"What?"
That simple question was enough to nearly shatter the green-haired girl's sense of morality.
"He fought the Pro Heroes. He killed your teacher and Tiger. He left the other heroines at death's door, even though they were willing to die to protect the students... your friends, the same friends they tried to kill..." Naruto said without remorse, his expression hard and somber. Horrified, Ibara slowly turned toward Kakuzu.
"Even so... even so..."
Her mind was in turmoil. Everything she believed in was being shaken, and she had to make a choice. Slowly, she looked at the fallen man with disgust. Kakuzu only returned her gaze.
"..." Closing her eyes, Ibara knelt beside him, took out a handkerchief, and pressed it against the wound in his chest.
"Girl... what are you doing?"
In all his years of life, Kakuzu had fought in three wars and killed countless enemies, without mercy and without hesitation. He had lived a life where only money mattered, and it had all come down to this.
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven... Luke 6:37," Ibara whispered softly as she pressed the handkerchief firmly against his wound. The white cloth slowly turned red with the Akatsuki treasurer's blood. He lay motionless on the ground, staring strangely at the green-haired brat.
"..." Naruto could only stand near her, as stunned as the rogue ninja from Takigakure. Was she really trying to save the man who had killed her teacher?
"Killing is never a good path..." Ibara gently moved Kakuzu's hair aside, revealing his dark green eyes. "Even after everything you've done, there is still time to repent. Then you can finally rest in peace and enjoy the kingdom of heaven..." As she stroked the old ninja's face, she comforted him in his final moments.
"..." Kakuzu frowned as he looked into the girl's tearful eyes. "I have nothing to regret. I lived my life the way I wanted, and if I go to hell, I'll go without complaint..."
His breathing grew slower as he continued to look at the teenager with doubt. "I've never met a girl like you..."
The Akatsuki member still looked reluctant as the girl prayed over him, holding the handkerchief against his chest and trying to stop the bleeding. She was a strange brat... but she had a strong heart.
"If I could, I'd break your neck... I would," he growled darkly, unable to move his arms. "Why are you doing this?"
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, and forgive each other..." Reciting another verse from her holy book, Ibara kept running her fingers gently through the dying ninja's brown hair.
"Stop babbling," Kakuzu said angrily, bothered by the sight of the brat crying. Was she crying for him? That would be stupid. And what was she babbling about? Kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. Three things unknown in the life of a shinobi.
"I forgive you..."
For a moment, time itself seemed to stop beneath the dark night sky. The half-moon shone over the scorched plain that had become their battlefield. Naruto stood nearby while Ibara remained beside Kakuzu's body.
"Wh-what... did you say?" the rogue ninja asked in disbelief.
"I forgive you... although that may not mean anything to you." Running her fingers across the former Taki shinobi's forehead, Ibara looked directly into his eyes. "There is always room for forgiveness..."
"..." Kakuzu stayed silent, staring at the strange brat. Her eyes were closed now, and she kept whispering without stopping.
"She's... too good for this world..."
Frowning, he looked up at the sky as his eyes slowly began to close. He was taking his last breaths.
"Uzumaki..." Kakuzu opened his eyes slightly and looked toward Naruto. "If you truly care about her... keep her far away from you. Keep her away from the rotten world people like us belong to..."
"..." Naruto watched Kakuzu finally close his eyes, never to open them again. The man's last words left him frozen where he stood.
"Move away." Coming back to himself, Naruto firmly grabbed Ibara by the shoulders and pulled her away from Kakuzu's body.
"What are you doing?"
"I have to destroy the body." Naruto was about to form a hand seal and use a technique to incinerate the corpse, erasing it before its secrets could be discovered. This world was not ready to know the reality that existed beyond it.
"No!"
Before the blond teenager could finish, vines wrapped around his right arm and threw him several meters away from Kakuzu. He hit the ground painfully.
"I won't let you do it!" Ibara stood firmly between her friend and the body. "How can you do this?! Let him die, and then talk about getting rid of him as if he were just garbage?!" the green-haired girl cried furiously, her hair floating behind her in a threatening mass.
"You don't understand..." Naruto painfully pushed himself to his feet, only to drop back into a sitting position. Frustrated, he looked at the teenager.
"I wouldn't understand? I wouldn't understand?" Ibara asked, fighting back the urge to cry. "What do you want me to understand? What do you want me to think when I see this, Naruto?"
"Do you think I wanted this?"
"No... I don't know." The girl hesitated, keeping her distance from the blond boy, who remained seated. "All I know is this. All of this is wrong!"
"I know!" Naruto's sudden shout made Ibara step back and fall silent. "Do you think I wanted this? Do you think I enjoy all this shit? Look at me, Ibara!"
Getting to his feet, Naruto pointed at himself. Every wound, every cut, every bruise, the blood still flowing from his injuries, all of it horrified the young Christian.
"Y-you..."
"You don't know what I'd give for things to be different. You have no idea how much I want to be normal, to be with my family... for my biggest worry to be having a job and someday starting a family of my own... But instead..." Looking down at his hands, the teenager felt anger and frustration at the blood staining them. "I have to live in this reality... where I feel the weight of the world crushing me every second... I can't stand these two worlds anymore... or their people."
"What are you saying?" Ibara asked, confused.
"I'm not from this world..."
...….
Back at the camp, everyone was waiting for help to arrive. They were in the middle of a forest, kilometers from the nearest city. While the Pro Heroes regrouped and tried to decide what to do next, some of the students had other plans.
"Deku-kun... where are you going?" Ochako dropped several water bottles when she saw her friend rise from the blanket where he had been resting and head toward the forest.
"I can't just stand here doing nothing, not when Sensei is fighting for his life." Determined, Izuku headed into the woods, but a strip of cloth wrapped around his torso and stopped him. "Let me go... Aizawa-sensei," the teenager pleaded without bothering to turn toward the serious Pro Hero, who still needed Kirishima's help to stay on his feet.
"Nobody is going anywhere. We don't know how many more enemies are in the area."
"No."
Everyone was stunned by the sound of tearing cloth. The bindings around the green-haired boy were ripped apart by his hand.
"It wasn't an option, Midoriya. It was an order," said the disheveled black-haired man, cursing the fact that he could not use his Quirk to stop his student by force if necessary.
"I'm sorry... but I have to disobey you."
[ If you want to read advance Chapters then go to Pat reon and support me there as I have already uploaded advance Chapters there.
PAT REON I'D:- Skythe ]