Harven (English)

Ten

Neji was still annoyed at the idea of ​​his cousin going on the raft with Naruto, but he didn't fail to attend the group's farewell and help them to put the small and ingenious raft in the water so they could reach the other edge of the island. Everyone hugged and wished each other luck in a moment of tension and nervousness, as they didn't know when they would see each other again, and if they would ever see each other again, after all, neither the group of Naruto that was heading towards the tower, nor the young man. couple, nor the remaining group that followed to the central were free of the dangers that the creatures offered to them.

They watched the raft depart before gathering the items most needed for the journey ahead. They looked at the map one more time and plotted the fastest and safest path to reach that point on the map before heading off into the forest. The beginning of the path was silent, everyone attentive to their surroundings and to any noise and movement so that they would not be caught by surprise, but everything seemed calmer than usual at that moment, which, in a way, brought calm to the group.

'What do you think we'll find there?' - Tenten broke the stillness still alarmed by all the information that Sasuke and Sakura had brought back from that lab. "Do you think it's going to be empty or..."

"It must be empty." Sasuke surprised everyone by being the first to try to be positive. "Those creatures roam around the island... they shouldn't have a camp or anything."

"That's what we hope..." Kiba wasn't comfortable with the group's situation either. "Do you think it was on purpose? I mean, who did these experiments to create these things and use them as weapons?"

"No..." Ino was terse at first, getting lost in thoughts before exposing them to the others. "From the reports, it appears that this aggressive behavior was the scientists mistakes...side effects! I just don't understand what their objective was... did they want to cure some disease? A vaccine who knows?"

"Most likely..." Sakura whispered almost to herself. "We'll find out when we get to that plant. What do you think happened to the scientists? There must have been several employees here! You think they evacuated when everything started to go wrong? Maybe so they won't be blamed for ruining people's lives, or because they lost control of the experiments... I don't know..."

"What if they've turned everyone into these things?" Sasuke suggested causing everyone to shiver. "I still think about what happened to Hinata... I think they wanted to turn her into one of them and that's why they didn't kill her and tie her up like that."

"Do you think they injected her with something?" - Neji's tone was of extreme concern. He couldn't deny that she too had been thinking the same thing ever since her cousin woke up and told her story. Tenten took a few steps forward to stand beside her and try to calm him down with his opinion.

"If they had injected her with something, she would have changed by now, wouldn't she? I think they saw something in her that interested them, and that's why they didn't kill her... but still, they didn't stop hurting her, so I don't think they wanted to change her or anything."

"Maybe they were just saving it for later. Sasuke returned to haunt them."

"Sasuke! Sakura scolded him with a frown."

"Sorry. Sasuke whispered just for her to hear as he stared into her eyes."

They passed the rest of the way in silence, walking quickly through the trees in order to reach their destination as soon as possible. Sasuke couldn't hide the malicious looks he threw at Sakura along the way, leaving her blushing more than she would have liked as she tried to focus on the steep path to the island's central base. They walked for about fifty minutes until Ino noticed the gigantic metallic structure that was arranged a few meters ahead of the group. They stopped right there, readying their improvised weapons and carefully observing the movement around the shed before deciding to approach.