Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto! Or any of the Naruto characters. If you see an unfamiliar character that you have never heard of before...well those are mine.

Sorry for the first few lines of mispelled words(they WERE done on PURPOSE) If they don't work, comment and let me know!

Enjoy!

Chapter 3

Where Has The Path Lead

-o-O-o-

"Hewo! Is you hair aways tha cowor? It's weally pretty! I wish my hair was tha cowor!" a childish voice spouted off as soon as the owner of said voice noticed Sakura waking up.

Sakura just stared in confusion at the cute little girl. "Umm...hello?" sakura responded to the little girl.

"Hi, my names Mina, but eveybody caws me Mina-chan!" the cute little red-haired, blue-eyed child said with a slight mispronunciation on every other word.

"Mina-chan! What are you doing in here!? Did you wake this young lady up? I told you to let her sleep!" a heavy set woman exclaimed in exasperation as she entered the room.

"But I wanted to see the lady with the pwetty pink hair..." Mina said with a slight whine to her voice and a puppy dog look on her face.

The brunette-haired, blue-eyed, heavy set woman just sighed and said" You can probably see her again later, but for now I think it is best you go and find your mother. Some of the grown-ups need to talk to our guest. She needs to know where she is, why she is here, and that we truly mean her no ill-will." At the end of her talk, when she said they meant Sakura no harm, the brunette specifically turned her attention to Sakura.

After the woman said that, Sakura allowed her body to visibly relax somewhat from the tense position she had assumed when the woman was talking about having Mina leave her. Sakura figured that if they were going to torture or kill her they wouldn't do it in front of a little child.

Mina pouted slightly, but did what she was told and left the room.

"Hello, my name is Kasumi. Sorry about Mina-chan, I hope she didn't startle you too badly when she woke you" said the woman now known as Kasumi.

"No, she was very cute and sweet" Sakura answered kindly.

"Good" Kasumi said. "Many people want to talk to you young lady, but I'm not letting them in until I'm sure you're feeling well enough for visitors. You just barely survived that terrible wound to your stomach. It took many of our medics to heal your wounds and yank you back from deaths door. You were knocking on it my dear" said Kasumi in a motherly chiding manner.

"Your medics saved my life? Arigatou. Please send them my thanks as well or allow me the opportunity to do so. They must be very good to heal such life threatening wounds" Sakura said the first part in genuine gratitude and the second in subtle curiousity.

"Yes, our medics are exceptional at what they do and I'm sure many will tell you that thanks aren't necessary; it is simply what they do" Kasumi replyed.

The door to the room opened and a tall brunette with blue-eyes and a lean body structure stepped in.

"Kasumi nee-chan is our guest feeling up to meeting with the council?" the brunette man asked.

"I don't know Genji. Why don't you ask the girl yourself otouto?" responded Kasumi to the man who was apparently her younger brother, Genji.

Genji turned to Sakura and in a respectful tone, said "My apologies, hello my name is Genji. Do you think you feel up to moving and talking at all?"

"Sure. I feel amazing actually! Your medics obviously did a beyond exceptional job!" Sakura replied.

Under the thoroughly scrutinizing eye of Kasumi Sakura demonstrated the truth behind her words. When she stood from the bedding she had been lying on, she experienced a moment of dizziness, but masked it well enough that Kasumi did not notice. She paused to take note of the outfit she was in and mourned for the loss of her favorite fighting outfit, that no doubt had been irreparably damaged in the fight with those missing-nin.

Sakura proceeded to follow Genji through the door after she repeated to Kasumi that she did indeed feel well enough to be moving around.

Genji led Sakura, with Kasumi following, down a hallway and passed a handful of doors. They reached what was apparently the entrance of the house. As they exited the home, Sakura barely heard Kasumi apologize and excuse herself to take care of some errands. She barely noticed as Kasumi departed, her whole attention was focused on the stunning site before her.

Behind Sakura lay the house they had just exited and all around were many more buildings similar in structure and make. What was shocking though was what or where they were all built. It seemed that a whole village had been built inside the earth, or some kind of cave. Indeed rock seemed to surround the village on all sides. The only area not covered by rock was the sky.

Genji, apparently catching her stare, commented off-handedly "Yeah, it's a pretty unique place isn't it?"

"Yes!" Sakura exclaimed in obvious awe. "What is this place?"

"This is our village." Genji simply replied.

"I've never heard of a village like this." Sakura responded.

"Good. That is what the people here want. Those who have lived here through the the past few centuries have worked hard to prevent the outside world from attaining knowledge about our existence." Genji said.

"Why are the people here hiding? And how does a group this large even remain hidden...for...what did you say...centuries?" Sakura asked the questions that quickly popped into her head.

"As much as I would love to answer those questions and the many more you undoubtedly have...I believe the council would prefer to answer such questions." Genji stated calmly.

So, Sakura pushed down the questions she really wanted to ask and followed Genji. She hoped he was right and she would get her answers. She needed answers, not just to the questions she had asked him, but also to the big question...why was she here?

Author note: Sorry for the boring stuff. I'm just setting the stage for the true story plot...and odds are it's not going to be anything like you expect. It hopefully won't be anything too far fetched from the Naruto universe. If I play my cards right...it will just add more twists, turns and possibilities to the universe, plot and characters created by Kishimoto.