'Hmm, this place looks familiar.' Naruto thought looking at the land. "But where have I seen it before?" He muttered to himself as they passed the mountain with clouds shrouding the top from view. It looked as though something huge tried to climb the mountain and tore big chunks out the side of it. Naruto thought deeply trying to reach the area in his mind where he saw it before. But all he did was draw up a huge blank.
"Sensei, what's wrong with Naruto? He's gone very quiet all of a sudden." Sakura whispered to Kakashe who was leading the group past the mountains. He looked back and saw the look on Naruto's face. "The Nine-tailed fox was here before you were born. That demon tried to find the hidden city said to be the home of people with powerful magic. It's only a legend but something stopped that creature in its tracks. You can see where it stopped climbing and retreated back down the mountain. So maybe there is some hidden memory deep within Naruto's mind that's trying to resurface. We may see more of this in our journey. But until he figures it out we shall keep this between us…and Sasuke you'll do the same." He said noticing the stealthy ninja walking just behind him able to hear the conversation. "Whatever."
"Naruto, keep looking like that and you'll turn in to Sasuke!" Sakura teased. "WHAT!" Naruto yelled finding that far from funny. He put his own face back on and became his usual self. Sasuke glared at Sakura so she apologised. 'Yeah, sorry I didn't think of it earlier.' Her inner side said.
When they stopped for camp that night he went to fill the water pouches on his own. That way he could think about the hidden memory undisturbed. 'Dammit! Where have I seen this place before?' He asked himself getting more and more frustrated. He hit the ground when he could take no more. He was thinking so hard his head started hurting. He was on the brink of tears but fought them back tremendously.
"Naruto." A voice said behind him. He turned to see Sasuke standing by a tree; it looked like he had been there for a while. "Are you…?" He stopped and looked down at the water bottles. "Have you filled one yet? We need water for the food."
"Here." Naruto said chucking him a full pouch. "Don't use it all at once." He said with a goofy grin on his face. "I won't." Sasuke said giving Naruto a warm smile surprising the hell out of him. "See ya." He said and made his way back to camp. "Yeah…" Was Naruto's reply before he turned back to the river filling up the rest of the pouches. 'That was weird.' He thought getting back to what he was thinking about.
"How is he?" Kakashe asked Sasuke when he came back with the pouch. "Not good. I think it'd driving him mad trying to remember." He said carelessly pouring the water in to a pot. Kakashe sighed. "Naruto will remember eventually all the pain and fear the creature sealed within him has caused. When that time comes he'll have to face it alone."
"No way!" Sakura yelled standing up so fast you'd think she'd sat on a thistle. "I don't like Naruto but no one should have to go through that alone!" Kakashe looked at her thinking very carefully about what he was going to say. "He may not want your help or anyone else. All his life Naruto has been hated and feared so he's used to being alone. He acts the way he does because he cannot stand it but he knows how to live with it when there is no one to show off his antics. When he does eventually remember chances are he'll try to run away from us and keep his distance from anyone in case the fox should ever come out. He won't want our deaths on his conscience."
"Naruto." Sakura sighed looking in the direction of the river.
The young boy had finished his task and was about to return to camp when he heard someone singing. It was a young girl's voice over by the waterfall. Overwhelmed by curiosity he went over to the waterfall. He looked over the edge of the cliff in the direction of the singing voice. He couldn't see where she was and figured she was in the mist rising high in to the air. 'Maybe there are some flat rocks below the waterfall. She's probably standing on them.' He thought leaning even further over the edge. Still unable to see anything he climbed up a tree and went along a branch seven feet away from the trunk. He went as far as he could go and held on to a thinner branch sticking up in to the air. He held on to it and leaned over but he still couldn't see anything.
The voice was soft and gentle; every note seemed to flow through him. He stayed there for a while listening to the eerie song imagining what she looked like. 'Tall, blond and veeeerryyy pretty.' He drooled.
He was so captivated by the mystery singer he failed to notice the branch he stood on was creaking. He was slowly going down until the branch could take no more. A sickening crack came to his ears too late and he was falling towards the mist. "YYYYYAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed, plummeting with the speed of an arrow as he entered the mist.
When he saw the water there were no flat ones…but very jagged I want to impale you ones!
But as he reached them he noticed he had stopped falling. "Huh?" He looked up to see something was grabbing his leg. "Hey! Are you ok?" Someone called above him. Could it be the one who was singing. Her voice was different, it was strong and so full of confidence Naruto felt little in her presence. "Y-yeah, I'm ok." He managed to say. "I'm going to get you back up where you fell. Try not to struggle or I won't be able to keep hold of you. You're heavy enough as it is and I can't get you on my broomstick in this position." She said making Naruto stay very still. 'Wait a minute? Broomstick?'
When they came out the mist he could see her. She was wearing a dark hooded purple cloak and was indeed riding a black broomstick.
They reached the top of the waterfall and Naruto felt himself being lowered gently to the ground. When he got up he looked at the girl floating by the edge on the cliff. She looked over to the tree and sighed. "Didn't you know that it was dead? It hasn't even got any leaves and the bark is black!" She growled at him. "Hey! It was your singing that made me do it!" He exclaimed. "Well Mr. Wizard; next time you go flying don't forget your broom."
"I'm no wizard I'm a Shinobi in training!" She gasped. "A Shinobi? Oh great…Kein's going to kill me for this."
"Are you a witch?" He asked making her heave a heavy sigh. "What did you think I was? A giant bird of some kind?" She growled. "Listen, for saving your life I need you to promise you won't tell anyone you saw me. My people have cut themselves off from Ninja's and any other people who don't know where we are. Only the Hokage of every village know where we are. They don't ever contact us unless in times of great need. So will you please do that for me?"
"Hey, you're in that hidden city up there aren't you?" Naruto pointed to the mountain with the cloudy top. "They told us it was just a legend."
"Yes and it must stay that way. Please, give me your word as a ninja that you'll never tell a soul about what happened tonight." She pleaded. Naruto was about to give his word when he heard something in the distance. "NARUTO!" His Sensei and his cell members were calling him from where he filled the pouches. "Please, promise me you'll say nothing or my life won't be worth living." Again she pleaded but sounded more desperate than last time. "Ok I promise." He said and she started to fly away. "H-hey!" She stopped and looked at him. "What's your name?"
"Sujin." She said quickly and flew up in to the clouds. Naruto stood there staring at the clouds his saviour had just flown into. "Good Bye…"
"THERE YOU ARE NARUTO!" Sakura exclaimed. "What happened? Why did you scream like that? You scared the hell out of us!" She yelled. 'If only her voice was as sweet as Sujin's.' Naruto thought. He listened to her rant and rave how they had to go looking for him. Sasuke and Kakashe were way behind her glaring at him. "Care to explain?" Kakashe said when Sakura had finally finished scolding Naruto. 'Oh crap! I can't tell them about Sujin, I promised her. Gotta think of something fast.' He looked over to the tree he fell from and decided to spin up a short story. "I wanted to see the waterfall so I decided to climb that tree and get a good look at it. The branch broke and I fell but managed to jump back in time. Eh heh heh…the end?"
"Naruto." Kakashe sighed. "You may not be the greatest member of our team but try not to get yourself killed." For once Naruto didn't retort to that insult and just stared up at the clouds. "You're looking all serious again." Sakura warned bringing Naruto back to reality. "Am not!" They headed back to camp. Kakashe stole a quick glance at the clouds when he was behind them. But seeing nothing he followed them back to camp.