Rain. Such a thing wasn’t common at this time of year in Konohagakure, yet it seemed to be the only fitting weather for what had just happened. Shinzo sat atop Hokage rock with his head in his hands. In the minutes prior he had been keeping a close eye on the Phoenix gate with a heavy heart as his emerald eyes followed the path that lead a certain Uchiha student to his almost certain demise. Shallow breaths had burdened the young Head Jounin from the moment of realisation as to what Nitish was going to do. It would be useless to try and stop him now. Almost certainly the student had his heart set on leaving the village; no amount of words would halt his advance now – that much was sure.
Five seconds. That’s all it had taken for the boy to meet his fate. Five seconds. The time it took for a single deep breath, a single last … breath. For that last moment Shinzo had closed his eyes, that was the closest he could come to not witnessing his first failure. There was no denying that the death of such a promising student could have been avoided if the Head Jounin had acted sooner. But for once he had been too late. Too late to guide Nitish away from the path of destruction that he had taken, too late to stop him. Too late to help.
Distant thunder rolled through the sky overhead while large droplets of rain carried along by sudden gusts of wind buffeted the Hokage faces along with the young shinobi who sat atop it. His hazelnut hair now sat flat thanks to the increasingly heavy rainfall from above. The occasional stream of water ran down Shinzo’s cheeks while the scenes leading up to Nitish’s death played repeatedly in his mind. So much could have changed beforehand. But yet the swiftness of Nitish’s demise sat as an uncomfortable reminder of the world in which shinobi live. Was anybody truly safe? Was there such a thing as belonging? Such questions spiralled in a hurricane of tormenting thoughts.
The boy wasn’t much younger than the Head Jounin. That fact stuck with him while he sat alone in despairing contemplation. He sat in a way to hide himself from the view of others, something he felt would need to be done more often. Personal connections needed to be broken, for if this was the pain of loss of a student then the loss of someone closer would be unbearable. Realisation after realisation, Shinzo slowly came to terms with life itself. This haunting day would not so easily be forgotten.
The first failure.
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[MFT]
Five seconds. That’s all it had taken for the boy to meet his fate. Five seconds. The time it took for a single deep breath, a single last … breath. For that last moment Shinzo had closed his eyes, that was the closest he could come to not witnessing his first failure. There was no denying that the death of such a promising student could have been avoided if the Head Jounin had acted sooner. But for once he had been too late. Too late to guide Nitish away from the path of destruction that he had taken, too late to stop him. Too late to help.
Distant thunder rolled through the sky overhead while large droplets of rain carried along by sudden gusts of wind buffeted the Hokage faces along with the young shinobi who sat atop it. His hazelnut hair now sat flat thanks to the increasingly heavy rainfall from above. The occasional stream of water ran down Shinzo’s cheeks while the scenes leading up to Nitish’s death played repeatedly in his mind. So much could have changed beforehand. But yet the swiftness of Nitish’s demise sat as an uncomfortable reminder of the world in which shinobi live. Was anybody truly safe? Was there such a thing as belonging? Such questions spiralled in a hurricane of tormenting thoughts.
The boy wasn’t much younger than the Head Jounin. That fact stuck with him while he sat alone in despairing contemplation. He sat in a way to hide himself from the view of others, something he felt would need to be done more often. Personal connections needed to be broken, for if this was the pain of loss of a student then the loss of someone closer would be unbearable. Realisation after realisation, Shinzo slowly came to terms with life itself. This haunting day would not so easily be forgotten.
The first failure.
[Topic entered and left]
[MFT]