Chapter 10
Sasuke didn’t lead the others too deep in the cave in the grand scheme of things but he hoped it was far enough. His ears pricked at every drip or echo in the cave, hoping and dreading that he would hear someone coming behind them. He gritted his teeth as the younger children started playing with the echoes and kicking rocks. He almost stopped to yell at them, but then he looked at Naruto. The blond boy was holding his arm in a vice grip. Sasuke was sure it would bruise. He was staring ahead but Sasuke could see unshed tears in his eyes.
It startled him to see the fear in the other boy's face and he didn’t want to see the others look that way. After only about 15 minutes of walking, he tripped. Naruto was holding him tightly and it was getting hard to see with. A few older kids were using light jutsu when the entrance disappeared but apparently between the lack of light and the vice grip, Sasuke figured he would forgive himself.
Naruto and Sasuke tangled in a marvelous mess on the cave floor and Sasuke started flailing and trying to give instructions at the same time. “Hold on… Wait…. Let me go for a minute.” He knew he was frustrated but Naruto wouldn’t let go and he had to drag both of them into a semi sitting position. Face red, he looked around and felt some tension leave the room while the others laughed.
“Need some help?” one of the others asked and came over. She still looked a little skittish but she was obviously trying to hide laughter. Sasuke didn’t know why but he felt almost offended by the offer.
“No! We’re fine!” That was it and the whole cave was filled with laughter. Sasuke grabbed a stone off the ground and threw it in the general direction of those traitors, which only got them laughing harder. He huffed and pulled Naruto to his feet. After checking both of them over and noting nothing more serious than scraps and bruises. He deemed them fine.
“Alright, you’ve had your fun.” He started to turn away and he almost missed it. The only reason he noticed the tiny crack in the wall was because light from the girl who offered to help bounced off of something inside. Curious, he watched for a second before getting closer.
It was just a crack in the wall. It didn’t look like an adult could fit in it when Sasuke poked his head in, looking for what he saw. His jaw dropped when he performed the light jutsu himself. Behind that crack was a massive area. It almost looked like a room. There was a hole sitting at the top with some sort of pipe sticking out and there were rocks all over but it almost looked like a room.
“Hey, take a look at this.” He demanded and one of the older kids pushed behind him, Knocking them both into the room. They both looked at each other and grinned. Sasuke pushed back through the crack and smiled. “Hey, everyone, I think I found a secret hideout.” He knew that would get the most attention and everyone went through the crack one at a time. Even with all the kids in the room. There was plenty of room to move around.
Looking closely, Sasuke noticed some sort of crystal on the walls. “This must be what I saw.” Looking back at the exit, he grabbed some dirt and smeared it across the reflective surface while the others chatted away behind him. “Now, nobody else will see this.” He whispered to Naruto as he admired his work. It didn’t take long for the others to start clearing out this little crevice. Sasuke almost forgot that was the excuse he used to get them down there. He did convince Naruto to stay though and slipped back through the crack.
The sound from the outside was almost completely muffled and sounded like it was coming from further back. Sasuke moved a few small rocks across the path they took and found a vantage point. Now that everyone was safe, he found time to freak out about the situation. It had to have been at least 30 minutes since they entered the cave. His hands shook as he thought about the rest of his family. He pulled out the stone and looked at it intently.
He was so focused, he didn’t see the older kid reach out to touch him until he jumped the unexpected contact. “Are you okay?” The girl asked.
“Yeah,” He looked away and knew she could see the lie on his face.
She looked like she was thinking hard about something before she spoke again.
“If you think you need to go check things out, I’ll stay here and keep watch.” Sasuke startled at the offer.
“But mother said….” He trailed off and looked at the stone again. It hadn’t changed color yet. The girl looked down at the same stone.
“I know, but I trust you if you need to go.” Sasuke saw her look at the front of the cave and he could understand her fear. Sasuke was one of the best at sneaking, even if he wasn’t the oldest. The girl he was talking to was one of the civilian children so she wouldn’t be able to escape.
“Okay,” decided now he handed her the stone. “If it turns blue, you guys can head out and if it turns red. Wait for me to come get you.” He wasn’t sure if they could all get away if it turned red.
“Okay,” she took the stone from him and settled in place to keep watch.
“If I’m not back in a couple of hours. Wait until it’s dark outside and leave with everyone.” He almost thought it was funny that he was mirroring his mother’s words now. Then again, mirroring was a Sharigan special.
He didn’t walk on the way back to the cave entrance. He ran until he could see the light of the entrance. Biting his lip, he worried that he hid the others too close but figured nobody would look so closely at the first part of the cave. He snuck the last 20 feet and hid behind a rock. He didn’t hear any fighting but that was normal for Shinobi battles. Sometimes, they could lay in wait for hours before they struck. He waited until his breathing was back to normal before he dared to peek around his hiding place. What he saw almost made him break cover. His brother and mother were near the front of the cave. There was blood spotted on the ground around them but not bodies to be seen. Sasuke hoped it wasn’t their blood but he could tell from where he was wedged against the stone wall.
He barely stopped himself from running out. He watched as the wind began to blow and several forms almost burst out of the surrounding trees and started running towards his family. “Look out.” He couldn’t help himself from warning them. His mothers eyes widened as she saw her youngest appear from behind her but she had to focus now and couldn’t get him.
Apparently, this part of the county had become a bandit den as of late. Between the bloodline thieves destroying smaller clans and even great villages purging their own, this place had become lawless and when a group saw them making camp. They saw an opportunity to kidnap the children and women to make a profit.
Mikoto almost scoffed at the idea of the Uchiha clan being taken out by this unruly bunch. The only reason there were any left now was because they had a special jutsu that let them hide in the forest. Several of the enemies had blood lines of their own but most of them were civilians.
Their bodies littered the forest around the clearing where they were ambushed by the clan that they tried to hurt. She looked behind her and gave a quick order. “Sasuke, stay behind us. She saw Itachi position himself between the danger and Sasuke. With a quick smile towards her oldest, they turned around to meet their enemies. Mikoto tried to use senbon to kill the enemies so Sasuke wouldn’t be traumatized but she had to kill several of them with her blade.
She winced at the blood splatter added to the ground and tried to focus in front of her. Even if they were weak, she was not new at this job. If even one of those vermin slipped by her, they could take hostages and force the clan to submit. Her Sharigan bleed red as her anger spiked at the idea of anyone touching her children.
The wind suddenly changed direction and one of the few shinobi left activated a jutsu and disappeared from in front of the two. Mikoto swung around and strained her Sharigan to see any chakra, but two other invisible enemies struck her from the front. She saw the same happen to Itachi and before she could call out, she heard a yelp coming from behind her and something hit the ground.
It didn’t take her long to dispatch the men in front of her but the original man took the distraction to get to Sasuke. She swung around just in time to see him reach down to the child before he stopped. She saw Itachi’s eyes almost glowing with the genjutsu he put the man under. Before she made it over to Sasuke she saw his face scrunch up and he buried a Shurikan in the man’s chest.
Sasuke himself wasn’t sure what happened. One second, he was watching his family in awe and the next he felt something hit him. He fell to the ground, more out of shock than actual pain and saw a man materialize out of thin air. The man started reaching for him before slowing down and stopping for a split second. For most people, that second wouldn’t make a difference but Sasuke was trained on what to do.
Before he thought about it, he pulled a Shurikan from his pouch and pushed with everything he had. The man gaped for a moment before looking down at his chest. He weakly pulled the shurikan loose and let loose a spray of blood that splashed the younger child before he fell like a puppet with its strings cut.
Next thing Sasuke knew, His mother was kneeling over him and crying hysterically. Itachi was a lot closer too but he was looking to the forest line instead of his younger brother. Mikoto put her finger under her younger’s head and looked deeply in his eyes as more tears leaked out of her own. “Oh dear, I didn’t want it like this.” Itachi looked at him briefly and Sasuke suddenly felt very tired and drained.
He felt like he usually did after a full day of practicing even though they didn’t even have breakfast. He had just enough time to think this but when he opened his mouth to speak. His eyes rolled back and he pitched forward into his mother’s waiting arms.
Mikoto stayed with Sasuke while Itachi repositioned himself to cover the whole area. They stayed in their respective positions until they heard the signal for all clear. Itachi immediately went out of protector mode and into brother mode. He bent over Sasuke and checked on him before looking at their mother. He didn’t want to ask but knew he should, “Was that?” He let the question die away in the breeze.
Mikoto solemnly nodded her head before she flared her chakra to make the stone from inside the cave change blue. Later, she would have a talk with Sasuke about putting himself in danger but for now, she simply carried him to his sleeping spot while Itachi helped the other kids out of the cave in time for breakfast.