Devil Ninja

Chapter 48

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

Rias lips trembled. "To be honest, it feels like I've lost a piece of myself. Ise was... a really good boy, like a troublesome younger brother, and now... now..."

Naruto stepped forward and embraced Rias, who didn't hesitate to lean in and begin softly sobbing. As the King of her peerage, she could not appear weak in front of others, especially during times of great duress. She had to be strong. She needed to be a beacon that her family could rely on when the going got rough. However, if she spent all her time being the strength of others, then she'd eventually become brittle and fall apart.

That was why Naruto was there. If Rias was going to be the pillar of support for everyone else, then he would become her pillar. This way she wouldn't break from the pressure.

As Rias cried into his chest, Naruto ran his fingers through her long, red hair. He didn't say anything. There was nothing that could be said in a situation like this, and just like Rias, Naruto felt the gaping hole in this chest from Issei's loss.

Rias's tears eventually settled down, but she didn't remove himself from Naruto's embrace, instead holding him even more tightly as if afraid he would disappear too.

"Naruto?"

"Yes?"

"I want revenge?"

"On the Old Satan Faction?"

"And Hades. And the Chaos Brigade"

Naruto didn't say anything for the longest time. He leaned down and pressed his nose into Rias's hair. She had a faintly fiery smell, like cinnamon.

"You know... my sensei was a man who tried his hardest to bring peace to the Elemental Nations. He was a born in a time when war was rampant and people were dying every day. He once told me that hatred is spread by war. Each person has someone important to them, and when that person is killed, the people who are important to them will hate the killer and seek revenge, thus perpetuating the never ending cycle."

Rias said nothing as Naruto spoke, and after he finished, she remained silent for some time as well.

"Are you telling me I shouldn't take revenge on them for what they did to Ise?" Her voice sounded hot and angry, but she didn't pull away from Naruto as she tilted her head and stared at him, vibrant green eyes narrowed. "I hope that's not what you're telling me. Ise is a member of my—of our family. To do nothing after he was killed by those people is not something I can do."

"I never said you shouldn't take revenge." Naruto shook his head as he removed his arms from her waist and cupped her cheeks. "I'm saying you shouldn't let the desire consume you. The Chaos Brigade needs to be removed anyway. So long as they exist, peace will never be achieved. And also..." He trailed off, took a deep breath, and sighed. "For as much as I believe in Jiraiya's dream, I do not think I can forgive these people like I forgave Nagato when he killed Sensei."

Back then, when Naruto confronted Nagato, he had decided not to get revenge, but the reason was because he understood. He and Nagato were both Jiraiya's students. Both of them had sought peace, though their methods had vastly differed. Naruto understood Nagato, as a student of Jiraiya, as someone who suffered, and he understood why Nagato had turned into the man he became.

Naruto could not understand the Chaos Brigade.

"Those people do not want peace. They wish to cause destruction and mayhem. Even if they hadn't killed Ise, I could never forgive people like that." A vicious look flashed across his eyes before he dismissed the hatred in his heart. He focused back on Rias as she stared at him with those gorgeous turquoise eyes and stroked her cheeks. "However, while I plan on destroying the Chaos Brigade, I think it's important that we don't forget why we're doing this."