If I had long enough hair I'd be ripping it out in spades by this point I just know it. Naruto's been sullen the whole mission after he used one man to kill another man, and I just watched him silently execute someone for Sasuke. Meanwhile Sasuke is now looting the two katana wielders that he killed by, what I can only hope was, accident. Naruto's head is quirked to the side, a hand on the now sheathed katana on his hip as he listens for more danger. I lay a hand on his shoulder and he can't hide the wince very well.

"Sit down and let me bandage that." he nods mutely, shedding the coat as I pull out my first aid kit. A glancing blow caught him on his left side, the dominant arm of course, and is weeping blood at a surprising rate. The steam that always accompanies his wounds sputtering out in puffs and bursts. I use a wipe to clean the wound before wrapping a bandage around his shoulder and arm, gripping him by the chin before he has the chance to slip away.

"S-sakura, lemme go!" he squirms a bit, trying to grab my wrist to get leverage but I pull up making use of my height.

"You didn't sleep last night, why?" I can see Sasuke staring at us from the sidelines now. He has the two katanas in their sheathes as well as what appears to be a paper bag dripping with grease, and a bulging roll of yen.

"I did sleep, just had trouble alright?" I roll my eyes, now refocusing on the struggling Naruto who has to stand on his toes. I let go with a gentle push backwards to let him land on his ass as I looked over the damage wrought to our surroundings. The fireball whilst effective has left smoldering embers in large patches of grass in the surrounding area, and the corpses are clearly visible here on this segment of main road going to Tazuna's bridge.

"Sasuke," he and Naruto snap out of their conversation, both looking right at me. I adjust my cap a bit as I think of how I want to handle this. "Check the bridge over, I want to know what they were doing on it. Make sure they didn't sabotage it. Naruto, you're moving the fat one." Sasuke is off like a shadow in the night, as Naruto gets his arms under the fat guy's armpits and begins to lug him over to the side of the road. I grab one of the cooked fucks carefully using my kunoichi training to ignore the sensation of his skin cracking and oozing like an overcooked marshmallow between my fingers. Getting the three of them to the side of the road I use a wire saw to start taking down a few tree branches to cover up the corpses.

"Sorry I couldn't take them all off of you." my head jolts up from the branch to look at him. His fingers ghost along the edge of one of the katanas he got from the fight frowning as he finds the borderline microscopic flaws with the blades. I give a sigh as I rub my eyes a bit, trying to decide how best to handle this.

"You were fine, drawing over half of them away was-" the katana, deemed worthless, slices through the branch I was sawing with ease. He seems to be almost floating in mid air where he jumped. Those crimson orbs seeming to rip their way into my own greenish eyes.

"You could've been seriously hurt." I watch in silence as he lands on the balls of his feet, crouching as he lands to absorb the shock better. I allow my words to mull about in my head before I land beside him.

"I'm a kunoichi, I will always run the chance of getting hurt. Your job is to pull as many enemies away from me as you can. You did your job." He shifts a bit from foot to foot, tossing the now blunted instrument of battle to the side. He's feeling along the other one now, a gold embossed handle leading into a fine looking blade.

"Thank you." His voice is small, but I can see the steam hiss up from his shoulder properly now as it always does when he's in a better head space. My head turns almost of its own volition as Sasuke skulks out of the shadows on the branch beside him. He's in a half kneeling position as he offers up his report.

"Key structural supports of the currently built bridge have dynamite strapped to them, I couldn't detect any traps on them but didn't feel it safe to remove them." I give an audible groan, punching the tree trunk hard enough to put a sizable crater in the bark. The stinging in my knuckles allowing me the freedom to run circles around my thoughts.

"Right. Naruto, can you-" Sasuke clears his throat softly, and I have to bury the retort on the tip of my tongue.

"Taicho wished for us to return to HQ as soon as possible." ok, fine. I can work with this.

"Scrap my previous plan then. We head back to HQ and meet up with Taicho and work out a better plan from there." Both boys nod and we quickly resume our hiding of the bodies. Afterwards we start off at brisk jog, wanting to move fast before more of the goons around the village spot us. Despite already seeing this village once I can't help but feel the crushing weight of it all once more. All these people are either lame, sick, or starving and yet there's nothing I can do. I catch a glance of coal black eyes not quite glaring at me from Sasuke as I drift a bit too close to a group of kids that look at me like I'm some kind of angel.

Getting back to Tazuna's home via the foot path takes only a few minutes but with what just happened it feels like an eternity traveled in silence. Taicho is waiting on the porch for us, a pocket watch in his hand as he glances at it before snapping it shut. His half closed eye pinning seemed to pin us down even as we approach him. The lazy drawl of his tired voice seeming to leave his mouth at a snail's pace.

"Later than I expected you all, report." I drop into a half bow alongside Sasuke, yanking Naruto down with me as we do so.

"Three of Gato's enforcers were at the bridge, me and Na-" I give a little couch, fumbling over my words for a second. Reports need a certain degree of professionalism. "Uzumaki and I were forced to engage them after they had spotted us. With Uchihas help all three have been removed from the equation." He nods a bit, rubbing at the temple of his covered eye. He's visibly unhappy about it but there isn't really much he can do about it now.

"Removed from equation how?" Thankfully I don't have to explain how two of them were turned into smores, Sasuke's voice taking over the report.

"Two of them, katana wielding opponents, were put down via a fire jutsu after Uzumaki knocked them off balance for me. I proceeded to get their heavyweight fighter on the ground and Uzumaki was able to execute him." Taicho nods slowly, the fabric of his mask moving slightly as though he opens his mouth before I can hear his teeth click shut.

"This mission has gone to shit." the words are whispered, clearly not meant for our ears. We choose to ignore them, Taicho begins pacing slightly on the porch before he turns back to us. Sasuke having straightened back up.

"Taicho, I investigated the bridge on the Team Captain's orders. I discovered that several key structures of the bridge have had dynamite strapped to them. I didn't spot any traps or triggers but didn't feel confident in the removal of the explosives." he gives a groan, running a hand down his face,

"Right…. Fine." he nods slowly, as though he's either coming up with plans. Either that or he's deciding to cut our losses, though I'd rather cut his fingers off. Having a failed mission for your very first mission would leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth, and I just know how my mother would try and get this twisted by the civilian council. Sasuke nudges me a bit, and I blink before realizing I was so buried in my thoughts I hadn't realized Taicho was gone.

"He said that he'd go deal with the explosives. We're to guard HQ for the time being." I nod a bit, my ears and neck turning a bit of a pinkish color at getting caught on spacing out. Naruto sits down on the porch, pulling out a whetstone as he begins to go over his newly gotten sword. Sasuke heading off and around the back of the house. I find myself in an odd position where I need to decide between the two of them who to talk to first. Naruto now has multiple kills under his belt, and clearly hasn't been sleeping well. Sasuke just had to roast two guys though, and frankly he already worries me.

"I'll be back in a bit." Naruto nods, tilting his head to look in my direction as he gives a little smile and nods before resuming his work. If only I'd known the future problems leaving him alone for an hour or two would do to the end of this mission I would've tied him to the porch. Instead I found myself tracing Sasuke's footsteps around the house and over to a small rundown shed. Behind it and up on a draining rack I find him staring at a hanging capybara. The animal having been drained of its blood and now in need of skinning, yet he's just kind of standing there with a kunai staring at it. He raises it twice and lowers it back down, walking about in a half circle around the hanging creature as though trying to find the best place to cut into it. A glance is shot at me, his eyes flicking around nervously as though I'm about to call him out on his failure.

"I… don't know how to skin an animal." I try very hard to suppress the laugh, knowing how much it must have cost him to come out and say it. A tinge of pink creeping up his porcelain pale neck. From living in the Uchiha compound for a fair bit I've learned a lot about how being part of a clan can mean both emotionally and physically.

On the emotional side of things it's never just about you, or about your direct family. Everything is about the clan and how better you can serve it. Admittedly it can be worse for Sasuke just due to him being the clan head. So much his free time has to be dedicated to it that he doesn't have much for himself. Even for those not the clan head though it can be a drag. Dozens of kids that survived the massacre are being green lighted through the fast track in the academy. The clan wanting the prestige of being the main force behind the Konohagakure Military Police, a major point of lost pride to the clan.

The physical side of things is a fair bit simpler. All Uchiha have black hair the color of coal dust, and the vast majority have jet black eyes. The clan is also known for being pale, much paler than the average citizen of a nation in the constantly sunny country of the Land of Fire. With skin a similar color of porcelain. Last but not least is their chakra nature, Uchiha's have an overwhelming amount of fire chakra nature that most people would classify as a blue fire.

Chakra natures are complicated at the best of times, but to break it down simply there are 5 base natures in total. Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, and Wind. These chakra natures can be broken down dozens of times by experts to show a person's exact aptitude for their given element. To keep it overly simplified tho-

"Sakura?" I blink, my head snapping over to Sasuke as he stares at me, I got lost in my thoughts again.

"I. um yeah? Sorry. Was thinking." He nods, chuckling a bit as the kunai dances along his fingers. He glances back to the house and I follow his eyes, showing the kid glowering at us from the window.

"I think he could do with a talking from you, you're better at the whole making people feel better thing." I grin, a hand on my hip as I begin to approach the house.

"While you're at it, why don't you ask Tazuna if he knows about how to skin an animal, or Naruto." I step up onto the back stairs, making sure to keep an eye on the brat in the bucket hat. I haven't caught his name yet, or the name of his mother. The boy is sitting on his knees on top of a threadbare cushion covered wooden stool that has clearly had the legs gnawed on by something in the past. His eyes feel as though they're trying to rake me across coals as I step in the backdoor, so I make the choice to make a bit of a retreat into the kitchen. The mom is working on lunch, stirring a pot that's simmering over a small pot belly stove. She hardly gives me a glance, her face carefully hidden behind a sheet of matted hair.

"Lunch is almost done. A soup, to stretch out ingredients." her voice is soft, almost a whisper in the wind. I step across the room, looking over the side of the house to spot a small vegetable garden thrown into disarray. Looking like someone's going through it kicking the dirt and food out and around. Making it so only meager scraps can be pulled from it.

"You have a nice home." her eyes feel like pinpricks on the back of my neck, as though they're digging into me to try and dissect my thoughts. I move over and away from her, trying to get her a modicum to space to breathe with. Leaning up against the counter with my hands out in the open and my fingers splayed out. People usually feel more comfortable with a shinobi or kunoichi if they can see their hands.

"It used to be." looking up I can get a better glance at her face. Two angry puffy red scars run across her right cheek starting at her nose and going all the way back to her neck. Some kind of knife wounds from how thin they are. Most people would likely say it ruins her beauty but frankly I can't agree with that thought. She feels like someone whose had to struggle hard and fight for her place, and her childs, in this world.

"With the bridge coming up I think it'll become nice again." she just kind of stares at me, before her eyes begin to tear up. A kitchen knife is set down on the counter beside her, having been carefully tucked into the waist of her apron as she uses said apron to wipe at her eyes.

"Life has been hell here for years. A bridge won't change that," she stares out over the water. Her eyes shining brightly though with hope or anger I can't quite tell. "But I can't just take that hope away from my father. What else is he going to do?" I give a gentle shrug, not entirely sure what I can offer to try and help the situation. Tazuna is an engineer, specifically a bridge builder so it makes sense as to why he would think a bridge would help.

"It's possible that with the construction of this bridge that maybe you all can get more help." she leans onto the counter. Her hands going white knuckled as she grips it. I can't help but notice that she's missing her ring finger on her left hand, a very old sign that she's sworn off marrying another.

"Gato is a parasite, a leech wearing human skin!" her voice is rising, hitting a fevered pitch as her legs buckle and she uses the counter to remain standing. Tazuna is coming into the room now, trying to get around in front of her.

"Tsunami, dear come here." she scrambles for the knife, almost burning herself on the pot as she wields it held in both hands pointed at us.

"He won't take me, or my son! HE WON'T!" I raise my hands, stepping slowly and clearly as I make sure to never move outside of her view.

"We won't let anyone take you. It's our job to protect you, Tsunami-San." Her eyes are wild, bloodshot and the pupils dilated as they dart around to take in any perceived danger. Tazuna looks pained, his hands also raised in a placating manner as he allows me to approach. My step forward is matched by her going back. We don't play this game of cat and mouse long before we end up running into the kitchen counter. Another step forward on my end and I have to dodge the wild lunge with the knife she makes. I grab her wrist, and with a twist and a squeeze she's dropped it. The metal clattering across the wooden floor only to be picked up by the brat in the bucket hat whose running for me with it held in his hands.

"Let go of my mom you bitch!" I can't dodge or else he'll stab his mother. The angle he's going at he'll hit me right in the kidney, I'll go septic in minutes. Tazuna grabs the kid by the scruff of the neck, lifting him up by it like one would do to a puppy. Shaking him a bit as he whispers angrily to the boy. I let go of her wrist, holding her instead by the shoulders as I lower her down to the floor letting her sit down. Sitting down beside her I manage to catch a single tear leave her eye even as she once more lets her hair fall down in front of her face.

I help her stand up, even as her knees buckle. She tries to move for the stove but I pull her over to the table and sit her down. Last thing she needs right now is to be working with an almost boiling liquid. Sasuke is at the entrance to the kitchen, likely having heard the shouting. The bloody Kunai gripped in his hand as he takes in the situation. Tazuna has taken the knife by this point, depositing the kid on his feet as he leans back against the counter his newly freed hand rubbing at his chest.

"Sasuke, check first aid on Tazuna." He tries to deny it but Sasuke is already moving. Pulling the small red first aid pouch off of his hip and beginning to check Tazuna's heart rate. She's shaking like a leaf in the wind, her hands trying to wrap around her torso to stop. The kid has gone back over to the entrance of the kitchen to glare at me from a distance. He reminds me a bit of a certain shadow user.

I manage to keep her steady, stepping over I grab the pot and move it off the stove before it has the chance to bubble over. Taking a moment to search for bowls before I give her a portion.

"T-thank… thank you, Kunoichi-San. I.. I'm so sorry" I shake my head softly, working her fingers open as I place a spoon in it.

"There's no reason to be sorry. You tried to do what was most important to you, and protect your son." Her eyes meet mine through the tangled rush of hair. Their intensity would have shocked me if I hadn't been looking for it. *But it's finally time for you to relax a bit, because we're here." She nods slowly at first before there's a desperate force behind it. Her arms clutching me like one would hold a life preserver, sobbing into my shoulder. I take it in stride, gently rocking us back and forth as I rub her back.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see Sasuke finishing up with Tazuna. Both of the men are just kind of not quite staring at us, trying desperately to give her a bid of privacy. The brat is still skulking near the edge of the kitchen and giving me a look that could kill if he were the right kind of Shinobi.

All of our heads turn in unison to the front door creaking open. Sasuke clutching the Kunai he used for skinning, and Tazuna grabs the abandoned kitchen knife from the counter. Tsunami curls into a ball on the chair she's sitting on her sobbing now a muffle sound as I step over and in front of her tugging my gloves on. Taicho steps into the room, his single eye running over the group as a whole. His lazy slouched posture the same as usual, his headband crooked over an eye, and the gray hair as gravity defying as ever.

He has to duck, Sasuke throwing the Kunai at him. I'm moving fast, going for his legs. I don't know what it is but something isn't right about him and Sasuke sees it too. I can hear Sasuke shouting something but I don't register it fully. He drops the book desperately trying to grab onto my fist.

I stand from my crouched run, letting him grab my arm as I lock both my hands onto his forearm and wrench my whole body weight backwards. The sickening cracking sound that comes shortly thereafter as well as the cry of pain tells me I'm successful, the henge failing utterly showing a man whose shorter than Taicho with dirt seemingly rubbed into his very essence. Oily hair and fingernails that look blackened, one arm now hanging limply by his side as his rather vibrant green eyes dart back and forth.

Sasuke is moving up now, a kunai gripped in either hand as he puts the opponent on the defensive. I rush out through the back entrance of the kitchen and around the living room. I manage to get myself up and into the entryway of the house, the infiltrator managing to have used his good hand to draw a kunai as is trying to use his longer reach to drive it into Sasuke's shoulders or neck.

I dart forward, my foot connecting to the back of his knee and it buckles forward with him going down like a bag of bricks. Sasuke follows it up with a roundhouse kick to the head that had him bouncing off the wall before slumping to the ground. A bit of blood leaks from his mouth and the ear that got kicked, my breathing coming in short fast breaths before I practically rip the front door off of its hinges to get to the porch.

Naruto is nowhere to be seen. His whetstone and a small myriad of tools for sword care left beside the new gilded katana he had taken off the bandits sitting abandoned where he had been. My eyes rake across the front yard and tree line, not detecting any sign of a fight. No puddles of blood or gouges in the dirt. None of the trees have been cut to ribbons. A glance back in the door shows Sasuke has tied the man up, before hand giving the most basic first aid to put his shoulder back in the socket.

"Fucking find him, I'll watch this jackass." He nods, moving up and out as he dashes for the tree line. I close the door, sealing the dead bolt this time as I turn to the unconscious infiltrator. Tazuna perks around the corner of the kitchen.

"Has uh, everything gone well." I resist the urge to snap at him. Instead kicking the bound man in the ribs and nodding a bit.

"Naruto wasn't outside, the house is on lockdown until Taicho returns." Tazuna nods, his onion style hat sitting askew currently. I grab the man, hauling him upright and dragging him up the stairs. A moment of wild searching reveals to me a linen closet that I start ripping clothing and hangers out of. Leaving nothing but bare shelves and a door. I cram him into it, slamming the door shut. Taking the steps two at a time I move for Tazuna's workshop on the far end of the house, finding the tools I need. I quickly use a set of nails to make it so a board can be placed in front of the linen closet door to blockade him in

The next few minutes pass slowly, the air itself seeming to hold its breath as we wait in silence. Tsunami has taken her kid and is now huddled underneath the kitchen table with him wrapped in her arms. Tazuna has the kitchen knife gripped in a white knuckle hold as he does his best to peer around the curtain on the kitchen window. I stand on the balls of my feet, mostly focused on the back door of the house that leads directly into the kitchen. My eyes snap on occasion to the front entryway, feeling only a small bit of relief at knowing it's bolted.

The creak of the floorboards on the front porch make me pivot, my ears open for the slightest movement beyond that. I pull up a set of kunai, setting them between my knuckles ready to throw a fan of them. My steps are carefully chosen to be silent as the wind, moving into the entryway I can see a silohuette against the curtain of the front window. The shape of the hair and flak vest say it should be Taicho but I can hardly trust that. The door knob twists slowly, as the person on the other side tries to pull it open gently but the deadbolt stops it. He untwists it, the metal only giving a small whine of displeasure at being used. I can't hear the floorboards creak this time around as the silhouette moves away off the porch. It becomes a blur, jumping up before I lost sight of it.

I move hard and fast, my feet pounding up the stairs as I abandon stealth for speed in an attempt to cut the figure off from entering the open second floor window I had forgotten about in my haste and then nerves. Getting to the top of the stairs I throw the kunai uncaring of who it really is. Taicho is halfway through the window, letting himself fall to the floor as they go harmlessly over him before he uses his hands to move in a handstand Pushing off of the ground he backflips over me, grabbing both my hands and trapping them behind my back before I have the chance to try and backpedal.

I kick off the ground trying to throw my body weight, but more importantly my head, back into his body. A scream ripping its way out of my throat as my adrenaline ratchets even higher. He holds me fast, letting himself go with the movement and simply allowing the back of my skull to connect with the armor in his flak vest so that I see stars for a moment.

"Haruno, report." his voice is hard, and he holds me firm, giving me a few moments to collect myself.

"T-taicho? It's you." he nods, though I can't see it, and gently lets me go taking 2 steps back. I rub at my wrists a bit as I go over slamming the window shut hard enough to crack the glass. His eye rips across the second floor hallway, taking in the scattered linens and the board now securing the closet.

"What the hell happened?" I nod, running a hand through my hair even as it knocks off my flat cap.

"Uh, I was speaking with Tazuna and his daughter. Problems ensued, Sasuke came in. Then someone entered wearing a henge of you and we felt something was off." he nods, removing the board and opening the closet and looking at the still bound and unconscious figure before he closes it once more. "Checking outside Naruto was gone, so I sent Sasuke to look for him and they've both been gone-"

"How long" his voice cuts across mine, carrying with it and oddly calming effect. I don't have to try and find the solution here, I can rely on someone with more experience than me.

"Uh, a dozen minutes since Sasuke left at most." he nods a bit, already moving down the stairs.

"Have Tazuna begin boarding up the windows, I need this place as secured as possible. I'm heading out to look for the two of them. Continue to hold things here, you're doing well. When we return I will use the passphrase 'White Doves fly free' do you understand" he glances back, and I give a firm nod as I stumble down the stairs after him. He glances at the front door seeing the deadbolt and storms into the kitchen. He has to duck to the side as Tazuna had been standing behind the door holding the kitchen knife with both hands and lunges forward as soon as Taicho moves through the door. The stammered apology is ignored as he and Taicho have a whispered conversation, Tazuna only nodding with a shell shocked look on his face.

I slowly crouch to be visible to Tsunami, slowly gesturing her out as I can hear Tazuna hammering boards into the walls. Taicho moving out the backdoor and leaping into the trees. With this house becoming more secure and Taicho being aware of the situation makes this place feel safer already. All I need now are my boys to come back, and show me they aren't falling apart.