Chapter 43 – Development

Maybe that wasn’t the best moment to partake in such activity, but the situation they were in made it even better.

“The food is ready!” Yet, they were interrupted before he could do anything more. From the kitchen, Kurenai called them over to sit at the table that was also situated in the kitchen. With more regret than he would admit to, Sango tried to stand up but stumbled into an issue, Sakura was almost glued to him and was still in a daze, meaning she would fall if he stood up like that. Having no other choice, he placed a hand behind her knees and the other at her back and lifted her up in the classic ‘princess carry’ style.

“Ah!” That made Sakura slightly jump in his arms, but thanks to that she woke up from her daze.

The moment didn’t last long as he placed Sakura down on her feet and began walking towards the kitchen leaving Sakura behind. In his mind he was still recalling the feeling of before, it left a pleasant lukewarm sensation into his chest, something he definitely wanted to experience more.

Now, heading to the kitchen, he shortly came in view of the three girls waiting. They were already seated, only two other chairs were left for him and Sakura.

The meal was rather simple, using only the ingredients they found and adding those they had on them they couldn’t make anything more sophisticated, nor was it time for such a thing.

First sat Sango, then came Sakura who sat on the chair beside him, her face still had a faint shade of red, not as red as just a short time before, but not enough to attract any suspicion.

“Thank you for the meal!” With everyone sitting at the table, they proceeded to eat their meal. The room wasn’t quiet, they were all happily chatting together as if they weren’t on an increasingly important mission where the entire population of the village had gone missing.

They couldn’t be regarded as insensitive, there was just no point in being all gloomy while they couldn’t do anything about the situation at the moment. Waiting was also a part of their duty.

Usually they would have had to personally go and search for clues regarding the missing people, but since there was Sango, who could summon a large number of clones without using too much of his chakra, they could leave such tasks to his clones.

When they were done eating, it was Sango’s and Sakura’s turn to clean since they were spared from helping with cooking. Despite them being left alone in the Kitchen, the cleaning proceeded fast and uninterrupted, no steamy situations happened. While finishing their task, Sango received the memories of another of his clones.

They followed the tracks left by the many people moving together and arrived at the entrance of a cavern. The traces indicated that the people proceeded further into the dark depth of the cave, at that point one of the clones dispersed itself and the rest of them proceeded further.

As Sango was digesting the memories, he stopped moving. “Sango? What happened?” Sakura beside him called to him in concern.

Sango finished washing the last plate and placed it down. “It’s time to move, lets go.” Saying that to Sakura, he headed towards Kurenai and the others with Sakura on his tail.

Seeing his face, Kurenai immediately understood that he received a report from one of his clones.

“How it is?” She asked, her face changing to a serious one.

Sango explained what his clone saw while the girls were listening intently.

Much could be deducted from the information they had gathered; it was obvious that the villagers didn’t just leave on their own will.

Just while they were discussing how to proceed, the rest of his clones dispersed all at the same time. The cause was unknown as they were forcefully dispersed for no known reason after they proceeded a certain distance into the cave.

“I think this will be more difficult than I thought.” Saying so, Sango began thinking. Unknowns were always unwelcomed, and this situation of full of unknowns.

“Why do you say that?” Hearing his words, Kurenai asked.

“My other clones were forced to disperse.” He replied, they weren’t destroyed by an attack of any kind, instead they were forcefully dispersed as if something disrupted the flow of chakra in their bodies.

After he explained that to the girls, silence ensued for a short period of time before Kurenai began speaking again.

“There is no choice, this may be connected with our original mission, or it may be not, but we have to look into it before we decide our next curse of action.” They all agreed with her words, they couldn’t ignore what was happening as it may be too late for the villagers if they decided to return and report to the Hokage.