Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any associated characters.

A/N:

Welcome to chapter seven of Sister Lost.

We're just going to continue where we left off with The Trouble at Three Peaks.

A quick warning this hasn't been proofread as much as I normally do and will be iterated through once more next week. Reason explained in the end Author Note :)

Now, once more that same ol' song: I do not have any beta readers so spelling, characterization and such are all on me, feel free to point out any and all glaring errors. Especially since English isn't my first language. I will try to avoid all the regular pitfalls, but it will be unavoidable that things slip through; feedback will allow me to fix mistakes and prevent future ones. So tear my grammar and spelling a new one if you find errors.

Sigh Beta reader list, that thing is the bane of my existence.

Moved all the responses to reviews to the end A/N instead it was starting to take a lot of space here. Only leaving one thing for this time.

Happy with the choice of replacing the Wave arc with this, it is shaping up to be a nice arc, and it is going to be quite a bit longer than what I had plotted out for Wave. Also people keep making comparisons to events that happens in the movies, haven't seen a single one of those, its filler content, meaning it will keep the status quo. I hate there being no character development, fights are great and all, but I'd rather see progression. So avoided all the movies, haven't seen a lot of the filler content either, basically I don't watch filler unless it has Hinata :D

Chapter 7: Red Snow

Team Kakashi and Yūki, 9 days later, starting the ascension of the pass into Land of the Three Peaks

They had reached a plateau on the ascend, Yūki was resting as the kids was changing into the arctic gear, it was going to get very cold once they got a mile or so further up the steep road that lead into the pass.

The past two weeks had been uneventful; she had taken a dislike for the leader and the boy with the black hair. Both seemed too apathetic for being her bodyguards. The boy had the emotional range of a rock with a set of facial expressions ranging from bored to slight disdain, while the leader had his nose in a book at all times, the book was interesting though and she had managed to convince him to lend her one. Apparently, he had a whole library of them in that pouch of his. She had never seen him pull out a scroll and unseal things as the children did. The boy with the black hair was trying to emulate the leader and had started reading while walking most of the time as well.

The other two were another matter entirely.

The blonde kid had an endless source of energy. He was always talking, mostly with the girl. He tried to include her as well, once he had gotten tired of pestering her about if she were a princess, he had stopped being quite so annoying. A month in captivity and then a month too weak to do anything in a hospital, having someone to converse with was a nice change. He was per default cheerful, there had been some mornings, where the otherwise energetic boy had been strangely silent, and had just walked next to Hyūga-san.

The girl was the nicest person she had ever met, she didn't say all that much but she was kind to her. The eyes were a little creepy, especially the part about her being able to see through things. Yūki was having a hard time imagining someone like that being a trained warrior. She had woken with a small cry one night; the girl was sitting at the fire, and had just asked her to join her. The girl had prodded a little and got her to talk a little about what had happened.

It had been a horrible month, first she saw her guards slain, the captain of the guards had been a friend to her, and she had seen him butchered like an animal. The apologetic look he had given her as he was struck down was haunting her dreams. She hadn't been able to continue past that and had just been crying while the girl had offered words of comfort.

"It's not your fault, I know you blame yourself, but your friend gave his life so you could have a chance. Feelings of guilt about your friend and anger at the bandits will only leave you broken hearted and cold. It is not a place you want to go."The girl had looked at her with pain painted on her face.

"Instead find goals in your life, and move forward." There had been councilors visiting her in the hospital, this was something that one of them could have said. Not something, a girl who merrily chatted the day away with her boyfriend should say.

Besides the incredibly gently side, the girl turned professional on the drop of a dime. The personality shift had caught her by surprise. A week ago, they had been walking through rain and she put her foot into a puddle, which turned out to be a few inches deep. She fell to the ground, the girl rushed over with veins bulging around those white eyes of hers. Demanding that she didn't try to get up and instead removed her shoe and pulled up the pant leg. Going down on her knees, she pulled out a scroll from her bag and quickly had a piece of plastic out, keeping the area out of the rain, quickly drying it off and then applied some incredibly strong smelling stuff to it. The pain had dulled almost immediately. "You have sprained your ankle, this will help, but you need to stay off it for a day."

The leader had reached into his pouch behind him, probably wanting to make camp right then instead. Without turning away from her leg, the girl had just held up her hand in a fist. "Naruto-kun, go make something she can sit in." The boy had obeyed her at once turning while splitting into 20. That ability was so amazing; she had never seen anyone work like that. It had taken 5 minutes then he came back with a wooden chair held together by wire on two sticks for carrying, all but seven of the boy disappeared and they went on with six of them carrying her. Presumably, the seventh was the real Uzumaki.

She had given up trying to embarrass Hyūga-san, anything she could come up with had been brushed off by the girl and had elicited no reaction from the boy. She only got a reaction out of the girl once. After they had started on the road again, with her in the chair, she had asked what it was that had been applied on her ankle; it was unlike any remedy she had ever tried.
Surprisingly it had been the blonde that answered almost shouted in excitement. "That is Hinata-chan's salve, she makes it on her own, isn't she awesome?" That had caused the girl to blush lightly.

Two days later when they had stopped for the night, the girl had pulled a cake out from a scroll, and wished the blonde a happy 13th birthday. The boy had seemed surprised that it was his birthday. No one else on the team had known it either, just the girl. She had given him a tiny present, inside was a small circle of gold with a whirl meticulously engraved on it. "Made this one as well Hinata-chan?" The boy had asked with a huge smile on his face, the girl had nodded smiling back at the boy. He instantly took off the necklace and put the small charm on it. Looking at the necklace as he put it back on Yūki realized the symbol was in white on the shirt the boy wore. A whirl and a lavender flower on the necklace, she regarded the blue haired girl, 'subtle'. The boy had enveloped Hyūga-san in a gigantic hug that looked like it might crack a few ribs.
'Damn thirteen, the children escorting me are only just becoming teenagers.'

Kakashi spoke up snapping her out of her thoughts. It was time to move on if they wanted to be able to find a shelter for the harsh winds further up the slope.

Team Kakashi and Yūki, the next day, on their way through the pass

Kakashi was standing in the middle of the pass looking at the road in front of them. A large avalanche had blocked it off; they couldn't traverse that snow with a civilian in tow, turning towards Yūki. "Is there another way through?" Yūki thought for a moment. "There should be a ravine about a mile back that runs parallel with the pass and rejoins it about 30-35 miles further ahead." Nodding Kakashi motioned them to back track for the ravine.

They had found the ravine, which thankfully it seemed to be clear. After walking through it for a couple of hours, Kakashi was starting to have a bad feeling about it.

"Do people normally travel through this ravine?" He had turned towards Yūki again. "No, it is rarely used, the snow and ice on the sides are often unstable in these months, you normally only use this if you have an escort." Kakashi narrowed his eye. 'Shit' Looking at his students. "Be on your guard, these is something wrong, this feels like an ambush, I will scout ahead." Kakashi disappeared.

They had only gotten a half mile further before a rumble was heard, Hinata shouted a warning, grabbed Yūki and threw herself forward towards Sasuke. Naruto had been rearguard and didn't have time to jump to safety before a large avalanche buried him.

An avalanche had closed off the other side of the ravine as well. They were boxed in. Three shinobi landed around them, one in front of Sasuke and two behind the girls.

Hinata activated her Byakugan. "The snow it's filled with chakra, I cannot see Naruto-kun." Her voice broke. She turned towards the two shinobi; they weren't wearing any Hitai-ate. She couldn't find him anywhere. Killing-intend pulsated off her, Yūki took the full brunt of it standing right next to her even though it wasn't aimed at her, she dropped to her knees dizzy and nauseous.

"YOU KILLED HIM, THE ONLY ONE LEFT I TRULY CARED ABOUT!" With a cry of anger and pain, she disappeared from Yūki's side, appearing in front of the shinobi to the left. She had come out of the Shunshin ducking low swinging her right arm towards the enemy, leaning further right to get around the arm he had brought up to guard the blow, she hit the lowest rib on the left side of his ribcage. In her anger, she pumped as much chakra into the Jūken strike as she could. It hadn't hit a tenketsu, but that didn't matter, the chakra forced its way through the lung popping all blood vessels it coursed through, traveling through the lung completely and straight into his heart. A fine mist of blood sprayed out of his mouth as he exhaled for the last time before slumping to the ground dead, covering the left side of Hinata's face in blood.

The blood hitting her face, tempered the white-hot fury that had caused her to jump into action, becoming cold fury with a sharp edge. She turned towards the other shinobi, he wouldn't get off as easy. Jumping towards him she hit him with a Jūken strike in the middle of his right ribcage, again pumping a lot of chakra into the strike, it flooded the lung with blood. Lifting her hand to strike the left lung, then watch as the man that had taken Naruto from her drowns in his own blood. Just as she was about to strike, a white blur landed in front of her, grabbing her wrist guiding the strike past the man that had fallen to the ground and was scrambling away in fear.

Leaning into her close to her ear, the person covered in snow whispered "It's okay, I'm alive, it's okay, please stop Hinata-chan. Please."

She went limp and collapsed into his arms.

Naruto was looking at the people in front of him as Hinata slumped against him. A few feet away from Sasuke, who was puking into the snow, lay a shinobi with smoke coiling off his body. Yūki was likewise in the snow emptying out the content of her stomach.

Kakashi arrived a few seconds later. "Shit... Naruto what happened here?" Naruto looked at the Jōnin. "I-I don't know, I jumped out of the way of the snow but got hit by the edge of the avalanche, it took me a moment to jump over it to be back to the rest of the group." Kakashi lifted his Hitai-ate, looking at his student with both eyes. "Naruto listen to me. This is very important. We cannot stay here; I have detected several groups of people moving towards this position. We need to get out of here, but we also need information. Can you take all three, run up the side of the ravine then head northwest?" Naruto nodded. "I will catch up with you once I have gotten something out of the guy behind you. GO NOW"

Naruto created 22 clones; he sent 10 up the side of the ravine instantly to scout ahead. He was still holding Hinata up, he scooped her up into his arms, a clone went over and did the same with Yūki, a third clone picked up Sasuke throwing him over his shoulders in a firefighter's carry.

Jumping clean out of the ravine with a massive chakra boost that left three big holes in the snow where they had been standing. Ten clones were left behind with Kakashi for a distraction and in case they needed further instructions before Kakashi left the ravine.

Naruto and his clones had been traveling at full tilt through the snow for a good thirty minutes before Kakashi finally caught up to him. Sasuke had wanted to be let down after five minutes, but Naruto had refused, Sasuke couldn't keep up with the chakra boosted speed they were traveling at.
Kakashi pulled up beside Naruto, looking like he was just out for a jog. "This is seriously impressive for a genin Naruto, is this the fastest you can move?" Naruto nodded. "If I boost any more I cannot control the chakra spread and whatever I set down on, to continue moving, explodes. We need to slow down soon; my clones will start to run low in less than 5 minutes." Kakashi nodded, he had lowered his Hitai-ate again.

They had outpaced and shaken off their pursuers with a distraction set by the other clones and a whole mess of explosive tags.

They needed to find shelter somewhere and regroup. Hinata looked pale; he had seen her handiwork on the two shinobi. She must have used a large amount of her chakra on those strikes. There had been so much forced through their systems that even if he hadn't finished the shinobi after the interrogation, he would have been dead in hours from chakra poisoning. He had sealed the head to send to Konoha, with a summon once they had the time, there was something that didn't make sense about this. He needed a mind rip to figure out who was behind this.

Looking at the girl covered in blood in Naruto's arms. "Hinata, think you're capable of using locating a cave nearby we can take place in?" Nodding slightly she activated her bloodlimit.

They had slowed down some; it wouldn't be long before Naruto's clones would need to be replaced. Yūki had fallen unconscious before they left the ravine and would need to be put somewhere warm until she awoke.

Hinata finally located a cave after twenty minutes and fell asleep in Naruto's arms from Chakra exhaustion. They went into the cave; Kakashi covered the entrance with a genjutsu, the jutsu cast through his sharingan it would need one of the San Daidōjutsu to known it was there.

They were in safety for now. His young charges were exhausted. Kakashi had started a small fire for warmth, with the genjutsu covering the entrance they could afford having a fire going without being discovered.
Naruto had burned a huge amount of chakra to move at the speed he had for so long, causing it to exhaust even the perpetual motion machine that was Naruto.
Sasuke had killed for the first time and seemed a little beside himself, Kakashi was worried that it wasn't the normal reaction to taking a life, he would have to talk to the boy later.
Hinata was sleeping in Naruto's arms; Naruto had managed to sit them down and was now looking into the fire with a weary look on his face.

A few hours passed, Naruto and Sasuke had fallen asleep while Yūki had finally awoken, still shaken from what had happened she sat down beside Kakashi. The Hyūga had gone berserk; she could hardly believe it, the reaction to the apparent death of the blonde boy. She had seen the look of fear on the second shinobi after he had been hit and was scrambling back away from her while coughing blood and trying to breathe, calling for mercy and backing away as she had moved closer for the last attack, begging the monster to leave him alone. There had been a spike of that nasty feeling, which had been flooding her and she had lost conscious right after.

"What happened out there, why did the child react like that? So much anger. I don't understand." Kakashi looked at the distressed woman. "Child huh, it's been a long time since those three were children." Kakashi let out a sigh. "It is a product of the shinobi world we live in; sometimes children don't get to stay children. The three of them have all had circumstances that didn't allow for a childhood." Yūki didn't quite follow and just looked at the man sitting next to her.
"The life of a shinobi is harsh; we live to make the world a better place, in the line of duty we are often forced to take a life. Killing someone tears at the soul, most shinobi develop quirks and become apathetic. Anyone working missions will eventually become what civilians consider odd. Some shinobi take a liking to killing and will eventually start killing indiscriminately before they are stopped. The first kill and how it is handled is significant, if it is not dealt with properly a person could snap. Uchiha and Hyūga both killed someone for the first time today. Thankfully Naruto stopped Hinata before she killed the man begging for his life, if he hadn't it is possible that it would haunt her for the rest of her days. Taking a life out of necessity and one because you want to, are two entirely different things." Kakashi stopped to look at the fire for a few seconds, letting the words hang.

"As shinobi we are sometimes forced to take lives of defenseless people, but we have our command structure to dissipate the personal cost such a task usually carries. That reminds me." Kakashi bit his thumb and did a quick series of seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu" A small pug appeared on the floor. "Pakkun, take this to the Intelligence Division." Kakashi placed a scroll on the back of the dog. The dog just nodding disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"What was that scroll?" Yūki had been eying the small dog that had just appeared."That was the heads of the three shinobi that ambushed us."
Yūki narrowed her eyes. "Three? I thought you said that Naruto had left the last one alive." Kakashi shrugged, and in a flat voice responded. "I killed the third once I had tortured whatever information I could out of him." That ended the conversation and Yūki moved away to lie down close to the fire.

Kakashi, few hours later

Kakashi had a nagging feeling that something wasn't as it seemed. This was a C-rank mission; the presence of shinobi would automatically make it at least B-rank. Those three had been fresh genin, they might have posed a threat to a normal team right out of the Academy.

Kakashi just shook his head at the thought. His team were every bit as broken as he was, how had he ended up with a team of three people each broken in their own way. Uchiha driven by hatred and desire for vengeance against his brother, Naruto growing up without parents and ousted by the whole town. Hinata's reaction had shown she was also broken, the sheer anger it must have taken to force that much chakra into another person. The Hyūga clan knew all the ways pure chakra interacted with a body, what she had done had been entirely on purpose.

What he had learned from the shinobi had bothered him, they didn't come from a village, it was a clan that roamed the mountains. The three that had attacked them, had been sent to spy on them while they were to walk into an ambush. When he had left the group to scout for an ambush, they had seen their chance to attack on their own. The only thing they knew was the girl was their target. He hadn't gleaned any information about who they were working.

Kakashi scowled, it didn't make sense, the people that had held her captive had been ordinary bandits. Bandits were a common occurrence on C-rank missions, shinobi were not. The three that had attacked them were fairly weak. Kakashi had sensed much larger chakra signatures further ahead in the ravine; it was what had caused him to head back towards the others in the first place.

They had gone too far into the country now, they needed to press on towards their goal, going the long way around. Heading back towards the Land of Fire would be suicide since the enemy was now between them and the border.

Kakashi decided to wake Sasuke and talk with him before the others got up. Shaking the sleeping boy, he was greeted by a pair of red eyes. 'Shit' How had he not noticed that.

"Sasuke, what do you see?" Sasuke looked confused then widened his eyes. "You mean?"
Kakashi nodded. "The Sharingan." Sasuke spend a bit looking around the cave. "Your Sharingan is still in its first stage, it will develop naturally with use."

Sasuke nodded. "I know, I have been studying my clan's library on the abilities and stages of it."

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "First you should turn it off, it will take a while to get used to the drain, no sense in wearing yourself out, and then I think you should tell me about the fight you were in."

Sasuke turned off his Sharingan. "The shinobi jumped down right in front of me, his tanto was already swinging towards me in an attempt to disembowel me. I barely managed to get out of the way in time, he was fast, but not quite as fast as the guys I have been training against the last month." He gestured at his jacket the cloth covering the zipper had been torn from the near miss.

"As I jumped back I fired off a Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu, he brough up his tanto and did a seal with his other hand it formed a water shield around it completely blocking the jutsu. I followed up with a Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu, he kept the shield up, it blocked the 6 balls of fire, but not the kunai inside them, they all hit him. The shield faltered and I hit him with a pointblank Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu." Sasuke hesitated a little, then continued.
"I-I have been preparing myself for the eventuality of taking a life, its part of being a shinobi. I wasn't prepared for exactly what it meant to kill someone as a member of a clan that specializes in fire. He crumbled to the ground screaming, I could see all him twitch as the fire licked over him, his muscles contract as the pain overwhelm his senses and shut him down."

Kakashi was looking at his young student, closed his eye for a few seconds and looked at him again. "Your Sharingan was activated as you hit him; it told you of every single movement in his body. It's not a very pleasant way to awaken." Sasuke was a little white at the prospect of all kills being that detailed because of his bloodlimit.

"What finally got to me after watching that was the smell of burnt meat and the low sizzle after he had stopped screaming. Everything started spinning, and suddenly Naruto was carrying me away."

Kakashi put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "You should get some rest today; we're staying here for the next 32 hours lowering the chances of getting found by whoever is pursuing us. Before you rest, reactivate your eyes and go have a look at Naruto."

Sasuke got up and walked over to the sleeping couple. The girl had a gentle stream of chakra flowing through her; it was hard to make out the details because of whom she was slumped against. Naruto was a raging ocean of power; it was so intense that he practically radiated it, the color bleeding outside of the chakra network and in the coils so intense that the colors bled outside of his body even.

'Shit. THAT is what I have been sparring against?' Sasuke looked shaken, causing Kakashi to smile under his mask. The shock was written all over Sasuke's face as he approached his sensei. "W-what is he? That cannot be normal. He is so bright; it's like staring at the sun." Sasuke studied his teacher with his eyes still active. "He has multiple times the amount of chakra of you. I don't see how that is possible. It's no wonder he can use all those clones." Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Not normal, the kid was sharp. "I cannot tell you that, you are not to ask him either, he will tell you himself in time. I will tell you this, work with them; together the three of you have the potential to become the strongest shinobi team Konohagakure has ever seen."

A few minutes later Sasuke was lying on his back eyes closed thinking. 'He is right; between two of the San Daidōjutsu and the dobe's massive reserve we would be unstoppable.' Letting out a sigh he mentally kicked himself again for not knowing when it had been Naruto's birthday, it would have been a great way to earn points with him.

A short while later Hinata awoke with a start, not completely sure where she was. She looked up and saw the whiskered face of Naruto looking at her. Naruto had been jolted awake by the sudden movement.

Everything that had happened in the ravine flooded Hinata, she turned her head into the boys jacket and started crying. Naruto gave her a slight squeeze. "It's okay Hinata-chan, I know it isn't easy, but I'm always here for you. I won't ever die, promised I'd stand by you forever, remember?" Hinata gave a small nod, after a while she stopped shaking. "T-Thank you for stopping me."

Hinata then laid the side of her head to his chest. The steady sound of his heart beating had soon lulled her back to sleep. Naruto looked at the lithe girl lying against him, gave a soft smile. She had been there for him after Mizuki, he was damn well was going to be there for her for this. He then leaned his head back against the camping gear he had stacked to sit against and drifted off as well.

A/N:

This chapter's content bloated massively, it only contains the first three scenes out of the six planned, I'm skipping Academy antics for the next while to move the story line along since the story arc will be quite a few more chapters than projected.

To make up for it, there will be another chapter tomorrow.

1Waylander: Thanks for pointing out the error in the last chapter; fixed it right away :)

Alucard45: Blargh! Movies, if any of them wasn't filler I might consider watching them, but as it stands filler has no interest.

Kingswriter: Not quite sure who that is, but the wiki claims Shion is from one of the movies, in that case it's not like that at all.

San Daidōjutsu - Three Great Eye Techniques: Rinnegan, Sharingan and Byakugan (Rinnegan is considdered a myth, but counted amongst the 3 great techniques, and possibly where the Sharingan and Byakugan originated from)

A few things about the Sharingan and the Byakugan with their ability to see chakra.
The Sharingan can see the flow, and through that the potential of it (Naruto is so overflowing that it shows as color bleed)
The Byakugan can see the absolute chakra, which is why they can see through genjutsu, they can see what the jutsu is made of instead of the ability itself. When Hinata looks at Naruto, it is not like looking at the sun, she can see all the chakra he contains. She doesn't see a bleed off it, she can see all of it as it runs through the network into the coils and out through the tenketsu. Sasuke can see that Naruto has many times the chakra of Kakashi, while Hinata would be able to tell you that he has exactly 73.38 times the chakra of Kakashi at the current time.