The Place We Can Call Home

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, this are owned by Masashi Kishimoto

Chapter 1: Tears and Tragedy, a place which was once home

"I'm dying for some ramen, it's like I haven't eaten for weeks" said the cheerful blond "Kakashi sensei how much longer until the next village?"

"shut up Naruto you've been repeating the same phrase over and over, can't you see we're all exhausted from the mission?" replied the very annoyed pink haired kunoichi

"well let's see we've been two days on the road since we left the waterfall village for the mission, so I'd say another day, we'll probably be there by noon I suppose" continued the silver haired jounin

"Damn how boring, if that bastard hadn't interfered with my battle we could have finished the mission sooner" said once more the blond known as Naruto "don't you think Sakura-chan?"

"Hmph, idiot I 'intervened' because you thought you could handle more than what your puny body could endure, that aside It was in fact my battle you joined in, rather you should thank me I got out of my way to help you loser" replied the raven haired kid on his side

"What did you say bastard? I could kick your ass right here if you want to see how much I can handle, bring it on Sasuke." Continued a very fuming blond

"Now, now, calm down you two, there's an inn where we can rest the night about five minutes from here, do you think you can remain calm ti'll then kids?"

No body answered but for the next five minutes the only thing that could be heard among the group known as team 7 was a not so loud blond singing 'ramen, ramen, ramen how I miss you'

As they reached the inn kakashi ordered some rooms and asked for a meal before going to sleep and so they found themselves in the dining room. the four of them waiting until they had the chance to start eating and going to sleep because tomorrow would be the day they would arrive at konoha and all of them had already plans for once they get there.

In the left side of a rectangular table seated Naruto with his abnormally big stomach was already sulking for the lack of food, at his side was a very annoyed Uchiha whose only thought was 'stupid idiot would you shut up already' and on the other side of the table was the most mature person of the group Kakashi hatake reading his not so educational book make out paradise, completely focused on it, for he didn't notice the girl beside him leaning towards him trying to read the contents of the book

"Here you go guys, sorry for the waiting" apologized the owner of the inn

"it's not a problem thank you for your attention" continued the silver haired jounin

"Thank you very much I thought I was dying of starvation" said the blond as he reached to a piece of pork to put it in his mouth

"Thank you for the food" said the raven haired boy as he closed his eyes and started chewing a rice ball

They ate with a light conversation and some loud comments in between from the cheerful blond

As Sakura and Naruto left to their rooms Sasuke stayed behind prepared to ask some questions to his sensei

"hm?, what's up Sasuke, I thought you would want to get some sleep before we head out once more to the village" said the jounin sensei

For a while there was silence, and kakashi was already convinced this was going to be an important conversation

"Can I really become stronger, training with you in the leaf?" asked a very confused Uchiha

"is this about orochimaru, Sasuke?" asked a the jounin with a calmed voice though he was still in shock for the question, for what he could imply, Sasuke was considering abandoning the leaf in his search for power

"Last time in the chunin exams, and again when itachi came back, I was useless, I couldn't do anything, and because of that Sakura and Naruto almost died, I'm starting to believe that if I stay here I'll never be strong enough to take itachi down" continued a very frustrated raven

"Sasuke, orochimaru and itachi both have had years of training longer than you, even I was powerless against them, you might want to believe that training with orochimaru will give you more power to defeat itachi, but do you really want to defeat itachi that way?, as far as I knew I thought you wanted to restore the honor of your clan, and punish itachi for his crimes against the uchiha"

"then tell me Kakashi sensei how can I make myself stronger than them, as time passes I feel as though my progress is only a dim of what it should be, and naruto's has been…" said the raven

"Dramatic?" replied the jounin

"Yes" said flatly the raven

"And why do you think this is, what do you think is the key for naruto to achieve true strength" said the jounin

"I…don't know" replied a frustrated raven

"That he doesn't give up and that he has something he wants to protect, do you know what that is Sasuke?" continued the jounin

"No" said the raven as he looked away with a thoughtful gaze

"He wants to protect us to protect you and sakura and even me" said the silver "that is how you achieve true strength; you have already experience it, remember?"

"Yes" said the raven as he stood up "thank you kakashi"

"Good night sasuke" finished the silver haired jounin as he returned to his book

The raven answered with a nod and went to the bedroom he shared with the blond, as he entered he looked at him and with a smirk no one saw got to his bed remembering the experiences he shared with his blond best friend

Morning soon came, it was already seven o'clock and they were already leaving the inn as they followed their path, they couldn't help but notice the smell, like fire, once they identified the smell in a matter of seconds, they quickened their pace to the village

What they finally saw was something they would never forget in their lives

The gates of the village were open and a few meters forward were the corpses of the gatekeepers izumo and kotetsu lying in the floor with pools of blood around their bodies

As they got closer to the gates they were slowly but surely freezing in their steps at the sight they were witnessing, buildings, houses, trees, posts, everything was destroyed but what they couldn't handle to see was the corpses of civilians and their fellow shinobi scattered in the floor, some were even unrecognizable for the amount of their injuries in their faces, others were without limbs or even separated in half, it was a true massacre one that, they wouldn't wish for anyone to see not even the people they hated the most.

The first one to recover from the shock was kakashi who even though was feeling his body numb decided to say

"Go look for survivors, if you see any threat don't engage in battle alone, try to get as much information as possible, if you find something of importance request for the rest to regroup" he said as if he was in autopilot

The others even though still in trance decided to follow suit.

Naruto was running down the central district of konoha, as he looked for any sign of movement as he continued he noticed a rundown building in his left he clearly recognized as ichiraku ramen bar, however the place was destroyed in half the banners that hung in the ceiling were in the ground, and naruto was able to identify a hand that stood out between the rubble, it was old teuchi's hand, the hand that so many times served him bowls of ramen even when he was disliked by all of the villagers, he like iruka sensei was one of the few who had accepted him as he was.

For a moment he only observed as a wave of pain invaded his heart, he started the heat in his cheeks, and his sight was getting blurred.

He decided to continue down the path that lead to the academy, if anyone was there even a single child it'd be worth it.

As he entered he wish he hadn't, for he now was seeing corpses of little children who were caught in the battlefield. He couldn't handle it much longer, he left the academy and threw himself to the ground, as he kneeled in the ground the only thing he could think was, 'why, why did this happen' he couldn't think straight anymore, he decided he would try to calm down and get to sasuke, he wouldn't be able to handle it otherwise

Sakura was walking through the east side of the village, where the hospital and many civilian houses were located, every single building was turned to rubble, and she was feeling as if her world had been brought down , she was walking down the streets of the village and every step she gave, was agonizing to her heart, she saw women children, people who she used to greet every day, dead, that was it, she leaned to a wall, as she cried she couldn't hide her emotions, as a shinobi should, she knew so yet as she stood there leaning against rubble she only tightened her hands into fists and kept them close to her heart, crying, sobbing, wincing every now and then, her mind stopped working and all she could do was cry and cry again.

Sasuke decided to go for the west side of the village where some of the most renown clans of the village aside from his own resided, he was only able to advance a few steps before stopping abruptly, it occurred all over again, bodies of women and children scattered around the floor, blood everywhere, kunai, and shuriken embedded in the walls, last time it was his clan, this time it was his village, the wound he had tried to close long ago opened once more, as a delicate stream of water was flowing through his eyes, and he stood there watching as he once more failed to protect, something he cherished, and this time he didn't have a clue of what caused it.

As soon as the others left kakashi stood there in horror as more bodies could be seen from afar, he couldn't keep his promise to obito, he couldn't save rin, he couldn't protect the third hokage, at this very moment kakashi hatake felt, completely worthless, weak, he could feel the helplessness running through him, he let himself fall on his knees, as his only visible eye started secreting the tears of guilt, pain he was feeling, kakashi hatake couldn't protect his home, nor the lives of his now closest friends, a list of names quickly got to his mind 'kurenai, asuma, anko, genma, raido, shizune, shikaku, inoichi, choza….guy' he couldn't even though he was a shinobi, he couldn't not even with all his might, keep from crying in this situation, and so he cried, and cried with a word of apology in his throat he know he wouldn't be able to say

"sasuke.."Said the blond as he found him staring at nothing in particular with his back against him

"Naruto" he noted the shaky voice of the blond but he didn't dare to face him now, not in his second most vulnerable moment

"I think we should head to the hokage tower, we might get a clue of what happened" continued naruto as he turned while clenched his fists, of course he noticed the shaky voice sasuke gave as well he knew how much pain conveyed with that single with that single word

"No, kakashi asked us to look for survivors, it's best if we go to the tunnels in the mount hokage, there might be someone there" replied the raven as he followed his path with his eyes closed 'damn, damn' was all his mind could handle for now, there was no imminent threat so there only was time for grieve and pain

A few minutes passed as naruto requested regroup from the others which arrived at his side in no later than minutes.

Once again team seven found themselves with something they would want to omit had they had the chance

In the floor not far from there lied the hokage tsunade senju with a pool of blood underneath her body all around her lied the corpses of an anbu squad with the mission of protecting the hokage, but what called their attention the most was the last body opposite from the others around fifteen meters away from them was orochimaru, the snake who almost destroyed the leaf the last time in the chunin exams, the man who was once a teammate of jiraiya and tsunade in a three man squad.

"Why is he here" snarled the blond " Is he the one who did this ?" continued as his eyes turned red"

"calm down Naruto, we have to assess calmly the situation and the circumstances, otherwise any conclusion we reach could be wrong" said the raven

Naruto was about to protest when he got to see his teammate, he was paler than usual, and his sharingan was activated he was clenching his fists tightly, he was clearly upset for all of this so the blond just tried to keep his mouth shut as they talked

As kakashi looked from his students to the scene he was preparing a theory as he noted every single thing that was out of place that's when he realized

"That body over there, orochimaru, it's just a human carcass"

Sasuke and sakura stood petrified knowing full well what this meant

"What do you mean kakashi sensei?" asked a curious yet angry blond

"From the way I see things, orochimaru might just be alive" replied the silver jounin

Naruto stood in his tracks as he mimicked sasuke and sakura from a moment before, this couldn't be, If that bastard was the one who destroyed the village then he might be around and looking for sasuke, his train of thought stopped as sakura spoke as if reading his mind

"Then we've got to leave, if that guy is still around here, he must be looking for sasuke-kun right? We should leave as soon as we can"

"No" replied the raven "when he gave me this" he said as he touched his neck "he also gave me the ability to sense him, and to somewhat track his movements, that's how he planned to take me away, not by force, or rather not by physical pressure but rather by psychological pressure, if he's alive he's not here" finished the raven a little more calmed down than before

"That's good to know, the best plan of action for now is to find a save zone in which we can recover from all of this, and in the next following days we'll have to try to find survivors using another method"

"What do you mean kakashi sensei?" asked sakura looking a little hopeful

"As I scouted the borders of the village and the outside of the walls, I couldn't feel any trace of chakra, which means that everyone inside the village besides us is dead" he concluded as he looked away

The genin beside him suddenly became rigid, each of them thinking different things naruto 'iruka sensei, konohamaru, udon, moegi, shikamaru, choji, ino, hinata, lee, everyone, I'm…I'm so sorry' was thinking as he once again broke into crying.

Sakura's thoughts were 'mom, dad, you can't, you can't leave me please, please, I…I'

And the only thing sasuke could thing now was 'I falied, dad, mom, I'm a disgrace to the uchiha, I wasn't able to protect our home, I'm sorry'

"The other method" continued kakashi grabbing the attention of the genin at his side "is to determine how many and which shinobi were outside of the village when this happened"

"it makes sense" continued sasuke escaping his other thoughts "after all we ourselves were outside the village, perhaps there are indeed more that escape this fate"

"And how will we find them?" said naruto joining the conversation

"You leave that to me" replied the silver jounin

"Alright, what do we do until then?" asked the raven

"for now we should get some rest, we've been through too much" said the jounin "we should set a base of operations, and work from there, tomorrow morning we'll start planning our next moves, for what I can see, this isn't over"

"What do you mean this isn't over sensei?" asked an irritated pink haired girl

"Sakura, it's best if we trust kakashi on this, there are many unanswered questions, and we need information, but to work effectively we must be as calm as possible, and as we are right now, we aren't going to get much"

"Ok, I got it but where will we stay, everything's in ruins and we might be risking ourselves to be found by the enemy so tell do you have any place in mind?" asked the blond shinobi

"Wow Naruto I never thought you would be speaking logically to evaluate and solve a problem" noted the pink haired girl

"I don't have the luxury to be relaxed now, I'm not going to let anything happen to you alright?" continued the blond with a soft voice which made sakura blush

"About what you asked earlier, I think we can use the tunnels behind the mount hokage, they are still functional from what I saw before, there if an enemy shows we'll be able to pinpoint its location much simpler, and if any shinobi that were out on a mission find the village like it is now, they are bound to look for survivors there, I believe It's our best choice for now" explained the raven

"I agree, very well we'll stay there for the night, I'll think of something before briefing tomorrow morning, if you sense anything or see anyone you must report before engaging, if you are spotted request a formation regroup" continued the sensei " alright let's go "

They moved from the ruins of the tower hokage towards the tunnels, when they finally arrived the three genin were gone to sleep, knowing they'd have a hard day tomorrow.

Kakashi sat in the entrance of the tunnel, making guard and assimilating everything that had happened since just this morning

A noise in the tunnel behind kakashi could be heard, but he did not turn back he already knew who it was, though he was curious what he would say at this point.

"kakashi sensei" spoke the blond ninja "I'm sorry I just…needed to talk, I can't believe this is actually true, my dreams, my hopes and everything I was fighting for is worthless now, I let the people whom I wanted to be acknowledge by die just like that, as a ninja of the leaf, I didn't do anything, I was walking down the main road to the hokage tower, and I found teuchi under all that mass of rocks, I saw a little girl who looked to be only five, with her eyes open, they were blank, dead, I couldn't see the light that should've been there, I failed them sensei, I couldn't protect my home, my friends, what else can I do now I feel so weak"

"it's not just you Naruto, I too am a shinobi of the leaf and I wasn't strong enough to do anything about it, I wasn't smart enough to prevent it, so don't beat yourself about It, now the only thing we can do is to fix this and reveal the person that did this" said kakashi with a lower darker voice, a voice that said I'll do it even if have to die in the end

As naruto turned to leave kakashi spoke again " oh, and naruto" the blond turned to him "you still have someone to fight for, after all we are still a family aren't we?, team 7"

"Yes kakashi sensei" said the blond with a caring tone "thank you"