In the five days that followed Yamato and Sakura's arrival into the past, making it a week that they'd been there, not only had they not found a sign of the rain orphans, but they'd been made to move their shelter several times.
This latest move, which made it the seventh time in the span of five days, Sakura's irritation levels had skyrocketed "This is absolutely unbelievable" she spat helping Yamato take down the tarp that they had painstakingly put up not even six hours ago.
"Yeah no kidding, now I see why Tsunade refused to let me stay an adult, if this is how adults treat us, then their trust in adults have to be much worse" Yamato grumbled not liking this any more than Sakura did as she sealed the tarp in her scroll.
Of course they'd kept up with their meditation regaining just a tiny bit more chakra, to do a little more searching, besides that, they hardly saw each other considering how much they were out looking for the Rain Orphans.
Sakura swiped a hand through her matted hair, sorely wishing she could take a shower "Might as well get an early start on our search" Sakura breathed out sliding her pack onto her shoulders allowing the now familiar weight to settle her frazzled nerves for the moment.
Yamato turned towards her shouldering his own backpack "Guess we won't have time to eat breakfast" he joked and Sakura finally cracked a smile at him, they made a pit stop at a food stand and bought some steamed pork buns to curb their appetites before splitting up.
However this time Yamato forgot the tracking seeds nor did he think about setting up a time or place where they could meet, it wasn't until hours later that he noticed this and panicked abandoning his search for the orphans to look for Sakura instead.
The pinkette herself was slowly moving through the muddied streets keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of the orphans, bright orange hair for instance unaware of how close she actually was to one of them until she turned a corner and spied him, red hair, Uzumaki 'Nagato' Sakura smiled.
In that moment the rain decided to come down harder than before and seeing as she had no choice Sakura sped forward scrambling for shelter, she flew beneath the broken awning that was already occupied "Hi" she waved at the boy who looked little more than eight years old.
"He...Hello" he stuttered waving back shyly peering at the girl from beneath his bangs, when she got to close he scrambled back and she held up her hands in the universal harmless gesture, it made him wonder how old she was.
Realizing that unless she talked she would get nowhere Sakura sighed inwardly "I'm Sakura" she greeted with a smile before frowning slightly, he didn't trust her, so with another sigh she let tears brim in her eyes.
The reaction was instantaneous as no sooner had a single tear trickled down her cheek, did the boy wrap his arms around her "Na..Nag..Nagato" he stuttered out again squeezing Sakura tightly pressing her into his side, though it was already far to late and they were soaked through to the bone.
Nagato breathed heavily as he silently cried, he'd thought he was the only one that was alone, but it turns out he was wrong "What happened to you're parents" he asked after calming down keeping Sakura against his side as it rained even harder than before.
Sakura sniffled then, "They died in the war, but they were civilians" not a lie, but not the complete truth, besides there was no way Nagato would know it wasn't the war that was going on currently that had killed her parents, but a future one.
Before she could say that she still had her cousin, Nagato pulled her closer against his side "I'm sorry" he apologized "You've got me now" he asked with a hopeful nervous smile, and Sakura gave him a bright one in return "You have a pretty smile" Nagato murmured his cheeks turning red as he said the words.
Her own cheeks became stained with that familiar blush "Thank you Nagato-san, I do have my cousin to, but he's out there somewhere" Sakura mumbled shyly before admitting to the fact she hadn't been completely alone since her parents deaths.
Nagato's eyes widened "We should go find him then" he stood determined to help his new friend find her cousin and wanting that reassurance that he wasn't alone anymore either, Sakura followed his lead and stood on her feet.
"Thanks Nagato" she smiled and Nagato nodded quietly hesitantly holding out his hand, when she tilted her head to the side in confusion he frowned "What is it" Sakura asked hoping he wouldn't just leave her hanging.
Feeling embarrassed "Would you hold my hand, that way you don't get lost or separated from each other" Nagato explained hunching his shoulders and squeezing his eyes shut in fear of what he thought was the inevitable rejection.
Understanding flew across her face and Sakura took his hand, that was just a little bit bigger than her own, his eyes popped open "Anything you want Nagato-san" she smiled radiantly, Nagato felt his face heating up again but he turned and led them out from beneath the awning.
An hour later the Sakura was just about to give up and just start her search in finding Yahiko and Konan, when they turned a corner and something tackled her from behind "SAKURA" a voice bellowed and her mind immediately recognized him.
"Yamato" Sakura wrapped her arms around the brunette giving him a bone crushing hug "Kami I can't believe we found you" she breathed sitting up when Yamato finally allowed her to, he blinked his onyx eyes at her in confusion.
Nagato was stood off to the side a gloom of depression hanging over his head "Well I guess I'll be going now" he sighed sadly and Sakura's head snapped around emerald eyes wide before she snagged his wrist and refused to let him go.
"Absolutely not, I'm not abandoning you Nagato-san" her eyes narrowed in determination as she stood with the help of Yamato who was nodding his agreement "Just because we found Yamato, doesn't mean I'm going to let you go off by yourself" Sakura dusted her clothes off.
Yamato grinned "Better get use to our presence Nagato-san, cause Sakura can be extremely bossy" he sniggered and Sakura rolled her eyes at him still holding the red head's wrist tightly until he stopped trying to get away.
In all actuality he was very surprised, Nagato figured the moment they found the boy, that he would be thrust out on his own again "Where will we go then" he asked softly as they stood together in the middle of the street, adults passing by them and ignoring them like usual.
Forming a huddle with each other Sakura and Yamato put their heads together, now that they'd found one of the Rain Orphans, and since they'd probably be wasting time searching the rest of the village, "Let's go to the mountain, better shelter" Sakura proposed.
"Yes, it will make it easier and I remember Naruto's story, so the mountain is our best bet" Yamato whispered back wanting to contribute to the mission even more, so far Sakura had been making most of the decisions and she was the only one who'd found one of their mission objectives.
Decided they broke apart "Here Nagato-san" Sakura held out her hand and Nagato grasped onto it "We're going to the mountain, better shelter from the rain" she pointed to the mountain as they trekked through the village leaving the buildings behind.
"Okay" Nagato gripped her hand just a bit tighter as they carefully walked up the slope leading to the mountain "Why up here though" he couldn't help but question the two other kids, he also already felt the side effects of starvation and wasn't sure if he'd be able to go on much longer.
He breathed out softly addressing Nagato for only the second time "Because mountains have caves, and caves mean shelter for us from the rain" Yamato nodded keeping his eyes forward as they all tried to keep from sliding and falling backwards due to the mud.
Swiping his free hand through his hair "Most orphans aren't bright like you two" Nagato pouted slightly just as it happened, he tripped over a rock and landed face first in a puddle of water, and Sakura went sliding backwards.
"Sakura" Yamato shouted using his wood style to prevent himself from sliding to far, he watched as she scrambled to regain her footing on the uphill terrain, thankfully after a minute her feet hit a larger rock and her body slammed into it.
It must have winded her because she took a moment to regain her bearings "I'm fine, Nagato-san" Sakura called looking to the red head worriedly, but when he didn't respond "Yamato" she gestured at the boy, pushing herself to her feet and struggling back up the path.
Both she and Yamato reached Nagato just as a starving dog licked his cheek, Nagato gasped inhaling on some air and coughed, choking a bit "Thank god are you okay" arms wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug.
All he saw was pink through bleary eyes, then he remembered "I'm okay Yamato-san, Sakura-san, I'm just hungry" Nagato mumbled sheepishly into Sakura's hair as he realized what the pink thing he kept seeing was, it was stranger than his hair for sure.
A whine emitted from the dog, "Guess I should thank you to huh" Nagato patted the puppy on the head before watching as Yamato helped Sakura carefully stand up holding her hand tightly to make sure she didn't go sliding down the path again.
Feeling stupid for not checking him over before they'd left the village behind "Why didn't you just say you were hungry" she frowned deeply, her concern showing on her large forehead, it was scary how easily they could have lost Nagato, and for a few agonizing seconds, she'd thought the worst.
He got to his own feet and took her hand in his again holding it tightly but not to tightly because he didn't want to hurt her "No one will spare us any food" Nagato hunched his shoulders in depression missing Sakura and Yamato throwing him an incredulous look.
"Let's just get to the caves" Yamato murmured wanting to get off the uphill path and out from the rain, then they could deal with Nagato's hunger and take care of any needs the little pup that was trailing behind them, if they were careful, the food they had would last them a long time, until they met Jiraiya.
Sure enough there were caves littered throughout the mountain and the three took shelter in one of the innermost ones they could find, Sakura sat down while Yamato kept watch, and Nagato pulled the puppy into his lap "What should we call him" the red head called distracting Sakura and Yamato.
The two cousins as Nagato thought they were shared a look before the brunette shrugged, Sakura hummed for a second as she thought "I don't know why don't you choose Nagato-san" she suggested pulling her pack from her shoulders and unzipping it removing a food storage scroll, unsealing it with a hand sign.
Nagato's eyes almost popped out of his head at the assortment of can food and dry food items, momentarily abandoning his task of choosing a name for the pup that had followed them to the mountain and into the cave.
"Where did you get all that Sakura-san" he swallowed thickly eyeing the food as his hunger rose and his stomach rumbled loudly echoing through the cave, he felt drool gather in the corners of his mouth and Nagato hastily wiped it away.
Sakura lifted her head after choosing some cans of peaches to eat for the three of them, leaving out a couple of bread rolls, she waited a few moments sealing the rest back into her scroll that she then put back into her pack and settled on her shoulders again.
Then she finally answered "It's not just me, Yamato has the other half, but when we left home, his parents had been teaching him how to use ninja stuff, like these scrolls, and he was teaching me, not to mention we had lots and lots of food and whatnot" Sakura waved her hands hoping the lie was believable.
Yamato bit his cheek listening to the story, Sakura was a better actor than he'd originally thought, and it was somewhat amazing listening to her spin their tale and give the back story on why they were orphaned and how they knew all the things they did.
And to add to the story "Yeah just in case anything ever happened we split what there was at the house and sealed it all into these scrolls together, it's been about a week since our parents died" Yamato jumped into the conversation.
Though it didn't look like Nagato cared either way, all he wanted was the peaches, before he could ask if they were going to share with him, like he'd even need to, Sakura nudged over two cans of her peaches after using her can opener and a plastic fork.
"Really I can have it" Nagato asked wiping his mouth hesitating just a bit more, Sakura nodded and he lunged, while he was busy scarfing down the sweet fruit, the pinkette handed over two of the remaining four cans to Yamato, and the bread rolls to the puppy before eating her own food.
When they were done, Nagato leaned against the cave wall, belly full for once and feeling oddly sleepy, "Can his name be Chibi" he asked the two others suddenly pointing at the puppy, Yamato shared a smile with Sakura as they scooted over to him after sealing away their trash.
"Anything you want Nagato-san" Yamato murmured as Sakura curled into his side sandwiched between him and the red head, she was on the verge of falling asleep, when he remembered and stood jostling the pinkette "Sorry" he chuckled and Sakura stuck her tongue out at him behaving like a child should.
A moment later he returned throwing a thick blanket over their shoulders, then Yamato sat down again Sakura leaning heavily into his side as her eyelids drooped close and soon all three of them including Chibi were sleeping soundly to the soothing splash of rain.