Self Reflections....and New Acquaintances? [IO, Z]

'If only I had payed more attention, acted more on my observations than my anger and arrogance. Maybe...just maybe I could have done more. Maybe Salzem wouldn't have had to die....maybe I wouldn't have been forced to...' 

His thoughts trailed off, his right hand reflexively moving to the back of his leg. There wasn't any pain there anymore, the medical ninja had taken good care of him, but sometimes he still felt the sting of cold steel ripping through his flesh, the agony of tendons, muscle, and even bone tearing in the blink of an eye. Ghost Pain they called it. It happened sometimes with trauma patients. Still, if that was the only price he had to pay for his own inadequacy, he would bear it without complaint. Many others had gotten much worse. Even Risako suffered extreme injury in her battle with the Mizukage. 


"Mizukage. Xyxer."

The words were like dust in his mouth. They were unpleasant as could be, dredging up even more painful memories from that day. The rain hid his tears now, just as it had then. He might not have known Salzem, but to take the life of one of his comrades, of another defender and member of Konohagakure, that was something you didn't exactly come out of unscathed. 

The streets were quiet today, just as they had been since the takeover. Everyone was either too afraid to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary, or being questioned by their new superiors. Some were even participating in a gruesome tournament set up by...that man. Despicable. Few had the guts to stand up to Kirigakure when they had come, bringing an inhuman storm with them, and even fewer were willing to do so now. 

Standing straight once more, Jason's hands clenched into fists, his jaw was clenched tight. The headband he used to take such pride in was nowhere in sight, tucked safely away in his clothes. His hair was drenched, cheeks flushed from the icy wind. Even the weather had changed from its usual warm, welcoming climate. What was this? What was happening to his home, to Konohagakure?

The sky danced with rain as Zanto parkoured over roofs, gates, and other objects. At the moment he was chasing a Uchiha. A kid from the clan who wanted to leave the village because he didn’t have the Fire element. His family had shamed him as he had the element of water etched deep into his soul. Zanto felt pity for the kid and didn’t want him to wander the world alone and somehow get killed in the process. Or even get killed for trying to escape the village due to the new presence that had recently moved in. “Orime!” Screamed Zanto as he chased after the kid. He knew the kid well as they took the same class in the Ninja Academy. “Z! Just stop chasing me! There is no hope for me in the compound anymore, I was scolded by everything Uchiha and I no longer want to feel that pain! Screamed Orime. Z was what nearly everyone called Zanto. Some because it sounded cool and others because it was really his real nickname.

As he chased down Orime, he had finally caught up to him and tackled him to the ground before he could run out of the village gates. Pinning his arms to the ground with his knees, Zanto would see “Every Uchiha doesn’t despise you. I’m your friend and you know that. What are you gonna do if you leave the village? Huh!? You do know that there are evil missing ninja out their who feels pleasure a the sight of Uchiha such as me and you. I’m being honest here! You want survive if you leave this village by yourself. You have no Ninjutsu in your arsenal nor any weapons or food. You’re an Uchiha and you need to start acting like one!” Said Zanto as he would help the fool up and drag him by his shirt. “Now I’m doing you a big favor. You may not like me now, but you’re really gonna thank me later!”

As Zanto dragged the boy along the muddy ground, he was crying and screaming as if the uchiha was going to kill him, which he wasn’t. The guy was really acting like a baby right about now. He was gonna take him to the police force though, and tell them that he was trying to escape. Hopefully they would handle him with justice and he would be given a fair punishment seeing as the Uchiha controlled the police force. “See, none of this would have happened if you weren’t acting like a baby. So what you wasn’t born with the fire element. Just utilize the water element even better than fire. Use that to have an advantage over nearly every Uchiha. You’re thinking about the cons, but not thinking about the pros.” Said Zanto as his gourmets were soaking wet from the showers pouring down onto the village. He had only wanted to sit and train today, but it seemed like a little bug had to be perky.

It was good taking him to the police force because if he took him anywhere else he might’ve been forced to kill him his self.

He was brought back to reality by the kicking and screaming of a young boy who was being forcefully dragged by another. Jason blinked twice, hoping he was simply imagining the sight before him. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. Looking around it seemed like the street was completely deserted except for those three. What should he do? Last time he tried to intervene on his own...

No. He couldn't let his emotions stop him from continuing on his path. He wouldn't let it stop him. He may have failed before, but that was even more reason for him to continue to work hard and become stronger; that failure only served to give him more reason to become the Hokage one day. He would succeed. He would take this village back to it's glory days, the days when no one dared challenge Konohagakure no Sato.

He thought that, his decision had been made, but his body still wouldn't move. It was like he was frozen in place; through fear or something else, he didn't know. He only knew that his body was trembling and the two boys were getting further away. 

"MOVE DAMNIT!"

He hadn't meant to shout the words aloud like that, he was just focused on doing what he needed to. The taste of fresh blood was heavy in his mouth, his lip was busted from biting it. The pain that had shot through him from that was enough to get his body going again. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of the boy dragging the first one, his arm outstretched signaling the boy to stop. "What's going on here," he asked. A sharp pain ran up his leg then, the sudden use of his muscles was a bit too much for him to handle after just recovering from his injury. He winced, his arm wavering for an instant as he stopped himself from reflexively reaching down again. "Explain yourself," he demanded.