A/N: I'd just like to say that I'm not happy with this chapter at all. I had a general idea for what I wanted to happen (which wasn't much, considering it's just a filler chapter), but I wrote this over the course of a few months and I just don't like the work at all :(
So I guess apologies for the both short and badly written chapter, but I just needed to get something out there so that I wouldn't give up on the story.
On a happier note, things are finally going to move along next chapter and when they get back to Konoha (spoiler: chunin exam) in regards to Sakura's mokuton, which I know hasn't been talked about a lot yet despite it being the main premise of the story.
Anyways, enjoy and have a great day!
[chapter 8]
"The innkeeper decided to go on vacation," Kakashi drawled lazily that night at dinner.
Sakura stared down at her plate of food, focusing on the enticing smell of the food rather than the faint stench of blood wafting through the room - she knew it wasn't actually there, Kakashi was too good at his job for that, but she could smell it, goddamnit.
Sasuke gave Kakashi a suspicious look. "He went on vacation with guests still at his house?"
The jounin shrugged. "Who am I to judge a man for needing a break. You saw how he was shaking this morning, maybe he just didn't like you kids."
He'd been shaking because he'd been scared of them.
Naruto just seemed to take it all in stride. "I beat Sasuke to the top of the tree," he announced gleefully, just as Sasuke opened his mouth to respond to Kakashi.
The Uchiha glared at him instead.. "Your tree was shorter."
"Was not! You're just jealous, admit it, bastard!"
Sasuke looked like he wanted to burn a hole through Naruto's forehead with his eyes.
"Mah, mah," Kakashi said appeasingly, patting them both on the heads. "I'm very proud of you both. Besides, Sakura got it hours before you two."
She wished she hadn't, to be honest. Maybe just this once, it would've been nicer if she'd been last as usual.
"Anyways, since you guys picked up tree-walking so easily, we'll start on water-walking tomorrow," he continued. "This one's a bit harder so it might take a few days, but we have time."
Naruto waved his hand. "I'll get it in a day, Kakashi-sensei!" he proclaimed through a mouthful of food.
Sakura rolled her eyes. He probably wouldn't, but that never stopped Naruto from trying.
The next few days passed by in a flash. The image of the innkeeper's tortured and murdered corpse seemed to wash out of her mind with every swim in the sea.
Not to anyone's surprise, she'd been the first one to master water-walking. It hadn't been on her first try, like the tree-walking, but that was mostly due to the waves that kept disrupting her balance. Either way, she'd gotten it fast enough for Kakashi to send her a surprised glance.
Naruto and Sasuke both spent the next two full days and another morning practicing before they could confidently walk on the surface of the water - and by that time Sakura could dance circles around them as if she'd grown up doing it.
Kakashi instructed them to take the afternoon off to rest. They'd set off for Uzushio in the morning. That night all three genin slept like logs.
Morning dawned bright and early and soon enough Kakashi was shaking them all awake with a smile.
"Ready to go, my cute little genin?" He asked chirpily.
Sakura groaned, rubbing her eyes to try and clear her drowsy vision. "What time is it even, Kakashi-sensei?"
Normally on a mission, she'd be awake in a flash. But she hadn't slept well the past few nights, plagued by nightmares, and this was the first good night of sleep she'd had. If only Kakashi hadn't decided to wake them up with the dawn.
Her teacher just smiled. "Go make yourselves a quick bite to eat downstairs and then we'll head out. If we leave within the next half hour we should reach Uzushio before midday."
All three mumbled out agreements before half stumbling, half walking down the stairs.
Luckily enough for them, the innkeeper had been in the habit of keeping his inn well stocked. The past few days they'd made use of his large variety of produce and various other food items.
Still drowsy on her feet, Sakura retrieved a box of cereal from one of the cupboards in the kitchen and added some to a bowl before adding milk. She grabbed a spoon and sat down at a table, waiting for the boys to join her.
Soon enough the dishevelled heads of the other two appeared down the stairs and the three sat around a small table in silence, with only the loud sound of Naruto's eating. They finished up their breakfast and washed the plates.
Kakashi met them at the front of the inn.
"Ready?" he asked, leading them to the beach.
He pointed at the faint outline of Uzushio that could be seen in the distance through the misty morning. "Just keep heading in that direction and don't get lost in the mist."
He glanced over at them. "Stick together."
Sakura rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Why? Do you not trust our navigational skills?"
Kakashi's eyes shifted tellingly over to Naruto. "Perhaps."
She laughed and the three headed out onto the lake.
The first half hour was easy, pleasant even. They jogged across the lake at a comfortable speed, not unlike the warm-up laps Kakashi made them run around the village sometimes. But nearing a full hour of water-running, Sakura could begin to feel the strain. Uzushio never seemed to get any closer, always remaining in the distance like a desert mirage.
Sasuke and Naruto seemed full of boundless energy, but out of all of them it was obvious that her stamina was the worst. Not to mention that she didn't have a practically unlimited chakra pool, and while her control was perfect enough to make sure she didn't waste too much chakra while running, she could still feel the constant drain.
By the time they were finally truly approaching the island, Sakura's shoes had started to sink a little bit into the water with every step and her muscles were burning.
As they reached the shore, Sakura flopped down lifelessly on a patch of sand.
"We made it! Yatta!" Naruto exclaimed, sitting down happily next to her. Somehow, he didn't seem even the least bit exhausted, even after what must have been at least a two hour run. It really was unfair.
Kakashi just patted both of them on the head.
"Ah, don't relax yet," he said cheerfully. "We still have quite a ways to hike inland until we reach Uzushio itself."
Sakura groaned and rolled over, wrapping her arms around Naruto to keep him from getting up.
"I'm going to lie here forever," she swore seriously.
Kakashi chuckled. "Get up."
Naruto somehow managed to wriggle out of her hold and spring up to face the jounin with a mock salute, but Sakura stayed lying in the soft sand, relishing in the relief it brought her sore muscles.
"We're going to leave you behind, Sakura," her sensei warned. Almost curiously, he poked her limp body a few times with his foot.
She rolled over to try and avoid him. "Go ahead. My plan is to merge with the sand and become one entity."
Kakashi rolled his eyes. "As funny as that would be, we really do need to make it to Uzushio sometime today."
She ignored him.
The jounin sighed. "You brought it upon yourself," he said, leaning down to scoop her up effortlessly and throwing her over a shoulder.
She shrieked at the sudden motion and winced when her nose hit Kakashi's flak jacket.
"Let's go," her sensei called to her two teammates, already moving inland.
"Kakashi-sensei," she complained. "Your shoulder is bony."
The man just kept running, each step causing her body to shift around painfully. "Would you rather I let you down and you ran along?"
"I'd rather you carried me princess-style than like a dead lump of meat," she replied hopefully.
She couldn't see his face but she thought he might be rolling his eyes.
"I think the second one describes you better," he said.
"Are you calling me fat?"
"Yes," he replied unremorsefully.
She pounded on his back with her fists, the only part of him she could reach.
"I'm not fat," she screeched. "It's all muscle, ok?"
He reached up and poked her in the stomach.
"What's this then?" he asked playfully.
Sakura growled. She wasn't fat, she wasn't! Sure, she'd dropped her diet sometime after she'd graduated from the academy, but the harsh training Kakashi put them through meant that she always had to eat heapings of food to make up for all the calories she burned through.
They reached the destroyed village of Uzushio later that afternoon, Kakashi at some point during the journey unceremoniously tossing her down to run on her own.
And somehow through all this, the faint fear she'd felt for him earlier never crossed her mind again. Later, she wondered if that had been his plan all along.
Uzushio, despite its crumbling walls and towers and overgrowth of moss and plantation, was beautiful.
A tall, stone wall surrounded a city filled with elaborate arches and soaring buildings. Even with most of it destroyed, Sakura could tell that all of the houses must have been at least double the height of those in Konoha. She supposed that height on a relatively flat island like this must mean that you could see for miles around.
Even Naruto and Sasuke stopped their constant bickering when the destroyed village came into view.
"Wow," Naruto breathed.
Kakashi just smiled, as if it wasn't anything new. Sakura wondered if he'd been on missions here in the past. Or had Kakashi been alive when Kiri attacked Uzushio? She remembered he'd become a genin at an unusually young age, so was it possible that he'd been part of the group sent once Konoha heard that Uzushio had been razed.
"Let's find somewhere sheltered to set up camp and then we'll have a quick lunch before heading out," he suggested.
The four of them kept trudging forward. Soon, they reached the village itself, climbing over a crumbled section of the wall. Past here the journey was more hazardous. The cobbled streets were uneven, with several ditches and broken pieces of building that could easily trap an ankle.
They travelled in silence, none of them daring to break the unearthly silence in the old village. Since they'd passed the gates, actually, Sakura hadn't seen a single bird. While they'd been crossing the water they'd been everywhere too, cawing and shrieking like demons. For some reason, she was a bit reminded of the graveyard. Uzushio had the same feeling - as if it wasn't meant for the living.
Naruto's face was unnaturally serious as they walked through the broken city. It wasn't surprising. They'd seen more than a few scorch marks on the walls of fallen buildings that were eerily shaped like bodies, and human bones lying crumpled beneath bricks.
They found a sheltered area behind a building that had stayed mostly intact, and there they set up camp. Sakura wordlessly made her way with Sasuke to the perimeter, setting up traps between buildings. Not that she suspected anyone would be sneaking up on them here, but it was standard practice by now.
The place they'd found was interesting. The houses here were all larger and better built than the ones they'd passed before. It could be that they were nearing the center of the village, and that the inhabitants here had been richer, but from what Sakura could see there was another reason behind it.
These were clan houses. She'd spotted several swirling insignias upon doors earlier and it made sense the members of a relatively rich clan would group together, even if it wasn't strictly in a compound.
Kneeling next to a large block of a facade to tie off her snare, Sakura admired the work of the people who'd built the house. Even though most of it was in pieces, the parts that had stayed intact featured beautiful carvings of swirling waves and whirlpools.
"Sakura," Sasuke called from behind another wall, a few metres away. "Can you come over here?"
There was something in his voice that sounded a bit panicked and Sakura immediately stopped the work she'd been doing on the next snare and ran to where she could hear his voice.
He stood in the remains of a living room, or at least what she assumed had once been one. The walls had been torn down, but the inside remained surprisingly intact, creating the odd image of a set you would see in a play.
In his hands, Sasuke held a large painting. Half of it looked like it had been torn into by something with claws, but the other half was completely untarnished in contrast. It was a bit dusty, but it didn't look like something that had been lying around for decades.
In the painting a middle-aged man and woman smiled at the painter. The man had light blond hair and the woman's hair was a brilliant, fiery red.
Sasuke was rubbing the grime off a small plaque at the bottom of the painting.
"Look," he said, almost reverently.
She leaned over his shoulder to read the inscription.
"Reo and Mei Uzumaki?"
"Do you think…" She trailed off. The words hung unspoken between them. Were these relatives of Naruto who'd lived here once, who'd been trapped in these houses as they crumbled to pieces?
"Should we tell him?"
"He deserves to know," Sakura said firmly.
Sasuke just shrugged.
"Sasuke," she said seriously. "Naruto's been an orphan all his life. He'll want to know where his family was from."
He just looked down angrily. "I wouldn't want to learn that my family that I never thought I had was gruesomely murdered by Kiri."
She didn't say anything. What was she supposed to say? This obviously hurt for Sasuke, perhaps bringing back some of his own resentment at his clan's massacre, but Naruto deserved to know that not only did he have family who'd once lived here, but that they'd been part of a clan even.
"We should head back anyways," she said. "We can show him the painting."
Sasuke turned away but handed her the painting. "You go first. I need to finish up my traps."
She took it from him. "Alright."
Not meeting his eyes, Sakura turned and cautiously made her way out of the rubble of what had once been a living room.
She walked silently back to where they had set up camp, wondering if Sasuke was right. Her parents had brought her up with the moral obligation to tell the truth, but they were civilians so maybe that was understandable. Ninja skirted the truth even when it served them no particular purpose, just because it was part of who they were.
Was showing Naruto the painting worth more than the pain he was bound to feel? Was it even her call to make?
Sakura wondered if she was being selfish. Naruto had been an orphan since before he could remember, but he'd finally found another family in Team 7. By showing him it, by telling him that he might have another family - a real family - out there, would it change how he felt?
No. She firmly shut off that trail of thought and stopped her fingers from where they had been worrying a pattern onto the thin wooden frame of the painting. She would show Naruto. Not because her parents had brought her up to tell her the truth or because it was the right thing to do, but because she had gotten to know Naruto these past few months, and she knew that given the choice, he would want to see it.
The blond-haired boy was kneeling by a small pit when she reached the enclosing where they had set up camp, setting up a small fire.
"Naruto," she called. "Can you come over here? I need to show you something."
He turned towards her and smiled. "Yeah, sure. What is it?"
"We found this in one of the buildings," she said, handing him the painting.
Tenderly he looked down at the faces in the photograph. She saw him reading the names on the corner.
"I'll go continue setting up the fire," she said quietly.
A small tear rolled down his face, but she pretended not to notice, busying herself with her work. Sasuke was wrong, she'd made the right choice.