"We shouldn't be taking a detour." Izumo Kamizuki chided his best friend and partner, but despite his words he was going along with Kotetsu Hagane.
They were both proud Chunin of he Hidden Leaf village and supposed to be returning from a simple C-rank mission.
But Kotetsu had insisted on visiting an old friend at the town near the outskirts of Yugakura. Supposedly that town was famous for its hotsprings.
"C'mon, we can even go to the hotsprings there, they're the best after all." Kotetsu grinned at his best friend. "Live a little Izumo."
Before Izumo could reply an elderly woman approached them making them tense up.
"I couldn't help but overhear you youngsters talking about that town..."
Both Izumo and Kotetsu raised an eyebrow at the elderly. "That town?" Kotetsu repeated.
"Everyone in that town were slaughtered, their bodies still laying on the ground." The elderly revealed.
Kotetsu's eyes widened at the revelation, a whole town being slaughtered just like that? It sounded similiar to the Uchiha Massacre that had occured over a month ago.
Izumo's eyes narrowed. "Why weren't the bodies burried?" He suspiciously asked.
The elderly woman furrowed her eyebrows. "According to the youngsters who went to investigate, there was a ghost there.."
Kotetsu and Izumo shared a glance, the latter resisting the urge to scoff. Ghosts didn't exist.
"Izumo..." Kotetsu mutterer.
Izumo nodded before flashing the elderly a smile. "Thank you for informing us, we'll take care of the ghost." Going back to Konoha would have to wait.
Before the surprised elderly could answer, the two were gone, the only sign they were ever there being the leaves scattering around.
.o0o.o0o.
Izumo looked around the town, an expressionless look on his face as he took in the corpses.
There were bodies laying everywhere, all sporting different types of wounds.
A body was missing its lower half. Another missing its upper half. A few were missing their heads. Stab wounds and slashes pointed out the usage of a bladed weapon.
There was blood practically everywhere and the scent made him lose whatever appetite he had. Crows were busy eating the corpses.
Kotetsu's small gas made his attention focus on a head laying on the ground, a head belonging to a kid who couldn't be more than four, her face shocked in horror.
Izumo raised his hand to his mouth feeling himself about to puke.
"Who would do such a thing?" Kotetsu muttered.
Izumo swallowed down the puke. He had seen his fair share of stuff, but this was new to him.
"Shoo!" A shout echoed through the too silent village making the crows fly away.
Kotetsu and Izumo shared a look before cautiously approaching the direction the voice came from.
Both grabbed a few kunai, ready to throw at the first sign of danger.
They found a little girl sitting on top of a body while eating some riceball.
"A little girl?" Kotetsu muttered lowering his kunai.
Despite how lowered his voice was, the girl twitched and turned to look at them. The apathetic look she had managed to both concern them and make them wary.
"Konoha-nin..." They heard her mutter in surprise.
They both shared a look again, not really knowing what to do with her or what to say.
The kid wasn't normal after all, what sort of kid could just eat surrounded by corpses?
"There's no one here, so you can go back to your village." The girl spoke.
Kotetsu stepped towards the girl noting how she in turn stared at him with curious eyes.
"Did you live here?" He gently asked taking a stop in front of the girl.
She nodded at him, not showing any emotion.
Kotetsu noticed Izumo standing next to him out of the corner of his eyes.
"What happened here?" Izumo asked.
The girl blinked at them. "A massacre."
Alarmed at her casual response Kotetsu crouched down to her height. "Aren't you..." He trailed off as the girl continued eating.
"What?" The girl asked.
"Sad? Afraid?" Izumo mumbled.
The girl shook her head no. "It's been days. Sadness and fear isn't affecting me anymore. Besides, you get used to it." She explained with a shrug.
The kid definitely wasn't normal or very traumatized.
"What's your name?"
"Hi-kun said I shouldn't talk to strangers, since they can turn out to be pedophiles." The girl stated.
"I'm Kotetsu and this is Izumo. There, we're not strangers anymore."
The girl hummed in thought. "Sakura, Sakura Haruno."
"Sakura-chan, what happened here?"
"I don't wanna talk about it."
Izumo sighed knowing they wouldn't really get anymore information out of Sakura.
Before they can say anything else Sakura stood up and dusted her bloody kimono. "Nap time." She mumbled walking away.
"What should we do now? We can't just leave her..." Kotetsu said as they looked at Sakura's retreating back.
"We take her to the village." Izumo quickly started walking to Sakura.
Kotetsu followed.
Despite them following her, Sakura didn't stop. She kept walking until she reached a white house. The only house not stained with blood.
"What do you two want?" Sakura finally asked.
"You can't stay here." Kotetsu pointed out.
Sakura blinked at him as if urging him to get to the point.
"How about we take you to Konoha? You can find a place to stay there." Izumo spoke up.
Sakura glanced at the house that was obviously hers before nodding. "What about the bodies?" She asked.
"We can handle it later." Izumo said.
"Then okay. But...I won't share my food, okay?" Sakura asked munching on another riceball.
Kotetsu managed a weak smile. "Deal."
.o0o.o0o.
"Are Leaf nin strong?" Sakura found herself asking while she rode on Kotetsu's back.
She could feel the ninja in question nodding.
"Why do you ask?" Izumo asked.
"Just wondering. I think I'll join the academy." Sakura mused before looking at Izumo. "Is that allowed?"
"Once everything's cleared up."
Nodding at the information Sakura yawned.
Nobody spoke.
Ten minutes later Kotetsu finally asked.
"Sakura-chan, your parents..."
"They're dead. Everyone is." Sakura cut him off.
"How can you be so indifferent to it?" Izumo asked.
Sakura paused, a surprise look on her face. The most emotion Izumo's seen her display.
"...I don't know, maybe I'm not normal." She finally answered turning to look in front of her.
.o0o.o0o.
"She's taking a bit too long going to the bathroom." Izumo noted as he started up a small fire.
The odd trio had decided to camp out before they continued on their way to Konoha.
"She's a girl, what did you expect? Besides this is probably her first time doing it in a forest." Kotetsu pointed out.
"Why didn't you go help her out then?"
Kotetsu shook his head quickly. "No way, she'll probably think I'm a pedophile."
"Does she even know what that means?" Izumo wondered.
"A pedophile is a person who is sexually attracted to children."
Both ninjas looked at Sakura as she stepped out from the woods, her hands behind her back.
"Guess she does know." Kotetsu mumbled, glad that he didn't offer his help.
"What are you hiding?" Izumo asked.
Sakura revealed a live rabbit which she held by its ears, ignoring the animal's attempt at clawing her.
"...why did you come with a rabbit?" Kotetsu decided to ask.
"Mister Rabbit is a pedophile and I figured we could eat him." Sakura answered tightening her grip on the animal. (She enjoyed it squirming in pain.)
"I thought you didn't share." Izumo spoke up as Sakura took a seat next to him.
"I don't. But I owe you two."
"Oh?" Kotetsu raised an eyebrow.
Sakura looked away as pink dusted her cheeks. "You two are helping me become a ninja, so I owe you two."
Needless to say both were surprised at her childlike behavior.
'Maybe it was trauma that got her acting so odd.' Kotetsu thought.
That night Sakura couldn't sleep.
.o0o.o0o.
Sakura perked up as Konoha's gates finally came in her view after days of traveling with Izumo and Kotetsu.
Amused at her awed look, the two ninjas greeted Genma who was taking over their jobs as the gate keepers.
He grinned at them. "Finally, now I can get off of guard duty."
Izumo sighed. "For the last time, this job is very important to the village. You should be honored."
Genma noticed Sakura on Kotetsu's back and raised an eyebrow.
"Hello." Sakura blandly greeted noticing his stare.
"Hi..."
"We'll talk later." Izumo promised as they sped off to the Hokage's office.
They figured Sakura could get a tour after everything's been cleared up.