I'm BACK! (Dodges pots and pans and a random kunai thrown at me) I know, I know I'm not dead! But look, an update that's been sitting on my laptop for who knows how long. pastaKat's been getting onto me to update too, so she's on your side, you lucky readers. Anywho! My inspiration for this story is back (including the planning notebook that had been lost since the summer break), so expect another update within the next month…. Maybe…. Don't hold me to it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything else that you recognize in this story.

Another week had passed by without incident as Kaitlyn and Sam continued through Fire country towards the coastline. They had gone through a few non-ninja villages to restock on supplies, and had been passed by a few Konoha shinobi who were on their way back to the village while they were on the road. It was currently lunchtime and, seeing as they had reached the beach that separated Fire country from Whirlpool country, they decided to take their break on the white sandy shore. Kaitlyn had collected the driftwood from the surrounding area and was currently trying to start a fire in the sand. Sam, on the other hand, was wading in the salt water, with her dress hiked up to her waist, holding a makeshift spear over her head as she scanned the water. The spear was made of a long piece of driftwood she had scavenged, and the point was made of a kunai that she tied to the end with the string of Kaitlyn's jacket.

"Ha!"

Sam quickly jabbed the spear into the water and pulled it back out, only now it had a large fish on the end of it. Grinning wildly, Sam waded back over to the shore, where Kaitlyn was busy stoking the fire.

"Hey Italy, catch!"

Kaitlyn peered up from the fire, "Whaa- Oomph!"

With a face full of dying, flopping fish, Kaitlyn yelped and fell back into the sand, along with the fish, which flopped helplessly beside her.

"Hahaha!"

Sam cackled with laughter as she stumbled out of the surf and towards Kaitlyn, who had stood up and pouted at her laughing friend.

"That's not funny, Sam!"

Sam nodded and wiped her eyes free of the tears that had formed, "Yeah, yeah it was! Oh, you should have seen your face!"

Kaitlyn shook her head in exasperation and pointed at the weakly flopping fish, "Can you at least clean it? Cause I really, really don't want to touch it."

Sam's laughing trailed off and she rolled her eyes before picking up the fish by the gills, "Sure, sure, whatever. Pass me that other knife, would ya?"

Kaitlyn found the other kunai inside her pack and passed it to Sam, who thanked her and went some distance away to a flat rock to clean the fish on.

Sometime later, Sam popped up next to Kaitlyn, scaring her out of her mind again, and in her hand she help the cleaned and split fish that was speared down the middle with a stick. Holding it out for Kaitlyn, she snickered.

"Here, Ms. Jumpy, it's your turn now."

"Stop scaring me!"

Kaitlyn snatched the fish from Sam before turning back to the fire to cook it. Once she was done, Sam and Kaitlyn sat and ate the fish chatting between bites. The sun was setting fast as Sam set up the tent and Kaitlyn extinguished the fire.

"Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"How were we planning on getting to Uzu?"

"…"

"Sam?"

"…Yeah?"

"You do have a plan, right?"

"…I plead the fifth."

"Do I need to read you your Miranda Rights?"

"My what? You know what, no, never mind that."

"Exactly. Now what are we going to do? I know neither of us are mermaids."

Sam grumbled to herself, "I wish…"

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, "Truthfully, I don't know. I was hoping something would just happen and we'd find a way over. Or did you have an idea?"

"I'LL MAKE A FLYING MACHINE!" Kaitlyn pointed to the sky.

Sam stared at Kaitlyn for a moment before standing up and walking over to her. Kaitlyn didn't see her approach, so she was caught unaware when Sam smacked her over the head.

"Ouch!"

"Keep your thoughts close to home, Italy."

Kaitlyn pouted at Sam. "Meh. Let's just sleep on it."

Sam shrugged, "Alright, alright. Move over so I can get in the tent."

Kaitlyn squished over to one side of the tent, allowing Sam to crawl in to lay on the other side. They settled down in their sleeping bags and soon fell asleep, unaware of the weather changing outside. A tornado was forming a few miles away and was working its way rapidly towards the girls' campsite. Not even twitching in their sleep, the tornado ripped the tent off the ground and carried them off. Staring from the nearby forest was a very familiar raccoon watching tent fly away while munching on a bag of Oreo's that had been left behind.

Twisting and turning in the air, Kaitlyn and Sam slept soundly as the tornado carried them away from the beach and over the ocean, slowly turning into a waterspout the decreased in size as it took them farther out to sea. It wasn't long before an island was spotted off in the distance, one that was surrounded by whirlpools and mist. The tornado turned waterspout bypassed all of the whirlpools and headed directly towards the mist covered island. As it skirted the edge of the island, the tent that held the two girls was lowered to the ground until it landed, right side up, onto the beach before turning around and heading back the way it came.

The two girls continued to soundly sleep until the next morning, when they were woken up by the morning rays of sun. Sam crawled out first, shortly followed by Kaitlyn. Both of the girls stopped short when they stared around the beach.

"Hey, Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"I thought we were facing the ocean when we went to sleep."

"We were."

"Then why are we facing the tree line?"

"Kaitlyn, I don't even think we're on the same beach as before."

"What makes you say that?"

Sam points off to the side, where a large destroyed tower laid in ruins.

"Was that there before?"

"No, Kaitlyn."

"Oh."

The two stared around the beach for a minute before Sam started to pack up the tent. Kaitlyn stared at her while she was packing up.

"Sam, what are we going to do?"

Sam looked up while stuffing the tent back into her pack, "Well, what do you think? We have to figure out where we are first, and then make a plan to get out of here before making our way to Uzu."

Kaitlyn blinked before nodding, "Oh, okay."

Sam picked up her pack and threw Kaitlyn hers before pointing off in a random direction.

"Let's start that way. If we're on another island, then we're likely to run into something eventually."

Kaitlyn nodded and the two set off. The hills were steep, and the thick vegetation blocked their path multiple times, forcing Sam to use a kunai to cut it away. Eventually, they made it to the top of one of the hills, where they sat down to rest.

Kaitlyn huffed and sat down with her back to a tree trunk, "Huh, reminds you of when we first arrived to the Elemental Countries, doesn't it?"

Sam laughs, "Yeah, definitely a Deja vu moment. But the chances of us being back in Konoha are zero to none, but still it…."

"Sam?"

"…Holy shit!"

"What?!"

"Look!"

Sam pointed down the other side of the hill, and Kaitlyn looked down, only to gasp. The ruins of an entire civilization laid out below them. Crumbling walls, devastated houses, and demolished buildings were laid to waste near the center of the island, and not a single soul could be seen anywhere.

"Sam, where are we?"

"We've just stumbled across the ruins of Uzushiogakure."