By the time Sakura returned to the riverbank, Naruto had already cleaned several fish. The bloody water drifted downstream along the river without any attempt at concealment.
"You really caught them? That fast?"
Sakura was dumbfounded. After setting the dead branches in her arms on the ground, she walked toward Naruto.
"Yeah, I just caught a few." Naruto did not even look up. "We don't have enough salt, so there's no way to preserve the meat. So..."
"Naruto, you're amazing," Sakura murmured.
"It's nothing special. Practice makes perfect." Naruto stood up. "Don't sleep too deeply tonight. More fish will take the bait."
"At night? Fish?"
Although Sakura did not quite understand what Naruto meant, the sight of the blood floating in the river still gave her goosebumps almost instinctively. Blood would draw more predators. No one knew what might happen after dark.
With a whoosh, Naruto stretched out his hand and released a small amount of Lava Release into the pile of dry downy grass, using the instant heat to set it ablaze with a puff.
The firelight drove away the fear in Sakura's heart. She got up and fetched water from the river, dampened a towel, and laid it across Sasuke's forehead. All that remained was to wait.
She looked toward Naruto. He was using washed branches to skewer the fish, then setting up a grill.
"I'll help."
Sakura got up, took the branch with the fish from him, and carefully placed it over the fire as Naruto had done.
Firelight flickered across Sakura's dust-covered face, and her eyes were slightly unfocused. She seemed to be thinking about what had happened during the day, fear and confusion showing in her gaze.
After a long while, she lowered her head and asked.
"Naruto, why did Orochimaru attack Sasuke?"
"Who knows?"