Chapter Text
The sounds of paws thudding against tree bark echoed through the mostly silent forest. Small and large shadows leaping through the treetops, noses sniffing the air like bloodhounds tracking down their prey. Only this was a slightly different scenario. Alongside the pattering of paws, two pairs of feet maneuvered skillfully from branch to branch, following the pack of hounds. The first belonged to Kakashi Hatake, on the trail to collect his runaway students. The second, Sakura Haruno, heavy with the determination to find her teammates and hopefully stop them from killing each other. It would’ve been just Kakashi, were it not for Sakura’s stubborn will.
—
“You’re not coming with me, Sakura. You have to stay in the village where it’s safe.” Kakashi had that firm edge to his usually monotone voice that meant he was standing by his word.
He’d just summoned his Ninken to aid in the search for Naruto and Sasuke, and was prepared to follow their lead. This decision came after receiving word that the two had yet to be found following that five man squad that had been sent after Sasuke following his defection. The moment Sakura caught wind of this, she was vehement on going along.
“Kakashi-sensei, this is Naruto and Sasuke we’re talking about! I have to be there when you bring them back.” Sakura insisted, pressing further on the matter despite all signs that Kakashi’s decision was final.
“They may be your students, but they’re my teammates too! I may have failed at stopping Sasuke from leaving once, but I won’t fail this time.” There was a fire in those jade eyes of hers that spoke to the unwavering determination to bring both her teammates back to the village, back home. It was either all or nothing for her.
“I swear it.” It was said with a reverence that stirred an uneasy feeling in the gray-haired man.
Nonetheless, Kakashi’s half-lidded eye watched her passionate display with masked surprise and a hint of intrigue. In the time he had trained Sakura, he’d never seen her exhibit such fervor.
“It’s best if I go collect them myself,” Kakashi answered flatly after a brief pause.
“...But I cannot prevent you from disobeying me.”
—
It was that precise sentence that was his way of telling Sakura that she could tag along, but the responsibility would be on her if something bad occurred. The rest of the five man teem had been recovered already, along with the trio of Sunagakure Shinobi that had stepped in to help. However, even with the expert tracking of the ninja dogs’ noses, they eventually hit a bump in the road where the scent had faded, giving them a hard time in figuring out where to pick up.
Despite the hiccup in the search, Sakura had a gut feeling of where exactly her teammates were, and the dogs were taking too long to find them. She rushed ahead despite Kakashi and the ninja dogs coming to a stop, hurrying through the trees like someone’s life was on the line. Knowing Naruto and Sasuke, that could very well be the truth of the matter.
In spite of Kakashi’s orders to stay close and come back, Sakura pressed on, ignoring his warnings entirely as they faded into the distance. Clearing the tree line with ease, Sakura found herself standing before the Valley of the End, where statues of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha stood guarding the waterfall that bordered the Land of Fire and the Land of Sound. There, a battle fueled by raw energy and hatred had commenced, and Sakura got there in time to see the end of it.
She found a worn out and heavily winded Sasuke staring down at an unconscious Naruto, whose body had taken its place in the dirt. For a moment, it seemed like Sasuke was contemplating taking it further, but had stopped himself.
“Sasuke! Naruto!” Sakura hurled herself towards the two without a second thought, rushing in before waiting to see if Kakashi was coming.
All that mattered in that moment were her teammates. The closer she drew in, the better she could observe the two. Naruto was caked in dirt and covered in scratches, his body laying facing upwards to the rolling clouds above. Sasuke, equally as worse for wear, loomed over him, taking in ragged breaths that made his chest stutter. His forehead protector bore a prominent slash through the symbol of Konoha, marking him as a defector, whether intentional or not.
Coming to a halt, just mere inches away from her worn out boys, Sakura felt like she was four again. Out in the woods holding her gentle hands to the rabbits that came too close to her hideaway. She didn’t flinch when Sasuke knelt backwards, as if her touch would kill him despite both knowing full well the opposite was true. Fear, hurt, and unmistakable sorrow shown in his eyes. For once she wasn’t the one crying, her mirth slipped into the air before she could stop herself.
Sasuke bristled at the small laugh, but instead of bolting into the treeline he said, “Don’t think you can take me back.”
There was no challenge, no bite, to his words. It was said with the same factual tone as telling a child the sky was blue and that was that. And maybe, that was ok. For the first time probably ever Sakura Haruno saw Sasuke Uchiha for who he was. A boy who lost everything, driven mad by a village she thought was meant to protect him. The village didn’t protect them. It tricked her into hating Naruto- Gods, Naruto.
She didn’t answer him as her hands redirected towards the blond. Sasuke, for some reason she deemed herself blessed for, let her pull the eerily silent boy into her arms. Her mouth opened as if to say something profound, but when did she ever say the right thing? So she just sat there, waiting for Sasuke to flee because for all her gusto and talking about bringing him back she knew even in his weakened state she didn’t have the power to do that. But he didn’t run. Sasuke sat, hunched over, and it was some miracle that Kakashi hadn’t found them.
By the time the first drops of rain began to fall Sakura couldn’t stop herself from asking, “Why are you still here?”
“...I don’t know. I hate him. Hate that stupid village, but… nevermind…” His voice sounded smaller than hers.
“You know, that’s the most honest you’ve ever been with me. Guess it just took leaving for you to…”
“Me to what?” A short pause as he noticed her expression change. “Sakura…?”
Despite there being no lightning, Sakura would swear the idea that struck her at that moment was one. Hobbling to her feet, Naruto slung over her shoulder, she looked down at a now confused Sasuke.
“You’re right. The village is stupid. It’s hurt you, hurt Naruto, and, as hard as it might be for you to accept, that hurts me. I’m as much of a member of this team as the two of you. I may not be able to bring you back but I’ll be damned if I let that snake bastard get to you.”
“Sakura, what are you-”
“Shut up! If you want to run then run! But at least let me go with you. Believe it or not I never had much going for me either.”
Looking back Sakura would later joke about how cringy she must’ve sounded, but to the Sakura making that declaration with all her heart, she knew she wouldn’t have done it any other way. And Sasuke, to his credit, didn’t laugh, didn’t do much but point and ask what they’d do about the blond idiot.
“Well, for now we take him. When he wakes up he can decide what he wants to do. If he goes back? Fine. If not… then we aren’t a team from Konoha. We’re just three kids who lost their home trying to live freely.”
There was a long lapse of silence before Sasuke spoke, “We live freely and kill my brother.”
“...okay. To live and kill.”
—
About an hour later, a pack of dogs would swarm the spot of the life changing conversation, and thirty minutes into sniffing they’d tell Kakashi that the scent had been lost to the rain and mud. In the coming weeks, the whole genin squad would be declared missing nin. Initially, search and rescue squads had been dispatched to the Valley of the End, panning out from there in hopes of finding some trail left behind. The village suspected Akatsuki foul play as the cause of the genin’s disappearance. However, nothing was found.
Konoha was affected greatly by the loss of team 7, sending out a ripple of effects through the village . Kakashi, who had been there first hand, was among those hit the hardest with an overwhelming grief for the genin lost seemingly to thin air. He had been their sensei, and now believed he had failed them in every way. He took the sole burden of the loss upon himself.
However, Iruka was there to attempt to shoulder it with him, as he’d been their teacher too for a time. His fellow Jonin did their best to offer condolences, but had to focus on their own teams and rebuilding Konoha despite the heavy loss that plagued them all.
That day, Konoha lost both their Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails, and the last member of the Uchiha Clan. The combined potential power of Naruto and Sasuke had been stripped from them, thus producing a thick layer of fear for the future. There was no feasible way that the genin could have been killed with the power that lay dormant within them, but there was no telling what sorts of weapons they could be manipulated into by outside forces.
Worst of all, there were no families to mourn them, no blood to shed tears for the blood they’d lost to the world. Sakura’s parents hadn’t taken well to the news, but they had taken a step back in her life. They were kind, yes, but that did not make them the best parents. Sasuke had no living clan members, save for his Akatsuki brother, Itachi, who seemed at the time to despise him. He was the only one left. And Naruto was in a similar boat. Though the Uzumaki clan may have had other descendants, there were none to claim Naruto as family, and thus no one showed up for him. It was the families unbound by blood that mourned them. Perhaps that was worth more.
These poor children. No kid deserves a world like this. Yet, it is the world they live in, and the world they must adapt to in order to survive.
Or simply disappear.