Through My Lying Eyes

31 - Secrets Out

News spreads fast in this world, fast enough for every other major nation in the world to know of Iwa's destruction the same day after it happened. Every village sent several teams to try and find out what and why this happened.

The team Konoha sent consisted of Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Kiba, Shino, Neji, and Ino. It was a long trip, but they made it there in 3 days since they were in a rush. They made it about a mile away from the village when they saw a camp meant for shinobi not far from them. In the camp, teams from every village, including Ame, have set up a waiting point.

"What's going on here?" Kakashi had asked, gaining the attention of shinobi gathered around a campfire of some sort. "Ah, Konoha, you're finally here. Good, we were waiting for you." A large Kumo shinobi with small black glasses and several swords strapped to his back had said.

"Waiting for us? What for?" Sasuke asked. "We wanted to see who did this, so we set up a camp and waited for villages to respond to this. If they didn't show up, then they would be a major suspect in this massacre. But now that you're here, your chances of being a suspect are reduced for now. Now come on, let's go see the damage." A Suna shinobi said.

The Konoha shinobi understood the meaning for this and were impressed with this plan. But since every nation was here, that possibly eliminated every village and only left rogue shinobi to be the culprits. Sasuke brought this up to all the other teams.

"You're right, we 'have' noticed. But he did say that you were 'possibly' not a culprit. So we've got our eyes on all of you just in case, we'll judge based on your reactions to this." A Kiri shinobi said this time. "Seems fair." Sasuke responded, and everyone else agreed.

They entered the village reluctantly. They could already see the bodies and the blood everywhere. Kiba had to cover his nose and mouth to keep himself from puking, his advanced senses of smell and taste proving a disadvantage. The smell was unbearable enough to make him sit out of this, so he went back to the camp.

Everyone else couldn't believe what they saw, everyone that had lived in the once thriving village, was slaughtered, seemingly without remorse. Limbs and heads were ripped off violently, some of the heads being crushed. Claw marks on bodies and surrounding buildings.

"What are these claw marks everywhere?" Sakura asked worryingly. None of the shinobi present knew of anyone who used claw-like weapons. They kept examining bodies for more clues, when a bone-chilling sound pierced the silent area.

"Waaaah! Waaaaaaah!" They heard a baby's screams off in the distance.

Everyone froze at once, no one wanting to move or investigate. When suddenly, Sakura had started moving toward the sound. "Sakura, stop! What are you doing?" Kakashi asked his student. "What if it's an actual child that's alive? We need to help it!" She said as she gathered up all of her courage and ran towards the cries. She found a baby stroller with a hood over it.

She shoved the hood out of the way and saw a blood-covered baby. Sakura could tell that the blood wasn't the baby's own, which calmed her down a little bit. She picked the baby up and started rocking him back and forth to calm him down. "Kakashi-sensei, we need to get this baby to the campsite, he needs food and water, now." Sakura said, Kakashi led her back to the site and they made a makeshift bottle with water to feed the poor baby.

Sakura saw the parents as she picked up the baby from the stroller, they were killed mercilessly, with both of their heads ripped off and holes in their chests, not to mention the claw marks as if it wasn't enough. She felt horrible for the newborn, who she could tell that the baby was only two weeks old based on the size of the little guy.

"We have to take him back with us. No matter what they say." Sakura said matter-of-factly. "I know. Don't worry, I'll make sure this kid gets a home." Kakashi reassured. The two stayed together at the site until nightfall. By then, all the search teams had returned from the village, finding nothing to reveal the culprit of this attack. Only bodies and more unexplained claw marks.