That night, under the moon, the blonde hair of Naruto's son Takeo shimmered back and forth in quick jolts as he took violent steps away from the Leaf's emergency squad team.

Nejii and Tenten's eager daughter Shiya sat upright in her tree alongside the sleeping members of the Leaf. "I know I heard something," she mumbled. She looked around the darkness of the forest and gazed at the moonlit faces of her village members. Her parents were sleeping soundly. When she looked for her fellow members in team four, however, she noticed one sleeping bag next to Naruto was empty. "Oh, gosh-" she began, but quickly covered her mouth with her palm, careful not to wake anyone up. She didn't want to get Takeo in trouble. She slowly slid herself down the tree and listened to the night sounds until she heard his vigorous footsteps close by. Grinning with curiosity, she quietly followed.

Takeo paced angrily towards the Hidden village of the Mist. He had suddenly woken up with uncontrollable anger at the boy, Manabu, who had laid a paper bomb in his hand earlier that day. He was bound to find those Hidden Mist nutheads and put them in their place. Besides, he couldn't wait to see his fathers proud face when he'd tell him he taught Manabu a lesson and brought back Manabu's runaway father to the village.

Takeo kept walking for what seemed like centuries until he felt the soles of his feet getting sore. In fact, he was on the verge of giving up on finding his way to the village until he tripped over a bump on the ground and landed flat on his face.

"HEY!" screamed an irritated womanly voice. "What are you doing? I'm trying to sleep!"

Takeo rolled over and stared back in silence. He was stunned by the sudden loud voice piercing his ears. The moon was behind her head and all he could see was her silhouette and some of the lines in her face, stress marks tracing delicately over her otherwise porcelain skin.

"Come on, you heard me" she continued in a softer tone. "It's dangerous for people like you to be wandering around in the forest of the hidden village of the Mist at a time like this. Do you have any idea what's even going on? You know, that we are being taken over by Lord Kabuto? You could be kidnapped by the Hidden village in the Leaves. They're running about right now trying to help out and you could be caught in the mess!"

All of a sudden Takeo saw several other bumps lying beside her. They were moving out of their blankets, woken up by her unsettling voice.

Takeo stood upright and realized her mistake. She thought he was a member of the Mist village! He was about to apologize and leave when he felt a cold hand wrap around his leg. All of a sudden, his face was back on the hard ground of the forest. He felt his body being drug across the ground but was immobile. He couldn't move, because he was frozen with fear. He felt hands reaching into his pockets, and the cold feeling of people holding his body down.

"It's a leaf ninja! He's got a leaf headband in his pocket!" he heard the man behind him yell.

Takeo felt his palms sweat. He felt the cold metal of an object behind his neck. He barely felt the pain as the tip of a sword dug into his skin and started scuffing into his neck.

"STOP!" a girl screamed, running out from behind a tree, waving her arms back and forth. "Grab me, I'm a leaf ninja!"

The men stopped. "Shit!" one yelled. "Grab her. She can't go back telling her clan where he is."

Takeo felt the object stop gnawing into his skin and saw one of the men who was binding him run after the girl. He tilted his head up and saw that it was Shiya, who was now running away from the man. He couldn't believe she followed him here, but most of all, he couldn't believe her courage.

Takeo kicked upwards abruptly. He heard the man still holding him shriek. Takeo flipped over, and noticed the man holding his genitals in pain. Takeo sat up, and began running. He felt the pain in his neck quiver with every step he took. He looked back to see the woman who had yelled at him before. He could now see that she was staring at the situation, shocked, not knowing what to do. The man came back running at him, and Takeo tripped over a thick tree branch that had been hidden by the dark of the night. He saw the man hovered over him, holding up a long sword, waiting to ply it into his body.

"Stop, just stop!" Takeo heard the woman yell. The man, with a sword raised over Takeo's body, froze and looked over at the woman.

She ran over and placed herself between the man and Takeo. "Stop" she said again, her voice lowering to a whisper, pleading. "He's just a young boy. We can just keep him here, then he can't tell Lord Kabuto that we're hiding in the woods."

The man lowered the shuriken angrily. The woman raised her hands over Takeo's neck, and a green light glowed. Takeo noticed the wound on his neck disappearing. He looked at the woman now, lit up by the green light. He thought she looked familiar somehow. He could see the worry in her face, and could see her short pink hair moving slightly in the wind. "I'm Sakura, pleased to meet you," she said in a calming voice, plastering up a fake smile as if this were a joyful meeting.

The angry man who had just tried to kill him looked at him with a casual, bored face. "I'm Suigetsu."

Suddenly, the man who had ran after Shiya came back, carrying her with her mouth tied shut. He laid her on the grass beside Takeo. "So it looks like these two are staying here awhile?" he said cooly.

"They sure are, sweetie" Sakura said, looking up at the man with a smile. "And this is my husband, Sasuke."

It was then that Takeo noticed Manabu standing behind Sakura.

To be continued...