Lost Children Arc (8) : Hesitation.

The walk back to the forest was uneventful, with all the interested parties keeping their distance from the main group which consisted of Onizuka, his guards and Sakura and Tachibana.

They left the village from a hidden entrance to keep their business away and hidden from the city guards.

It wasn't a secret to the city officials that child smuggling happened within it, but Onizuka took this route to show Tachibana and Sakura how much he valued their products.

Arriving at the location where Naruto and fourteen other wood clones were sitting inside a cart, Tachibana presented the children that would be smuggled to Onizuka.

As soon as Naruto saw Tachibana and Sakura he shouted, trying to do his best to look like a kidnapped child. "What are you doing old man!!! You told me there would be ramen where we went!!! Why did you bring me-"

Naruto was about to shout more but Sakura quickly flicked her shuriken at him to shut him up. It was clear to everyone on Team Seven that the more Naruto spoke, the more they'd risk sabotaging their mission.

Onizuka looked at Naruto for a few seconds before he nodded towards his guards to go ahead and examine the goods.

One of the guards left with a kunai in his hand to check if the children were all real or just clones.

The children, except Naruto, all retreated at the sight of a kunai. They moved to the other side of the cart and almost caused it to tilt over but Sakura quickly held the other side and kept it level.

The children that Yamato had created using his wood clone jutsu were mostly not very well dressed or even taken care of. They all looked malnourished and had slightly sunken cheeks but the trouble was that even though they wouldn't get easily dispelled because of a kunai stab since they were solid clones, they wouldn't bleed.

So Tachibana distracted them by simply tossing a paper card at the shinobi that was walking towards the children.

"Don't hurt them more than you need to. I won't be taking any less money simply because they are 'damaged'."

Onizuka laughed good-naturedly and spoke with a soft glimmer in his eyes. "Don't worry, we don't want to damage our own goods too. They will only lightly cut them up so that we can see if they're real if you know what I mean."

Tachibana looked at Onizuka with a frown and once he got the signal from Sakura that everything was alright and that they were all trapped in her genjutsu he nodded briefly.

"Alright."

The shinobi quickly checked everyone by pulling their hands and creating a light scratch or prick on their hands. Naruto was the only one to stay silent however as he looked at the shinobi with anger.

"A feisty one aren't you.", Onizuka said coming closer to Naruto and scanning him all over.

Onizuka finally walked back to Tachibana and gave him a storage scroll. Tachibana quickly checked the storage scroll and found that it contained all the money.

Satisfied by the amount of money he got, Tachibana spoke with a soft nod. "I will be taking my leave then."

Onizuka nodded with a smile and spoke with a soft bow, "It was our pleasure to do business with you. Come back to Onizuka once again if you ever need to do something like this! We handle a variety of tasks including but not limited to time-sensitive deliveries of all products, alive or dead, shinobi or non-shinobi."

Tachibana nodded and started to walk away with Sakura, but to distance himself from Onizuka, Tachibana took the route towards the main gate.

Sasuke and Yamato soon joined them when both Tachibana and Sakura dropped their disguise. Yamato had left a wood clone with Naruto so that they could follow Naruto when he was being transported to the client and also to keep an eye on him.

'That went smoother than I thought…' Tachibana thought calmly and then he looked at Yamato and asked him a simple question, a little loudly though so that anyone that was around them would 'coincidentally' hear it.

"Why are you so invested in this care sensei?"

Yamato looked at Tachibana surprised and spoke softly, "Is that so? How did you notice? I thought I did a good job of hiding it well."

The answer prompted Sasuke and Sakura to also look at Tachibana since they hadn't noticed something like this.

"...It's just that you seem awfully familiar with the process of kids who get transported around in the underground world. And those kids you made… seemed very real…especially the fear in their eyes when they saw the kunai being pulled out by the shinobi who was checking if they were real."

"Ah…I understand…" Yamato nodded and then in a slightly subdued voice, Yamato spoke calmly, "I may have gone through something similar when I was a child myself. Not everyone has a happy village surrounding them when they grow up now do they…"

Tachibana's eyes lightly flicked towards their follower and his eyes gleamed in joy when he noticed the person freeze in their tracks for a few seconds.

'She heard it loud and clear…'

'Now I just need to reel in the fish.'

"Did you happen to get a closure to whoever did this to you?" Tachibana asked in a caring tone, softly as if he was very worried about Yamato's condition.

Yamato smiled and spoke calmly, "Sometimes getting revenge isn't as important as surrounding yourself with people who really do care about you."

Tachibana was a little disappointed with his answer, but Yamato's next words made him smile internally.

"Especially since who knows, maybe the person we're after is the same one that did this to me?"

Tachibana used his spirit vision to study Tsunade and saw her spirit reflect a deep blue hue, indicating she was thinking about what Yamato had just said.

'She's probably trying to figure out who dared to kidnap Yamato…a member of the Senju clan…'

'How nice of her…'

With Tsunade hooked on Yamato's origins, Team Seven minus Naruto were all back in their room at the inn where they were going to wait for the next three days until they got the signal from Yamato's wood clone that the deal was ready.

In these three days, Tsunade was always in a slump. Her pretty face always reflected a frown and it was making Shizune worried.

Tsunade constantly looked in Yamato's direction while thinking deeply about what she should do.

'I technically am the clan leader now that Mito baa-san isn't here and no one else is here too.'

'But wouldn't it be weird for him if I suddenly show up and talk to him as a Senju clan leader?'

'Wouldn't he be intimidated that a Sanin suddenly came up to him and claimed to be his clan leader?'

'What about his wish? Does he even want to be associated with the Senju clan anymore?'

Tsunade was continuously suppressing her chakra to keep Yamato from noticing her but this was also constantly giving her strange questions to think about that she had no answers to.

'Tsunade-sama hasn't drank alcohol or gambled in three days!!!!'

'How scary!!!!'

'Is she finally giving up on life!?'

Shizune finally couldn't take it anymore and was about to confront Tsunade on why she was so sad but before she could speak, Tsunade spoke herself.

"Shizune pack up all our belongings. We will be moving for the next few days."

"Huh?" Shizune was puzzled.

"Make sure you dress light since we will be following a Jonin of the leaf village."

Shizune was now even more confused and puzzled. But seeing the resolve in Tsunade's eyes she didn't question her and instead did as she said.

Tachibana who had been keeping track of it all with the help of his spirit vision finally looked at the time and thought to himself.

'It's finally time for us to follow the trail of the main culprit.'

'I wonder who it'll lead us first towards. Orochimaru or Danzo…?'

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A/N : Sorry for not posting yesterday, I ate too much of my favourite food and had to stay in my bed because of stomach pain...(the worst part..the food wasn't even made nicely...it was bland.)