The city block they walked down was flanked on both sides by tall, colorful buildings, their red and green visages interspersed with the occasional plain beige. Their dusky hues became vibrant in the light of the setting sun, illuminating their color and the people milling about them; young children playing games and eluding their mothers' grasps, street vendors selling their wares and happy couples basking in the evening light, their hands entwined together as they talked hushly. The sun's slow dying rays cast a glow over everything, making the city quite the sight to behold.

Naruto squinted at the sights, both trying to get the light out of his eyes and trying to comprehend the peacefulness of the city. He shifted his backpack unconsciously, attempting to move it into a more comfortable position, as it's ramen-heavy contents were doing murder on his back. His feet screamed in equal pain, the seven hour walk they'd done finally catching up with them, and causing him to lag a little behind as he followed Jiraiya's lead. "Hey, hey, Ero-sennin. Can we stop for a few seconds or what?"

"Nope. Can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen, brat." Naruto narrowed his eyes annoyedly at that, looking at the old sage's back with mounting displeasure. He'd been coerced into coming to this trip, if anything, and here that pervert was denying giving him a small break. Damn it. Can't Jiraiya cut him a break? Don't they have laws about this sort of thing? It was unfair! Ero-sennin took way bigger steps! He had to take twice as many steps just to keep up!

As Naruto crossed his arms in aggravation, fuming about the indignity and total unfairness of the situation, he didn't notice Jiraiya had came to a stop until he was face-to-back with him, nearly stumbling into the man. "Hey! What's the big deal?" It was Naruto's fault for not paying attention, yeah, but he didn't pay attention long enough to realize that.

Stepping out from behind Jiraiya to get a better look at what had grabbed his attention, Naruto found two things. A hotel loomed on one side, it's bright pink and orange exterior contrasting with the dimmer buildings around it, and Naruto could only conclude that it was new. The sign read Asahi-kyakushoubai in pale lavender letters and was covered in fine black lacquer. On the other side of the street was a plain beige building, a worn but well cared for sign categorizing it as a curio shop. The windows were coated in a thin layer of dust, contrasting oddly with how nicely maintained everything else seemed to be. Other people would have focused on how strange that was, especially when compared with how Jiraiya never actually stated what the trip was for. Other people were not Naruto.

The blond jerked his finger into the direction of the hotel and craned his neck to look at Jiraiya's profile. "Are we gonna stay there?"

They damn well better. A short trip to Tanzaku-gai, Jiraiya said. We'll be back in two days max, Jiraiya said. I'll make it worth your while, that damn lying bastard said. He could be eating fresh Ichiraku Ramen but no. Granted, it was only the first day, so maybe the first two things Jiraiya said were true. They'd been moving slowly, and were more than halfway to Tanzaku-gai, but it had definitely not been worth his while.

Jiraiya shed off his backpack, holding it by one strap. "You are going to be staying right here, while I stop to get supplies." Naruto moved his gaze from Jiraiya to the backpack and back, then with the passion of a spoiled toddler denied a long awaited toy, said, "Hell no!" Fellow pedestrians stopped and stared at his outburst. Mothers covered their children's ears and eyed him unhappily while the young one's looked on with curiosity, teens around his age and a little older glanced at him with slight interest, and one or two little old ladies looked almost offended. Had Naruto been paying attention, he would've wondered if any of those people got out much.

"Come on, I'll be gone for a few minutes at best. Don't you trust me?"

The look on Naruto's face said it all.

"Hurtful."

"Go tell that to someone who cares!"

Head held high and chin jutted out, the chances of Naruto complying with Jiraiya's will were zero to none, and with the fight he was willing to put up, they both knew it. His blue eyes glared daggers into Jiraiya's gray optics, and there was no leaving anyone this time. "Fine, brat. I won't leave you out here."

Naruto grinned.

Not being left outside turned out to be a hope raising way of saying that he was going to be left at the hotel instead, while Jiraiya was out doing god-knows-what. To add insult to injury, the old pervert had said he'd be back in a few minutes… hours ago.

Don't you want to learn cool new techniques? He said. Is my sagely knowledge not what you desire? The chance to study under the one, the only, Toa—

Shut up! Naruto had said. The last thing he needed to hear was another spiel about Jiraiya's great achievements or whatever. It was apparent that, in order to study under the Great Toad Sage Jiraiya, you had to follow his every order, though Naruto was certain no one would ever get anywhere with him if they did that.

Naruto was, as anyone within his company for more than five minutes would know, not about blindly following orders at all. The resulting yelling match had ended with Naruto calling him a gutter-minded irresponsible flake (not in so many words, of course), Jiraiya calling him an ungrateful brat, and promising on his honor as a gentleman that he'd be back within a few minutes.

Well, Naruto must be operating on fucking dog time, because it had been more than a few minutes and the old perv still wasn't around. Groaning in boredom and anger, he fell backwards onto the hotel bed the old sage had ditched him at. The yellow ball he'd pilfered from the lobby that had been occupying his time while he waited bounced against the wall, the floor, then disappeared somewhere under the empty dresser. A low growl escaped his mouth as he grumbled under his breath, pushing himself up into a sitting position and crossing his arms over his chest. "A few minutes my ass! It's been like two hours!" Pushing himself off the bed, the blond began pacing the room. Irritation and boredom combined together to create restless limbs, and if he didn't move then he would explode. His usual energy didn't help it any, and his fidgety walk led him along the walls and ceiling.

He fell from the ceiling back to to the bed, landing on his stomach and letting out an annoyed grunt. "Great Toad Sage, bleh. Great waste of time, more like! I could be doing something way cooler right now!" He rolled off the bed, staring at the ceiling from the ground and hoping that he hadn't crushed the instant ramen in his backpack. With half-lidded eyes and a half-active brain, he stayed motionless—until a light switch went off on his brain. Well, he might as well do something, right?

Crawling to his feet, Naruto led himself over to Jiraiya's bed, where the absent man's pack laid innocuously. Casting his gaze around the room as if to make sure no one wa looking, he undid one band, then undid the other, then flipped the closed flap open.

Inside was standard stuff—three extra kunai and shuriken, rations, some Icha Icha Paradise manuscripts that made Naruto wrinkle his nose. Under all that junk, though, was the gold; diagrams he half understood and seals for things he couldn't rightly place, not that he cared much about what they meant. He wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to do—maybe throw something slimy in there, a couple slugs, maybe a frog. 'Proofread' his manuscripts with a red pen, maybe? Or maybe take a little creative license with those diagrams…

As Naruto pondered his next action, something at the bottom of the backpack caught his eye. "Eh?"

Tilting his head in confusion, he pulled at it, and blinked slowly as it unfolded before his eyes. It was a seal—he thinks. It was much larger and more complex than all the ones he'd seen before, bar the one etched onto his stomach. Some of it resembled that seal, actually, around the edges. But only a little.

Head still cocked to the side, Naruto laid the seal out on the bed, attempting to see if he could puzzle it out, but so far he had nothing. He traced the outer edges of the seal, slowly making his way to the middle. He barely noticed the small strain on his chakra, seeping out of his body, until his finger grazed the middle of the seal and the drain became too much to possibly ignore. The young blond boy stared at it, uncomprehending, but his instincts kicked in fast enough for him to pull away his hand, just as the seal started glowing blue.

Reality wobbled. Everything shifted.

The entrance of her home revealed it to be dead silent, which wasn't too unusual. Her mother's constant chatter usually filled the place up with energy, but without her home (and she was likely at the market) it was pretty quiet. Father was either in his study, at work, or taking care of some kind of business, contributing to how quiet it was. She didn't find it necessary to go check whether he was home or not, because if he was then she didn't want to interrupt whatever he was doing. There were other things on her mind, anyway.

The new Hokage, Tsunade, had fixed Kakashi and Sasuke right up, and her mood was absolutely radiant. After making sure the two were alright, she'd treated herself to a lunch at Dangoya to celebrate a day without stress. She placed the container filled with the unfinished zenzai the owner had urged her to try on the table (it was actually pretty good) before rifling around in the utensil drawers for a soup spoon, then sitting down and enjoying her leftover lunch.

Sakura swung her feet, the sweet, creamy soup elevating her mood and making her eyes close in bliss. As she opened them again and lowered her spoon to scoop up more of the boiled red beans, she stopped.

It was… moving.

Like looking at the surface from the bottom of the pool, the container undulated and swirled gently, making her feel the slightest bit dizzy. Whipping her head around the room, she noticed everything was doing it. Sakura stood up quickly, pushing the chair back with the force of her actions.

Had the soup been poisoned? Spiked? But why her, of all ninjas?

The opportunity to act was stolen from her, however. The soup spoon dropped onto the table, making a clang that went unheard.

On the other side of Konoha, nurses panicked as they tried to pinpoint the location of a patient that had seemingly disappeared.

Author's Note —

Welp, this is an idea that I've had in my head for years, probably, but never thought I had the dedication or skill to do. My skill is still a little wobbly, but that should improve over the course of the story. I've done tons of writing for the last two years, but never really wrote any fanfiction. Now's my chance. Wee.

So... yeah! There's a reason Sakura and Sasuke were pulled along with Naruto, and you'll find that out later. The next chapter should be up in a few days or so. Probably two, since I'd only just started this little thing yesterday, and stopped writing after about half an hour. This was unbeta-ed, so there's probably gonna be some mistakes. Feel free to point them out, because I'm anal about that sort of thing.

On another note, feel free to put in suggests on where Team Seven should land! For the next chapter, I'm thinking maybe... Pokemon world, Sinnoh region? We'll just have to see. By the way, should I add Kakashi into the mix? I just feel like it's not Team 7 without him. I think I will, but I dunno.

Please leave reviews and likes and stuff. I wanna write this real bad, but I need to know that people want to read it! Pretty please with lots of really cool things on top? I've got loads of cool things I want to do. Bye for now!