Chapter 102: The beginning of a never ending nightmare (part 1)

- nobody used it...was he not here today?- wondered Homura as he looked around his general area.

It was more or less the same as always.

A.k,a... a mess.

Trees missing several branches or holes in the ground, clearly made by something sharp or man made.

Though, they always made sure to not leave any weapons around since it could be dangerous.

So to Homura, not being able to catch glance of any projectile weapons sticking around was hardly a clue to verify if his hypothesis was correct.

- Hm...I am going to check over there.

Homura started walking towards Takao usual spot.

Homura unsure of Takao's whereabouts started to check for recent footprints the area.

Thankfully he found them quickly.

Takao not being a trained shinobi or one who had been taught on how cover his tracks at the academy, hadn't been taught to avoid footprints if he could help it.

But to a Homura busy checking the tracks he had found, it was not exactly his main concern.

In fact he wasn't even the best tracker or one to cover his tracks, it was simply too much work to bother he thought.

Though he did learn the bare minimum to pass the class and if he lacked knowledge, C, was always there to help him navigate his issues.

- hm...this is kinda wet is... that's normal?...What did eye patch sensei say about wet footprints?

The teacher in charge of teaching them about how to track and cover their tracks was a man wearing a bandanna with the Konohagakure's protector and had had an eyepatch.

Which Homura could not help but roll his eyes at the irony.

How he had so much trouble in a class, when the teacher himself was a pro at; while he had a depth perception problem.

Made him feel slightly stupid for not being able to use his abilities correctly.

Though Homura tried to remember the words of one of his teachers at the academy but could not remember.

Not even for the love of the nonexistent god he believed currently.

Because none of the Otsutsukis he knew were definitely god.

More like God-adjacent.

They got beat up too much by the mortals, they so deeply despise to be called gods.

Tangent aside about Homura's beliefs, which he had none.

He usually only paid attention to things said in class or studied them when a test due date was close.

However, the test for tracking class was due for 4 weeks from now.

He had paid almost no attention to what they taught him in that class.

In fact, he was shocked more shocked about his teacher mentioning creatures that looked like wolves on steroid as he showed them a less than appealing drawing.

As far as he knew, creatures such as those didn't exist in this world, but he had seen something that matched the creature in a game about the Naruto franchise, which confused him deeply.

Not that he remembered those creatures to begin with but C did manage to cross reference the creature after Homura asked it to do.

Besides that little event, the other class he had in this subject were rather boring, though he was quite interested in some of them due to his hobbies.

Such as when they had one lesson where they mostly collected plants when they went to the forest near the academy.

Since it was one area that only shinobi or academy students were allowed to enter with supervision and the wild life was left to grow mostly unimpeded.

Though none of that trip down memory lane did Homura any good.

He was nowhere close to understanding what exactly looking at.

C, confirmed that the footprint matched Takao's, but if it was slightly wet due to him being here or someone passing or nearby was inconclusive.

- meh, I don't know...better check things out for myself.

He had the bright idea to go directly to go to the source.

A.K.A; Grandma Akane's house.

- I'm hungry anyway.

Seeing no point in wasting more time, Homura high jumped towards a tree branch ahead of him and started heading towards the secret route he always took to enter the uchiha clan.

A few minutes of skipping around sea of tall trees he saw the location near where the secret entrance he knew of was located.

He then went through the secret passage he had found and finally got inside the outskirts of the clan.

He was close to Akane's but it was still a bit ahead of his location, so he threaded carefully as he tried to head there.

Since it was already nighttime, it was less noisy than in the morning.

Sadly, that was hardly peculiar, since unless it was in a busy street or a commercial area, most districts in Konohagakure were mostly empty and quiet by around noon.

Except for the entertainment district, which was often quite loud.

Especially around the later hours of the day, due to the numerous perverts, drunks and gamblers.

However, the Uchiha clan compound was nothing like that, there drunks and loud people obviously.

Probably perverts too.

In reality, it was closer to a mini village.

A village within a village.

There were everyday businesses and other things but at the end of the day it was a housing district.

So by noon or slightly later than that, everything was close.

People in this world tend to sleep quite early especially those living in small villages.

So to a Homura walking down the southern hemisphere of the uchiha clan compound, the area that was the closest to the training grounds.

Not seeing too many people was a given.

Besides it was a rather chilly night.

He had brought his coat since it was part of his Itsuki Uchiha disguise, but it was a bit too much for the weather, so he wasn't wearing it.

He tied it up around his waist, instead.

Homura hated heat.

Especially konoha's summer heat; even though it wasn't summertime but they were close to it and the weather for the last few days, was certainly similar to the one they experience during summer.

Thankfully since it was already nighttime the blowing wind was rather pleasant.

But still, something felt off to him.

He had this feeling that things were not quite right.

It was barely nighttime and normally cats and dogs should be making noise.

Instead it was quite quiet.

That feeling became slightly more prominent as he passed by a house near his location.

He saw the lights coming from the house.

He could hear noises inside but through the window he could see the light in the living room was flickering.

It didn't seem anyone was doing anything about it, or talking about it.

It was a bit strange but not his problem.

He didn't know too much about family dynamics between people born within clans.

So, he simply pressed on ahead.

He continued on walking but as he did things got weirder and weirder.

Still not a person in sight.

Even the tiny junkyard near an old man's house that Homura knew, was simply devoid of noise.

Usually kids or cats and dogs use that place as a spot for them to play or just to hang out, but not a sound came out from it.

He had not even heard the sound of dogs barking at cats as it was usual at this hour.

Or a cat in general.

Usually the area he was in would normally usually be full of those.

he uchiha clan seemed to attract cats within their midst for odd some reason.

Some houses would even put out cans of sardines or tuna fish outside, for cats to eat.

Especially in the southern hemisphere of the clan was full of those because of the forest nearby.

But that in itself was hardly unusual.

Homura himself didn't really think too much of it, but odd details tend to pile up in one's head when they are bored.

Domesticated cats were not nocturnal and cats in general were quite lazy.

So in Homura's mind they had to be asleep or pestering old folks to feed them at this hour.

But those stray thoughts would soon leave his mind, as Homura was distancing himself more and more from the main streets as he was heading towards a forest to avoid prying eyes; as he often did to avoid being seen.

Since Homura usually took a large detour and passed the forest nearby that lead towards the eastern side of the compound.

If the uchiha clan where most tended to live since it was closer to commercial center.

Where shops and small family owned businesses were generally located.

The uchiha clan was so large that it was usually separated into 4 quadrants.

The south was usually where the training area was and mostly empty due to that.

The Western section was also mostly empty, but for different reasons.

There were a few houses, a small park, shrines, and that was pretty much the end of it, nothing too fancy.

It was also the area children would usually go to play.

But Homura ceased all stray thoughts as he was about to exit from the forest, he entered in order to go to the western section of the compound; he saw something strange.

He saw the silhouette of a man jumping from high above a nearby rooftop while carrying a seemingly unconscious body.

- ???

Seeing such a sight was quite strange.

It was strange.

No!

Too strange!

Homura had seen people being carried away by a person jumping across rooftop many times prior in his life, this was a shinobi village after all.

However, never in the middle of the night.

In fact, it was normal courtesy to avoid jumping on other people's roofs at night.

That much was understood by all.

Not that it was the law or anything.

However, if Homura was able to catch a glance of the individual carrying a person, it was only because they didn't seem to care about making noise or were rushing to go someplace.

Though, the strong wind created by them was also a deciding factor.

Such a force he exerted with his movement speed also caused leaves around Homura to be blown away.

Allowing Homura to even realize that something was amiss.

Especially since the man was hiding his appearance with a long beige cloak.

Which made him want to check things out.

He entered the forest near the compound once again and followed the man's tracks.

Fortunately for him, he wouldn't have to go too far to find out where the man was now located.

- ?- Homura

It didn't take him long to find the cloaked man moving toward an open area, near a seemingly deserted district where he met up with another cloaked figure.

Homura hid in the bushes nearby his location, then used that cover to hide behind a tree that allowed him to witness the entire event happening.

Though he had to peek from behind the tree for short intervals.

Though he couldn't understand what was going on.

He wasn't even sure the two cloaked figure were discussing something, he was just too far away.

However, he couldn't help himself and still tried to watch the whole entire thing.

Though since it was dark he couldn't see things as well as he wanted.

But soon the figures of the two men became clearer to Homura as the moon shone on the area the two men were.

What he saw at that moment shook him.

He saw 2 cloaked figures were wearing white masks, as they seemed to be something on the body laying on the ground.

Homura's body and senses went on high alert.

- !!!! (Sh*t! they're Anbu!)