Clash in the Snow; Truth in Acting
{Speaking to non-human animals}
The cold, the snow, the wind that never seemed to abate. There, embedded in a branch of some tree, was a single kunai, and tied around the hilt, a single grey ribbon streamer, rode the wind like a cloud. All around the forest, other used and discarded weapons remained where they were dropped, by the last hands to ever wield them. All was silent now, it was a silence where only the gusting of the wind could be heard, the silence seemed more dramatic, when compared to the cacophony of the battle that raged, now finished.
The remnants of the slain, dotted the field like macabre mushrooms, springing up seemingly at random. At the far end of the field, a lone figure was kneeling, seemingly muttering to himself, "We… have nowhere to go… There's no going… any further." he whispered, "our war ends here." His hair was long, and around his crown, a circle of gold could be seen. He wore a tunic, and breeches with a long-sleeved, loose-fitting shirt. In his hand, point down, buried in the ground, the only thing holding him up as much as he was, he carried a functional ornamental sword.
However, laying on the ground, a man wearing prayer beads, and monk's robes, looking enough like the other man to be his twin, except for a short goat-tee, and shorter hair. "A journey like this… it was impossible."
Nearby, laying against a tree, was another man wearing, what looked like a mask. "This is the end. Let's give up already."
A little further, staring upon the remains of a ruined castle, another figure knelt before it. "There is a way," the determined voice of a young woman called out, as she stood abruptly, "have faith," she grated. "We will find it, without fail," she continued hoping to inspire her men.
"But, princess," the first man pleaded in a whisper.
The beautiful woman turned imploringly to them, "you must not give up," she pleaded.
The monk whispered, "Princess…"
Suddenly from atop the ruined castle, a figure stood upon the battlements of the castle, "Princess Gale," he addressed her, "you will go no further!"
The sight of their hated enemy seemed to grant strength and vigor to the exhausted men, as they scrambled to their feet, weapons in hand, and ready to fight their enemy once more. "Mao," one of them screamed in outrage, "this storm, it must be your doing," he said, any confirmation, from their enemy was unnecessary, who just grinned in triumph!
["Behind you princess," Hinata's voice could be heard!]
Behind the men, one of the 'dead' soldiers stood, and slashed at the princess, from instincts born of many battles, the woman rolled to the side, avoiding the attack, while drawing her blade. She brought her blade into a thrust position, and lunged, running her attacker through. The thrust was apparently powerful enough to dismantle her attacker and rip his armor apart. Behind them the rest of the army rose ponderously to their feet, while her enemy began to arrogantly demand her surrender. Yet, the princess was not intimidated, as she cast her defiance into his teeth, with her back to the villain she began speaking, "As long as I live, I will gather my strength," before whipping around to stare Mao, right in the face, "and forge a path for others to follow!" She began to glow, a multi-colored aura began to surround the princess's body,
The swordsman looked on in astonishment, "Princess," he began, "the rainbow chakra is in flames."
The masked man turned to the other men and said, "brothers, we must light the flames of our chakra as well!"
"Right," the other two agreed!
Mao began waving his staff, as he whipped up his own power, ready to defend his miserable life, "Pitiful," he shouted! He sent a surge of inky black energy directly at the four below him. The surge collided with the quartet, but they had already gathered their chakra, which while separate would not have been enough to stop their fiendish foe. Together, however, their power combined to form a barrier, causing the surge to break like a wave against a cliff-face. The backlash of energy destroyed Mao's own undead army. The princess and her crew combined their chakra into one single attack, that shot out straight at the evil man, obliterating him.
Later…
It was a beautiful clear day in Kaen (Flame), the capital of Hinokuni, one of those hot, summer days where not much moved within the city, except an occasional bird moving across the sky. In a small open lot behind the movie theater, two young people, are locked in a lover's embrace. The boy held the girl tenderly, but with a gentle strength, that assured the young woman that he would protect her. Their lips met with intensity, the memories of the movie they had recently shared fueling their ardor.
The girl, had dark, midnight-blue hair that she keeps in a hime-cut, reaching to her lower back with framing strands grown to shoulder-length, keeping her black forehead protector around her neck. Her clothing consisted of a loose fitting, lavender, and cream hooded-jacket with lavender cuffs over mesh armour. She also wears navy blue pants, and black, low-heeled sandals. At the moment, her eyes were closed, she was savoring the kiss with her beloved paramour, but if they were open, white pupilless eyes would be seen.
Her name is Hyuga Hinata, the heiress to the Hyuga clan, and kunoichi of Team Eight. When not checking the boy on her lips for tonsillitis, she spoke with a soft, quiet unassuming voice, she just did not like raising her voice. Therefore, she chose other means, for expressing herself, namely with her jūken. While she did not mind the feeling of being protected, especially from him, she did not need it, and they both knew it. Hinata was unlike many Hyuga, because she did not turn her nose up at learning jutsu, outside the Hyuga clan model. She was taught her mother's jūken style, which was better suited for her nature affinity: lightning. It was still very much like the regular jūken style that most Hyuga practice, but was more fluid and flowing, while also being more energetic. She can deliver one hundred strikes, while normal jūken would deliver only one, and if that was not enough, she has modified her mother's style further by using her natural affinity, instead of her normal chakra, and adding lightning chakra to her strikes in leu of normal chakra. This addition not only allowed her to strike at tenketsu chakra points, disrupting chakra flow, it allowed her to disrupt nerve bundles.
The young couple had been kissing for the past thirty-minutes, when into the yard walked a certain blonde, in full mission gear. His attire consisted of a navy-blue flak jacket, an arctic camouflage colored, tiger's striped, long sleeved shirt and ANBU style trousers, with a grey utility belt, kunai pouch strapped to his right thigh, and ninja tool kit on the back right of his utility belt. He wore, his crimson forehead protector threaded through loops of a boonie hat, flexible combat boots, and Totsuka-no-Tsurugi strapped vertically on his back along his spine, and Akai Shi to his left hip, Anjin was strapped to the same side on his back, hilt slanting over the left shoulder of a light gray duster, and a thinner scroll than when he went to Wave (no balloons or balls). He smiled as he looked upon two of his best friends, then cleared his throat, "excuse me, Hinata," which brought them back to reality, eyes popping open, "I didn't want to tell you this, but you've got an Uchiha on your face." They both turned and looked at him, "but it's gone now, so you're okay."
Suddenly, there was another sound coming from above them, the sound of popcorn munching, causing all three to look up. Sitting on the side of the building just above them munching on a bag of popcorn, from the movie theater no less, was Viper Team's sensei, Mitarashi Anko. She looked over to her blonde student slightly irritated, "why'd you stop them, noodle-brain," she asked with a grin, Naruto is so hot in his arctic gear, "it was just getting good, I wanted to see how far she'd let him go? It was certainly better entertainment, than that lame ass movie."
"Aw, it wasn't that bad, Anko-chan," Naruto began, while placing a pair of Suna (Aviator) Shades on his nose, "oh who am I kidding, most of the time me and Yugao, spent in the theater, was spent doing the exact same thing they were doing," he said gesturing to the clan heir of the Hyuga, and the second born of the Uchiha, Sasuke. "You know Hina-chan, I wish you two would let me tell Yu-chan, about you, if she knew that you were taken, she might not be so jealous of you all the time," he pointed out to her.
"Well, we're just not ready to tell people yet, Naruto," Hinata explained in a musical voice, "we don't want anything to get out, until we have had the chance to speak to our respective families. The Hyuga and the Uchiha, do not have the most cordial relationship."
"I'm not suggesting you tell the whole village, Hinata-chan," Naruto retorted, "just tell Yugao, and ask her to keep it to herself, until you're ready to go public with it." He paused then added, "besides if I've learned anything about living in Konoha, it's that you cannot keep secrets going for long." He glanced at Anko pointedly, "I thought my relationship with my girlfriend was a secret, but apparently the Ice Queens of Konoha, and my godmother seemed to know all about it."
Anko grinned, "I'm gonna tell your girlfriend you called her, Ice Queen."
Naruto scoffed, "you won't be telling her anything, I haven't said to her face, sensei, so go ahead," he replied. They looked at him questioningly, "what, me and Yu-chan have our share of fights, we're both stubborn, opinionated people, who don't always see eye-to-eye, so we argue," he informed them, "it's an Uzumaki trait, believe it."
Before the conversation could continue, a rumbling that sounded quite a bit like thunder could be heard from the other side of the wooden fence. Then out of nowhere a horse comes leaping over the fence, sitting astride the animal was a woman, with long black-hair, and light-blue eyes, wearing a multi-colored dress. The horse she was riding landed gracefully, but heavily on the other side of the fence, and continued running, the rider turning neither here nor there. The incident however was not over, for not a second later, the rumbling thunder crescendoed right before, the gate into the lot was flung open. Naruto, and the couple leapt up to avoid being hit by the gate, or trampled by the herd, he came to a rest on the wall right next to his sensei.
"That was Yukie Fujikaze, sensei," Sasuke informed them while his Sharingan whirled from the other wall, "she's the one we were charged with protecting!"
"Then let's do our job," Anko ordered, "Naruto come with me, we're going after her," then turning to the other genin, gave more instructions, "try to divert the horsemen, non-lethal only, there's something underneath all this, we may need answers," she justified to their nod. "Go," she ordered, and they all dispersed to fulfill their objectives!
Anko and Naruto ran up the wall to the roof of their building stopping on the ledge, they each peered out across the village, and noticing the dust cloud in the distance take off after the chase. Anko followed closely after her student, she knew that Naruto's eyes even without the Rinnegan were sharp, but when he used his dojutsu, nothing escaped his notice, especially after the sensory attunement training they went through, during and after, their mission to Wave. She and Naruto leapt over roof tops and made a bee-line for the smaller dust cloud. Casting quick glances around, Anko saw the other two genin attempting to follow her instructions, as they all closed in on the chase.
All of a sudden, three riders turned down a side street, then an alley and Anko knew they were going to cut her off at the pass. Naruto saw it too and vectored his pursuit to shadow the pursuers. Anko smiled, nothing gets passed my guy, then frowning, except maybe what the food of the Gods truly is, she thought bitterly, not much of an issue now, but how're we gonna raise the kids? Yes, Anko over the past few months has fallen deeper in love with the blonde Jinchuriki, that is Anko's student. Anko has only told four other people, and those were Anko's girlfriends, who seemed fine with it. Hana had no problem with it, but fortunately for Yugao and herself, saw it as equivalent to dating Kiba, something that sickened even the Inuzuka heiress; Kurenai's only problem with it was, the sensei-student relationship, at least in Konoha, was inviolate, and reminded Anko that as long as he remained on her team, they could not have a romantic relationship. The only two things Yugao stipulated, before Anko could go forward with trying to net Uzumaki-Namikaze-dono, was: a) you have to wait until he's a chunin, and thus off your team, such is the law; b) since I am his first girlfriend, that means he's marrying me first, and I will take his virginity, which means the first child to be conceived from him will be with me. Anko thought about it and agreed, but also added, fine but that means you can't pop his cherry until he's chunin either, it wouldn't be fair to me, I want to learn how to take care of him the same as you.
Shaking her head, Anko got her head back in the game, just as Naruto reached the junction that would bring the horsemen out in front of the fleeing actress. Naruto was a little ahead of them, but only had to wait a second before the riders came around the bend. They came within a hundred yards of Naruto, when he put out his hand and yelled, "Animal Path: Animal Command: Horses, HALT," at the command, all three horses applied their brakes, digging in their hooves, coming to a halt right in front of Naruto's position, none the worse for wear!
The riders however, became victims of inertia as their animals stopped, they did not. They were launched forward over their horses' necks and would have ended up in the street to get trampled by the oncoming actress, if Mitarashi-sensei were not there. Going through several hand signs, Anko slammed her hand into the ground, "Earth style technique: Great Wall," she shouted, her chakra shot out into the ground at the speed of light, and intersected at the mouth of the alley, pushing a ten-foot earthen wall up into the flight path of the riders! They lay in a heap at the foot of the wall, groaning with concussions. Naruto made several clones to guard them, and together teacher and student, took up the chase for the actress.
Quite a bit further behind, the main pursuit party was hot on the actress's trail but try as they might, they just could not catch up to her. They lost sight of her for a good minute, when she road through a market and leapt over a passing fruit cart. By the time they caught sight of her again, she was rounding the corner to the left.
Among the pursuers was a middle-aged man with shoulder-length, gray-hair collected in a ponytail, full-beard, and sunglasses. He seemed to be in charge of the riders. They rounded the bend in pursuit of the actress, just in time to see her horse slip on a puddle of oil, the chasers made more than one attempt to flank her, they were bound to succeed in one of them. Yukie was thrown from her horse and landed on a sidewalk leading to a small temple. The man, seeing her finally being stopped, gestured toward her, and said, "Get her!"
Finally unleashed, the other men surged forward, grabbing her arms, and attempting to restrain her. When suddenly in a puff of smoke the princess and the horse were gone, and in their place was a teenage girl. That is when her all white eyes blazed forth, and she began to move through these men, like they were nothing. She suddenly took a stance, her body twisting like a coiled spring, "you are within range of my JUDGEMENT, pricks," she spoke, and in spite of the gentleness in that voice, there was a finality to it, which made them all shiver, "KAITEN, Eight Trigrams: Sixteen Angelic Palms," her palms, with fingers spread as wide as they could go, began to arc with raiton power!
The girl began to spin, and maneuver and she struck with all the gentility of a boulder, "FIRST JUDGEMENT, two palms," one: to the chest of a guy behind her: raiton pulse, shock to the chest sending him flying five feet and out; two: to the head of the guy in before her: raiton pulse, shock like a sledgehammer to the head, and he's out of the fight; "SECOND JUDGEMENT: four palms," one-two: to upper-right-flank of another person: raiton pulse, discharge; effected: sent into his chest cavity causing the lungs to seize, and immediately rendered unconscious; three-four: to the upper-left-flank: raiton pulse, discharge; effected: causing the lung and heart to seize momentarily, stopping respiration and circulation, and immediately restarting those functions once she moved on, and the sudden start and stop rebounded through his system, causing instant hypertension, which rendered him unconscious; "THIRD JUDGEMENT: eight palms," one-two-three-four: raiton pulse: shock-discharge-shock: head-R-flank-chest-belly; five-six-seven-eight: raiton pulse: discharge-discharge-shock: chest-head-R-flank-spine; "FOURTH JUDGEMENT: sixteen palms," one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight: raiton pulse: shock-discharge-discharge-shock; effected: head-L-flank-chest-belly-chest-head-R-flank-spine; nine-ten-eleven-twelve-thirteen-fourteen-fifteen-sixteen: raiton pulse: discharge-shock-shock-discharge; effected: head-L-flank-chest-belly-chest-head-R-flank-spine!
The older gentleman watched in astonishment as a twelve-year-old girl, moved through his men like they were mist. He could not take his eyes off the scene before him, as she struck with deadly efficiency. In no time at all every one of his rather large men, was knocked out on the ground, but before he could think to speak, there was a blur in the reflection of his sunglasses. He whipped around to see what it was, then felt a strike to his neck, and his lights went out. Strange, I could've sworn there was a kid…
A few moments later, he came to just in time to see them tying up his men. "Oh, dear," came a resigned voice. They looked and hunkered on the concrete bannister leading into the temple, was a man with gravity-defying silver-hair, wearing a mask, and what appeared to be one eye.
The girl spoke up first, "Kakashi-san," she asked wondering what his problem was?
"What are you two doing," he asked, clearly annoyed?
The boy stood up, he was in his mission gear from Wave also, only now he added two jutte (traditional Japanese police truncheons), to his belt, and kept the sai in downward facing shoulder holsters. "Killing time," in a smug voice, wiping his hands, as with a job well-done, which caused the girl to giggle with infatuation.
Before the boy had even closed his mouth, Kakashi seemed to disappear, and reappeared right in front of the middle-aged man, and the knots they so carefully tied were loosened. He was scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, "Jeez, I'm… really sorry about this," giving him a slight bow. The boy and the girl looked on in confusion, "this is the gentleman who hired us for the mission, Asada Sandayu."
Their mouths dropped open, and it was Sasuke's turn to look embarrassed, he turned and bowed to their client, whom they had just assaulted, "I'm sorry, sir," he said humbly, "I guess I didn't notice you among all the men around you," he offered by way of explanation, "but I saw the one we were meant to protect being chased, and my mission instincts were to protect her, as per the contract." The middle-aged man looked at them with dignity…
At the lake…
Anko and her student, found the actress sitting by the side of the lake, by the time they caught up to her, with her horse drinking from said lake. They walked toward her, coming within a few feet, Naruto turned to his sensei, "I think, you should approach her, she might trust a woman more than she will a man."
Anko nodded and moved closer to the seemingly distraught actress, maybe if I pretend I'm a fan, so effecting a seemingly wide-eyed look, Anko began, "Are you hurt, princess?" Yukie just cast her eyes toward the voice, before turning her head slightly in Anko's direction. Anko continuing to act like a fan-girl, allowed herself to blush, "I've admired your work for so long, I can't believe I'm talking to the real Yukie Fujikaze! I just saw your movie, Princess Gale, and it totally blew me away!" The actress stood without comment and made her way to her horse. She mounted, turned it, and charged it right at the Snake Mistress, who barely leapt out of the way before being trampled.
She had ridden a goodly distance from when she started, thinking the insufferable woman was behind her. She was not so lucky, "I mean, there are some things that I think should be different, like the portrayal of chakra for one," turning toward the sound of the voice, Yukie saw the woman running right beside her, easily keeping pace with the horse, "chakra is never multi-colored, in almost everyone I've encountered in my line of work, its blue. Though one of my students can produce a violet-purple type that seems to have weird effects, though she didn't elaborate on specifics." Yukie getting over her shock smacked her riding crop against her steed's rump, causing it to whinny, and pick up speed.
Again, the actress thought she had left the star-struck girl behind her, when from right behind her saddle, the purple-haired woman's voice spoke right in her ear, "the message of your movie is something I aspire to myself," the woman told the actress, "I mean I'm never gonna give up either, not until I can capture a certain someone's heart, and after I, of course, gut my former sensei with a rusty spoon!" Then looking around the nineteen-year-old adds, "hey, lady, you really know how to handle a horse, no wonder you're Hinokuni's number one actress!" That comment seemed to infuriate the actress, so she began to speed up hoping to shake the woman off. They cantered through the streets of the village, she did not seem to care what happened, so much so that when a pole of some kind ripped a part of her dress off, she did not notice. Anko looked back and added a dangerous tone to her voice, "Hey, lady, don't you think you're going a little fast?" The actress ignored her and forced the horse ever faster, until just up ahead a line of civilian children coming home from school, crossed in front of her animal.
Suddenly, there was a blur out of the corner of the actress's eye, then as if from nowhere a boy dressed in a duster, Suna Shades, boonie hat, with a scroll on her back, and two swords appeared between the horse and the children. He put his arms out, and a purple aura surrounded his legs as he stood his ground, the horse collided with the boy, and the purple aura surrounded both riders and the horse. Naruto allowing his chakra to enhance his strength and durability, also used his chakra to keep the riders from being flung off, by making them stick to the horse, and protecting the horse from injury. The impact only pushed Naruto back a mere foot or two.
The riders scrambled down from the horse, and Anko rushed around to check on her student, and boyfriend, only to find him calming the horse, with gentle, soothing words. Just to be sure Anko asked, "you alright, Naruto-kun?"
"Hai, sensei," the teen man answered, "I'll be alright, and so will this handsome devil," Naruto added as he continued to calm the animal, which nickered and then blew, stomping his hooves as he calmed down. Naruto quickly removed the horse's tack, then with the Rinnegan blazing behind his Sunas, communicated using Animal Path, directly with the stallion. {Go on back to your stable, friend, there's bound to be some good food for you when you get there.}
The kids that were almost hurt, soon realized who had almost run them over. One of the children, a girl in a scarlet dress, yelled, "Hey, it's Princess Gale," before running up to the actress.
The other children soon joined in, and their enthusiasm was palpable, "Princess Gale, Princess Gale!"
The woman looked offended, "Look my name isn't Princess Gale, okay?"
The girl undeterred by the tone, added, "That's right, you're the actress Yukie Fujikaze! I'm your biggest fan!" Then taking her back pack off, pulled out a notebook and pen, then holding it up, asked in a still exciting voice, "can I have your autograph?" Then the other kids held up their own notebooks and clambered for their own autographs.
Naruto and Anko watched the children and smiled indulgently at the innocence of the kids. "Forget it, guys," came the voice of the actress, "I don't do autographs." But the kids were undeterred, as they begged her to give them an autograph, now the ninja were giving the actress baleful glares. The actress suddenly snapped, "enough already, I mean come on what's so special about…" There was a sudden flicker out of the corner of her eye, as she felt the point of a dagger pressed into her back.
"Sign. Their. Books," came the steady voice of an irate Anko. "I think the least you can do, after almost killing them with your reckless riding is to actually show them the respect they deserve and autograph their books." The actress was taken completely by surprise, but Anko continued, "in case you've missed it, I'm not really a fan of your work, the only one I've watched really was Princess Gale, and it was all I could do not to hurl, at the cheesiness of the story. If it wasn't my job to protect you, I'd leave you a nice little scar to teach you how to interact with your fans. In fact, my student and I, are going to be your escort for the rest of the day, and if you deny any of your fans an autograph, you and I will be having another kind of discussion," then pressing the kunai a little harder into the back of Yukie Fujikaze, causing her to gasp in pain, "do I make myself clear?" The actress nodded hurriedly, her mouth too dry to make sound.
Back at the Movie Studio…
Though they received a brief overview the night before, Kakashi decides to brief Sasuke and Hinata, more thoroughly on the details of the mission. "Our mission is to guard the actress, Yukie Fujikaze, best known for her role in Princess Gale," Kakashi reminded them, "well maybe not guard, more like escort." They were sitting within the sound stage, during the briefing, all while trying to ignore the bustle of the crew as they went about their tasks.
The scriptwriter, Wujin, a young man with dirty-blonde hair, wearing a blue-jean jacket, over a white t-shirt, blue jeans, and a reversed ballcap, and holding a rolled-up version of the script elaborated on Kakashi's words. "The next Princess Gale movie is the first we're filming abroad, but our leading-lady is a bit of a diva," he said eying Sandayu critically.
Sandayu cringed and grinned in embarrassment, "I am so sorry for her behavior."
That's when the director, an older gentleman by the name of Makino spoke, "still, the Hidden Leaf Ninja are impressive. They easily beat the men we hired to be her bodyguards and stuntmen, and those are some big dudes."
"Yes…, thank you very much," Kakashi replied.
All the while, Hinata was looking around, when she spied some photographs tacked to a cork board. One of the pictures caught her eye as she looked at it, "wow," she said, "look at those cliffs."
"That's the Rainbow Glacier in the Land of Snow," said a voice from behind her. Upon turning she noticed two of the actors from the movie, staring at her amicably.
"Your Kinja, you play the part of Borikinto, don't you," she asked, who simply nodded, and smiled?
The other actor playing the part of the monk just nodded, but added, "the climactic last scene of the movie will be filmed there," he informed her.
Hinata just nodded, "you must be Hidero, you play Shishimaru the monk," she stated.
Sasuke quirked an eyebrow, "the Land of Snow, isn't that a long way to go just to shoot a scene for a movie?"
"It was Sandayu's suggestion, he's Yukie's manager," Wujin replied. "Apparently the Rainbow Glacier shines in all seven colors during the spring."
Kakashi however spoke up, "no, that's just an old legend." Everyone turned to look at him, "in truth, there isn't any spring in Yukinokuni."
"No spring," Sasuke asked, "not ever?"
"So, it's winter there for the entire year," Hinata asked?
"Yep," Kakashi answered, confirming their suspicions, "all year long."
"Kakashi, right," the director asked? "I take it, this won't be your first time in Snow," he surmised.
"Yes," Kakashi confirmed, "but it was a long time ago."
"Were you sent along with us because you have prior knowledge of the region," Sasuke asked, as he has wondered about the assignment of another jonin, on another seemingly easy mission? Kakashi merely nodded, but neither genin was convinced, if it was such a simple escort mission, why send a valuable jonin on such an insignificant mission? They could have just included geographic, and political data in the mission profile, such data was almost never classified.
"I've heard it's a very poor nation, also," came another voice as a man drew closer to, and deliberately leaned, closer to Hinata's chair, than was necessary. She sat up straight and turned to look at the new voice. He sashayed a smile towards her, a smile only slightly less bright than Maito Gai's, in Kakashi's opinion. The Hyūga's look was one of indifference, at the admittedly handsome man smiling at her, true kunoichi only give looks on their men, secondary importance. In her mind, she was lucky because her man was powerful, handsome, and her best friend. This pretty boy never even stood a chance at gaining her affections, she cast a look at Sasuke, and saw his scowl at the actor.
Sasuke looked at where his hand was in proximity to Hinata's shoulder, and he did not like it, and he began to leak a little killing intent toward the man, known as Michi, who played Sukeakura, the swordsman of Princess Gale. The man, looking slightly uneasy backed slowly away from the teenage girl. She did look at her secret boyfriend, and when he turned from backing off the pretty boy, looked to see if she was angry at him. Hinata merely winked, and they each made one-half of a hand sign, which was their way of discreetly communicating their feelings to each other. In this case, the hand sign conveyed feelings of love, from Hinata to Sasuke.
"Story goes, their former lord was a fanatic for gadgets…," Michi continued, "bankrupted his clan's fortune for silly amusements."
"As long as they have central heating, I'll be fine," Hidero put in, "I'm not tough enough for that kind of cold."
"Maybe you should head for the hills too," Kinja added with a chuckle, "just like Yukie."
"Hey," Wujin begged, "don't even joke about that, that's not even funny," but the actors gave a good-natured laugh at their young friend's expense.
"So, Yukie," Hinata asked, "is she always acting like a spoiled princess?"
The actors looked at each other before answering with an emphatic, "yes."
Then looking at a picture of the actress, Kin added, "Yukie, doesn't even know the meaning of the words, dreams or aspirations."
Then the director added to defend her a little, "however she was never one to blow off her work. I don't know anything about her personally, and I don't need to, as long as she performs at her best. Say what you want, but that woman is a born actress."
"That's true," Wujin added, "and she only started running when she heard we were going to be filming in Yuki."
With Anko and Naruto…
True to their words, Naruto and Anko accompanied the actress all over the city. However, the actress was clever, she ducked into a department store and bought herself a whole new outfit, that completely disguised her. Teacher and student may have wanted to teach Yukie Fujikaze a lesson, but they knew that their primary concern was her safety, so to make her disguise solid they also changed to suit their client.
Yukie did try to shake them by leaving the store, before they were finished changing, but Naruto took precautions and left a clone outside the dressing room, to prevent Yukie from leaving without them. All three walked out of the store like they were friends. Anko had let her hair down which went down to her shoulders and combed it straight. The clothes she wore included a brown-leather, fringed blouse, and stylishly purple-jeans similar to her hair color. She added cowboy boots the same shade as the blouse, and a purse for her ninja tools.
Naruto shifted his body, into that of Naruko, his pervert-buster, and now wore a high-collared, sleeveless blouse the color of her sky-blue eyes, but still covered said eyes with her suna shades; under a long, loose-fitting sun-yellow, summer dress, with a wristwatch on her left wrist, and standard shinobi sandals. The scroll, in which she sealed her normal clothes, had a genjutsu placed upon it that made it look like a purse, the same color as the blouse. She also sealed her three blades into three separate tattoos, one on her right forearm, {赤死} for her mother's blade, one on his left forearm, {闇刃} for his gift from Uzumaki Isle, and her father's blade, {父の遺産} vertically, along her upper arm.
By the time they left the store it was approaching early evening. Nobody except maybe a man or two, who appreciated their looks, but gave them no more than a passing glance, gave them any notice. They travelled all over the city, the two-ninja flanking the actress, but following wherever she went. To her credit Yukie never tried shaking them, except for that one time in the department store, but she was adamant, about not returning to the studio. Naruto and Anko got a good look at her face whenever they suggested returning, what they saw on her face, was not what they expected, they saw fear etched on the actress's visage. This was the first clue they got that this mission was more than just an escort mission for a movie crew.
They found their way to a seedy, underground bar, and after a few drinks Yukie began to speak. She took out a weird looking necklace, which seemed to glitter with its own internal power. "Who would wanna go to Yukinokuni," she asked? Then she began talking about how acting was the lowest profession any one could want to be, "we're professional liars you know, in most professions lying is the quickest way to get canned. But, in acting, it's the quickest way to get hired."
The bar was pretty dead, with only a few patrons and the bartender standing at one end, away from the party of three. Naruto noticed one workman in non-descript clothing sitting at the far end of the bar, what made him stand out to the Uzumaki, was this man, seemed to be drinking coffee. This workman stood up as they walked in, and began sauntering close to the actress, Naruto felt the swinging of this man's arm, and knew it had something dangerous about it. Then as the man got closer, she noticed something that really set her alarm bells off, her whisker-sense tingling, but she could not be sure, there was something blocking her senses.
Just before the workman could get near them the door burst open and into the bar, and old man came running in, followed closely by Hinata. "Yukie," he shouted, "our ship to the Land of Snow, will set sail soon, please, we have no time!" By this time the rest of Team Dojutsu, arrived, Sasuke and Kakashi walked in after the old man.
"No, thank you," she replied.
"What," Sandayu asked in astonishment?
"I've decided not to continue as Princess Gale," she explained.
"What're you saying," Sandayu asked?
"Don't worry," she slurred, "it happens all the time, the actors and directors change all the time between sequels, so they'll just cast someone else in the role."
"That's enough," Sandayu snapped, "you listen to me, there is nobody else who can play Princess Gale… you're the only person who can be her!" Then as if to drive home the point, Sandayu added, "if you don't fulfill this contract you will be finished in this business, you'll never work as an actress again."
Yukie just tossed back her current drink before replying, "so what?"
"Well, I didn't want it to come to this, Ojo," Kakashi said in a regretful tone. She looked at him in her drunken stupor, just as he pulled up the left-side of his headband and looked directly into her eyes. Yukie Fujikaze suddenly went limp and would have slumped to the floor, if Naruto had not caught her.
"Okay," Naruto said as he dropped his shinhenge, he had finally had enough, "what the hell is going on here, tell us what we're missing on this mission? Because, she's right, about actors dropping out of pictures to pursue other work, so why is it so important for Yukie Fujikaze, to be cast as Princess Gale?"
"You can't be told here, we'll have to go someplace, where we can control the information," Kakashi took the actress from the boy, "I'll tell you more once we're underway."
I remember, that it was snowing, I walked through a darkened room, wearing a dress remarkably reminiscent of my costume for Princess Gale. I called out, "Father," but there was only silence, "where are you? Father," I called out a little louder, as I continued to move through the room?! I finally spotted him in his workshop, "Father," I asked out of curiosity for as I entered the room I noticed he was working, concentrating on something?
He turned to me, his glasses shielded his eyes as he looked at me, "Koyuki," he asked as if suddenly remembering I existed, "please, come here." I was a dutiful daughter, and loved my father, I never met my mother, she died of pneumonia a few months after my birth. My daddy was always there for me, except when he was in his workshop, it was here that I was usually tasked with bringing him back into the world. It seemed that after mom died, he threw himself into working on some contraption, that was meant to make the lives of our citizens a little better.
I drew closer to him, "Good, now just stand there," he said, I was standing in the middle of a room full of mirrors, I could see myself from every angle, then he asked an odd question, "What do you see when you look in the mirror?"
"I see, you and… me," I answered.
"Look closely, now," he said, "do that… you'll see the future."
The image cuts abruptly, to a fire, me sleeping as if dead, and finally plunging into an icy river, trying to get away… from him.
My eyes open slowly, and I am sleeping in a four-poster bed, the room seems to be moving oddly as if swaying back and forth, or rocking from the motion of waves, but that cannot be right. I slowly sit up, wiping the sleep crud from my eyes, there is a knock on my door and my manager Sandayu, opens the door, "Yukie-sama, are you awake?"
"Sandayu," I ask, "will you get me some water, please? My head won't stop spinning," I groan. "It must be my imagination, but I feel as if I'm rocking back and forth," I huff in amusement, "I must be going crazy."
"Well," he began, "it's not completely your imagination."
"Huh," I ask bewildered, then jumping out of my rack on bare feet, and running up the passageway, I fling open the hatch to the top deck? There to greet me are the disgustingly bright sights, sounds, and smells that come with being out to sea. This was not the first time I've been to sea, one of my earlier works was as an extra on a pirate movie, I got a crash course in nautical terminology, that I'm amazed I still remember. My astonishment turned to outrage as I screamed, "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"
Makino, the director was never one to let good lighting, or a good opportunity, go to waste, he was a slave driver, and after obtaining permission from the captain, sectioned off a portion of the deck. Before I knew it, I was sitting in the make-up chair, feeling utterly dejected, I had been so close to never going back to that place, or seeing him, ever again.
Further up the deck…
Naruto and the rest of the team were getting the real briefing on the true objective of the mission. Their expression showed just how surprising the information was, "you mean, she really is a princess, Kakashi-san," was Naruto's first question?
"That's correct, Naruto-kun," the masked ninja confirmed.
"And, we're really escorting her back to help her reclaim her throne," Sasuke asked?
"If she wants it, our main objective is to depose her uncle, the tyrant, Kazahana Doto," Kakashi informed her, "at most she's going to be a figurehead for her people, then after everything is settled, it's up to her if she wishes to retain her throne or abdicate."
Anko had been doing some thinking, then asked the important question, "other than the pay from our client what's in it for Konoha, or Hinokuni?" They looked at her wondering where she was going with this, "I don't mean to sound cruel, but overthrowing a despot, doesn't really sound like enough for our nation to get involved in something of this magnitude," she mused. "We don't usually get involved with the struggles of other nations, unless we're asked by the sovereign of that nation to do so," she added, "and Yuki does not border our nation, so fear of invasion is out, so what does the Daimyo and the Hokage, get out of sanctioning this kind of mission, which could easily lead to an international incident?"
Kakashi nodded, "one word, Anko-chan, 'technology.' While most nations are pretty much equal in terms of technology, Yukinokuni is a cut above the rest in terms of tech, militarily and in consumerism. Let me give you an example, one of the first missions I was given after my stint in ANBU was a recon mission, because there were rumors that Yuki had developed an armor that could protect the wearer from ninjutsu and genjutsu, namely chakra-based attacks."
"Is this the mission you referred to when you mentioned, having knowledge of Yukinokuni," Hinata asked?
"The very same, Hinata-san," Kakashi confirmed. "Kazahana has been approached through diplomatic channels, by many nations, trying to broker an alliance, but he's being stubborn, so the Daimyo and the Hokage hope to try working with his successor, whomever that may be," Kakashi finished.
At this even Naruto whistled, "that means we're kind of expendable, I mean we represent the royalty if you will of Konoha; me, Hinata, Sasuke: the scions of three of the major clans of the Village, but we're still genin and two of us are considered outcasts, among the village," he said waving his hand, between himself and his sensei, "so we'll likely get the blame, if anything goes wrong." Oji-sama, must also be using me, because I am also unofficial, royalty in Fire, made more so, when me and Yugao-koi allowed, Hinokuni to annex Uzumaki Shima, he has not made it official yet, but this is a backdoor way of acknowledging me as a potential member of his family, and heir to his throne, Naruto thought, and his tenants could only agree with him.
Kakashi and Anko looked between themselves, then their genin, and Anko smiled sardonically, "welcome to an A-ranked mission, Naruto."
They all looked back up the deck, toward the cast and crew of the production, lights were flipped on, "Lights are set."
The actors took their places, sound devices began recording, "okay we're up to speed," the sound guy cried.
"Cameras rolling," the camera man shouted.
Then the director began shouting commands, "Alright, let's get this show on the road," he said, then added, "I want to get this on the first take!"
"Right," the crew responded!
Then Wujin stood up with the clapboard, "okay, scene 23, cut 6, take 1… ACTION!"
While the actors did their job, the ninja did theirs, Naruto created four Shadow Clones, one of which henged into an eagle, and perched on Hinata's shoulder. Hinata with her Byakugan climbed to the crow's nest and asked if she could help the sailor on watch. The bird henge was to reduce crowding in the nest. The other three remained in human form and accompanied the rest of the Team, as they went about their separate tasks. Kakashi went to speak to the captain about a few things, while Anko went aft to stand next to the helmsman. Sasuke went forward to the forecastle to give his eyes, the best chance of spotting something. His father and mother both warned him to never rely completely on his new Sharingan, they admonished him that the world was ever evolving, and there may come someone who can circumvent the Uchiha kekkei genkai. But, right now, his eyes were his best tool, and were necessary at this moment. Naruto also went aft, all the way to the weather deck to look out for any rear-guard attacks. As the sun set, the ship made good time, as she sailed west toward the horizon.