Chapter 93.4- One Thousand Hands

“Yes Hokage-sama” Shen said, even if I could tell that there was more she had to say. I nodded. I would look into other at some point in time, but not now.

“Dismissed, Shikahime” I said, and with a body flicker, she was gone. It was just Uzume and I now.

“I didn’t expect you to be so harsh with her” Uzume said.

“I’m more than capable of tough love when it is warranted, and that is exactly what Shikahime needed today. She needed someone to give her direction and absolution. I could do the former, but never the latter. The latter has to come from within.” I said.

“And have you managed to find it?”

“Absolution? I doubt I ever will” I said, turning and leaving the room. My presence here had caused so many deaths. Most people had no way of knowing if the world would have been better off without them— it was near impossible tp tell if you were a net negative or positive in the world.

I could though. Because I knew what canon had looked like after the second war, and in truth, this was much worse than what had happened there. Not just in Konoha even. My presence here had brought death, suffering, and pain to so many. And sadly, it was going to bring those precise emotions to so many more even despite how guilty I felt about it.

Because one way our another I was going to get my revenge on Suna and cause even more pain and suffering while I did that. Just in the hopes that one day when the dust all clrewared and the song finished playing, I would come out having made life better for my people.

—

“I need your help”

“Generally, when a Grandson visits his Grandmother for the first time in days, he starts with something more polite and fitting— ‘how are you Grandmother?’, ‘does your knee still hurt when you wake up’, ‘I am sorry for not seeing you in so long’. You know thins like that? She teased, even saying the words that were clearly intended quotations in a caricature of my voice..

“Apologies, Grandmother” I said.

“How are you, Grandmother? Does your knee still hurt when you wake up? I’m sorry for not seeing you in so long” I said, quoting her and tossing her words back her way. Her stern expression melted into a smile.

“Everything is much better now that I have you here, and no, my knee seems to have gotten much better with time. And apology accepted. Just make sure to come around more often” She said.

“Yes Grandmother”

“So what brings you here now?”

“A grandson can’t visit his Grandmother anymore?” I asked, feigning offense.

“Oh please. Still in those robes? You want something. Tell me what it is.””

“I don’t know if I should be offended or apologetic about not showing up more” I said.

“Be both. Or neither. Just tell me what it is that you want so I can give it to you, and then we can spend time together without that hanging over our heads.” She said next, coughing slightly in the middle.