Normal POV

Field Village

Aura opens his eyes, seeing smoke from the aftermath of the hit.

A lot of bodies were spread across the area around him, mostly the leftover Fuji Clan members.

Aura gets onto his knees, breathing in and out to recover from all the action so far.

He looks over and gasps when he saw Cream standing over a sight he didn't want to see.

Blaze was hurt badly from the blast of energy, burn marks across her fur.

He runs over to her and kneels at her side. "Blaze!"

Espio gets up from his spot on the ground, coughing up some dust and dirt that went into his mouth.

The chameleon sees Aura and Cream over Blaze and rushes to them.

Blaze looks at Aura. "Are you alright?"

Aura nods. "Yes. Just rest now. Everything is going to be ok."

He then gets up and turns to look at Lord Rai in the distance.

The dark lord chuckles at the scene, finding pleasure in the blue canine's misery.

Aura picks up Anzen and puts it on his back.

He limps over closer to the statues, slowly approaching destiny.

Espio didn't stop him, because he knew he wouldn't be able to convince him otherwise.

Blaze looks on in a gaze of desperation, not wanting Aura to face death again.

Cream tears up, afraid to lose her new friend to a heartless being.

Aura stops a few yards away from the statues, feeling a spot on his shoulder before looking at the odds against him.

Lord Rai just solemnly waves him off. "Very well. Let's finish this."

The Emperor's statue army all aim at Aura, but only one prepares to fire.

Aura closes his eyes and focuses after turning back to his special form.

His thoughts clear quickly. "Inner peace...."

Lord Rai gives the order. "Fire!"

One statue fires an orb of energy at Aura, soaring across the air towards him.

Aura focuses deeper. "Inner peace...."

The orb got closer and closer with every second.

Aura reaches a hand out as it reaches him...

...and catches it, throwing it into a nearby debris pile!

Blaze, Espio and Cream look in surprise at this sudden twist, their friend completely unharmed,

The people of the valley watch from a distance, equally shocked at this action.

Lord Rai's eyes widened at the sight of Aura's palm after the shot.

Aura's palm was glowing with a bright aura, but it wasn't blue, purple or even gold.

It was pure white lighting up the area, not effecting Aura in the slightest.

Aura had not only mastered the Palm of Peace, but was in the Enlightened form too!

Lord Rai gives a death stare at him. "Again!"

Another statue fires at Aura immediately.

He just catches it again and tosses it aside.

Rai demands two of them to fire, but Aura dodges both shots.

Five shots go off, but Aura quickly returns the shots back to them, blowing them up.

Lord Rai demands more from them. "Attack him up close!"

Ten statues rush Aura, attempting to distract him from the numerous blasts coming at him.

Aura pulls out Anzen and blocks their weapon strikes, cutting three of them down in one strike.

He advances towards the enemy line, deflecting energy blasts and striking statues down before they even reach him.

When he was surrounded, he blocked off three weapons at once and deflected a shot back at the same time.

Lord Rai yells in rage. "Kill him! Somebody kill him!"

Five statues remained, all focusing on him.

All five fired a beams of energy that combined into a massive one.

Aura puts both palms out and holds it back with everything he has.

It gets stronger and heavier to hold back, but the Palm of Peace stayed firm.

It eventually stopped until it gathered into an energy sphere bigger than a six story building!

Aura stares at Lord Rai. "Kazoku no tame ni!"

(Translation: For my family!)

He throws the enormous sphere at the last five statues, destroying anything in it's path.

Lord Rai looks on in fear as the sphere approaches him.

BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!

The explosion hit so hard, the blinding light could be seen from space as a small flash.

When the dust was almost cleared, Aura felt himself being grabbed by the neck and slammed into the ruined home, parts of stone and wood hitting his face.

Lord Rai's eyes were completely blank of irises and pupils, nothing but a black and purple void.

He yells at him. "I may have lost my army, but I will not fall to Orion's bloodline a second time!"

Rai kicks Aura through the house, the entire structure collapsing on top of him.

Aura weakly pulls himself out with his head getting out, but he wasn't given time to recover.

Lord Rai fires a purple orb, blowing up the rubble Aura was underneath and sending him flying through three more houses.

Aura flips out of the way of a flying kick and pulls out Anzen to block a strike from a sharp blade.

The dark lord just quickly barrages him with swings from the blade, paired with rapid kicks, punches and chops.

The blue ninja blocks loads of the hits, meeting them with his weapon with lightning speed.

Lord Rai eventually found an opening hit Aura in the left arm, breaking bones really hard.

Aura feels the pain shoot through him from the attack, but he kept his stance.

Time seemed to slow down for Aura, movement as graceful as a river.

He sees Lord Rai about to hit him with a devastating kick, his finishing move to kill him once and for all.

Aura calmly dodges the attack in the slow moment, barely making it to Rai's back.

In one swift move, he impaled the dark lord with Anzen....

.....causing him to stumble around before falling to the ground.

Anzen starts to fall apart from being inside Rai's chest.

Aura looks at him. "What is happening to it?"

Lord Rai answers him after coughing. "My dark aura and energy.......is damaging Anzen's enchantment. If you keep it in me......you will lose the weapon forever...."

Aura kneels down at him. "Then it is a price I am willing to pay to end your control."

Rai looks him dead in the eye. "So it happened? I......lost to weak link of my nemesis? Ironic. I send.....the killer to destroy you and your family......but I only made my demise inevitable..."

Aura nods. "You should know that balance can never be broken by intervention. In the end, people like you fail....one way or another."

Rai chuckles at this. "Do not count yourself right just yet.......there are more out there that would accomplish this too........."

Aura stares him down. "Then the light will be there to send heroes to stop them."

Rai smirks at him. "I would not relax so easily.......you still have your own battles to fight. By taking up the weapon again........you have doomed yourself to conflict for the rest of your life. Everything will be out to destroy you......physically, mentally and spiritually. Your true destiny......is inevitable....."

Aura places a palm inside the wound in Rai's chest, unleashing his aura to destroy him from inside.

Cracks of blue spread all across Rai's body and face, light pouring out from the damaged areas.

Rai chuckles darkly at him one last time. "Not bad.....young pup...."

With one final blast, Rai's body blew up into a large explosion.

The citizens of the valley see it from a distance, the last of their oppressor gone for good.

Espio, Cream and Blaze rush over to Aura as he collapses from exhaustion.

Espio wraps an arm around him to balance the canine.

The people of the valley cheer the end of the darkness.

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Normal POV (3 days later)

Field Village (infirmary)

Aura and his friends had been in recovery for the last few days, trying to heal up from the big battle.

They were almost healed up when the Field Village elder visited them.

Aura asks him. "What troubles you, sir?"

The Field elder sighs. "We debated for a while on what to do now that the valley is in this state. There's a lot that needs to recover and so much needs to be done."

Aura sits up. "I can help however you wish I should."

The Field elder shook his head. "I am so sorry, Aura. You can not stay here."

Cream asks. "What do you mean? Isn't this is his home?"

The Field elder rubs his temples. "I wish he could stay here, but a lot of the people here are still furious about Aura's actions."

He counts off the issues. "You disobeyed Ki, which resulted in the Fallen and their allies comprising our location. You failed to spot that Tanya was a traitor, which further doomed the Fuji Clan. Suzuki burned most of the River Village down. And to top it off, your late arrival cost several of my people their homes."

The Field elder looks out the window. "Not to mention that the Fuji Clan is extinct now. That large blast killed all remaining members. And I doubt you could rebuild it on your own."

Aura just solemnly nods. "I understand. I will leave as soon as I am able."

Blaze looks at him. "You cannot be serious, Aura! They are banishing you from your own home!"

Aura shook his head. "This never was my home......it just took me a while to accept it."

Blaze calms down and sighs. "I hope you know what you are doing."

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Normal POV (Next Day)

Outside the Forbidden Valley

Aura, Espio, Blaze and Cream were outside the borders of the forgotten lands, the blue wolf looking one last time at the place he lived at for his entire childhood.

They walk away, never to see the place again.

Cream walks beside Aura. "So can you come home with me again? Mom is probably worried about us."

Aura kneels down next to her and puts his hands on her shoulders. "I am sorry Cream, but I can not stay with you."

Cream begins to tear up. "Why? We would let you stay with no problems. A warm home with people who love you."

Aura sighs. "I know....but you saw what Death Streak did. If I stay with you and your mother, more villains will hunt me down.....and make both of you hostages."

Cream shook her head in denial. "You can sleep in the basement. Maybe that will hide your powers?"

Aura rejects the offer. "It would never work, Cream."

Espio has a different offer. "You could stay with me and my friends. We own a detective agency and could use some extra help. With all three of us, you would have three times the protection."

Aura rejects this offer too. "No. Whoever sent Death Streak would probably hire more help, greatly outnumbering you."

Blaze offers one more solution. "You can stay with me in my dimension. The enemy would never find you there."

Aura even rejects this one. "No. If Nega learns about me, he will try to capture me and use me as his weapon."

Espio asks him. "Then what do you plan to do?"

Aura looks at him. "Go off the grid.....entirely. I will be far from civilization and make my own home."

Blaze questions him. "Why do this? We are your friends. We would never let you down."

Aura looks at her. "I know....and I never question that. But I cannot let my friends be killed because of me."

Cream begs him. "Can you at least let us visit you?"

Aura smiles at her. "Yes. But no one else but you three should know where I am. You must keep it a secret at all costs. Could you do it for me?"

Cream nods and smiles. "Yes!"

She then hugs him, with Aura returning the hug.

After he stands up, Blaze hugs him. "Whatever you do Aura, do not die."

Aura hugs her back. "I intend to keep that promise....even when we can barely walk again."

Once he lets go, Espio approaches him. "Would you be able to help us from the shadows? The world could use more heroes like you."

Aura shook his head again. "No. The world must not know this power exists. I will remain hidden....for the rest of my life."

Espio nods. "I do not understand, but I will not stop you."

Aura goes to a ledge nearby and bows to Espio, with the chameleon ninja bowing in return.

The blue ninja jumps down and disappears into the trees again.

As he was leaving, Oona greets him in her full Oni form. "What the heck are you doing? You just threw away three possible lives!"

Aura talks to her. "You were right about what you said about me being too deep into the light. It blinded me to what I thought was my foes."

Oona asks. "And being a recluse for the rest of your life will fix that?"

Aura nods. "That is what I hope for."

She groans. "This is madness! You could have any life you wanted, and you threw it away because you care about them? What happened to the whole letting them live on your memories thing Vanilla taught you?"

Aura tells her calmly. "I did not forget, because I told them they could visit me if they wished to. But I cannot stay too close to people, or else others will hunt me down."

Oona points out something to him. "I said I could offer someone to be your dark side. Maybe we could bargain that being to share their powers with you and make you strong enough? My own powers alone could be enough too."

Aura shook his head. "My mind is made up, Oona."

She sighs. "Ok. I need to leave you with a warning though. If you are as strong as that back there, then I fear how powerful the evil version of you is. Be......be careful when it does arrive here, ok?"

Aura nods. "I will be wary of your warning, Oona. Thanks again for being my friend."

Oona smirks. "Just get going before I crush you!"

Aura chuckles and runs off across the treetops.

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Aura's narration

So that is my story.

The story of how I rose and fell from grace several times.

Over my lifetime, I lost a lot to count.

My blood and adopted family were murdered.

I lost the respect of the people I grew up around.

My code and clan were destroyed.

And I still have the 3rd Spiritual Lock on me, meaning I can never feel the love greater than friendship.

In most eyes, this seems like the worst ending possible, but there was hope after this storm.

But justice and honor had been restored.

Lord Rai and the Fallen were defeated for good!

And life has still given me people who care about me, filling me up with the strength to live.

It may not be the best ending, but it was never too unbearable.

Yes I may live alone for my life now, but I live alone with my heart still somewhat intact.

Good always finds a way, and it did that day for me.

I am the ninja of the life.

The guardian of peace and freedom.

I am.......Aura!

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But wait! There's more!

The epilogue is coming next!

If you have any questions please let me know.

I'll see you in the final page!