Sasuke hated this part of his job. As he walked the borders of the outskirts he realized that he really hated his job.

"Your face might get stuck that way, Sasuke-kun."

His infuriating sensei made Sasuke want to rip his hair out on a normal day, but today it almost brought him over the edge. Today his sensei was so late for mission assignments that they got stuck with patrolling the outskirts while builders worked on a new settlement. The worst job of the bunch, or at least that was his opinion.

Sasuke hated the disgusting rubble that made up the wastelands. Being raised in Konoha made him used to extreme luxury, especially being the son of one of the council members. Camping in the waste made him feel like taking three showers when he finally reached home.

The only reason that the job was bearable was the possibility that there might be sign of a fellow comrade, not a friend because Uchihas never had friends, who went missing four months earlier. Shikamaru Nara was known to be a genius in the Academy. He was patrolling this same settlement when he disappeared. No one saw or heard anything from him sense that day.

"Sasuke, do you see that?"

This caused Sasuke to emerge quickly from his thoughts. He could tell his sensei was serious for the lack of –kun on his name. As he searched for what he sensei was speaking of he heard a slight shift in the rubble that caught his attention. There, 100 yards to the left of them was a person watching the builders.

The reason for the patrols was discovered 3 years ago when the cities finally decided to walk the wastelands. In the rubble of the old world, there were humans. There were very few who scavenged near the cities, but enough for them to realize that there were survivors. The ones that were found were called Scavengers who lived off of the remains in the wasteland. The city tried to bring them back, to give them a normal life inside the walls, but a week of non-exposure, a week of clean air, made them die slowly and painfully.

The cities realized that those who survived were adapted to the waste, that they became one with the staggering amounts of radiation that covered the world when the bombs hit. Unlike the shinobi sent out into the wastelands that couldn't survive without breathers and suits that protected them from the poison that coated everything that was not protected.

The cities decided that they would slowly turn the uninhabitable land into land that they could live in and thrive on in years to come. That is when the Expansion started. Each city started to build colonies outside of their walls; small towns that were protected just like the large one.

After a year and a half of building, problems arose. Workers would disappear mysteriously and buildings would come crashing down seemingly without cause. That is when the shinobi were deployed for protection detail. Another six months passed without incident, but another attack came and its source was found. Scavengers were attacking the colonies. At first the cities believed it to be for resources, but there was no evidence backing that claim. From the facts it seemed that the Scavengers were attacking to stop the building of the colonies, which confused many.

Sasuke, enraged at the sight of the Scavenger raced forward without thought. This was the reason why he was forced to have Kakashi accompany him on missions; he was easily enraged and volatile according to his assessments.

"Sasuke, wait! You'll scare him off!" Kakashi yelled.

But it was too late. The Scavenger had seen them coming towards him and took off quickly. He tore through the rubble like he had been doing it his whole life, which by his age he probably had. Sasuke and Kakashi had a harder time, but this was when their training kicked in.

They ran until they reached the end of the rubble towards an overgrown forest, which looked as menacing as it was named: The Forest of Death.

Shinobi rarely went into the forest. The few who did either never returned or came home muttering about huge beasts and man eating plants, which didn't bode well with anyone.

Sasuke and Kakashi shared a look and then dove in, following their prey into unknown terrors.

As they ran the boy in front of them made a series of noises that one could mistake for a birdcall if they weren't listening closely. He made a sharp left and Kakashi had to duck quickly, he almost lost his head on a branch the boy must have known was there. Sasuke took the more acrobatic route and jumped over the branch.

They lost sight of the boy for a second, but followed his sounds until they reached a clearing at which he was standing at the other side, waiting for them.

"On orders of the Hokage and the Konoha council all Scavengers are under arrest for the destruction of property and conspiracy against the great cities. All prisoners will be taken to rehabilitation where they will be purified and become a citizen of Konoha." Sasuke stated the charges the council and Hokage put against any Scavenger the shinobi came across.

The boy blinked owlishly for a moment, taken by surpise at what Sasuke had said. Then a creeping smile slowly stretched across his face until it became as mischvious as they come and he threw his head back and laughed until he was doubled over with mirth.

"HA! You Konoha fools think you can arrest any of us? Ha! Aw man thanks for that. I haven't laughed that much in a while." The boy chuckled a bit as he said, "The names Maru, and I'm not coming with you, you are coming with us."

"Who's us?" asked Kakashi, slowly checking his surroundings looking for the others Maru mentioned.

"Oh, just me and my gang. Goodnight!" he replied cheerily.

"Good-?" Sasuke tried stating before he was cutoff by a blow to the head. As he fell into blackness he saw his sensei succumb to the same fate.

A/N: Sorry for how short this seems. It looked so long in Word that I thought I should stop there. Please tell me what you think! If you didn't guess Maru is Konohamaru, I couldn't put Konoha in front of his name caus it wouldn't make sense. His gang is Moegi and Udon as well, I wanted to put them in there but couldn't think of how. I'll update soon probably and then find a rhythm.