Chapter 3: A Feeling of Unease

The road started to rise as it followed the side of the mountain, he continued up at a slower pace looking out over the valley. It was peaceful here, possibly the most peaceful place he had been since he was a child; no this place was better than that place had ever been.
He could feel the cooling autumn breezes starting, and was beginning to notice the color changes in the leaves and the sky. Everything was starting to grow crisp, two years spent in this country. Fall was upon him again and he was still alone.
Isolation had been for the best. Continueing on without his "team" had been for the best. There had been no point in keeping them all preoccupied with his vengeance plans, which always seemed to flop and be no good. This was a good place to settle down and try to restart.
He could not go back, he had burned all those bridges, severed all the ties to his past. He was alone now and he liked it. At least he tried to make himself believe he liked it.
Sometimes it worked, but then he would be down at the village and see the couples, see the children running around. He saw people living their lives and could never stop himself from thinking about what he could have had if he had listened to them back then. He had been caught up in himself for so long he had let life pass him by. Now he had nothing.
He would change things, if he could go back, he would change his decisions. He would have stayed in the village; power was not all he had hoped it would be. And the solitude he had sought after for so long was a bit more than he wanted. He would have stuck around and helped the village in the war. He would have settled down and had kids. If he had the chance, he would change everything.
As he walked up the mountain toward his house all he could think about were the things he would change. Starting back when he was a child, when he left the village, betrayed his friends—that was the part that got to him. As much as he hated to admit it, they had been friends and he had betrayed his friend. That was a mark he could never remove, just as he could never go back to the village. He was a wanted man. He would most likely be incarcerated if he ever showed up at the village, then remain under constant guard in a prison for the rest of his life.
He continued up the mountain in thought. Before he realized it he was standing before the small one roomed cabin he had found while traveling through the Mountain Country. It was one large open room with a large hearth for cooking and a bed built into the walls, forever connected to the little log structure. There was a stream a short distance away from it and the nearest village was less than an hour's leisurely walk away. It was good enough for him to stay at and live the life of a hermit.
It had been two years now and he had never told anyone his name.
He would live out the rest of his life in solitude and always think back on what he could have had. On what could have been. On what should have been. It was a far cry from what he had always planned, but that was beyond his control now.
The small cabin came into view; soon he would have curling wisps of smoke coming from the rock chimney to fight off the chill. He entered the cabin and sat down the bag of groceries he had gone to the village to pick up. He sighed unpacking, readying himself for another week alone. He was ready for another long week out in the serene forested mountains of his new home.

It took nearly a week to reach the small village where the repot had come from. It was made up of residencies, a small shop that sold goods, both bought and traded by the locals, a tea shop and a boarding house for travelers to stay the night in as they trekked across the small mountainous country. When they entered the village there was no reaction, the children ran through the street playing and the people waved at smiled as they passed.
They were going to stay at the boarding house while they attempted to gather information on Sasuke. Kakashi wanted them to try to determine his whereabouts first, and see if the villagers knew anything about him. The owner of the boarding house and his wife were very hospitable; showing them up to the two rooms they would be staying in and informing them about the evening meal. The old woman who escorted them up the stairs smiled the whole time.
After they settled in they met out on the street to break up into pairs and start asking around for news of Sasuke. The report had said he was alone while in the village, but that only meant he had not been seen with someone while here. He could have people in the village, spies set up in case someone from the Hidden Leaf came to get him. He could have a team assembled like he had before, while plotting vengeance against his brother and then against the Hidden Leaf.
Naruto went with Sai and they settled down at the teashop to talk with the patrons and Sakura was going with Kakashi to the shop to talk with the owner and the locals. They would meet at dusk outside the boarding house to discuss what they had found out and plan their next move.
Although they had more or less patched up their differences years before, something about being alone with Sai on a mission brought back the sense of unease they had originally shared as teammates; according to Naruto, Sai was still socially awkward. The two sat in awkward silence for nearly an hour listening in on conversations, and then spent several minutes debating how to best start their approach to the locals. Finally they determined to split up and let each do it their own way.
When they regrouped before heading back to the boarding house both had received numerous accounts of a man fitting Sasuke's description being in and out of the village for the past eighteen months.
Sakura and Kakashi had slightly better luck learning from the shop owner that a man fitting Sasuke's description came in at the end of each week to buy supplies, and that he lived somewhere in the mountain forests to the north of the town. The fact that the shop owner said that he lived somewhere in the woods made their hopes rise more than anything else they had heard, it meant Sasuke would still be there when they moved to overtake him. After asking around they learned that he only came to the village once a week, usually traded for goods, stayed around long enough to buy his supplies, and then a short visit to the teashop, He always came alone.
When they met up that night for dinner, they determined to wait a few days in the village and if Sasuke did not come in for supplies during that time they would start combing the forest for his current hideout. They retired early so they would be ready for what the next day would bring.
Naruto sat beside the window watching the street below the room. It seemed nothing was out of place here, and nothing they had heard that day had suggested that Sasuke had been plotting some devious scheme, he was just here. Did that mean he had given up on his vengeance? Would he surrender peacefully or would he fight them again and flee? Naruto could not stop thinking about it; this was the closest they had come to him since they were teenagers… He was excited that they were so close, and at the same time he was anxious about coming face to face with Sasuke once more.
"Naruto, are you coming to bed?" He turned around and looked back at Sakura. Was she thinking the same things? Was she feeling the same way about this mission? He smiled briefly and stood up to join her.
"Sakura, what do you think will happen?" he asked her quietly wrapping her in his arms. Sakura leaned back against his chest, thinking quietly to herself. Naruto leaned down, resting his chin on the top of her head, waiting for her response.
"I don't know," she responded quietly after a few minutes thought, rubbing Naruto's arms. "I thought I knew him once, but I didn't, and that was when we spent every day together. I don't know what will happen now." She stopped and watched the wall quietly, with a sigh she continued, "it's been so long since we've had any kind of contact with him." She was quiet after that, slowly running her hands up and down his arms. Naruto looked ahead at the wall, she was just as unsure about this as he was.
Was the whole team feeling this way?