Authors Note: Sorry it took me so long to write this! This story's dedicated to sayaka uzuumaki! Enjoy!
Kuro squatted down amongst the swaying, brown-capped cattails. She was gathering some of the plant to add to her dinner, a simple meal of rabbit, wild carrots, and cattails. The strawberry-blonde girl had been travelling, but for now, she rested in a small cave off the edge of a waterfall, taking a few days before she returned to the dust and hustle of the road. She enjoyed the smell of the water, that lingering scent just on the edge of her perspective. The rush of the waterfall, the swaying of the grasses in the subtle wind, everything combined together to make a symphony unique to nature only.
A splash disturbed the quiet stillness of the small lake. Startled, Kuro got up, dropping her bounty in a small woven basket before she went to figure out what the splash was. Pulling out a kunai with one hand, she stalked forward. A golden flash caught her attention, halfway submerged in the roiling blue. She called out, asking, "Hey, you? You okay?" No response, and the golden flash was sinking faster and faster downwards. Concerned now, she waded into the water, straining to see where the color had gone.
It was a person, she concluded, before diving in to grab them. Huffing at the weight, she pulled them onto the coast. Stifling a groan at her soaked clothes, she then turned her attention to the person. They didn't have any dirt on them, but she suspected they would had they not been just recently in the water, probably drowning. She placed three fingers on their neck, confirming the slow but steady ba-thump ba-thump of their heartbeat. It was subtle, but it was there. The person was covered with scratches, none bleeding but still fresh-looking, thin red lines embedded on their flesh. Nothing too serious. They had ninja material on their person, a bag with soaked explosion tags, kunai, a few shuriken, and bandages. Fishing out the bandages and weapons, she put them to the side, out of the reach of the ninja. They didn't have a forehead protector, though, which Kuro was curious about. Had they had one, and lost it, or had they been labelled as a rogue ninja? She went through their pockets, but nothing stood out in particular. Stripping them of their pants and jacket, and then lying them in the sun, willing them to wake up so she didn't have to deal with a person in a coma, she waited, continuing to pick her cattails until she was done. She really didn't want to leave them here, discombobulated should they wake up in a strange place, but then, she had to get her stuff.
She decided to run and grab her stuff, and set up camp closer to the camp. Within 10 minutes, she had all her stuff set up next to the person by a matter of yards, and had a fire started. Night was starting to brush the sky, and the sun had set into brilliant pink and violet colors. Putting her hands in front of the fire to warm them, she then got the cattails, put them in a pot with water, and hung it on a makeshift pole set over the fire. Waiting for it to boil, she also put another piece of rabbit on a long stick, and leaning against the rocks around the fire, set so it didn't spread. She could put it out with a jutsu, or just use some of the water nearby, but she didn't want to have to deal with that much.
If you asked her, the person had started to stir due to the scent of the rabbit, which by then was nearly done. Removing herself from her seat by the fire, she put her hand on their head, and, lightly shaking them, asked, "Hey, random person. You good?"
They shifted a little bit, eyebrows scrunching in consternation.
Shaking them a little bit more, she tried to wake them up. At least if they were awake she could move them near the fire, where they could warm off the effects of the freezing, rushing water.
They opened their eyes. They were a pretty cerulean color, growing darker near the edge of their pupils, and were framed by long light brown eyelashes. When they spoke, their voice rasped, but underneath that, it was a soothing, somewhat high-pitched tone. "Who-ah, where am I?"
They attempted to get up, and Kuro helped them up, putting her hand on the small of their back for support. "I'm Kuro. I found you just about to drown, over in that waterfall. Hungry?" Leaving them in their spot, after making sure they weren't going to collapse backwards, she went to check on the rabbits. The mystery guy's face lit up. "Yeah, I'm super hungry! You wouldn't happen to have any ramen?" They questioned, leaning forward on their knees and arms.
Laughing to herself, Kuro shook her head. Gesturing to the meal cooking, she replied, "No, I wish I did, trust me. But I do have rabbit, wild carrot, and cattail. A decent meal, all considering. Here, I'll get you some. What's your name?"
They scrunched their nose, as though the simple question required effort. "I'm-uh...I'm Naruto. Naruto...uh…"
Throwing a fork at them, which they caught with the reflexes of a ninja, Kuro said, "Well, don't hurt yourself, Naruto. Eat, and then we can talk."
Nodding, Naruto started to dig into the food, a big smile on his face. "This is really good, 'ttebayo!"
Kuro smiled, but didn't bother to respond. She herself was finishing off the final parts of the rabbit piece she had allowed herself. Inwardly, she resented that the person was stealing some of her food- she was supposed to have just enough to get her to the next city, but now she would have to go hunting again, or something alike. She kept her thoughts to herself, though. There wasn't any need to make Naruto feel guilty for her choice to save him.
Once they were done, Naruto having scooted close to the fire so to enjoy it's warmth, they sat in silence for a while before he broke the veil. "I-I don't really remember much…" He trailed off.
"It's okay. Did you, uh, come from anywhere?" That's so weirdly phrased! Kuro chastised herself.
"Yeah, down the river, I think. Like, up there." Naruto pointed. "I can't really remember where in specific though."
"That's okay. Anything else? Any parents, or…?" Kuro wondered if she had over-stepped her boundaries. She was, after all, very close in age to this boy, by her measure. He looked around 13, maybe older. She was 17. Yet she sounded like an overprotective parent.
"I don't-uh, there is a name, though I don't think they're-ya know."
"Do tell. We could try and track them down, and then maybe they can help you figure out everything. You might have a concussion or something- you hit your head pretty hard."
Putting a hand to the back of their head, their face suddenly turned into shock as they felt the clot of dark red at the side of their head. "O-oh. Well, their name is…Sasuke."
"Huh, okay. Any last name?"
"I-no. I don't remember. I'm sorry, I don't-"
Comforting them, Kuro replied, "No, it's okay. You probably hurt. Here, your clothes are dry now, I think."
Handing them their bright orange jacket and pants, the person nodded in thanks before putting them on, their back turned to her for some reason.
So, now she had to find someone named Sasuke for this guy, whose name was Naruto. It sounded vaguely familiar- maybe the Skykage had communincated with someone with a similar name? It was worth questioning, but unfortunately she was too far away from the Land of the Clouds for her to ask them about the connection. Standing up, and holding out her arm, whistling, she winced as a small raven landed on her arm. Putting them down gently, she took a scroll of paper out of her bag and scribbled a terse message onto it. Instructing the raven where to go, tying the paper to it's claws, she then watched as it flew off into the dark sky.
"Who's that to?" The boy asked, holding his hands out to absorb the fire's heat. "A message to the Skykage- I wanted him to look into people by the name of Naruto, cross-referenced by a Sasuke. Any reason, you think, why this naem in particular came to mind? A boyfriend? Enemy?"
"No, no! I mean, uh, dattebayo...I don't know why I remember them." Naruto said, a slight blush on his face. She suspected they were lying, but decided not to pry into it.
"Well, here, I'm going to sleep, lemme get you a bedroll, and then you can sleep there. In the morning, I'm going to head to the Leaf Villaige- you can go with me, if you want."
Naruto nodded. He swayed slightly, clearly exhausted.
Smoothing the bedroll, she laid it on the other side of the bed. The blonde curled into a ball, and quickly fell fast asleep. Kuro had her mind running too fast, thoughts skimming the edge of consciousness, but as the full moon crested into the sky, she felt the blanket of sleep covering her.
The boy wasn't useful to her. He was, if anything, a disadvantage. He could be an assassin, for all she knew. She needed to get rid of him, if she wanted to continue her quest, and the Leaf was the easiest place to do so.
Her hunt, which she devoted so much of her time to. Some might call it an obsession, but to her, it was reasonable.
She was trying to find the last remnants of the Uzumaki clan.
Her clan, demolished by angry villagers, fearing the Uzumaki's seemingly limitless chakra and powerful seals.
Her clan, now a handful of people, scattered across the Five Nations, lost and wandering along the thin beam of life, waiting for her to find them and gather them...a family, once more.