Disclaimers: First of all, I could never EVER owe anything as awesome as Naruto or any other characters. All credits go to Masashi Kishimoto and others. AND second of all, I'm just here to abuse them for my own selfish needs and amusement...
Chapter 1- Have we met before?
The sun had yet to make its appearance over the still sleeping villagers in Konoha when a girl came sprinting down the street, her short pink hair waved in
the wind. "Damn him! I knew he would oversleep!" She cursed under her breath and picked up her speed. As she ran around the corner she crashed on full
speed into someone, both falling flat on the ground.
Her fury soon turned into surprise as she saw the one she had crashed into. Those bright blue eyes and sun licked blond hair, who else could that belong to
than to the idiot she had been running to go get.
"Naruto!" She yelled at him.
"Sakura-chan!" He called back, smiling his usual big smile.
"Don't 'Sakura-chan' me! You are late!" Sakura stood up, towering over him as she dusted herself, aiming the filth at him. Naruto bared his hands in remorse
in front of him. "I'm sorry, no really! Old granny Tsunade made it clear to me to be on time. But I guess I lost track of time on my way over here..." He
smiled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head with his hand.
Sakura closed her mouth slowly, studying his expression. She saw something else behind his smile, a hint of sadness. "Was it because of Sas-"But she could
not bear herself to say his name out loud, so short after their reunion.
Naruto snapped his eyes open, grabbing with one hand on Sakura's shoulder. "No, no nothing like that, Sakura-chan." He smiled reassuringly to her. "You
know me, the goofball! I was just admiring the village so early in the morning. I have never been up so early, so I simply forgot myself!" He stuck out his
tongue and crossed his eyes. But Sakura had been right, he had been thinking of Sasuke. Or more precisely, how Sasuke had grown so powerful and strong
in these past three years while it seemed he hadn't grown a thing...What had he been doing these past years?
"Well, we should probably head to Tsunade's office. Before she kills us both." Naruto tried to change the topic. Sakura smiled faintly. "Yes let's go..."
###
"YOU IMBECILES! What were you doing?" Tsunade's thunderous voice echoed through the village. The two imbeciles shrank together as they watched the
vein in her forehead grow bigger by the second. "How DARE YOU make me wake up at an ungodly hour and then show up late!" Her enormous breast
bounced up and down, completely captivating Kakashi's attention.
"Well, technically it was only Naruto who was late..." Sakura innocently slipped in between Tsunade's nostril flares.
Sighing deeply and massaging her temples she continued, now a bit calmer. "Doesn't matter, we don't have a lot of time left, so let me go over your mission
again!"
She looked determinedly at each three of them, making sure whether they were paying attention, especially the other two, or not. Kakashi she didn't have
to worry about, for he had stood there the whole time without saying a word looking as indifferent and unenthusiastic as ever.
"The client is Lord Fukaku, one of the feudal lords in the fire country. Which means? That not only is this an important mission, it is SUPER important! It's a
top secret S-rank mission, which means you will travel few in numbers even though there are great risks of being attacked." She explained seriously. "You
are to help escort two very important persons to a location that I do not know where is." The hokage finished, giving them a signal that they were
excused.
"This is the only information we get?" Naruto asked disbelievingly.
"Tsunade-sama, how are we supposed to help if we don't know a thing about the mission? Not even where we are going?" Sakura stepped closer to
Tsunade, placing both of her hands on Tsunade's desk.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes at Sakura, her hands resting under her chin. Sighing again she spoke lower. "This client is my friend, who I owe a lot to. He
asked me to hire a team of people who I trust, and I trust you. You are to team up with a few other people who he trusts. All in all you will be about
eleven people on this journey, keeping it as small as we can to arouse no suspicion or attention. Those that are on the mission are you three plus Rock
Lee, since Sai is on other errands, his four member team, ship members and last but not least, two little girls. They are the ones you must protect your
lives with because they are the ones your enemies will be after. "
"Aha, that was a lot better. And where are we going?" Naruto grinned at Tsunade, who couldn't resist a small smile tugging on her lips.
"Like I said before, I do not know where you are going. The client wants to keep this as much of a secret as he can, so only he himself and his navigator
know the way to the island. What I DO know is that you are to meet them at the harbour at the nearest village from here. There you will meet tomorrow
and there you will get further instructions..." this time she was determined that was all she would have to say, and slammed her fist onto her desk that
nearly broke to smithereens. "NOW, get going!" she roared at them, Sakura and Naruto running as fast as they could followed by Kakashi walking lazily
behind. Finally she could sneak away before Shizuna would come back bothering her with some chores...
#
The village had just begun to wake up when the four people met in front of the village gate, all packed and ready. Naruto was radiating with anticipation to
head out on a journey where the destination was unknown, mostly because of Rock Lee's contagious excitement which he clearly showed by jumping up
and down and yelling random things like "We can do it!" and "If I fail this mission, I will do ONE THOUSAND LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE ON ONE HAND!" But
Naruto was also excited because Kakashi had promised to continue training him and to help him to have better control over his new technique, The Rasen
shuriken. He was determined to get stronger, and fast!
"So, shall we go?" Sakura smiled to her team members.
###
At the same time, a whole day´s travel away, was another team heading to the same harbour. Two young females and two males travelling on a horse
carriage. Inside it they kept their luggage and two big cages, especially in that purpose to hide them.
"Please, could you let us out for just a second?" The 'prisoner' asked. A middle-aged man, tall with a silky black ponytail and covered in scars walked closer
to the carriage. "You know I am not allowed to do that." His deep calm voice answered. "Not after you tried to escape earlier..." He added with humour,
some fine lines forming around his eyes.
"Damn it Ren, I was hoping you had forgotten about that..." A child's voice retorted teasingly.
"Ssh!" The taller female raised her hand, ordering the others to stop. Her light grey eyes scanning around the clearing for an enemy and listening carefully.
But the only sound came from the wind, slightly undulating her long purple hair.
"What is it Shizuka?" the other girl asked after a while, hazel-nut eyes trying to locate what had disturbed the other woman.
"I said be quiet, Yuki!" Shizuka retorted and yanked on her long brown braid. "I sense a strange, yet familiar chakra near here..." She hissed out.
Suddenly they heard rustles in the bushes, all four grabbing their weapons with quick and practised moves, they prepared themselves for a fight. But when
the culprit stepped out of the bushes they immediately let down their weapons and sighed with relief, after Shizuka had nodded to them that it was okay.
"Geez, what were you trying to do? Give us a heart attack?" Yuki addressed the young man stepping out of the bushes.
"So you finally decided to come...You knew we were supposed to meet outside the temple, Haku..." Ren straightened himself and walked towards the
newcomer.
"I got caught up by something..." Haku retorted, his pitch black eyes showing no emotions at all. He was taller than most his age, around sixteen years old.
Thin, but muscular with short black hair. Was considered handsome by many.
"Don't worry about that, what matters is that you are here now..." Ren spoke carefully, full of sympathy. He hadn't known the boy for a long time, but he
knew him well. Well enough to see that Haku had changed dramatically recently, which was understandable...he had just lost his sister not many months
ago. "You sure you are fit to go on this mission?" Ren added, placing his hand softly on Haku's shoulder.
For a moment, Haku seemed to glare at the hand, full of disgust but was soon masked with the same expressionless face as before. "I'm fine...Lord Fukaku
trusted me to watch over those two, and that is what I will do."
The whole time, Shizuka had been tapping impatiently with her foot. "Can we move on?"
Ren looked one last time at Haku. "Yes, let's move on..." As they started to walk, Haku paused to look after them. 'That was too easy...'
It was around noon the following day, when Naruto felt the scent of ocean in the air. Excited he turned around to face his fellow teammates, announcing
the great news.
"I have been able to smell the ocean since this morning, and you just realised that?" Sakura sighed heavily and gave Naruto her 'you-are-so-stupid-
sometimes' look.
"Eh, really?" Naruto laughed embarrassedly. "Yes, really!" She slapped the back of his head.
"We're on good time, in fact ahead of schedule." Kakashi interfered the upcoming argue between Sakura and Naruto. "All thanks to you, Rock Lee." It
wasn't really a grateful tone, quite the opposite. Rock Lee being who he was, didn't take a hint from Kakashi, instead he just continued to march on ahead
while shouting encouragements. "Thank you Kakashi-sensei, but it really is thanks to us all!" he flashed him a big smile of determination.
"We should arrive in about an hour or so..." With that in mind the weary travellers continued, picking up their pace and as Kakashi had said, they reached
the harbour within the hour. Sakura and Naruto slumped down by the nearest bench they found when Kakashi stopped to buy some supplies. Meanwhile
Rock Lee continued to jump up and down in front of them, trying to lift their spirits up. It didn´t really work...
After a few minutes Kakashi came out of the store. "Let's go children, we are supposed to meet them on the ship. So move on!" He said and dragged
Sakura and Naruto back on their feet.
#
They stopped just a few meters in front of a ship, though it wasn't as glorious and grand as the others around, it still looked great. Neither big nor small...It
was a sturdy ship, painted red. Naruto ran his eyes along the ship, stopping on the figurehead at the front of the ship. It was shaped like a mermaid, a
magnificent mermaid with eyes that could kill you! Apparently Naruto had gawked for a while, because when he snapped out of his trance he found out that
his teammates were nowhere to be found.
"Heheh, they must be on board the ship..." he shrugged sheepishly and started to walk, only to trip over something huge, that apparently had been in front
of him the whole time, and fell flat on his face.
"That hurt..." he heard someone say. Naruto jumped professionally back on his feet and scanned the area around him, but he saw no one. "Who said that?"
"Under here, you idiot!" The voice had come from under the covers that hid something under it. "Don't be so rude to him, sister." Another voice said. He
peeked under and to his surprise he saw two glass cages. Inside them were two small humans, probably two children. He lifted the covers higher up, so the
sun could reveal two little girls sitting inside the glass cages, two pair of extraordinary eyes looking curiously at him. The left eye on one of the girl was
black as the right one on the other girl. The other eyes were white as snow. He could tell that they were sisters, because they looked identical. They even
wore the same silky grey cloaks and had the same hairstyles, except that one had white hair and the other had black hair.
"Uhm, hello?" Naruto greeted them, unsure of what to do.
"Hello!" The white haired girl greeted back, a bit timid, although cheerfully.
"Could you let us out?" The other one asked the confused Naruto. The white haired girl seemed like she was going to protest, but her sister shut her up
with one glance.
"Out? I'm not sure whether I am allowed to do that..." Naruto really wanted to help them. He maybe wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed most of the times,
but he wasn't completely stupid. There must be a reason for them to be in those cages.
The black haired girl seemed to figure out what was bothering him, so she put on her most innocent look. "Me and my sister were just playing hide and seek
with our friends, and she thought it was a good idea to hide here under those covers. Little did we know that these 'boxes' would close and trap us here.
So you must help us, our parents must be worried by now..." Her final punch was to put on a sad pout, which nearly killed Naruto.
"Well, if it happened like that..." Naruto reached forward and began searching the glass box, trying to open it.
"I know how to open it, you only have to type the password on it." The little girl continued, Naruto too busy to notice the mischievous smirk forming on her
face.
###
Meanwhile on board the ship the teams were exchanging greetings.
"Hello, my name is Ren and I will be the navigator. You must be Kakashi-sensei, nice to meet you." Ren met the silver haired man half way and shook his
hand. "Likewise, Ren." Ren then stepped aside, revealing the rest of his team. "From right to left, Shizuka, she is the best sensor type in our village." A tall
woman stepped front and bowed, her expression very serious. When she straightened herself she easily towered over Kakashi, making him feel inferior.
"Yuki, her speciality is guarding jutsus."Now a rather small girl stepped front. She had a very unique face, big eyes, small nose and despite being very thin
she had chubby cheeks. "And this is Sora, he cannot talk since his tongue was cut out. He is a good fighter, but he will work as the cook." An exceptionally
ordinary man stepped front. The only thing that characterised him was his unusually big nose. "And then we have Jeff, the one who will maintain the ship,
but you won't see much of him since he spends the whole journey on the lower deck, besides he doesn't like people very much. And last but not least
Haku, who I don't really know where is...Lord Fukaku especially, included him on this mission, not only because he trusts him the most, but also because
he's an exceptional shinobi." Ren finished, smiling awkwardly after his long introduction, encouraging Kakashi to go on from here.
"Well, this is Sakura and this is Rock Lee." Kakashi finished in one breath, content with just that. Sakura glared angrily at Kakashi before she greeted them
by bowing like a true lady while smiling. Rock Lee however saluted them the military way, his eyes two sparkling stars. "Nice to meet you, I swear on Mighty
Guy's name that I will not disappoint you!"
A footstep behind Kakashi and the others caught their attentions. Turning around, there they saw him. Haku, standing in the doors. Sakura's eyes widened,
and she almost gasped. Could it be? No, no way... It couldn't be. But there he stood, so much like him, with the exact same eyes. Those eyes that could
suck you in, like two black holes. She looked at Kakashi, to be sure that she wasn't the only one who saw this. But to her disappointment Kakashi had that
same carelessness look on him as always. "You must be Haku, nice to meet you. I'm Kakashi Hatatake."
Sakura blinked her eyes before looking back at Haku, studying his face. The tall boy seemed for a sec to struggle to mask his true feelings, but as soon as
it appeared it was gone and a small smile formed on his lips, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Look forward to working with you..." He said.
Sakura shook her head, it was no way in hell that HE would act like that. But as Haku walked past them, she saw Kakashi lift his headband up and his one
eye flashed red. It seemed Kakashi had suspected the same. As Kakashi quickly hid his eye back she wondered what his conclusion was. Rock Lee on the
other hand grabbed cheerfully Haku's hand and shook it furiously. "I will not disappoint you!" He almost yelled, raising his fist high up above his head.
A loud ruckus coming from the streets made them all jolt. Grunting depressingly Sakura explained. "And that would be Naruto..."
#
As soon as Naruto had freed the black haired girl, her eyes had flashed brightly and the other cage that had held her sister had exploded to smithereens.
"Thank you kind boy for freeing us, despite the fact that you shouldn't have!" She laughed loudly, grabbing her sister's hand. Naruto's expression best
described was mortified. "What? You tricked me?" He exclaimed.
"Ah-ha! You see, we aren't really innocent, we were put there because of our crimes, such as stealing, murdering, etc...you name it, and we have done it."
Her eyes flashed with pure madness, as her grin widened. "And so we will continue to do so, thanks to you!" She took a few steps backwards before
running away, dragging her sister with her, who was looking worriedly at shocked Naruto. "You didn't have to lie to him." She spoke to her sister.
"No I didn't, but it was more fun that way!"
"But you must have known that he would follow us because of that..." The white haired girl pointed her sister to the angry blond following them. "...Ah, I
hadn't thought of that." She then picked up her speed and headed to a stair leading to a roof, knocking down a few passengers that were in their way.
"YOU LITTLE BRATS! COME HERE!" Naruto shouted after them. To his surprise, he didn't seem to catch up with the two little girls. 'Quick on their feet I see,
like true thieves I guess...'
The chase continued on the roofs, as they jumped from one roof to another. They weren't any normal little girls it seemed, so Naruto decided to not use
any normal tactics either. He hand signed a couple of shadow clones, planning to corner the little brats. Seeing a fishnet down on the ground he jumped to
grab it, and then jumping as easily up on the roof.
##
"Where are they?" Yuki shouted as she saw the empty cage and the remains of the other. "It's impossible, even for them, to break out of these!"
'Agh...Naruto...' Kakashi and Sakura thought to themselves. "Are you talking about those two little girls, we were supposed to protect?" Sakura asked Ren
who calmly walked to them, nodding to Sakura. "Then why were they in cages?" Sakura sceptically asked him.
"Don't misunderstand, Sakura. But those cages were for their own protection, and so is this journey whether they choose to accept that or not." Ren
explained, seeing Sakura's judging expression. "Haku? Now is a good opportunity to show our new friends your abilities." He glanced up at Haku, who was
sitting on the railing on the ship. Within a flash he had disappeared.
#
Naruto had managed to surround the girls by placing his shadow clones on either side of them, running along. That way he was steering them straight
ahead a big cliff that was no chance to jump over. Naruto smirked with victory.
Meanwhile the two girls had notice Naruto's intentions. The black haired girl cursed him under her breath and glanced at her white haired sister who was
panting rapidly. "We cannot escape!" She wheezed out. But the black haired girl was not going to give up. "I'm not going back to that place!" She hissed
between gritted teeth.
She changed her course suddenly to right, tugging her sister with her, knowing that Naruto's shadow clones were there and no roof to land on. They tried
to jump over the clones, and almost succeeded. One clone, however, managed to pull on the black haired girl's leg for a second before he lost his grip.
Naruto himself following right behind, he threw the fishnet over them midair. All falling to the ground.
Luckily the girls landed in a big haystack, while Naruto crashed flat on his face. The girls rolled out of the haystack, cheering over their victory. But they
cheered too soon, because they rolled right before Haku's feet, who towered over them. The girls admitted their defeats.
Naruto opened his eyes slowly, his vision blurry. He sat up and rubbed his head while groaning in pain. When he gained his sight, he hardly believed it. Just
a few meters away, there he stood.
Naruto whispered in disbelief. "Sasuke?"
Please review ^^, I'd really want to know how you feel about this story, whether if this is interesting enough to continue or whatever crosses your little beautiful minds. Whether I need improvements or JUST ANYTHING :D