Desert Flower

Kami-sama's Offer

  Clouds of breath rolled past my cheeks as the cold wind nipped at my nose. Paws pounding through the snow filled my ears as the trio of wolves carried us through the forest. Riding close to Tsume's back, Gaara was holding on for dear life behind me. Kankuro had ended up using his chakra threads to attach himself to Gakkotsu's back to keep from falling off.

  My fingers were tangled into Tsume's mane as I just held on and let the wolf follow the scent trail they'd picked up. Following Raikage's advice to search the Iron Country for Naruto and Kakashi proved to be the right thing to do as they were clearly still here. None of the wolves knew Kakashi well enough to track his scent, Gakkotsu had only met him briefly, but Tsume knew Naruto's scent by now.

  Especially since the blond had a tendency to spill ramen and milk on his shirt.

  With no one talking, my mind was plagued by the things Madara had said. How he was the one to seal Kami-sama inside of me, left me in Konoha to be fodder for the wolf, and planned to reap what had been sown. These things about my life had simply been a mystery and now....now so much of my life was a lie.

  I was used. Plain and simple, I was used. The only thing Madara hadn't accounted for was Kami-sama honestly taking care of me. Though it wasn't as if they did it out of the kindness of their heart, Kami-sama only wanted to make me stronger for their own benefit. Keeping me alive was also for their own benefit. The Third Hokage provided for me monetarily, but it was Kami-sama who showed me how to do things until....

  Until Jiraiya.

  It wasn't hard to see why I, as a child, thought so highly of Ginko. They were all I had, and they guided me through things that no one else had or would. However, to find that even that was intentionally set up....it hurt. It felt as if too many things I thought I knew were either built on lies I told myself or were planned out by a man that turned people into pawns.

  I felt like a pawn. I could have ended up so very differently had only a few things gone another way. I could be in Sasuke's shoes right now if Madara had kept me. I could have been raised as a weapon. I could be like the other dead jinchuriki if I'd been weaker, more alone.

  Closing my eyes, I clenched my jaw while trying to push the thoughts out of my head. I didn't want to think about the 'what if's, especially since each 'if' hurt more. And what hurt the most of all was that before Gaara and Naruto came along, if Madara had decided to take me in then, I knew I would have done anything he'd asked of me. I didn't much care about other people back then.

  I mean, I knew what was morally good and bad, but I didn't fully get it. Being as young as I was when I first killed someone and how I reacted....it wasn't normal, and I knew it. I wasn't bloodthirsty, however, I didn't care. When I did care was when I lost control. The shame I felt, the fear of not being the one dictating my actions, the even deeper loneliness that came from how others looked at me.

  None of that would have come from Madara, and that's why I knew the me from then had such potential to become something so much worse. I was eager to feel wanted and accepted, and Madara, being as smart as he was, could have easily used that. The only reason none of that happened was simply because he didn't want to lug a kid around with him.

  Tsume slid to a stop, and I opened my eyes to see a building with Naruto, Kakashi, Yamato, and Sai standing out front.

  "There's something you need to know right away. We will tell you everything about what happened at the Five Kage Summit." Temari said while sitting up straight on Shinzo's back.

~

  "I see. To think the Summit would end up like that...." Yamato sighed while crossing his arms. "I guess that's to be expected with Danzo."