The Hokage's Will by Airheaded dude

Chapter Six: One-Thousand Lamentations

The Hokage's Will

Chapter Six: One-Thousand Lamentations

War is a tragedy no matter how one sees it. In the midst of the fighting lay death, misery, poverty, destruction and hate; nothing made sense in wars. It is probably, the biggest atrocity of man that makes even mother earth weep. Such a travesty and convoluted life that humans live in. For be it victory or loss, there is only one thing that remains in the heart of people when all of the fighting quells.

It was hatred.

Ame, being the center of three major powers and the focal point of every ninja war it had participated in, had felt this tragedy more than any other nation combined. Indeed, the country and village deserved its name, the weeping country. The country of tears that had been shed by the departed souls who had fought for their ideals subdued many times in the past, the country of the people who shed tears in the midst of the never ending rain for the men that had left their wives with their newborns never to come back.

Nagato had been a victim of this war, a victim of circumstance, of incidence, of tragedy. His salt laden tears would forever be mixed with the waters of Ame and in his grief. But compared to others, he had in him, resolve. He decided to grow stronger, for the fact that he no longer wanted to lose anyone. Above all, he desired strength for one thing that would end all travesties of massacres and bloodshed. The child, bestowed with the noblest Doujutsu, desired for peace as did the Sage of Six Paths during his time.

Once Naruto had heard of this circumstance that Nagato had, he couldn't help but feel the sympathy bulging inside of him. The ninja rulebook had told him before, and probably left the most lasting impression in him to make him realize how his naivety would be useless in being a shinobi,

'Never sympathize with the opponent'

Yet, he did so, on so many occasions. Be it his worst enemy or not, the names kept appearing in his mind as well as their faces, Haku, Sasuke and Gaara to name a few, he knew he shouldn't have done so back then, but for them to feel the same type of loneliness and pain of abandonment as him, he couldn't help but show his sadness for them. Soldiers didn't need sympathy, humans did. He knew how terrible that nightmare of life was simply by just existing without a given purpose. He knew he fought in anger and rage when he was young, but never in hatred and contempt. Naruto could recall one fight that he had forsaken everything in him to defeat his enemy. It was against Kabuto. He could still remember how his anger triggered his hatred of the man so much, how betrayal can easily affect him. How one simple encounter with the man, he had to forego his ideals and just wanted to murder him. To him, Kabuto was evil, an evil that could kill anyone dear to him in cold blood. Kabuto, unlike Gaara, had been given choices about his life, and that was what made Naruto hate the man. Kabuto chose to betray them, chose to follow Orochimaru, and chose to kill Tsunade in her most vulnerable! Gaara didn't choose to kill people on a whim. Someone who had poor parental guidance in his childhood didn't know what he was doing was wrong; there was no one to guide him back then, and even if he did have one, they chose to use Gaara's fragile mind to their liking. It was utterly disgusting.

It was this feeling again, rising within him as he stared at the masked form of Uchiha Madara. A man, so bent on controlling the world with the palm of his hand, Madara didn't want peace, he wanted to play god.

It was in that context, that Naruto for the second time in his life, showed that contempt and hatred upon the man that stood before him. This was the man that could have possibly manipulated Kiri's former Mizukage, Yagura, attacked Konoha with the Kyuubi no Youko, created Akatsuki, used Nagato, brainwashed Sasuke and now declared the fourth great shinobi war.

"How... Paradoxical it is that the Hokage of Konoha turned out to be you, Naruto. The Kami must have an interesting sense of humour to favour you above Danzo as the Sixth Fire Shadow. It's so similar that if it weren't so tense, I'd laugh at it." Mentioned the masked man that stood before him, Naruto remained silent as Kakashi stepped forward, "Are you pertaining to the first Hokage, Senju Hashirama?"