"No," they said simultaneously. Recognizing the perfect sync, they both broke into a small, nervous laugh that briefly cut through the tension.
Ino cleared her throat, regaining her composure. "We waited for everyone. At the gate. For more than an hour! Sasuke-kun and the Mini Sasuke said they'd be back with the whole group in thirty minutes, but nobody ever showed up. We came back to see what the hold-up was."
Her eyes darted around the dark alley. "Where are Sakura and the others? Are you alone?"
Lee's face fell. The sadness returned to his face like a heavy shadow. He looked down at the snow, his voice dropping to an empty whisper. "Sakura-san is here. With me."
"So... it is you guys."
The small voice pulled their attention towards a pile of frozen wooden boxes. Stepping out from the deep shadows with familiar black hair and eyes was none other than Mini Sasuke. He looked exhausted, his small face pale.
Ino blinked, her hand flying to her chest in surprise. "Wait! What are you here?" she asked, her voice filled with a mix of relief and confusion.
She stepped towards him, looking past his small body as if expecting the rest of the group to follow. "Did you and Sasuke-kun finally meet up with Sakura and the others? We've been waiting at the gate for ages!"
Mini Sasuke didn't answer. He didn't even look her in the eye. He simply turned away, his small shoulders bent as he disappeared further into the dark shadows of the alley without a single word.
Ino's hand stayed frozen in the air, her brow furrowing. 'What is wrong with him?' Karin wondered silently, her eyes tracking the boy's retreating back. The 'coldness' she felt from him wasn't just the winter air—it was like he had completely shut down.
"Yeah," Lee's voice suddenly broke the silence. He sounded empty, his usual energetic tone replaced by a flat voice. "We... we all met up."
Ino let out a long, weary sigh, though she still looked unsettled. "Okay. Well, at least everyone is in one place now. We were starting to think you all got kidnapped by the Samurai or something."
Lee didn't offer a smile or a thumb-up. He simply turned and gestured for them to follow. "Please. Just follow me. Sakura-san is just ahead."
As they began to walk, the silence of the backstreet felt like a physical weight. Karin leaned into Ino's ear, her voice a barely audible, frantic whisper. "Ino-san... something is seriously wrong. Look at Lee-San. He doesn't look 'bright' at all."
Ino shrugged her shoulders stiffly, her face set in a hard mask of 'cool' indifference, though she was biting her lip. She gestured for Karin to be quiet with a sharp jerk of her head.
Karin wasn't having it. She was vibrating with nervous energy. She nudged Ino sharply with her elbow—hard enough to make Ino stumble into a heap of snow—and hurriedly signaled with her eyebrows toward Lee's back. 'Ask him! Ask him what happened before I have a heart attack!'
Ino shot her a look of pure, icy 'Absolutely Not' and shook her head so hard her blonde ponytail hit Karin in the face.
Karin frowned, her mind turning into a whirlwind of annoyed thoughts. 'Ugh, typical Ino! Always playing the 'cool girl' even if the situation is disasterous! She's probably worried that if she asks, she'll ruin her 'tough kunoichi' image. You blonde brat, if ever in the future I die because you're too stubborn, I'm going to haunt your favorite hair salon!'
Despite her inner wrath, Karin stayed silent, her heart thumping against her ribs as they rounded the final corner to find the rest of the group.
The atmosphere in the alleyway was suffocating. As they turned the final corner, the noise of the village vanished, replaced by a chill. There was no sunlight there; the tall, rough buildings acted like a stone roof, trapping the shadows in a permanent, gloomy blanket.
The ground was a mess of trampled, dirty snow—but as Ino stepped forward, her heart skipped a beat. Splattered across the white surface were dark, frozen traces of red.
"What in the world..." Ino whispered, her voice trembling.
"Blood!" Karin cried out, her hands flying to her face. Her glasses fogged up from her frantic breathing. "Ino, there's blood everywhere!"
Ino looked up, her gaze sweeping the end of the alley. In the far corner, Mini Sasuke stood alone. He was leaning against the cold stone wall with his arms crossed tightly over his chest, staring at the ground as if trying to burn a hole through the ice.
His ears and nose were a raw, stinging red from the cold, and fine white frost had begun to settle into his dark hair like a heap. He didn't even look up at them.
A few feet away, Sakura was on her knees on the ground. She didn't seem to care that the freezing, icy water was soaking her bare thighs. In her trembling hand, she clutched a scrap of cloth that was soaked with a deep, sickening red.
She was sniffing quietly, her shoulders shaking as she used her free hand to wipe a single tear from her cheek—only to have another take its place.
Ino's stomach twisted. She forced a small, nervous smile onto her face, trying to maintain some shred of normalcy as she approached. "Sakura? Hey... what in the world happened here?"
Karin didn't move toward Sakura. She stood back, her eyes darting frantically around the shadows. "Where are the others?" she asked Lee, her voice rising in panic. "Lee-san, talk to me! Where is everyone? Where is the rest of the team?!"
Lee didn't answer. He simply clinched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white and stared at his boots, the silence coming from him more terrifying than a scream.
"The others left us." Mini Sasuke muttered from the corner. His voice was flat, devoid of any emotion.
Karin froze. "What? What do you mean 'left'? Who left?!"
Ino didn't hear them. She had reached Sakura and placed a gentle, hand on her shoulder. "Sakura, talk to me. What happened?"
As she leaned in, she realized Sakura's bent figure was hiding someone. There was another person sitting directly on the snow-covered ground, tucked into the shadow of Sakura's frame. "Is someone else with you...?"
The person shifted. Sakura moved slightly to the side, and the full weight of the tragedy finally hit Ino like a physical blow.
It was Naruto.
He was sitting up against the wall, and the sight of him was enough to make Ino's breath catch in her throat. He was in a completely beat-up state. One of his eyes was swollen shut, a deep purple bruise was on his cheek.
His lip was split, and his orange sweater was torn, stained with the same dark red that littered the snow. His hands were shaking uncontrollably in his lap.
"Naruto!" Ino's 'cool' mask shattered instantly. She dropped to her knees in the snow, her hands flying to her mouth in utter disbelief.
"No... Naruto! Who did this to you?!"
She looked from Naruto's battered face to Sakura's tear-streaked eyes. "What happened?! Did the Samurai catch you? Did you walk into danger?!"
Naruto looked up. Through the swelling and the blood, he forced his lips into a small, painful smile. He looked at Ino, his eyes glassy. "I'm... I'm fine, Ino. Don't worry about it."
The contrast was agonizing. There he was—the boy who usually shouted until everyone's ears rang—smiling and pretending nothing was wrong while his entire world was clearly falling apart.
"Fine?! You look like you were hit by a landslide!" Ino snapped, her voice cracking as she turned back to Sakura. "Sakura, tell me! Why are you crying? Why won't anyone say anything?!"
Sakura didn't answer. She just buried her face in the blood-stained cloth and let out a broken sob.
Ino turned back to Naruto. He was still smiling at her, a heartbreaking, empty expression that didn't reach his eyes. He tried to hold it—he tried so hard to keep the tears back—but then his lip trembled.
The 'Loudest Ninja in Konoha' finally broke. A single tear ran down through the dirt on his face, followed by a silent, total collapse into weeping.
"Stop it... both of you, just stop crying!" Ino pleaded, her own eyes welling up as she reached out to them. "Just tell me what happened!"
Nearby, Karin had finally dragged the truth out of Lee. Her face went pale, her jaw dropping in shock. "No... but that could not be possible."
She whispered, looking at Lee in horror. "Why would they do that? Why would they just... leave them like this?"
From the corner, Mini Sasuke let out a sharp, bitter "Tch." turning his head away from the group as the cold wind whistled through the dark alley.
Ino's breath hitched as she stared at the blood on the snow. Her mind raced, automatically clicking into the tactical patterns she'd learned in the Academy.
"Sakura, stop crying! Quiet!" Ino shouted, her hand instinctively darting toward Sakura's mouth to muffled the sobs. She scanned the rooftops, her eyes sharp. "It's too dangerous to stay here! If the Samurai are tracking our chakra signatures, they'll be on us in seconds!"
She spun around, looking at Lee with a hurried urgency. "Lee-san! Where did they last chase you? Which way did the Samurais go?"
Lee blinked, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Chased...? Ino-san, I do not understand what you mean."
"The Samurai!" Ino snapped, her voice hushed but vibrating with stress. "They obviously caught up to you and beat Naruto into this state! We have to move now before they come back to finish us. We can't stay in this village another minute!"
She gripped her cloak, already turning to
lead the exit of the alley. "Karin, get ready to run! We're leaving the village now!"
"Ino..." Karin called out, her voice small and trembling. She was looking at Naruto's face—really looking—and the 'intent' she sensed wasn't coming from any Samurai.
Ino didn't stop. "No time! Naruto can't even stand properly! Lee-san, help me carry him, we—"
A hand held onto Ino's wrist. It was cold and shaking. Ino froze, looking down to see Sakura's fingers digging into her sleeve.
"Stop... Ino, stop," Sakura choked out. Her voice was shredded, broken by so many sobs that the words barely formed. "It wasn't... it wasn't the Samurai."
Ino stood paralyzed, her heart thumping an uneven rhythm against her ribs. "What? Sakura, I don't understand. If it wasn't the guards, then who? Did you run into some villagers? An ambush?"
She looked from Sakura's devastated face to Naruto. Naruto finally shifted. He dragged his gaze away from the blood-stained ice and looked up at Ino. His swollen eye and split lip made his face look like a broken mask of the boy she knew.
"It was Sasuke." Naruto whispered.
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📊 BATTLE REPORT: 80-IRON 📊
LOSER: Uzumaki Naruto 🍥🟧
SNEAK PEEK LINES 💬
" I figured you'd follow my older self blindly into the dark just to stay near him."
"We're just... leaving them?"
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—With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya 💫
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