Despite the apocalyptic desolateness of Uzushio, Kakashi finds himself rather liking the island. Under the overgrown vegetation he can make out these intricate and beautiful mosaics. The Uzumaki were artists in absolutely every way from the stunning and unique architecture, to the carefully carved out seals in every single surface. He wishes he could have seen it in its prime. Based on the sad, wistful look that Sasuke has been wearing the entire time, it must have been a sight.
Sasuke directs them to a cove off the beach she took them to.
"It sits high enough that the tide doesn't come in," she explains as she ducks down to fit through the entrance. Inside is a beautifully decorated cave and thanks to its natural protection from the elements, the mosaics and seals have been perfectly preserved. Kakashi and the others eagerly lean in to get close looks at the images on the walls.
"That mural is the story of the moon goddess, Kaguya," Sasuke explains while pointing out various key images, "And her son the Sage of the Six Paths."
"This is of the nine tailed beasts and their link to the natural world," Kakashi wants to like this mural because of how the colors swirl and mix together, but even seeing a drawing of the nine tailed fox makes him nauseous.
It goes on like that for a while as Sasuke leads them deeper and deeper into the cave, occasionally reaching out her thin fingers and brushing them along seals carved into the walls. A lantern isn't needed if one is a local, apparently, as every seal she touches lights up in a brilliant array of colors and they stay lit long after they've been passed.
Kakashi stares at Sasuke's back as she walks and feels far more sorrow for her situation than he ever has before. Kakashi has lost every person he's ever loved, sure, but he never lost his culture nor his village. Sasuke is truly one of the last people on earth who would remember life on this island.
When they reach the back of the cave, there are benches carved out of the rock wall and there's a dried up fountain in the center of the large room.
"Will we be safe to bunk here tonight?" The Nara asks while carefully brushing dust and cobwebs aside from one of the benches.
"It should be," Sasuke says while plopping down onto the bench and ignoring the cloud of dust that poofs out at the action, "You would have to be a local to know about this cave and about this back room."
It was a long winding trip through the cave system to get here so Kakashi agrees that it should be okay.
"I'll take first watch tonight," Kakashi volunteers while sitting on the edge of the fountain. He peeks past the rim and sees that it had ocean life in it once that are now dried up husks and skeletons.
"Tomorrow I want you to show us the civilian evacuation points on the island," the Nara demands before promptly turning his back to them all and going to sleep. Through the dim light, Kakashi can see Sasuke roll her eyes as she too lays down on her own bench to sleep.
That night is so oddly quiet that Kakashi finds it almost disturbing. The cave is deep and sound doesn't travel well in it for some reason (Kakashi suspects seal work to be the explanation of that). He almost wishes it echoed like normal caves do but he admits this is probably the safest place for them to sleep on this island. Very few of the buildings are safe to sleep in anymore.
He ends up staying up long past his watch point, just studying the seals and murals in the back room with his sharingan. Back in this cave, it's difficult to tell how much time has passed. There's no window to the outside nor are there any of the cool seal made clocks that other parts of the island have. So, when they do exit the cave the following morning, they find it's nearly noon.
Sasuke gives a stretch once they're out on the beach again before kicking off her shoes and wading into the shallow water. Kakashi watches her pull out her kunai and stand still with her eyes tracking the fish moving about in the water. Deciding to leave her to it, Kakashi wanders off to relieve himself. By the time he returns, Sasuke has caught them a rather large lunch consisting of several types of fish and even a few clams and oysters.
"When you cook this one, be sure to remove its head," Sasuke instructs one of the Yamanaka as they both set up a fire to cook the catch, "It has a venom gland."
Overall the lunch is good, if a bit bland since there are no spices to cook with but Kakashi enjoys it all the same. It's certainly better than ration bars he thinks.
When they've finished eating and put out the fire, the Nara opens a map of the island and shoves it in front of Sasuke, "Where were the evac points?"
Sasuke studies the map for a moment before she starts pointing out the various areas, "Since this is an island, our evacuation points were all on the beaches."
"That would explain why so few survivors made it out," Kakashi mumbles as he looks at the map over Sasuke's shoulder.
"Which evacuation point did you attempt that day?" Kakashi has just about had enough of this Nara and his cold, nosy attitude.
Sasuke shakes her head while handing the map back, "I never made it that far."
The blunt statement seems to chastise the Nara and the others for the moment as they all look away awkwardly.
"Where would the Uzukage have been?" Kakashi decides to ask as he would have been the front line fighter.
Sasuke shrugs, "Probably at home sleeping off a hangover. Like I said last night, it was Moon Days, everyone was either sleeping or relaxing when we were attacked."
Kakashi and the Nara share a look with each other. Clearly there had been a leak somewhere; a traitor in the midsts of Uzushio's last days.
"Well, since there isn't much more information we can get out of you, let's split up and do some scavenging," the Nara says before directing them into teams. Unsurprisingly, Kakashi and Sasuke are with the Nara.
The Nara has them go to the opposite side of the island where the Uzushio naval ships would have been parked. That part of the island is just rubble, absolutely nothing survived it seems. But still, they pick through the fallen buildings and try to find anything that can be saved and researched later.
That's how they get caught so unawares a few hours later.
…
Naruto stares wistfully out at the spring-like landscape that the Land of Snow has taken on. It's beautiful here and he wishes he could take it home to Sasuke.
"Ne, Captain Yamato," Naruto hears Sakura inquire, "When are we meeting up with Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-chan?"
Yamato scratches his chin awkwardly, "Oh, uh, well we should hear from them soon, I think. It was just supposed to be a scavenging mission."
"Scavenging mission?" Naruto asks with a frown and Yamato just shrugs in reply, indicating that he doesn't know any more than them.
That sounds odd, what would they be scavenging for?
…
They had been warned there could be pirates in the area but they hadn't anticipated they would be A-ranked missing nin. It all happens fairly quickly; Sasuke and the Nara are knelt down digging through a fallen building and Kakashi is down by what remains of the docks, peering into the water with his sharingan to see if there's anything valuable from the wrecked ships to take.
Next thing they know, the Nara is standing over Sasuke with a choked gasp, his arms spread out to protect her from an attack. Kakashi watches in horror as the Nara crumples to the ground and leaves Sasuke sitting defenseless before two A-ranked missing nin. Kakashi books it up the embankment, his fingers already sparking with chidori. He gets there just in time to shove one of the missing nin's swords out of the way. It leaves him open for an attack, however and he winces as he feels the giant fishing hook the other nin uses pierce his side.
"Sensei!" Sasuke gasps and she moves like she's going to help him but he shouts at her to stop.
"Go! Go find the others!" And to Kakashi's dismay the two men laugh at the command.
"Oh, those other guys ya'll were with?" the two men share an evil grin, "They's fish food now!"
The Nara grunts from somewhere behind Kakashi and starts standing up, taking up a fighting stance. This is bad, Kakashi thinks, Sasuke is a competent fighter but she's no where near strong enough to take on two A-ranked shinobi by herself. Kakashi and the Nara are just going to to have to fight through their wounds and try to buy her time to get back to the ship.
"Sasuke, take the ship and sail north-west towards Frost. Naruto and Sakura will be in the area returning from a mission." Kakashi tells her seriously, never taking his eyes off the two men.
He's not looking at her, but Kakashi can practically feel Sasuke vehemently shaking her head, "I'm not leaving you!"
Then, something unusual happens. A rock comes sailing through the air and nails the fish hook nin right in the back of his head. He whips around to see who's just attacked him but there's nothing there. Well, there's nothing there that anyone other than Sasuke can see.
Sasuke watches with wide eyes as from cracks and crevices and piles of rubble, ghosts of Uzushio shinobi come spilling out. The ghosts use what energy they have to shuffle the rubble about, tossing rocks with no real aim. It serves its purpose to distract the missing nin and Kakashi and the Nara pounce on the opportunity to get the upper hand.
The two men go down quickly after that and Kakashi sinks to the ground with a grateful groan, his hand moving to staunch the bleeding in his side. The Nara has the same idea as he's sprawled out onto the ground and is just laying there, breathing hard.
One of the ghosts, a teen not much older than Sasuke, steps forward. He's beautiful with pale skin decorated with an unbelievable amount of freckles. It's a shame, Sasuke thinks, that he was killed so young. He kneels down and smiles so sweetly at Sasuke that she feels her face erupt in a blush.
"Thank you," she tells him and before he disappears back into his hiding spot with the other ghosts, he leans down and plants a chaste kiss to Sasuke's lips. He's a ghost, so she feels no pressure of a kiss, but her lips do become cold and tingly.
She lets out a surprised gasp and touches her lips with her fingers while watching the ghost leave. Out of the corner of her eye, Sasuke can see the ghost that follows Kakashi around shouting obscenities at the retreating ghost and stomping his feet.
"What's wrong?" Kakashi asks Sasuke, taking in her flushed features. She just shakes her head.
She can't believe she got her first kiss from a ghost.
…
It doesn't take long to find the bodies of their comrades and they carefully seal them up into storage scrolls for the return trip home. The three of them are quiet as they prepare to leave the island, tired and ashamed of how quickly it turned to disaster.
"I'm sorry," Sasuke whispers as they make their way back to the dock they parked their ship at, "This is all my fault."
Kakashi and the Nara stop and look at her in disbelief.
"How on earth do you believe that any of this is your fault?" Kakashi asks incredulously.
"Maybe if I knew more or was more helpful, this mission wouldn't have gone so badly," she says while staring at her shoes in shame.
To Kakashi's surprise, the Nara sets a comforting hand on her head.
"Nah, this is all my fault," he says gruffly, "and I'm sorry about how I've been treating you; it was cruel of me."
Sasuke looks up at him with wide eyes and the Nara gives a crooked smile in return.
"Nara-san—" Sasuke starts to say but the Nara interrupts her with a huff, "Call me Shiki, kid, Nara-san is my old man."
With that he limps forward and continues on the path to the dock, Sasuke and Kakashi are left staring with wide eyes at his back.
…
The trip to meet up with Yamato's team in frost is quiet. The Nara, Shiki, has been much kinder to Sasuke than he had been the rest of the mission and Kakashi thinks with disbelief that Sasuke has somehow made another life-long friend.
The thumping and stomping sounds that are associated with the ghost that follows Kakashi around last through the remainder of the trip.
"Should we do an exorcism or something?" Kakashi asks warily after a few hours of sailing. He'd never admit it out loud but he's secretly really freaked out that there's a confirmed ghost on the boat with them.
Sasuke just sighs and tells them to ignore the ghost.
"He's being ridiculous," she grumbles with a blush and signals that that is the end of that conversation. Kakashi and Shiki are left feeling confused. If any of them could hear the ghost, they would hear his huffing rant about how cheeky ghosts that think it's okay to kiss random girls need their asses kicked.