Chapter 8 - Losses and Gains (3)

Sorry for the long break it's just a lot was going on. Now this ch was supposed to be way longer but I have to think for a bit longer how I want to portray the mc emotional nihilism without making him edgy and emotionless or contradictory

Thank you 🙏🏾🙇🏽‍♂️

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A few moments earlier…

Hikaru limped, his body not yet completely healed from the fight…or more like the beating he took.

If you looked closely, you'd undoubtedly be drawn to the blood staining his body, his appearance reminiscent of a horror movie character. 

As he limped down the long halls of his library, hundreds of books littered the floor, each imprisoning a life, but Hikaru didn't care as he continued forward. 

In his left hand he tightly held two books, one an intense blood red while the other a bright yellow. In his right hand, a cracked, broken syringe with an ominous green liquid leaking out, covering Hikaru's hand.

But Hikaru didn't even seem to care or notice; instead, his gaze was focused on a luminescent blue screen that filled his vision. His face, confusion etched into every part, couldn't help but eye the mysterious screen. 

'What is this?' Hikaru questioned, confused, his gaze drifting to his right shoulder as if looking at something or someone before realization dawned on him. 

"Right Inner is gone," Hikaru said, his emotionless face contrasting with the obvious sadness and pain in his voice as he recalled the disappearance of his one and only friend. 

"I won't waste this power on you—cough cough," Hikaru started before a cough rose, forcing out a mouthful of blood that stained his chapped lips.

Hikaru, however, didn't care; he quickly wiped the blood, not even sparing a thought at it as his gaze returned to the screen. 

[Hello Host! You, through the creation of a new ability, have awakened the Ability Creation System.]

[System analyzing world…] 

[Analysis Complete. The host is in a chakra-based world. ]

[Host Through the system, you can create abilities by imagining a name and description of an ability of the user's choice.]

[ The system will then create an ability based on the user's specification, but there are limitations and rules.]

[1. The host has a maximum of three ability creation slots currently; every year the host gains 1 more slot.]

[2. By creating an original ability without the help of the system, the host will gain 1 more slot.] 

[3. When creating an ability, depending on the strength and difficulty of the ability, there will be a wait time until the creation of the ability is complete.] 

[4. Creating an ability requires the host to have the corresponding affinity. For example, to create an ability that affects the mind, the host needs a high level of Yin affinity. ]

[4. Abilities can grow; they start off at level 1 and can progress to a max of level 10.]

[5. Unless explicitly stated, all abilities will require Chakra. If the host creates a chakra-free ability, the wait time will increase.]

[If the host understands these rules and limitations, you can now open the starter pack. Open the starter pack [Yes] [No].] 

Hikaru, reading the rules carefully, couldn't help but watch the screen cautiously; he had never heard of a screen that could create abilities.

'A kekkei genkai? ' Hikaru couldn't help but think, though he didn't know much about them, he knew the basics.

'From what I remember there DNA anomalies that gave a specific clan or people supernatural abilities.' 

'And from what I know, Konoha has several Kekkei Genkai families, the Uchiha, Hyuga,... The Kurama," Hikaru said, recalling the different kekkei genkai belonging to Konoha, one of the only lessons he showed any interest in. 

"And this," Hikaru said, looking around at his once mental library, now somehow manifested into reality. "Also seems to be one, and one that doesn't seem to be from the Kurama clan. Could I have two?" 

Arriving at the library's center, Hikaru sat down exhausted onto his chair as he set the contents in his hand onto the table with care. Returning back to the luminescent screen, Hikaru clicked yes. 

[Yes] 

"Whatever it is, I'll need it. Konoha will send others after me…no, they already have. It's only a matter of time before they send someone who will reach me, and depending on the situation, I might need this system," Hikaru said with a tired sigh.

"I don't regret it, though, because at the end of the day, I was only doing what I wanted," Hikaru mumbled as he turned his gaze back to the screen. 

[Host has opened starter pack!]

[The host gets a one-time 72-hour ability cooldown.] 

[The host gets the ability Inspiration.] 

[Ability: Inspiration LV.1

Passive 

The user gets a sudden burst of inspiration into the creation of an ability when looking at situations or things that could bring forth such inspirations.]

Hikaru looked at this, his brows furrowed as his eyes glossed over the description one more time. 'It's randomized?' he thought, sighing before putting the window away, planning to just wait for when it activates to test its strength. 

Pulling up the creation interface Hikaru pondered whether he should create something and test out this supposed system or wait in case he'd need the slot. 

'If only Inner were here,' Hikaru said in his emotionless tone, though it carried a hint of something somber. After a few moments, Hikaru reasoned it would be better to get a feeling for how to use this system or whatever it was as he opened the interface. 

—

[Ability Name ... . Enter Here…

Ability Description… Enter Here…

Include Chakra: [Yes] [No]

Affinities: [Yin-Classification: Near Limitless], [Yang-Classification: Bottom of Low] [SpaceTime-Classification: High], [Water-Classification: High], [Wind-Classification: Medium], [Earth-Classification: Low] 

—

'What should I create?' Hikaru thought to himself as he glanced over the interface, his eyes primarily looking at his affinities. 'Six affinities total.'

Hikaru, looking at his interface, was about to dissect the classifications, especially as to why one said "near limitless" and the other "bottom of low," but before he could, a voice entered his ears. 

"Hikaru? Are you okay? What are you looking at?" The voice asked as Hikaru's gaze shot up; the thought 'How did I not sense her?' radiated in his head. 

But seeing the woman's familiar red hair and soft expression Hikaru instinctively relaxed as his mind recalled what Kushina said when she came in.

"So you can't see it, huh?" Hikaru mumbled before he brought his eyes up to meet Kushina's.

Taking a deep breath to reset his mental state, he said in his emotionless tone, his sea-green eyes locked on Kushina as he said with an air of indifference, "Hello, Kushina. I take it you were the person sent to stop me." 

Kushina hearing this seemed to ponder something, her face dropping slightly into what seemed like disappointment before she simply said "yes," her voice holding an emotion Hikaru couldn't understand as she walked over, taking a seat in front of him. 

As she sat, the two sat in silence for a few moments, Kushina unsure of how to approach this child who had to go through things most humans couldn't bear.

While Hikaru was analyzing how he could get what he wanted in the best way possible. 

"So I take it you don't want to let them go and that this wasn't an accident." She said hesitantly, as she feared what Hikaru might say, that he might admit that the village pushed him too far, that he broke…that he had taken a path that would only end in his death, a death that could only be brought with her hands. 

Hikaru, hearing her question, chose his words carefully; he knew that if he played this wrong, he was dead, and the life he promised his mother over her dead corpse wouldn't come to fruition.

So with a sigh, he decided to compromise; aside from four people, the rest were merely bugs that acted on impulse, doing what fit their concept of morality.

And since their so-called 'morality' never crossed the line, he could let them go. 

'Plus even if I wanted to kill them all, I'd never make it out of this village alive unless… I killed everyone in the village…,' Hikaeru thought as he considered the notion for a few moments before shaking his head, not due to the implications it could have or due to some sense of morality—no, he simply didn't want to massacre the whole village even if he could, though he probably couldn't.

Having come to his decision Hikaru spoke, his voice mixed with indifference and certainty. "Well, you're half right. I have no problem freeing all but four people." 

Kushina, hearing this, frowned slightly as a million thoughts seemed to course through her head.

On one hand, Hikaru seemed to have no intention of massacring a building full of people, but his mindset was still…wrong. 

"Four people?" Kushina asked, hoping that she could understand where Hikaru's head was at and lead him away from his mindset. 

"Yes, four: the three doctors associated with my mother's death, and if he happened to still be in the hospital, the man who killed my mother. I want to kill them," Hikaru said with a completely emotionless voice, though his eyes held a glint. 

"Th-They killed your mother?" Kushina asked with surprise and disbelief; she wasn't stupid, she knew this village was far from perfect. It had its corruption and dirt; that's partially why she wanted to become Hokage. But killing a woman in a vegetative state while the child witnessed it is just as well…hard to believe. 

Hikaru, however, said with certainty, "Yes, a man with this syringe ran into me after leaving my mother's room, and he may still be in this hospital, and if he is, he's trapped in those books, so when I know who he is, and I will, I'll kill him," Hikaru said calmly as he passed over the syringe to Kushina. 

Kushina grabbed the syringe; her eyes widened, her fist instinctively closing in anger. 'So you did this… "Danzo," she thought as her eyes traced the symbol of the tree, her eyes landing on the outstretched roots. 

This reaction didn't escape Hikaru's notice. "You know who did it, don't you?" he said, his head tilted slightly, his voice coming out more cold than usual as he looked at Kushina like a beast who finally found the trail of his prey. His eyes held a gaze that sucked one in like a void, one that could see every bit of you. 

Kushina, hearing Hikaru's voice, instinctively shuddered. 'I'm the jinchuriki of the nine-tails, yet this kid is giving me the heebie jeebies,' Kushina said as she realized Hikaru might not be as normal as she thought.

'A kid traps hundreds of people in some weird library realm, and you think he's normal, Kushina.' She said, mentally berating herself. 

"Hey, I asked you a question. You know who did this, right?" Hikaru asked this time, his voice holding a colder edge than before as his sea green eyes glowed dimly. The air in the library went still as silence and tension stretched between them. 

Kushina, seeing this, took a deep breath before deciding to take it slow. "Yes, I do, but Hikaru, you have got to understand that what the person who did this did was wrong—" 

Kushina started, but Hikaru cut her off with a laugh, one born out of pure amusement. "But they're not?" Hikaru said slowly with a smile on his face.

"Huh?" Kushina asked. 

"I never said they were wrong for killing my mother; they thought she should die and acted on it. Who am I to condemn them for their choices? In this world there are no sinners or saints, only people, and people have choices, and those choices bring consequences. It's as simple as that." Hikaru said lazily as he preached his philosophy with a smile, a smile that looked like it came from the devil himself. 

"But they killed her; don't you hate them?" Kushina asked as she looked at Hikaru, wondering what things a child had to go through to become like… that.

"Hate? No, of course not; they were just following the choices they made, just like I am now. My mother is dead; she has no wants nor any say in what I do. I want to kill her killer because I want to, not because I hate him for taking her away or because it's the right thing to do, but because I want to," Hikaru said, his smile never leaving his face.