Primal Scars (SasuNaru)

Chapter 7

When Sasuke spoke next, Naruto hadn't been expecting it. In an odd way they had both been relaxing in the serenity of the day. The sunset approaching fast, and with all the excitement Naruto had indured in the past few hours his adrenaline was crashing. He was in a near sleep state when his dark eyed companion spoke again. "It used to be called Taka." He looked toward the man again, surprised by the topic. Sasuke gesture about the area, the RV's, tents and campers with beaten pickups in the vicinity. Taking a swing of his beer as he did so.

"This place, it used to be called Taka, before it turned into a battleground eons ago. There was a town here, a grand town where the rich would come to lavish themselves and the poor came to pray. There's still an old strine at the top of the hill, some of the older generation here clean it and ring the bells in prayer in the morning. Its ancient and falling apart, really, but I think its all they have to remember their ancestors by." Naruto stared at his companion's melancholy face for a moment, it was empathy not simple sympathy. An acknowledgement, an understanding which perhaps Naruto was not capable of comprehending- he knew his ancestors, and he had access to many of their heirlooms and atrifacts. After leaving Fireleaf, perhaps Sasuke did not have that option.

Still, with all his lessons Naruto furrowed his brow. "I always learned that it had been an outskirt town with hardly any resources, one with hardly a coin between each person." His lips thinned as he spoke, those teachings had always felt particularly off to him as it were.

"I'm sure you did. The history of war is written by the winners, at least, that is the only side most people want to hear about. No one wants to think that the losing side might have been the more morally correct party, so they ignore their writ of history and call it lies to feel more comfortable." Naruto said nothing, he could not make an objection, the man was not wrong. In most cases that was simply how history had worked, how many battles had been made with the corrupt side taking stance and erasing those texts which may paint them in a slightly different light?

"Answer me this." Sasuke sounded flippant as he spoke but his stare was piercing in intensity. Judging and pushing. "In the Greenleaf Fire war, do you really think there was a prison to house hertics?" That made the submissive jolt a slight, it was an odd question- a very specific question. Because everyone was well aware of that fact of history. The Greenleaf Fire war was not a pleasent aspect of history, certainly not one to bring up in light conversation, Sasuke wanted him to answer something for judgment purposes- whatever his answer was would dictate a fraction of how the man viewed him.

Naruto, with an edge of caution dictating his mind thought about what he knew. The Greenleaf Fire war was when the country itself split into two, a brutal campaign lasting nearly a decade. Greenleaf was the side that Konoha's Empress had aided, the Hyuga family had been in rule of the land and Fireleaf had been the rebelling party, a grouping of dominants claiming superiority fighting directly against the Hyuuga family's rule. Attempting to press their ideals of dominant superiority and aclaimations of the gods onto the mass populous. The prison of heritic's Sasuke had asked his opinion on had been a prison designed to hold the most dangerous members of the Fireleaf until the war was won and diplomacy could take its course. Even then, from what Naruto knew, none of them had been set free.

That considered, that was also the fact which was depict in stories. Sasuke was from Fireleaf, it would not be inconceivable to imagine he knew more as a former resident. Naruto stared at him for a long moment, in which he was watched in turn, no emotion shown underneath oblivion's eyes. The sun was taking its decent, and the Princess knew he should head back home, less he either be discovered or drive his family into hestira from his long absence. Or both. Still, he had to answer this question, but there was a truth he did not know, something Sasuke did, and he was entirely ignorant unto. Impactful.