Chapter 51: Those Who Take the Bait
When Sakura returned to the riverside, Naruto had already cleaned several fish, blood drifting downstream without the slightest attempt to hide it.
"You really caught them? That fast?"
Sakura was a little stunned. She set the bundle of dry branches in her arms down on the ground and walked toward Naruto.
"Yeah, just hooked a few casually." Naruto didn't even look up. "We don't have enough salt, so we can't preserve the meat, which means..."
"Wow, Naruto, you're amazing," Sakura murmured.
"It's nothing special, just practice makes perfect." Naruto stood up. "Don't sleep too soundly tonight. More fish will bite."
"At night? Fish?"
Even if Sakura didn't fully understand what Naruto meant, just looking at the blood floating on the river's surface made her shiver instinctively. Blood would attract more predators. No one knew what would happen after nightfall.
With a sudden whoosh, Naruto stretched out his hand and released a bit of Lava Release into the pile of dry down grass. The flash of high heat instantly ignited it.
The firelight chased away Sakura's fear. She stood up, went to the river, wetted a cloth, and laid it on Sasuke's forehead. After that, all that was left was waiting.
She glanced at Naruto, who was skewering the cleaned fish on sticks and then rigging together a simple grill.
"Let me help."
Sakura got up, took the skewer from Naruto, and carefully set the fish over the fire as he had.
The flames flickered across Sakura's dust-streaked face, her eyes faintly dazed as if replaying the events of the day. Her gaze carried both fear and confusion.
After a long silence, she lowered her head and asked,
"Naruto, why would Orochimaru attack Sasuke?"
"Who knows." Naruto replied carelessly. "Maybe he just took an interest in Sasuke. He must have told you something about power, right?"
"Yes." Sakura nodded. "He told Sasuke that if he ever needed power, he should come to him."
"Then there's nothing we can do." Sitting beside Sakura as they roasted fish together, Naruto spoke casually. "Sasuke cares so much about power, always thinking about revenge. It wouldn't be surprising if Orochimaru's words got to him."
"Wha—? Then what should we do?" Sakura grew anxious. "Would Sasuke really go that far?"
"Don't know. You'll have to ask him." Naruto flipped the fish to keep it from burning. "Didn't he keep shouting about revenge before? Once hatred takes root, there's no solution. It just drags a person deeper and deeper into the abyss."
"Unless..."
"Unless what?" Sakura pressed.
"Nothing." Naruto smiled faintly. "Unless he dies. Death ends hatred too."
What he really wanted to say was: unless Sasuke got possessed by someone's soul, like he had been. Then all the old grudges wouldn't matter—whoever bullied him now would just get cut down.
But Naruto had no intention of meddling in Sasuke's path of revenge. Less meddling meant a longer life.
As for the fate of the world—he'd think about that later.
Night fell, the forest sinking into darkness.
By the fire, Naruto handed Sakura a salted, roasted fish.
"Try it."
"Thanks." Sakura, hungry from a whole day without food, took it eagerly and bit in. "Delicious."
Sasuke was still unconscious, though his breathing had steadied, a sign of recovery. Naruto glanced at the boy lying nearby and thought: this brat shouldn't be losing to the curse mark, right?
Naruto and Sakura each ate two fish, leaving the last two for Sasuke when he woke.
Full and rested, they began planning their next move.
"Orochimaru stole our Heaven Scroll," Sakura said in frustration. "Now we have to defeat two teams to advance. But Sasuke's still unconscious..."
"That's nothing to worry about." Naruto reached into his clothes and pulled out both Heaven and Earth scrolls, handing them to her. "Here. I grabbed these."
"Huh?" Sakura was dumbstruck. "Naruto, how did you get two scrolls by yourself?"
"On my way to deal with the Sound-nin, I ran into a team of Grass-nin. They just happened to be holding a Heaven Scroll." Naruto scratched his head. "I didn't really want to carry them, but after thinking about it, I kept them. Guess they came in handy."
"That's amazing, Naruto!" Overcome with relief, Sakura threw her arms around him.
In the distance—
The Ino-Shika-Chō trio lounged against a tree, watching the firelight. Shikamaru made a circle with his hands like a telescope, peering at them as he muttered,
"What are those guys doing? Lighting a fire in the middle of the night? They'll just attract enemies."
"That looks like the riverside. Maybe they ran out of soldier pills, so they're roasting whatever they hunted," Ino said carelessly, arms crossed.
"Sasuke seems to be asleep." Shikamaru yawned. "Why's Naruto letting Sakura hug him? That guy has way too much luck with girls."
"What! Hugging him!" Ino immediately lost her cool.
She squinted toward the glow of the flames, but saw nothing unusual—Naruto and Sakura just sat close by the fire, talking.
"Ino, what's wrong?" Shikamaru asked.
"N-nothing. I was just curious." Ino forced a smile. "Sakura only likes Sasuke. No way she'd hug Naruto. You must've imagined it."
"Guess that makes sense." Shikamaru scratched his head. "I probably saw wrong."
"But won't they get into trouble, keeping that fire going? They'll draw other teams." Chōji squinted and added, "Shouldn't we go warn them?"
"Too late." Shikamaru suddenly lowered his voice. "Hide—someone's coming!"
The trio instantly grew tense and melted into cover.
Back at the river, the fire was nearly out.
Sakura sat nearby, her face tight with nerves. But she stayed silent, eyes shut as Naruto had told her, pretending to sleep.
Before long, three figures appeared in the river.
Moving almost noiselessly, the Mist-nin trio crept toward the dying fire.
Naruto poked at the embers with a stick, acting oblivious. The Mist-nin relaxed, thinking he hadn't noticed, and gave a signal. All three lunged at once.
But in the split second before impact, Naruto's figure by the fire vanished.
"What—?!" The Mist-nin froze. A trap!
It was already too late to escape. Naruto's form flashed behind one of them, blue light sparking in his hand. A surge of lightning burst forth as he rammed it straight into the Mist-nin's body.
A scream tore through the night, sending startled birds flying from the forest canopy.
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