Chapter Text
Three's A Crowd - Chapter One: Moving On.
Sakura Haruno. That was the name her parents had given her. They were lost amongst a sea of civilians and ninja alike who had died when Konoha was levelled and left masses of orphaned children in their wake. Sakura and her two team mates, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha were amongst those who had no-one left, and decided to abandon Konoha.
Of course, Team 7, minus their teacher Kakashi Hatake, had been the only ones to actually leave. They spent years on the road, doing odd jobs to survive, while honing their ninja skills. They had even stolen jutsu from countries that despised their own, but their ultimate goal was just to keep moving, and find the one who had killed their respective families.
Revenge, yesthatwas it. No-one inside of Konoha, who had been left standing anyway, had wanted to actively search for thatfiend.
It had been six years since they'd set off together, and Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto were now nineteen years old. They didn't trust anyone but each other, and even though Naruto had a bad habit of sleeping with disreputable women in dingy hotel rooms, they were only comfortable around each other.
No, Sakura was not the cream filling in some sort of sex trio, although Narutohadsuggested he and Sasuke f*ck her from both ends one night when he'd had too much sake. She'dviolentlymotivated him never to suggest that again! That said, she had knocked him unconscious mostly to cover her own embarrassment. While she knew she'd never act on it, the idea of sleeping with Naruto had had her slightly intrigued. She wasnota cream filling!
Sakura fumed at the memory, staring out over the picturesque view before her. She was standing outside a tea shop, only an hour outside of the small village she had spent the last few days scouring. It was called Gakutsuna town, and was home to low life reprobates. This land was abundant with them. The Land of Rice Paddies they called it. Sakura called itFreakville.
A loud crash coming from within the shop did not bother her. It was just routine after all. The owner of this shop had information they needed and was being stubborn. He just needed a littlepersuasion. Sakura smiled at that, imagining that that intimidating Uchiha stare as well as Naruto's brusque interrogation "techniques" were scaring that old coot. And normally she'd be in there, doing the whole fisticuffs thing she liked so much, but the owner was a seventy year oldpervertand Sasuke had asked her to leave when she'd tried to kill him for asking her for sex. They needed himaliveto talk.
Sakura shivered involuntarily. Yeah, she was happier outhere.
Still, she wasbored, staring out over this valley, wondering how much longer her boys were going toplayfor. They needed this information yes, but they alsoneededto be out of this valley by night fall. Rumour had it that leaf ninja were coming this way tonight. Sakura remembered Konoha fondly, but had no desire to run into old friends or even complete strangers when she was a missing-nin who had to be captured or killed on sight. Whoever these leaf ninja were, their mission had nothing to do with Kitsúne.
Kitsúne was the name Konoha knew them by, but as far as Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto knew, they didn't know what they looked like, let alone who theyreallywere. That notorious S-Rank bingo book was only filled out by theliving, and they weren't in it. Of course, when it came to people they didn't need to kill Sakura was very good at making them forget. A little Genjutsu went a long way. She was a natural with that particular type of jutsu.
Sasuke and Naruto exited the tea shop ten minutes later, in an orderly fashion. Naruto then ruined the image by poking tongue at Sakura and pulling down the bottom of his eye lid in mock. She glared at him.
"Who thehellare you mocking, dweeb?" She said threateningly.
He just chuckled and ignored her question. He was so immature, such adobe, that if Sakura had not seen him kill on the battlefield before, she would never have believed he was capable of it. But he wasn't some blood thirsty animal – in fact, the only one of the three of them that sometimes had to be pulled back from that dark brink wasSasuke.
"We got what we needed," Sasuke said in a monotone voice.
She loved him, but would itkillhim to at least sound like he cared? She rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah yeah, and while you boys got toplayI've been bored to tears."
Sasuke spared her a smile, although it wasn't really his style. "You can do the next one."
She grinned. "Thank you Sasuke-kun!" She refrained from jumping him. They were out in the open and Naruto was here.Thatcould wait until they were alone again.
"Teme!" Naruto whined. "I wanted to do the next one!" He huffed. "You're not in charge you know!"
"I know, dobe," Sasuke said, genuinely amused.
They had decided long ago that this would be a democracy. There were three of them, so when it came to making decisions, they were never deadlocked. But quite often, Naruto was the odd one out, voting for things that wouldneverhappen. Occasionally, either Sakura or Sasuke would change their vote to make their friend feel like one of the gang. Hehatedthat he was outvoted more often than not.
Sakura glanced back at the little shop as they moved away, toward the setting sun. It was in the early stages of the orange tint that only sunset could bring.
"Did you kill him?" She asked, thinking about the old pervert and realising there was no sound within the shop anymore.
It was obvious they had, considering Sakura was the only one of them that could mess with people's memories. There was no way the boys would leave this guy alive if he could finger them in a line-up. Sasuke's Sharingan came in handy, but he hadn't figured out how to use it to do what came so easily to Sakura. This bugged him, but there were also a lot of things he used his Bloodline Limit to do that the others couldneverdo, like put up a genjutsu that hid them from view from even other ninja.
"Of course, Sakura," Naruto said, waving away her concern. "He just didn't scream, that's why you didn't hear it."
"He didn't scream becauseItold him not to," Sasuke said, sounding slightly annoyed. His face remained impassive though.
"Don't argue boys," Sakura said, as Naruto opened his mouth to retort. She grabbed Sasuke's hand, linking their fingers together. "The important question is what did he tell you?"
"We were right," Sasuke said, without elaborating.
On Sakura's other side, Naruto brightened, humming softly to himself and admiring the trees as they found the path they'd taken to get here and entered the woods. They were well on their way to leaving the valley, and the nearby Gakutsuna town, so he was happy, but content – which explained why he wasn't bouncing all over the place. The energetic knucklehead was taking a time out, so it seemed.
Sakura ignored him and squeezed Sasuke's hand. "Well?"
"The cloud ninja are cleaning house with their missing-nin. If we enter Lightning Country, we'll have to keep a low profile."
Sakura nodded. "I still don't understand howheknew that."
"You'd be surprised the sort of things shop owners overhear," Sasuke said. "He didn't even realise how valuable that information would've been, if he'd just bartered for it, instead of holding back."
Naruto chuckled at that, barely listening. "Oldgoat."
"Stop." Sasuke pulled Sakura still and shot a glare at Naruto as the blonde glanced at him, still walking.
"You're not in charge,teme."
"There's someone coming this way," Sasuke said softly. "Ninja by the feel of them. We should hide."
"Leaf?" Sakura asked, worried. They had wanted to avoid this.
He nodded. "Don't worry, they don't know we're here...yet."
They jumped up and off the road, and he activated his Sharingan to protect them. Sakura watched the four figures heading their way, ambling along the road as though they had no idea anyone was around – which they didn't. They were definitely ninja though. As they came closer, she recognised their faces. A heavy weight on her heart almost made her sigh deeply. She missed Konoha, but Kitsúne could never return. Sasuke pulled gently on her hand and she followed him and Naruto away from their old friends, and into the sunset.
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