Chapter 71.4- One Thousand Hands

XXXXXXX- KOSUKE THE DESERT BLAZE

He watched his friend and partner as he polished the blades that gave him his epithet. Each one of Hayate’s six swords was a masterpiece onto itself. Most assumed mastering six swords meant he was not that dangerous with each one, but this was a man who had travelled the world in his younger years, seeking out Samurai, Kenjutsu practitioners, even Monks who wielded blades, and besting them all until he became a master of six different sword styles and had. Carved a blade specially designed to be used with each style and ensure each one was bright out to their full potential.

“Are you ready?” He added. Trying to form some small talk. Hayate just looked at him.

“I never can get the tremor out of my fingers” he replied himself instead, looking down at them. He had risen to the heights of the ninja world. Journeyed to the precipice and beyond. Become S-rank. And still it wasn’t enough to get the tremor out of his fingers before battle. Now he knew that once the battle began, his body would submit itself to him, under the rulership of his ever sharp chakra, but it was one thing to know it logically and another to banish the fear that whispered in his ears— what if they don’t stop this time? How would he weave seals, use jutsu with his shaking hands?

“Fear is the mind-killer” Hayate finally said. He gave Kosuke a single look before returning to polishing his blade— the third one. So he could reply then. That was all Kosuke needed as a sign to keep going.

“Do you ever just sit and think about Piandao?” He asked. Hamate grunted but did not reply. Well enough, Kosuke would continue on regardless.

“He was strong, you know. Maybe not as strong as you. Definitely not as strong as me. I never got to fight him but watching him fight drove that point home well enough. He was stronger than most, and he had died. Now even the Tsuchikage is dead. I don’t think I’m stronger than the Tsuchikage was. Do yu?”

“What exactly are you driving at Kosuke?” Hayate seemed to give up on pretending to ignore him, pinning the full weight of his attention on his fellow Suna shinobi.

“When I was younger, I was always afraid. Heights, darkness, small spaces, scorpions, spiders, whatever danger existed in the world, I was aware of it, and I feared it to my bones. But then I joined the academy. Do you know what the first lesson I learned there was? It wasn’t anything overt. It came from watching the chunin instructor negligently drive a shuriken into a scorpion, killing it without even trying. If you’re strong enough, you have nothing to fear, and so I did that. I became so strong mot shiver when they hear my name.”

“Is there a point here?” Hayate asked, never good with patience that one.

“The point is that I am still afraid. I am one of the strongest things in the world, and I am still just as afraid as I used to be. When will that stop?”