A/N: I'd like to thank bunnygirl2012 for her review that installed encouragement for me to update this fic. I almost didn't. I'd like everybody to know that from now on I'll be updating regular as best as I can.
Recap: In the last chapter, Sasuke Uchiha showed himself to the rouge attacking the village. The villagers were taken to safety and Sasuke and the two men were stuck in a violent, bloodthirsty battle. Sasuke turned out to be the victor, but his "great deed" played a deadly price. Meanwhile, Team 7 is soon to be hot on his trail. Kakashi-sensei had just asked something mysterious of Sai. What happens next?
"Is everyone ready?" Kakashi asked, looking around at their now barren campsite. When both ninja nodded, they set out.
Sai resumed his position on one side of Kakashi while Sakura on the other. She was unusually quiet ever since her confession. Sai thought her plan to be interesting enough, but it was poorly conceived and of course, useless in the end. Kakashi was only glad that Sakura had confided in them. But as for helping Sasuke instead of turning him in... that decision remained finite. Their only obligation was to the village. But Sai felt as if Kakashi wanted to say more on the matter, but didn't. Meanwhile, they were a day out into their journey. After spending the night in the woods, they were on foot again. They had received hints at the Uchiha's whereabouts and graciously followed through to the said destination.
By midday, they arrived in a small village. They had heard this place was small but friendly. And they imagined a small village quite like how Konoha used to be. With homely people and small, houses and buildings, and everybody would be smiling, despite their poorly appearance and life style. But the site before them was unlike what they thought it would be at all.
Sakura gasped. "This place is-"
"It's been totaled," Sai finished.
The welcome sign was torn in half, and burn marks covered nearly everything. The trees, the rooftops were singed. There were large gaping holes in various buildings and windows. And there was a coating of gray ash covering the ground and buildings. It was nearly burnt to the ground. There wasn't a sign of life anywhere at all.
Kakashi spoke briefly, "Stay alert. And bring anyone you find with you." They nodded and left in different directions of the destroyed village.
Sai wondered if Sasuke held a part in this as he kicked around broken shingles and wood to get to the door of a small home. It was possible that others were after him and he had been chased. If so, then that explains this battle scene. However Sai had no idea why Sasuke would put harm to a village of people. Despite all that he's done, he never seemed the type to harm innocents. Maybe the Sasuke that betrayed the village would, but not Naruto's Sasuke. Not the man who came back into the welcome and forgiving arms of everyone in the village. But on Naruto's behalf, Sai actually believed he wasn't innocent, not at all.
This house was empty, Sai noted and left. In the next one, he heard something peculiar; frantic breathing, little footsteps. He ran to the source of the sound and caught a glimpse of a little boy's face and then he was gone. Sai used the communicator at his waist and spoke into it, "Kakashi, Sakura; I've just come across a small child. I'm by the west end." He chased the boy with immense speed. When he turned into an alley, the boy was standing at the end of it. He crouched down and covered his eyes as he cried.
"Don't be scared of me," he said. "I'm here to help you."
The boy looked up at him, and glared. "How do I know? What if you're evil like that man!"
"What man? Tell me, was his name Sasuke Uchiha." The boy nodded. Ah, so Sasuke was behind this. Sai felt disappointed. He didn't want to believe that... but if this boy was telling the truth... "Are there any other survivors?" The child nodded hesitantly.
"Sai!" Sakura and Kakashi came up behind him.
"He says there are others," Sai told them, not taking his eyes away from the small child.
Sakura, being the female and more compassionate ninja, went up to the little boy who didn't shy away from her like he had Sai. "Can you take us to them?" she asked. Then, when he looked skeptically, she said, "I promise we only want to help."
The small boy nodded. He led them through the village where they found the villagers in a broken down house. When they went inside, the child's mother rushed to him. The team assured the worried people that they were ninja from Konoha, and were there to help. Sai left that to Kakashi and Sakura, as he preferred not to deal with people. After talking to several of the villagers, they found out that two ninja had attacked their homes and a man saved them. However there was one person who was unconvinced of this man's heroic deeds. The little boy had only hate for the man everyone thanked the gods for.
Sai could understand his hatred. As the small boy literally shit all over Sasuke's great name, many of the villagers came to agree with him. And especially after Kakashi delayed the news about their precious homes. The boy's mother was the only one who stood up for Sasuke. Her statement stood out amongst Team 7. Sai felt this woman was very foolish. What kind of hero would destroy the entire village? Not to mention he brought those rogue to the village to begin with.
Once the people were assured they would be sage, the team led them out into the streets. It was hard watching them as they took in their destroyed homes. Sai wondered if that woman was so thankful of her warrior now. Many people were crying and looking around sadly. Sakura came up beside Sai. "I just don't believe that he did all of this," she told him.
"I can. Any person who is capable of murder is also equally capable of doing this." Sai had long since come past holding in his insults about Sasuke Uchiha. He had no respect for this man now. Of course Sakura thought differently, she would. She glared at Sai momentarily.
"You think that now Sai, but when we find him I'll get some answers. I'm telling you he's innocent."
"Hey," Kakashi said, "I don't want to here any arguing. We're a team and we need to act like one."
"Excuse me..."
"You're the woman who defended Sasuke," Sai said briefly.
"We're really sorry about your village," Sakura cut in. She set a hand on her shoulder. "If there is anything you need, please tell us."
She looked between them with uncertainty. "No, that's fine thank you. I have something to say about Sasuke Uchiha."
Kakashi's interest piqued. "Do tell us?" he inquired.
"I believe he is innocent." Sakura seemed to be the only one who appreciated her statement. However she went on. "Those men were going to destroy everything and kill innocent people. Sasuke-san was just protecting us. He is the only reason that I am alive right now." She looked confidant in her knowledge. "Although he may have ruined our homes in the process... I believe in him."
"I hate him!" the little boy from earlier stood a ways away from them, fuming as he listened to his mother.
"Iso!" His mother scolded. "You shouldn't say that- he-"
"He's a demon! Just like the men who killed my father!" The boy was trembling, eyes wide with fear as he continued. "I saw him kill those two men. He- he ripped them apart! There was blood-" Kiyoko reached out to comfort him but he pulled away and took off running down the cobbled streets.
Kiyoko watched after him sadly. "It's such a shame.. he only just began to talk again and hate is what comes out of his mouth.
After everyone hid, I noticed Iso was missing," she told them. "I found him standing there next to the bodies-" she faltered for the right words. "He witnessed the whole thing."
Sakura felt hopeless after she witnessed the little boy's anger. She hadn't a clue how Sasuke had ever gotten that way. She wished above anything else that she could save him from the darkness that he was succumbing to.
"I don't mean to be rude, but we have to get going. From what it sounds like Sasuke isn't that far ahead," Kakashi told them.
Kiyoko gave them one last look before they left. "Please believe me, he isn't a bad person."
Kakashi nodded. "We'll be sending some ninja in from our country to help re-build your village."
They huddled together once she had left. "So it appears there are other ninja going after him. I expected this." He was silent for a moment as he thought. "We'll have to pick up the pace if we want to catch up with him. He left sometime last night so we've got a day before we start to lose his trail."
"Kakashi-sensei, if there was one, there are going to be more ninja out to get him. These men were just rouges, but how long do we have before the Sand country sends ninja? And the Water country?" Sakura questioned.
Sai spoke for him, "let's hope that doesn't happen."
Team 7 traveled until nightfall. They had been to several other small villages and asked about Sasuke, with no help there. It wasn't until Pakkun had picked up the scent of blood that they finally got somewhere. But as the day went on, they were forced to rest at night. Their only hope was that Sasuke had the same idea.
...
"Don't you think we could get in trouble for this?" Hinata whispered to Ino. They were casing out the Aburama grounds. No one was in site but with them you never knew if the insects were watching or not.
"If we do get caught I doubt they'll throw us in the pen. You agreed with me about Shino. I know something's wrong, I just know it."
Hinata watched her blond friend stare at the entrance to their home. Ino was so dedicated it gave Hinata chills, she had so much respect for the strong female.
Ino knocked on the door, once, twice, three times. They waited, no one answered. Hinata was beginning to worry. This time Ino knocked louder. To their surprise, the heavy door opened slowly. The two girls shared a look. They entered the building with stealth and caution. Ino thought she was going to walk into a horror scene. She just knew, from the chill she got once she took in the unsettling quiet and the goosebumps it gave her just opening the door all the way. She didn't expect it to empty. She was so busy noticing everything there wasn't she failed to notice the dark shadow creeping up behind them.
"It's empty." She said. "Why is it empty?"
Now Hinata was really worried. What was going on with her dear friend Shino? He was normally so quiet, but normally he would tell Hinata if something terrible was happening to him. And lately he wasn't talking to her at all. She would have to-
Hinata couldn't speak. All control had just been taken away from her, she couldn't move any part of her body. She was frozen in place. How had she not noticed? She had a bad feeling about this! She tried to open her mouth to alert Ino but the blond hadn't even noticed, and Hinata had just lost consciousness.
...
There was a lot of blood. That's all he remembered, Sasuke stared at his hands covered in it. On the ground, on him, blood. He couldn't remember when or where this occurred... there had been so many times. He had never been a good person. He wasn't capable of that. And he didn't deserve good things. That's why he was running, again, away from all the problems he had created.
It took an hour soaking in water to clean the blood off of his clothes and his body. He did all of this in the dark, in the safety of a small cave that had a pool of water hidden inside it. It looked like an old hot spring bath that had been used years ago. Sasuke lit a fire later. He decided to set up camp there for a while, knowing somebody would be after him soon. If he was being tracked, the smell of the blood was long gone now.
Rest. He needed rest, and food. For now he slept. He figured it would be about a day before anyone could catch up to him.
