A/N: Back again with the next chapter. Thanks to all the reviews and alerts that were put on this story, it's greatly appreciated. Just to let anyone know, like I said in the last chapter this story takes place during the same time that the final filler episodes of Naruto take place but will move into Shippuden later on, so Naruto isn't crazy powerful or anything. It will turn a bit AU because I'm going to change certain things in terms of the story but I'm going to keep the characters just like the show. I'm also doing this so I can explore a bit with Tenten's abilities. But anyways back to the story.

II: Problems of the Mist pt. I

The little rays of sunlight that just happened to make their way past the tree dimly lit up the forest floor. Naruto's eyes opened as the smell of tea reached his nose. He sat up to see a small fire warming up bamboo cups like the night before. He looked around but Tenten was nowhere to be found. As he got up he noticed that Tenten's gear was already packed up.

'Ah geez, I promised' Naruto thought to himself as he remember that he said he would not jeopardize the mission in anyway. He quickly began to pack but even as he finished Tenten did not return.

'Where could she be at?'

Naruto began to walk away from the small clearing deeper into the woods. As he moved along the smell of salt water became evident and the sound of seagulls could be heard from far away. The sky was still a light grayish color signing that it was still early in the morning. Naruto continued walking for a little bit until the trees disappeared and yellow sand covered the landscape.

'I didn't know we were this close to the beach' Naruto thought to himself.

The sound of a splash instantly caught his attention. In the distance he could see Tenten. He watched her as she gracefully strolled through the water in a swimsuit that was somewhat revealing. He couldn't move, but instead could only stare on at what kept his jaw dropped for a good minute. Her hair was down and her body looked silky smooth. In truth Naruto had never seen anything like it. He knew about girls, especially with all the time he spent on his Harem No Jutsu, but what he saw in Tenten, was different. Fearing that he'd be noticed Naruto slowly crept back into the forest.

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Meanwhile…

Shima walked quickly through the halls of his estate. Something was definitely on his mind but even he couldn't fully tell what. All he knew was that he had a bad feeling. In another day or so two ninjas from Konoha would be there, but he wondered whether they'd really be a big help or not.

He slid open the door to a room and entered closing the door silently. Quickly he rushed to the back corner of the room and tapped on the wall twice. A small panel opened revealing a small space where two scrolls were hidden. Shima gave a sign of relief and slid the panel back into place effectively hiding the scrolls once again.

He sat back and rubbed his eyes. His sleepless nights count was growing. Whatever it took he needed to get those documents out of there. As long as "HE" wasn't watching, everything was going to be ok, at least for the moment.

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Naruto and Tenten finally reached the port town where they were to depart for the islands of the Wave Country.

"Alright according to Tsunade-sama, our ride is a transport ship that is going to the villages in the Wave Country in order to pick up supplies from there. We've been allowed to hitch a ride but, surprisingly, we're early so for now I'm going to get some supplies for ourselves. Meet me back here in a half hour" Tenten said as she began to walk off.

Naruto first looked around then yelled out "No prob!"

Without looking back Tenten added "That means no wandering off, Naruto!"

Naruto smiled as he began to walk around. The port town was very colorful and vibrant even though it was still the morning. People were out shopping and buying the freshest items they could. Small children ran the streets asking for everything they saw. Old men and women sat down at the tea shops playing Shogi. It was even busier than Konoha. Naruto made his way through a crowd as three street performers each juggled three flaming swords into the air. Naruto watched the nine swords hit the air and fell while people clapped happily.

'This peace, I want Konoha to be like this when I become the Hokage' he thought to himself.

"Beautiful… isn't it"

Naruto looked to his right. Standing next to him was a girl a little taller then him. She looked back at him with beautiful blue eyes unlike anything he had ever seen. Her brown hair flowed evenly and went down to her back. Her face had an even skin tone and her body was mature. To Naruto she looked like one of the girls in the magazines he so often caught Jiraiya reading.

"Yeah" Naruto answered. "It is."

All at once the street performers threw up all nine flaming swords in unison. As they came down the fire streamed into the sky.

"It's almost like the swords have tails" the girl noticed.

Naruto smiled. Without notice the girl turned to leave.

"W-wait" Naruto called out, as he quickly turned around. "What's your name?"

"I don't give my name unless receiving one in return" the girl said.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto" Naruto said cheerfully.

The girl looked back at Naruto. "I'm Nami" she quickly said before walking off.

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"Thank you" said Tenten as she took her change from the merchant.

She quickly stuffed her bought items into her bag before exiting the store to a large mass of people. The town had become considerably crowded for this time in the morning. She kept close to the shops as she began to walk around. As she turned a corner a man and his daughter came around with smiles on their faces.

"Excuse me" Tenten broke in politely. "What exactly is going on around here?"

"How do you not know?" the daughter replied cutely.

The man looked at her with a curious face. "Oh you must be out-of-towners. The annual festival is about to begin here. We have it twice a year for a full week. You should take your time and really enjoy it."

'TIME!' Tenten thought to herself. She instantly started to run back to the pier waving her hand at the man and his daughter as a sign of thanks. "Dammit I didn't realize a half hour had gone by so quickly" Tenten said to herself as she ran. "I just hope Naruto is there!"

She ran at a quick pace but no one seemed to notice as the festival had everyone's attention. The crowds grew larger and larger forcing Tenten to move every which way to avoid crashing into someone. She finally reached the pier to see the boat's crewmen getting ready to depart.

'Dammit Naruto, where are you?' she thought to herself as she looked all around.

"Ready to go Tenten" said a voice from behind her.

Tenten turned around finding herself face to face with Naruto. She smiled and gave a sign of relief. "Looks like you beat me this time!"

Naruto laughed as he rubbed his upper lip with his index finger.

The horn sounded as Tenten and Naruto got on board. They looked on as the ship left the peaceful port town. As they sailed further and further away the town became less and less colorful until only the blue waves remained.

"Hey if we finish the mission quickly maybe we could come back and enjoy the festival they're having here" Tenten said with a quick smile.

Naruto's eyes lit up party because he didn't expect Tenten to be so cool and party because he had the same thoughts as well. He nodded in agreement.

The transport ship cruised along the waves as small dolphins swam in front of it. The crew seemed to be in an overall good mood as men sat about having conversations and playing games. On the bridge of the ship the captain steered the ship as Tenten and Naruto walked in.

"Ah, you must be Tsunade's kids" he said.

"Hey we're not kids, we're full fledged ninja" Naruto shot, pointing to his forehead protector.

"Yeah, yeah" the captain replied grinning. "I know all about Tsunade becoming Hokage of your hidden village."

"How so?" Tenten asked.

"We'll lets just say Tsunade and I go way back, to the time's of the war. She helped me out big time with that monster-ish strength of hers" the captain said.

Naruto nodded. "Trust me old man I know about that first hand!"

The captain laughed. "Old man, who you calling an old man? I'm Captain Yutaka, you may be strong but I could probably show you a thing or too."

"Hey now, I'm going to be Hokage someday!" Naruto boasted. "I can't let myself get shown up."

The captain looked at Naruto. "Those are some good dreams to have kid. Let's see if you can make them a reality."

Tenten glanced at Naruto and then at Captain Yutaka. 'So it really is true about him. Naruto is able to make friends with anyone so easily' she thought to herself.

"It will take a bit of time to the Wave Country so for now you can enjoy the ship" Captain Yutaka said.

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The day began to get warm as the afternoon hit. Tenten looked around but couldn't find Naruto. She walked over to the bow (front) of the ship to find him standing alone at the railing looking up.

"You seem to love the sky a lot" Tenten noted remembering how he was doing the same thing at the camp they made.

Naruto turned around as Tenten began to walk towards him. "Sorry."

"What are you sorry for?"

"I… I should be focused more on the mission."

"Loosen up Naruto or you won't be able to complete the mission" Tenten noted.

Naruto looked down at the floor. "Sorry, I don't mean to be like this, it's just-"

"Sasuke."

Naruto looked up to see Tenten staring seriously at him. "Look I know all about the mission although your personal relationship seems to be stronger… plus whenever you're sad that always seems to be the reason."

"He's…he was like a brother that I never got to have" Naruto said.

She wanted to imagine what his life had been like. But she couldn't. Why did he face so much hate? Why was he scolded the way he was? There had to be a reason, a reason why Naruto was always singled out. She felt for him, in a way that she didn't know was possible for Naruto. But she couldn't lose him to his memories, not on this mission. She began to think of ways to cheer him up when suddenly a thought came into her mind.

"You know, when you were spying on me earlier, you didn't seem so tense."

Naruto instantly looked up blushing. 'She saw me this morning!?' Naruto began rubbing his head. "Uh, sor-"

Without warning the ship suddenly shifted forcing Tenten into Naruto's arms. She looked at him, as he looked back, their faces just inches apart. Breathing heavily neither seemed ready to move or what to do next. For a second they stood there.

Awkward wasn't the word for this moment.

The sound of a scream broke their attention off each other. They instantly let go and ran to the stern (back) of the ship. Crewmen ran past them as Naruto and Tenten saw the source of the craziness. In the distance close to a dozen water clones began attacking crewmen. Naruto reached for a kunai from his back pocket but Tenten was already on the job. She jumped up into the air reaching for a scroll from her backpack and successfully opened it before she landed.

"Kunai rapid fire!" Tenten yelled as she opened the scroll. Instantly dozens of kunai's appeared out of the scroll as they flew towards the water clones.

"Tenten wait" Naruto yelled. "The are some people still trapped inside the water clones."

Tenten didn't say a word. Naruto watched in surprise as the kunai's moved in every which way avoiding the crewmen yet still managing to hit the water clones. In one strike all the water clones were dissipated. Naruto looked on in amazement. The crewmen cheered.

Tenten walked over to the railing and looked over to see nothing but water. "Something's wrong here."

"What's the problem" Captain Yutaka asked as he began walking towards them.

"These clones, they had to have come from somebody yet no one seems to be around" Tenten explained. "While someone could have possibly summoned them from underwater, I find it highly unlikely that simple water clones like that could have just jumped onto the ship especially from that far below."

"So what are you saying?" Yutaka asked.

"I'm saying" Tenten began as she looked around. "The person who did it is one of your crewmen!"

To be continued…

A/N: This chapter was really hard to come up with. I re-did a lot of things in this chapter because certain things at first were just really stupid. Hopefully everyone likes this version. I got good news though. Since I did a lot of work on how I was going to include the characters of Naruto and a about three OC's all into the story I have the next chapter almost finished. So by like the same time tomorrow chapter 3 should be up, if not it will be up the day after tomorrow in the morning. Once again thanks to all who reviewed. You're comments are heavily appreciated because I want to make a great story that everyone will enjoy. So please keep reviewing with ideas and comments. Til' next time.