🌸The Journey🌸

Day 10

"How could I be so careless? I'm a damn idiot... Foolish... That was a rookie mistake... I shouldn't have left her by herself like that..."

"Sasuke!" Shikamaru grabbed his shoulders, "you need to calm down! I've never seen you act like this before..."

"This is the life of my wife and child at stake, here..."

Ino looked at him sternly, "and this is Sakura Uchiha, your wife, and the strongest Kunoichi the shinobi world has ever seen."

Sasuke stared at the ground.

Sh-she's right... She's my wife, after all. Sakura... She's not weak. She's strong, powerful, strong-willed, she's proved that to me time and time again. Why am I acting this way? I believe in and have faith in her. She'll make it. I just need to calm down and find her.

He took a deep breath, looked at Ino, and nodded in understanding, "we need to find her before whoever took her does anything to harm the baby."

Choji nodded, "agreed. Let's start with the fact that none of us knew this guy was here."

"Did you..." Ino looked at Sasuke, "check for any other entrances into the cave?"

"I did. That tunnel was a dead end."

"There has to have been another, then." Shikamaru tapped his chin, "there's no way since we four were sitting at the entrance."

"But we should've sensed the chakra signature, or even a presence going in." Sasuke stared at the ground, "this doesn't add up. I would've known."

"If only we could check," Shikamaru glanced at where the cave used to be and what is now just a pile of stone from Sasuke's outburst.

Sasuke gripped his fist, "I... Had no control over my emotions at the time..."

"It's fine." Shikamaru crossed his arms, "we can still check the surrounding areas. As for the chakra signatures, one possibility is that their way of getting in was too far for us to sense anything. Another element... They could've masked their chakra."

"But..." Sasuke peered his eyes at him, "that could only mean..."

"There's only one person I know who can mask his own chakra." Shikamaru nodded, "and he's on the ANBU Black Ops unit... Ironically."

"That can't be a coincidence." Choji looked at Shikamaru, "should we... Call for help?"

Shikamaru looked at Sasuke, "if not the Lord Hokage, then maybe at least Naruto?"

"There's no need to get them involved. It'd only upset them and force them to worry about us."

Ino sighed, "of course we're worried, Sasuke. So... We should go back to the village, regroup, and send some ANBU--"

"We need to be careful about the ANBU. Remember that." Shikamaru cut her off, "for all we know, the ANBU could be on some grudge against Sasuke by going after those he loves."

"Of course." Ino continued, "Sasuke, when we find Sakura, we're escorting you two back to the village."

Sasuke shook his head, "what good would that do? The village will only be attacked only to get to us."

"But at least your child will have some sort of protection." Choji spoke up, "let Sakura have a comfortable place to give birth, at least until the baby's born."

Shikamaru scanned the group, sighed, then shut his eyes, "I'm going to have to side with Sasuke on this one... I see, now... What his intentions are, why he's doing what he's doing. I have to put the village first. At least while we're here, we can offer some form of protection."