Chapter 85.5- One Thousand Hands

“Damn it, I’m angry at myself. Is that what you want to hear? That I am fucking pised with myself for even bringing her here in the first place. That the last time my cousin and I spoke we were on each other’s throats and I never got to apologise before she died?”

“Is that what you want to hear? That I regret fighting with her over the Hiruzen thing? That I regret not trusting her enough to leave in the village like I had wanted to . Now she is dead. Now my cousin is dead and I will have to tell Mito that another one of her family members is dead. That I got her killed fighting in war. That she’s lost a grandchild to Konoha’s war machine after I promised her nothing like this would happen on my watch. That I could do nothing while some crazy puppetteer from Suna who had no fucking business being here stabbed her, doused her in acid, and then decapitated her?”

“Yes. Because it is the truth. And now that you know that you are the one you are truly angry at, do you see why causing indiscriminate destruction does nothing to help your problem? You will blame yourself no less after you cause the damage… You will be no less angry. You will hate yourself no less. So instead of doing what you want to do now and rush into things, what if yu took the time to think things through first. Rest, recoup your strength, consolidate this victory, revel in it, and when the time comes you will have your revenge— whatever shape that ends up taking.”

“And you will not help?”

“Did you intend to use me as a crutch when we first me, Shorirama Senju? What use have I for a weak partner? I have seen your memories of Madara more times than I can count, and even with my chakra, you are still not strong enough. Either you will get stronger and we will win, or you will reman weak, and we will lose” He said.

“How long have you been thinking about this?” I asked. Because this could not have been a spur of the moment thing. It had to be something that he’d been thinking about for a minute or so now.

“You almost lost to the Raikage there. Naruto with only the first stage of my chakra cloak was able to hold his own, and then was able to win with just sage mode.” He said, looking at me.