An Assassin's Legacy

Truths and lies

Aki was waiting for him at the usual clearing when Menma arrived. She looked at him in concern because the last time she had seen him he had rushed off to see his parents.

"Menma..." she calls hesitantly.

Menma doesn't reply and just moves to sit beside her. He leans over until his head rests on her shoulder. She waits for him to tell her something but Menma doesn't speak for a long time. She thinks he is hardly breathing at all but she understands that he might need time so Aki just sits there letting him rest on her shoulder.

It feels like hours before he speaks and his voice is raspy and breaking like he had spent hours screaming.

"Can I trust you?"

Aki looks at Menma in surprise then her expression softens, "Of course."

She can see the way his impassive expression breaks as he turns his head and hides his face in her shoulders. He is crying, she realizes as her shoulder becomes.

"I don't know what to do..." he says and then he is sobbing on her shoulders mumbling the words again and again.

"Menma..." she calls, concern evident in her voice, "Tell me what happened."

It takes him a moment to control his sobs and then he tells her everything.

___&&___

_Flashback_

Minato is sitting in front of his children with an impassive face. He is silent for a long time and Menma grows impatient.

"Well?" he prompts angrily, "You said you will give us the truth. Why are you silent?"

"Menma," Kushina calls oddly subdued, "please, this is not a pleasant topic for any of us."

Menma wants to retort angrily but Mito's hand on his tightens slightly and he finds himself calming down and staying silent. As time had passed she had moved closer and closer to him until she was pressed tight against his side.

Finally Minato sighs and stands up.

"A year before you were born the toad sage gave us a prophecy..."

Menma narrows his eyes, what does a prophecy have to do with their lives?

Minato continues, "he foretold the birth of the Cursed One... The wielder of the Sword of Eternal madness."

Menma frowns, "What? What the hell is that?"

Kushina speaks up then, "The Cursed sword... It is part of the Mamoru family legacy. The sword has the power to corrupt a pure soul until it becomes a thing of evil."

Kushina closes her eyes in remembrance, "The sword was passed down through the generations... Because a new wielder will always be born after the death of the old one. It is an endless cycle."

Still not understanding what any of this has to do with them but willing to understand Mito asks, "Why not just destroy the sword? Or keep it away from everyone? "

Jiraya shakes his head sadly, "All those methods have been tried and failed. The sword can't be destroyed by any techniques known to men and if you separate the sword from the wielder for too long... The madness spreads like a disease. Three generations ago, the family of the fourth wielder tried to keep the sword hidden inside a cave in Grass country. Eight years later, the residents of a nearby village... They all killed themselves brutally all the while chanting about the sword. The moment the wielder picked up the sword, the madness stopped. People have also tried killing off the wielder as soon as they are born but that only means another wielder is born somewhere else..."