A/N: Hello everyone: I know, it's been a long time hasn't it?
I am back after...a while. It has been truly a difficult time these past few years after finishing up university in spring of 2022 and with diving immediately into a demanding full time position-well let's just say burn out is incredibly real. I struggled for a long time to return to writing. As much as I love writing, I just couldn't write a single sentence without second-guessing every word, that it was just not good enough. Recently, I've found my way back to this joy and as I am someone who likes to finish her projects, I am hopeful I can complete this story this year - that is my goal.
I am hopeful that you all lovely readers are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
masayume-
Chapter 8. Old Bones
Hatsumei
It seemed as if hours have gone by since Naruto and Sasuke begun to look over the ledger that Shisui found in the old fishing village. The two shinobi huddled around one of the low tables within the shinobi quarters in the lord's house. There were notes of paper scattered across the low table with a spilled ink on them – no doubt the result of Naruto's quick note taking.
"So, what do we have so far, teme?" Naruto asked as he was going through the notes.
"This section that talks about the forest is most promising, listen," Sasuke said.
The old wood as they call it nowadays, has had so many names over the centuries. From Aino Forest to Samurai Forest, to woodland sanctuary, or Hatsumei woodlands, or even the soundless forest. But the name that still rings true to this day is the forest of forgotten tears. Many would think that a forest is simply a place where trees grow – that is not the case of this place. It is a vast space of meadows, creeks, and many deciduous trees, including the valley of sycamore trees that lead the way towards a large family shrine. The three-story pagoda shrine was built nearly seven hundred years ago by the ruling family of the land of wood, or so they say. The forest of forgotten tears is a place of mystery and bloodshed. It is a home to many battles, including the last battle from half a century ago where many died needlessly. The battle for the seat of power…
"Anything else about the sanctuary? We saw the sycamore trees. We were following that path when we were split up," Naruto said.
Due to the amount of blood that had been spilled, the ruling lord ordered a shrine to be built on the site where the last battle took place. A slab of stone was brought to the middle of the blood-soaked meadow, and all were told to offer votives and offerings to the spirits of the forest to appease their anger and restlessness. The lord issued a rule that no women were to enter the forest of forgotten tears. Sasaki's blood…
"Sasaki? Wait… the slab of stone in a meadow. That's where I found Tomoe! So… what, she was an offering to the spirits?" Naruto said.
"You're missing the point here Naruto. Sakura is in the forest…. A forest no woman was supposed to enter!" Sasuke said.
"There has to be a way…. There has to be a way to break this. We will find them," Naruto said.
"He's going to marry her, you know. My brother. I know they are only dating as Sakura would say, but he is going to marry her one day. I know my brother well enough to know that. I can't… we can't lose them. We can't..." Sasuke said trying his hardest to not display any emotion.
"They are both strong shinobi. They will be fine. We will find them, we are not giving up," Naruto said with a reassuring tone.
Sasuke put the ledger down and ran his hand through his wild raven hair. They were both worried for their teammates – Sakura and Itachi. The loss of Yamato was still fresh and the thought of losing another teammate, a family member, was something neither could fathom. Sasuke stands up and begins to pace around the room.
"Sasaki…. I don't recognize that name," Sasuke said.
"I do. It's the name of the ruling family of Hatsumei. Lord Hidemasa's name and his son's," Naruto replied.
"Sasaki? That's interesting…"
"NARUTO!"
In an instant, Naruto is up on his feet.
"That's Hinata," Naruto said.
"Let's go," Sasuke replied.
Both shinobi rush out from the quarters and make their way towards the inner rooms down the hall. As Naruto slides open one of the chambers calling out Hinata's name, his eyes fall to the floor. There was the Hyūga kunoichi, lying on the floor unconscious. Her black hair strewn across her face. As Sasuke glances around the room with his activated Sharingan to see if anything is amiss, Naruto leans down and brushes the hair pieces out of her face.
"Come on Hinata, wake up," he said, gently shaking her.
"She's not reacting. I'm taking her to Chihiro," Naruto said as he scoops Hinata in his arms bridal style.
"I'm getting really tired of this. Take her to Chihiro and stay with them. I'm going to find the lord and the servant of this house. Something is not right here, and I want answers. Now," Sasuke said with a firm tone.
"Stay safe Sasuke," Naruto said as he carried back Hinata gently in his arms.
The young Uchiha presses on and walks down the hall. He descends a flight of stairs only to catch a glimpse of a hooded figure.
"Hey, wait a second!" he called out.
The hooded figure begins to move away quickly, making their way through the main hall and towards the exit that led onto the street outside.
"I said, wait a second!" he called out again, pursuing the hooded figure.
Sasuke rushes through the main hall and directly onto the street. From behind him, he can hear the muffled sounds coming from inside – no doubt from Shisui and Tenma that entered the lord's house only moments ago to rejoin their group. He glances around, taking the sight, only to see the figure walking quickly towards the wall's ramparts.
"I see you!" Sasuke said and followed quickly in pursuit.
With quick steps, he catches up to the figure and pulls off the hood revealing Masako the lord's only remaining servant.
"You! The Servant… what the hell are you doing out here?!" Sasuke demanded.
"You fool! You will get yours! All of you!" the woman said with a threatening voice.
"You're behind this?!" Sasuke demanded, as he grabbed her firmly by the arms.
"You're too late now…he's here," Masako said.
In the green meadows I fade away,
a lamb led for slaughter I come to claim.
The moment the song's melody reaches Sasuke's ears, his eyes turn white and with an eager step he succumbs to the child's song, his consciousness fading into darkness.
With Naruto
"Chihiro, come quick. Hinata's fainted. I'm not sure what caused it," Naruto called out the moment he returned into the shinobi quarters.
The young medic-nin rose to her feet with incredible speed, leaving the young daimyo's daughter to rest behind the shoji screen.
"Set her down Naruto. I need to check her vitals," Chihiro said.
As Naruto gently sets down Hinata on the futon and Chihiro gets to work, the doors slide open once more, revealing Shisui and Tenma on his back.
"Help me! It's Tenma… he's not breathing…" Shisui said desperately, as he carried Tenma on his back inside.
"Quick, set him down. We will have a long night ahead of us," Chihiro said.
The Forest of Forgotten Tears
Hands never parting, they walk together deeper under the old sanctuary — eager to discover what lay hidden beneath the forest's soil. As Itachi gazes ahead into the darkness, his red eyes remain alert. He holds a burning torch in his left hand. In his right, he holds the much smaller yet powerful hand of his rosette companion. The descend into the depth of what must have been nothing more but a tomb, was beginning to affect him— the cold, stony walls seemed to hug them closer with each step as they delved deeper down below. The utter darkness readied itself to swallow up the torch, their only source of light. And yet, the proud Uchiha remains firm in his decision, as the light begins to wane barely illuminating the space.
"Are you alright?" he calls out to Sakura.
At first, she squeezes his hand in response before a sound dares to escape her lips.
"As good as I can be — yes," Sakura replied.
"It's going to be okay. I'm not going anywhere without you. I'm not going to lose you and you're not going to lose me— no matter what awaits us at the end of this tunnel," Itachi reaffirmed, as if to offer the rosette a semblance of comfort in the swallowing darkness.
With a gentle squeeze of his hand, she felt a sudden wave of comfort — the creeping fear of the unknown pushed far to the back of her mind as she dared to continue moving forward.
As they continue on, they come across a heavy stone double-door. Each side of the door was decorated in carved images of walls of Hatsumei. A rather peculiar, damaged holy seal was torn through the middle of the doorway as if somebody or something cut right through it, allowing the door to open or rather allowing whatever resided within to escape. Above the stony doorway there were the faded kanji letters that depicted the word Hatsumei.
Without another delay, they press on and enter the darkness within just as their torch dies down. Itachi glances to Sakura and to their joined hands.
"Hold onto me for a moment at my forearm. I need to use the Katon to reignite all of the torches here. So, we can see what we are looking at," he said.
She glides her hand down to his form, ensuring they were still holding onto each other. With a quick assembly of hand symbols, Itachi blows out a fire jutsu reigniting their own torch and the additional five torches that were surrounding the walls all around the chamber. As the room came to life with the light, they stepped further in.
The cold stony walls were covered in extensive carvings, of roots and branches.
In the middle of the chamber was a large, flat stone slab slathered with dried blood. Opposite of the room was set of heavy, wooden doors that reached from the floor to the ceiling with a thick wooden block keeping it locked and a dark black seal placed over it. On each side there was a tall stone statue of a samurai with his arm resting upon the hilt of his blade.
With her free hand, Sakura traces her hand across the carved stone.
"Look at the artwork — it's extensive," Sakura commented. "It looks like… branches of a family tree."
"It is a family tree of the ruling house of Hatsumei," Itachi replied as he glanced along the writing along the ceiling. "Ashikaga, house of Hatsumei," he added.
Sakura traces her hand along the kanji of each name as they walk by.
"Nobuhiro, Kazumasa, Sugitarō, Yoshimaru, Matsuhiro… these are all men. There are no women on the family tree," Sakura said.
"I don't see any names of Hidemasa or Nobutada, the current ruling family of Hatsumei," Itachi said as he glanced through the family tree.
"You're right. I don't either…. The line ends with…" Sakura said as she made her way through the branches of the family tree.
"Sakura! Look!" Itachi called out as his eyes fixed towards the sealed wooden doors.
The rosette pulls away from the family tree to glance in the same direction as Itachi. In shock, she lets go of Itachi as he steps forward to investigate. The supposed sealed wooden door was now wide opened. There was a slab of stone made of volcanic rock built into the side of the chamber. As Itachi stepped closer, he could see the details of the slab's contents – his eyes wide at the realization that he was looking at what seemed small human bones doused in red powder and three sutra seals that have nearly completely disintegrated with time.
"A child was slain here. Its body covered in higanbana powder. A superstitious belief no doubt – whoever did this, they feared retribution," Itachi said.
"Itachi, the family tree ends with this one…. Nearly fifty-five years ago," Sakura said as she traces her name over the kanji letters. "Katsurō, son of Shigesatō," she added.
CLANG.
At the ringing sound of metal clashing, Sakura turns around in utmost speed only to see Itachi's ANBU blade block a deathly strike from a katana. A moment before they were alone in the accursed tomb and now there were five samurai surrounded by an eerie mist, each eagerly swinging their blade towards Itachi. The samurai warriors moved with elegance and precision, their hits landing with ease upon Itachi's blade.
The rosette moved towards him, her hands already in fists as she proceeded to attack.
"On your left!" Sakura yelled out, causing two of the samurai to turn in her direction.
As she lands her fist on one of the attackers, her hand goes right through samurai. Eyes wide, the samurai grasps her by the shirt and throws her across the chamber, hitting her back hard against the Ashikaga family tree. Not giving her a moment to collect herself, the samurai grasps her by the neck and raises her up along the wall, only to slam her against the stone once more. Sakura winces in pain as the back of her head begins to bleed.
"Sakura!" Itachi yelled out.
The samurai lets go of Sakura and turns his attention to his four brethren and the male shinobi who could not land a single blow to the samurai.
"Enough, he will do," a small voice said.
Sakura looks towards Itachi, his Sharingan eyes staring right back at her as he is held in place by the five ghostly samurai. Itachi's eyes fade from Sharingan to pure white and his body stops fighting to get out of the samurai's hold.
"Ita-Ita…chi," Sakura manages to utter. Her vision begins to blur from the blood loss.
"You shouldn't be here," a small voice said.
As Sakura glances down to her hand, she sees a small pale hand taking a hold of her own. She looks to the side and sees a pale boy dressed in white traditional attire.
"I don't like this place," the boy said.
"Let…us…go," Sakura said weakly.
"Let you? No, I don't think I will do that. You see… I think you need to stay here… with us. Now come," the boy said.
Before she could utter another word the boy's hand firmly pulled her away from the tomb into complete darkness.
A/N as before: Please review. Writing is an all-consuming experience and whenever we (the authors/writers) receive a review it brings us joy and we feel appreciated — that our hard work is recognized — and it gives us motivation and inspiration to keep going.