Forsaken {Book 1}

XV: Person Behind It

The villagers seemed happier.  As if a burden was lifted off their shoulders.  It wasn't noticeable immediately, due to the mass amounts of stress Minato got when first finding out about his son's disappearance, but he began to notice the difference in the villagers attitude.  After awhile, it wasn't hard to notice the way the villagers started taking their kids outside more often.  The way they wouldn't be looking over their shoulder as if watching out for someone.  It was like some of them had their children on a shorter leash.

Minato began to get suspicious. 

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"This wasn't a good idea." Naruto said in a high pitched voice.  "Maybe we should've just ran while we could."  Sasuke stood still, staring at the skeleton thoughts racing in his head, but he shook it off, or at least, shook off what he could.

"We should keep going." Sasuke said and Naruto gave him a shocked look.  "We've already got this far, it's better if we keep on going." He added looking away from the skeleton and over at Sakura.  Sakura took her time and composed herself  before turning to the boys.

"Lets go." She tried to say in a commanding voice, but there was a small trace of fear that Sasuke detected.

"Gamatatsu and Katsuyu sure have been quite this whole time." Naruto said looking at the toad and slug.  Gamatatsu was sleeping which wasn't that much of a surprise. Katsuyu was awake but staring at Sakura with a concern that wasn't detected between the other three.

"I'm fine, you guys may continue walking. Just make sure your sharingan is activated Sasuke-san." Katsuyu claimed. Sasuke nodded and turned to the direction they were going, and he began walking. Naruto and Sakura followed, but Naruto took one last glance before turning away from the skeleton.  As Sakura walked she gripped the cloth of her shorts, and she followed Sasuke in a corridor of twists and turns. 

Sasuke stopped in front of three entrances.  One entrance had torches while the other two were dark. 

"Lets go down the one with torches." Naruto suggested hopefully.  Sasuke shook his head.

"If I'm right then all three of these lead to where we need to go.  But I'm not sure which has the shortest path, or which has the longest path." Sasuke explained and Naruto gulped.

"So we have to split up?" Sakura asked and Sasuke nodded.  Sakura breathed slowly.  "Alright, we've got to do what we've got to do.  I'll take a dark hall, I assuming your taking the other dark one, Sasuke?"

"Yeah.  Naruto can get the lighter hallway."  Sasuke ran to the front of the torched hallway and  grabbed one of the torches that were hanging on the wall.  He walked over and handed it to Sakura. "Use this to see, I have my sharingan so I don't think I'd need one." Sakura nodded and started walking down the dark corridor.  Sasuke turned to walk down the other hall, but stopped and looked at Naruto.  "Dobe, hurry up, I bet I'll get to the end first."

"Oh yeah teme!" Naruto turned with his fist in the air but when he turned, Sasuke was already gone.  He turned to his own corridor, the only one with light, and gulped before walking in.

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Sakura had her hand on the left wall as she walked, so she would know which way to go when she walked back.  She kept her guard up and did her best not to jump at every noise she heard.  In the back of her head she had been counting, to keep her mind off of what they saw earlier.  Sasuke wanted to meet back in an hour tops.