Shattered Stones

His intention had no hesitation. His hand was so still I could tell—he had killed tens of thousands, no, even more. Before I could even react, he already had the upper hand. He asked Annya to stand back and then looked at me, eyes sharp, voice calm but heavy with gravity. "Who are you? What is that blade doing with you?"

I was frozen. Speechless. Paralyzed in front of death.

His presence grew, rising like a storm, matching the death roar of Jonathan… no, surpassing it. Then Annya spoke.

"Master… he is a friend of mine. Apprentice of Jonathan."

At those words, the tension in his body vanished. He let me go. He smiled. Warmly. Humanly. "Ah… sorry, son. Pardon me for jumping to conclusions."

I couldn't recognize him. Calm now, serene… it didn't feel like the same person who could kill without hesitation.

He asked Annya about Jonathan. She asked me to leave. She knew I couldn't hear the past again. So I left with Suga. We walked through the village. Barely any yokai. Maybe the shrine at the entrance kept them away.

I returned to the dojo. The master was broken. But his face, his posture… he hid it well but i could feel a bond there was a bond there, silent, unspoken—a bond only broken souls recognize. You can see it in someone suffering the same fate as you. I could feel the sadness within kagenkena bitter felling enough to make a man hollow from inside, no matter how tightly he tried to seal it. He never blamed me for what happened. And… maybe that was worse. Maybe I had been hoping someone would tell me it was my fault.

I joined the others in training. Night fell. The air was thick with despair. It had a taste. Bitter, metallic. A pressure building inside me like a volcano ready to erupt.

Finally, in the bath, I couldn't hold it anymore. The water scalded our skin, but it did nothing to burn the guilt. I burst out.

"Why… why are you treating me like this? It feels… good, but… do I deserve this? After what happened to Jonathan… because of me… because I was too weak… because I ran away…"

Tears poured. A waterfall blocked by duty, finally crashing through.

Kagenken came. Took my head against his chest. Warm. Not like water, not like fire. Something more… comforting.

"It wasn't you, Shin. It wasn't you, Shin Zetsu. You did what your master asked. You did what was best. You protected Annya—that's what matters."

The stones holding back the waterfall inside me shattered. Tears fell, heavy and hot, crashing down. And I felt it—Kagenken's tears on my back.

Silence. A silence only a soul past repair can feel. And yet… it had the power to heal.