Sorry I didn't update yesterday! I was in a place where there was no internet, so... yeah... Sorry. Hope you like it anyway! Oh, yes, and there will be some Japanese here. And I don't actually know Japanese. So, if I get something wrong, kindly correct me, and please don't get upset about it. I'm not good with languages. Thanks!

We had to tell Lady Tsunade, of course, of our plan. I'd made a promise to her that we wouldn't go out on random missions I'd come up with without her knowing anymore. As the eight-person group moved, it grew into a nine-person group when I asked Deidara, and evolved again into a ten-person group when I invited Maddie to join. We'd come across him along the way to the clearing (that's where we would create the portal, since the warp-energy was strong in that area). We left the village gates, leaving behind an annoyed Naruto, as Agatha had made a mistake with her Kawarigan.

Let's just say he was stuck being a girl for a while.

I frowned when we reached the clearing. "Hey, wait," I muttered, cocking my head to the side and cradling my chin with my hand in thought. "How do I make a portal to the Japanese world instead of the Real world?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Why bother bringing us here when you don't even know how to get to our destination?"

"Bakamaru!" Agatha barked, hitting him over the head. 'Bakamaru' was her nickname for Shikamaru when he was being an idiot. That didn't happen often, considering he's a genius…..

"Hey! What was that for?"

"She'll think of something, just you wait," Agatha replied with a huff.

"What'chya got?" Sierra squeaked.

"Hmmm," I droned, thinking hard. "Well… I still don't know."

"I can get us there," Madara offered, face blank.

My face lit up. "Okay! Go ahead, Maddie!"

There was the start of a swirl, but he stopped and frowned at me. "You know, I really would appreciate it of you stopped calling me 'Maddie.'"

"Oh, well. Force of habit," I shrugged, earning a giggle from my nieces and a short laugh from Agatha. And then we swirled away….

…And reappeared, sitting in darkness. How disorienting. I looked around, searching for some form of light. Hey, at least it was nearly a full moon, so we could still see around us. If I looked to our right, I could see the soft glow lighted tents. Its light seemed welcoming – calming even – to the point that I almost suggested going over there.

"Dare ga sokodesu ka?"

I blinked. "Hinata?" I guessed. "Guys, who said that?" I asked, looking around.

"N-nan— Dono you ni watashi no namae o shitte imasu ka?"

"Er…," I blinked. "Nani?" It was one of the only words I knew, but I knew it.

"Damn, we don't know any Japanese!" Agatha cried.

"Um, who is speaking?" I asked slowly.

Hinata came out of the shadows from the direction of the tents, eyes Byakugan and brow furrowed. "Naze anata wa, -sou… myou ni ieba, anodesu ka?"

I frowned. "Me no speak-y Japanese-y."

"Aa… anata ga tekidearu baai, watashi wa iu koto ga dekinai…." She paused.

"Okay, I've no clue what she's saying," I muttered.

"Ditto," Ash replied quietly.

"Why are we whispering?" Anna asked.

"'Cause!" Sierra replied in a strained whisper.

Then, Hinata said incredibly slowly, pronouncing each syllable carefully, "Ni ni bokoko-go o hanaseru?"

"Uh…." I racked my brain for Japanese phrases I had learned. "Watashi wa… hanasu… Nippon no sukoshi…," I answered slowly. It meant, "I only speak a little bit of Japanese."

She frowned under the moonlight. "Dou yatte?"

I shrugged.

She cradled her chin with her hand, then pointed at me. "Akatsuki?"

I shook my head and pointed to my headband. "Konoha."

She gestured to the friends around me. "Akatsuki? Teki?"

I shook my head. "Konoha," Ash, Agatha, and Sierra said in sync. I was guessing she was either mispronouncing 'Taka,' or she meant 'enemy' by teki. I went with the second choice.

"Akatsuki teki," I reasoned.

"…Mei?" she asked. I blinked, looking to the others for help. Why weren't Shikamaru, Maddie, Deidara, Zetsu, or Kisame speaking? Jeesh. They could have helped, at least. I mean, I know I could read the Japanese books, but… once I learned a symbol, it was like it translated to English in my mind. Yeah… it's confusing. "Aa," she said, nodding, then pointed to herself. "Hinata." She pointed to me.

"Oh!" I cried, and pointed to myself. "Natalie." Hinata smiled and nodded in encouragement.

"Ash!" Ashlie grinned, raising a hand.

"Agatha," Agatha came in.

"Sierra!" "Anna!" my nieces chimed in, in unison.

An awkward silence insued. "Er, can we go into that camp of yours?" I asked.

She blinked, then murmured to herself, "Wa shuuyou sorera no wake ni wa ikanai…." We all looked at one another, and shrugged. She held her hands in front of her, like a barrier. "Gomen ne. Kore ijou."

I recognized one word: gomen. And that meant sorry. I also recognized kore, which meant this, but that didn't help much. Judging by the hands she was holding up, I guessed she was apologizing for not allowing us to go to the camp thing. Then she started backing away, still holding her hands out, repeating, "Taizai. Taizai. Taizai…." When we didn't make a move, she jumped away.

"Now what?" I asked, turning to the others.

Kisame replied with a groan. "Hey! Why the hell is this your first response?" Ash asked, slightly annoyed.

"Eh?" he asked, looking around. "When'd we get here?"

"Honestly," Maddie commented, sitting up, "I believe we were knocked out. It makes sense, I suppose. There are other people – more than one of us – doppelgangers, if you will. It's not natural for us to be here."

"Makes sense," Shikamaru mumbled, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah. I guess so," Zetsu shrugged.

"So what'd we miss, mm?" Deidara frowned, putting his hand on his forehead as if he had a headache.

I jumped to my feet. "We're going to the Batcave!"

Anna laughed. "Aunt Natalie, you're so silly!"

"You mean the Akatsuki hideout-thing?" Agatha asked.

"Yep!" I grinned.

"That place has a name," Maddie corrected. We all looked at him, expecting an answer. "It's the Mountains' Graveyard, and I know the way."

I grinned. "Alrighty then, Batman! Lead the way!"

"What is our goal here, anyway?" Shikamaru asked me.

"I have no idea whatsoever," I replied, sounding just as serious.

He blinked. "You're kidding me!"

"You do mean to tell us there's some sort of motive, right?" Maddie frowned.

"Well, yeah, of course," I explained, making a gesture with my arm. "To save peoples."

Deidara sighed. "How are we supposed to save people?"

"Like you!" I squeaked. "We can save you! And Maddie and Sasuke and… and… yeah…."

"We can't save that man," Maddie frowned.

"Who, you?"

"He is not me!" he snapped. "And there's no way you can possibly save him. The only reason I'm even with you right now – the only reason you're alive, Natalie – was because of that battle at the Land of Waves. If it weren't for that, I'd end up just like him. And without that, there's no possible way you can avert him from the path he's on now!"

"…Someone has a temper," Anna mumbled.

"It's the same with Sasuke," he growled. "Don't you feel it? Don't you feel the cold, dark, hatred that has tainted his energy? He's fallen too far; you can't reach down and pick him up. If anything, he'd drag you down with him. So no, you can't save either of them."

"You're so pessimistic!" Sierra argued. "Everyone has some sort of light in them. And besides…. When you're in the deepest sort of darkness, it makes it all the clearer to see even a tiny ray of light."

"Stop talking about depressing stuff!" Ash complained. "It's depressing!"

"Guys, stop arguing," Zetsu came in.

"Really," Kisame added, "what's it gonna do anyway?"

"Maybe we'll come to a conclusion," Maddie suggested in a low voice.

"I have an idea!" Sierra said brightly. "We can always just help the good guys win the war!"

"But the good guys always win," I pointed out.

"Do you mean we're supposed to let things be?" Agatha asked. "'Cause that would mean we came here for nothing."

"And that would be dumb," Ash came in.

"Okay then!" I surrendered. "How about we just turn this into something fun, instead?" They all stared at me. "Like… like… Maddie can run up and confuse himself… er… the guy he is here. That'd be amusing. And since Kisame's supposed to be dead, then—"

"I'm dead? What the hell?" Kisame asked.

"Oh, yeah. You're dead, I forgot to mention." I stated it as if it were something as casual as going to the beach.

"Thanks for telling me," he frowned.

"You're welcome!" I grinned. "So, Kisame could freak out the Akatsuki, or maybe even Kabuto, 'cause you're supposed to be dead. Zetsu can do whatever happens to be amusing on his part, while the rest of us can just wreak havoc in our own way."

"Sounds fun," Ash commented, grinning evilly.

"So, then, we shall—"

"Yo."

"Maddie, don't interrupt me."

"That wasn't me, you fool," he growled, pointing upwards.

I looked at the top of a huge bone sticking up from the ground, to find another Maddie, with that one light purple mask that makes him look like a robot. "Hello, Mr. Roboto!" I greeted with a wave.

"Wa totemo youte shi baka, watashi ni gyaku ka?" he asked.

"I am not a baka!" I argued.

Maddie – our Maddie – frowned at me. "He said, 'Are you really so foolish as to try and converse with me?'"

"You can understand them?" Ash cried.

Anna huffed. "Poo you."

Maddie looked up at the other him. Ooh, here's an idea! I'll call our Maddie "Maddie," and the other Maddie "Madara." Yeah, that works. "Koko de tatakai sa rete imasen," Maddie reasoned.

Madara jumped down, and began speaking to Maddie. I didn't understand a word they said. I do know that one of them said something wrong, because eventually they were circling one another, still taunting each other in Japanese. "You can go off and do what you find 'amusing,'" Maddie told us, never taking his eyes off Madara. "He can't even completely figure out I'm him…. This'll be interesting." They rushed forward, and began to dance.

If you're actually imagining them dancing and doing the tango or something, I'm just gonna… laugh hysterically over here…. I meant that they were dodging and creating attacks – taijutsu – and their ducks and weaves were so in time, so precise, it was as if they were dancing; that they had pre-constructed this battle just for entertainment.

"Hey, let's go," Agatha coaxed, tapping my shoulder and snapping me out of it.

"Okay!" I said happily. "I'm going for Sasuke! Who're you guys going for?"

"Kabuto," Kisame smirked.

"Myself, I suppose. Isn't it obvious?" Zetsu responded.

"Eh, I'll go with Kisame and mess with Kabuto, hm," Deidara shrugged.

"I'll go with Zetsu," Ash said with a grin.

"I'll, uh, go to the Leaf's tents, I guess," Shikamaru sighed, sounding bored.

"They aren't just the Leaf's," Agatha pointed out.

"Yeah," I added. "They're the entire Allied Forces."

"Yeah, whatever," Shikamaru replied.

"And I'm going with Shikamaru!" Agatha added.

"I wanna see Sasuke!" Anna cried in joy.

"Er…. Anna, you should be aware that this Sasuke is… uh… scarier. And meaner. And nowhere near nice at all. And corrupted. And idiotic. And evil. And a boofhead. And naïve. And a bastard that twists his own goals to his own advantage so that Itachi's entire life goal was for nothing, destroying his will, throwing away his hardship so that it seems like he doesn't care at all!" I took a deep breath after that last sentence.

"Um, we get it, Natalie," Sierra said, putting her hand on my shoulder. "And if Anna is going with you to mess with Sasuke, I'm coming too!"

"We'll meet back at the Leaf Village!" I grinned. "And… go!"

And there you are. Have a nice day! Review or... er... I will create a paradox by making you meet your doppelganger! ...Yeah, not a good threat. Oh well. Review anyway! :D