Kushina rushed towards her mentor"s house not paying any attention to those around her. Countless people made way for the red haired little girl blazing through the street, but their efforts were in vain. A person who was lying on the side of the street reading a paper suddenly pulled in their hand and a wire mesh manifested itself over Kushina and tightened around her."You failed again."
Kushina groaned inside the net as her efforts were thwarted once more. As she was being carried back to her home, she gazed longingly at the place where her mentor lived. If only she could figure out how to get past her darn guards!
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Jiro chuckled out loud for a couple seconds, but the sound grew louder and louder. He was laughing like a mad-man and smiling with glee. He finally completely learned the information provided unwillingly from the seal master. As he got to pulling out a brush and dipping it in ink as well as imbuing the brush with Chakra, he got to wondering when his newest student would finally understand some of lessons her family was trying to teach her in order for her to finally reach him.
When he saw the efforts of his student who got trapped in a net and taken back, Jiro shook his head. She was trying to reach him in a conventional manner unlike that of ninja who had to get somewhere stealthily. Realizing that he wasn"t the epitome of stealthy movement, Jiro inwardly reflected on himself before pulling out his list of goals.
After crossing off learning sealing, learning to be more stealthy was added to the list. Jiro looked at his next goal which was to learn how to get whatever memories he lost back. For this, Jiro wasn"t clueless, but acquiring more information would mean going to a seal master who specialized in souls. He knew the issue of the memories stemmed from having his soul injured slightly by fighting with Ezekiel. However, he knew next to nothing on souls except that sealing was able to address the soul to some capacity which he was glad to know.
Deciding that he should visit the eagles and Kana, Jiro summoned himself into the summon realm. Seeing the large trees and countless eagles flying as well as the continuous gusts of wind, Jiro felt strangely prideful. It had almost been a year since he had been here and Jiro suddenly realized that he was already a year older. Twelve wasn"t old, but Jiro felt a strange mix of pride and loneliness as he really realized that he was on par with Hokage level figures.
He hadn"t been raised by stories of the glory of the Hokage, but they had always been a presence in all of the world. They had been engraved into the walls of Konoha and their actions all had countless consequences. Just the second Hokage"s action of separating the Uchiha had caused so many problems for the clan and he knew that each of the other Hidden Villages had developed in part thanks to the efforts of the first Hokage to give a tailed beast to each of them.
At twelve, Jiro knew that he was capable of taking them on to some extent. As he stared at all the other eagles training by themselves. Their actions seemed so slow. The loneliness seemed crushing and it seemed as if Jiro was all alone, but he was greeted by a familiar presence who he wasn"t expecting.
In Jiro"s mindscape, Ezekiel finally walked out of the office sensing Jiro"s feeling of loneliness.
"Do you sense it now? The feeling that you are so powerful almost no-one can match you?"
As Jiro looked over to Ezekiel in surprise, Ezekiel continued to talk.
"Get rid of it. Stomp it to the ground. Burn it into tiny little pieces and then stomp on it again. That feeling is just an illusion. You only think your powerful. You only think your lonely. You don"t realize that you can just as easily as anyone else. Look at me, I was killed just from a bunch of people who teamed up."
As Ezekiel laughed bitterly, Jiro looked over in curiosity and intrigue. What Ezekiel had said was a vast underestimation. He had fought an army of elites. Despite that and the fact that Jiro had access to all of Ezekiel"s memories, Jiro wanted to know more.
"What about feeling lonely? What about feeling that you are so ahead of everyone that even if you slow down for a bit, everyone is just so far beneath you?"
Ezekiel laughed even harder at Jiro"s question. The harsh grating sound of his laughter didn"t deter Jiro from listening.
"I only had two people precious to me. That was my sister and my brother. But guess what? There were so many people who I met in life that wanted to know me better, yet I was the one to reject them. You could look at my memories, but that wouldn"t tell you everything. Our memories are from the soul meaning that they are full of our own emotions. I rejected everyone"s offers and kicked them to the curb. You saw my memories which were influenced by how I felt."
Ezekiel took a deep breathe before speaking.
"I rejected everyone. I was feeling so lonely like n.o.body would be able to touch my heart, but that"s not what companionship is. Companionship is experiencing those ups and downs together. It is sticking together even during the times when you just want to be selfish. It is giving a second and a third chance to those who need help. It is so much more."
"Jiro, you and I are almost the same. We both reject others or barely accept them. But, you had it so much better than I. You have Fugaku who introduced you to Teuchi and Duy. You have Jiraiya who was fine with your s.a.d.i.s.tic pranks. You have Tsunade who is willing to be your big sister if you give her the chance. You have Orochimaru who understands how you feel and is willing to wait for you to come around."
"I only had my sister and brother. Look where it got me. Don"t be so quick to reject companionship Jiro. Don"t be so quick to feel lonely. Be willing to walk further into a relationship. Feel a person"s pain and empathize with them. The more I talk, the more I see these similarities with us."
Ezekiel got up and the mindscape changed to show the scenery that Jiro had been viewing moments earlier. Except, the sun was shining. There were shadows, but eagles were cl.u.s.tered under them in groups. No eagle was training by themselves.
"Look at this!" Ezekiel screamed, "The whole eagle realm is filled with comrades. Everyone is reliant on each other. Look at Kana, she trains with the eagles who can"t match up to her, but she does it anyways because she cares. Look at Sora. Look at all those generals. They all spend time and devote their energy to helping them."
" I said this so many times, but I can"t stress just how similar we are. Even though I showed all this to you Jiro, you still remain hard hearted. We are cowards Jiro. We fear showing our heart in front of others. We fear that our feelings will be stomped on, but look at me Jiro!"
Something unpleasant and clingy was clumped in Jiro"s chest. He started averting his gaze before Ezekiel grabbed his face and forcibly made him make eye contact.
"Look at us Jiro! We are cowards! We are so afraid of relationships. We are so afraid, but look at yourself. Look at who surrounds you. You probably though that I was just depressed, but I spent lots of time thinking and regretting. I gave up on too much and your already walking down the path I walked. I don"t want this to happen to you. I want you to live the life I wanted to live, but was too afraid to live."
As Jiro stared at Ezekiel"s eyes and the reflection showed himself, Jiro could see fear in his own eyes. Fear for caring for others. Fear that caring even more would make losing them even more painful. Ezekiel stepped a couple steps away from Jiro and gestured at the world of the eagles as Jiro just sat on the floor trying to process everything.
"Jiro, I accepted that I would never be able to see my sibling again. I accepted that I am dead. But, I don"t want you to reject people like I have done so many times. I"m going to pa.s.s on Jiro. I can feel something calling me. But before I pa.s.sed, I wanted you to know this."
Jiro looked up shocked. He had finally found somebody who really spoke to his soul, to his own being, yet he was going to leave just like that?! As he got up ready to save Ezekiel, Ezekiel laughed in joy.
"YES! This expression, is the one that I want to see. It"s the one that everyone wants to see. No-one wants to see your mask Jiro. Everyone wants to know how you feel. They don"t want your expressionless face, they want to see you smile. It"s going to be painful Jiro. It"s probably going to hurt much more than you want it to, but it"s going to be worth it. Look at yourself Jiro, you just accepted me to be your companion right now. It"s not that hard to let people into your life."
As Ezekiel suddenly began to pale, he smiled as flakes of himself began to fall apart. He began to slowly break and even as he was disappearing, he kept on repeating the message to Jiro.
Jiro stared at the empty point where Ezekiel had just resided. But as he stared, a violent pain erupted in his chest. It was burning and made it feel heavy and painful to breathe. However, another pain was inflicting him. It was an unending cold feeling that felt as if a bottomless abyss had opened in his heart.
With no way to express these pains and feelings, Jiro screamed in his mindscape. It was beginning to break apart, but he didn"t care. He just wanted to let himself let go of these feelings.
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Kana was staring at the spot where Jiro was sitting. It was a tree that almost overlooked all the eagles, but he wasn"t mentally present. Keeping an eye on him, she suddenly noticed that tears began to drip down his face. His usually expressionless face was broken and with it came the tears and wrinkled expression of pain and grief.
Not sure on what to do she just flew over. As tears continued to stream down and cover the ground, Kana could practically feel the pain that Jiro was experiencing. She landed beside him before covering him with one wing.
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Jiro suddenly felt a sensation on his body which was Kana. He didn"t want to go back out of his mindscape. He wanted to continue to scream at nothing, but he remembered Ezekiel"s words and walked out of his mindscape to reality.
Embracing Kana, Jiro just started talking to her. At first it was just random and about Kushina who became his apprentice or the pranks he played on Jiraiya, but it began to get deeper. More intimate. So many things which had been buried in his heart began to show up. Untold feelings of fear and love. Other feelings which he was reluctant to show. Jiro opened himself up to Kana. He entrusted his heart with her.