The Beginning of a Whole New Problem

Jutsu

Kyuubi

Kyuubi's thoughts/Summoning

Thoughts

Normal Monologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Inuyasha, or Warriors.

Sakura's Dream--

A girl, around her age, stood in the middle of a small field, surrounded by a thick wood. She stood with her eyes closed, taking in the sounds of the world, breathing deeply. She wore a beautiful kimono, with black Japanese flowers decorating its length and a vibrant red in the background. Her face was hidden by a shadow. Suddenly, 5 other figures leapt out of the surrounding trees, forming a barricade the girl couldn't escape from without a fight. They were clad in black with a red bandana tied around their forehead. Attached firmly to their backs were multitudes of swords that would make any knight jealous.

She opened her eyes calmly, shifting her gaze across each one of the warriors in turn. Her eyes stopped on the last one, giving him a hypnotizing look. The warrior moved uncomfortably under her gaze, avoiding her eyes and keeping his head down. The girl sprung into action. She tore off her kimono, revealing a black suit with crimson armor wrapped tightly around her body. She pulled out a long bow-staff, holding it at the ready. The men jumped at her, swords outstretched, ready for a kill. She skillfully hopped up, landing on the blades as they clashed together.

With a twist of her ankle, all of them were unarmed; their swords sent flying across the clearing. She delivered a kick to one's head, rendering him unconscious. Whipping around, she spun the bow-staff in a tight circle, knocking all three others into tree trucks. The last warrior stood cowering, trying to hide in the shadows. The girl turned to him; her eyes seemed to pierce right through him. He took of running, screaming something un-understandable all the way.

A slow steady clapping came from behind the girl. She twisted around, facing a newcomer. This one had a golden suit with gleaming black armor. He was carrying nothing but a double blade katana, but it held a secret that could wipe out rows of men with a single blow. He laughed, a laugh so devious, it would make your stomach churn.

"Very good, but not good enough.", he hissed. A flash shined from a place burrowed snugly in the trees. A single arrow, set afire, came hurtling towards the unsuspecting girl. Just as she saw the oncoming projectile, it was too late. It embedded itself in the center of her back, blood gushing out from contact. It ripped through the armor and came out her chest. She screamed in agony, coughing up blood. The fire began to burn her lungs where the arrow had entered, causing her to collapse on the ground.

The man laughed once again, walking up to where the dying girl lay. He signaled to the archer that it was time to pull out and he obeyed with out a second thought. He looked down as he watched the girl burn from the inside out. Then he bent down to her side and whispered, "This is what happens when you cross Tigerstar." Then he disappeared.

The girl took in ragged breaths, everyone becoming harder and harder. Her vision started to fade, the colors draining from the world. She heard her name being cried out by her comrades, but she knew they wouldn't make it in time. With her last ounce of energy, with her finger, she wrote a scrawling message in the dust she lay next to. And with that final task done, her eyes closed, venturing to the world of death.

End Sakura's Dream--

Sakura awoke with a start; her breath came in short spurts. The sun had just risen over the horizon and it's weak, pale gleam barely warmed the chill she felt in her bones. She glanced next to her and saw Naruto and Sasuke were both still asleep, Naruto snoring loudly.

Gently, she shook Naruto awake. When he didn't respond, she shook harder. His eyes opened slightly, but jumped back when he saw Sakura's face bent close to his.

"AH!", he cried, scaring them both. Sakura leaned back a little to give the blond some room while he caught his breath.

After his breathing returned to normal, Naruto asked, "What's up, Sakura? Something bothering you?" Sakura looked down, playing with a piece of grass. She toyed around with what she was going to say, but then decided to drop the whole thing. She shook her head rapidly.

"It's nothing, sorry for waking you. Go back to sleep.", she whispered. Naruto studied her face carefully and the expression was heartbreaking.

He crawled over to where she was sitting, and planted himself by her side. "I know by that look that it's not nothing. You can tell me.", Naruto said calmly, flashing her one of his infamous grins. Sakura searched his eyes, seeing nothing but concern and kindness. She sighed and began.

"Well, I had this dream last night, and it kind of freaked me out. I was hoping I could tell you about it.", she whispered, not looking at his face. Seeing Sakura's expression, Naruto knew this was serious. He nodded and scooted closer to the slightly shaking kunochi.

"Are you cold?", he asked worriedly. Sakura shook her head, looking up at him. His sapphire eyes stared back at her full of concern and kindness. She felt mesmerized by them, intrigued. A feeling of calmness washed over through her, giving Sakura a boost of confidence.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura began. "It started in this meadow, and the strange thing was that it looked a lot like this one. There was a girl, but I couldn't really see her. Her face was always in the shadows, and for some reason, not much else was shown. It was clam and relaxing, but then a lot of men jumped out of the trees and ambushed her. She had really good fighting techniques, and she beat them all easily." The words were spilling out of her at this point.

"But then, another guy showed up. He called himself Tigerstar. This one was different. He seemed to be the one in charge because he carried himself around like he was a king. He gave a signal to an archer that was hiding in the shadows and he shot a flaming arrow at the girl. It went right through her back. The man only laughed and walked away, leaving the girl to her death. She wrote a message in the dust before she died, but I couldn't get a good view. But, when she was dieing, it was just…so vivid…I…", Sakura finished, stuttering. Tears had built up in her eyes and a few escaped, rolling down her face. Naruto moved to a position in front of the kunochi.

"It was only a dream, and you've got nothing to worry about. I was all in your imagination.", Naruto replied. Sakura looked up, wiping the tears away. He smiled convincingly. "It was only a dream. Now, come on, we better get going."

Naruto stood up with a grunt, and walked over to Sasuke. The sun had climbed high in the sky and dawn had long passed. Shaking Sasuke vigorously, Naruto attempted to wake up the sleeping boy. When he came to, he glared at Naruto before walking off. Naruto scowled after his, but let it go. He had much more important plans in mind. He tiptoed over to the bags and silently slipped a water bottle out of the bag. Naruto quietly crept over to where the silver-haired jounin was snoring softly. Laughing under his breath, he started to turn the bottle over Kakashi's head.

In a swift movement, Kakashi was up, and Naruto was drenched. Kakashi held the now empty container in his hand and a victorious smile stretched across his face. "I can see that we have to work on you're stealth.", Kakashi laughed.

The soaked Naruto just grunted in frustration and whispered, "I'll get you sometime, just you wait.". Sakura giggled, smiling as the boy desperately tried to dry himself off.

"Alright, if you're quite through, let's go.", Sasuke grunted, waiting with his pack slung over his shoulder.

Several hours later--

"Kakashi, I don't think we're going the right way.", Sakura stated as the group stopped to take a break. They had wandered off thier old trail hours ago, and had stumbled through the forest blindly.

"Hmm, I was beginning to think the same thing.", Kakashi noted, a thoughtful expression on his face. The three ninja sweatdropped.

"Kakashi, do you even know where we are?", Sakura asked skeptically. The jounin shrugged, "Well, my instincts were telling me this was the way back to town.", Kakashi replied, looking around his surroundings.

"WHA!?", the shinobi screamed. "What instincts Kakashi-sensei!? You've been leading us around into who knows where for two FUCKING DAYS!!", Naruto hollered, waving his arms around. Kakashi just laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Oi, what are we going to do now?", Sakura asked, sinking to the ground in defeat. The rest of the ninja followed her example and sighed. Kakashi whipped out a map and with a fluid movement, opened it. It was a map of the Kuriana forest, the towns and landmarks crudely drawn. He glanced around, trying to match up the landforms. A confused look crossed his face. He twisted the map around, and narrowed his eyes in frustration. He flipped another scroll out, but this one was a map of the area that was made about 4000 years before the first one.

After studying it for a few minutes, his eyes widened in shock. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke leaned forward in anticipation. Kakashi looked up at them with a bewildered look. "Ok, I finally figured out where we are, but it's...unbelievable", Kakashi whispered. Naruto nodded his head and made a get-on-with-it motion with his hands.

Kakashi sighed. He flipped the map around so it faced the three shinobi. It was covered with lines and poorly drawn pictures of what looked like trees, mountains, lakes, and rivers. He pointed to a large opeing on the tree-covered parchment and explained, "This is the well is, or in other words, where we started." Then he moved his finger across the paper, moving to the left corner of the map.

"This is where we are now, Kuriana forest's southern section.", he said, circling a small piece of land. Turned around, he pointed at a massive tree that loomed over them. Its branches swung out, sending a canopy of shadows over the entire space. The trunk was so wide, even if the four ninja took hands and stood in a circle around it, they wouldn't even make it half-way around it.

"This is the Tree of Life. It was planted here over a million years ago and is the oldest and most sacred tree in the forest. The thing being is that this exact spot is where the village stands, or it supposed to. The tree was cut down around 40 years ago, so the village people had somewhere to set up camp. Now its here again, and the village is nowhere in sight.", Kakashi said, facing them.

Sakura shook her head in amazement. "Amazing. But it's impossible, there's just no way.", she said, thinking hard. Naruto scratched his head, confused.

"Wait, wait, wait. I'm completely lost here.", he said, totally unaware.

Sakura rolled her eyes and stated, "Let me put it in words you would understand. We fell down well. You now a long time back. Not in our time anymore. Ok?"

Naruto looked at her in annoyance. "I got it. I'm not retarded you know.", Naruto shot back. Sasuke muttered something under his breath and Naruto whipped around to confront the raven-haired boy.

"You got something to say, Sas-gay?!", Naruto lamely insulted.

Sasuke just laughed without humor. "Oh, cause I've never heard that one before. You suck ass at insulting, dobe.", Sasuke retorted.

"You wanna try that again, teme?", Naruto hollered, getting up in Sasuke's face. The boys glared at each other for a few seconds before turning away, arms crossed. Sakura sighed.

"You two are acting like children. Don't forget the mission at hand.", Sakura reminded them, casting a warm look at both boys. Sasuke grunted and Naruto just shrugged. Then, realization flooded Naruto's expression.

"Speaking of mission, what did you do with that scroll? I saw that you had it.", Naruto screamed, bringing up a whole new argument.

"You'll never know, 'cause I'm not giving it back. I'm going to learn this forbidden jutsu, then use it to take down Itachi. Seeing you took away my only chance at power, you at least owe me that.", Sasuke said, a little hysteria creeping into his voice.

"Well, you owe me and Sakura way more then that. You left us hanging for three years!!", Naruto yelled, his hard expression faltering.

"The Leaf Village had nothing to offer me in the form of power that I needed. But Orochimaru did. I needed that power Naruto, and would and will do anything to get my hands on it.", Sasuke answered nonchalantly.

"But did you ever stop to thing what it would do to the people who cared about you. You left Sakura torn and broke, so depressed that you had left. And me, you had been like a brother to me, when there was no one else. You made me feel…almost whole, for once in my life.", Naruto said, tears threatening to come. He pushed them away. His hardened expression returned, his eyes beginning to flicker red. "Did you ever once stop to think how it would effect us if you left? Did you?", Naruto asked, his emotions making his voice crack. A few tears escaped his eyes, rolling down his face. "Sasuke, you were one of the only people I let in, and you had to go and screw it up.", Naruto finished, unable to go any farther.

Sasuke's mask cracked. A wave of pity, anguish, pain, and mostly guilt washed over him, taking hold of his body. He finally woke up from the dream he had been living for so long. He glanced at the ground, afraid to look into the sapphire pools staring back at him in sadness and anger.

"Naruto, I…", Sasuke started hesitantly. But Naruto held up a hand to stop him. He looked up, the tears glistening in his eyes, but not spilling over.

"No, just…don't. I'm done.", he whispered, his voice barely audible. Silence covered the four, each brooding in their own thoughts. Sakura stared thoughtfully at the blond, who was still hunched over in his pain. I...I've never seen him break down like this before. What's happened to him?

"So Kakashi, what are we going to do?". Naruto whispered, breaking the awkward silence. Kakashi looked at him with wary eyes before saying, "Well, there's a small market up a little ways from here. I was thinking we could stop off there and restock before we head back towards the well. Hopefully, we'll be able to return through the well and get back to our time."

Naruto nodded and motioned to Sakura and Sasuke with a tilt of his head. Sakura quietly shuffled over while Sasuke hung back. This has gone on long enough. I hope Naruto and Sakura can forgive me for what I've done.

"Sasuke, you coming?", Sakura called, forcing him out of his train of thought. He nodded feebly and trudged after the group.

--Kyubbi-Kitsune--

Next Chapter: The Boy and the Prophecy

First Copy: April 21, 2008

Edited Copy: May 17, 2008