"I'm sorry." They watched as one of the chains pierced through the boy and straight into Naruto.

You idiot. That was the last thing Akashi heard, before his world turned dark.

_

As he opened his eyes, he realised where he was.

Back in the sewers.

Why was he there?

He had given Kurama away, so why?

Why was he there? Why was he back there?

There was no one there with him.

"You are mistaken if you think that." A voice resounded through the dimly lit space around him.

It wasn't a voice he had heard before.

Sitting up from his lying position, he was met with a sight he didn't expect.

A man was hovering above the water in front of him. A man... who didn't quite look like a human being.

"And you are?" The man gave him no answer, instead he floated over to him, "I asked you a question... old man." He had realised the man looked quite old as he neared him.

"Never had I expected I would meet someone like you." The sound of his voice surprised him, it didn't sound as old as the man looked.

But... Someone like him? What did he mean by that?

Pushing off the water with his hands, Akashi felt his fingers slip through and his gasp was muffled by the water as he went under.

Then, as if nothing happened, he found himself standing still and facing the man, "What the hell did you do?" He glowered at him, staring straight into his Ri-!

Rinnegan?!

"Every thing is created to make balance in this world," the man said, not answering Akashi's questions, "Every strand of grass... Every grain of earth... Every leaf on the trees... Every animal... Every human... Everything," Akashi didn't understand what was being said to him.

What nonsense was this man spewing?

Balance? As if there was something like that.

"What are you talking about?" He took a careful step back as the man blankly stared at him, "What the fuck are you talking about? Balance?" Nothing the man said made any sense to him.

"My name is Hagoromo," he suddenly introduced himself, "You may have heard of me by another name... The-"

"... Sage of Six Paths." Akashi finished his sentence. The man in front of him... was the creator of Ninjutsu? He was actually looking at the man who started all of it?

The man who was the cause of the chaos that wrecked the world?

Taking another step back, Akashi clenched his fists. Really... The whole situation was hilarious. It was really... really hilarious.

So hilarious that he couldn't stop the laugh from bubbling out of his lips. He closed his eyes as the sewers echoed.

"Is there something which caused you such... happiness?" Hagoromo questioned.

Happiness? Happiness? Happiness? Happiness? Happiness?

"You were the one who created Ninjutsu." Akashi looked at him, hands relaxed at his sides.

"I was the one who created Ninshu, the Ninja Creed, not Ninjutsu." Was he... serious? Who was he kidding?

"Oh, no... no, no, no, no," Akashi shook his head, lips curling up into a light smile, "You did... You were the cause for Ninjutsu, so you are the creator... You spread your knowledge to other people and they used Ninjutsu against each other," he looked at the rippling water beneath his feet, "They used Ninjutsu to start wars... They used Ninjutsu to kill, to pillage, to destroy."

𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑵 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑾𝑰𝑵𝑫 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑾𝑺 •𝒃𝒙𝒃•Onde histórias criam vida. Descubra agora