Willing Sacrifices

[Interlude: Shinobi Tales I, II, III]

The Tragedy of Nawaki Senju

Nawaki was sure that if it wasn't for his lineage, or the fact that his sister was one of the most terrifying people in the village, he'd have been one of the many discarded shinobi of the village a long time ago. What good is a shinobi when their spine has been shattered beyond the repair of even the best medic in the world?

It had taken ten years for Nawaki to crawl out of the darkness of his own mind and feel like himself again, and despite his disability, Nawaki had risen. His dream of becoming the Hokage was gone, but his desire to serve the village was as strong now as it had ever been. He took his place on the council at twenty-five, despite strong objections of Homura and Koharu. He became the assistant to Hiruzen and worked closely with the Hokage as a strategist and aide, as well as become a liaison between his sister and the council since he was the more diplomatic of the two.

He was content with his professional life. He was busy, challenged, and enjoyed it. The tragedy of his life was not his injury, not his wheelchair. The tragedy was that since he was thirteen years old, Nawaki Senju had been in love with someone who would never love him back. 

The last twenty years had been filled with fruitless attempts to rid himself of these feelings. It wasn't as if Nawaki was a prime candidate for marriage in any case. His sister had managed to repair enough in his spinal cord for him to have control over his digestive system, for which he was beyond grateful. But the rest of him was a little...touchy. There were times he felt like he might be able to get up and walk, but when he'd attempted that, he'd only done more damage. So his legs were in a constant state of numbness and confusion, an ache he kept at bay with little pills. His manhood was, in a word, unpredictable.

His feelings were a secret that only Jiraiya had discovered since his perceptions about these things were irritatingly accurate, (although only with others - not when they involved himself; he really didn't stand a chance with Tsuna) but he was good at keeping secrets and for that Nawaki was thankful. The worst part about having feelings that would never be requited was that she looked like it might be possible, that she was around his age. To the world, she looked twenty years younger than she was, and that killed him because Ayame Uchiha was as beautiful as she was deadly.

She wasn't even in the village most of the years that he'd loved her. Absence did not make him forget. Distance did nothing. Now that she was here indefinitely, Nawaki wasn't sure how much longer he was going to be able to keep his cool. The good thing was, he supposed, that she had never treated him like a child or a little brother. She treated him as an equal, a friend.

Nawaki's life was enough of a tragedy in other people's eyes. It was enough; their friendship, trust, and loyalty. It had to be. He'd lost his legs. He wasn't going to lose his dignity as well.

*

Return from Amegakure
- refer to part two: the chunin exams III -

Obito sat atop the head of the Second Hokage with a thoughtful grimace on his face. His arms were looped about his knees, and he looked out over the village at the small figures of the people going about their day below.

His mind as whirling with thoughts of Ayame Uchiha, the Akatsuki, and Ame. He didn't know what she was planning on doing, but he knew it wouldn't be easy considering it was going to involve Danzo, Hanzo, Ame, and the Akatsuki - a delicate political matter that could explode in a horrible way. He sighed. He was and would be forever grateful that Sakura and Itachi had disposed of Zetsu and saved Madara, but that left a lot of unknowns in this world for him.