The Shadow (Naruto Fanfic)

Chapter 23

Ashira arrived in the Leaf and saw Miza was waiting for her. "Maximum sent word ahead you'd be arriving. Sorry the others couldn't greet you they are doing missions for the Leaf." Ashira smiled before losing it. "How are they?" Miza gained a dark look. "They aren't doing well Lady Ashira." Lazarus answered Ashira's question. "They have been disconnected from Kozuri for so long but even now they can sense his pain. Its only grown Lady Ashira but from the reports Tsunade has gotten it seems Kozuri won't stop until his goal is finished." Ashira looked at Miza. "He is trying to save someone important to him." Ashira thought back to the boy Kozuri supposedly died with back when he was thirteen. "What do we know of the kid who belonged to Kozuri's genin team? What was his name Obito Uchiha?" Ashira looked at Miza. "He is dead Kakashi and Kozuri both confirmed it." Ashira narrowed her eyes. "Kakashi thought Kozuri was dead at first but he came back." Ashira began walking off on her own and her guards quickly followed. "Miza are you alright?" Miza looked his lion in the eyes. "Yea I just wish the idiot would come home." As if having spoken the formula for a summons Miza felt a calling in his mind. He noticed Lazarus also felt it. Miza and Lazarus followed it outside the Leaf where he saw a sight that shocked him. Sal and Paarl were laying next to Kozuri who was reading a book to them. Miza noticed the other Beasts were also there as were the other heirs. Kozuri never once looked at his friend or Lazarus just reading a book to the others. Miza wasn't sure what to say so he kept quiet just listening to Kozuri finish the book. "I'm glad you answered my call Miza and the rest of you. I just want to take the time to apologize for everything. I didn't want my path to split from yours, from the family I craved, but when I saw how willing you all were to forsake the world just for me I couldn't allow you." Kozuri hugged Sal and Paarl tightly. "I wasn't going to allow you to follow a nobody into the dark I wasn't going to let any of you lose yourself just to be by my side." Miza went to speak but Kozuri looked at him with a warm smile. "Even if I wanted you to." Miza felt his heart ache. "Why can't you let us go with you!?" Miza wanted to talk to his friend normally but he is so furious and hurt wanting to help Kozuri but he won't let Miza. "Because the light you all have is something that keeps me going. If you followed me I'd be to blame when you lose that light. I can't have that on my conscious yes its selfish of me but I can't have my friends who shine so brightly lose that light." Miza was at a lost for words but it was Lazarus who spoke. "How do you think we feel watching our friend and Champion willingly lose the light that shines the brightest." Kozuri looked at the lion with a sigh. "I know Lazarus but I was never meant for the light was I? I was born to wield the Dark Release and the curse." The beasts all looked at Kozuri who just smiled. "How did you find out?" Kozuri smiled before looking Sal in his eyes. "Because its what drove Azak mad." Kozuri saw Sal and Paarl's heart break. "What's this curse?" Miza asked and Kozuri looked at him. "Those born in the light with the Dark Release would wield both the Light and the Dark but it would destroy them from the inside out. That's why Azak is still around. I am the Light while he is my Dark. I will soon go mad and the point of you guys is to stop me." Kozuri stood up at that and walked to Miza who was shaking his head. "I wasn't lying don't make me the monster he was. I don't want to die alone but before I lose myself I have to save someone dear to me. Just like you all are going to try to save me I have to save him." Miza felt Kozuri hug him before he said his goodbyes and vanished. Miza didn't know what to do anymore. So he just screamed letting everything out until there was nothing left in him. Miza turned ignoring the others calling his name and he made his way to Tsunade's Office. Miza opened the door ignoring protocol and he looked at Ashira as well as Tsunade. "I am going to hunt Kozuri down even if I have to burn everything down. I won't let any of you stop me from saving my friend. I just wanted you to know why I'm gone." Miza left ignoring Ashira calling him and he made it to his home. There he packed a bag full of essentials then Miza looked at the door to see Lazarus with Paarl and Sall. "Let's go you three." Miza lead the three to the gate where he saw the others waiting. "You guys you do know this is going against our word to Lady Ashira right?" The others shrugged and Miza looked at Maximum. "Why?" The older man sighed. "Because Kozuri has visited the island the last three years and even though the visits were short I felt how badly he wanted to come home. I've seen how being away from everyone has affected him. I saw how Lady Ashira hid her pain away until she couldn't anymore. I don't care for Azak but the boy isn't alive anymore. Kozuri doesn't deserve to live like him." Everyone nodded to Maximum's words and Sal looked at them all. "We'll probably be facing the worst kind of people out there. It would make sense for Kozuri to feed on their emotions." Miza looked at Sal. "I doubt that's what he's been doing. His pain is what drives him. Kozuri has led a life of pain and that's why he's so desperate to keep us out. Koz doesn't want us to see the vulnerable side or the monster he's hiding. Koz has always told me he doesn't want to die alone or end up like Azak. Kozuri's fear of us hating him is driving him deeper into the dark." Everyone looked at Miza. "Why would we hate him?" Leo asked and the others nod again looking at Miza. "Because Kozuri sees himself as a monster and he is afraid soon everyone he loves will too."