"You know, I am a worthless man", said a middle-aged man with a scar on the right side of his face, his name is Raido. Lying on the Konoha hospital bed, because his old wound while protecting Lord 3rd has been getting worse. The doctor said that His organs are failing.
"You know, I knew I was a talentless man", he said to Genma.
There was no answer from Genma, only a shot 'Humf' came from his nose.
"I know, you would not say anything, but you know, I really wanted to stop everything. The death of Lord 4th, the death of Asuma, I wanted to stop Itachi. humph… I know, it's laughable, but I knew my powerlessness. I knew I could never become like Naruto, Sasuke, Obito, or Lord 6th. So, I choose to trust people more powerful than me, hoping that their decisions would stop the wars and we can finally have some peace. So, I tirelessly fulfilled my duties."
"Who didn't think they were doing everything in their power to protect the peace in the village. You, I, Asuma, Lord 6th. But who could have thought that the 4th war would happen?" said Genma
"Yeah, Asuma, I saw him getting killed in front of my eyes, and I could do nothing. Even today, I think, if I just could be a little stronger, if my blade just could pierce through Kakuzu, everything could have been solved."
"Why think about those things right now. Everything is quite peaceful nowadays." Said Genma.
"Yeah, these days, everything is not that violent anymore. It's quite nice and peaceful. But back in my mind, there is a constant voice that's telling me nothing has changed. Ninjas still go to missions and die. We still have to rely on Mission money to live. Has anything really changed? I don't know, man."
Suddenly, the atmosphere of the hospital ward seems to change. The spring air seems to become stagnant again. Feeling the awkward atmosphere, both Genma and Raido let out a sigh, which they didn't know they were holding, and stared into the ceiling of the hospital.
Konoha Hospital's this part is oddly quiet. Maybe most people who come here die violently or verge of dying violently. Most People could not live to their middle age in this day and age.
Maybe it's because of spring right now, the wind is blowing away flower petals in the distance.
Looking back on his life, the happiest time in his life was probably the days in the academy. At least everyone was still alive, Asuma, Kurenai, Obito, Rin, might guy. At that time, we didn't have to worry about our lives in war. We all wanted to become Hokage.
In Raido's sickly pale face, finally, a faint smile appears, and he said, "Maybe in the next life I wouldn't have so many regrets."
"Yeah. We can only hope for that." Said Genma with a bitter smile on his face.
"Yes! In the next life, we will live without any regrets." Said Raido, with the brightest energy he could muster. Like a candle before burning out, shine the brightest; his eyes are also the brightest jewels Genma has ever seen in his life.
As if exhausting all his strength, he finally lay down to rest.
......….
But God seems to have different plans for him.
After some time, while closing his eyes, Raido felt as if he was being squeezed into a very small space he himself could not describe. It felt like storing 200 shuriken in a 50-space shuriken storage scroll. The process of fitting into that space was extremely painful. If he could, he would tear every single hair from his head.
In his confusion and bewilderment, he was looking for something to ground his consciousness, like to hold on to something.
His eyes, like a seasoned veteran and a johnin of the leaf village, scanned every single corner of the place he found himself in. Within this confusion and Vigulence, his eyes saw something that he could never imagine in his 10 lifetimes. Raido saw a very familiar lecture room with a pitched floor and a podium like seating arrangement, so, the people from behind could see the blackboard in front of the room. In front of that blackboard, he saw a very familiar person. He saw someone, whom he thought he could never see in his academy teacher, Itama.
He does not know how to describe his feelings with words. It's like a mix of shock, confusion, expectation, regret, and hopefulness at the same time, pounding his tiny heart, with life like never before.
He saw Genma, sitting beside him, looking at himself with a stupid grin. He whispered, "Don't try to sleep right now, the teacher said he is going to ask questions today."
I saw Asuma, Rin, Obito, Might Guy, and Iwashi. Everybody is here. They are not dead yet.
And silently, the tears started to fall out of his eyes.
The emotions that he has been holding up, the bitterness of 55 years of useless existence and powerlessness he has been holding up, being able to survive where his friends could not, his inability to protect lord 4th, not able to save his teammate Asuma, all those bitterness in his previous life finally formed the tears in his eyes. And those tears carried all the emotions, and finally found their place on the ground.
Finally, in his useless existence, he has the chance to save his friends. Finally, with all that knowledge from the future, he is not that useless anymore.
"Hay! Why are you crying, Raido?" said Genma, with a worried expression on his face.
Raido finally looked up and saw his best friend, carefully.
He is not that old anymore, it is the first thought that came to his mind, seeing his friend. It seems Genma had the same style till his old age, with a senbon in his mouth and a blue head scarf covering his long brown hair, with his same carefree expression on his face. But now he looked a little worried.
"You ok, man?"
Finding a friend like this, in the world of shinobi, is very rare. Even as a kid, he was still worried about me. It will be much later in his life, but he will realise the value of this friend of his.
Wiping away my tears, I said to him, "It's nothing. I just got sleepy," and pretended to yawn.
Seeing that I am ok, "whatever, wanna go to the dengo shop?"
"Yeah, I am down for it."
"Ok, meet me after school in front of the big tree."
"oo…" as I was going to talk to him more, the teacher started to ask questions to the class. So we both had to stop talking.
So, I got the chance to recollect my thoughts. So that I can figure out what I am going to do next.
[So, for an inexplicable reason, I got transported to the past, in my academy days. Now I know all the things that are going to happen to the village. Finally, I could prevent all the deaths of my friends. Maybe, just may be in this life I could be a little less useless.]