A New Path

Ch. 33 Finally Home

Stars filled the sky of the vast forest that lead to Konoha. Naruto, Shikamaru and a Naruto clone carrying Sasuke walked through the dirt road that would lead them home. It had been hours since they had left the Sand village and they were glad to make it to a cooler environment. They were close to the village, about half a day away if they didn't make any stops. Luckily Sasuke hadn't woken up yet, which relieved them of what would be a major problem.

As soon as they had left the Sand village, Shikamaru had tied Sasuke up with several pieces of wire. After that Naruto had taken a few minutes to make a single clone, not having the use of his right hand made the task very difficult. Once the clone carried the Uchiha, the two Chunin began their trek back to the Leaf village.

The trip had been a long one and it wasn't over yet. Since Naruto was still sore from the fight, the group had been forced to travel in a slow pace which meant that they were the bait of several bandits that thankfully hadn't shown up. This didn't mean that they would let their guard down, they still kept a clear view of the area to ensure that nobody would suddenly jump out and attack them. Roads between villages were dangerous after all.

Shikamaru gazed at the star-filled dark sky. The breeze was cool against his skin and he couldn't help but let out a yawn, "We should set up camp and call it a night."

Naruto turned to his teammate, a bit taken off by the sudden statement. "Yeah, it's kind of late," he agreed as his eyes took in the area around him. They were in a small clearing with many tall trees and patches of dead grass, "I guess we could camp here."

The lazy Chunin nodded before looking at the clone carrying Sasuke on its back. "Let's take turns keeping watch," he began, "There's always the possibility of bandits popping out. We can't let them get the drop on us or we're as good as dead."

"Having to keep an eye out for Sasuke doesn't help much either…" Naruto muttered with a frown on his face. The blond took a scroll out of his vest, "Who's taking the first watch?"

Shikamaru watched as Naruto poured chakra into the scroll before letting out a sigh. "I'll keep the first watch since you're the one that needs the most rest," he decided as a small cloud of smoke covered the scroll on the blond's left hand. The smoke cleared to reveal a dark orange sleeping bag, making the shadow-user let out an annoyed groan, "Why did you ask who was taking the first watch if you were already taking out your sleeping bag?" The blond in question simply broke into a grin before laying down on his sleeping bag, "Troublesome blond. You're starting to act like Ino, a thing that this world doesn't need."

Naruto chuckled as he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. His mind wondered to the events that had taken place in the last few days. Kiba going into a coma, his fight with Sasuke, the death of Ayumu, Kankuro's injuries and finally, the fight with Red Death. Things weren't looking good so far, the mission had been a failure and many people had gotten hurt. He couldn't help but place a bit of blame on his leading skills, maybe if he had done some things differently nobody would be hurt.

The Chunin felt himself losing consciousness as he went over his thoughts. It hadn't really been his fault, the mission had just been too dangerous for them. He remembered Kakashi's words, 'those who break the rules are scum but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum.' Thinking about those words calmed him down, he hadn't abandoned his comrades, in fact he made sure that they returned home alive.

With that final thought the blond fell asleep, not blaming himself for how bad the mission went. That part of him was gone now. He wouldn't blame himself, he would just get stronger and make sure it doesn't happen again.

The sun peeked in the horizon of the Hidden Leaf village. People walked through the streets to start their daily activities. Such was the case of Ino who carried a few bags of seeds with a pout on her face. It had been her day off from Tsunade's training and she had planned to sleep in, but that had gone down the drain when her mom had barged into her room so that she could run an errand.