I took a break for the holidays, but I felt bad about leaving my followers without anything new to read so here's this...thing I wrote years ago, I will be updating shadows in the tree later this week so keep an eye out for that.

I apologize for grammar errors, Polish is my first language, not English. I speak and type English fluently but I do sometimes struggle.

I do not own Naruto.

please enjoy!

burning home-I

day 1

the village burned, flames and smoke billowed out of tightly clustered wooden homes and shops. the roar of the fire was drowned out by the screams of the dying and the constant sounds of battle. her country, her village, her home burned. Her father had shoved her and her mother out the back when the invaders barged into her home. Her mother had fallen to a stray kunai shortly after, her last words telling her to run.

All Sakura Haruno could do was run. Around her, the streets and alleyways burned and ran red with blood. shinobi darted around her, paying no attention to the ten-year-old child running down the road in a panic.

She slipped in blood, smacking her face on the muddy road, her lungs burned from the smoke as she breathed. run! She sucked in the smoky air, crawling forward on her hands and knees before working up to her two legs. Where should she run? A body crashed to the ground in front of her. the head popped on the ground sending brain and skull splattering across her clothes. Anywhere but here!

"get down!" a boy her age tackled her into the dirt, covering her body with his own. The body exploded violently, heat cascaded over them like a tidal wave. The boy was mouthing something at her, the ringing in her ears prevented her from understanding.

He was blond, with bright blue eyes, she couldn't put his name to his face, but she remembered that he had been in her academy class before the war had started. Now he stood the shredded underclothes of a chunin with a headband to match. He pulled her up.

"are you okay?" he had to shout next to her ear. "are you hurt?" she shook her head. "come on!" he grabbed her hand and started pulling, her muscles ached, and her lungs burned but the boy forced her to move. The air filled with a heavy scent of ozone, and the boy tackled her again. a massive dark-skinned man crashed to the ground skidding along the dirt. Lightning arched around him scorching the dirt and wood around him. The man looked at them, we're gonna die! she couldn't breathe, she couldn't move, nothing would stop this man from killing her and the boy.

The Hokage landed in front of them, she lost control of her bladder as the two men began fighting in the street. the shock waves of their blows sent her back to the ground and toppled nearby buildings. the blond dragged her away from the fight by pulling her through the dirt, her legs refused to work. The flames grew in size around them, forming into a dragon before launching off into the distance lighting up another section of the village.

"w-where are we going." More explosions, more death.

"anywhere but here!" the boy somehow remained calm, his squeaking pubescent voice sounded commanding. There was a roar, not of fire or wind, but people. The boy dragged her into an alleyway, clamping his hand over her mouth. they sat in the flickering shadows of the flames, listening to the screams of the dead. Men and women in red and brown uniforms rushed past them towards the center of the village. their faces etched with glee and satisfaction at the slaughter they were committing.

"hide!" he shoved her away further down the alley, a man twice the size of the boy entered. A twisted grin spreading across his face. The two clashed in a flurry of sparks and metal, and Sakura hid. kunai and shuriken rained through the alley, Sakura couldn't follow the fight. only until the man pinned the boy under his boot did, she finally know who won. the larger man cackled griping a knife in his hand.

Sakura jumped forward a stray kunai held white-knuckled in her hand, it hit in the soft part of the man's armor, just like she had been shown in class. Bloods gushed out of the wound and over her hands. She wasn't strong enough to pierce his armor totally, the blow would do little more than annoy him. He grasped her throat tightly.

"n-n-n" she tried to squeak out anything, but her constricting throat made it impossible. He dropped her like a sack, the boy had grabbed a kunai and sent it up between the man's legs. He fell to his knees, still pinning the blond boy to the ground. sakura reacted reaching for the knife the man dropped. she whipped it up and plunged it into his neck. it was a messy stab she jerked and flinched spraying blood around the walls and herself.

She collapsed to the ground, shaking and covered in blood. The blond shoved the man off of him, breathing heavily. "thanks, uhhhh."

"sa-s-s-s" she vomited on to the blood covered ground "Sakura!" she finally managed to cough out.

"right Sakura!" the boy tried to smile but it held for barely a second, he began to search the man. Pulling the knife out of the bodies throat, "here, you hit that spot perfectly." The blood covered knife was tossed her way. "we need to move, there could be more."

Her tunnel vision on the body snapped, giving way the heat of the nearby flames and the sounds of distant combat. She shook, tears leaked out of her eyes. "we-were gonna die, aren't we?"

The boy knelt the stern look on his face didn't fit at all "Sakura I promise, we are not going to die!" he wiped some blood off her face, "we'll get through this Konoha always does."

day 2

The sounds of combat had faded, but the flames and screams of the dying did not. The two huddled under the floorboards of a bloody and ruined house. Men and women laughed and celebrated their victory above them.

Konohagakure had lost the fourth shinobi war. Two years of war had ended in a single night as the might of four great shinobi villages crashed down on fire country. Naruto had been force graduated when the fighting first broke out, his status as a jinchuriki put him out into the front lines.

Now he huddled next to a crying academy student, underneath a destroyed house. Kumo nin talked loudly and openly about their victory. Naruto wanted nothing more than to draw on the Kyuubi, he wanted nothing more than to unleash hell on these savages. But the promise he made to the girl shuddering next to him made him stay his hand.

"Oi! You lot we found a group near the center that needs exterminating go get them!" the chunin grumbled and complained as all soldiers do. but they packed up whatever they had brought with them and took off into the smoldering village. they waited another five minutes, Naruto tried to listen for anyone nearby, but the screams and flames blocked out most of his hearing. He shifted the floorboards, climbing out as silently and as carefully he could. Sakura wasn't as quiet, but he only hoped that her noise was drowned out by the screams.

the air was thick with the scent of smoke and blood, bodies littered the streets and behind him, sakura vomited onto the ground. there was a scream from the alley near them, Naruto pulled Sakura into a destroyed house, ducking behind some rubble.

Kumo nin dragged a young girl through the bloody mud, she was screaming and crying her punches and kicks did little to fend off the two men.

"Hinata!" Sakura gasped next to him.

"who is she?"

"she's a girl from my class." The girl's screams continued to echo through the streets, long after the Kumo shinobi had dragged her away. The two children could only watch until they disappeared into the village.

"we need to find a jonin." He said as they picked their way out of the rubble. "they'll…they'll know what to do." Something moved when they passed the alley the girl had been dragged from. Another girl, with pale eyes and brown hair, rushed out at them hands ready to deliver deadly strikes. Naruto dodged, grabbing her hands and pulling them behind her.

"shut the fuck up!" the girl raged in his arms.

"Hanabi you have to be quiet!" the girl's eyes gave way nothing but at the sight of Sakura, she calmed. He dragged her into the ally, hoping no one heard the scream. He stepped over a body and drew them into the shadows before releasing her.

"who are you" Hanabi hissed out.

"Naruto Uzumaki, I'm a chunin. are you hurt?" she shook her head. Good, he hated to say it, but she seemed more useful than Sakura, who was little more than a quivering mess at this point. "we need to find a jonin, can you-"

"there's no Konoha shinobi nearby, but there are some civilians hiding." Naruto frowned.

"we leave them."

"what!" sakura nearly shouted out "we can't just-"

"who's gonna protect them? you? Me? We can't risk it."

"he's right Sakura, we can afford to risk it."

"but-but-but"

Voices cut through their conversation, "I heard something over here!" the three survivors ran.

Hanabi's Byakugan made the next day was made slightly easier with the fact that they now had three hundred sixty-degree vision. Combined with naruto's experience and sakura's impressive ability to learn. The three would survive the second day of Konohagakure's destruction.

day 3

"I like to look at clouds."

"really?"

"yep, I wish-" the boy coughed hard "I wish I could look at once more I guess."

"don't talk like that we're gonna get out of here, the fighting's done! now we wait for someone to come to rescue us."

"I never took you for a….."

"Shikamaru?" Sasuke shook his classmate that had been pinned in the rubble next to him. "Shikamaru?" the body was silent and growing cold, and Sasuke was alone pinned under the destroyed house the two boys had hidden in. Tears spilled out his eyes, he cried for his father who had been struck down in front of him, he cried for his mother who had been taken away screaming, he cried for his brother who had left and never came back, he cried for his dead friend buried right next to him.

Sasuke Uchiha cried until he fell asleep.

When he woke up still pinned beneath the rubble, the fighting had truly stopped, the flames had stopped burning, and people had stopped screaming. The scent of smoke and blood still filled the air. crows and vultures now lazily circled above, periodically visible through the tiny hole that let in light.

The rubble shifted, he couldn't turn to look at what was moving it but he could hear voices. "who is he again?" the voice was that of a young male.

"Sasuke Uchiha, he doesn't appear to be hurt just trapped. We haven't found anyone else and he'll be useful." He recognized Hanabi's voice.

More rubble shifted, and he could now sit upright he used both arms to help move what he could, finally, 'fresh' air rushed into his little bubble.

"there's a hole up top, he can crawl out of." His arms and legs burned with exhaustion when he did climb. The boy that the voice belonged too helped him out.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" somehow the kid actually had a smile on his face. "are you hurt." Sasuke didn't say anything, to distracted by the devastation of the village.

"n-no I'm-"

"Sasuke!" almost out of habit he dodged sakura's hug, but its sedated pace and tearful look made him pause. Everyone's hurting, she cried into his shoulder and all he could do was numbly hug her back.

"what's going on Hanabi?" she looked broken and defeated her eyes not really looking at him, he probably looked the same way.

"he's in charge." Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"We were trying to find a jonin, but at this point, it's probably best to try and escape."

"we can't just leave!"

"what are we gonna do fight back. We're nine, you're all academy students, there are four armies inside Konoha right now. What are we gonna do?" naruto's brutal honesty made Sakura cry harder.

"you're going to give up."

"no, I'm going to leave, get stronger and come back. Im not stupid I know when to retreat."

"where are we-"

Combat erupted near them, clashes of steel and chakra rang out into the day. Close enough that they could see stray kunai and jutsu fly out and zip past them. "get inside!" Naruto pushed him back down into the hole, Sakura landed on top of him. Hanabi and Naruto landed much more collected, but it was a tight fit with the four of them and a corpse.

day 4

Sakura swallowed the bile that had been rising up her throat. The dying Kumo nin at her feet chocked on her own blood and Sakura jumped, Naruto called them death rattles and that they were kinda common. The other three Kumo nin had silenced already but the one she killed still held on.

"Sakura strip her we need to change quickly." They all sounded so normal, they all sounded like they had accepted that their home was gone. That their families were dead, and the village destroyed. She shuddered again the screams from the days before echoed through her mind.

They had found very quickly that the only way out of the village was the main gate. The walls had new patrols looking for anyone attempting to climb out of the village. the main gate was guarded by people from every village, but it was an exit. their plan as basic as it was, was to dress as Kumo nin and walk out. Sakura tried to think of a million reasons why it was a bad idea. why they shouldn't do this, why they should just surrender. But the determined looks on the others faces silenced anything that she tried to voice.

The blue eyes of the Kumo kunoichi trailed her as she took off the girl's pants tears leaked out of both of their eyes. The girl choked again, Sakura put the black pants on followed by the striped boots. She pulled out a kunai.

"don't do it." She was startled by Hanabi grabbing her wrist. "let her suffer."

"but-but-"

"But-but, they burned your house down, killed your friends and family. Remember shikamaru's body or my sister's screams, they did that."

"we can't just let someone suffer!"

"grow up." The cold Hyuga turned away from her. Sakura was the last one to finish changing tying the bandana like headband around her head covering her pink hair. Naruto tore a strip off of his own discarded clothes.

"Hanabi put this around your eyes." He looked them over before frowning at Sakura. "lift up your shirt." He pulled out some bandages, "you've got a whole in your stomach." He wrapped the bandages around her waist and abdomen she let the shirt fall. the hole that had been in her new clothes now showed the bandages instead of her unmarred skin. they applied a henge and left the bodies.

They walked openly down the street, careful to avoid prolonged exposure to one person. Sakura leaned heavily on Sasuke, once this would have been the best moment of her life. Now she could only worry that they would be found out.

Hanabi leaned on Naruto faking being blind like she'd done it before. They passed enemy shinobi and kunoichi with little fuss. Most gave pleasant waves or cheers like they hadn't just murdered an entire village. Her mouth went dry when they hit the gate, prisoners lined the street in chains. She recognized a few and she knew a few recognized her. Chunin walked the line doing 'inventory' Sakura stared at her best friend Ino when she passed. The girl looked broken and she tried not to look too hard at the substance on the girls face.

"don't look too hard!" Sasuke hissed into her ear. "we'll save them, somehow, we will." the last part he whispered

"where do you think you're headed?" a Kumo chunin stopped them as they were ready to leave.

"a medical camp nearby, Junko-sensei told us about it. She said you could help show us the way." Naruto, she had to admit was a fantastic actor.

"where did you guys get hurt?"

"next to this….it was a ramen shack, some of their chunin jumped us, Junko-sensei-" an explosion went off nearby startling the chunin. kunai shot up into the air arching towards the gate.

"go its southeast of here about a mile, can't miss it." The chunin shoved them through the gate whipping out a kunai to engage whatever threat was coming their way.

Sakura's body relaxed the further away they got from Konoha, once out of sight they ditched the acting and took off into the forest. They had no destination in mind, all they wanted to do was put distance between themselves and the four armies occupying Konoha

day 5

The woods were no better than the village, suna shinobi patrolled around the forests. Combat seemed to be even heavier out here than in the ruined city. The normally pleasant smell of the forests had been overrun with the familiar smell of smoke and blood.

Hanabi Hyuga tried and failed to maintain her mask, it shattered in the first night they spent out of the village. She had sobbed into Naruto's shoulder until she passed out. The next morning things felt peaceful, the ground she laid on smelt like home, and no one nearby was dying. When she sat up the pervasive scent of blood filled her nostrils and she scowled. The Sasuke was awake the underbrush they sat under did little to shadow the haunted look on his face. Sakura was still asleep tear lines streaked down her chin, they all had the same tear streaks.

Naruto landed near them, announcing his presence with the crunch of a leaf. "where did you go?" she felt much more worried than she sounded. "you're not supposed to leave us!"

"Relax, I promised to keep you guys safe and I don't break promises. I went out for information and food." He offered an Iwakagure ration pack and a fake but charming smile and that was enough for her. The rations were bland and dry, but better than the nothing they had eaten for the past few days.

"what information did you find?" Sasuke spoke for the first time in a while, his voice was hollow and monotone, but at least he was talking.

"nothing good, for now at least. Im not good at strategy but I do know that the other villages are gearing up for something else now that Konoha's gone."

"Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll off the selves."

Hanabi noticed Naruto tense and activated her byakugan, figures moved towards them too fast to follow "they're behind-" she was kicked out from the bush and sent sprawling across the dirt she rolled for a moment before skidding to a stop, something pinned her to the ground.

"wait!" Naruto held up his hands "we're leaf nin." The something that pinned her to the ground turned out to be a very large dog. "well im a leaf nin, they're academy students!" the women holding a knife to his throat growled. "Naruto Uzumaki!" he stuck his hand out.

The inuzuka didn't relax, she tightened her hold on him, "I'm not buying your story you dirty shit, now tell your friends to lay down their-"

"your tsume right? Kiba's mother." Sakura pulled off her headband showing of the memorable pink hair.

"you picked him up a few times and-"

"well shit, you really are academy students, how the fuck did you make it out of Konoha."

"blood, and tears."

thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. again I apologize for any grammar issues.

I don't know if I will be updating this regularly but if people like it I'll keep it going.

leave a review, hate, criticism or like.