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Shikaku marches to his death alone.
His wrists and ankles are both cuffed, connected to one another by another chain. The cuffs all have seals inscribed on them and then, as if that is not enough, seals have been stuck to major chakra points on Shikaku’s body to keep his chakra under control.
Bloody, battered, and bruised, Shikaku takes this as something to be proud of. If they think he is this dangerous, then he must have done something right.
Still, he wishes it wouldn’t end this way. He has no knowledge of whether Shikamaru made it to freedom, or any of the others. Yoshino gave her life beside him, the both of them fighting to give everyone else some more time.
The only reason Shikaku knows that Danzō does not have Shikamaru in his claws is because Danzō would certainly have tried to use Shikamaru to pry the information from him about where the others have gone. Not that Shikaku knew. He had never truly planned to leave Konoha, and so had never let the others tell him their plans. Better to keep such information a secret.
No one in Konoha knew where they had gone, or were heading. No one in Konoha ever would.
It’s with half an ear that Shikaku listens to Danzō’s droning speech. It’s unnecessary drivel for the most part, mentioning his crimes as a traitor and how he had instigated a coup against the newest Hokage. Danzō even mentions that the position of Nara has been stripped from him—as if it could be stripped from him. Shikaku will die the Nara Clan Head, and die as the last Nara Clan Head.
In the distance, the deer watch him through the leaves. Shikaku watches them back.
“Do you have any last words?” Danzō says, and the pleasant smile that curls on his lips is all good humour and all fake.
Danzō and Shikaku know all too well the power a martyr can have, just as they know that Shikaku would never cheapen the sacrifice of everyone else by taking up such a mantle. He did, just maybe, let his opinion on the Yondaime’s death be heard by too many it seems.
Instead, Shikaku grins with all his teeth. It is with hope beating in his heart and blood in his mouth and the beady eyes of the deer watching him that he says, “The Godaime Hokage will fall. Long live Konoha.”
The blade swings.
Some people look away. Some do not. A few even cheer.
Others grit their teeth, lift their chins, and dare to be better.