News spread fast.
Even if the communication network wasn't that sophisticated, it was surprisingly fast how the death of two Akatsuki spread faster than a forest wildfire or how Kumogakure forces already exterminated many unaffiliated shinobis or missing nins that crossed their path.
Wannabe celebrities rushed to Suna in droves.
Karin immediately spread misinformation to lure them away from our group at least until we could arrive at our destination, I didn't know the details but according to her it would keep Kumo occupied inside Suna's vast deserts for a while dealing with all those wannabes.
At least that was what she was hoping for.
Even then, my fake identity has skyrocketed to the highest towers of fame in the shinobi world. All my gear related to that identity was promptly destroyed as a result, the straw hat, the robe, the raincoat, googles, everything. It was for the best to cut all ties and wash my hands, even more since Kumo was actively looking for that shinobi since according to the logic only a strong shinobi could have beaten Yugito and left her fighting for her life on a hospital bed.
Thankfully, I already had a destination in mind where we could lie low and with Karin ever useful sensory abilities we reached our destination unscathed with no unfortunate encounter with anybody.
And according to my memories, the destroyed city remained the same: city ruins devoid of life, at least on the surface that was the appearance.
Nobody was entering or leaving.
The entrance was just rubbles that formed a passageway leading to a cave. There were probably more entrances, but that particular one was closer to our contact.
"This place is depressing." Fu was the first to speak up.
"War doesn't discriminate in its destruction."
"I will have to talk with Nekobaa first. This place has all kinds of merchants you can explore if you want."
Suigetsu yawned. "I would rather not, I doubt they might have something interesting."
Karin sighed as she pushed her glasses up. "Always shortsighted, you can buy from them information about your swords."
The Sharkboy perked up and grabbed Karin's hand before walking towards the entrance. "Now you have my attention, lead the way."
"What?!" She pulled away almost immediately and turned to me for help, but I only shrugged, which was enough for her to give up resistance."I mean...ugh...just follow me."
She took the lead while Suigetsu followed her close, together crossing the passageway and disappearing from our sight as they turned around the corner.
My attention shifted to the jinchuuriki, who pulled out a small leather coin purse and rummaged through its contents, her eyes shifting from surprise to disappointment rather quickly.
"I have little money so I will stick around." Fu quickly stated her plan as she put her coin purse back, leaving the last member to decide what to do.
Then I turned to our animal lover, whose gaze was fixed on the city.
"This place is...odd, I will stay here for a while." Juugo's plan differed from what I expected, but being out in the open might not be a good idea yet forcing him wouldn't do any good.
"Be careful." I handed him a large robe to cover himself from prying eyes before he sat on the highest mountain of rubbles and crossed his legs, and started his meditation.
Almost immediately a couple of birds landed on him and turned his head into a nest.
We entered the city and were welcomed with a fresh sight to behold. The war-torn city showed what meant to suffer through wars.
Some buildings looked ready to crumble while others didn't show any sign of damage. It seemed a desolate place but occasionally my eyes caught people looking through the various windows or holes before quickly disappearing into the buildings.
We only kept walking through hallways that lacked ceilings or were partially destroyed. It was a rather linear path until we reached a public hub of sorts, a place where people were entering and leaving through the many entrances; what did caught my attention was the amount of plants from all sizes in the area giving a complete new green look to the monotone gray environment from before.
Fu separated from my side and went towards the nearest tree, pouring all her attention. "Honestly, this doesn't seem so bad on the inside."
"This is unexpected." I had to stop for a moment and dig through my memories. My eyes scanned my surroundings looking at each of the connected hallways until I recognized one which would lead us to our objective.
I turned to the right and went forward in silence, Fu quickly caught up with me and accompanied me across the single hallways that led us to a damaged building complex, but what differentiates itself from the rest was the amount of cats moving or resting.
When we stood in front of them, every single cat turned to look at us with curiosity for a moment, then a couple of them started to meow which started a chain reaction of meowing until it went completely silent.
"Anyway, I hope this Nekobaa person is fun to hang out with!" She was the first to cross the door and enter the next room.
I checked my surroundings once more before passing the door.
"Well well, if it isn't Sasuke Uchiha. You sure have grown."
"You are cute!" Fu jumped between us with both arms extended with full intention to pick up the neko-nin.
Neko-nin who didn't hesitate to jump away and land with its back arched along with all of its fur standing up. "Don't touch me!"
"Sorry…"
He turned to me when he relaxed his posture. "Do you have any business here? Especially that you brought quite the team with you?"
"I need to speak with Nekobaa." I stated, while I would have liked to talk more thanks to Fu's uncalled affection. She soured the encounter.
"She is in her room like always, but be mindful of your steps." He turned around and jumped to a high wall with ease and entered one of the many holes that the building had not before turning his head and hissing at my green-haired companion.
"He didn't need to be that rude…" She pouted, puffing her cheeks and chest, clearly trying to appear the victim in a situation which clearly wasn't the case.
I kept my silence as my eyes analyzed her.
"..."
I extended one hand in hopes to pat her head.
"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Her hand shot up grabbing my wrist with a firm grip for a moment, but my strength overpowered hers and pulled back.
That innocence in her was gone, her orange eyes shaking with primal rage, ready to pounce me for invading her personal space.
"That's exactly how he felt when you tried to pet him." I calmly told her while my feet slightly shifted position, preparing myself for anything that could happen.
"Oh…" She deflated and all her emotions vanished, leaving behind the innocent girl before realizing her mistake.
She gave me a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of her head in the slight embarrassment from her overreaction.
My gaze remained on her waiting for anything but she only squirmed, it was enough to stop concerning myself with her last lash out. "Come I don't want to keep them waiting."
We arrived at a different room unlike most of the buildings that had some level of maintenance, the room we were currently in was kept in perfect condition, something easy to notice as the room lacked furniture or decorations keeping it very simple. At the back of the room was a large curtain slightly open revealing behind a bed many pillows, but what caught my attention was the old lady with cat ears and a painted nose sitting in front of her bed surrounded by cats of all sizes and colors.
I sighed and stepped closer, Fu on the other hand left the room assuming I wanted privacy which she was correct to do so.
Once I was closer, two cats pulled a pillow from the bed and brought it to my feet which I sit on to accept their hospitality.
The old lady bowed. "It had been years since I last saw you."
"I know."
"What brings you here?"
"My team and I need a temporary shelter." I quickly replied.
Her wrinkled face contorted into a frown. "That's not a problem but if you don't mind, may I ask why are you hiding?"
I deliberated the idea to tell her the truth for a moment but there wasn't much reason to lie or deny her the knowledge since she was my vassal.
"We want to avoid Kumo death squads, they will roam the continent and attack all shinobi who aren't affiliated to a village."
"Mmm that's indeed a dangerous situation to hide from." The old lady turned to one of the neko-nins who was watching us from the bed. "Call Tamaki and tell her to prepare a large dinner."
That name sounded familiar but my memory in both senses were hazy.
The neko-nin nodded and jumped off the bed and calmly walked away, leaving us behind. I didn't need my sharingan to differentiate a neko-nin from the common cat, they acted differently after all.
"It had been a long time since we last saw each other, if you don't mind please tell me what had happened in all these years."
I didn't have any reason to answer her yet I sighed and tried to find a better position on my cushion; I needed somebody else beside my team to hear my story. My story as Sasuke is not as true as myself, a story which nobody could ever hear or know, it was just irking to be yourself while not being yourself.
"Is a long story…"
I didn't keep track of time but my tale started when I was a kid with Itachi still around, explaining to her the adventures growing up all to the point of the Uchiha clan demise. That surprised despite already knowing the fate of my clan beforehand. Then it came my pointless path of revenge and growing as a lonely brooding teenager at Konoha and about my adventures with Team 7 till my supposed betrayal after learning more about my clan and my sudden shifts of perspective regarding Itachi.
And mentioned my mission to find out the person who allowed experiments on the Uchiha, however, my fight against the Akatsuki as whole and my recent victory was left out from the conversation.
"I never expected for the Uchiha to end like this." The old lady sighed in disappointment, slowly dropping on her cushion to the point she was laying rather than sitting and cats jumped on her while others nuzzled on her neck.
I was somewhat interested in the cats around her purring loudly, there was a need to grab one and pet it lots.
"Speak then." However, I couldn't act like that and break the image I was building.
She shifted her position and all the cats jumped away, kowtowed to me with her head touching the floor. "I won't give up my role as vassal even if the two of you are enemies. I will help you both if needed without any sort of bias."
That was the best answer I could hope for from a clan vassal, I could tell that she would have said the same to Itachi if he was in front of her instead of me.
"I appreciate such fierce loyalty to the clan, soon this divide will be over." I stood up from my seat and left her alone with her thoughts and cats.
I passed through the door and turned to see Fu sitting on the floor playing with pebbles, trying to fit those pebbles on a small open fissure on the floor. Without noticing my presence she threw another one which landed on the open crack but bounced back outside her objective.
Fu clicked her tongue in frustration and prepared to throw another pebble, just as she raised her hand she caught sight of me with the corner of her eye and quickly stood up and dusted off any dirt from her skirt and legs.
I didn't say anything and kept walking forward going through the same hallways I came in.
It didn't take long before we found ourselves at the main hub again but with the exception that we weren't alone, Suigetsu and Karin were not very far from us and closed the gap as soon as they noticed us.
"Yo Sasuke, guess what?!" He placed both hand on my shoulders and shook me lightly, Karin didn't appreciate his attitude neither did I but being petty was something I decided whenever I could feel like it.
"You found another of your swords?" I guessed since he wouldn't show such excitement over other matters.
"Exactly! The Nuibari's user has been dispatched to the Fire country a week ago!" He shook me with more strength, which annoyed me a lot. That was enough tolerance and I pulled away from his grasp.
"Nuibari?" " Fu perked up. "Isn't that the legendary sword that sews people together?
"Ha! You have studied some history." He tried to get friendly or at least to show some companion with her but my hand grabbed his keeping him from invading her privacy as I knew what would happen if he even tried and I didn't want a scene with so many people around.
Karin intervened and stepped in front of Suigetsu, getting everyone's attention. "The problem is that even if that might sound good news for this idiot, I don't think such high profile would leave Kiri without a proper reason."
That was enough information, even if little, for me to deduce the truth behind that deployment. "They figured it out…"
Karin held her head and walked away in silence and stood next to Suigetsu who didn't hesitate to drop a kick on his legs but her leg passed through them without any obstruction.
Karin clicked her tongue and then left the major hub through one hallway.
Fu quickly followed her and brought her back with us.
"Sorry, I needed a moment to clear my head." She quickly regained her composure.
Suigetsu only shrugged. "Don't stress yourself, even if Kiri knows that wimp fate they do not know we..."
I didn't let him finish that sentence. My hand shot forward grabbing his throat with a tight grip while my other hand pointed at the crowd who didn't notice my outburst and kept their activities intact.
Karin glared at him for a couple seconds before letting out an exasperated sigh. "I hope you are right, it's just that we are already worrying about Kumogakure. We don't need another village searching for us."
I scanned my surroundings before dragging Suigetsu towards the hallway where I arrived with the two girls following us close until we reached a completely empty room where I released the shark boy.
Suigetsu rubbed his neck, but that didn't stop him from looking at me with a wide grin flashing his sharp teeth, I only raised a questingly eyebrow as I felt some of his KI directed at me. But I ignored since I was completely justified. He couldn't just speak of our actions expecting no repercussion, especially in a city which sells information.
"Suigetsu, hide or conceal the Kubikiribōchō." I demanded.
"Heh, scared?"
His cheekiness made me frown. "Don't patronize me, I don't want Kiri to connect the dots and have an entire country chasing us."
He stared at me for a couple of seconds, then he let out a long sigh."Fine, good riddance this is easy."
He took off the massive sword and dropped it on the floor, but before it could land, it exploded in a cloud of smoke.
Karin and Fu were caught by surprise inhaling most of that smoke causing the to cough, but in my case it didn't affect me at all so I quickly dispelled the mess.
Instead of the massive sword, a single blue scroll was on the floor before Suigetsu picked it up and placed it safely on his belt.
"You could always do that?" Karin pointed an accusing finger at him.
"Yup."
"So you wasted space and time because you felt like it?"
"Heh…."
There was a long silence between the group. The silence indirectly created an awkward staring contest.
"I fucking hate you." She muttered, yet loud enough for us to hear. I could share her anger as well. He could have easily carried more stuff if it wasn't for that big sword of his, so many wasted opportunities because he was a lazy asshole.
"Forget it, Nekobaa prepared dinner for all of us, that's why I looked for you. Fu, call Juugo." I rubbed my temples while addressing our new member.
"Okie dokie!" She skipped as she left our side, happily humming a tone I never heard before.
Karin stepped close with her eyes locked to where Fu left. "For such a ruthless kunoichi, she truly passes as an innocent girl."
"What do you mean, Karin? She looks more like a kid than actually a real shinobi." Suigetsu became curious at her accusation.
"Appearance deceive, with her so close I can feel her chakra much better, ignoring the Bijuu's chakra, her own chakra is darker than your average shinobi."
"So we are traveling with a psychopath?" Suigetsu's question was a genuine concern for the team safety, if he didn't ask first I would have brought up the possibility instead.
Karin looked away and walked in small circles from pondering the possibility for a short while, but she shook her head, much to my relief.
"No, I don't think so but I have little evidence to make a complete case. As mentioned before, she took part in many parties and became the center of attention, but she was very hostile to everyone who even tried to talk to her. Or the time she spent with her team looked very distant when nobody was around."
"That's contradictory." With that attitude it made me wonder how and why she even talked with me with such an innocent and carefree attitude. She was more complex than expected, it would both dangerous and interesting to fully understand her.
"That's the point, claiming to want to make friends yet rejecting every possibility, I'm no expert but I will try to understand who we are dealing with."
"Or you are just jealous." Suigetsu snickered.
"You!" Karin didn't hesitate to raise her fist to deliver a blow on the cheeky boy but I was quick to grab her shoulder, effectively stopping her and calming her. "I need to worry for idiots like you or we all would end up dead!"
I slowly pulled her back and looked Suigetsu in the eye.
"I don't care about the reasons, but I do agree with her, Fu showed a lack of concern with her teammates' deaths and was eager to abandon her village the first chance she got. That attitude is not by any means normal."
"Fine." He clicked his tongue and moved towards a wall to lean on and rest.
With him out of the picture Karin walked up in front of me. "Sasuke-kun, now that he won't interrupt us, what did you talk about with the jinchuuriki back at Suna?"
"Nothing interesting or important, but she left her reasons to join very clear." I was slightly surprised by her curiosity, but I didn't see any harm to tell her.
"And those are?"
"She explained how she would be safe from the Akatsuki around me and it would give her a chance to explore the world as well." I told her, omitting the part where I pretty much bullied her.
She sighed. "Well, at least we can be sure that she won't try anything that would put her in danger as well."
Another silence was left, there were no more topics to speak as we were more concerned with our new addition.
Not a moment later Fu arrived at the scene with a wide shining smile.
"Here we are!"
Only then Juugo came into view with a nest on his head but no bird on sight.
AN:
*Looks at the first election results from my country.*
I hate democracy.
Anyways, sorry but taking longer than expected. I had some personal issues and still have them but I think I can pull through them.