Escape [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 53: Escape

Ayuda's P.O.V

I was entirely clueless to how I ended up in the Valley of the End, the legendary place where the First Hokage Hashirama Senju and the fallen Madara Uchiha fought in what ancestors said an epic battle. I heard about this place in the ninja academy and of course, like most of the students, I was mesmerized by this particular legend. But I didn't expect in my entire life that I would stumble upon this renowned area.

Light downpour arose all over the area, soaking through my hair and clothes, making them feel heavy but I easily disregarded them. The dense cloud in the sky projected gloomy shadows around the place, causing it's hard for me to scan the whole area, though it took me only several seconds to detect bright color on a lakeshore. Wait... it's the color of bright orange. It's Naruto!

I raced to his side with great immediacy. There were wounds here and there and he looked horrifyingly motionless, something that I did not wish to befall him. I unzipped his orange jacket all the way down and revealed his front body covered in a drenched black shirt. I placed a flat palm atop his chest and ignored everything around me, only focusing on searching for his heartbeat.

With my hand on top of his body, I could definitely feel his chest rising up and down very slowly. Even his heartbeat pounded rather faintly. He needs to go to the hospital right away!

I scoured the area once again, totally aware of someone who was missing here. It's undoubtedly him who did this to Naruto!

That's when I heard a small noise of a twig being stepped on rather heavily. I shot my head in the direction of the sound. There I saw red and white moving left and right indistinctly. That is... the Uchiha crest behind Sasuke's shirt...

I jumped to my feet and hastened to the spot a few meters away from that moving Uchiha crest. With untold mixed feelings boiling deep within my system, I raised my voice angrily, "Sasuke!"

The figure that I knew so well came to a standstill in an instant. His entire form went rigid in a quite noticeable way. His dark hair that normally stood pointedly on the back of his head was a little lower than usual, probably because of the light downpour that thoroughly soaked his hair. He didn't move around to look at me or even move his head. It's like he refused to even spare me a glance.

I spoke up, "Where are you going? The Leaf Village is that way!"

"Hn," the all-too-familiar voice finally spoke, "So... after Sakura and Naruto... it's your turn now, huh?"

I frowned, "We all care about you. Everyone care about you. Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba, and Chouji... they are not your close friends but they still put their lives on the line to take you back to the village. Even Rock Lee, Gaara and his team came to lend a helping hand."

His uncaring tone was blatantly obvious, "Oh really? That's so nice of them."

My scowl deepened a lot to the point that my forehead hurt. I recollected Shikamaru's words that he didn't even care about Sasuke, but he was willing to retrieve him because he was nakama (comrade) and a shinobi from the Leaf Village. I remembered those moments when Chouji, Neji, and Shikamaru volunteered to fight Orochimaru's henchmen. I did not forget that frightening moment seeing Kiba and Akamaru and another member of the Sound Four falling into a trench. I recalled Rock Lee appearing to help me defeat Kimimaro, although he was not in a good state to fight. I looked back on how much effort and chakra Gaara put in fighting Kimimaro and that disturbing image of bone drill just a few inches away from his eyeball.

They all did everything they can to retrieve Sasuke even though their lives are in danger.

And this is how Sasuke repay them?!