December 10th, 5:36 pm.
The air was crisp with the sharp winter wind, snowflakes dancing rapidly in the breeze. In the dense snow four pairs of foot prints could be found, but only briefly before the newest layer of ice smothered it completely, leaving no trace that anyone was ever there. Crystal blue eyes burned, welling with hot tears as the young male squinted, his vision blurred as he attempted to trek through the harsh terrain with his teammates. His puffy and red cheeks were burning as he felt shards of ice slice his tender flesh, and he growled.
"Kakashi-Sensei, are you sure we're even going in the right direction? I can't see a single thing!"
He shouted through the howling wind, it was a miracle the jounin could hear a single thing his student was saying. The two other pairs of eyes glared at the blonde in annoyance, although deep down, they were secretly wondering the same thing.
"I'm sure, Naruto! I studied the trail on the map a hundred times!"
Kakashi hollered back in response, slightly less chilled due to his layers of heavy clothing and the signature mask shielding his sensitive face. It was no surprise to him that Naruto was frozen down to his bones, he warned them before their departure that the weather in this land was treacherous. But did the stubborn little boy listen? Of course not. He was hardly wearing the proper amount of clothing for this expedition.
"It's so cold!"
Naruto continued to shout, and the pink haired kunoichi at his side scoffed.
"Naruto, Kakashi-Sensei told you that it was going to be snowing in this land! But as usual, you decided to ignore him!"
Her neck, which was already beat red from the cold, darkened due to the anger pulsing through her veins. No matter what mission their team was scheduled to perform, Naruto always went above and beyond in order to look impressive, even if it meant appearing like a complete moron.
"I knew it was going to snow, I just didn't know it was going to be this bad!"
The individual who skulked in the rear of the group said nothing, he merely stuffed his hands deep into his pockets and took his difficult strides through the practically knee high blanket of snow.
"Does it matter how much snow? It's still cold, you idiot!"
Sasuke desperately attempted to block out their irritating bickering, was it too much to ask for the two of them to just shut the hell up for five minutes?
"Calm down, you two. We should arrive at the palace by nightfall."
Kakashi interrupted their banter and the two finally silenced themselves, leaving only the sounds of whistling of the breeze, and the crunching of their footsteps in the ice below.
The sensei groaned internally, burying his face deeper into his scarf. Their surroundings were shrouded by a blinding white and grey, his eyes darted upward and he observed the clouded, menacing sky above them. It only threatened more precipitation and showed no signs of letting up any time soon, to be honest, he never suspected the snow would be this severe either. When their Hokage informed them of the details of the mission, she never prepared them for this.
Kakashi stood at attention, his team of three positioned in a straight line behind him as they all gazed questionably at their Hokage. The woman sent her messenger to retrieve them with news that she had an important mission for them to carry out, however, she had yet to divulge any information and continued to silently flip through her paper work.
"Lady Hokage, I hate to interrupt, but what mission exactly do you have for us?"
Her amber eyes snapped up before she propped her elbows upon the desk top. Kakashi stiffened beneath her harsh gaze and glanced around nervously.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, but this new mission has a lot of paper work involved and I've been trying to sort it out for weeks. So, I am going to have Shizune explain it to you."
Tsunade gestured to her assistant who was clutching a pink pig in her arms, it snorted and she smiled.
"Team seven is scheduled to travel to the Land of the Snow in order to serve as body guards to a very important person."
Naruto's eyes lit up like diamonds, a wide smile curling onto his lips.
"Who is it?"
"A princess."
He gasped in excitement, this was far more thrilling than when he was told he had to protect the bridge builder. This time Naruto would be guarding a beautiful woman, and a princess nonetheless.
"Unfortunately, we do not have a photograph of her at this time, but her name is Princess Sarah and she resides in the Palace of Koori among her other clan members."
The blonde male was practically trembling, he was simply ecstatic to finally be given a mission that was actually important, a mission that he could use to show Sakura his true skill as a ninja. Once she witnessed his strength and dedication to protecting the princess, there would be no way for her to deny him.
"It's imperative that you keep her safe! The princess personally sent us a letter expressing her concern for the safety of her and her people."
Shizune lifted a thin piece of paper, the letter.
"In this letter she explained that her palace has been attacked multiple times in the last two weeks, going after her specifically to either try to kidnap or kill her."
"Does she know why these people are after her?"
Kakashi inquired, he needed to know what he was dealing with before he jumped into this mission, knowing his team, it was basically inevitable that mistakes would be made.
"The princess is incredibly valuable, not only is she royal, she also possesses extraordinary abilities that these gangs are becoming very interested in."
"We did our research and even sent an ANBU to speak with her in person about the details. He brought back information that this girl is apparently what we like to call an elemental."
Tsunade interrupted, her voice firm and her inflection hinted with stress. Kakashi was quick to shake his head at this statement, Sakura's eyes bulged out of her skull and she swiftly stepped forward to stand next to her sensei.
"That's impossible, the elemental is just a myth, it doesn't really exist!"
She retorted knowingly, the elemental was just a fictional being someone came up with years ago in order to assume a superior position over everyone around him. It was known to all the ninja that such a thing couldn't possibly exist, it was rare enough to find someone whose chakra was based in more than one element, let alone all of them.
"Well, according to the ANBU I sent out to investigate this theory, it is very real."
Tsunade interlaced her hands and clenched them, the realization that such a thing really lived in the world caused her quite a bit of anxiety.
"He reported back that she was able to control all the elements, she even demonstrated for him and she can even morph her skin into whichever element she chooses as long as she is touching it."
"But how?"
"I have no idea, the idea always seemed so ludicrous, so of course no one believed it. And if this girl truly is an elemental than criminals all over the world are going to want a piece of her. She could be sold into slavery, I am sure there are quite a few wealthy tycoons out there who would be willing to pay a very hefty sum of money for her."
Sakura couldn't believe the words spilling from the Hokage's mouth, the supposedly mythical elemental she had been hearing about since she was a child was actually a living, breathing human being, and a princess nonetheless.
"To cut this short, what you need to do is make sure the princess is safe from any attempts to kidnap or kill her. If fallen into the wrong hands, she could potentially become very dangerous and be used as an incredibly powerful weapon."
Kakashi was silent as he absorbed all of this information, he was just as shocked that such a creature existed, but at the same time, he knew he couldn't dwell on this detail. It was apparent that this woman was in need of help, and he would be damned if he was going to deny it.
"I need your team to get to their palace and protect her at all costs, you need to make sure she is safe until the threats and attacks are diminished, understand?"
"Yes, Lady Hokage, we will set out in the morning."
Just as the team was about to depart from the office, she stopped them.
"One more thing. The weather there is extremely difficult to travel through, so I suggest you bundle up."
Good advice, Tsunade, unfortunately she couldn't give a little more detail into the fact that by "difficult" she meant there would be constant storms and brutal gale force winds. Kakashi turned from the sky and focused his attention on the path ahead, soon enough the team should arrive at the gates to the palace.
"Kakashi-Sensei, I think I see something!"
Sakura pointed ahead and he followed her direction, only to see the faint outline of what appeared to be a large building, however, he couldn't be too sure.
"Alright, let's go check it out!"
Each ninja grumbled in annoyance and in exhaustion, Sasuke ground his teeth together and increased his speed, ready to be out of this snow and under a roof.
As they advanced closer to the shadowed structure, the visual became more clear, and Naruto released a gleeful yelp as they realized they had finally reached the palace.
"Yes! Finally! Let's go!"
He broke into a fumbled run, tripping and stumbling in the deep snow as he attempted to race his way to the building, Kakashi grunted at his impatience and approached the tall, white gates. Behind it they could see a towering palace, which was also white and practically blended in with its surroundings. Kakashi outstretched his trembling hand and pushed the gate open, the loud screech of metal scraping against metal echoed in the air as they slid through.
"Alright, now leave the talking to me."
Kakashi specifically glared at Naruto, urging him to keep his mouth shut, he wasn't so much concerned with the other two. He grabbed hold of the silver door knocker and clanged it against the large door four times, before waiting patiently for it to be answered.
"I wonder if the princess is pretty!"
Naruto whispered with an eager laugh, Sasuke scoffed.
"Shut up, loser."
The Uchiha snapped before the massive door began to creak open, the four squinted their eyes at the bright light before seeing a tall, slender female with long, brilliant sea blue hair. Her skin was ghostly pale, her face unblemished and she had large, glimmering silver eyes. Her body was draped in black robes and she gave a closed mouth smile at the sight of them.
"Hello there, you must be Team Seven from Konoha, the ones Lady Tsunade sent, correct?"
Her voice was light and smooth, Naruto felt a chill creep down his spine, his blue optics wide at her almost inhuman beauty.
"Yes, we are. I am Hatake, Kakashi."
Kakashi bowed in her presence, causing the other three to glance awkwardly at one another and clumsily do the same, the woman giggled lightheartedly.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kakashi. My name is Adele, I am the leader of this clan and personal adviser to the princess. Come on in, you all must be freezing out there!"
She quickly ushered for the team to enter the building and as she shut the door behind them, they immediately felt a suffocating wave of heat wash over them. Their cheeks flushed pink and thin layers of sweat formed on their bodies beneath the endless layers of winter clothing. Snapping her fingers twice, Adele ordered for a few female servants to dart to their aid and remove them of their now unnecessary jackets and sweaters. Sakura fanned herself as she was finally rid of her extra layers and ran her fingers through her short, pink hair.
"Wow."
She heard Naruto gape before whipping around to observe the inside of this already immaculate palace.
"Oh my God..."
Her jaw dropped to the floor, green eyes mystified at the sight before her. The floors were white marble, along with matching columns and a magnificent staircase that led to only the second of many floors. The walls were lined with hundreds of beautiful portraits and stain glass artwork, the windows were large and lined with ice around the edges.
"This place is gorgeous."
Adele once more laughed at her amazement and gracefully scurried over to the team once more.
"Who might you three be?"
"My name is Uzumaki, Naruto! And I am going to be the greatest Hokage in the world!"
He bowed dramatically at her feet and she blinked in confusion before once more giving a small smile.
"I'm Haruno, Sakura."
The girl bowed as well before her silver eyes trailed to the silent, dark haired male.
"And you?"
"Uchiha, Sasuke."
He however, did not bow, to him it seemed to be a little ridiculous to do something so formal every time you spoke to the woman. But she didn't seem to pay it any mind and folded her arms behind her back, eying and analyzing these newcomers.
"I am very happy to see that you all have arrived safely, many people who have never traveled this deep into the land were not aware of the weather and needless to say, not a lot of people are able to make it through the storms alive."
"It was difficult, yes, but we managed."
"I'm relieved. We were all worried that the protectors of our dear princess weren't going to make it, the clan is truly concerned for her safety."
Kakashi smiled beneath his mask and nodded his head.
"There is no need to worry anymore, Miss Adele. We're here to do whatever we can for the princess, nothing will happen to her while we are here."
Adele exhaled deeply, placing a delicate hand over her chest.
"You all must be exhausted from your journey, how about I show you each to your rooms and you all can get some well deserved rest before supper. The princess will be joining us then so you can meet her later, for now I highly recommend that you take some time to sleep."
Her eyes pleaded for them to heed her word, Kakashi assumed that she knew what was best and as he stood there, he began to feel the toll the traveling had taken on his body, sleep didn't sound like such a bad idea at this point.
"That sounds great."
Sakura and Naruto nodded in return with bright smiles, both of them wondering what their bedrooms must look like.
"Follow me."
Adele led them down the monstrous corridors, the ceilings towered above them and Sakura couldn't help but gaze up at them in amazement. She almost couldn't believe that she was going to be staying in such a place, it made her almost feel like she was royalty.
"Here we are, all of the rooms are closely grouped together and you can pick whichever one you want, I am down in the East wing of the palace and the princess stays upstairs. If you ever need anything don't be afraid to come find me."
Almost instantly, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto stealthily slipped into their rooms for some much needed rest and relaxation. It had been five days since they left their home village to come here, and even when they did make camp it was difficult to sleep to do the freezing weather.
"Miss Adele."
Sakura chirped timidly before entering her room, the woman turned, her robes flowing behind her.
"Yes, Sakura?"
A childlike smile graced the kunoichi's features, thinking about how amazing it was going to be to stay in this place.
"I just want to say thank you so much for your hospitality, this place is spectacular."
Sakura was like a kid in a candy store, she almost wanted to skip sleep altogether and go exploring, Adele nodded politely.
"It is my pleasure, Sakura."
Suddenly Adele's lips curled back into a wide grin, revealing something that caused Sakura to stiffen, her breath hitching in the back of her throat. Her optics were bulging from her skull, fingers trembling at the sight of Adele's teeth, only they weren't normal teeth. Every single pearly white Adele was adorned with were pointed into razor sharp fangs, Sakura's heart began to pound and she bit harshly down upon her bottom lip.
"Now off to sleep, Sakura."
Adele calmly urged, she only managed a spastic nod before fumbling to open the door and racing inside. Sakura slammed the door shut behind her and released an exasperated breath, her chest heaving up and down, her gaze darting fearfully around the room.
'Why...why were her teeth so sharp?'