After the throbbing pain in his head had subsided, Naruto took a deep breath and started to walk with everyone to get to the village. Though there was something else that seemed like was trying to get his attention. Like some kind of danger. Frowning a little, the young man sniffed the air and smelled death again. It was a terrible scent and it made him want to be sick. Though he just wished he knew what was causing it, for he didn't smell any blood at all so it had him a little curious as to what was going on…

Shaking his head, Naruto turned to Hinata and Sasuke. Sasuke looked a little nervous getting closer and closer to where he had seen the village. Frowning in confusion, Naruto wanted to ask the black haired hunter though thought better of it, there was no way that he would have trusted him with any kind of secret at all.

"How are your hands Naruto?" asked Hinata, causing Naruto to blink and turn his gaze onto her. Oh yeah, he forgot that he hurt his hands while punching that bolder. Must have slipped his mind when he hit his head with Sasuke's. Looking at his knuckles, he noticed that they still stung a little so he wouldn't be able to make a fist yet, let alone use his guns and swords unless he could ignore the pain…

"Yeah I'm fine. They sting a little but I'll be okay." Answered Naruto with a bright smile on his face. He didn't want to worry Hinata anymore than he already has, it was best that he didn't make her upset or worse, cry. Wait, would she cry or was he just assuming that she would? Damn it, this is all so confusing and it made him want to slap himself for even thinking this though he couldn't do that. He wasn't going to hurt himself any more than he already was since he couldn't control his super strength yet…

Hinata stared at him for a moment longer before she kept on walking. Naruto let out a soft sigh, today just didn't seem to get any better for him at the moment and it had him a little nervous. The shadow man in his head could cause those images again and he did NOT want to have a nose bleed or they would ask him how it was happening in the first place though he couldn't allow this to happen. Though, it was also weird how he had gone quiet lately… it was very quiet in his head though he could at least hear his thoughts again.

Narrowing his eyes for a moment, Naruto wondered why he had gone quite… something must have bothered him when he mentioned that one name. Whoever it was must have meant a lot to him though to what degree he didn't know.

Looking ahead, Naruto saw nothing but trees, but this weird scent, it had a faint scent of death on it though it was… something else. It almost smelled like some kind of gas and it burned his nose. Looking over, he saw a weird greyish oval shape on the side of the path. Frowning, Naruto walked over to it and knelt in front of the weird object. "What's this…?" He muttered, not sure if the others heard him or not.

"Get away from that!" shouted Sasuke as he grabbed Naruto and threw him away from the weird object. Sasuke lifted it with his sword and threw it away from them and let out a sigh of relief when it went out of sight. "You idiot! You could have died just then!" growled out Sasuke as he turned and glared at Naruto who had slammed into a tree from the force of Sasuke's throw. This guy was strong, though Naruto knew that he, himself, was stronger than this guy.

Shaking his head, Naruto looked up at Sasuke as he asked "what are you talking about?" He didn't really know what was going on, though what he did know was that he was really getting pissed off by this guy. How can that thing have killed him? It looked like some kind of fruit, how can that kill anyone?

Sasuke took a deep breath before sitting down on the ground as did Hinata. "That was known as 'The Dark Fruit'." Calmly said Sasuke before he crossed his arms and stared at his sword. In fact, he looked like he was now afraid of his weapon, which was a little odd though he didn't say anything about it… "The Dark Fruit has been on Konoha for a while now, years in fact. Everyone isn't sure what's causing them, what's making them or where they come from, though what we do know is that whoever touches it, get poisoned and die a painful death. There is some kind of toxin on it, which causes the victim to die…" Sasuke explained while closing his eyes, he couldn't believe this… there was a fruit that did that? Holy shit Sasuke just saved his life.

"You mean that he saved your humanity…" said the shadow man.

"Oh how nice of you to join us."

"Shut up, he did just save you. If you had touched that thing, you, wouldn't have died-"

"But he just said-"

"I know what he said idiot. But you're immune to toxins and poisons created by beasts or other creatures.

"But… what about that one beast that slashed my back?" asked Naruto with confusion written all over his face. He didn't know why it wouldn't affect him; in fact it just didn't make a lick of sense.

"That was because you haven't released the Crimson Energy at the time Naruto. Now that you have released it, and learning how to harness its power, your body is immune to any toxins. If anyone found out, you would be counted as some kind of freak and you don't want that do you?"

Naruto wanted to sweat bullets right then. He literally couldn't get poisoned because of the Crimson Energy? Well, that was something but it also made him more of a freak of nature. Why couldn't things get easier for him? Shaking his head, the young man sighed softly and pushed himself up on his feet as he calmly said "let's get going… Sasuke, maybe you can wash your sword or something." Sasuke looked at Naruto for a moment before nodding and held his sword, dragging the blade across the ground as if hoping the dirt would cover the toxin. Hinata and Naruto walked far ahead so they wouldn't get touched by the blade by mistake.

Hinata, so she wouldn't get poisoned and Naruto so he wouldn't get revealed of what he really was. A freak… Letting out a soft sigh, the young man looked up at the sky as he tried to get everything under control, he knew that everything was going to be difficult but he also knew that everything was going to get on his nerves for now… Now, Naruto didn't mind the idea of poison not working on him but then it would have people weirded out about that, they would just think he was weird, a freak and it would cause him terrible emotional pain if they didn't trust him anymore because of that, plus the fact that he was pretty much lying to them about being 'Yellow Flash' even though he's tried, time and again, to tell them the truth.

Sniffing the air, Naruto smelled something interesting in the air… Fresh, clean water. It was a spring possibly, at least that was the feeling that he was getting so that had to be something right? Turning over to Sasuke, he said "think we have time to make a break at a spring for some water? I'm thirsty."

Sasuke nodded as he calmly told them "yeah, there should be a spring around here somewhere though I can't tell from here."

Naruto smirked as he said "I can find it no problem. I have a great sense of direction when it comes to water." He lied, there was no way he was going to tell them that he could smell the water from here. Man, having a great sense of smell was really coming in handy for him and it really made him happy deep down to have something as amazing as these gifts of his. At least they were of use to him or something though he still had no control over most of these gifts.

"Oh yeah, Naruto… about that weird strength of yours… how are you so damn strong anyway?" asked Sasuke as he crossed his arms, careful of his sword that still resided in his hand. Naruto gulped a little, he had to think of an excuse and fast. Though damn it, so many things went through his mind, there had to be something, anything to get his thoughts clear but damn it, it all seemed so difficult for him to think. Hell, it felt like his brain would burst from all of this pressure that was building up…

That is, until the Shadow Man gave him an idea…

"I went to a distant planet and learned how to use ones inner strength. They only allow very few to use this power. I don't know if they still do this training or not but like I said, they don't do it for anyone." Calmly said Naruto, happy that the man in his mind gave him some idea, so that had to work for him. Though he just hoped that would be believable enough and that they wouldn't try to find the so called planet that it came from.

"What's the planet?" asked Sasuke with an eyebrow raised.

"Hm… I don't really remember… It's been so long since I've been there so it's hard to remember." Naruto calmly answered, hoping that would be enough for them to not question him about it anymore than they need to. Inhaling softly, the young man pushed himself to go on further and sighed softly as he tried to get everything to calm down and relax… He had to stop getting so worked up over this and just tried to get himself to relax and forget about everything from happening.

Sniffing the air, Naruto blinked when he smelled that they were closer to the springs now. Hm… at least from what he could tell anyway, there would be nothing that would stop them now! Absolutely nothing! Smirking, a little, the young man took a deep breath as he stretched his arms above his head and started to make a turn from a crossroad in the path. He went right, that was where the scent was strongest.

It would be nice to have some fresh water for a change, damn; they should have come prepared for all of this. But no, he never thought of grabbing a water canteen or something so they would have something to drink for their journey. Stretching his arms above his head again, Naruto took a deep breath, the smell of fresh water made him feel so relaxed, though he couldn't help but wonder, why he smelled something else there.

Narrowing his eyes, he held up his arms and stopped the others before dragging them into the bushes. Naruto knew that they would have to be careful; he sensed someone was here… here with them. Standing in the water, was a woman, and standing in front of her, was another woman. Weird…

The woman in the water fall had long blonde hair with a lock of it hanging in front of her face, covering almost half of her face from view. She wore a long purple gown with what looked like sapphires embodied around the chest, and bottom of the gown. From what he could make out, she also had matching earrings and a necklace. For some reason, Naruto felt that something bad was going to happen to her… he just didn't know what it was…

The girl had her eyes closed so he couldn't tell what colour they were though her skin was a little pale; it had him a little curious as to how she could handle that cold water.

Meanwhile, the other woman wore different clothing all together; it almost made her look like a warrior. Her clothes were red, the shirt clung to her… well, and he should say lack of curves… The top though only covered her chest area, leaving her abdomen bare for all to see. Next for her outfit, was the skirt with the split, and the short shorts that she wore with it. The skirt was the same red as her top, though it didn't cling to her like the shorts did. Next were the boots that she wore, they were loose around her ankles though, as if they would fall off at any time though it seemed like they would remain on her feet without any problems.

Strapped to her back was a bow, though he didn't see any arrows… that were weird. Hm… Though he also saw something else, it almost looked like there was some kind of object in her pockets though it was rather weird. Looking up, he saw that the woman had long pink bubble gum hair held back in a high ponytail with two locks of her hair framing her face.

"Konoha warrior and a villager…" whispered Sasuke, causing Naruto to turn his gaze onto him and frown a bit. What was he muttering about now? Shaking his head, Naruto turned back to the two women and frowned a bit. What were they doing all the way out here, it didn't look like that they were just out for a swim or anything though it did have Naruto a little curious… in fact, he felt very uneasy. Like he sensed that something bad was going to happen and it was big…

"What are they doing Sasuke?" asked Hinata as she turned to the black haired man.

"To be honest, I'm not really sure. The men of the village are normally forbidden from this part of the forest, the only time they come here is to fight off the beasts that dare to defy this sacred place but…" Suddenly, Sasuke's eyes widened for a moment only to narrow his eyes. There was something that he wasn't telling them and that had Naruto a little pissed off. He was hiding something and he was going to make sure that he didn't keep it hidden.

"The warriors of Konoha can be ruthless if they have to be. They believe in the old ways and magic, while compared to the way the universe is, we believe in science and machines… But Konoha refuse to put all of their faith in machines now." Sasuke whispered softly, only to narrow his eyes as if he was about to say something that would cause Naruto to fear what was to happen… "What they hate the most though are intruders. They will kill anyone without a second thought…"

"What about you though?" asked Naruto.

"I'm originally from this planet and grew up here so they won't do anything to me. Anyone from Konoha are allowed to come and go as they please, but people who aren't born here aren't." said Sasuke, his gaze turning to Hinata and Naruto, his eyes showing that what he said, was the truth. That they were doomed if they didn't think of something to get themselves into the village before it was too late.

In fact, Naruto was a little panicked himself. He was worried about himself and Hinata knowing that if they weren't careful that something bad could happen to them. No, forget bad, the villagers would kill them if they weren't careful and it would be the death of both him and Hinata. Shaking his head, Naruto breathed deeply as he tried to keep himself calm, he had to make sure that he kept calm there was no telling what would happen but sadly, images, for once not caused by the man in his mind, was flashing through his head.

Images of the villagers surrounding both himself and Hinata flashed through his mind. Them chaining or pinning them both down and digging their weapons into their bodies and pulling out their organs for their voodoo magic flashed through his mind. Their blood staining the ground beneath them and of course Hinata's screams echoed through his ears… at least in his mind.

It was a terrible thing to see, it was gory and gruesome though Naruto knew that it may happen to himself and Hinata if they weren't careful. Shuddering, Naruto didn't know that his body was releasing small amounts of Crimson Energy, his body still panicked at the thought of Hinata losing her life, and of course himself but mostly Hinata.

The idea of losing her made pain shoot through his heart and soul. It even made the man in his mind sad, and upset about what would happen if Hinata was lost.

Naruto was breathing heavily, as if he couldn't breathe. "Naruto?" came Hinata's soft and gentle voice, Naruto shook his head, trying to tell her that he was fine, but his words wouldn't work, it just seemed so pointless for him at this point though what he hadn't expected… was for someone to suddenly tackle him to the ground.

"Who are you!?" shouted the voice of the pink haired woman as she was now wearing some black gloves, gloves that had claws on them. Naruto gulped and tried to beat her off of him but with his knuckles still in rough shape, he couldn't really fight back now could he? Naruto winced, the pain in his knuckles was worsening and it was starting to cause more spikes in the Crimson Energy as it tried to protect him.

"Sakura stop this!" shouted Sasuke as he pulled Sakura off of Naruto and wrapped his arms around her. Naruto blinked and sat up before turning to stare at the pink haired woman and Sasuke. Did he just call her Sakura? Tilting his head, Naruto pushed himself up and turned around as he saw that the blonde haired woman had also walked over to them without anyone noticing. Weird… very weird…

"Sasuke is that you? You've come home at last!" cried Sakura as she held onto Sasuke before kissing him. Naruto's jaw hit the ground as he saw the black haired man kissing her back. Okay, what the hell was going on here!?