Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

The sun was hot, beating down on all of the nature with no mercy. Leaves drooped, and trees leaned just a little farther than necessary. Sweat ran down young skin, into blue material darkened by the moisture. Soft pants blew into the material, making the moist material stick sloppily to a rounded chin. Small hands irritated, but restrained, swatted at the scarf.

The bushes swayed, such an abnormal occurrence for a still, blistering day. Muscles tensed, ready to pounce, and a heart beat raced through the twigs and roots pressed against a crouched body. There, in the foot of distance, glowing eyes peered from the shadows of the brush. Stubby fingers curled against the ground tightly, the strain of the thighs thrumming through the torso. The glowing eyes shifted, and the bush rustled as a dark blur flew into the air, and the crouched figure sprung.

Tora screeched, clawing at the weirdly dressed idiot that ruined her escape. She tore wildly in the boy's arms, yet, he didn't let go. Though, she did feel triumphant of the indignant squawks she pulled out of him. Hiss..

"Ah! Gotcha!" the brunette gloated, a grin stretching his round face. "You can never escape the Great Konohama-achoo!"Konohamaru sniffed irritably as Tora's tail whacked his face numerous times. With a grunt he stood, the cat's bottom fitted between his hip and his elbow, his hand under the cat's body, and his other holding the scruff of it's neck. "Now, let's head back, before I die of heatstroke.."

Konohamaru began to walk, his strides confident with a weird sense of direction. The boy suddenly paused, looking this way and that. He twisted his face into a look of pure agony. "Which way was base again?" Konohamaru frantically pulled his thoughts together, only to find that he had nodded off when his sensei was speaking to him. "Ugh! Damn it!"

Konohamaru leaped into a nearby tree, and looked over the top of the trees, only to realize that the foliage was so thick, he could not see past them to the forest floor. The brunette groaned, wiggling in his uncomfortably damp clothes. "Now how do I get back?" Konohamaru blinked, his good mood ruined. "Help!" he called. It echoed over the tops of the trees, though no answer came back. Yet, he smiled, suddenly remembering the river. He grinned once more. "I'll just follow the river!" he exclaimed. He swore Tora just snorted at him.

Konohamaru began to leap towards the water, the soft scrape of the bark against his sole familiar and comforting as the unsure thoughts ran through his head. Konohamaru frowned, feeling the bark shift beneath his feet as he leapt. He bent his legs and absorbed the coming energy, stopping neatly on the branch. Coming to his full height, he glanced down at his feet, and now that he was still, he could feel the strange quake quiver into his ankles.

Konohamaru perked his ears, hearing a crackling thunder like boom off into the distance. Birds cried out in alarm, and scattered into the sky. The boy focused his gaze curiously into the distance of the trees, and his eyes widened, seeing an explosion of snapping branches and wood like a wave of abolition coming towards him. Everything began to tremor horribly, like big hands had taken hold of the ground, and yanked it out from under everything.

Konohamaru gasped, fear gripping his heart as his feet stumbled over the branch that shook beneath him. Then it was gone, and he was falling, the cool air rushing into him, hitting his damp body with a chill. Shivers racked his body as he continued to fall, and looking down, he was met with a horrible end of destroyed growth. The pit of jagged and pointed wood stuck out to greet him. Konohamaru felt the knot tighten in his stomach as he curled protectively around the stiff cat, his eyes closing shut so tightly, the pain tidaled through his eyes. He could almost feel the sharp ends piercing his body, and terror struck him to the core. His throat felt raw, and that's when he realized he was screaming.

Two limbs struck his back, and Konohamaru rasped for air as he was pressed to a hard chest. "I got ya!" a familiar voice rumbled into his hair as a chin pressed against his scalp.

Hope bloomed in Konohamaru's lungs, and relief flew through his trembling body. "Naruto!" he praised.

Naruto evened his breath as he slid and squeezed through the impossibly small openings in the falling foliage. A barrage of timber fell in front of him, and Naruto cursed as he was forced to jump back before they were crushed. Channeling chakra to his feet, Naruto stood on the very tips of the quite violently broken wood, and pushed off with all his strength, into the tops of the trees. He crashed through braches and twigs that battered him from all sides, meeting the rising air of the blue sky. As everything fell beneath them, currents of air raced upwards, carrying the boys, and the panic stricken cat, even higher.

Naruto thought quickly, angling their bodies to ride the current, and away from the horrible quakes striking the ground. As the currents ended, Konohamaru felt the same falling feeling breeze through his stomach, and began to get queasy. Naruto landed outside Konoha's gate, absorbing the grounds impact into his knees. He winced, feeling it burn through his wounds. Konohamaru grinned at his teammates at the gate, and rounded on Naruto with a thankful aura.

"Thanks for saving me, Naruto! That was so cool!" he exclaimed.

"No prob." Naruto replied with equal loudness.

Naruto waved as they wandered away. Once out of sight, Naruto frowned. Didn't they hear the commotion? He blinked, turning to look at the forest. His eyes narrowed. You can't even tell that a part of the forest is gone! If people can't hear the destruction, or see it, then the fallen won't be saved in time. With this thought, Naruto advanced upon the forest, searching the grounds.

He paused, sensing fluctuating chakra towards the river he had been at when he heard Konohamaru call for help. Naruto dodged quickly though the trees, coming to a rest in the calm, moist air. He looked down the river sides, but didn't see the cause of the chakra. His brow furrowed with confusion. Listening intently, he heard a hiss of pain. He looked around frantically, knowing someone was nearby.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" he called.

"Oh, thank kami!" he heard a rasping breath claim.

Naruto's head twisted in the direction of the voice, and his legs moved without command. He parted through bushes, spotting a wounded ninja. She lay on the ground, a hand pressed to her neck, blood dripping through her fingers. Naruto hurried to her side.

"What happened?" he asked with wide eyes.

The woman smiled goofily, her teeth tinted pink with blood. "It was an accident, really." she rasped, and Naruto nodded. "I was heading back to deliver my report to Hokage-sama, and I wasn't paying attention. A stray branch snapped into my neck, and I landed wrong on my ankle.."

Naruto's eyes strayed to her ankle, and they widened further. There was a slight scrape that shouldn't have been much trouble, but a dark ominous looking bruise surrounded it. Blood ran down into her sandal, but at the source, it bubbled oddly. "It wasn't that you weren't paying attention..." he murmured, bringing his narrowed eyes back to the woman's curious face. "Something strange is going on. How long have you been out here?"

The woman tilted her chin, and Naruto blinked as the sun bounced off her headband on her forehead. "I was heading back in the early hours… and I was injured around noon."

Naruto scrunched his face in agony, remembering what position the sun was in at the moment. "That long ago? You got a lot of endurance, lady." She looked at him questionably.

Naruto placed his hand over hers to indicate to her to keep the pressure on it. Then he lifted her carefully, and didn't take the chance of leaping in the trees. He ran, going by ground. He was quiet, but that didn't stop his thoughts from racing. This is weird. I don't sense any disturbing presences, so what could have caused all this?

"Recently, have you heard anything weird? Like trees collapsing?" he murmured.

The woman blinked, realizing the question was directed to her. "Uh, no."

Naruto nodded, not pausing at the gate, to go straight to the hospital. While handing the woman off to the doctors, he offered to deliver the report to the hokage for her. Reluctantly, she agreed, and Naruto made quickly to the great hokage.

Tsunade threw back another glass of sake, the cool liquid sending a refreshing sting through her throat. She sighed, going to pour another, when her door burst open. Her hands jumped, the bottle and the shot flying forgotten.

Naruto struggled against the hold of the two elder ninja, growling and complaining. "Will you losers get off of me?!" With a new thought, Naruto grinned, and licked the opposing arms. Twin shrieks of horror echoed through the office as Naruto ran up to the desk of the dismayed and empty handed hokage. "Obaa-chan!" he cried. "This is really important! Tell these goons to get off my tails!"

Tsunade sighed, and waved the ninja away. They both sent Naruto glares of certain death as they stalked away. Naruto rolled his eyes as the door closed and swatted at the air behind him as if smoothing his fur. Tsunade watched him quizzically, and ill amused. "Alright, Naruto. Is this business, or are you just here to annoy me?"

Naruto straightened, and nodded respectfully to his hokage. Tsunade's eyes widened as she noticed the many dark bruises littering the boy's body. She leaned across her desk at his unusual behavior, fearing the worst.

A/N

first posted fanfic, so any suggestions now, and throughout the story will be appreciated!

-MM(: