This is my second long fic that I've been working on! I think I've improved in my writing, being more descriptive while keeping suspense.

This is semi-canon? As in it's in the correct timeline for it to be?

Well-enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or am making any profit off this work

Faith Moves Mountains

The Worst Location for a Mission!

'Here's your order!'

Naruto gratefully accepted the steaming cup of tea placed in front of him. He leaned forward as to inhale in the aroma deeply, getting a whiff of a mixture of herbs and a sweetener. He placed the ceramic cup in his hand, appreciative of the warmth seeping through his skin as a result of the contact. At times like this, he truly felt at ease. It was only a hot drink at a small teahouse in the middle of nowhere, but trivial things like these felt like luxuries during long, debilitating missions.

He had been travelling for almost two and a half weeks on end- his longest journey yet. After the whole account with the Three Tails, Kakashi had decided that the team should have a well-earned break, and most of the shinobi making up Konoha 11 were off duty for a while. But Naruto being Naruto, insisted that there was something he could do, and him sitting around 'resting' was a waste of time, and so on and so forth. His sensei, who knew arguing with Naruto was like trying to reason with a rock, gave in after two way-too-early morning visits to his house. Kakashi on the second instance then ordered the youth to go and speak to the Hokage, not telling him that he had previously spoken to her the day before- with the intent that she give him a job that taught him a lesson.

And Tsunade didn't fail to deliver. The boy had been assigned a roughly month-mission, which wasn't what he had had in mind. He wished for something dangerous, something flashy that he could boast to his comrades about upon his return-especially that punk Kiba. Instead, he was given a repetitive (and not flashy at all) task of collecting old Senju sealing scrolls that had been lying about here and there after the remnants of the last war. Naruto didn't refuse however-his pride wouldn't let him. That and the comments of the Ba-Chan saying how this was important to her, seeing it was part of clan heritage ect ect, and that the scrolls should be documented and stored away safely in case of future need.

Right now though, he needed to do a survey of his findings-something he hadn't done since entering Stone Country one and a half days ago from the Land of Earth (although at this moment in time he had already passed the border into Wind Country). He had travelled for eight hours from the boundary, only stopping for breath twice as he made his way in a southwest direction to his next marked location.

'Oba-san, is there a place where I can wash up?' Naruto asked as he placed down his cup while simultaneously picking up the bag at his feet.

'Yes, my dear. If you go through the door on your left, there should be a room with a basin and a toilet.' The woman behind the counter who spoke was old and feeble. Her pale, wrinkly skin looked as if it could fall off any minute, and her eyes -though extremely small- still had a hint of kindness in them. Surprisingly for her age, her grey hair was exceedingly long, and the bun that it was in seemed to outweigh the weight of the fragile head that it was atop. As she moved over to clear Naruto's table, she was interrupted by a younger woman.

'It's ok Ba-Chan, I'll do it,' the girl smiled as she caught the elder woman's hand, gently squeezing it as she did so. Presumably her granddaughter, the shinobi thought as he headed to where the old lady told him to.

Once inside the room, the Uzumaki shut the door behind him. As well as the need to relive himself, another reason why he asked for the bathroom was to check the contents of his backpack. He sat himself down on a stool in the far-right corner, and unzipped a black and grey bag that was placed on the floor. As he pulled out his hands from it, three scrolls were clumsily held in them. Naruto then placed two on the sill next to him, while opening up the remaining one so it spread out across his lap. He next placed a chakra-infused palm on the ink after biting his thumb- done in order to draw the blood required for the summoning. Usually, objects that were kept in scrolls did not need blood- or chakra for that matter- to be summoned. However, due to the classified nature of the items that had now appeared in front of him, Lady Tsunade had insisted that they be stored this way in case they fell into wrong hands.

78….

78 scrolls he had collected in total so far. Ironically, the sealing scrolls that the shinobi had to find were to be locked away themselves in Makimono that specially could hold large quantities of small objects. The three that were given to him now could hold up to 37 items each. The Fifth Hokage had estimated the number of scrolls to be in the range of 96-110, as to give some leeway in case any were destroyed after the war or taken beforehand. Fortunately enough for Naruto though, the number was not larger as most of the desired articles around Fire country had already been collected by Leaf Shinobi. There was also the newly formed alliance between Konoha and Suna that made sure any scrolls that belonged to the Senju were rightly returned to the owner village.

Well, most of the scrolls…

After Naruto did all that needed to be done, he splashed his face with water once more- thankful of the cool flowing liquid- knowing that it would be some time before he'd be able to wash with it so freely again (seeing that he was in the middle of the desert). As he saw himself out he waved to the old woman and girl, thanking them for their hospitality and the amazing tea-and that he'd be sure to visit again if he was ever passing by. He took a deep breath as he passed through the door, and was ready to set out again.

Naruto had been travelling for four hours non-stop when he was starting to feel sluggish. Apart from breakfast 12 hours ago and a biscuit or two that he had eaten at the tea house, he hadn't eaten solid food at all. As soon as the boulder came into his sight, he leaned against it to catch his way-too-ragged-for-his-liking breath, as well as reach for a food pill inside his bag (courtesy of Sakura). Even though the taste was horrifically bitter as it reached his mouth, Naruto was grateful for the burst of energy that he hoped would surge through him in a few moments. Since he had stopped, he took the opportunity to pull yet a different scroll from out of his backpack. It was one of two given to him by TenTen. He recalled her advice before his journey.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

'Now listen here!' TenTen put her hands on her hips. 'There are fifteen containers in each scroll. I've packed in more than usual since Lady Tsuande said you're not a water user, so you can't conjure up chakra to turn it into the water element-if you were you could refill these up no big deal.

'These are sealed by basic fuinjutsu that don't require chakra, or blood to reach the required items okay? However, a compromise is that you need to use chakra to seal the containers again, regardless of whether the water refilled is from your own chakra or just standard. To do that, just muster up energy on the seal and place the cup on it, and it should be transported. You need to do this every time you want to return one, though.'

Naruto had tried to keep up, but the crossed arms and confused expression on his face told the kunochi otherwise. She sighed and furrowed her brow as she got ready to speak again.

'Look, all I'm saying is that since the climate you'll be going in will vary, be careful to keep these filled up. Don't wear out your chakra so much by sprinting or engaging in battle or whatever that you find that you can't seal back these much-needed containers. I've packed plenty, but worst-case scenario is that you discard them because you can't seal them back, then at the same time you can't conjure up water element even if your chakra is restored later on, since that isn't your nature.'

He had taken heed of her words. Before leaving the Land of Stone, he had made sure to fill up all empty containers with water via streams or other sources of flowing H2O en route to the border. Naruto had only lost three of the first scroll, having misplaced two and giving one to a poor traveller when journeying through a thick forest last week. The flask that he was so grateful to have right now poofed! in front of him as he unravelled the creamy material on the dusty ground. He chugged the cool water thirstily, and as the cold liquid ran down his throat it refreshed his whole being immensely.

After he emptied the container, he placed his hand on the still-unfastened cloth and got ready to collect his chakra. The ink lit up briefly, and Naruto set the cup on the marking ready to return it to its dimension. Strangely enough however, the cup didn't move. Not only that, but the markings on the material flashed for far too little time. The shinobi, who wondered what he had done wrong, furrowed his brow in puzzlement. Thinking that he didn't put enough energy in, Naruto tried again, and then a third time, and then a fourth until he exasperated in frustration. He brought the scroll to his face, peering at it as to inspect any damage that may have occurred. He wasn't surprised when he found that that wasn't the case, since he had not engaged in battle nor snagged his bag on any sharp rocks (there wasn't much in the middle of the desert).

The Uzumaki had stopped for ten minutes when he realised that he should be moving on. Although feeling much better after quenching his thirst, for some peculiar reason he hadn't got the surge of energy that he had anticipated after consuming the food pill. Shrugging it off as the effect of the glaring desert heat, he got up again and left the container near the large boulder that he had stopped at.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Two more hours had passed…What was wrong with him? When he was travelling as Team Kakashi a while ago on the Kazekage mission, he hadn't felt this tired- they had even been going at nearly full speed then! Was it because the western side of the desert was that much harsher? Or that he just had so much anger back then that that was the fuel which kept him going?

Well, whatever it was, it was exhausting him. Naruto took yet another break as he popped a food pill in his mouth once again, emptying out one more container while he was at it. This time however, he didn't bother trying to seal it back, so he just left it where it was-with the thought that some hopeful traveller didn't think that it still had its contents and be disappointed upon finding it empty.

Naruto then proceeded to stand up and was stretching out his legs when a strange aura hit him. It was dark- familiar in a way, but still distant. To his dismay, he couldn't figure out the direction that it was coming from-or the type of signature it was for that matter. Was the chakra human or from an object? Naruto was frustrated that he couldn't tell.

A thought suddenly came into his head. Wait, could this chakra be what's interfering with me? he wondered. It was just conjecture, but that was the only explanation that he could think of in his current state. If he could find the source, then maybe, just maybe he could replenish his energy. But then again, because it was just an assumption- would it really be okay to waste time like this? It would be getting dark soon, and desert climate at night would be harsh-if not harsher than in the daylight.

There was also the lack of direction to consider. Not that he would contemplate back-tracking to find the location of the energy, but he was pretty sure that the chakra source wasn't behind him, otherwise he would have picked it up sooner- and stronger. Unless it's messing with me, Naruto thought. After some consideration, he decided that he would just carry on going in the direction that he intended to go in, and hopefully, if he happened to run into the focus point then- problem solved. He slung his possessions over his shoulder and began to run once more- if not a bit hazy.

'Ah-got it!' Naruto exclaimed as his hand felt a rusty latch that was embedded between some stone. He grunted, then pushed it down so that it made a 'clunk' sound, which gave way to a narrow opening that was barely visible due to the amount of dust on it. The young man whipped out a kunai, digging it into the gap as to crumble away the stone. He placed his other hand on the top of the tool for support and leaned his weight forwards.

'Gah-ah!' Naruto heaved as bits of debris fell onto his body. He was doing a simple enough task, and yet it was consuming every bit of energy that he had in him. When the hole was big enough to reach a hand through, he stopped to wipe his sweat-filled brow before extending his arm into the gap. Worn yet soft material wrapped around his fingers. He clutched at it, then pulled out the scrolls that he had been looking for into the open.

Three.

He reached into the crevice again-but this time in the far corner- and found yet another scroll (although this one felt less tattered than the trio he had just pulled out). The Leaf shinobi plopped it onto the ground in a pile with the others and straightened his back, ready for the final round. With one last sweep, the fingers of his right hand travelled over the floor of the gap and although finding no more parchments, he could have sworn he felt a few bugs scuttle over his hand.

Good thing Sakura isn't doing this, he chuckled to himself, she hates bugs. As he panted -why was this taking so much work?!-he thought it strange how the pink-haired kunochi could handle wounded corpses but not creepy-crawlies. The thought reminded him of her food pills-something he could really do with round about now- but they weren't being effective as of late, so he considered postponing their use. Instead, he shoved a hand in his bag to rummage around for the large sealing scroll. And as he had done so numerous times before on his journey, he unwrapped the cloth and proceeded to perform the sealing ritual. Naruto bit his thumb so a thick red trailed down it. He placed his hand flat on the black kanji and tried to muster up his chakra.

Tried.

Not this again.

He sighed in exasperation. He had a few more unsuccessful attempts before he tossed all five parchments into backpack in annoyance. The struggle alone to collect and focus energy was exhausting him. Naruto leaned against a broken pillar as he scanned his surroundings. Apart from the two walls that were latched, there were no others. Even this pillar (or half a pillar) was alone in its construction. There was an arch of stone across from where he was looking, and some bricks and debris scattered here and there but that was all there was to it. After surveying around him, his attention was brought to the sky as he felt the air moving besides him.

The wind was picking up.

And as well as the noticeably colder temperature, it was starting to get dark. Where he sat wasn't shelter enough. If he wanted somewhere to stay in his vulnerable state, he needed to keep moving.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

How long has it been? Two hours? Two and a half- maybe three? Wait, what if not even one hour has gone by?

I feel so sluggish. Chakra, I can't feel it. My chakra-wait what's that aura? Why can I sense it but not my own? It's stronger…it's dark. It seems personal, but I can't place my finger on it… Why can't I recognise it?

It's cold…

...so cold…

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A Leaf shinobi was lost. The shinobi was clad in ridiculous orange, and thankfully possessed a not-so-ridiculous backpack.

He was tired. The sun was tired a while ago too, so it had long set.

The desert was enjoying itself. Night was for a few hours at this time of year, so it relished in its blackout. It was a canvas for the stars that glimmered in numbers only a twilight sky would allow.

The air liked how free it could be, and how cold it could come. It decided to arrive at a chilling temperature. It tossed and twirled specks of dull sand, causing whirls of dust that trailed on for as long as the eye could see.

It's stronger…it's closer.

Vague outlines of something tall.

More pillars? No…they aren't that straight-oh, they're trees.

A heavy draft carrying small granules caused the traveller to rub his eyes in irritation. He looked up and saw a structure.

More trees? He carried his feet a few metres forwards. A, a-

'A shack!' Naruto cried out with energy he didn't know he had. 'A frickin' shack!'

The Uzumaki stumbled hastily towards the construction. A newfound surge of power called hope coursed through the shinobi, revitalising his weak body. The blonde didn't know whether it was sweat or tears streaming down his face, and frankly, he didn't care. He had found a source of shelter, and-

This…it can't be. It's not-

As the shack neared to a stone's throw away, the presence that had bothered Naruto for almost half a day practically dominated the space it was placed in. It's inside, he concluded, perhaps a scroll left open –possibly it's leaking chakra?

But who was out here in the middle of nowhere that left behind the document, and what were they doing?!

Besides… the youth didn't recall this being a marked location on his map. And as he neared, metres away from the door, he couldn't take the anxiety of not knowing what the chakra was any longer, so he found himself running towards the hut. Approaching the entrance, he placed his hands on a metal(?) sheet that was fixed in between the shack's wooden exterior walls. His heart beating crazily as it pulsed with the feeling of the ominous energy coming from inside, Naruto surprisingly pulled open the door easily enough.

He quickly shut the door behind him as to avoid bringing in the cold, leaning against it as he sighed and shut his eyes in relief. No sooner had he done so however, he realized that he hadn't found out the source of the aura. Naruto opened his eyes. He didn't need to do much searching.

No further than two metres away was a young man directly standing in front of him.

'Sasuke-'

So why is Naruto's chakra so disturbed that he couldn't even recognise Sasuke? And what was Sasuke doing in the middle of nowhere?

Note: (Sasuke is 'white clothed Sasuke' here, so very cold)

{Please review!}

Next chapter Kuruma makes an appearance!