Mari Makinami
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Chapter 9. The Lovers
If somebody ever asked Sasuke what displeases him the most in long-term missions and travels, he would probably say that nothing does. That, however, wouldn't be a completely honest answer.
Even though he'd never willingly show impatience, deep inside, the lack of action irritated him quite a lot. And simply walking through the savage forest for the third day in a row didn't make the situation any better for him.
Of course, he had his student to talk and spar with, but considering how hard she usually worked out during their trainings, it took her a lot of time to restore afterwards. And unfortunately last time she nearly drove herself to losing conscious after hours of perfecting her taijutsu. By now, she looked more less rested, but another spar so soon would probably make her even more exhausted, and Sasuke didn't want any more halts until they reached their destination.
That's why Hinata now looked as if she felt a bit guilty for the apparently bad mood of the Uchiha. They spent the whole previous day on chatting, discussing many different things, from her training to the stories of his past with Orochimaru, Team Taka and Akatsuki, but he was getting tired of talking, especially considering that he wasn't much of a talkative person. Not that she was one, either,. Yet still, Hinata gladly used every opportunity to speak with him. It seemed strange to Sasuke, but for some reason she craved to know more about his past. As if she was trying to figure him out or something like that...
It would even become a little suspicious at some point, if the girl, in fact, never showed any romantic interest in him. Which was good for Sasuke, without a doubt, but it only made her curiosity seem even weirder to the Uchiha. With him, she was completely different from what she was with any other person they met on their way to the ruins of Uzushiogakure and beforehand. Her usual behavior was very similar to his own – cold, distant, silent, collected, repulsive.
Alone with Sasuke, though, she was relaxed, she smiled – not often, but still; the Hyūga also always tried to help him with everything she was able to, getting dangerously close to the line of becoming annoying, yet, he had to admit it, never crossing it.
This was getting on his nerves. Not his student herself, but the enigma she was becoming. He just couldn't understand what was going on and why she acted like this, and there was no way to find it out – they've made the agreement, according to which he couldn't use Human Path on her again if it wasn't an issue of mortal danger.
But the most disturbing part of it was that not everything was going according to his plans.
After what Kō did to her, Sasuke expected Hinata to turn into his own past self. With that he could easily deal – after all, he himself only changed recently, so the memories of being an avenger were still more than fresh.
But she was different, and that was the problem.
Perhaps it was the fact that she's a woman, or the lack of the Curse of Hatred, but...
Back then, he didn't have anyone who he wanted to help. Who he wanted to talk to. To stick to.
Nobody made him smile, nobody could make him be kind and gentle like she always was with him.
And that changed everything, because it was obvious that her priorities and goals in her life were much different from his past ones. She wanted revenge, but he was clearly more important to her.
That made him feel insecure, and he hated those rare moments when he had to hesitate.
"What are you thinking about, Sasuke-san?" The sudden question to his left pulled him out of his uneasy thoughts, making the Uchiha glare at the black haired girl who gazed at him with concern and guilt in her white eyes.
He clenched his teeth, wanting to outburst, but stopping himself from doing so, for he realized that there was no reason to blame her, none at all. His boredom was his own problem, she had nothing to do with it, as well as with his failures of understanding the girl, as her sensei and... companion.
"I just want to get there as soon as possible. He said that the man is pretty old – would be unfortunate to find him dead because of us walking too slow." Her expression was now somewhat between embarrassed and cheered up, both because of his remark about her being too tired to go at full speed and because of his grim joke.
"Well, if he's dead and we find his body, you can bring a sample of his DNA back to Orochimaru and revive him to interrogate, too." She chuckled, and he smirked in response as well.
If he truly succeeded at least in something while spending time with her for nearly two months by now, that certainly was building up her sense of humor and making the girl behave much more liberated and relaxed than before, at least in his presence. If anything, she became quite pleasant to have conversation with, and that was a very high score, coming from Uchiha Sasuke. But it was true: she didn't annoy him, didn't talk much, didn't try to start a chat when he didn't want it and didn't push on the matters he had no wish to discuss.
In other words, she was much like him on this side, and it was perfect for the boy.
"Aren't you tired of wandering from one corner of the Land of Fire to another, though? That would take us another month."
Hinata giggled, covering her mouth with her palm.
"Oh, I didn't think about it this way... then I'd rather have him alive and healthy for sure. But... I'm sorry, I can't go any faster." She lowered her eyes, silencing.
And now it was his turn to feel guilty... what he was blaming her for anyway? For trying really hard to please him by becoming better and better with every day passing...?
He waved off dismissively, turning away from the girl.
"Don't worry about it. We're actually pretty close – use your Byakugan and check yourself. It must be approximately five miles ahead of us now."
Nodding doubtfully, she did as he told, activating her dōjutsu and looking through the trees, smiling widely again a second later.
"Yes... I see it! But... the ruins are surrounded by a wall, much like the one in Konoha, and I... can't see anything behind it."
Sasuke glanced at her again, with surprise in his eyes this time.
"Can't see...? How... Ah." He nodded as he realized the reason why she couldn't. "It must be some trick of the Uzumaki Clan... they are well known for their seals, so I guess they could've come up with an idea of how to protect their village from Byakugan users. They surely wouldn't want their secrets to be exposed in such an easy way."
She blinked, listening to his explanation, before hesitantly nodding.
"I guess it makes sense... but it also means that we'll have to go inside without any way to check for traps and other... unpleasant surprises." She muttered, frowning.
The Uchiha shrugged with indifference.
"I guess we will. Is there anything or anyone outside the village that worths our attention?"
She looked around again, slowly shaking her head.
"No... probably not. But the entrance is sealed, and... there are a few signs... this place is not as abandoned as it seems."
"Anybody on our way?"
She smiled a bit, knowing how much he craved to have a fight with somebody after long days of boredom.
"No, nobody is there."
"Too bad. What is it, then?" He asked, a little annoyed by the fact that another opportunity to get some relief slipped away.
"There are multiple footprints, relatively fresh. There also are a few felled trees with leaves on them, which means that they've been cut down only recently, as well as a few traps set for animals here and there. I think it's safe to assume that whoever they are, they are hiding inside the ruins." He had to admit that her Byakugan, along with her sharp mind, attention to details and analysis skills were extremely handful. Now that the girl got rid of her psychological issues – well, most of them at least – her abilities weren't being held back anymore, and, surprisingly enough to him, Hinata turned to be pretty intelligent and observant.
Once again, just like himself.
She was so much like him yet so much different at the same time... it was nearly driving the Uchiha crazy by now, because he just wasn't able to understand her, no matter how hard he tried.
And the fact that a girl made him feel such a burst of emotions was making it even worse.
They walked in silence for a while, and just when dusk began taking its time, the great wall that surrounded Uzushiogakure became visible to Sasuke.
"Let's make haste, I want to be done with this before midnight so we can get out of here as soon as possible." He ordered, rushing forward.
Hinata, despite being tired and still a bit weakened, quickly nodded and ran towards the wall as well, trying to keep up with her master – apparently he wasn't the only one who got that uneasy feeling the closer they got to the ruins, as if something dreadful was awaiting them inside.
It took them a few minutes to get to what Sasuke assumed was the gates years before. Right now, the big entrance was blocked with a huge boulder that was painted with countless seals. On top of that, the upper part of the wall wasn't ending where it seemed to end: the barrier visible only with his Rinnegan covered the whole territory like an impenetrable bubble of chakra, making it impossible to get there by summoning his hawk.
The Uchiha silently cursed, clenching his fists.
Of course, he didn't expect it to be easy, but the revived shinobi never mentioned any major obstacles on the way to his father's house... Which probably meant that these were relatively fresh.
"Sasuke-san, check this out... I think it's some sort of a puzzle..." Hinata pointed at the sealing lines on the boulder, frowning and biting her lip.
He came closer, looking at the pattern.
It was indeed a big net of different seals, some of them being incredibly complex. He could see a few places where the chakra was supposed to be channeled in order to move the lines: some of them led to the explosive seals, some to the ones with poison, and some to the seals he wasn't familiar with – apparently some secret development of the Uzumaki clan. And some of the unknown ones were or was supposed to open the gateway... but which one, exactly?
He sat down in the lotus pose, mesmerized by this riddle. Hinata stood next to him, thinking on the puzzle, too.
They spent what seemed like an hour like that before the Hyūga girl lightly touched his shoulder, taking him out of his desperate struggling to figure it out.
"Sasuke-san... We're being surrounded."
"What...?" He asked distantly, not moving his eyes away from the boulder.
She sighed, uttering a little louder:
"Twenty men are surrounding us from each direction, they are getting closer and closer, and they have their weapons out."
He just waved it off, annoyed, which surprised Hinata.
"Then deal with them, I need to find the solution to this."
Who could've thought that her master would prefer a brainstorm over a good fight?
Fortunately she now felt rested enough to defeat a few low class ninja effortlessly.
And just as she unbuttoned her cloak, preparing for a fight, the leader of the band showed up, smirking.
"Well, well, well, look what we've got here, guys... a beautiful princess to have fun with, and a sweet, tasty boy for you, Takeshi." There was a chorus of laughs with notable signs of insanity in them from the bushes around - the men dressed in dirty castoffs started showing up from, forming a ring around the two of them.
"What am I supposed to do with them, Sasuke-san?" Hinata asked in a surprisingly calm manner, not moving her eyes from the leader of this gang.
The Uchiha shrugged without even turning his head to check what was going on.
"Suit yourself. I'd say kill everyone except the leader, he might be useful for us – after all, they got out of the ruins somehow, which means they can enter it, too."
That was reasonable enough to her, so Hinata took her usual battle stance, closing her eyes and activating the Byakugan.
The goons, however, burst in another wave of laughter.
"Did you hear this, boys? This kid told his chick to kill us... ow-w, that's so-o scary!" The laugh died in his throat as the two of his men fell down, their necks being cut by a flash of lightning. "Wh-wha...?!" He cried, looking at the dying comrades, quickly moving his terrified eyes to the girl whose hand was covered with lightning chakra that sparkled brightly, lightening the space around them and making the loud, annoying noise, similar to that of a bird's chirping.
"K-kill that ***** now!" He yelled desperately, the whole band charging at Hinata, but she only smirked, appearing behind their backs before they could react and killing another three of them.
"You're being too slow... I recommend you to surrender now and kindly answer our questions, so I don't have to take more lives here." She now looked dead serious, making the leader even more terrified.
"Only over my cold, dead body, you little *****!" Ignoring his own fear, he charged at her again, his subordinates not moving this time.
The Hyūga sighed, shaking her head.
"I warned you... now you leave me no choice." She channeled her energy into her fists, the two lion's heads built of chakra forming around them.
This time I'll be able to make it work...!
The color of her chakra suddenly changed from blue to red and orange, the head of each lion becoming made of incredibly hot, radiating flames.
"Katon: Jūho Sōshiken!" The lion from her left hand charged forward, crashing into the chest of the one the thugs, instantly making him scream in agony as his insides were being incinerated within just a few seconds, his mutilated corpse falling down to the grass a moment later. Those three who stood nearby have been ignited as well, and now they were screaming and trying to extinguish the deadly flames.
The second lion, however, didn't follow Hinata's will: it exploded, making the girl trip and fall down, barely managing to avoid the burst of fire that was about to kill her.
Fortunately enough, the remaining men were too frightened and confused to take advantage of the situation and attack her, so she was able to quickly get up, slightly moaning of pain – her right arm was covered with burns now.
"Didn't I tell you to not use this technique just yet?" She heard the distant question of her master who still didn't bother to check how she was doing.
The girl cursed, clenching her teeth in annoyance and irritation. Of course, he was right here: it was too dangerous yet, since her chakra control wasn't good enough to combine the technique that was pretty complicated as it was with nature manipulation. Yet still, she so wanted it to work...
And though she didn't want to admit it even to herself...
Hinata wanted to impress the Uchiha.
It wasn't something impossible: she managed to do it a few times by now, but that was a pretty rare occasion. His requirements were really high, and she usually wasn't able to meet the man's expectations.
But whenever she managed to, he looked at her differently – with joy in his eyes, with acknowledgement... with respect.
She liked such looks. She wanted him to see her as someone of who he could be proud, not a nuisance and annoyance that she always was to people in Konoha... and to him right now.
"Yeah... sorry." She replied to him calmly, not wanting to show her emotions to her companion.
Using Chidori again, she charged at the remaining goons, quickly killing the rest of them and disabling their leader who now looked as if he was ready to die of a heart attack.
"It's done, Sasuke-san." She tied the man's hands, kicking him in the back so he fell down to the ground from his knees, the face dipping into the mood.
"Fine... this seems too complicated to me. I think it's impossible to open it without the specific knowledge of the Uzumaki clan. However..." He got up, coming closer to his student and looking at the sole shaking survivor. "I guess we won't be needing it." He gripped the man's hair, making him cry in pain as Sasuke forcefully raised his head to look the man in the eyes. "Where is the entrance to the village? How many of your fellows are still in there? Do you by any chance know the old man that lives or lived in there two decades ago?" The man apparently had no intention to reply, and Sasuke had to admit that he had some courage – instead of answering the Uchiha's questions, he spat in the boy's face, desperately closing his eyes, apparently preparing to be killed.
"Fair enough... I have my own ways of getting information." He let the leader's hair, gripping his neck instead and using the Rinnegan's Human Path, entering the man's mind and finding the memories he required within a split second.
Sasuke smirked, turning his head to Hinata.
"It seems we're pretty lucky... this piece of shit knows more than I expected. Bandage your arm, we're moving out." He loosened his grip, thus making the shinobi fall down to the ground for the last time in his life as his soul has left his body, being held by Sasuke's hand.
The Hyūga watched the scene in awe, forgetting the task that mer master gave her.
"Is... is this what happens if the connection made by Ningendō is being cut against your will?" She whispered, looking at the fading clot of chakra in the Uchiha's grasp.
"Pretty much." He replied, turning away and walking along the wall away from the gates.
She hurried up to follow him, catching up with the Uchiha in a few seconds.
"So I nearly killed myself back then...?" She asked perplexedly, shocked by the sudden revelation.
"Yeah." He muttered quietly, as if it wasn't a big deal.
But then again, was it, back then...? At the time, she didn't have much desire to live, and him, well... did he really have any reason to be careful with her life?
"I see." She replied, ending their tensed conversation.
The rest of their way to wherever Sasuke was heading went silent. At some point, they turned away from the wall, and walked for about ten minutes through the trees before finally stopping near another big boulder, much like the one that sealed the gates of the village, except this one was covered with moss instead of the seals. Although there were two seals on it, both of the locking type – in other words, only those who had the key-seals were able to move it away.
"It's here." The Uchiha raised his hand, and Hinata felt the strong wave of unnatural gravity force pushing the immense rock away, accompanied by loud rumbling.
Under the boulder was the relatively small dip: although she couldn't see anything underground, probably due to the same protection that prevented her from seeing the insides of the village, it was fairly obvious that it was the entrance to the secret passage that led to the ruins.
"Let's go." Sasuke jumped down, landing almost instantly – apparently it wasn't too high to fall, so she followed the man right away.
Both of them could see clearly through the pitch darkness thanks to their dōjutsu, so there was no point in lightening the tunnel.
"I can now see everything up to the end of this passage. There are no traps, at least I can't detect any." She said, carefully peering at the floor under their feet.
"I don't see anything, either. Still, stay on guard. There might be somebody else out there."
For some reason, this comment made the girl feel anger that began filling her. Did he truly think she couldn't protect herself from those stupid animals...? Was it because of her ridiculous performance with that undeveloped technique, or did he consider her weak in general?
But... what if...?
Even though he was walking ahead of her, she still could and did use her Byakugan to check his expression. But it was impassive, as usual.
What if he said it because he actually was truly concerned about her life? What if he said it because he cared for her, and not because of her failures...?
Never mind that.
It didn't matter what he thought of her at the moment. She was ready to work even harder to convince him that she wasn't a waste of his time.
After all, he was the only importance in her life.
That's why instead of diving even deeper into these thoughts, she quietly muttered:
"Sasuke-san, I understand you know where we're going now... are there more of these thugs?"
He shook his head without turning around.
"No, these were the only ones. And they were not exactly thugs. These are rogue shinobi from different villages who sought refuge, and they spent quite some time here by now, on the ruins of the village. Knowing that it's still pretty dangerous here even after a few decades since the downfall of Uzushio, people usually try to avoid the village and the area surrounding it. That's why it's a perfect place to hide... at least they thought so. According to what I got from his memories, some of them haven't seen a living human being aside from their gang for at least five years. Being completely isolated, without any source of information, hygiene and other gifts of civilization, they began degrading, in the end becoming these wild, barely sane marauders which you did put out of their misery."
Hinata's eyes widened as he spoke. They truly seemed insane, but this... who on earth would want to live like that? And what was even worse... come to think of it, if she didn't approach Sasuke on that fateful day, she could've ended up exactly like them... like the Uchiha told her she would.
He was truly her savior... but...
"I see... but you said they haven't met anybody in years. Does it mean that the man we're looking for isn't there, after all?" The Hyūga carefully asked, not wanting to upset her master anymore.
But it seemed that she had nothing to worry about – this time, he turned his head to glance at the girl with his Sharingan and smirked.
"It's actually quite the opposite. Dead or alive, he's still there. These men went through the ruins far and wide, collecting everything useful they could find, but they weren't able to break into the certain house – the entrance is sealed, and when they tried to break the seal, somebody yelled at them from the inside, and then something killed the three of them through the window, making their leader the only survivor. He never saw the person who did it, but our old man didn't leave the village, of that he was absolutely sure. That's why they tried to avoid the building the best they could ever since then."
In other words, they were very close to accomplishing another goal. Of course, there still were lots of 'ifs' when it came to the conversation with the old man, but at least Sasuke didn't look annoyed anymore.
The girl didn't even notice how much her own mood depended on the Uchiha now.
And he didn't notice it either, obviously. His head was too overwhelmed with the thoughts of meeting his possibly last surviving relative. Was he even sane after so many years of reclusion? Sasuke truly hoped he was, because otherwise it would make things much more difficult for them. Not that he was the one to look for the easy ways, yet still, it was his family he was thinking about.
He stopped, looking up to the exit from the passage.
"There we go..." Without any warnings, he jumped up, making it to the surface of something that was once a street of Uzushiogakure – Hinata followed him a second later, landing next to the boy.
"It..." She gasped, refusing to believe her own eyes. "How..."
"Yeah... told you, they more than deserved to die." He gave the space around them a grim look, yet still not moving an inch away from his spot.
Before them was apparently what their now dead attackers would call their base or home. But it was probably the last thing on earth that Sasuke would ever call a place suitable for living.
First of all, there was no roof, walls or floor – only a few rough, dirty boards lying here and there, probably the remains of what was once a hut in the village. On some of those boards were roughly piled twigs and branches, as well as dirty, disgusting clothes, soaked with gore, sweat and gods know what else.
There also was a big cauldron with unidentified substance in it just next to them, and around the cauldron were... bones. Lots of bones, in fact. And some of them certainly belonged to humans...
And, on top of that, inside the cauldron was the human skull.
"Apparently we're not the first ones to visit this place recently, after all..." He sighed, noticing the gaze of Hinata directed at the bones, her eyes filled with burning rage.
"You're wrong... they deserved a much more cruel death." She nearly roared, taking a step forward.
"Wait, Hina... no!" The Uchiha suddenly shouted, but it was too late: before she could react, he grabbed the girl around her waist and used Amenotejikara, making them land onto the highest spot nearby – the remains of the stone wall of some long-destroyed building.
And the instant they did, a loud, deafening explosion made them fall down to the ground.
Coughing, the Uchiha slowly got up, screwing up his eyes because of the dust that the triggered trap raised.
"Why on earth you're not using your Byakugan?! You need to be careful here of all places, damn it!" He shouted at her, infuriated by her imprudence.
The girl winced, trying to get up as well.
"I'm sorry, it's my fault! I was too shocked by the view... you should've told me what they truly did before we got here...!" She blurted, standing up on her shaking legs as well.
"As if it's relevant! What are you, a stupid brat?! Do you even realize that you could've just killed the both of us here if I wasn't fast enough?! Use your damn head for something else but eating!"
Hinata clenched her fists and teeth, looking at him with the anger he'd never seen coming from her before.
"Stop yelling at me! I told you I'm sorry! What the hell do you want me to do now?!" She cried, hitting the wall with her fist.
"I want you to stop being stupid and to use your brain, nothing else! Is it that much to ask from you?" His own anger was decreasing as he realized that she was unharmed, but it seemed that she was only getting more and more inflamed by his words.
"I've already heard that! You think I'm stupid, alright, I got it. Would you maybe want me to go away, then?! Since I'm risking your life that much – I don't wanna be a burden! Just go ahead and do everything alone like you're used to – don't bother wasting your precious time on me anymore!" She turned around, walking away from him, limping a bit.
The Uchiha sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head.
"Still being stupid. I told you to stop." He uttered calmly, turning away himself and checking the road for other traps, but it seemed that the thing that Hinata had triggered there was the only one, probably left by the cannibals themselves for the possible intruders.
Seeing as nothing blocked his way, he started walking towards the building from the memories he took from the leader of the band – it wasn't that far away; in fact, he could see the roof from their current point, so he decided to get there as soon as possible, hastening a bit.
It was only a matter of twenty seconds or so before he smirked, hearing the familiar light footsteps behind his back.
The building itself looked solid, even after so many years since it's been demolished. Build of cobblestone, it had three floors, multiple windows – each of them closed and sealed – and the massive metallic doors with multiple complex seals on them.
"Now then..." He muttered, looking at the window through which the goons from the leader's memories had been killed with a few kunai.
What was he going to do now? Destroying the building just to enter it didn't sound too polite, especially considering that inside of it was his old clansman. Breaking through the doors... not too good, either. Not to mention that such possibility was pretty doubtful, considering the amount of seals on it.
"I understand you can't see what's inside?" He asked, still peering at the window.
A few seconds passed before the female voice quietly replied:
"No. I can't."
He sighed.
"Hello! Anybody alive there? We're from Konohagakure, these marauders that bothered you are dead now! Can we please talk?" He asked, not really hoping for an answer.
But it actually came, after a few seconds of waiting, although not in the way the Uchiha expected.
The window he watched slightly opened, and the only thing Sasuke was able to notice through the small chink before it closed up again was the glowing dark eye.
Silence fell upon the street again, as if nothing happened at all.
Slightly roaring in frustration, the Uchiha sat down, rapidly thinking on the ways of getting inside now that he's confirmed that the man was still alive.
"Damn it..." He cursed, deactivating his Sharingan – the vision provided by the Rinnegan was more than enough for now.
"I think I know what might help..." Hinata mumbled, getting closer to the door and knocking.
"Please, open the door! I'm the Sixth Hokage, Uchiha Hinata. Me and my advisor came here to talk to you, nothing more, I promise! It's a very serious issue!" She yelled, holding her breath and waiting.
Sasuke looked at his student with his mouth open. He never expected her to pull such a gamble. And... Uchiha Hinata? What the hell?!
But what shocked him even more was the sudden noise behind the sealed door. The pattern of the multiple seals shifted, getting off the metallic surface, and with loud, disgusting rasping, the massive door slowly opened.
"An Uchiha Hokage... that's new..." The raspy female voice grumbled from the darkness behind the entrance, making the Uchiha jump to the spot near Hinata the same instant.
An old, brown haired woman dressed in a simple black kimono looked at the girl with apparent despise and arrogance, and, when she noticed Hinata's eyes, with distrust, too.
"I can see you have the different dōjutsu... who are you trying to fool here, child?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "And you expect me to help you after such a silly lie?"
"Nobody lied. She's indeed the Hokage, and an Uchiha, too. My name is Uchiha Sasuke, and this is my wife." He uttered with passion that was so much unlike him, trying to ignore the terrified glance that Hinata sent to him. Little did he know that by saying this, he reminded his student of the pretty similar situation in Tazuna's house... the one she never wanted him to find out about.
And of course she didn't expect him to pick up her lie and follow this ridiculous line.
The old lady narrowed her eyes, gazing at him, a spark of recognition flashing in her eyes the instant she noticed his now activated Sharingan.
"Hm-m... fair enough, Uchiha Sasuke. Now this makes a some sense... get in, we'll talk." She moved back inside the looming darkness of the house, inviting them to enter.
The master and the student looked at each other with strong mixtures of emotions in the eyes, yet, without saying a word to each other, they followed the woman, Hinata carefully closing the door behind them.
Getting up to the second floor, they noticed a small sofa and two chairs, one of them already taken by the mysterious woman.
"Sit down, be my guests." She offered, pointing at the free chair.
The Hyūga tried to go and sit on the sofa, but fortunately enough, Sasuke managed to catch her by the waist and turned the girl towards the free chair, making sure that the mistress of the house didn't notice his student's priceless expression.
He himself stood to Hinata's left, placing his only hand on her shoulder and barely holding the smirk: he was right to assume that it was a test for them, or, to be more precise, a test of their words about their identities. If the Hokage sat in the corner of the room, and her supposed husband would take the chair, it would break their legend completely.
And the slightly confused look in the woman's eyes was more than enough to confirm Sasuke's suspicions.
"So... may I ask what brings the Hokage along with the legendary Uchiha Madara to my humble residence?"
Hinata gasped at her words, while the Uchiha only frowned.
"You're wrong. My name is Uchiha Sasuke."
The woman chuckled with the slightest sign of insanity, shaking her head a bit.
"You can call yourself whatever you want, but it's impossible to mistake your chakra for everything else, Madara-sama. And I can sense it clearly. So... how can I help you and your young wife?" She smirked, looking at him with apparent joy and respect at the same time.
Hinata looked at her master, horrified and confused by the woman's words, but the Uchiha only squeezed her shoulder tighter.
"I told you, you're wrong. I'm not Madara. I killed the man and took a portion of his power. See?" He moved the strand of his hair that was covering the Rinnegan, showing the purple eye to the host of the house who now looked beyond impressed and shocked at the same time.
"You... killed Madara Uchiha...?! That... a child like you... how?" She nearly whispered, looking in the legendary eyes, awed and mesmerized.
"It's a long story. We came here looking for the certain man from our clan. I don't know his name, but I know for sure that he lived here in this house a few years ago. Do you by any chance know him?" He asked, ignoring the woman's expression.
"What is this?!" She suddenly shrieked, pointing at Hinata's bandaged hand.
"Huh...?" The girl lowered her eyes to her arm, clenching her fingers a few times. "Oh, this... I got a few burns when we thought those bastards that attacked us near the entrance of the village." She uttered carefully, avoiding the use of the words like 'ruins' in order to not accidentally offend the mad mistress of this weird house.
But her words made the woman even more angered, but... her gaze was directed at the Uchiha.
"What?! Not only you let your pregnant wife travel with you to such dangerous places, but you also let her fight instead of you?! And you're telling me that a wimp like you killed Uchiha Madara? Ha-ha!" She got up from her chair and quickly walked towards the cupboard, opening it and starting to look for something inside.
Sasuke was literally speechless, as well as Hinata who now looked as if she was going to faint for the first time in a long time.
"What the hell are you talking about?" He finally managed to groan, peering at the old hag with uncovered anger now. Was she trying to mess with them...?
"Uh-huh, so now you're gonna tell me that you didn't know? Oh, well, perhaps you really didn't... young people are so irresponsible these days. Here..." She took a tube with some green substance, coming close to the black haired girl and kneeling before her, unwrapping her damaged hand.
"This should heal you in no time, sweety... as for you, young man..." She looked up at him, mockingly. "You might have forgotten, but I'm a sensory type kunoichi. And I can sense your chakra inside of her clearly. I guess the poor girl simply didn't want to tell you, because who would want such a douche for their children anyway? These Uchiha men are such senseless boulders, aren't they, my dear?" She winked to Hinata who silently looked back and forth from Sasuke to the woman, still too confused by what was going on.
"Yes... they are..." She mumbled, and even though Sasuke knew it was only a show, a fake scene, for some reason it made him frown and blush a bit.
Finishing wrapping the girl's hand back and stepping away from the two them, the woman sat back to her chair. "Now, back to your question, young man..." She closed her eyes, relaxing and crossing her fingers before her face. "I know who you're talking about, and yes, he did live here. But he's no more."
The Uchiha frowned even more, deeply sighing.
"So he's left the place?"
She gave him an ironic smile, sighing as well.
"You could say so... he's dead. I found him here, or rather his dead body, to be more accurate. That was four years ago."
Sasuke closed his eyes in defeat. So all this was for nothing, after all... there was no way of following this fragile chain that could potentially lead to the remains of his family anymore.
"Don't worry too much – his life here wasn't too pleasant, so his death was more like liberation for him. I find it pretty cute that he chose to spend his last days here of all places, though. It's so nostalgic... after all those years, he never stopped thinking about me..."
Wait. What did she just say...?
His eyes snapped open. Perhaps not everything was lost yet?
"So you knew him?" He asked impatiently.
The woman looked at him as if he was a complete idiot.
"Did I know him, you ask? Of course I did. I knew him since our childhood. Poor Matsui... after all those years, he never stopped loving me. And I still love him, too..." He noticed her eyes filling with tears.
"Are you... are you that Uzumaki woman? The one because of who he had left the clan and the village?" Now he managed to surprise her - the old woman's face changed, becoming shocked and suspicious again, with a sign of something else he couldn't grasp just yet.
"How do you know that...?" She whispered, looking in his eyes.
"I don't know much. I've met the boy... the man who Matsui raised like a son. He directed us to this place, and told a bit of the story of his father. He mentioned you, as well as the fact that they actually lived here for many years before an accident separated them, but I think he stayed here because this place was the only connection to you he had remaining. He thought that you died during the destruction of Uzushiogakure, so yeah, they lived here because of his nostalgic feelings. Why didn't you come back here if you survived, though?"
She now looked at him as if he was an angel that came down from heaven, barely able to utter a word.
"I... I see now... that's why... oh..." She covered her face with her palms as her body began shaking while the woman sobbed.
"I... I'm sorry... it's just... that boy... and Matsui... he never knew that he actually had a real child..."
Sasuke felt how his heart began beating much faster. A real child? Could it be...?
"I couldn't come back... I was imprisoned in Kirigakure for many, many years, along with our son, before Naoto was able to run away when he had an opportunity to do so... this was the last time I saw him. I tried to look for him afterwards, but his trace ends on the way to Amegakure... and when I realized that looking for him was futile, I decided to come back here, only to find my love's dead body." She cried loudly, and Hinata suddenly got up from her spot, coming closer to the Uzumaki elder and hugging her.
"And then, a few months ago, something happened... I could see him again. My Matsui... he was alive, and Naoto was here, too. I thought it was a miracle... some kind of a weird dream, but I swear..." She looked Sasuke in the eyes, and now he could clearly see that she totally wasn't sane. "It was real. Naoto and Matsui, they were here. And the village, too... it was rebuilt, and everyone was alive! Trust me, they did... but then... this tree, be it damned..."
So that's what it was. The tree. Shinju, then. Of course, the woman had been trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi just like everyone else.
"It destroyed everything... killed everyone again. And these mongrels came back, too... please... can you help me, Madara-sama?" She cried, pushing Hinata away and crawling to Sasuke, desperately sobbing. "Please... I want them all back. I want back there... I love them so much, I can't live without them... I've been waiting for the miracle my whole life, since I gave birth to my boy, Naoto, in that prison, and raised him there, too... please... Madara-sama... I know your power has no limits... I beg you... give him back to me... give both of them back to me!" She hugged his legs, and the Uchiha realized that it was one of the most uncomfortable, yet, at the same time, touching moments in his life.
And apparently Hinata, who stood there with her eyes filled with dread and sorrow, covering her mouth with her palms, felt the same.
Lightly tapping the woman's temple, he hugged her and helped her get up, hugging her as if she was a hurting child.
"I will help you... please, don't cry. I will bring them back for you... Uzumaki Otomi."
She smiled, brushing away her tears and looking at him as if he was a god himself.
"I knew I wasn't wrong about you, Madara-sama... I knew you remembered me... thank you... thank you so much! They called you a monster, but ever since I saw you for the first time with my husband, I knew that you're the man with the kindest heart..."
He smiled hesitantly, helping the woman get up.
"Please, get to your bed... you need to save your energy for your family. You'll see them soon..."
Holding her trembling hand as Otomi lay down to her sofa, the Uchiha channeled chakra into his left eye...
"Sasuke! No, please don't do this...!" Hinata suddenly shrieked, charging at him, but it was too late: the woman's eyes changed it's color and pattern, becoming exactly the same as his Rinnegan, and then she became silent, the only noise coming from her being her peaceful breathing.
The Uchiha turned his head to his student who stopped in the middle of the room with a confused and feared expression.
"Do what, exactly?" He asked, and perhaps it was his unusually quiet voice, or his eyes that now looked empty and dead, just like back when he stood near Itachi's corpse, but the girl didn't say anything – instead, she came closer and hugged him tightly, staying like that for what seemed like an eternity.
"I thought you were going to kill her..." She whispered to his ear, her breath tickling the skin on his cheek.
"I did. Or I will. She will die soon enough, because there is no way out of this genjutsu for her. But at least she won't feel anything, thinking that she's with her beloved ones." Hinata didn't reply, only tightening her embrace...
An hour later, they were walking through the forest again. It was already completely dark – the moon was covered with heavy clouds, but they didn't care – each was deep in thoughts about what they've witnessed in Uzushiogakure.
Of one thing the Hyūga was absolutely sure: she'd never want to come back to this place again.
"Where are we going now?" She finally asked, unsure if she should break the oppressive silence or not, yet unable to stand it anymore.
Sasuke didn't respond for what seemed like a minute, but then he finally said, calm as usual:
"Amegakure no Sato. We need to find her son."
That was obvious, exactly what she expected, but at least now they talked again...
"But before that, I want to visit some place to relax a bit. And I need to have a word with Kakashi, too... We have a lot of things to handle, starting with..." He continued talking, but she didn't listen what exactly he was saying – they've already discussed their plans more than a few times, but the sound of his voice made her feel much better.
She was simply glad that he was back to normal again. After seeing his eyes in that dark room, the Hyūga girl was afraid that what happened there might break him, knowing how much he missed his own family himself...
But what was even more important, that night she was finally able to confirm her suspicions about the man. Despite his immense power, despite all his impenetrable defenses, despite past and despite what people told about him, under the shells and masks, Sasuke was a very kind and gentle man. It made her feel the unfamiliar warmth, the realization of the fact that she was probably the only person alive who actually was able to see this side of him first hand...
And even despite that, she realized another important thing.
Nothing could break Uchiha Sasuke.
