Sato now had a home, a Ninja village to call his own.
The ticket to strength was now within his reach.
His destination wasn't Konoha, but it was much better than Konoha for a child without support such as him.
With his pitiful background, the second he steps into Konoha and shows any talent, he will be taken away by root.
No questions asked.
'Unlike Konoha, Kumo only attacks their enemies, they are very good to their own people.'
'Even Kinkaku force, who are Kumo's only betrayers in history, had done so for the benifit of their village.'
'It was for this reason they were respected by Kumo shinobi even in fourth shinobi world war.'
Not censoring betrayers and even respecting them for their choices, this is something only a tight knit village like Kumo could do.
This is a big deal, it's like people of Konoha telling Orochimaru they respect him in the fourth shinobi world war.
That would never happen with Konoha Shinobi, too much information is hidden away by their leaders, censorship is a regular affair for them.
The new generation dosen't even know Orochimaru, much less respect him for his great contributions in war back then.
"What happened Sato? Is there something on your mind?"
C asked the dazed Sato, which made Sato break out of thinking and focus on the swamp before him.
Something which made him go into a daze again, but this time for a different reason.
"Mom and dad.. are they really here Mr C?"
Sato asked but he almost didn't want to hear the answer.
Because an answer would mean his parents body will be found any second now, buried inside this swamp.
C looked at Sato with pity and patted his shoulder.
"Yugito is our best tracker, she won't make a mistake, I am sorry Sato kun, but your parents trail ends here."
"They probably got stuck in the swamp attempting to pick some fruits."
Sato gave a sad smile, it wasn't that he was doubting Yugito, she had a firey saber tooth tiger inside her.
Her ability to track via scent was clearly in a league of it's own.
But that didn't mean he had to like the news she gave!
Sato shook his head, he was getting distracted a lot today.
"I see.."
"Thank you Mr C, for taking the time to look for my parents."
"It means a lot to me."
Giving a small bow Sato thanked C, he could understand why Kumo Ninja were so loyal to each other.
The moment he decided to join them, they went out of their way to track down his missing parents.
Frankly he was just a wandering child, his parents were just a step above beggers, Ninja's like them don't need to care about him at all.
Yet they did, all because he was one of them now.
"Think nothing of it Sato Kun, don't think you don't deserve this."
"You are just as important as anyone else, a man's circumstances don't determine his worth."
"His character does."
Patting Sato on his head, C smiled.
"And you are a good kid Sato, helping you is the least we could do."
"I am sure you would have done the same if you were in my place."
Sato smiled and nodded his head, C gave a smile of his own and turned towards the muddy swamp before them.
Currently Yugito and his two partners were using earth style to drain out the mud.
A lot of it had been moved by now, and although Sato couldn't see it, C could already see something buried inside.
Two human bodies.
"We found them!"
Yugito Nii announced and used an Earth style to bring the bodies to surface.
"..."
Sato closed his eyes, the half eaten bodies of his parents was too gruesome to look at.
But he steeled himself after a few seconds and opened his eyes again.
Yugito had already cleaned the mud from their bodies by now and had laid them before him.
"So it's true.."
"You really did die.."
Sato muttered sadly, he had survived till today because of his parents.
As far as he was concerned, they deserved his utmost respect.
"Poor boy."
Yugito pursed her lips watching Sato struggle, she softly hugged him from behind to show her support.
She had seen too many deaths, but Sato had seen only this one, helping him along was the least she could do.
The Kumo Shinobi also kept quiet and let Sato be for a while.
But Sato didn't take too much time, he had already expected this after all, it only took a few minutes for him to collect himself back up.
He knew he wasn't in the normal world anymore, this was a war torn world, he himself might end up like this someday.
Half eaten and rotting in a stinking ditch.
"Sister, can you please help me cremate them?"
Sato asked Yugito, this wasn't a random thought he just had, he chose cremation for a very good reason.
This world had impure world reincarnation, it was completely possible that someone in the future might bring back his parents as zombies to threaten him.
Kabuto and Orochimaru exist after all, they even managed to find Ninja's who have been dead for decades, much less two wanderers like his parents.
Knowing this Sato decided to leave no weakness for himself, he would leave nothing they could exploit.
"Cremation? Alright, I'll do it."
Being a fire cat, Yugito decided to to do the job herself.
Burning bodies was something she had done many times, it's just that she was used to burning them alive.
But this worked too.
"Wait a second sister..!"
"Can you save their pinky finger bones?"
"Our family has this ritual when a loved one passes away."
Sato said to Yugito, who was a bit taken aback by his request but agreed nonetheless.
Of course, there was such no ritual, Sato had lied.
He kept a piece of their DNA for the same reason he had them cremated.
To use impure world reincarnation and revive them one day.
If he somehow managed to use the technique and smuggle them into Konoha during the pain arc, Nagato's rebirth justu can easily bring them back to life.
'But that's a tall order, where am I supposed to get Konoha's forbidden technique.'
'Much less somehow smuggle two zombies inside an enemy village.'
Sato rubbed his forehead, reviving his parents seemed almost impossible, but he will anyways give it a try.
Who knows, maybe he will figure out some way by then.
He was after all a reincarnation, a reincarnation with knowledge of an entirely different civilization.
Advanced chapters ahead on patréon
www.patréon.com/ImagineMaker