The peak on the second largest mountain in Kumogakure. It's altitude was high enough to make breathing difficult, the cold that teased it strong enough to dissuade most people from coming here, but Kiyoshi and Mizuki continued their climb to the top nonetheless. The foliage was scattered, leaving the mountains free to bare their stony fangs in defiance of the sneering winds that regularly teased it. The massive stone would not yield to the heavens above, nor listen to the rumbling thunder as it shouted its commands. It reminded Mizuki of her duel with the samurai who had profiled himself as being this very same mountain whereas she represented the heavens through the use of her father's techniques. The samurai had won that duel back then, but the price for victory had been a costly one for a samurai bound by honour.

Sky Point was said to be high enough for people to touch the skies. Though slightly exaggerated, it did look like the usually distant clouds were now giant lands floating above their heads. Their peaceful presence left the kunoichi that had never challenged the mountain in awe, mind drifting as the wind scattered her thoughts. She knew why they were here though. This would be her father's resting place as he intended for Mizuki to finish her mastery in the Heaven Sword style - and the Executioner Arts.

It was a strange feeling. She wanted to oppose the thought of having to do end her father, but all she could feel was an empty acceptance of the situation. She looked up to the clouds once more, watching how they came closer with every new step and climb. She understood that this had always been his intention. Sky Point had always been his favourite place. A place where he could reach the clouds. A place where he could let go of all his duties, deliver them to the heavens above knowing everything would be just fine. His moment of letting go, of losing himself into the all encompassing world.

Now he wanted to do so again, for one last time.

Reaching the top of Sky Point, the two of them watched over the lands below them. The skies above them, Kumogakure a blurred speck in the distance. Was it not strange to realise that all one knew could be changed in a fraction of a section simply by experiencing a different perspective? Kumogakure had always been everything for the kunoichi, but standing here with her father at this spot, the Village hidden in the clouds seemed like a triviality in comparison to the entire world that stretched out before them. Shifting her gaze from the Village towards the horizon, Mizuki heard her father's words whisper through her mind.


The endless horizon only revealed so much, but its secrets changed depending the perception. What was it he meant to say to her? That his death by her hands would change how she saw the world? That the mastery of the Heaven Sword would open new paths? That there was more about all of this than she or himself would ever fathom? She felt like she'd never know the answer to all these questions.

Her gaze moving from one end to another, Mizuki's eyes halted in the general directions of the Villages she had visited during her diplomatic mission. She had wished to reach every of the kage within the Village but had not succeeded at doing so. Iwagakure's kage had been missing, Konoha's kage had been too occupied and Suna's had been destroyed along with its Village. The only one she had been able to reach was Kirigakure's Mizukage. The black storms had revealed themselves, however, so her mission was not a failure exactly. Thinking about it, she wondered if spreading the black clouds had been such a good idea now, as the Raikage had been acting rather oddly thereafter. The symbolic attack on the mountains direction Iwagakure, the apathetic approach towards the S rank missing-nin destroying the arena as she proclaimed herself to be the destroyer of Sunagakure, the acceptance of a traitor such as Syekren who had helped orchestrating the destruction of his own Village. It worried the kunoichi. She feared that the Raikage despite his kindness towards her and the diplomatic approach he had preached, might be following in the footsteps of Sanosuke by bringing destruction rather than alleviating Kumogakure from the struggles it had suffered rather than to build up the Village as her friend and mentor Lin had intended to do.

What if this was the case? What if she had brought the appetiser of a war-mongering machine, setting into motions certain plans she had not been able to see as she attempted to reach to realise her own dreams? Had her selfishness doomed the world? She didn't dare to think about it.

"It is time."

As Kiyoshi positioned himself in seiza, Mizuki moved to stand before him. This would his last goodbye, but she couldn't bring up the strength to ask her father if he had any last words. The pain of losing him was already aching her heart, forcing her to grit her teeth.

"Any last words...?", she asked with quivering lip, tears pricking in the corner of her eyes.
"You always made me proud, Michi. Be safe, wherever your heart brings you, whichever storm you reach out for."

She nodded, drew her blade and moved to take on the traditional stance of the Executioner Arts, secretly also the most aggressive stance of the Heaven Sword style her father had created. Ready, Kiyoshi lowered his head as a sign he was ready for his execution. Ready for his release from an eternity of pain to come. And one he would pass on to his daughter now. Mustering all of her courage, her flashed down, separating her father's head from his now dead body. His life ended, his spirit would live on in the Arts she had now officially mastered.

The new Executioner then dropped to her knees, burried her face in her hands and allowed her tears to flow freely. For a first time in her life. She was truly alone.

---

[EXIT]

1057

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