Author's Notes: Once again I'd like to thank SoulCry for reading over this chapter to and also taking over the beta job for Immanence as well. And as usually I like to thank all you guys who have been following all my stories and giving me great reviews. Look forward to reading more reviews and hope you enjoy this latest chapter.


Vanished Without a Trace
6th Sight: Umihime

While Naruto and Yugito were hunting down the rumored artifact in the Forest of Death, Umihime was trying her best to behave while fighting off boredom. One could say living with the two jinchuuriki had caused her to view the plain and slow life as uninteresting and downright dull. It was becoming a task for her to stay awake as she sat on the couch with her legs crossed watching some random shinobi soap opera, not understanding what was going on at all.

She yawned once as she watched a kunoichi slap the man she was talking to and storm off. She heard someone enter the room and again yawned.

"Don't you think it's too early for her to be watching soap operas, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked right before she realized that said person wasn't even paying attention as she took another gulp of saki before yawning herself. "And I also don't think it is appropriate to drink in front of her too!" Shizune scolded.

"I'm sure that she won't pick up any random habit of mine or from that show. She is much smarter than you think she is – a huge surprise when you consider who her father is." Shizune giggled a little.

Another yawn from Umihime caused both of them to glance in her direction.

"Are you sleepy?" Shizune asked as she walked up to her.

"Nope."

"You sure."

"Yup."

"You're not lying are you?"

"Umihime wouldn't lie to Shizune-nee-chan." She stated with a huge grin on her face that brought home memories of the young Naruto for Shizune. "Umihime is bored…" she dragged on as she glanced back toward the TV.

"I see – well, would you like to hang out with Sakura at the hospital today?" Umihime's eyes literally lit up as she nodded her head. She would rather enjoy doing anything but just sitting still all day.

"Ok then, Sakura will be by any minute now. I'll let you know when she gets here."

"Ok!"

Shizune smiled again before walking into the kitchen to fix her a drink of juice right before she heard a knock at the front door.

"That was faster than I thought." Shizune said to herself as she went to open the door. There stood in front of the door a very flustered Sakura with one Konohamaru smiling with several bruises on his head. "W-what happened to you?!"

"Someone thought it would be a good idea to try out a new type of hentai jutsu on some of the genin at the hospital." Sakura stated.

"Hey… they looked down in the dumps and I wanted to give them a little bit of excitement to help them out." Konohamaru said as he slowly started to shy away from his oppressor.

"And here I thought you had grown out of that childish stage of yours. I mean even Naruto was able to do it – why in hell can't you?!" Sakura yelled as a random vein popped up in her forehead.

"Umm…." It seemed that the two had forgot all about Shizune who was standing in front of them.

"Oh, gomen… I'm here to give the daily reports to Shishou-sama. This one just decided to tag along hoping to find Naruto."

"Aren't you the chuunin instructor for the third exam? Why aren't you preparing for that?" Shizune asked.

"Well the second exam just started and I figured that I still had a day to enjoy the festivals."

"Ok, both Naruto and Yugito are out doing something right now. Why didn't you tell him that, Sakura?"

"This kid is just as stubborn as Naruto used to be."

"Not a kid… Anyway what are they doing?"

"I can't really say to be honest." Konohamaru seemed to think of something as his eyes went off somewhere. The sound of a very annoying gaki – to him that is – caused him to be abruptly brought back to reality.

"Konnichiwa, Sakura-nee-chan!" Umihime shouted as she dashed to the door.

"That reminds me, is it ok if Umihime goes with you for a little bit? I think she is getting bored with just sitting around the house doing nothing."

"It's ok with me. Naruto also couldn't sit still for a long time either."

"It's amazing how much she reminds me of him every time I see her face."

"But I'm positive that she got her brains from her mother." Tsunade said suddenly appearing behind Shizune. "Don't just stand at the door front all day and come in. Sakura, follow me to my study so we can go over the reports."

"Hai."

The group of Shizune, Konohamaru, and Umihime walked into the living room as the other two went off to discuss business.

Konohamaru was sort of sitting on pins and needles as he watched the young girl sit down on the couch and cross her legs. She was quiet – too quiet for his liking. For some reason he couldn't get over the thought that she was plotting something against him – the little monster…

"Nani?" Umihime asked as Konohamaru realized that he was staring at her.

"Nothing… where did your parents go?" Umihime turned her head and proceeded to ignore him as if the TV was more important to him. "Hey! I asked you a question!" he slightly raised his voice to show her that he had the authority but she only continued watch TV.

"He—"

"Umihime is trying to watch TV." She stated without even glancing at him. Konohamaru's face grew a dark shade of red as he tried to bite back his frustration and anger.

"You guys want anything to drink?" Shizune asked as she returned to the living with a couple of cups of juice.

"Arigatou gozaimasu!" Umihime said as she reached up and grabbed a cup.

"So polite, who taught you such manners?"

"My papa." Her smile was almost blinding.

'This good girl act is making me sick...' Konohamaru thought.

"I think you should take notes from her, Konohamaru-kun." Shizune said as she handed him a cup as well. He merely scoffed at the thought until he caught Umihime sticking her tongue out at him.

"Hey!"

"What is it?" Shizune asked giving Umihime enough time to return to her normal position before Shizune saw her.

"Urgh… nothing…" he said as he took a sip. Shizune stepped back out of the room allowing Konohamaru to a shoot a very hateful glare at the girl. Suddenly all of the juice in his cup slapped him splashing all over his face and clothes. He instantly shot a look over at Umihime who was watching TV but wearing a very dark grin. He knew she was the cause of this oddity but he didn't even sense her use any chakra at all.

"You guys—what the hell did you do to yourself this time?" Sakura scolded as soon as she walked into the living to see a fuming Konohamaru covered in juice.

"It was her!" He pointed in a childish manner.

"Umihime didn't do anything." Umihime said as she looked up at Sakura with some of the cutest pair of cerulean blue orbs that caused Sakura to believe her over him.

"Grow up… Don't blame others for your misfortunes." She said as she shook her head.

"Have fun with Sakura and Konohamaru, Umihime-chan!" Shizune said as she walked back in.

"Umihime will!" she cheered as she grabbed her backpack that was resting on the coffee table and dashed out of the front door before the other two. Shizune giggled as she handed Konohamaru a towel.

"Don't worry, I think she likes you. You're just easy for her to tease." Shizune said with a smile on her face.

"Huh… you knew?!"

Shizune merely smiled.

"But it is your fault that you are so easy to tease." She said as she walked off.

"What were you guys talking about?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, nothing." Shizune replied as she exited the room.

"Ok. We should hurry up and catch up to her before she gets lost."

"Which would be a good thing…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing…"

As soon as the two stepped outside they saw Umihime waiting along side the house wall with a large grin on her face. Just being outside again had quickly brightened her mood. All her short life had been spent in nature and the sun's rays seemed to revitalize her stamina.

"Ready to go?" Sakura asked, to which Umihime nodded her head as the two began to head toward the hospital.

"Wait… you guys are leaving me behind?"

"You only followed me to find Naruto, right? I told you and Shizune-nee-chan told you as well that they were busy. So you no longer have a reason to follow me anymore."

"Yeah, but –"

"But?"

"I'm kind of bored since I won't have anything to do until the third exam."

"You're just going to annoy the patience again at the hospital."

"No… I won't – I promise." Sakura crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him just like Tsunade used to do to Naruto when he was younger. Suddenly something struck her like a bolt of lightening.

"Hinata is also working at the hospital today too, right?"

"Yeah, but you already know that – why are you asking?"

"I recently heard that Hanabi was also helping her out as well." Suddenly Konohamaru face flashed a bright red causing Umihime to laugh out loud while Sakura only wore a devilish grin. "Knew it! That was the real reason why you were at the hospital."

"N-n-no way! I told you I was just trying to help out!"

"Whatever… last I heard Hanabi was also volunteering to help out some of the academy students that will be taking their genin exams pretty soon with a few ninjutsu and taijutsu lessons over at field ten."

"Nani?! How come I wasn't told of this?!"

"Oh?" Sakura's grin grew even deeper.

"D-don't get the wrong idea. Teaching the gaki is something that would interest me much more than hanging around the hospital all day."

"Yeah, yeah… well, we will be heading out now."

"Umihime wants to go see the academy students too." Umihime tugged on the bottom part of Sakura's skirt. Sakura sighed a little bit as she glanced back at Konohamaru.

"No…" he instantly said not even allowing her to ask the question. A vein popped up on her forehead as he made a silent gulp and backed up a little.

"I still have things to do at the hospital and she would also enjoy herself more if she was around younger kids."

"But—"

"I'm sure you'll be more than willing to help me out, ne?" even though her tone was kind and sweet but the dangerous amount of killer intent she was emitting told Konohamaru that it would be wise for him to comply with her demand.

"Ok…"

"Great! I will be by to check up on things around five, ok?"

"Hai…" he said in a tired tone. "Come on gak—I mean Umihime-chan – lets go."

"Hai!" she sang as she grabbed his hand. For a second he thought this wouldn't be as bad as he thought it would be if she were going to behave like this for the rest of the day.

*****

It only took them several minutes to make it to field ten where Hanabi was already standing with about twelve academy students sparring with one another in pairs of two – there were also a few more chuunin supervising the training.

"How's it going, Hanabi-chan!" Konohamaru shouted as he waved his hand in the air at her. Her typical Hyuuga stoic expression shifted to one of annoyance as she realized who it was that was calling her name.

"What do you want?" he seemed to brush that one off without a hint of hesitation.

"Why wasn't I told about these lessons?"

"Since you were selected to be a instructor of the exams they figured that it wouldn't be right to invite you here too. Which I was happy for…" she said as she continued to glare at him.

"But I love doing this kind of stuff!" he said with a cheerful expression on his face as he raised both of his hands. This was when he realized that Umihime was no longer by his side. He began to scan his area looking for her.

"What are you looking for?"

"Naruto's daughter…"

"Why in hell did he let someone as irresponsible as you watch over her?"

"Hey… I'm doing Sakura a favor, ok?"

"Who is this kid?" one of the other chuunin asked as both Konohamaru and Hanabi turned toward that direction.

Umihime was standing in between two students looking at them with a very curious expression on her face.

"Umihime wants to know why are you fighting..."

"We are not fighting, we are sparring. This is a part of our training and a little chibi like you shouldn't get in our way." One of the students said as he glared down at her.

"Hey don't be mean to her!" The student he was sparring against yelled.

"Spar-ring? Umihime wants to try! Umihime does it a lot with her mama and papa!"

"No way, I'm not in the mood to hear a baby cry."

"Umihime won't cry!" she shouted as she glared up at him.

"Umihime! What are you doing, get back over here!" Konohamaru yelled.

"Yeah, listen to Konohamaru-senpai and get out of our way."

"No! Umihime wants to try!" she shouted back at him with her fist balled.

Hanabi closed her eyes, which caused Konohamaru to think that she was beginning to get annoyed with the girl.

"Lets just humor her a bit. Mizo, go easy on her!" she shouted to the student who had been arguing with Umihime.

"Nani? Why do I have to?"

"Because I said so!" she yelled back with her fierce Hyuuga glare that could scare almost anyone inexperienced to death – the students included.

"Hai…"

"And if you hurt her badly I will kill you." She added causing him to sigh even louder.

'How is it possible not to hurt her badly since she is four or something like that…' the student thought as he crouched down in a defensive stance. "Ok, you get the first attack."

"Hai!"

"What are you thinking Hanabi-chan?" Konohamaru asked. He knew Umihime was gifted but highly doubted she was on genin level.

"Just watch."

Umihime reached around in her backpack and pulled out a water bottle. She opened the bottle and slung the water in the air allowing it to rain down on them.

"What was that for?" the student asked. Umihime only giggled as she dashed quickly toward him – a lot faster than anyone had expected – and landed a heavy blow to his abdomen knocking the breath out of him.

On instinct he sent a violent backhand at her direction that caused everyone to gasp hoping that she wouldn't be seriously injured – Konohamaru more than anyone else since he would have to deal with an angry Sakura and an even angrier Naruto.

But his hand only flowed smoothly through her body as it dispersed in a splash of water.

"A mizu bushin?" he asked as his eyes told the story of just how shock he was. The majority of the students there couldn't use any d-level jutsu except the bushin no jutsu – him being the only one who could do a little more – yet she had just performed jounin level jutsu.

While he was stunned with shock the water quickly flowed behind him and retook the shape of Umihime as she leaped in the air and landed a side kick to the small of his back sending him crashing to the ground. She then proceeded to use gravity to her advantage as she landing on top of his back adding more to injury. He released a loud groan before he lost consciousness.

"Awww… Umihime wants to keep playing. Papa and mama can last a lot longer than this!" she pouted as she punched the student in his back. She was oblivious to the fact that everyone around her was flabbergasted.

"What did hell did Naruto-nii-san teach her?!" Konohamaru asked no one as he was trying his hardest to pick his jaw off of the ground.

Umihime stood up and glanced over at him with a smile on her face.

"Want to play?" she asked in such an innocent tone that it almost shed the fact that they were all thinking she was some kind of bakemono offspring – which wasn't far from the truth giving who her parents were.

"Nani?" before he realized it, he was forced to back up quickly as water began to splash in his direction. The moment he took his eyes off her she had disappeared. "Where'd she go?!" he shouted.

"Above you!" Hanabi answered as her Byakugan activated.

He was barely quick enough to fend off her foot as she landed on top of his forearm and perfectly balanced herself there with a playful grin on her face. Her body then burst into water as it splashed all over him. In the seconds of the commotion she appeared behind him sending a left foot to the back of his left knee but he was quicker than she was as he slid his leg to right just dodging the attack.

Instead of staying on the offensive she bounced back as quick as a neko as she leaped into the trees.

"She thinks this is a game." Hanabi stated with an unusual smile on her mask.

"And how is that going to help me calm her down? My neck is on the line here if something happens to her, you know?"

"I'm more worried about our little chibi here than you body parts. Luckily she has found a very amusing play toy."

"Is that all I am now?" he said in an exhausted tone.

Hanabi laughed as he continued to search for the girl.

"Plus, I think she is more than capable of taking care of herself judging by how she is dealing with us right now. I have to admit that her parents raised her to be quite the capable kunoichi at such a young age. Maybe nee-sama should have hooked up with that blond baka after all if this is how he raised his children."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Surprisingly so."

Konohamaru sighed out loud again just before relaxing his stance but that was what Umihime was waiting for. He felt a hand grip the back of his leg and sling him hard against the ground. The hand was cold and very damp – further observation proved that the hand was made completely of water and had sprouted up from the ground.

"Just how strong is she!" he shouted as he fought to free himself.

The patter of a dozen footsteps caused him to look up at the sight of several mizu clones charging toward him. He finally set himself free and leaped up and began to engage the clones. He didn't know how high her pain tolerance was, so instead of going with full power he lightly tapped the back of the neck of each one hoping he could find the original – unfortunately all of them dropped to a puddle of water.

Two more leaped out of a puddle behind him and finally connected with a chain of kicks and punches before he managed to fight them off too.

"Looks like she is getting the best of you." Hanabi said with her arms crossed.

"You're not going to help me get her under control?"

"Didn't you already discover that this was also entertaining for me too?"

"Yeah, yeah, but this is all at my expense."

"It is your job to babysit her, isn't it? Consider this a part of the mission that has been handed to you too. You are a chuunin after all." Hanabi's usual cold tone proved that she had absolutely no intentions of helping him in this matter. He let out a loud growl as his frustration was starting to get the best of him.

"Ok, Umihime-chan! Play time is over – come out before I get serious!" He allowed a bit of his chakra to flare up, showing that he was meaning business. He wasn't sure if she could properly read chakra yet but was positive that her parents had at least touched up on it, since she knew how to perform such complicated jutsu already.

Suddenly Umihime leaped down from one of the near by trees with a large Naruto-like-grin on her face as she had her arms crossed.

"Umihime had fun!" she cheered causing Konohamaru to sweat drop and Hanabi to burst in a fit of laughter.

"I think I might adopt her as my own little imouto-chan." Hanabi said as she walked up to the girl.

Unexpectedly a large amount of chakra mixed with a monstrous amount of killer intent caused everyone – Umihime included – to freeze right in their tracks. The source seemed to have come from the direction of the Forest of Death.

"What the hell was that?!" Konohamaru yelled as he somehow managed to take control of his emotion enough to break his body's trance.

"Mama!" Umihime shouted. Konohamaru sighed a little. He began to think that maybe she was a little normal – even he was scared for a second.

"It's ok, Umihime-chan, we'll protect you if something were to happen." Hanabi said as she tried to comfort the child.

"No… Umihime is not scared! Mama is hurting!"

"Nani?"

"Mama is "hurting"?" Hanabi repeated the question in her state of confusion.

Umihime broke free from Hanabi's hold as began to slowly back up.

"What is it, Umihime-chan?" Hanabi asked concerned about the girl.

"Stop her!" Konohamaru yelled as something popped in his head.

"What are you talking about? It's obvious that she is already scared enough."

"If we don't stop her –" before he could finish his sentence her body dissolved into a puddle of water.

"She just shushined?" Hanabi said a little bit shocked.

"Too late…"

"What do you know?" Hanabi demanded as she glared at him.

"She mentioned her mom was "hurting" right after we felt that strange chakra. I think she is going to try to rescue her mom from whatever is going on."

"You mean to tell me that monstrous chakra was Umihime-chan's mom?!"

"It explains a lot about her own strength don't you think? She obviously has two freakishly strong parents who probably have been training her since she could walk – not to mention she had to inherit some of their gifts."

"I know that baka. This means she is most likely heading toward the Forest of Death."

"Think you can help me now?" He asked with a mask of seriousness covering his face. She nodded her head since she felt a little bit of obligation to the girl that she wanted to adopt. "Ok, see if you and Suni can track her down before she gets there. I have to tell Sakura and hope that she doesn't kill me."

"I'll take care of the kids." The third chuunin named Keito added. The other three chuunin nodded as they quickly split up.

II

Things were going fine at the hospital until that strange chakra sent everything in a hectic frenzy. Sakura was in charge of the hospital and this was making her job all the more annoying and painstaking. The strange chakra had caused previously sealed wombs to reopen, normally calm traumatized patients to return to their anxiety attacks, and the babies in the nursery to wail.

"What in the world was that?" Hinata asked Sakura as pools of sweat was literally pouring from her forehead.

"I don't know but it wasn't a good thing."

Suddenly Sakura caught a glimpse of Konohamaru charging up to her in the corner of her right eye and also noticed that Umihime wasn't with him.

"What is it? This better be important because I really don't have the time for this right now."

"You felt it, right? That huge chakra?"

"What do you know about that?" Sakura demanded.

"That was Naruto's wife, according to Umihime-chan."

"And where is she right now?" Konohamaru body slouched down in a pitiful pose as he shyly glanced at her.

"That's the problem. She dashed off to the Forest of the Death to rescue her mom. Hanabi and Suni went off to get her before she made it but I doubt they will be able to catch her before she makes it there."

"How in hell can you let her run away?!" Sakura yelled as she lifted him by his collar.

"Well… she is surprisingly strong. She beat up one of the stronger kids from the academy in three hits in a spar and even gave me some trouble while thinking it was all a game. She knew several high level jutsu."

"Still, she is only a little girl and that place is deadly even for adults! And if that really was her mother than there is no telling what is going on in there right now!"

"That's why I came to tell you!" he shouted.

Hinata gently placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. Sakura glanced over at her right before letting out a loud sigh calming down releasing him from her ironclad grip.

"My hands are tied here at the hospital – go notify Shishou-sama and Shizune-nee right now. They will be able to handle things." Konohamaru nodded as he shushined off in a whirlwind of leaves.

"I'm sure my imouto and Suni-san will be able to get to her before anything happens." Hinata said trying to comfort Sakura.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's take care of things here."

III

Umihime knew that she was being trailed by the others but for some reason she couldn't help but run to her mother. It was like something was pulling her to the forest as if it was her mother's own voice. She had been feeling it all day since her parents left that morning – it just wasn't as strong as it was now. Now it felt like something bad was going to happen to her parents if she didn't show up.

She suddenly stopped right in front of the gate to the entrance of the Forest of Death. She didn't know the reason for her stop – maybe it was something just as strange as the thing that was calling her, telling her to go back.

"Mama, be ok…" she said to herself as she decided to tread on.