Konohagakure. The first of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, it is also considered the most beautiful of them all. The scenery that can be seen from its highest points was like none other presented by the other four villages. Once inside the village, one could easily see the village's iconic monument from any spot inside of it. With the face of every Hokage the village has ever had, the Hokage Monument was a sight to be seen by all. Even though it was arguably the strongest of the villages, it is also one of the more peaceful villages around.
A lone Shikamaru made his way down the empty morning streets seeing that peacefulness, but failing to see any of the beauty he had come accomstomed to viewing. After his breakdown in Choji's hospital room the young boy had been taking morning walks to clear his mind after waking up. His nights had been filled with dreams and nightmares of his failed mission from almost a month ago now.
At times he would wake thinking he had just finished the mission. Sometimes it was a complete success. Everybody returned, and Naruto was able to bring Sasuke back to Sakura just like he had promised her he would. Other times the mission was still a failure, but things ended differently at the very least. Sasuke unfortunately may have still gotten away from them all, but Naruto was found and brought back to the village. Down but not out, the young blond would live on to keep his promise in the end. Those were the good nights.
That wasn't the case more often the not. Most nights were nightmare filled. The mission was never a success. There were times where Shikamaru would be the only one to return from the mission able to continue on with his shinobi career, or even be the only one of them left alive. Other times he was able to catch up to Naruto only to see the young boy's body lying lifelessly on the ground. Occasional that body spoke. Telling him how he failed. How he should have been there to help his friend instead of abandoning him. A few times he would turn around to see the bodies of the rest of the team piled up behind him. Hearing them all tell him how the blood of everyone was on his hands. How he would never be able to wash that away.
Shikamaru would wake from all these dreams in a cold sweat. He would find himself fighting back the urge to scream in rage and anguish after them. This quickly led to him taking many prolonged walks in need of something to help him bleed away everything that was building up inside of him. It was during the first of these walks, that started off in the middle of the day, that he saw how most of the villagers responded to the sudden disappearance of the two Genin from Team Seven.
The responses that he saw for Sasuke were to be expected. There were tears from people who barely knew the boy, but still thought highly of him. Disappointment filled the eyes of many of those who had high expectations of Uchiha while rest were upset that he was 'allowed' to be taken from the village with 'little to no' resistance. Besides that, people just talked about all the good that could have been if more competent shinobi were sent on the mission and succeeded in bring back the boy. There was no surprise in what he saw and heard. It was the response to the loss of Naruto that both surprised and horrified the Nara heir.
He knew that Naruto had always been looked down upon by most of the villagers. It had been that way since he first met the boy a couple years before their academy days together. Even then, Shikamaru couldn't believe how happy the general public was at Naruto's complete disappearance. Learning that all the celebrations that were being held, until the Hokage put a stop to them all, were to celebrate the Genin's disappearance/death made Shikamaru sick to his stomach. People seemed eager to spit out how happy they were to be rid of that 'little monster' as they called him. Some even openly talking about how they hoped he was killed and would never be found if he was still alive. There were a few who were indifferent to what happened, with even fewer actually feeling the loss of Naruto.
Seeing all of this forced Shikamaru to move his walks to the early mornings where he would only see the early movements of other shinobi. He couldn't stand to look at the people who would so happily look upon the loss of what was one of the most loyal shinobi this village had ever produced. Even looking around now he could hear the phantom laughs and chuckles of gleeful villagers. It was more just than a little bit upsetting. Deep down, it all made Shikamaru livid to the core.
Taking a deep breath, the young heir clenched and unclenched his fist multiple times as he looked up towards the sky. The anger that had suddenly surged up in his body dwindling away. He looks back down and locks his eyes on a stand not too far out in front of him. For a moment he just looked at it before walking towards it.
Ichiraku Ramen. It had become a proverbial safe haven for those who cared about Naruto during the celebrations and still was for many. Ducking into the stand, Shikamaru was immediately graced with the scent of many different ramen scents and met with the sight of two backs. It was an unusual sight this early in the morning, but not an unwelcome one. He took up a seat between the two of them silently and leaned forward as he placed his hands on the counter.
Nobody said anything. It had become increasingly difficult to be the first one to talk when everyone had the same thing going through their minds. The three just sat there silently beside each other. Each one waiting for someone else to speak first. It wasn't much longer after Shikamaru sat down the a bowl of ramen was slid in front of each person. They all thanked the man in turn as they paid him and watched him walk towards the sink to wash dishes. With a sigh, they start to eat their food.
Shikamaru looked at the others after getting a few bites of food into him. "What has you two here so early in the morning?"
Turning to look at the clan heir, Choji gave a small smile before speaking. "Woke up a bit ago. Couldn't get back to sleep. Decided why not? Let's get some ramen. Saw Ino walking around outside and brought her along with." The two boys looked at the girl as she poked at her food quietly. "How is Sakura?"
Ino shook her head and took a small bite of her food. "...she still isn't talking to anyone. I haven't been able to get her to even look at me when I visit her. They're force feeding her since she won't do it herself. Same with other daily necessities. All of them." All of their eyes fall down to their food. It's quiet again for a moment before soft sobs force the boys to look at Ino again. "I… I want to help her. I kept saying how it'd a-all be fine. How they'd be coming back through the gates at a-any moment. That Naruto… Naruto would never go back on his promise to come back with Sasuke in tow." She shook her head with tears flowing down her cheeks. "I left her th-there. S-She needed someone to be there with h-her, and I left her there alone. I… I… I…" Choji stands and walks around Shikamaru to grab Ino's shoulder as he tries to calm her with soft words.
Shikamaru reaches over squeezing the girl's hand quietly. Naruto… A faint smell of cigarette smoke suddenly slides under his nose making him look behind them all. Walking towards the three of them was their Jounin sensei Sarutobi Asuma with cigarette in mouth per usual. There was a soft smile on his face as he approached them all.
Nothingness. It's odd how comfortably that feeling can be when all other options feel like a true death sentence. Laying in her bed, Sakura stared up at the ceiling with lifeless eyes. The girl had yet to make any movement of her own and would barely sleep without the assistance of medication from the doctors.
Besides the doctors, there were only a few people that would come visit the child. Her parents and Ino were the most frequent visitors, and the only ones that would just talk to her even though she wasn't responding in any way. On the rare occasion Choji would join Ino but would only talk when prompted to by the blond girl. Others like the members of Team Eight, Lee, Tenten, Shizune, and Ino's mother came by on a few times to check on the girl. None of them knowing what to truly do for the girl besides just be there for her.
Currently sitting in her room with her was her Jounin sensei Kakashi Hatake. He watched over her quietly as he let his thoughts roam. Since delivering the news of the loss of two of his three charges the man has seldom been available to others besides the Fifth herself. While still doing missions, he has taken it upon himself to begin a slow steady search for the missing Uzumaki. He was slowly but surely making his way further and further away from the spot at which the boy was lost. The masked man knew that the trail had gone cold sometime ago, but he would feel like a failure of a teacher if he gave up so easily on finding the boy. Not only would it be disrespectful to his own teacher, but at this point, finding Naruto was looking like the only thing that would possibly make Sakura come back to the world again.
Getting up from the chair he sat in, Kakashi walked over to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know you aren't registering what's going on around you to protect yourself. I don't blame you for it. Just know I won't give up. I'll bring back as much of our little family as I can." He gives a small squeeze before disappearing from the room to go start another mission he had accepted.
Naruto… Sasuke…
"What are you doing to locate our missing weapon?"
"Why have there been no further attempts to rescue the Uchiha from Orochimaru?"
"Who decided making deals with Suna was a good idea?"
"Where is Jiraiya-sama at?"
"How much longer are we going to ignore the moves that Snake continues to pull on us?"
"When are you gonna announce the boy as what he is? Dead."
Having finally had enough with the questions, Tsunade slammed her fist down on the large council table cracking the area around it. Everything went quiet as she looked at the civilian man who voiced the last question and statement. "I'm not going to announce Naruto as dead, because there is no evidence of his death. We do not make announcements on baseless assumptions." After that she pointed her finger at each person who had spoken, answering their questions in turn. Not allowing anyone a word edgewise.
"We aren't ignoring his movements. Intel on what he is doing, and his possible whereabouts, are being gathered by a very capable spymaster at this very moment. A slippery man like him is not easy to get your hands on. The deals with Suna are through me, looked over by me, and made by me. As far as the Uchiha is concerned, I have zero plans on wasting more resources trying to locate a traitor than necessary." A glare silenced a person who went to speak on her calling Sasuke a traitor. "When we have finally located Orochimaru, I promise you Sasuke will be there. Once that is done, decisions on what to do with him will be made from there. Now if that is all any of you have to ask me, I believe it is time you civilians to leave this table."
Many of the civilian members of the council went to argue and the Fifth quickly swiped her hand through the air with authority. With a sudden swiftness, a number of ANBU members appeared whisking away every none shinobi in the room. Tsunade relaxed after they were gone before letting her eyes drift to the only member of the shinobi council to have asked a question. It was of course the old war hawk Shimura Danzo who leveled the question of finding the village's 'weapon'. "He is no weapon Danzo. Currently Jiraiya is searching far and wide for him wide for him while looking for information on Orochimaru. Hatake Kakashi is doing a more close to home search in his spare time between missions. It is not as though we are ignoring his disappearance."
Danzo lowers a distasteful look on the female leader. "Your attachment to the boy is painfully obvious and shameful to observe. Every shinobi in this village is a tool to be used towards its benefit. Allowing for the loss of the Uchiha was already a large mistake, but not doing all you can to recover a missing Jinchuuriki is just pure negligence on your part."
Tsunade was deeply irritated by the man's response, but it was the Nara Clan head that spoke up. "While we understand what you are saying Danzo-dono, what you are asking for at this point and time is unreasonable. We do not have the force to spare in search of someone that we have no leads in finding. Currently our Jounin force is spread thin on missions across the land. The Chunin are doing their best to keep things in the village running while also being heavily taxed with their own missions to endure as well. Our most capable Genin are still recovering from the results of that failed mission, and sending them out on such a mission as this alone would be asking too much of them at their best. I am not saying that we should abandon any search attempts for Naruto besides what Kakashi and Jiraiya-sama are currently doing, but it definitely is not something that should be on the forefront of the council's mind at this point and time." Danzo quietly observed the man before giving something of an acknowledgement to his words.
With that having been quickly subdued, Tsunade nodded at the clan head before addressing the rest of the council. "With that said, I believe it's time we made decisions on our manning. We have become spread too thin to adequately defend ourselves from any real threats. Cutting deals with Suna may alleviate a few of these problems for now, but we obviously can't fully rely on a village that needs us more than we need them."
As the meeting started to actually get underway, Tsunade's thoughts would occasionally drift away. She knew that part of what Shikaku had to say to Danzo as far as sparing anymore manning towards finding Naruto was also meant for her. She hated it. The older women truly wanted to put a hold on everything and go in search of Naruto herself. Something that anyone would find unacceptable. For now she would focus on the village's needs as much as she possibly could, but the woman was still human. I'm sorry… As soon as we can, we WILL come for you Naruto. Nothing will stop that from happening. Just please be okay.
Below the land that was currently known as the Land of Rice Paddies existed a mass of swirling tunnels and dimly lit corridors that lead to an abundance of rooms. There were many stories of what occurred or lurked down in them. Everything from the possibilities of slave trading and prostitution to being the home of an long forgotten evil. When one boiled it all down, no one's theories were completely wrong.
Any immoral act that a person could think of was committed down in these rooms. Human trafficking. Prostitution. Organ harvesting. Torture. Human experimentation. Drug peddling. All of these things and more occurred in the grimy depths of this place. Everything led by an unseen, but definitely not forgotten, evil. An evil that was patiently biding its time in the shadows.
In these same tunnels, a young boy with glasses and ash gray hair was kneeling before a man sitting on a throne like chair. He wore a dark purple shirt with a high colla, along with a pair of dark purple pants. In his hands he held a thin folder with a few sheets of paper filling it. The boy looked at the man as he spoke. "The intel from Konoha has finally arrived Orochimaru-sama. It has come with a one or two notes of interest."
A chuckle echoed from the man in the chair. His thin lips curling up into a slight smirk on his pale face. "Finally. It may be time to replace the spies we have stationed there. Hopefully these notes of interest were worth the time it took to report them. Proceed Kabuto."
Kabuto stood as he opened the folder. "As you already know, the bodies of the Sound Five had been recovered by Konoha. The thing is, the five bodies that they were able to recover were all male. It didn't take much digging to find that Tayuya was somehow able to survive her battle and eventually escape away from Konoha before anyone could get ahold of her. Her current whereabouts are unknown. There have been no attempts at locating her either."
"I see." Orochimaru thinks for a moment before he dismisses it. "It matters little. The girl doesn't have any information on us that isn't already becoming outdated. There aren't many other countries she could safely hide in without having to face its justice systems once they figure out who she is. Her fate was sealed the moment she was defeated. Continue."
Kabuto smirked in agreement. "The village is still feeling the effects of our joint attack with Sunagakure. Their manning is still subpar at the moment, and they have been forced to begin making deals with Suna themselves out of desperation. Obviously they still have powerful shinobi amongst their ranks, but they are spread quite thin. We dealt quite the large blow when we took Sasuke-kun as well."
"That is to be expected. A prodigy and the most powerful Kekkei Genkai was taken from them. That potential is not something that Tsunade and that foolish village will be able to replace with ease."
"While this is true, that is not the only thing that came of taking Sasuke-kun away." A wide grin split Kabuto's face as he pushed up on the bridge of his glasses. "Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyubi Jinchuuriki, was a part of the team that was sent out to retrieve Sasuke-kun from the Sound Five. While the rest of the team was brought back and treated for their injuries, his body was never found. Many are starting to consider the boy dead. Whether he is or not…"
"The Kyubi is gone from Konoha, and up for grabs for whoever can locate it." Orochimaru's eyes light up with this revelation. For a moment the snake was silently before a chuckle started to radiate from him. It grew as time passed until it became an all out laughter. "With one simple move we've robbed them of their most daunting weapon. If Sasuke-kun is potential, the Kyubi Jinchuuriki is guaranteed power." He looks at the medical shinobi with gleeful eyes. "Ensure we have a proper sealing team prepared. We may be tailed beast hunting soon."
"Thanks. Ya been a huge help here since ya came along. How's that boy of yours?"
Turning around, a young blond haired girl smirked. "It's no problem Eiji. Probably go crazy if I wasn't doing something while I was here. Anyways, he still hasn't woken up just yet. Also he ain't 'my boy'. I already told you he's just a friend of mine."
"That's right." The man that was talking to the girl leaned against the entrance of his shop with a wink. "If that's the case why not let me take ya out later. Promise ya it'll be a night ya won't want to forget."
The girl laughs as she turns on her heels and takes off. "Not even in your dreams Eiji. Maybe I'll let Saki know that your going around hitting on girls again. I'll bet she'll enjoy that." Her laughter increases as Eiji's face morphs into a look of horror. (Ha. Serves you right you perverted fuck.)
After running for a bit, the girl slows to a walk and looks around her surroundings. She found herself in the center of a small nomadic village that was currently on the edge of the Land of Canyons and the Land of Bones. She came across them as they were getting ready to navigate around Takigakure, and with her friend in tow, was able to gain a temporary spot amongst them. She relaxed and sat herself down on a nearby barrel.
The girl looked to the night sky as the stars shone brightly in it with the moon out shining them. She ran a hand through her short, spiky hair and let out a slow sigh. Her body slumping as all of the energy leaves her body for a moment. It has been two weeks since she joined up with these people. This was already much longer than planned. It was supposed to be a momentary shelter until it was time to move on again. Something that couldn't be done until her friend was good and ready.
She took a deep breath. "Hopefully this doesn't last much longer. It isn't a good idea to stay in one spot for too long." She hops off the barrel and adjust a short black shirt that she was wearing. "Hopefully that idiot is up and ready to go soon."
The girl heads over to one of the larger built homes letting herself in, and immediately pauses. It was the place that was currently boarding her, and since arriving the girl had gotten accustomed to a few things. One of them was the immediate smell of dinner upon opening the door along with the sounds of cutlery from the kitchen. Walking in now there was nothing but silence and nothing to smell in the air. Stepping further into the house, she began hearing the sounds of people rushing around in a room down at the far end of a hallway. The girl quickly moved towards the room as yelling starting coming from inside of the closed room. She bursted in to the sight of chaos.
The owner of this house was the village doctor, and he and his two daughters were currently the caretakers of the friend that the blond girl had brought along with her. Currently that friend of hers was thrashing wildly on his medical bed while having one of his hands wrapped tightly around one of the girl's throats. The doctor and his other daughter were doing everything they possibly could to calm and restrain the enraged boy. They also had the help of another young man who was trying, and sorely failing, to remove her friend's hand from the other girl's throat. Empty syringes of sedatives laid on the ground, with a few of them having been stepped on, and there was a small amount of blood as well from the young man who looks like he had taken a pretty good hit to the nose.
The blond looked at her friend as she watched him struggle with all his strength. Even with all the sedatives that were obviously pumped into him, he was still looking as though he would easily overpower the four people in the room at any moment. She turned and ran to the room that she was given and rummaged around in a dresser. The girl rushed back to the room once she grabbed the item she needed.
Once she reached the doorway again, she put the flute that she had grabbed to her lips and immediately began to play.
A/N: So it's been a year. An extremely long year. Honestly didn't plan on making this take so long. Won't lie, I was barely working on this or anything else involving writing during that time though. So much else, that I know y'all don't care to hear about, going on around me that I just couldn't get to it. I do apologize for the wait, but make no promises for the chapter other than that it is indeed being written. Hopefully it won't take another year, so for now, until next time my friends~
