Toshiko was met with a smile and a pat on the head from his Sensei, Aethir. "Let me tell you something I didn't know when I first left home on my own..." he smiled, nodding. "Once you understand this, killing certain people will no longer be an injustice." What did he just say? Killing would no longer be an injustice? That couldn't have been what he had just said. Killing had been a injustice since the beginning of time. Toshiko hadn't liked murder ever, but he remembered when he first truly started to hate it. The day his father murdered his mom in cold blood, for a reason still unknown. Toshiko didn't really need a reason. In his eyes, there was literally no reason to commit murder. Taking the life of someone else provides you with nothing but regret, pain, sorrow, and a hole in your heart for the rest of your life. Toshiko didn't need to murder to know that. He cried when he was a kid if he hit someone else. So he could never ever commit murder. Despite this, he felt obligated to see his sensei's sense of reasoning. Aethir told him that killing at first was intimidating, and that all humans that were raised correctly knew that murder was wrong. He told Toshiko that he was a good person for seeing that, even feeling sorry for a man such as the dead man that laid before them. That made Toshiko want to feel good, and it did. Yet somehow the pain was still large inside of his chest. Aethir then said that not all humans deserved to live, speaking of all those that took life for granted by committing crime or sin? Crime? Sin? In Toshiko's opinion, that was all based off of unjust rules and reasoning imposed upon them by society. While that was the case, regardless that was the fucked up reality that they all lived in.

Toshiko didn't kill because he didn't want to get arrested, nor because he thought he would be punished by some form of higher power. He didn't kill simply because of two things. His ignorance on death, and the feeling of pain. Toshiko had no clue what happened after death, and even if he did he wouldn't feel obligated to take life away from another being. Most of all, he knew pain. One of the greatest pains at that. He knew the pain of losing a loved one, and pain in general. He would never cause another being to go through that. Never. No matter who or what it was. He knew pain. Too well. He experienced the majority of the different variations of it. Physical pain, neglect, loneliness, depression, death, and many more. While pain was terrible, in some way it was also beautiful. The pain that Toshiko had experienced allowed him to realize what it meant to be alive. Shit happens, and a lot of it is going to be really bad. While that's the case, you aren't supposed to let that deter your dreams. No matter how bad you are feeling, there will always be at least one good thing that happens to you in your lifetime. That's what life meant to Toshiko. To enjoy the little things. It was a strange feeling, but a good one as well. Whether it was training with a friend, or going out to get ice cream with Kamiko, or just simply taking a view of the moonlit star filled sky. Those things made him happy. He would never take that away from anyone else no matter who they were or what they had done. Not his terrible dad who had killed Toshiko's loving mother in cold blood, and not that sadistic murderer piece of shit that laid over there. In Toshiko's mind, no one deserved death.

Despite this, Toshiko listened as Aethir went on to speak. He said he left his home when he was only sixteen years old, and had never killed anyone nor did he think about doing such a terrible thing. He said that the time came when he went to kirigakure because one of his brothers suggested he become Mizukage. He said once he went to Kirigakure and graduated from the academy, he would never fit in no matter how hard he tried to. Toshiko looked up at him with his watery eyes, and then he realized the pain that him and Aethir shared. Toshiko had no friends when he was growing up but one. His one and only friend in this great big world was his mother. His mother had always been there for him, no matter what the situation was. She cared about him just as much if not even more than he had cared about her. She'd never done anything wrong to him. When Toshiko was 6, he lost that friend. Forever. He knew that he was never, ever going to get that friend back. Aethir must have gone through the same thing, probably even worse. They were more alike than Toshiko thought, that was for sure.


He then said that it isn't possible to just up and kill someone. It takes time, and courage while still making it a kill or be killed situation. It took courage? It took courage to find another solution, and to find another way. It took courage to find the good in some of the world's worst people. It took courage to look fate in the eye, and then save yourself from eternal pain. Even though Aethir said that he couldn't choose to let the person live. Toshiko didn't know whether or not that was true, but the aethir he knew wouldn't do anything like that unless it was justifiable. He said that once he did take the life of another person, it ate away at him. It didn't feel good. He dreamed that that was what he would due to everyone one else that he met. Eventually, the dreams stopped when he realized something. "People who commit a crime are fully aware of what they are doing. Therefore, they should also be aware of the death penalty awaiting them."

Was that the truth? Was the part of the realization that Toshiko would have to face when he was a full fledged ninja let out onto the world? Aethir then pointed towards the corpse upon the ground.  "This man knew the consequences of killing. And I have no mercy for those who KNOW that they are doing wrong. There's no way you couldn't know..." Aethir turned to Toshiko with a smile. "So Toshiko...I tell you this saying that I came up with myself... That I kept chanting whenever I had to kill on a mission or to protect myself..." Aethir nodded before saying it, "As a ninja...you are a killer, not a murderer. A murderer is someone who kills someone for an unjust cause. A killer is someone who kills with the law on their side, putting an end to the evil that is the murderer. Killers, in a way, kill the murderers." Aethir nodded, looking over to the corpse. "That man is a murderer. And as such, ninjas are killers who go after murderers. If you go after someone other than murderers, than you too are a murder...and must be dealt with due to killing unjustly." Aethir stopped his explanation, smiling to the boy. "Does that make sense, Toshiko? Killers are not frowned upon, however murderers are. While it's true we both kill. One kills for good...and the other for evil. This is what I've come to believe."

Toshiko processed that for a moment. He heard every last word and knew where Aethir was coming from, but......It was like there was a force inside of him, that was stopping him from letting that perception become his reality. He was still crying, and the smile upon Aethir's face gave him a bitter sweet feeling that just made him want to cry some more. He knew what Aethir meant, and that was the moment. That was the moment that he realized, that one day he was going to have to kill. No matter what the situation was, the criminal that had attacked him showed him the fact that there were others like him in the world. Toshiko's goal was to put a end to all evil. To do that, maybe some would have to take the death penalty. No....He didn't want to except it. At least not now. When and if the time came, he would talk to them first. He still had the same outlook on life. To enjoy the little things. Toshiko looked up at Aethir, wiping the tears from his eyes and smiling. "I....I think i get it. Thanks A Sensei." Toshiko stood up, and hugged Aethir meaningfully. Toshiko then realized. He had it from Kamiko. The strawberry lollipop. Toshiko let loose from the hug, and then put his hand in his pocket pulling out the lollipop. This was his duty. Showing Aethir the way to Enjoy the little things. "It's for you....Strawberry Sensei."