Broken and Abused Whats Behind The Mask

Back Home pt.2

SNAP

Shikamaru tilted his body forwards slightly as if an invisible string had tugged at his chest. After realising what had happened he stood up slowly and nodded sincerely at the rest of his teammates. They smiled back some expressing their joy more openly than others however their joy only lasted a small amount of time. Shikamaru looked over to the tainted looking Naruto on Kiba's back and knew that their main problems were beginning to creep back up to the surface. 

"Now to deal with that." Shikamaru pointed out. He walked over to Kiba who was placing the Naruto on the ground as gently as possible hoping not to wake him up. Everyone else gathered around a distance away from the body but close enough to keep an eye on it. As Neji walked over it was visible that he had been giving Hinata's corpse small amounts of his Chakra to her.

"Neji..." Choji started until he was cut off by Neji.

"Don't. Not now please." Neji obviously didn't want any emotion to interfere with the mission at hand. Shikamaru contemplated whether to interrogate Neji about this but decided it best to leave it for now. 

"We need to do something about this other Naruto. Right now he's unconscious but who knows when he will start waking up again. Konoha is the only village here for miles so we can't afford him getting loose. We need to get Hinata back to Konoha asap but we are all out of chakra and have no more means of transport therefore I think we should rest until tomorrow morning. It may be dark but we have no other choice we are unable to continue forward with us in such a weakened state " Shikamaru looked around at all of his team and sighed heavily "we leave 6hrs, same rotation as before for lookout. Any questions?" 

Choji and Kiba raised their hands unanimously, looked at each other and Kiba said "Was it really wise sending Sasuke? I could have-"

"No. No as in I couldn't send you because we need your sense of smell and tracking to get us back home and help us detect enemies. Neji's byakugan is unavailable right now and Choji would have no means of actually getting there and I couldn't go because I am the team captain and I know what's best." Shikamaru had one hand in his pocket and one hand out to give a lazy look but his presence was tense. He had made it clear that there wasn't any other way and that he had hope that Sasuke wouldn't leave Naruto the way he is now. 

"Let's set up now or else we'll be here all night," Shikamaru said frustrated and walked away into the woods. He whispered the words 'What a drag' under his breath as he left. The team was left alone huddled up until Neji decided to also leave the gathering. 

"Oi! Neji, you need to explain-"

"There is nothing to explain. I simply did what I had to. Nothing else. Naruto is not as weak as to die from something like this. He'll be fine therefore Hinata sama becomes my main priority." Neji replied to Kiba. He walked over to Hinata and made sure she was comfortable. This made Kiba shiver but decided it must normal if you lose someone so close to you. You kinda just wish that they were still here and becasue you love them so much you respect them even after death. 

"Come on Choji, let's go set up. Can't waste time here doing nothing can we?" Kiba said lightheartedly trying to keep the mood just above a mental breakdown. They all left into the woods leaving behind a cold and empty fireplace. The night brought such a silence that the crackle of the campfire was all that could be heard, a natural music in the black tinted night. Flames sent red sparks dancing into the breeze and the smoke twirled heavenward towards the stars.

Meanwhile...

The village homes were brother and sister to one another upon that mountainous land. The peaceful and prosperous villagers were oblivious to the events that had taken place for the past week. Sasuke was triggered and the world and everyone in it was now fiifty feet below them.  Any bonds between the village and himself became inaccessible. In that moment he had to take great care not to damage those bonds of love, the relationships and people who were everything to his heart and soul. For in time they would reach an end to this chaos and his true ideology would return. He could still imagine what the better version of him would want him to do and then carry that out. He couldn't undo the trauma he's been through, but can only adapt and overcome.