"Na, na," Luffy asked for the five hundredth time, "when do we stop for food?"

Naruto was slowly approaching a limit he didn't know existed. Monkey D. Luffy was one of strangest people he had ever met and he wasn't quite sure if he could deal with him any longer. Irritation was getting the best of him.

"It'll only take until tomorrow morning to get there," Naruto replied as calmly as he could. Secretly, he was glad Sakura wasn't here as she would have most likely beat the living daylights out of Luffy within the first five minutes. "So we don't need to stop and eat."

"Will they have food there?" Luffy asked curiously. He seemed completely unaware of the strain in Naruto's voice.

"Yeah, but we aren't going there to eat. Have an energy pill." Naruto tossed Luffy the bottle. He saw Luffy shake one out onto his palm and stare at it curiously.

"Isn't this thing the thing that Jordy Hones at on Fishman Island to get stronger?" Luffy asked, turning to the green haired swordsman. He had been completely silent compared to Luffy but he had managed to veer off the straight road five times in the last three hours. Naruto found himself glancing at the older boy periodically to make sure he was still there and not somewhere in the middle of the forest.

"His name was Hordy Jones Luffy," the green-haired boy growled. He had a deeper voice than Kakashi sensei.

"Yeah, him. I don't think these are safe to eat." Luffy handed the bottle back to Naruto. "Na, Nanato, can we go any faster?"

"It's Naruto. We can, but are you sure you'll be able to keep up?" Naruto asked doubtfully. These two, strong as they might be, did not receive proper Shinobi training. They could cut through the woods and make it to the country faster but that would mean leaping through the trees.

"Yeah, we can keep up fine."

"You sure?"

Naruto suddenly had an idea. He could probably leave the two pirates behind and go to the Tree Country on his own. He could get the negotiators and then come back to pick them up, given that Zoro didn't get lost again. He could also spare himself the trouble of having to answer an endless stream of questions about food.

"Okay then, let's go this way." Naruto leaped powerfully onto the first tree.

….

"You guys still okay?" Naruto called as he bounced comfortably from branch to branch. The green foliage surrounded them in a thick tunnel.

"This is fun!" he heard Luffy cry.

Curious, Naruto turned to see where the rest of his group was and nearly fell of the tree. He almost subconsciously concentrated his chakra at the bottom of his feet, preventing the potentially painful fall. Hanging upside down from the branch, he gaped at his companions.

Luffy's arms were stretching.

He would swing; his agile body landing smoothly on a branch. Then thrusting his arms back, they would stretch forward like a rubber band and grab another branch maybe ten or twelve feet in front. The swordsman followed easily behind making the entire process look like a walk in the park.

"Why are your arms stretching?" Naruto almost screeched.

"Eh?" Luffy skidded to a stop on Naruto's branch and swung upside down so he was eye to eye with Naruto. Naruto could see the legs winding around the branch like the body of a snake. He had heard of ninjutsu that could make your body stretch but these people from another dimension could hardly use ninjutsu could they? Did they even have a chakra circulation system in their bodies?

"Then why are you hanging upside down?" Luffy asked, cocking his head.

"Me? I'm concentrating my chakra at the bottom of my feet. It's keeping me from falling to the ground," Naruto explained, still dazed. The swordsman had caught up and sat crouching on a nearby branch, looking at the two boys with detached interest.

"Chakra? What's that?" Luffy asked.

"It's…wait, you still haven't told me why you're stretching!" Naurto said accusingly.

Luffy grinned. "I'm a devil fruit user."

"Devil fruit?"

"In our world we have fruit that give you special powers."

"Power?" Naruto glanced at Zoro. "Can you stretch too?"

"Nah, I'm not a devil fruit user. I'm just a swordsman," he replied.

Luffy swung playfully from the branch, stretching his arms so his fingertips swiped the ground. "Zoro is crazy strong," he boasted, "he can cut through steel. Shishishishi."

Naruto stared at them, dumbstruck. Devil fruit users? Swordsman that could cut through steel? What the hell was he exactly dealing with here?

….

Meanwhile, unaware of Naruto's quandary, Tsunade was enjoying a plate of dango at the Konoha village. Shizune sat across from her, lecturing as usual about how she should be doing her work and did she know what the responsibility of a Hokage entitled? Tsunade had learned to tune her out years ago. Now she watched a group of the Acadmey students play kickball in front of the store.

"YOHOHOHOHO!"

A loud laugh broke into her peace. The skeleton with the purple cane bounced up and down in front of the children, tipping his hat to them. The children screamed at scattered.

"Oi, Brook!" the blonde barked from behind. He carried several large bags from the Konoha Grocery, a smoke clenched between his teeth. "Settle down!"

"But this is a really peaceful village," a third voice remarked happily.

It was the raccoon with the blue hat. He seemed to be on all fours this time opposed to earlier when he had been standing, like a human. A large pile of shopping bags was strapped to his back.

"Isn't it, Chopper san?" the skeleton piped, "all the ladies here are quite lovely too."

"Don't drop those, Chopper." The blonde motioned at the cargo. "Those are Nami-swan and Robin-chan's precious purchases."

"Yes sir!" the raccoon, Chopper, answered enthusiastically.

"Ah!" the skeleton pointed his finger bone at Tsunade. "It's the Hokage!"

Tsunade waved back, not quite sure what to make of the situation.

The blonde smacked the skeleton on the head. "Brook! Don't point at a lady!" The skeleton crashed into the ground from the force of the blow, leaving a large dent in the ground. Shizune yelped.

Brook rattled as he picked himself back up, seemingly unhurt. "YOHOHOHO, Sanji san, you are such a gentlemen it's making my heart jump out of my chest with admiration! Although I don't have a heart! YOHOHOHO! Skuulllllllll joke!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sanji bowed politely towards Tsunade and Shizune. "My apologies ladies," he said seductively, "my friend seems to be a little hyper."

"No…it's fine…." Tsunade glanced over at her assistant. Shizune looked equally blank. "I'm…glad to see you seem to be enjoying the village?"

"Yes, it's a beautiful village," Chopper piped. Tsunade decided to think of him as a shinobi raccoon. Yes, that was for the best. She motioned towards the bags.

"You went shopping? Did you have the correct currency?" Although she said this off-handedly, Tsunade suddenly realized she should be concerned. Didn't she just send the black haired boy and the swordsman on a mission because they didn't have the right currency?"

"Oh…Nami swan put it on a tab. She says she'll pay it back when out captain returns."

Captain? He must be talking about the green haired swordsman. Yes, it made sense for him to be the leader.

"Are you sure?" Tsunade asked, "although this is a B-rank mission, they don't pay that much."

"Nami says she has all the calculations figured out, Na?" Chopper turned to Sanji for reassurance. The blonde nodded.

"Nami was…the orange haired one?" Shizune asked.

"Yes, and Nami-san is very smart! Yohohohoho."

A veteran in the world of debts, Tsunade wondered if the girl knew what she was dealing with. Konoha store keepers were notorious for being tough bargainers.

…

"Ne, Robin, what about this one?"

On the other side of town, the "girl" was trying on yet another set of clothes at the Konoha clothing store. Robin smiled.

"It looks quite nice."

"Really?" Nami looked critically at the dress. She sighed and put it back. "It's cute but it's not really my style. Oh well…let's go to the bookstore you wanted to visit."

As the two women left the shop, a pair detached themselves from the wall and casually followed them.

"This is so annoying," Shikamaru complained, head clasped behind his hands. "Why do we have to follow girls?"

"Didn't you hear Shikamaru?" Chouji munched on his chips, "they might be dangerous criminals. Their captain has a four hundred million bounty."

"Oi, oi, that's a little too much isn't it?" Shikamaru sighed. "So troublesome…"

….

"What the hell happened here?" Naruto asked shakily.

The two pirates had absolutely no problem keeping up with him. They had arrived at Hidden Village of Grass by nightfall. Now underneath the cold glare of moonlight, Naruto stared at what might have once been a civilization.

The houses lay in charred heaps. The ground reeked of blood. As the three boys walked through the destruction, Luffy realized something unusual.

"Oi," he said seriously, "where is everybody?"

Sure enough, as Naruto looked around the village, he could not spot one corpse. The buildings were empty and the surrounding air was completely silent. It was as if everybody had been spirited away.

What's going on here?