Ghost
"We're in Earth Country?!" Sakura exclaimed as the group popped themselves out of the cavern's ceiling. As the sunlight lay its gaze upon her, Sakura stood dumbfounded in the warm glow. An auburn world of rock and gravel seemed to blast outwards in every direction. The landscape appeared as though it couldn't choose between an expansive, dry, flat plain, and steep, rocky buttes that jutted up dramatically from the earth. Hot wind curled up and around the landscape, nearly hugging the ground. It swooped up to the teens, sending their clothes flattering. Sakura's shoulder-length hair whipped around her face, inhibiting her vision.
"No kidding," Sai spoke in an arid tone, dry, as though he stole it from the earth around him. The assassin had a rope binding him to Sakura's waist, allowing him to walk without the chance of escape, enhanced with seals along its edges. She was bestowed the rope when she had moved to the finals of the Chūnin exams. It was a standard material, stored within a small scroll. The seals weren't crafted with the most durable capability, but Sakura held up the column of hope that it would last them long enough to make it out. Hopefully alive.
But, the fact they were in Earth Country…the fates were not particularly benign to their luck. Iwagakure was an avowed enemy of Konohagakure. If they were caught by even just the small glance of a patrol officer, they would be tortured, if not obliterated on site. It would stir dire political tension between the two villages.
And, there's not a lot of places to hide…
As she stood on the tip of a small cliff, she analyzed for any signs of water with her piercing eyes, but could only spot wee shrubs and their jagged branches poking their way between rocks. The landscape boomed its daunting call, an aura of dubious benevolence.
Naruto stood beside her. His silhouette eclipsed the kindling sun above, his shadow, a trailing solemnity fettered to his ankles. Standing with a sealed face, impenetrable from reaction. Ocean eyes swallowed the light as his gaze wandered and fell past the horizon, searching for the treasure of his buried humanity.
Sakura wanted to dip her hand into those waves, retract his body from the storm of his mind, but the water of his guilt was freezing, and she was frozen in apprehension. She could only watch as her friend drowned in his grief.
Perhaps getting home will somehow help him out of this.
Breaking her gaze to the sky, she swiftly noted the position of the sun. It was early morning, as she planned. Bright enough to see where they were, yet dimmer than high noon.
"Konoha is south-east from here," she said, "Let's move out."
The previous day…
His vision splintered, vacillating from reality to the depths of slumber. Never before had he felt such agony…well…physical anyways. There were things he couldn't distinct from either clarity or the illusions of his mind. He seemed to be washing in dreams and suffocating on pain.
Vermillion essence was the only presence in his mind. It swarmed and seeped in and out of his skin, infecting his eyes. Liquidating into his blood, escaping through his breath. The ebbing and flow of the vile color into his very soul flared like fire and yet faded into obscurity.
This arcane dream, perturbing and irritating. Frightening and perverse.
Grilling anger pulsed in his head as a blistering headache. Yet, as though he seemingly manifested it through sheer will, through the red void an onyx hole spiraled into existence. At first it was as small as a pencil's peak, then it grew. It swirled larger until three more holes broke off, shaping into the all familiar form of tomoe.
He was in a sharingan. He was in Itachi's grasp.
Has he come to kill me? Has he finally come to finish what he started? Has my power finally caught his eye?
His heart sank as the white noise in the background became all too noticeable. The needle itching of cold spread through his finger tips. He wasn't dead. Itachi hadn't come to play his cards.
A splash of blackened-sunlight and the gurgle of a crow's call. The mere acknowledgement of his brother prickled his flesh until he felt as though it were curling in from vile withdrawal.
Sasuke's eyelids fluttered in his disturbance. Arrows of deathly light filtered through his eyelids, but he only scrunched them closed. Like his ears were flooded, the white noise grew louder until it turned into the recognizable sound of hushed words.
He opened his eyes, the placid, blank walls of the hospital room appeared above him. The fading sunlight falling into the room stung his eyes. He was laying on a soft bed, under a blanket that barely qualified as a sheet. It wasn't helpful at keeping his fingers warm, but it was a luxury in Otogakure.
Sasuke looked to his right. From the corner of his room, he could see the medical staff rushing exchanges before silently exiting from under the door frame. The door slid shut with a soft click. The numbing pressure of being alone settled in his flesh.
Despite the quality of the blanket, Sasuke was impressed by the sound structure of the hospital. (Pun, of course, not intended.) Once a place infected with death, with the mercenary work the shinobi of Oto took, they gathered enough material to rebuild most buildings, provide homes for the homeless, and a bit of food for every citizen. They were even able to reestablish academies, though momentarily, civilian schools were not up to par to most villages.
The pain in Sasuke's head had subsided to let in the flashes of memories. He remembered seeing his former teammates; his former life standing before him. Whenever he thought he'd parted with it long ago, every time he turned a corner it would be standing there once again. His old life, waiting soothingly, with arms wide open. Though, he knew that wasn't possible. Not after all he'd done. After all he'd broken.
But, he swore he caught the longing look in both his former teammates' eyes. In her blazing green, and in his swirling blue. Perhaps…
No. They're weak if they think that way.
He recalled casting them far away. Away from him. With a flick of his wrist and the slash of his gaze across their features, they were gone. Gone, so he wouldn't have to gaze into those eyes again. He had sheathed their reflections from his mind. It had cost him his vision anyways, he remembered stumbling through the forest with an immobilized body of Kabuto. Then, he was here…
"Hello, Uchiha. It's been some time."
Like the crimson sun emerging from its connubial bonds to a cumulus cloud, she appeared in full force, radiating rays of glory. Like burning incense, her aura doused the room in her authority, one that stung the nose. It entranced one's gaze to her. In the corner, tucked away crouching in her seat sat Taisa, Otogakure's leader. Today, she had replaced her samurai uniform with the standard Oto shinobi style. Lavender purple clothing with a purple cow-print scarf constricted around her neck. Taisa wasn't one to flaunt her status, only wearing her signature armour during missions, but she didn't need to. In his three weeks here, he had come to gather much inventory about her. However, most details didn't come from her mouth directly. Only in the restrained whispers of civilians and in witness to her sheer presence.
Sasuke slanted his eyes, curled his mouth around her name, "Lady Taisa."
"I apologize for my absence these past few weeks, but I've heard of your exceeding progression and little expeditions." Her tone was musical, as though written by a composer themself.
She continued her smooth voice, "Akari tells me she's marveled by your progress with genjutsu. Considering you never had anyone teach you the full range of your sharingan, she thought you'd have a lengthier struggle."
Akari, the woman who had magically defeated Lord Orochimaru.
"I've learned plenty on my own," he grumbled.
Taisa raised an eyebrow, "I never said you were unintelligent. The fact you could perform such a genjutsu that took Akari years to master is impressive."
Sasuke still didn't trust her. Despite the intriguing notes in her voice, the teen didn't find any comfort. No one spoke with ambrosia on their tongue without injecting it with poison. It was coy, not musically inclined. She always chose to meet someone in strange ways, presenting herself only after you located your surroundings but were too frail to notice her.
"I didn't expect to see you here…you want something," Sasuke delivered, apprehension collecting between his teeth.
"I have important matters to discuss with you." The atmosphere turned cold, the air became almost visibly frozen. From his upright position on the hospital bed, he reflected his beady eyes into her own.
Her arms rested on her knees, hands clasped as she crouched on the chair. "The reason I have been gone has been to prepare for an upcoming battle. The first step in our plan."
Frustration rushed itself up Sasuke's spine. No matter how important he was to their little plan, no matter who he was, the fellow Oto shinobi were like tsunamis to his questions. Smiting them with a fantastic "no". No one ever bothered to introduce him to the strange residents that he frequently spotted in the streets, that clung to camps around the village.
"Who are we fighting against and why? Does it involve the invasive shinobi wandering this village?"
"Invasive?" She chuckled, "They are our allies, Sasuke. Other clans, mercenaries, villages. They will be helping us with this upcoming battle. But, this will be a simple altercation, it will end quickly. I predict no one on our side will even perish."
"Who?" Sasuke asked, seething with ever more impatience.
"Yugakure."
Sasuke's mouth was shuttered closed. Yugakure, the village that has forgotten wars. The pacifist village.
"You are important to this plan, that is why I am telling you this." Taisa delivered.
But what does it mean? Why am I important to her? What is her deal?
"But, why Yugakure, of all places? What could they add to Otogakure?" He prodded, "They may not fight in wars, but I'm sure they don't wish to be invaded."
"A simple show of power, Sasuke."
"To whom?"
"Whom do you think, boy? The five great shinobi countries of course!"
Is she really serious? Even at this state, Oto would burn under the gaze of five military countries stocked with power. Is she trying to get this town destroyed?
"I know that look, Sasuke," the air grew hot. Her red sun was blazing. The incense tortured the nose, "You don't even pretend to hide it. Contrary to what you're thinking, I'm not an idiot. I've been planning this before you were even conceived."
Despite her warning, Sasuke continued to gnaw at her plan, "But, Yugakure is not such a formidable place to be fearful of. The five great shinobi villages may not even bat an eye—"
"Sasuke Uchiha! I gave you a week to decide whether you wanted to join Oto in our plan, and you cannot take back your decision. I am your leader and senior officer now, as you agreed to. You have no authority here, do not question me so openly and rudely. You want to kill your brother, no?" Taisa ripped from her curved mouth. The red markings on her face beamed brighter in her fury. She stood now from her crouching position, taller than he remembered. Her shadow reached over the bed.
"In a few days time there will be a battle whether you approve of it or not. I cannot spare any more valued time arguing with little boys whose heads are wrapped in their own self-superiority and the rebellious mannerisms of teen-hood. You and your team will contribute, I will make it so I see you on the field, prepared and ready to play your part in the deal."
Sasuke grinded his teeth, jaw popping slightly against her cloud of rage. He dipped his head, still gazing icily up at the woman at the foot of the bed. Strands of his dark hair shielded his face like long teeth piercing down. He could feel his head quake in anger.
"Where's Kabuto?" He asked. It seemed asking was all he did secondary to training in this village, a village that foamed with mystery and fed on confusion.
"Don't worry, he's been waiting just for you."
He blinked, and Taisa was gone.
Again, like with Kabuto, something didn't add up. Yugakure was not too far from Oto in comparison to any other village. The city itself was knowingly peaceful, weak. Seven days worth of time was enough to implement an invasion; two were cautious; three was overkill, wasteful. Taisa's serene words, self-assuredness in her plan added up, but her outburst rang peculiar.
"I've been planning this before you were even conceived…"
What else was she hiding from him?
He only realized his chilled fingernails peeling into his palms when the pain overtook the cold. He released them, noticing the perfect curves like crescent moons etched in his skin. Or, as though tiny blades had danced themselves across his palms.
Across to the glass window, a creature shifted. A bird of iridescent black perched upon the windowsill, before it dived off and faded into the shadows of the setting sun.
Three days later…
Has the sun ever been so cruel?
The teen refused to turn to the sun and demand an answer. Her skin curled under its grueling eyes, watching the three of them stumble along. Pathetically. The sun, quite often, liked to play god. Honored by how the creatures under it frolicked in its effervescent halo, yet was always ever ready to torture any convienient prey. It's rays reached the ground and rebounded back up, making the horizon's edge a wavering illusion. By this point in their journey, it was hard for the girl to tell if the horizon was really there, or if her disconnected brain was not quite ready to admit it wasn't.
Behind her, a spectre was now tainted pink. Sai's skin had suffered the most drastic change, appearing as though he was blushing throughout his entire body. His cold, steely exterior had melted, until now he was just a mumbling idiot.
"You are totally lost," he coughed, scuffing his feet across the flaky ground. Sakura wondered if the dust was just the combusted and shriveled up bones of previous wanderers.
"No, I'm not," she spat, though no spittle was ejected from her mouth.
"We've passed by that same rock several times."
"Literally every single rock out here looks the same."
I'm not lost! This is just…taking longer than expected, her inner voice fumed.
Beside her, displaced from the bickering and hovering only just outside their formation, a dimmed Naruto was just ever passing by. He seemed to hover over the edge of life and endless nothing. Over the cycle of three days, he had barely uttered a sound, let alone a word. He once held the power of out-beaming the sun, dripping sweet honey from his eyes. Now, the sun had returned for revenge. To overcome the knight who harnessed its beauty.
He walked along, barely managing to lift a single foot. Sakura had watched his pith wither away alongside his life-force. Along with all their life-forces.
The three of them had made efficient progress the first day. Sakura had advised the group to move slower, in order to conserve their energy. With respite only at night and a few times in the day, and whilst moving at the paces of advanced genin, they had covered a little over one-hundred and sixty kilometers. A progressive pace, until they ran out of food pills on day two.
Day three was just like waiting for the last log in a fire to bow. To realize its end and sputter out into submission with death, crumbling into a heap of cinders. Like a headless chicken, wandering about until it knew where it was supposed to be. Deep in the pits of hell.
Sakura realized that maybe comparing their inevitable demises to a fiery crumble and gruesome probability was both very fitting, yet, not something she'd like to tempt fate with. They had been aimless, as though they had forgotten their heads, and let them burn under the sun.
The teen briefly considered falling to dust like the former wandering predecessors, but she stiffened. She would get them out of this. She couldn't have her first position as leader end in dead-beating hearts. There only were a few hours of daylight hanging onto the day. Night would come.
Not that the night was any better. In stark contrast to day, the night dared to conjure frostbite with its deadly temperatures. Less dangerous, yes, there was no sun, nor any potential for enemy nin to locate them, but still very heinous to any human. Sakura had to admit, she was envious of the critters that survived in this world where her human traits were severely lacking.
As she looked at herself and her companions, she came to an ultimate. Their tongues were drowned in dehydration. Their chakra, whittled to almost deathly. Their hope, vamoose.
They came under a knife of rock, conveniently laying a lengthy shadow across the ground.
"Let's stop here for now, guys."
Immediately, Naruto collapsed on the ground, upsetting a cloud of dust. He was not deceased, yet he didn't seem to care about receiving wads of dust and gravel to the face. Perhaps, even when grey, he still held a melodramatic nature within him. Typically he would then groan and boast his relief, but he only shifted to a more straightforward position. His back to both the kunoichi and assassin clattering to the ground. His silence remained.
Awaking to the black dome of night, Sakura stared at the glimmering diamonds embedded in the sky. Her icy breath billowed upwards, arching towards the stars. For the past hour, sleep had been stolen from her.
She tossed and turned the events of the last few days in her mind. This was the second day they had gone without water. The human body could only sustain without water for three days, if they didn't discover anything soon, they'd have to resort to their urine.
The girl's dry throat became cracked at the thought. They'd been searching every cave they found, hoping they'd find the river that carved them, but their searches always ended empty. She was a shinobi, she knew she'd have to suck in the discomfort, but it was especially heightened when the other two party members were boys. Even when one was her friend.
They'd run dry of their food pills. Balls of compressed protein and energy designed to crumble easily under their teeth. Her stomach had first groaned, but by last morning it cried in agony. Now, it felt as if it had tied itself into a small, wrenched knot.
She turned her head to her right, her vision locking onto the boy who's pale flesh glowed in the dark. Sai...his sketchbook...she could feel its eerie aura from the pack she had set aside burning into her back. The last two pages, what could they mean?
Finally, in the peaceful barrier of the night, she felt protected enough to let her mind wander back to the battle.
Gazing upon Sasuke only revealed hidden truth festering within her; for her reason on the bridge. Despite the alluring promise from Lord Orochimaru, one that had stroked his obsession and poured venom into his soul which was now blazoned with vengeance, she couldn't help the shattering realization that all these years she had searched and fantasized the opportunity to connect with her former friend. Just one more time.
And, as she had injected her heart into her eyes that seemed to simply pass right through him, she recognized, maybe, that it would be the last.
She had been touched by his gorgonizing eyes, and then…he was gone.
How did I ever love him?
Sakura shifted in guilt under the thin blanket produced from a scroll. Her village's forehead-protector dug into her scalp, as though scraping out any chance of sleep and letting thoughts of bile in. It was routine for a shinobi to sleep on rough ground, but oh, how she'd foam at the thought of an actual bed. She turned her head, over to the slumbering form of her blond friend, except…
The air-thin blanket was flat. He had vanished.
In a panic, she shot forwards. Sending her sheet fluttering in the air.
Her rush of adrenaline halted when she saw the shadow of the rock the group sat beside. With its sable saturation, once long and jagged, it had a crouched formation on its peak. Sakura turned her gaze to the stone figure upon it.
Quickly checking the assassin and his bonds, Sakura nimbly landed beside her friend. If he noticed her, he didn't reveal it. His eyes were cast down to the ground, knees underneath his arms.
"Having trouble sleeping?" she said, attempting to lace her words with comfort. Naruto, however, didn't say anything.
Sakura's face drooped in disappointment. She turned her sour gaze out to the horizon, obscured behind a large torrent of dust. It appeared the winds were revelling in a simple dance.
"I'm having trouble as well. Been this way for the past few weeks," she admitted. Naruto finally lifted his head, a thought finally wrestled its way through the wall that stunned his brain. He lifted his head and rested his eyes on his friend.
Suddenly, a breeze passed by the two resting shinobi and with it, it took any words he prepared in his mind. It slapped the walls back in place and the teen regressed back into his empty husk. Whatever revelation or hope he'd come to learn, it was erased from his memory. He was enclosed once more in self-pity.
Despite his best efforts, Sakura saw the flash behind his eyes. The longing will to speak, the remorse, and the mourning. It was only for a fraction of a moment. She didn't even know whether it was real, or a merciless trick of optimism, but she caught it. Right between her eyes.
"Please, Naruto. Don't be hard on yourself. The people who love you would not want to see you like this."
He didn't answer.
"Just understand that no matter what happened, no one is mad at you, Naruto."
But, they must be frightened...he thought. The last utterance of his mind before it became numb once more.
Sakura sighed inwardly. A dejected glimmer in her eyes, and she retracted her gaze from the downcast boy and his sunflower hair.
But, she didn't have long to wallow in the despondent air. Across from them, the dancing dust cloud had settled, and from behind it, a good twenty kilometers off, lights wavering in the distance.
A village. She had found a village.
Hope rushed through her veins shooting her to her feet. From deep within her, Inner Sakura cackled with wicked pride.
"I think I just found us a better place to sleep."
"The boy's head is still soaked in doubt. His loyalty, still reserved to himself. This is a fight he needs to witness; to partake in. In order to gain his trust, he needs to be immersed in the swelling chaos of war."
"In what way will this be beneficial to me?"
"It's the perfect experience for him. He has never stood among ranks of ninja, surging and clawing and annihilating the enemy, but he has known bloodshed. A connection to the Oto shinobi will be sustainable enough. Once he is corralled, then…you may have him."
"Good…perfect, even."
"I settle for a ghost I never knew."
-Glass Animals, The Other Side of Paradise