Incrilix: Alright heres another chapter for the year, hope everyone is staying safe!

Paths

"I dedicated my life to peace, striving for something so unattainable in our world it was almost impossible, but I've come to understand that the journey to peace never comes easily, nor does it come without a price, I paid my price, and a grave was my reward...

~A Forgotten Shinobi~

~Team Ame~

Yahiko gazed at his two friends over his shoulder, a small smile tugging at his lips as they trailed behind him, both smiling and laughing away, honestly those two could see a puddle and find it funny.

After their talk about his dream and their agreement to help fulfill that dream, they all finally had themselves a goal to strive for, no more staying in dingey caves trying to survive off of stolen foods, and no more hiding.

It was good too because Yahiko had already gathered that all of them had similar dreams anyway, well, maybe not Ichigo, but that's another thing entirely.

Turning to gaze ahead, a small frown marring his features. 'Dammit! now I feel bad that Ichigo wasn't there.' He thought regretfully, he honestly didn't want to exclude Ichigo out of it, but the berry head wouldn't of made it easy for them.

It wasn't as if Ichigo gave them much of a choice, yahiko could definitely see a sudden shift in his friends mental state, he always looked so lost and faraway from them all, like they weren't even there sometimes.

And that wasn't even the worst part, Ichigo's always been known to be moody and standoffish at times, but that's sometimes, nowadays he seems to constantly be in his moody aggravated state, I mean if Konan points out Ichigo's grouchy behaviour, then yeah, there is definitely a problem.

Unfortunately pointing it out Sparked an argument between the two of them... Which, didn't really go all that well, Ichigo conceded of course, he always does when it comes to her. but still, he really didn't like the looks on either of their faces after it.

Internally shaking his head, that problem was between those two, His problem with Ichigo was actually quite simple, he never listened to him.

He could never understand how someone as soft as Nagato could be his brother.

Sighing quietly to himself, glad the two behind him were enjoying their positive conversation, totally inner turmoil and berry headed free... argh screw it! he'd find a way to make it up to the berry... hopefully.

"Hey Yahiko! wait up!"

Feeling a hand grip his shoulder, turning to grin half-heartedly at Konan, "Hey Konan, what's up?" He questioned, he hoped it wasn't something serious, his mind was too preoccupied to pay attention to her completely at the moment.

Eyeing Yahiko strangely, frowning a little at the faraway look in his eye's, lifting her had off of his shoulder as Konan walked along side him, "You ok Yahiko? You've been pretty quiet." she stated, a little worried that their talk about dreams may have put too much weight on his shoulders.

Staring up in thought for a bit, before turning back to her with a sly grin, "You and Nagato were enjoying yourselves, far be it from me to interfere with that." He said, eyes closed as he smiled whimsically, unaware of the heated ire he had created.

Eyes narrowing as she pouted, "You could've just said you didn't wanna talk about it..." Konan mumbled dejectedly, actually a little annoyed at Yahiko for that.

Well... only a little.

Turning back to Konan with a knowing look, grin still present. "Hahaha, come on Konan, if I had said that would you have been happy with it? He asked, Yahiko already knew the answer, he just wanted her to admit it.

Cheeks puffing up childishly as she turned away, huffing out a quiet 'No' at that, Konan started to show more interest in the barren mountains afar than the idiot next to her.

Internally letting out a sigh of relief, he was in the clear, 'Sorry Konan but if I bring up anything berry related, you'll be sad again." He thought, currently everything Ichigo related was off limits, otherwise both of them would be insufferably moody.

Turning to stare back at Nagato, grinning at the bashful smile he wore at being caught day dreaming, now why can't those two be like Nagato and chibi.

Speaking of Chibi...

Scratching his chin as he looked up thoughtfully, 'Huh. is it just me or isn't chibi supposed to have barked at us by now, we're not too far from the cave now.' droplets of rain running down his face as he continued to ponder on that thought, its strange, chibi never missed a chance to greet them when they were near the hideout, he'd smell them almost instantly.

Strange...

"Hellooo... Yahiko? are you even paying attention to me!"

Expression growing cautious as their hideout came in to view, halting in his footsteps, placing his hand in front of Konan, motioning her to stop aswell, gaining a worried stare from Nagato who'd stopped behind them.

"Sorry bout ignoring you Konan, but don't you think chibi would've heard us by now?" Yahiko questioned, trying hard not to let his own worry and fear seep into his voice.

"You-... you dont mean that-..."

Turning to stare at Konan, noting the worry in her own hazel eyes, not to mention the slight trembling in her lips and the tears brimming, turning to stare back at Nagato, offering a small smile to the both of them to try and ease that worry.

Ichigo and chibi are fine, and that's all they had to remember.

'Bark!' 'Bark!' 'Bark!'

Letting out a collective sigh of relief, or in Konan and Nagato a slight hiccup, given both were on the verge of tears, spotting Chibi running out of the cave towards them, Nagato sprang forward to greet him, a bright and cheerful smile on his face.

Yahiko turned to Konan, wincing at the amount of anger she could put behind her little death glares, he's the only one that ever sees them, since In her mind, he keeps 'Asking' for them.

"Come on Konan! I was just being careful!" Raising his arms up in surrender, a little taken aback by Konan's behaviour, It's not like he did it on purpose!

Glare fading almost instantly, konan agreeing with him, he was only being cautious, looking down, a little shameful that she had gotten agitated so quickly by that. "I know, I.. I'm sorry Yahiko..." She apologized sadly, her voice barely above a whisper. she honestly didn't know what came over her.

Gazing at her with pitying stare, Yahiko knew she wasn't usually like this, "May aswell bring it up, still a bit sore from your guys argument from before huh." It was more a statement than it was a question. either way it confirmed his suspicions nevertheless.

Gripping her arm anxiously, turning to stare at Nagato, a look of concern on her face as he was motioning them to come over to him, turning back to Yahiko, who was already giving her a knowing look.

'We'll talk about this later.'

The duo rushed torwards their companions, worry gripping them as they noted Chibis frantic behaviour, tugging on nagato's shirt and barking, it was obvious he was trying to get him to follow, but poor nagato didn't know what he wanted.

If it weren't for chibi's spastic tugging, and a certain missing berry, yahiko probably would've laughed at nagato's expression.

Just as Yahiko was about to ask what was up with chibi, Konan had bolted straight into the cave, chibi going in straight after her, leaving both himself and Nagato to stare at each other suprised, before they had run in after them.

"Konan!"

Looking around, the dim flame of the lantern barely offering any light in there hideout, turning to nagato, "You mind lighting some candles up, Ichigo had a bad habit of liking the dark." It was a lie of course, Ichigo hated the dark, and given Nagato's questioning look, of course he would of known aswell.

"O..Ok." Nagato nodded meekly, moving towards the small crate in the corner where they kept the candles and matches.

Watching his back with sad eyes, it was a likelihood that he knew his brother had gone out again. idiot always strapped his bad habits over his shoulders, intent on doing everything himself, thinking the consequences only affected him.

turning to stare at there little storage area, hearing things being shuffled around roughly. expression growing anxious as he moved towards it, hoping that Konan wasn't having a temper tantrum in there.

He was already dreading what he would find anyway.

Turning the corner jumping out of the way in a comical fashion as a rush of blue stormed right past, three bags draped over her shoulder, with there all too faithful chibi dragging-.

Staring in shock at the black blade. 'Ichigo never goes anywhere without that thing, why the hell-.'

"Ichigo didn't leave it behind, he dropped it."

Snapping out of his thoughts, staring at Konan's back with a dumbfounded look, noting how she was just stuffing things into the bags, "Uhhh? what do you mean he dropped it? and better yet, why are you packing that bag with my stuff?" he was actually a little stumped on this one, what the hell was Konan up to?!

He didn't even notice that the dog just stared at him as if he were the biggest idiot he had ever seen.

Konan gritted her teeth, halting herself from calling him an idiot, turning her head slightly towards him being mindful not to look at him in the eye, if she did, she knew she'd break.

"You know why Yahiko..."

Cursing to himself internally. and making damn sure to curse that berry head as well, why couldn't he just stand still for a second! was that too much to ask from him!

Sighing at first, until it had turned into a groan of annoyance, a look of determination taking over as he marched towards Konan's crouched form, he knew for a fact he was going to either get bitten or punched for this.

Crouching down beside her, placing his fingers on the top of her head, being extra mindful to be gentle, turning her head towards him, his look of determination almost faltering at seeing her surprised face, fresh tears still leaking out of her eyes.

Staring into her eye's, his expression serious, "You need to wipe those tears, and stop crying for a start, I'll pack the bags, you break the news to nagato that we're leaving." He said softly, he knew those two had a close bond and she was likely the only one to break it to him properly.

Konan looked as if she wanted to argue at first, until he had to flash her that comforting grin of his.

"No buts ok, your packing sucks so i'll do it, at least I know our bags were packed properly after all."

'Smack!'

"Arghh!"

Rubbing his newly marked check, cringing from the fact it still stung, staring at konan's livid expression with a sheepish grin. taking great joy in seeing her wipe the tears out of her eyes.

"See, it's not to hard to stop crying when you're mad."

Groaning in annoyance rubbing the bridge of her nose to try soothe the headache he was giving her, "I don't want to be mad yahiko, you don't seem to get that."

"Then you want to be sad?" He questioned dumbly, yet internally being mindful to choose his next words carefully.

"No! I don't want to be sad either!" She said, her voice rising slightly as she started to genuinely get annoyed with yahiko's prodding.

Letting out a breath she had held in, calming herself as she stared back into Yahiko eyes, "I just want Ichigo back, that's all I want." There was a hint of desperation in her voice. her usual childlike personality showing itself again.

A reminder that they were all still just kids, no matter how much they wished they weren't.

/Scene change/

Shifting the kid on his back so he didn't feel like he was gonna fall off, spotting his fellow leaf shinobi in an abandoned hut they had held themselves in for a bit.

"You might be lucky, she might be gone."

Staring back at his companion with a small glare, it was true of course, but he didn't need to be constantly reminded every second of every step they had taken to get back here.

Choosing to ignore said companion he pushed on ahead, nodding to the two shinobi stationed outside. "Tsunade inside?" he asked, she had hidden her chakra so well that it was kinda difficult to tell whether she was in there or not.

"Sorry jiraiya-sensei but no, lady tsunade currently went out on the field where a battle between the mist and cloud had taken place, she told us to tell you to meet her there when you two got back."

"Oh thank god!" He said, letting out a breath of utter relief, he had more time to figure out an excuse for the kid they had picked up.

The two shinobi stared at him strangely for a bit, already noticing the child on his back, but neither had any intention of questioning him on the matter.

Orochimaru didn't look fazed at all by jiraiyas antics, yet if one looked closely, there was a tinge of annoyance in those serpentine eyes of his.

Shifting the kid around until he held him out for the shinobi to grab "Here, take the kid inside and put him somewhere warm." dumping him on the poor leaf ninja like a sack of potatoes.

"Uhh?... umm.. sensei?... what?"

"I'll be back soon!" Jiraiya called out, already performing shumishin, intent on getting to Tsunade as fast as possible.

Both turning towards where orochimaru used to be, seeing nothing but thin air in his place.

"Shit..."

Staring intently at the corpses that littered the grounds crouched down as she assessed the damages, or better yet, the pieces left behind from both sides of the battle, the rain already aiding in flooding the ground in a sea of red, the sight itself already causing many of her shinobi to vomit.

Tsunade had to admit, she had seen a lot of horrible sights in her line of work, some... more gruesome than others, but this, this was definitely up there on her scale of death.

The area itself was absolutely destroyed, patches that weren't covered in blood revealed clean cut incisions on the ground, each shinobi on both sides left mutilated, their flesh mush, and their bones found among it, only thing distinguishing them apart was what was left of their headbands.

Yet even that was a cruel way to look at it.

"Lady tsunade?"

Growing a little irritable at being interrupted, turning to the shinobi in question with an annoyed glare, "What is it?" Not even bothering to hide the irritation in her tone.

The shinobi himself payed her irritation no mind, the information he had more important, "We found a survivor, a young girl from the mist village, she's catatonic, but we have interrogation methods on hand if needed." his tone unwavering, stance respectful yet robotic, all to used to the life they live.

Staring at the man annoyed, "It would've been simpler to just interrogate her before coming to me." she wasn't usually this mean to her subordinates, but a lot of the newer rank and file made her skin crawl.

In saying that, he did look a little sheepish for what he had to say next, "We did try at first, but lord jiraiya had shown up and kicked us out, there was nothing we could do."

Internally face palming herself, that idiot had to always do things his way, and never the simple way, it wasn't right, but at least they would know what transpired here.

"Where is he?"She asked.

"We're here."

Knowing that insufferable voice, turning to the man in question with a look of disapproval, "You were meant to contact me six hours ago, what happened?" She asked, she was glad to see them both safe. even so, that didn't mean either of them were off the hook with their lack of contact.

Jiraiya seemed more fixated on the area around him, already going through his earlier shock and disgust on the way here, his expression unreadable as he continued to stare.

Orochimaru looked unfazed, his intent quite fixed on answering tsunade's question, "It would seem we had our own investigation to follow, unknowingly finding the same answers anyway." he uttered cryptically, turning to the other Shinobi, with a disinterested stare, "The girl had special seals placed within her mind in case of her capture. you were lucky we had stopped you, otherwise she'd be dead, and we'd have nothing." He stated, earning a glare from the man as he had caught on to orochimaru's condescending tone.

Raising a hand to stop the man from saying something that'll likely get him killed, Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "So what did you find out?" Tsunade was suspicious, jiraiya seemed to be too stunned still from the carnage, but it would seem orochimaru was the only one with any information, that did not bode well.

Eyeing Tsunade blankly at first, before a look of mild discomfort took over. "She revealed very little, the seals we broke revealed that her group had stolen a black blade from an unknown," Pointing toward the the direction of two jagged rocks in the distance, "That was the last sight she had seen before her memory went blank."

Raising an eyebrow at that in disbelief, "Blank? that's impossible, even if she lost her memory the interrogation jutsu would pick up on it." tsunade stated harshly, there was no way anyone could fault the jutsu, especially if it's done by Orochimaru, so he's either hiding something, or his interrogation skills aren't as good as he thinks they are.

"If you think he's hiding something Tsu, he's not, that's all we found."

Staring at her now stone serious friend, noting the use of her nickname, a clear sign this was a clear unknown for all of them, not a good omen.

"What of the black blade? did you recover it?" The Shinobi next to her inquired, impressing her a little at trying to be stoic around them.

"No... but we recovered it's wielder"

Everyone turned towards Orochimaru, completely shocked at this revelation, none more shocked than his spikey haired partner.

Glaring heatedly at his supposed friend, "What the hell are you talking about Orochimaru! we recovered a boy nothing else!" Jiraiya growled out angrily, outraged that his friend could even say something like that, they had found the boy far away from this location, the times just dont mesh!

Staring at jiraiya with a raised eyebrow, her eyes doing little to hide her annoyance, "What do you mean you recovered a boy?" she questioned calmly, she'd give him the benefit of the doubt for now. she just hoped his answer was a good one.

Orochimaru answered before jiraiya even had a chance to. "A young red haired boy, an uzumaki, we found him barely alive near the roads leading to the main city of ame," Turning his serpentine eyes to the unimportant nin, his stare stopping the shinobi cold, "His chakra felt... different..." He ended more quietly, his emotionless gaze turning to the pools of blood surrounding the landscape.

Jiraiya stared at him in annoyance, "What are you talking about orochimaru?" He questioned, turning to stare at whatever the hell he was searching for.

"Feel the chakra coating the area jiraiya."

Staring at him one more time before a look of concentration took over his features, eyes closed as he tried to focus on the chakra left behind from the battle, it felt... cold, unfeeling, dark, as if it were the void, then it felt...

Eyes widening in alarm, "We have to get back now!" disappearing in an instant, leaving everyone but orochimaru shocked by his action.

Tsunade got up in alarm turning to orochimaru with a questioning glare, "What the hell is going on!" not even bothering to hide her anger now, what the hell did they bring with them.

"We seemed to have discovered who did this."

Author: Just thought I'd come and finish this chapter, sorry it's taken this long, I've forgotten what it was like to write and feel passion again.

I appreciate everyone that likes this and still reads this, and I apologize for taking ages to bother posting a chapter, but, well life and work sucks haha.

Anyway, I don't know how everyone is going to take this chapter, but I leave that up to you guys. take care all.