who endured a lot of pain to get to a level of comfort, and it wouldn't be fair to them to lose their comfort just because others were in pain.
She really had no solution, and it frustrated her. Peace would not be as meaningful to her if only the wealthy thrived. But without wealth, many pains couldn't be prevented.
"Shiori-san. I want you to imagine being a god. A god who could enforce any rules on its subjects. Of course, people still have freedom of action, but they cannot break the rules you put in place and must endure it. What rules will you implement, and what would the world look like?" Oni asked, and as Shiori was thinking about the answer, he left.
Shiori had to head back to her room as well, but she didn't get much sleep. She had been thinking about it nonstop. It was certainly not an easy question to answer. Of course, if she were a god, she would enforce a lot of rules that were already laws.
Such as killing another person, harming others physically, and stealing. But she also knew there was much more to it than these basic rules. She could undoubtedly put a rule against lying, but would that be a good thing?
While it would certainly take a lot of hurt from people, there were situations where lies were necessary. A woman may be home alone at night and someone asks her where she lives. If she is not able to lie, that person will know exactly where she lives and stalk or harm her in some way.
Of course, one may say that she can simply not answer, but if omission is an option, people will just opt not to speak when they are asked questions, which can, in turn, cause more pain.
But lies were also a great source of hurt. So, shouldn't they be eliminated to have a better society?
She kept going through many scenarios of things she knew could cause pain. Still, the more she thought about it, the more complex it became, as many of the rules could affect each other.
It was frustrating for her, so she decided to go for a run around the temple to hopefully clear her mind. She grabbed some lighter clothes despite the colder weather.
Akira had recently given her some thicker clothing, but for this purpose, the lighter ones would do. She missed wearing her usual clothes but didn't want to stand out in the temple.
She decided to go barefoot since being connected to the earth always comforted her. She headed outside and started to warm up, starting with a slow jog.
She didn't like running as much as many shinobi did, despite having the high reserves and stamina to do so. Running at high speeds often required more focus as you had less time to react to obstacles and elements you came across. But that was exactly what she needed now. To clear her head.
So she started speeding up—a little at the time, but soon, she reached her full speed without using chakra to enhance her body. It wasn't anything impressive, but it wasn't something to scuff at either.
She decided to challenge herself by using her sensory skills to detect obstacles. It was different from her sensory zone since that was to connect to the living chakra around her.
This was more akin to the earth jutsu—the one she used for detecting the cave underground all those weeks ago—but in a more precise magnitude. She was sending pulses of chakra into the surface of the earth instead of trying to penetrate.
The pulses would hit the objects on the surface and send back waves that would then pulse back and help her locate objects. It was basically echolocation on the surface of the ground.
The only downside was that she could only locate the objects on the surface, and it couldn't be used in combat. Still, even with that downside, it was hard to use the jutsu in high-speed movement.
She liked to master it, but she knew it would take a long time. For now, at this speed, she could only locate large obstacles. She tried to focus more to get more feedback.
Adjusting her chakra pulses slowly to become more efficient. If the pulses were too weak, they wouldn't reach far enough for the result to be valuable since she would have passed the area by the time she got the feedback.
But if the pulse was too strong, not only would it waste a lot of chakra, it would also reach a very large area and create too much feedback for her to process. So, it was a matter of balance.
She wondered if there was a way to adjust the jutsu so that it would send the pulse in a limited direction instead of the circular one she was using now. There was so much to consider but now was not the time.
She was starting to show the first signs of fatigue. Her breathing was becoming more labored. She started taking deeper breaths as she pushed herself. She wasn't going to stop. Slowly but surely, the other signs of fatigue followed.
Her muscles started to ache, and her heart was thumping against her chest. Her lungs burned with the effort to keep going. She wanted to see how much more she could push herself.
She had to let go of chakra pulses since it was becoming difficult to maintain them in this state. Her vision was slightly blurred on the sides, and the impact of each step sent a shock through her body.
She was sweating despite the chilly weather, yet she kept going. She closed her eyes for a second, shaking her head to clear her vision. And she felt it—something approaching fast from behind.
She sent a pulse of chakra to her feet, throwing herself to the side and out of the way. She heard a loud swoosh pass by her. Unfortunately, in her state, she miscalculated the amount of chakra and used too much, causing her to shoot to the side and hit a tree a few meters away.
She braced herself for impact and landed on a crouch, but the impact still knocked the wind out of her. She looked to where she heard the sound and, to her surprise, saw Scar perching on the ground.
She was ready to yell at him, but then she remembered. That night, when she was pushed, it was… Scar. "Hey!" she exclaimed, irritated.
Scar cawed in acknowledgment. "You pushed me that night. Why?" Her voice got softer in the end. Was Scar helping whoever was leaving Shiori clues? It couldn't be Scar himself.
He was a bird and even if he was a very intelligent bird, he wouldn't be able to physically move Shiori for that long of distances or draw seals with that precision. Even if it was not a matter of dexterity or strength, it would simply take too much time, making it impossible.
Scar didn't say anything but flew away. "Wait!" Shiori said, panicked.
"Is everything alright, Shiori-chan?" Akira said as he came from the other side.
"I'm alright, Akira-san," Shiori said as she accepted Akira's hand. He helped her get up and checked her over for injuries.
"I sensed your chakra as it spiked in panic. Were you in danger?" He asked as they headed back to the temple. Shiori scrapped her hands badly as she landed.
She didn't want to use healing chakra for the healing since it would be good for her body to heal naturally. They still walked to the temple, and Akira instructed her to wash her hands while he brought the first aid kit.
Akira insisted on applying the ointment and wrapping her hands. He made sure that the wraps were tight enough to hold yet not uncomfortable. Akira insisted on them taking a break and having some tea.
"Akira-san. Can I ask you a question?" Shiori asked. As she stared at the teacup in her hands.
"Of course, little one," Akira said in a soft voice as he sipped on his tea.
"What does a peaceful world look like to you?" Shiori said as she tried to phrase the question in the best possible way.
Akira hummed as he thought about it. "It is certainly a hard question. Peace can look very different to different people. I guess in a perfect world it would be a place where we solve all our conflicts with words instead of force. But it is certainly impossible."
"I think one important aspect of the peace is for everyone's opinion to hold value. Of course, there will be weight placed on this value. You will not value a citizen's opinion on health as much as a doctor, the same way you won't ask the doctor about farming for crops. To have a peaceful world, all opinions should hold weight, but the weight is also important."
"Another aspect will be the diversity of opinion. To hear as many perspectives as possible. Humans have inherent biases, so no system they make will be unbiased. However, with enough variety in the perspectives, we can get closer to unbiased systems."
"There are many things to consider, but it is important for people to be free to express their opinions. But what is even more important is for people to learn to listen. To actually listen and consider those opinions." Akira said thoughtfully.
Shiori smiled in understanding. What he said was indeed true. Many people claimed to be able to listen, but all they did was wait for someone to finish talking before returning to their own opinions.
Not many people were able to show empathy and sympathy, which were important traits. People needed to understand each other and learn that not everything was black and white but that there were different shades of gray.