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Naruto fanfic: A future without you chapter 31
Haaaaa! What a relief! I made it on time! But I'm down to 10% so I've gotta hurry! I'll edit later.
Naruto fanfic A future without you
Chapter 31: Theory
SASUKE'S POV
He grit his teeth as another light step resulted in a larger portion of the next step crumbling away before he'd even begun to put weight on it. Sakura was two steps behind him, waiting for him to advance.
His eyes rolled back in irritation. Stupid, booby trapped wall. As soon as they'd tried the wall-climbing exercise, they'd had a horrible moment of déjà vu when their attempts ended in them falling flat on their backs. This had to have something to do with what Naruto mentioned. Something about every inch of this place being covered in seals.
He didn't have anything against stairs, but these were less like long rectangles and more like stubby, crumbly, clay squares. Too many of them had given way after he'd put weight on them, and others fell after he'd stepped off them. Sakura had tried to jump from one to another on one foot, but the sudden impact had caused the square to collapse beneath her, and Sasuke had had to think and act quickly to keep her from falling into the lily pond.
He looked up. The house was just a dozen or so stairs away. Wasting time like this was bad for everyone involved...
"Guess we've got no choice." Sasuke said, putting the whole of his weight on his left arm while he used his right hand to unpocket a scroll from his shuriken holster.
"Really?" Sakura asked.
"It's better than being stuck here all day." Sasuke said, pushing the scroll horizontally between his teeth as he revealed a kunai, one that Naruto had drawn a teleportation seal on.
ITS ONLY GOT ONE USE! He'd said as he had given each member of their team a scroll and marked kunai. BUT IF YOU GET CAUGHT IN A DANGEROUS SITUATION, THROW THE KUNAI SOMEWHERE FAR AWAY AND SAFE AND OPEN THE SCROLL.
Sasuke knew this jutsu. It was similar to something the yondaime had used. So he knew it was safe.
It was difficult to throw anything while he was stuck like this, but he managed to fling it onto the houses cliff carved patio where it scraped a rut into the rock before coming to a stop.
He brushed one hand down the wall and grabbed Sakura's hand in a tight grip. She nodded to him, ready, and he used his second hand to tear open the scroll while it was still in his mouth.
It went "poof" like one of Naruto's shadow clones and they suddenly collapsed onto the thick, rocky patio.
Sasuke got to his feet and brushed the dirt off his clothes.
"That turned out better than I thought it would." He said.
"For all you knew, the patio might have crumbled away too!" Sakura complained, standing up. "Can you see the sacred tree?"
He looked over the edge, not sure exactly what he was looking for. All the trees looked the same from up here, but he noticed something. Different sections of the forest had different shades of red leaves, with the lighter leaves belonging to the trees hiding the village ruins. The trees farther from them had thicker trunks, and the ones closer to them were thin, younger.
But none of them stood out in an obvious way (aside from being red).
"I can't tell." He answered as Sakura came to stand beside him, crossing her arms and looking at all the trees in a disappointed way.
"Sasuke... About those... Things you saw in the tree," she started, shielding her face from a fierce wind with one hand. "Why were you so mad that they were seal stones?"
He looked at her warily and quickly looked away.
"Naruto said that seal stones are made of chakra, and memories." Sasuke snapped, more than enough anger in his voice. "That they grow out of the graves of dead Uzumaki clan members who weren't sealed into the Sacred Tree."
"Sooo..." Sakura turned to face him, her arms folded behind her back. "What are you saying?"
He sighed and took a seat, letting his legs dangle over the side of the patio.
"I'm saying I think that all these trees... All the ones with seal stones in them... Are people." He said, feeling a quiet dread that made him squeeze his eyes shut for a moment and snap them open a moment later. "Or at least they used to be."
He looked over his shoulder at Sakura whose face was twisted in confusion and fear and her own private dread. She panted in denial and looked at him in a strange way.
"That's impossible Sasuke, it makes no sense." She shook her head at him.
"Logic doesn't apply here." He gestured to all of Uzushio. "A sacred tree that can turn into a little girl? Chakra running through the earth and plant life? Haunted by spirits? I haven't seen any yet but I won't be surprised when I DO."
"... Do you think he knows?" She asked.
"No I don't." Sasuke answered. "He knows more about this place than we do, but he's still out of the loop."
Sakura nodded slowly, turning to look at the house.
"Do you think we can find a map in there?" She asked, shifting uncomfortably.
He stood up, half turning to stare at the house. The architecture was similar to some of the temples he'd seen outside Konoha, especially the roof as it was the dominant feature. It was clear a huge hole had been carved out of the cliffs to act as a catalyst for the house, which didn't seem to have stone or rock included in its construction anywhere, but instead was built from wood of various forms. The large sliding doors were also wood, but seemed thick and powerful like castle gates. Posts and lintels were the main support for the gently curved roof, whose eaves extended far beyond the paper thin walls.
"I'm sure we'll find something important in there." He said, turning completely and boldly pushing the doors open.
An anxious Sakura followed after him into a large entrance hall, lined with thick magnificent columns carved into artistic wave designs. Sliding paper doors lay at set intervals down through the hall, all of them pulled apart to reveal the opposite end of the hall.
They made their way to it, noticing just how large the open room connected to the large hall was. It was filled with ancient artifacts sitting on pedestals and shelves of books lined the walls.
They exited the large hall into a smaller, square room, with thin wooden walls trapping it on three sides, and a canopy of transparent red curtains formed a smaller, closed square-pyramid over the open top.
Sasuke climbed down four small steps, each running the length of the room border in a nesting formation, like a small amphitheater. In the center of the room was a large table on short legs, with four small red cushions, one sitting on each side.
In the middle of the table was a vase of tall, red flowers (red daffodils...?). Near it sat a framed photo, which Sasuke picked up.
Looking at the people in the photo made him flinch. The man had large, ovular, foggy blue eyes and an Uzushio headband across his forehead. His hair was layered, deep red spikes that were longer at the sideburns and shorter at the nape of his neck. His eyes were mostly serious, with just a hint of his smile, and he wore armor over a long sleeved fold over shirt and kimono pants. He was tall, extremely thin, proud, and probably very strong.
The woman standing next to him was only slightly shorter, with hair of a similar shade that trailed down to her ankles but was tied back in a braid by a thin, scarf like head wrap. Her large violet eyes shone with kindness and love and infinite support. She didn't seem to be a ninja, as she wore no headband and a long sleeved red kimono meant for relaxation. In front of them stood two small children, who were similar in height and appearance, causing Sasuke to think they were twins. They appeared to be five or six in this photo, with the boy having jaw length straight red hair and large stormy grey eyes. He was dressed similarly to his father, with a headband, baggy shorts and a long sleeved red shirt with a red eddy symbol on it. His sister had long fiery red hair like her mothers, but without the braid. Her face was round and chubby, with large violet eyes. She wore a high collared sleeveless blouse under a long loose fitting purple dress with lavender shinobi sandals and a black wristband on her left wrist.
Sasuke had unknowingly tightened his grip on the picture and the frame had cracked under the pressure. Sakura had long noticed what he was holding and stood next to him with her hands clapped over her mouth.
They'd seen this woman before. Only in a picture, that the idiot had waved in their faces out of overwhelming excitement.
"This is--!" Sakura gasped, pointing at the little girl in the photo.
"His mother." Sasuke finished, looking around. "Meaning this would have been his house. And the couple in the photo are his grandparents."
"Do you think they made it?" Sakura asked, referring to the surviving Uzumaki clan members.
"I doubt it." Sasuke answered, setting the photo down. "The boys probably dead too."
"Why do you think that?"
"Naruto hasn't mentioned an Uncle." Sasuke stated cooly.
"Well, we should search the rest of the house, right?" Sakura suggested. "We still haven't found a map."
Sasuke nodded. "Search the bookshelves, I'll look for other rooms."
"Okay! Watch out for any traps or barriers. Oh, and take this!" She reached into her pack and pulled out a small white tub with a green lid. "Yuuki told me to put some of this on my hands before I handled any documents in Uzushio. Apparently some of them are poisoned with something called lock powder that kills instantly unless you're wearing this."
"Hmmm." Sasuke said, distrustful of Yuuki yet still taking some of the sparkling red ointment from the tub.
"Hey it's you guys!"
"Hey Kiba." They both said in unison without looking at him.
"What kind of reaction is that?" He complained, getting off Akamaru to come join them. "We get separated and I finally find you guys and you're way too casual."
"We already noticed you were approaching." Sasuke replied cooly. "Annoying trigger-happy chakra and all. You're as bad as Suigetsu."
"Don't compare me to that psychopath!"
"We also noticed the muddy paw prints you tracked throughout the hall." Sakura noted with a hint of annoyance. "This is a sacred place you know? Akamaru should've wiped his feet before coming in."
Kiba snorted. "Dogs don't wipe their feet."
"Have you seen any of the others?" Sasuke asked.
"I came in here hoping to find Hinata, but I ended up running into you guys first! No I haven't seen anyone else."
Sasuke stared at him. Of course he would look for his teammate first, but weren't there more important things right now? Like keeping Suigetsu away from Naruto? And finding the sacred tree?
Then again he'd do the same for Sakura, so...
"Anyway, I've searched most of the house!" Kiba reported proudly. "There's not much here, but I found three bedrooms, ten training rooms, and a library."
"Good." Sasuke said as Sakura closed the tub and returned it to her shuriken holster. "The library should be able to offer us something."
NARUTO'S POV [OUTER FOREST]
"Hinata! Be careful, okay?!" Naruto called up to her from the base of the tree. He watched as she found another good branch to serve as a foothold and climbed higher.
"Maybe you should come back down?!" Naruto suggested. "I can climb instead?!"
"I'm fine!" She shouted back. "Don't worry! I'm almost to the top!"
Naruto frowned as he let his arms drop to his sides. It was true they'd gotten lost, and needed to redetermine their location. It was true that would be easier if they climbed to a higher place where they'd be able to see something other than trees. It was true that when Naruto and Hinata had tried the tree climbing exercise, they'd hit the ground faster than Kurama could laugh at them, which he'd been quick to do. But Hinata touching the trees gave him bad vibes, and he got the feeling he should stop her RIGHT NOW even if by force.
He had wanted to climb the tree, but she'd insisted she'd be faster, seeing that she was a little smaller and had less muscle. He hadn't known how to argue with that, and she had started to climb while he was still thinking it over, much to his dismay. She'd managed to reach the treetops in minutes, which was impressive, but--
He whirled at the sound of bushes rustling and watched, tense, as a bright orange bush shook like crazy for a full ten minutes. Then, suddenly, it stopped.
Stupid bush. Scaring him with its awesome color and weird movements!
This part of the forest had more than just trees and grass. It had all kinds of weird plants. There was some really tall purple grass blades that had foamy tips, some red and yellow moss that grew in straight lines up a few of the trees, some smoking purple stone piles, some sickly green glowing bushes that sprouted strange spiky fruits, brown water that snaked across the ground like it was alive (did that count as a plant?), some short grey grass whose blades were as sharp as needles, and all kinds of other indescribable freaks of nature (literally).
On top of that, this bush wasn't the first thing he'd seen move.
He took another look at the map. The island had three rings, with the smallest one encircling the village ruins, the second enveloped the inner forest where only trees and grass seemed to reside, and the third circled the outer forest, where Naruto and Hinata were. Kairi was, according to the map, in the outer forest, but in Seto's memories he had seen her on a hill overlooking the village.
Maybe she'd moved somehow? She was a tree now , so he couldn't say how, but he wouldn't put it past her. Still, if Hinata got hurt he was sure to regret it.
"Naruto-kun!"
He looked up, jumping when he saw Hinata hugging the trunk and in the process of climbing back down.
"Hinata!"
"I think I know where--" she was cut off when her foot slipped and she started falling.
Naruto dropped the map and ran, positioning his arms to catch her. Time seemed to slow down as the lower half of her body slipped through his arms. He encircled them around her, hugging her waist and feeling his heel hit a tree root. In an effort to keep himself from falling, he rammed his forehead into Hinata's chin, then swung his head back in pain and fell back onto the grass with her on top of him.
"I'm sorry! Are you okay?" Hinata exclaimed.
"Yep...!" He choked out. "Just fine... Move your elbow, please...!"
She sat bolt upright and he relaxed when he felt fresh air flowing through his lungs again.
"Did you hit your head?" She asked, leaning over and shifting all of her weight to one arm while reaching over to poke and prod his forehead, looking for some sign of a concussion.
But...
His mouth formed a tight line and his face felt like it was steaming as he lifted himself up on his elbows. Her hands were in his hair, her chest was in his face, and she was straddling him. Man was he glad they got separated. Because! You know! If the others saw this, they'd never let him live it down. Yeah, that, that was why...
"Where does it hurt?" She asked him, making him shoot to his feet so she stumbled off of him as he ran his fingers through the right half of his bangs. His mouth went from a straight line to a ~ and his face didn't cool down one bit.
"Nowhere!" He replied, without looking her in the eye. "Nothing hurts! I'm fine!"
"Liar." Kurama chuckled smugly. "Man your such a kid. That expression is ridiculous, even for a fool like you."
SHUT UP! He screamed mentally back.
"Anyway, I think I found where we are." Hinata said, picking up the map and pointing to a small section where the center ring, inner and outer forests were extremely thin, causing a nesting curve in the map where the three sections were close together.
"I saw what looked like a building edge poking out of the tree tops." Hinata exclaimed. "And the air of the outer forest seems to be polluted . It's tinted with several colors, like green and purple. But the inner forests air is clean."
Naruto started regretting that he could breathe properly.
"Yuuki-San gave plenty of advanced medicines to Sakura-chan." Hinata reminded him. "We should hurry to find her. Maybe she can give us something for the toxic air we've breathed in."
"Yeah, let's--" Naruto started, breaking off and whirling at the sound of rustling, low hanging branches. Hinata tensed and became battle ready in an instant beside him, poised to activate her byakugan.
Naruto could see somebody standing there. A man? A person for sure! It was as dark as night in this part of the forest, but he knew there was someone there!
"Show yourself!" Hinata ordered.
The man raised his arm slowly, and pushed the branches out of the way.
They flinched when they saw him. He was a little shorter than Naruto, with short extremely light blond hair and ovular, cloudy, light blue eyes. Very young, probably fifteen years old. The darkness concealed everything else except for the pull string of a tan-yellow jacket and baggy blue shorts. But the clothes weren't what surprised them.
It was the headband.
A Konoha headband.
"You...!" Naruto gasped.
The man ducked as he dropped his hand and let the branches swing back into place. Turning, he took off into the darkness, and before Naruto could react, Hinata was chasing him.
"Wait!" She called.
"Hinata, don't!" Naruto ordered as he dashed after her.
DARUI'S POV [KUMOGAKURE TRAINING GROUNDS]
"Darui!" Cee shouted from down the hill.
Darui stirred in the grass, his arms folded behind his head and his knees bent as he tried to take a nap beneath one of kumo's tall, thick trees. Late spring was a little unbearable. It got too hot during the day and was always a little warm at night. The weather made him anti social, so he'd come here for some private time.
So it was with these thoughts that he turned over on his side as Cee reached the top of the hill, huffing and puffing, and stumbled over on wobbly knees to Darui, who shut his eyes once more. Nap time, nap time...
"Did you hear?" He asked, to which Darui groaned back in response.
"I can't hear anything from up here. That's the point." He replied.
"Oh, then, Lord Killer Bee and his team are on their way back." Cee reported enthusiasticly.
Darui blinked one eye, the one that wasn't hidden by his shaggy white hair, open.
"That's great, but... Aren't they early?" He asked.
"No, actually they're late!" Cee said in surprise. "By quite a few days. And to top it off, the Kazekage and Tsuchikage are coming with them, for the annual summit."
Darui made a face at that. It was the wrong time of year for the summit... And on top of that, lord Mifune would have to be summoned too highly inconvenient considering how thick the snow was in the land of Iron this time of year.
"You think they'd acting strange, right? Hosting the summit in Kumo, early. Travelling together. Setting off immediately after the chunin exams have ended. Its just... It's like they're hiding something..." Cee said, sounding hopeful. "Something they can't afford to let leak..."
At the word "leak" Darui finally caught on. And he had mixed feelings as he asked:
"You think they found him?" Darui asked.
Cee didn't reply, but Darui could feel the tension radiating off him as sure as he could feel the wind.
"That's a nice a thought, but unless you've got proof then I don't think you should think too much about it." Darui told him.
"But--!"
"We've gone over this before Cee. Hope isn't a lead. Yeah, that guy loved his village, but he also loved it enough to die for it. He just might be dead, and we have to except that as a possibility."
Cee knit his brow. "Uzumaki wouldn't just die like that."
"That's what they said about the yondaime. His death shook the world, remember? Didn't make him any less dead."
"But still--!"
"But nothing." Darui sat up, looking Cee in the eye. "You got nothing. No leads to his whereabouts. No clues. The fifth hokage even called off the search parties. Whatever they found, if they found anything at all, it's probably nothing good. Maybe an arm, or a leg, or--"
"Stop it." Cee reached out and shook him by the shoulders. "Stop talking like that! It's not like you..."
"I'm just being logical." Darui pointed out. "And logic says that anyone can die at any time, and you've got to accept it and move on."
Cee grit his teeth and squared his shoulders, stubborn.
"I can't! Something's telling me he's not dead!" He argued. "Anyway, logic doesn't apply to that guy."
Darui made a face at those words, remembering that was what Sasuke had said when he and Sakura had passed through Kumo on their own private search. The look in his eyes had been steely, but regretful, and it was clear he was determined to find "the orange spark." But trying to find the would-be hokage was like trying to catch smoke.
He'd always been so proud and cheerful, and if he came into Kumo with the entire Taka team, then no one complained. They couldn't, since Naruto had Lord Killer Bee's and Lord Raikage's trust, and they had begun treating Sasuke and the other three like a normal visitors.
He visited the other four great nations plenty, passing along secret messages and controlling the massive intelligence network that Jiraiya had spent years building. He protected and supported Ame, and made it into a Konoha ally, so no one dare touch it. Under the land of fires protection, the smaller nation flourished, and the borders it shared with Earth, Wind, and Fire were under heavy guard. He was the first to propose the annual gokage summit, in order to keep the ties of friendship between the five nations exactly that: friendly.
The summit...
"Oh, yeah, there was something else I needed to talk to you about." Cee said, remembering. "Lord Raikage wanted your help preparing for the summit tommorow."
"So drab." Darui complained as he stood up, giving Cee a hand in doing the same.
Together, they made their way down the hill.
FLASHBACK STARTS HERE
DARUIS POV [KUMO SHORTLY AFTER THE WAR]
"Lord Raikage!" Karui screamed while pounding on his desk with both palms.
"SILENCE!" Lord Raikage roared back, making her scramble back and shield her face with both arms. "You think this was my idea?! Tsunade gave him permission to bring anyone along with him! Blame her!"
"If we just kick him out, it'll be a violation of the post-war treaty of alliance between the five great nations, AND we won't get that valuable information on the newly discovered Akatsuki hideouts." Cee pointed out.
"I know that!" Karui yelled, directing her rage towards him instead. "All I'm saying is that we should use messenger hawks instead of letting that sociopath and his band of Orochimaru renegades walk around our village like they own the place! It'll cause a riot!"
"The hell it will!" Lord Raikage argued. "Our citizens have more sense than that. And anyway Naruto isn't going to walk in here without his so called 'travel companions.' Bee couldn't drag him in at the speed he runs! We've got no choice!"
"So you're just going to let him do whatever he wants?! He's an outsider!" Karui bellowed.
"Currently, to us, he is a representative of Konoha." Darui told her cooly. "Sent here by Tsunade herself. And we can't use messenger hawks this soon after the war. In the past, any post war messages sent by hawk between allied nations were shot down by rogues. We can't afford to have this information leak. That's why we're sending PEOPLE instead. Highly accomplished war heroes are that much more reliable than summoning creatures and trained messenger hawks. Besides, Lord Killer Bee vouched for him, remember? He isn't the type of person who'll attack any village. His goal is world peace. There's no way he'll destroy it after going to such great lengths to end the war."
"But Sasuke--!" Karui argued.
"Is on strict probation, with restraint ninjutsu placed on him by Lady Hokage." Cee reminded her. "Same goes for Karin and Jugo."
"Just because we destroyed the leader, doesn't mean we can relax!" Lord Raikage pointed out. "There's still plenty of their flunkies running around, causing trouble for every nation. And there are weird items being sold on the black market, like the sharingan! If we destroy the hideouts and arrest the criminals then we should be able to put a stop to this. None of them are very strong, according to our sources."
Karui snorted. "And by SOURCES do you mean JIRAIYAS intelligence network that THAT GUY is running now?"
Lord Raikage bashed his desk in and flung a book at her, which she was quick to duck. Everyone watched as ripped through the wall and beyond, creating a series of holes.
"Respect your superiors! And make sure you don't cause any more trouble!"
"Sorry about the book." Darui apologized as Karui made a run for it, out the door and down the hall.
Haaaaa! What a relief! I made it on time! But I'm down to 10% so I've gotta hurry! I'll edit later.
Naruto fanfic A future without you
Chapter 31: Theory
SASUKE'S POV
He grit his teeth as another light step resulted in a larger portion of the next step crumbling away before he'd even begun to put weight on it. Sakura was two steps behind him, waiting for him to advance.
His eyes rolled back in irritation. Stupid, booby trapped wall. As soon as they'd tried the wall-climbing exercise, they'd had a horrible moment of déjà vu when their attempts ended in them falling flat on their backs. This had to have something to do with what Naruto mentioned. Something about every inch of this place being covered in seals.
He didn't have anything against stairs, but these were less like long rectangles and more like stubby, crumbly, clay squares. Too many of them had given way after he'd put weight on them, and others fell after he'd stepped off them. Sakura had tried to jump from one to another on one foot, but the sudden impact had caused the square to collapse beneath her, and Sasuke had had to think and act quickly to keep her from falling into the lily pond.
He looked up. The house was just a dozen or so stairs away. Wasting time like this was bad for everyone involved...
"Guess we've got no choice." Sasuke said, putting the whole of his weight on his left arm while he used his right hand to unpocket a scroll from his shuriken holster.
"Really?" Sakura asked.
"It's better than being stuck here all day." Sasuke said, pushing the scroll horizontally between his teeth as he revealed a kunai, one that Naruto had drawn a teleportation seal on.
ITS ONLY GOT ONE USE! He'd said as he had given each member of their team a scroll and marked kunai. BUT IF YOU GET CAUGHT IN A DANGEROUS SITUATION, THROW THE KUNAI SOMEWHERE FAR AWAY AND SAFE AND OPEN THE SCROLL.
Sasuke knew this jutsu. It was similar to something the yondaime had used. So he knew it was safe.
It was difficult to throw anything while he was stuck like this, but he managed to fling it onto the houses cliff carved patio where it scraped a rut into the rock before coming to a stop.
He brushed one hand down the wall and grabbed Sakura's hand in a tight grip. She nodded to him, ready, and he used his second hand to tear open the scroll while it was still in his mouth.
It went "poof" like one of Naruto's shadow clones and they suddenly collapsed onto the thick, rocky patio.
Sasuke got to his feet and brushed the dirt off his clothes.
"That turned out better than I thought it would." He said.
"For all you knew, the patio might have crumbled away too!" Sakura complained, standing up. "Can you see the sacred tree?"
He looked over the edge, not sure exactly what he was looking for. All the trees looked the same from up here, but he noticed something. Different sections of the forest had different shades of red leaves, with the lighter leaves belonging to the trees hiding the village ruins. The trees farther from them had thicker trunks, and the ones closer to them were thin, younger.
But none of them stood out in an obvious way (aside from being red).
"I can't tell." He answered as Sakura came to stand beside him, crossing her arms and looking at all the trees in a disappointed way.
"Sasuke... About those... Things you saw in the tree," she started, shielding her face from a fierce wind with one hand. "Why were you so mad that they were seal stones?"
He looked at her warily and quickly looked away.
"Naruto said that seal stones are made of chakra, and memories." Sasuke snapped, more than enough anger in his voice. "That they grow out of the graves of dead Uzumaki clan members who weren't sealed into the Sacred Tree."
"Sooo..." Sakura turned to face him, her arms folded behind her back. "What are you saying?"
He sighed and took a seat, letting his legs dangle over the side of the patio.
"I'm saying I think that all these trees... All the ones with seal stones in them... Are people." He said, feeling a quiet dread that made him squeeze his eyes shut for a moment and snap them open a moment later. "Or at least they used to be."
He looked over his shoulder at Sakura whose face was twisted in confusion and fear and her own private dread. She panted in denial and looked at him in a strange way.
"That's impossible Sasuke, it makes no sense." She shook her head at him.
"Logic doesn't apply here." He gestured to all of Uzushio. "A sacred tree that can turn into a little girl? Chakra running through the earth and plant life? Haunted by spirits? I haven't seen any yet but I won't be surprised when I DO."
"... Do you think he knows?" She asked.
"No I don't." Sasuke answered. "He knows more about this place than we do, but he's still out of the loop."
Sakura nodded slowly, turning to look at the house.
"Do you think we can find a map in there?" She asked, shifting uncomfortably.
He stood up, half turning to stare at the house. The architecture was similar to some of the temples he'd seen outside Konoha, especially the roof as it was the dominant feature. It was clear a huge hole had been carved out of the cliffs to act as a catalyst for the house, which didn't seem to have stone or rock included in its construction anywhere, but instead was built from wood of various forms. The large sliding doors were also wood, but seemed thick and powerful like castle gates. Posts and lintels were the main support for the gently curved roof, whose eaves extended far beyond the paper thin walls.
"I'm sure we'll find something important in there." He said, turning completely and boldly pushing the doors open.
An anxious Sakura followed after him into a large entrance hall, lined with thick magnificent columns carved into artistic wave designs. Sliding paper doors lay at set intervals down through the hall, all of them pulled apart to reveal the opposite end of the hall.
They made their way to it, noticing just how large the open room connected to the large hall was. It was filled with ancient artifacts sitting on pedestals and shelves of books lined the walls.
They exited the large hall into a smaller, square room, with thin wooden walls trapping it on three sides, and a canopy of transparent red curtains formed a smaller, closed square-pyramid over the open top.
Sasuke climbed down four small steps, each running the length of the room border in a nesting formation, like a small amphitheater. In the center of the room was a large table on short legs, with four small red cushions, one sitting on each side.
In the middle of the table was a vase of tall, red flowers (red daffodils...?). Near it sat a framed photo, which Sasuke picked up.
Looking at the people in the photo made him flinch. The man had large, ovular, foggy blue eyes and an Uzushio headband across his forehead. His hair was layered, deep red spikes that were longer at the sideburns and shorter at the nape of his neck. His eyes were mostly serious, with just a hint of his smile, and he wore armor over a long sleeved fold over shirt and kimono pants. He was tall, extremely thin, proud, and probably very strong.
The woman standing next to him was only slightly shorter, with hair of a similar shade that trailed down to her ankles but was tied back in a braid by a thin, scarf like head wrap. Her large violet eyes shone with kindness and love and infinite support. She didn't seem to be a ninja, as she wore no headband and a long sleeved red kimono meant for relaxation. In front of them stood two small children, who were similar in height and appearance, causing Sasuke to think they were twins. They appeared to be five or six in this photo, with the boy having jaw length straight red hair and large stormy grey eyes. He was dressed similarly to his father, with a headband, baggy shorts and a long sleeved red shirt with a red eddy symbol on it. His sister had long fiery red hair like her mothers, but without the braid. Her face was round and chubby, with large violet eyes. She wore a high collared sleeveless blouse under a long loose fitting purple dress with lavender shinobi sandals and a black wristband on her left wrist.
Sasuke had unknowingly tightened his grip on the picture and the frame had cracked under the pressure. Sakura had long noticed what he was holding and stood next to him with her hands clapped over her mouth.
They'd seen this woman before. Only in a picture, that the idiot had waved in their faces out of overwhelming excitement.
"This is--!" Sakura gasped, pointing at the little girl in the photo.
"His mother." Sasuke finished, looking around. "Meaning this would have been his house. And the couple in the photo are his grandparents."
"Do you think they made it?" Sakura asked, referring to the surviving Uzumaki clan members.
"I doubt it." Sasuke answered, setting the photo down. "The boys probably dead too."
"Why do you think that?"
"Naruto hasn't mentioned an Uncle." Sasuke stated cooly.
"Well, we should search the rest of the house, right?" Sakura suggested. "We still haven't found a map."
Sasuke nodded. "Search the bookshelves, I'll look for other rooms."
"Okay! Watch out for any traps or barriers. Oh, and take this!" She reached into her pack and pulled out a small white tub with a green lid. "Yuuki told me to put some of this on my hands before I handled any documents in Uzushio. Apparently some of them are poisoned with something called lock powder that kills instantly unless you're wearing this."
"Hmmm." Sasuke said, distrustful of Yuuki yet still taking some of the sparkling red ointment from the tub.
"Hey it's you guys!"
"Hey Kiba." They both said in unison without looking at him.
"What kind of reaction is that?" He complained, getting off Akamaru to come join them. "We get separated and I finally find you guys and you're way too casual."
"We already noticed you were approaching." Sasuke replied cooly. "Annoying trigger-happy chakra and all. You're as bad as Suigetsu."
"Don't compare me to that psychopath!"
"We also noticed the muddy paw prints you tracked throughout the hall." Sakura noted with a hint of annoyance. "This is a sacred place you know? Akamaru should've wiped his feet before coming in."
Kiba snorted. "Dogs don't wipe their feet."
"Have you seen any of the others?" Sasuke asked.
"I came in here hoping to find Hinata, but I ended up running into you guys first! No I haven't seen anyone else."
Sasuke stared at him. Of course he would look for his teammate first, but weren't there more important things right now? Like keeping Suigetsu away from Naruto? And finding the sacred tree?
Then again he'd do the same for Sakura, so...
"Anyway, I've searched most of the house!" Kiba reported proudly. "There's not much here, but I found three bedrooms, ten training rooms, and a library."
"Good." Sasuke said as Sakura closed the tub and returned it to her shuriken holster. "The library should be able to offer us something."
NARUTO'S POV [OUTER FOREST]
"Hinata! Be careful, okay?!" Naruto called up to her from the base of the tree. He watched as she found another good branch to serve as a foothold and climbed higher.
"Maybe you should come back down?!" Naruto suggested. "I can climb instead?!"
"I'm fine!" She shouted back. "Don't worry! I'm almost to the top!"
Naruto frowned as he let his arms drop to his sides. It was true they'd gotten lost, and needed to redetermine their location. It was true that would be easier if they climbed to a higher place where they'd be able to see something other than trees. It was true that when Naruto and Hinata had tried the tree climbing exercise, they'd hit the ground faster than Kurama could laugh at them, which he'd been quick to do. But Hinata touching the trees gave him bad vibes, and he got the feeling he should stop her RIGHT NOW even if by force.
He had wanted to climb the tree, but she'd insisted she'd be faster, seeing that she was a little smaller and had less muscle. He hadn't known how to argue with that, and she had started to climb while he was still thinking it over, much to his dismay. She'd managed to reach the treetops in minutes, which was impressive, but--
He whirled at the sound of bushes rustling and watched, tense, as a bright orange bush shook like crazy for a full ten minutes. Then, suddenly, it stopped.
Stupid bush. Scaring him with its awesome color and weird movements!
This part of the forest had more than just trees and grass. It had all kinds of weird plants. There was some really tall purple grass blades that had foamy tips, some red and yellow moss that grew in straight lines up a few of the trees, some smoking purple stone piles, some sickly green glowing bushes that sprouted strange spiky fruits, brown water that snaked across the ground like it was alive (did that count as a plant?), some short grey grass whose blades were as sharp as needles, and all kinds of other indescribable freaks of nature (literally).
On top of that, this bush wasn't the first thing he'd seen move.
He took another look at the map. The island had three rings, with the smallest one encircling the village ruins, the second enveloped the inner forest where only trees and grass seemed to reside, and the third circled the outer forest, where Naruto and Hinata were. Kairi was, according to the map, in the outer forest, but in Seto's memories he had seen her on a hill overlooking the village.
Maybe she'd moved somehow? She was a tree now , so he couldn't say how, but he wouldn't put it past her. Still, if Hinata got hurt he was sure to regret it.
"Naruto-kun!"
He looked up, jumping when he saw Hinata hugging the trunk and in the process of climbing back down.
"Hinata!"
"I think I know where--" she was cut off when her foot slipped and she started falling.
Naruto dropped the map and ran, positioning his arms to catch her. Time seemed to slow down as the lower half of her body slipped through his arms. He encircled them around her, hugging her waist and feeling his heel hit a tree root. In an effort to keep himself from falling, he rammed his forehead into Hinata's chin, then swung his head back in pain and fell back onto the grass with her on top of him.
"I'm sorry! Are you okay?" Hinata exclaimed.
"Yep...!" He choked out. "Just fine... Move your elbow, please...!"
She sat bolt upright and he relaxed when he felt fresh air flowing through his lungs again.
"Did you hit your head?" She asked, leaning over and shifting all of her weight to one arm while reaching over to poke and prod his forehead, looking for some sign of a concussion.
But...
His mouth formed a tight line and his face felt like it was steaming as he lifted himself up on his elbows. Her hands were in his hair, her chest was in his face, and she was straddling him. Man was he glad they got separated. Because! You know! If the others saw this, they'd never let him live it down. Yeah, that, that was why...
"Where does it hurt?" She asked him, making him shoot to his feet so she stumbled off of him as he ran his fingers through the right half of his bangs. His mouth went from a straight line to a ~ and his face didn't cool down one bit.
"Nowhere!" He replied, without looking her in the eye. "Nothing hurts! I'm fine!"
"Liar." Kurama chuckled smugly. "Man your such a kid. That expression is ridiculous, even for a fool like you."
SHUT UP! He screamed mentally back.
"Anyway, I think I found where we are." Hinata said, picking up the map and pointing to a small section where the center ring, inner and outer forests were extremely thin, causing a nesting curve in the map where the three sections were close together.
"I saw what looked like a building edge poking out of the tree tops." Hinata exclaimed. "And the air of the outer forest seems to be polluted . It's tinted with several colors, like green and purple. But the inner forests air is clean."
Naruto started regretting that he could breathe properly.
"Yuuki-San gave plenty of advanced medicines to Sakura-chan." Hinata reminded him. "We should hurry to find her. Maybe she can give us something for the toxic air we've breathed in."
"Yeah, let's--" Naruto started, breaking off and whirling at the sound of rustling, low hanging branches. Hinata tensed and became battle ready in an instant beside him, poised to activate her byakugan.
Naruto could see somebody standing there. A man? A person for sure! It was as dark as night in this part of the forest, but he knew there was someone there!
"Show yourself!" Hinata ordered.
The man raised his arm slowly, and pushed the branches out of the way.
They flinched when they saw him. He was a little shorter than Naruto, with short extremely light blond hair and ovular, cloudy, light blue eyes. Very young, probably fifteen years old. The darkness concealed everything else except for the pull string of a tan-yellow jacket and baggy blue shorts. But the clothes weren't what surprised them.
It was the headband.
A Konoha headband.
"You...!" Naruto gasped.
The man ducked as he dropped his hand and let the branches swing back into place. Turning, he took off into the darkness, and before Naruto could react, Hinata was chasing him.
"Wait!" She called.
"Hinata, don't!" Naruto ordered as he dashed after her.
DARUI'S POV [KUMOGAKURE TRAINING GROUNDS]
"Darui!" Cee shouted from down the hill.
Darui stirred in the grass, his arms folded behind his head and his knees bent as he tried to take a nap beneath one of kumo's tall, thick trees. Late spring was a little unbearable. It got too hot during the day and was always a little warm at night. The weather made him anti social, so he'd come here for some private time.
So it was with these thoughts that he turned over on his side as Cee reached the top of the hill, huffing and puffing, and stumbled over on wobbly knees to Darui, who shut his eyes once more. Nap time, nap time...
"Did you hear?" He asked, to which Darui groaned back in response.
"I can't hear anything from up here. That's the point." He replied.
"Oh, then, Lord Killer Bee and his team are on their way back." Cee reported enthusiasticly.
Darui blinked one eye, the one that wasn't hidden by his shaggy white hair, open.
"That's great, but... Aren't they early?" He asked.
"No, actually they're late!" Cee said in surprise. "By quite a few days. And to top it off, the Kazekage and Tsuchikage are coming with them, for the annual summit."
Darui made a face at that. It was the wrong time of year for the summit... And on top of that, lord Mifune would have to be summoned too highly inconvenient considering how thick the snow was in the land of Iron this time of year.
"You think they'd acting strange, right? Hosting the summit in Kumo, early. Travelling together. Setting off immediately after the chunin exams have ended. Its just... It's like they're hiding something..." Cee said, sounding hopeful. "Something they can't afford to let leak..."
At the word "leak" Darui finally caught on. And he had mixed feelings as he asked:
"You think they found him?" Darui asked.
Cee didn't reply, but Darui could feel the tension radiating off him as sure as he could feel the wind.
"That's a nice a thought, but unless you've got proof then I don't think you should think too much about it." Darui told him.
"But--!"
"We've gone over this before Cee. Hope isn't a lead. Yeah, that guy loved his village, but he also loved it enough to die for it. He just might be dead, and we have to except that as a possibility."
Cee knit his brow. "Uzumaki wouldn't just die like that."
"That's what they said about the yondaime. His death shook the world, remember? Didn't make him any less dead."
"But still--!"
"But nothing." Darui sat up, looking Cee in the eye. "You got nothing. No leads to his whereabouts. No clues. The fifth hokage even called off the search parties. Whatever they found, if they found anything at all, it's probably nothing good. Maybe an arm, or a leg, or--"
"Stop it." Cee reached out and shook him by the shoulders. "Stop talking like that! It's not like you..."
"I'm just being logical." Darui pointed out. "And logic says that anyone can die at any time, and you've got to accept it and move on."
Cee grit his teeth and squared his shoulders, stubborn.
"I can't! Something's telling me he's not dead!" He argued. "Anyway, logic doesn't apply to that guy."
Darui made a face at those words, remembering that was what Sasuke had said when he and Sakura had passed through Kumo on their own private search. The look in his eyes had been steely, but regretful, and it was clear he was determined to find "the orange spark." But trying to find the would-be hokage was like trying to catch smoke.
He'd always been so proud and cheerful, and if he came into Kumo with the entire Taka team, then no one complained. They couldn't, since Naruto had Lord Killer Bee's and Lord Raikage's trust, and they had begun treating Sasuke and the other three like a normal visitors.
He visited the other four great nations plenty, passing along secret messages and controlling the massive intelligence network that Jiraiya had spent years building. He protected and supported Ame, and made it into a Konoha ally, so no one dare touch it. Under the land of fires protection, the smaller nation flourished, and the borders it shared with Earth, Wind, and Fire were under heavy guard. He was the first to propose the annual gokage summit, in order to keep the ties of friendship between the five nations exactly that: friendly.
The summit...
"Oh, yeah, there was something else I needed to talk to you about." Cee said, remembering. "Lord Raikage wanted your help preparing for the summit tommorow."
"So drab." Darui complained as he stood up, giving Cee a hand in doing the same.
Together, they made their way down the hill.
FLASHBACK STARTS HERE
DARUIS POV [KUMO SHORTLY AFTER THE WAR]
"Lord Raikage!" Karui screamed while pounding on his desk with both palms.
"SILENCE!" Lord Raikage roared back, making her scramble back and shield her face with both arms. "You think this was my idea?! Tsunade gave him permission to bring anyone along with him! Blame her!"
"If we just kick him out, it'll be a violation of the post-war treaty of alliance between the five great nations, AND we won't get that valuable information on the newly discovered Akatsuki hideouts." Cee pointed out.
"I know that!" Karui yelled, directing her rage towards him instead. "All I'm saying is that we should use messenger hawks instead of letting that sociopath and his band of Orochimaru renegades walk around our village like they own the place! It'll cause a riot!"
"The hell it will!" Lord Raikage argued. "Our citizens have more sense than that. And anyway Naruto isn't going to walk in here without his so called 'travel companions.' Bee couldn't drag him in at the speed he runs! We've got no choice!"
"So you're just going to let him do whatever he wants?! He's an outsider!" Karui bellowed.
"Currently, to us, he is a representative of Konoha." Darui told her cooly. "Sent here by Tsunade herself. And we can't use messenger hawks this soon after the war. In the past, any post war messages sent by hawk between allied nations were shot down by rogues. We can't afford to have this information leak. That's why we're sending PEOPLE instead. Highly accomplished war heroes are that much more reliable than summoning creatures and trained messenger hawks. Besides, Lord Killer Bee vouched for him, remember? He isn't the type of person who'll attack any village. His goal is world peace. There's no way he'll destroy it after going to such great lengths to end the war."
"But Sasuke--!" Karui argued.
"Is on strict probation, with restraint ninjutsu placed on him by Lady Hokage." Cee reminded her. "Same goes for Karin and Jugo."
"Just because we destroyed the leader, doesn't mean we can relax!" Lord Raikage pointed out. "There's still plenty of their flunkies running around, causing trouble for every nation. And there are weird items being sold on the black market, like the sharingan! If we destroy the hideouts and arrest the criminals then we should be able to put a stop to this. None of them are very strong, according to our sources."
Karui snorted. "And by SOURCES do you mean JIRAIYAS intelligence network that THAT GUY is running now?"
Lord Raikage bashed his desk in and flung a book at her, which she was quick to duck. Everyone watched as ripped through the wall and beyond, creating a series of holes.
"Respect your superiors! And make sure you don't cause any more trouble!"
"Sorry about the book." Darui apologized as Karui made a run for it, out the door and down the hall.
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