Summary of Previous Chapter:

The rescue group have found Naruto. Naruto asks Tsunade to save a dying Juugo. Anko and Sasuke are found to be in no danger. Karin explains what was done to Naruto; that he was forcibly grown, given near-indestructible bones, is always in his 'combat form' and has been given the Sharingan. Naruto intentionally keeps his heritage to himself. The group escape to a nearby town. Naruto gives the Sharingan eyes to the blinded Tayuya, re-growing his own blue eyes. Konoha gets the message that Naruto is safe and that everyone is returning home. Nara Miya informs Akiko that her late husband wanted Naruto to be her child's godfather. Several kunoichi discuss Naruto, suggesting there are feelings that go deeper than friendship and camaraderie. On Fire/Rice border, Kurenai is saved by Naruto when her group are attacked by Oto-nin. Naruto finally returns to Konoha, into his mother's waiting arms, but it's not all good news. ANBU arrive and tell Naruto he cannot enter Konoha.

Chapter 25

The dim lighting unnerved the middle-aged, bespectacled man as he sat in the small booth at the back of the tavern. As a result, the occupants of each table could only clearly see around their immediate area. There was no mistaking the purpose of such privacy. It was a dark place, where dark deeds designed.

The man unconsciously hunched, mirroring the majority of the tavern's occupants. He had already been sitting down for half an hour, but his contact had no scheduled time at which to arrive, beyond sometime that night. A large figure moved from a nearby table, catching his attention and he moved his head to discreetly examine the potential threat. The figure moved to the bar, seemingly no threat to him. The waiting man turned his head forward again, only for his breath to catch in his throat.

Sitting on the opposite side of the booth sat a large figure shrouded in an equally large hooded cloak. His form and clothing were completely still, as if he'd always been there.

If he hadn't been a warrior himself in days long gone, he knew he would have been much more shaken by the new arrival. There was no mistaking that this was the person he had been waiting for. "Hachiuma-san." He was disgusted with himself for the nervous tone. He wasn't easily intimidated, but this figure projected an air of lethality.

The figure on the other side of the booth didn't acknowledge the implied greeting, but somehow the darkness in the hood seemed to intensify.

Suppressing a shudder, the man reached into his jacket and slid a piece of folded paper across the table.

A large hand reached out, picked up the letter and flicked it open with one hand. It was only open for a second before being placed into the deep recesses of the cloak. The hooded head nodded.

Unsure whether to be relieved or not, the man reached down and pulled a small bag onto the table and pushed it slowly to the middle, trying not bring attention to them or the bag. "I'm not going to lie to you. I don't trust mercenaries, but I'm desperate and you were recommended to me by an acquaintance. You get that now and twice as much again when the mission is complete."

With only the slightest tinkle of metal against metal, the bag simply vanished. The shrouded figure didn't seem troubled by the lack of trust from his employer. It was understandably hard to trust a person whose loyalties were to the highest bidder.

A gentle crash from across the room pulled the bespectacled eyes away from the mysterious figure, but it was only a drunken man clumsily getting out of his seat. His eyes immediately returned ahead. "I-" The words fell dead in his mouth. The man was gone.

The flicker of illumination in the room was not a malfunction in the lighting, but instead the projector that sat at the back of the room, the wide beam of light revealing the otherwise invisible dust dancing in the air.

Looking from the back of the room, four silhouettes were visible in front of the large screen at the front.

From the front of the room, the figures' features were ill-defined in the darkness, but a change in scenery on-screen caused a flood of bright light to swamp the room for a moment.

There was one chair within the room. On it sat a large man with dark hair, narrow eyes of unidentifiable colour, a well defined nose, a scar under the left eye and a square chin. They formed harsh features, though whether they were naturally so or if his expression warped them into such a sinister countenance, was unclear. The large grey coat with a tall collar did nothing to detract from the effect.

The remaining outlines were caused by three crouched figures, each supporting their weight with a hand against the ground in clear submission of the seated individual. The three all wore the same style of form-hugging, off-white outfit and headgear. The headgear consisted of a thick-cloth hat, with sides that fell nearly to their shoulders, with a gap at the top to allow a portion of hair through, and a hiate-ate over the forehead. Upon close inspection, the symbol could see seen to be four dots forming an inverted y shape. The close fitting outfits revealed one as a woman of medium to small build, a male of medium build and a male of a larger build, each with pink, light blue and raven hair respectively.

On the screen stood a woman the seated man barely recognised. His eyes focused on the area just below her neck. It was covered, but he tried to make out any bump that might have caused by a particularly important 'pendant'. He wondered if he might be looking at it right now. That was the only reason he had wasted nearly two hours on such trash.

The blue-haired ninja watched the screen also, burning the features of the actress into his mind. "I knew it. The actress known as Fujikaze Yukie is actually Kazahana Koyuki." The man could have laughed at the idea. She was hiding in plain sight of all her enemies. She was either very clever, or very stupid.

"Those ten years of searching finally paid off." For the pink-haired woman, it had been a long ten years. She knew it had been for all of them.

"This is all too easy." The largest male smirked to himself. Not only had they found their target, she was actually coming to them. She was practically walking into their hands.

The man in front of them said nothing and just continued to stare intently at the screen.

An individual slumped at the bar, but whether this was due to alcohol consumption or something else, was unclear. What was clear; however, was that no one got into such a condition on their own because they were happy. The large coat hid the person's body shape and their position made it hard to gauge their height. It might have been a man, but equally might have been a woman.

The barman didn't have to be asked when a small, empty glass slid toward him. He picked it up without comment, to replace it only moments later, now filled with a clear liquid.

An indistinct amount of time passed, with no clock to mark its passage.

"Your strongest Otsushuon….and one for the lady." A deep, coarse voice spoke four seats over to the right of the figure now identified as a woman.

The woman turned her head in suspicion at the man who had spoken. He wore a large brown coat which hid his body; a black woollen cap covered his head and a tall collar hid his face. He looked large, like any number of manual labourers of the area. There was nothing distinct about him that she could see, though she could have sworn she caught the scent of some kind of oil.

The two drinks were placed in front of their respective drinkers.

The man shrugged without turning to the woman. "You look how I feel. Like you could do with killing a few brain cells."

The woman wasn't sober enough to be sure, but the man didn't seem to be lying, at least not obviously. She raised the glass half an inch in his direction and drank a few sips, a pleasant burning sensation forming down her throat. She turned as she heard a satisfied expulsion of air from her benefactor and his glass slam on the table.

"Same again, keep, and the lady when she's done." The man didn't seem worried about the cost, but there were many fishermen who spent months at sea and only had days or weeks to spend their money in before heading out to sea once more. It was an ideal vocation for unattached men, but only if they wanted to remain as such.

The woman might have worried about him trying to 'pick her up', but at the rate he was imbibing, he wasn't going to be a threat to anyone after ten minutes.

With the routine broken only temporarily by the new arrival, time continued to pass uneventfully.

The woman guessed that about twenty minutes had passed when she saw that already eight glasses stood on the counter in front of the now slumped over man to her right, while only one empty and one half-full glass stood before her. Even so, she was feeling dizzy and she decided to rest her head on the counter for just a moment. When darkness overcame her, she was silently grateful for the escape from the real world.

The barman saw the two unconscious figures and shook his head, turning to place a recently dried glass back on the shelf. He sighed and turned back, ready to help the two up and into the street, only to find they were gone.

The sound of slippers against the wooden decking was barely audible.

The young princess hugged herself as she walked along the wooden pathway, dressed in a purple and white kimono, with long hair pulled into two ponytails and a thin green headband nestled within her dark hair.

She had fallen asleep in her father's armchair. She had been watching him work, but the gentle heat from the fireplace had quickly sent her to the land of dreams. As soon as she had woken up to find her father absent, she had left the room, which happened to lead outside.

The small path led through a small, snow-covered courtyard until it got to her father's 'tinkering room'. The two places where her father spent most of his time were his office, where he did the day to day administration required to run a small country, and his 'tinkering room', which was actually an engineering laboratory. Her father wasn't just a Daimyo; he was a highly intelligent and creative inventor.

Koyuki found the silence in the courtyard uncomfortable. Normally there were various clanking or mechanical noises echoing from the courtyard walls, coming from the lab. "Tousan, where are you?" She saw a flicker of light through the open doorway ahead of her. "Tousan?"

The light from the doorway was partially blocked by a familiar figure. A tall man turned to face her. He wore a light blue kimono, with long black hair flowing over his collar. Kind eyes looked out from behind round glasses. "Koyuki? Come inside."

The little princess did as she was bid and followed her father indoors.

Soon she found herself standing amidst several mirrors. She tried to understand the purpose of the mirrors. Whenever her father showed her something new, he would try and get her to guess the purpose.

Standing off to the side, the Daimyo only smiled at his daughter. "So, standing there viewing. What are you looking at?" This time he wasn't try to lead her to an answer. There was no way a child her age could fully understand what he was trying to say.

Koyuki looked hard at the mirror, trying to see anything about the shape and construction. Her eyes; however, kept focusing on the two figures that were reflected within. A confused looking girl and her smiling father. "Tousan and I…."

The smile on her father's face became more sedate. "Look carefully. I'm seeing into the future." He knelt down and pointed into the mirror.

Koyuki tried to see what her father was pointing at, but she could only see her reflection. As she continued to look in the mirror, she noticed the darkness begin to impinge on the edges of the reflected world.

She thought she was imagining it, but the darkness began to spiral inward until it reached the image of her and her father. After a moment, her father's reflection was hidden in darkness, leaving only her in the mirror. The world seemed to fade away.

Hours seemed to pass in the darkness, and she see didn't know where her father was. She tried to call out but no words came.

Just when the darkness became crushing, it was broken by an explosion. Light and sound bombarded her senses. The world seemed to shake and spin. She couldn't focus or gain her bearings, unable to even understand where she was. All she could make out was fire, snow and ice.

As abruptly as it had come, the dizzying lights and sounds vanished and now her senses were assaulted by the feeling of freezing cold against her skin.

She was frozen; where and when she didn't know, but she was so cold. She didn't know how she could see with her eyes closed, but she could see the ice.

So cold.

A hangover was never a kind thing, but the rocking motion was an unpleasant new addition to the condition. The young woman opened her eyes and looked at the wooden ceiling and sat up abruptly, causing her stomach to lurch horribly, but that was the least of her worries. She was in a bed, and it wasn't the bed of the hotel she had been staying in. Where the hell had she ended up? What had happened to her? Her stomach tightened as she suddenly wondered who had brought her here. She was a generally apathetic person, but that didn't mean she wanted to be taken advantage of…or worse. She shuddered, not really taking in her surroundings.

"Morning." The familiar voice made the woman in the bed jump.

The slightly scared woman pulled the covers up to her body, as if they offered some form of protection. A man stood in the darkest corner, so she could not make him out clearly, but she knew it was the man from the previous night. "What did you do to me?!"

The man simply stared for a moment. The soft rays of sun that succeeded in penetrating the curtains showed the young woman's long dark hair, framing an undeniably pleasing visage, and brown wide eyes. Not that this concerned him in the slightest "Nothing like what you are imagining."

"Who hired you?" The young woman was forced to make the assumption she had been kidnapped for ransom.

"Sandayu Asama." The man's utterance of that single name removed the tension in the air completely.

The woman's face mirrored the apathy of the previous evening as she fell back to the bed. "So you're some thug Sandayu hired to protect me?"

If the man was offended, he didn't show it. "Something like that."

The door to the room opened, just enough to allow a middle-aged man wearing glasses. The very man whose name the 'thug' had spoken. For a moment a salty breeze swept into the room.

A bored sigh escaped the woman's mouth when she saw who had entered and she proceeded to ignore the bodyguard. "Sandayu, get me some water, I feel dizzy. I feel like I am swaying or am I imagining it?"

A snort came from the bodyguard. "You're not imagining it."

The woman was already opening the door by the time the middle-aged man knew what was happening and she stared, wide-eyed at the large wooden deck before her.

The bodyguard watched in interest as the panic and fear surfaced on the woman's face, even greater than when she had thought she had been assaulted. It made him wonder if she had a fear of the sea or it was something else.

Fujikaze Yukie finished getting changed into her costume, feeling numb and devoid of emotion, moving mechanically. She was still in shock brought on by learning their destination.

Opening the door to her room revealed something she hadn't expected and she felt the first inkling of emotion. Annoyance.

The figure that took up most of the doorway turned toward her, but their face remained outlined in shadow because of the sun behind his back. She pushed him aside, which he made no attempt to resist. She showed him the same indifferent look she showed the rest of the world. She saw his rough stubble, wide chin and podgy face. Green eyes looked at her, never wavering. He was rather ugly and he was still wearing the same outfit from the night before "Do you have to where such a weird outfit?" In honesty, something about it seemed sinister.

A small frown formed on the man's face. "My appearance is irrelevant to the success of this mission."

A familiar voice caught both their ears. "It might be for the best. The director says that you're making some of the crew nervous." Sandayu pushed his glassed up slightly with a finger, smiling slightly. "Though it is an improvement from our first meeting." The large cloak and hood of four days ago made this outfit look practically friendly by comparison.

The man said nothing for a moment, obviously considering his employer's words. It wasn't his mission to make the film crew happy, but he didn't want to cause friction which might impede in his successful completion of the job. "Very well. I will return in a few minutes." He looked at Yukie, as if he might change his mind, before turning and leaving.

The actress turned to her manager when the 'thug' left in the direction of the nearest washroom. "Is everything ready?"

The kind looking old man nodded. "Yes; however, I think we should wait for…. your bodyguard." He had never asked the man's name. The mercenary had simply turned up the previous night with the actress known as Fujikaze Yukie, who had been missing for over twelve hours.

The actress just stared at her manager for a moment, but said nothing. She didn't really care.

She heard heavy footsteps from behind her and new it was the bodyguard. She made no attempt to turn around, not interested in his change of outfit. At least not until she saw the shock appear on her manager's face.

The voice that spoke seemed somehow different from only moments ago. Richer? Stronger? "Better?" It sounded like an innocent question, but the actress felt compelled to turn round.

Yukie was shocked by two unexpected changes to her bodyguard.

The first was the man's appearance, which was nothing like she would have guessed. A chiselled jaw and strong chin sat below a serious mouth. She didn't know that such an expression on him had been a rare thing until recent days. Three lines sat upon each cheek and above those sat a pair of sparkling blue, slit eyes that seemed to pierce right through her. Wild blond hair waved about in the sea-breeze. Looking down she saw a large black, sleeveless jacket opened a quarter down its length to reveal the two necklaces lying on top of a well-muscled chest, across which two equally muscled arms were crossed. On his right bicep was a Hitai-ate, the black material straining due to the underlying muscle's size. Further along the arm was a series of what appeared to be rather intricate tattoos, a similar set visible on the left arm. She also noticed a bracelet on each wrist and a plain looking ring on the fourth finger of his right hand. Black combat trousers and boots completed the outfit. It was a complete transformation.

The second thing was a scent that hit her nose, which made her even dizzier than the hangover she had been suffering or the ship's constant rocking.

Naruto knew it might not have been a wise idea to discard his disguise, but the latex facemask he had been wearing only came halfway down the neck and had a limited life-span. He'd decided it was easier just to discard the mask, contact lenses and outfit. It wasn't like such a disguise would fool Orochimaru or the Akatsuki anyway. Hopefully with him leaving the fire country for a time, it would make no difference. He saw the shock on the woman's face as he leant around her, realising as he did that he'd forgotten that the natural oils in the discarded coat had been counter-acting his body-odour. He stretched out one hand to the equally as shocked actress's manager. "Hatake Naruto."

Naruto leant against the railing as Yukie knelt over one of the male actors, whose character appeared to be dying.

"She's amazing, isn't she?" The pride in her manager's voice was clear.

Naruto nodded. He had to admit that she was convincing, a far cry from her usual blank-faced self.

Sandayu placed the palm of his hands on the railing and leant back on them. He turned to the man he had hired, trying to discern more about him. That was when he noticed the Haiti-ate that he had not noticed earlier. He gasped as he saw the symbol for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. With a line scored through it. He watched as the mercenary turned toward him, noticing the sound he had made. "Y-You're a nuke-nin?!"

The blond looked down at the band on his arm. It still hurt to look at it. It brought forth recent, painful memories.

After several silent moments, Naruto looked up from the piece of metal and cloth, to his wide-eyed employer, still waiting for the answer he already knew. "Yes." The words was surprisingly quiet, nearly a whisper.

Thankfully, Naruto was saved from further questions when his ward suddenly broke character. "Sandayu, I need more tears!"

The middle-aged man jumped to attention and pulled out a small bottle, already rushing to his only client.

He didn't see the sad look pass over the blond's face. No one did.

Yukie watched the director speaking to the large blond man. It was amazing that the aging man seemed unafraid. He was in the minority there, but then that was the point.

The blond's appearance was unsettling and the news that he was a missing-nin hadn't helped matters.

The actress watched detachedly as the blond man looked over to the group, his eyes passing over her and stopping for a moment. His eyes connected with her own for a moment and she was unable to look away. For only a second, she wondered who on earth this person was, before she remembered that she didn't care. His gaze returned to the director and she watched as he nodded warily before turning and walking in her direction.

The apparently treacherous ninja reached into his pocket and pulled something out that caught the light for a moment, making her think it was something glass or metallic.

Naruto didn't hesitate to take the young woman's hand, intrigued that she seemed neither bothered nor interested by this action. Though his job was only to keep her safe, he couldn't help but be concerned. It was in his nature. A small metallic cylinder was put in the woman's hand, an attached leather necklace circled around it.

The fox-boy saw a lack of comprehension on the woman's face; either that or she really was not interested. "If you get into trouble, blow on this. Hard." The chances were he would detect any trouble first or as it happened, but it paid to be cautious. He purchased the dog whistle in the same town he'd found the actress the first night of his mission, already in a drunken near-stupor.

The young woman didn't bother to respond as the her ninja protector passed her by, instead glancing at the object for a moment before putting it in her pocket and forgetting about it. It wasn't as if it would do any good.

It was an odd sensation, the cool sea air on his skin. He knew that almost anyone else would have suffered a severe chill having spent so much time exposed to such weather, but it wasn't like that for him. Even with only his sleeveless jacket on, the cool air seemed distant somehow. He was aware it was cool, but the cold did not penetrate past the surface of his skin. Even the cool wood of his ward's door never penetrated as he sat in front of it. The actress was lucky to get the room usually reserved for the captain, but it wasn't so lucky for Naruto, who took his job seriously. It wasn't that he was in any danger from the elements, but he didn't enjoy the random spray of sea water that fell to the deck and over his seated form.

He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the sounds of the sea, which was a near roar to his sensitive ears.

Sleep evaded him, however. He hadn't had a good night's sleep for some time.

He summoned his favoured sword and placed it across his lap, examining the blade carefully. He brushed his thumb along the blade, bringing his hand away to reveal a bleeding thumb. When he started to move the thumb across the sword's blade in obviously meaningful way, it revealed to anyone who might have observed that the cut had been no accident. An already existing seal was painstakingly built upon.

Naruto examined his work, the outermost point turning black. The black flowed out and every junction it met, the black spread in all directions and soon there was no red at all. He could have used ink, but the ambient chakra in his blood generated the seal without further external application. He could apply chakra to seals, by haphazardly expelling it in all directions, but it was a waste and would interfere with other seals he had already created on the blade.

The deep, reverberating sound broke his concentration, causing him to look out to sea. He wondered if he imagined it, but he heard the sound again. It sounded almost like a song.

Getting up from in front of his ward's door, he sealed away his sword and moved over to the railing. He could afford to leave his self-designated post for a short while, since he could hear and sense everything on-deck, even with the wind making it more difficult than it would otherwise be.

Looking down he could see the source of the noise. A shadowy figure swam alongside the boat, a burst of air and spray shooting into the air as he watched. It was a blue whale, a creature he had never seen before in person. He knew of them in a vague way, but he had no idea they could create such a soothing sound. He leant his arms on the side and just watched the gentle giants turning slowly in the water, spouting air from their bodies when they had righted themselves. It seemed they were dancing to their own song. He wondered if the group were a family or at least friends. It reminded him of what he did not have and he found himself envying them.

Yukie's eyes tightened in her sleep, showing her unsettled dreams. Her dream seemed to reach a climax of some sort as she sat bolt upright, her forehead glistening in the lamplight. For a moment she just sat, taking deep breaths, used to waking up like this. As much as she ignored her feelings in the day, she could not suppress her feelings while she slept.

The actress was about to lie back when she heard a sound that instantly brought forth a memory she had long since tried to forget.

Furasshubakku no Jutsu! (Flashback Technique)

The water was salty as it reached her lips, but it wasn't sea water that ran down her face, but her own tears.

The little princess had been unable to sleep and snuck out onto the deck of the ship that was taking her away from the country she had called home all her life, and now she looked at the sea between the railings, shivering in the cold night air.

She looked back in the direction of the ship's wake, no longer able to see a single light.

She slumped against the railing, unable to process her own feelings with her child's mind, and as if her mind was trying to protect her, she fell to sleep. Thankfully the gap in the railings was too small for her to fall between.

An unknown amount of time later, Koyuki was awoken by something that sounded like rushing air, but she had no idea what it was. When it came again, she was able to get a bearing on its direction and she looked down at several dark shadows in the water.

She had no idea what they were, but she knew that they were sea creatures of some kind. She wondered if the group were a family or at least friends. It reminded her of what she did not have and she found herself envying them.

Furasshubakku Kai

Yukie now knew that she was listening to the sound of whales that sometimes swam alongside ships in this region.

Without entirely realising she was doing it, the young actress got out of bed, grabbing a robe and a thick coat.

She was already beginning to feel trapped as they headed back to the country of her birth, something which terrified her more with each passing hour, and she had no where to run. She just felt a need to stretch her legs, if only to prove to herself that she had some control. If she didn't find some sense of control soon, she didn't know what she would do.

She headed out the door, unable to see in the dark for a moment, but she closed the door and let her eyes adjust.

When she could finally see, she saw that she wasn't alone on the deck.

With a frown, she turned and reached for her room's door handle.

"Don't leave on my account, Fujikaze-san." The blond man didn't even turn around when he spoke to her.

Yukie was in two minds, as to whether to return to her own room despite her bodyguard's words, but she let her hand drop back to her side.

The young woman headed to the railing, a little distance from the only other person on the starlit deck. She shivered slightly in the cool night air and realised that her bodyguard was still wearing the same outfit. Didn't he feel the cold?

Naruto listened to splash of the whales under the surface, their melody falling silent for a time. He could also hear the racing heart of the woman who stood nearby. She'd had an increased heart rate since finding out where they were all heading. Something about heading to the Snow Country was causing her anxiety. "I will protect you, Fujikaze-san."

The young woman snorted. "You have no idea what you we're heading too, mercenary. When you're life is on the line, you'll run away and leave me to my fate. You're only in it for the money after all and it's no good to you dead." Her words sounded bitter, but she didn't really care. The blond man said nothing and she knew she was right. She turned back to the sight of the starlight warped in the reflection of the unstill waters, further distorted by the large mammals breaking the water's surface. She almost jumped when something hit the deck beside her and she bent down cautiously, unable to make out the shape in the darkness. She reached out and touched it, realising what it was. A bag, and by the feel of it, it was filled with money. She looked confusedly at the blond man, who looked just the same as when she had removed her gaze form him.

"I have no interest in money, Fujikaze-san." He didn't even glance at the large amount of money he had thrown her way. He had already accrued money by his own means.

The woman's mouth formed a frown, her apathy unusually put aside for a moment. "Then why are you here?"

Naruto turned to face his ward and looked her straight in the eyes, which were clear even in the dim light. "We each have our secrets, Fujikaze-san, but rest assured, I take this mission very seriously. I will safeguard you with my life."

The frown transformed once again into the same blank look. "Then we shall both die in Country of Snow." She was taken aback by the look that appeared in the blue eyes opposite her own.

A fiery look entered the blue eyes of the young Jinchuuriki. "I promise I will not let that happen."

The actress's expression turned to anger yet again. "Who the hell do you think you are to make such a foolish promise?"

Naruto looked back at the sea. "Like I said, Fujikaze-san. Hatake Naruto."

Yukie yawned as she held out her hands to the small wood-powered stove.

An iceberg. They were filming on an iceberg. Was the director insane?

She glanced once again at her bodyguard, who stood nearby, but not near enough to be heated by the fire. The previous night she hadn't been able to bring herself to say another word to him and she wasn't sure why that was. He stood in the same outfit, while those with four times as many layers shivered. It irritated her that he could look so comfortable as the sensation in her hands lessened by the minute. "Don't you ever get cold?"

Reining his attention back to his immediate surrounds, having stretched his senses out, he looked at his ward. Her annoyance was obvious. "No." His tone remained light, but unconcerned.

Yukie huffed slightly, a small puff of moisture leaving her mouth. It wasn't only his lack of visible discomfort that annoyed her, but his calm demeanour, while she felt more and more sick with worry the closer they got to her place of birth. "Baka." If her bodyguard heard her, he gave no sign.

Only a few minutes later, the signal was given for filming to begin.

Naruto sniffed through his nose a few times; a frown on his lips, but no one seemed to notice. He wasn't familiar with the scent of everyone from the ship, but there was something else in the air, something he couldn't place. It might be any one of a number of innocent scents, but he couldn't be sure. His mind automatically filtered out the words of the actors and he listened intently to their surroundings.

Even as prepared as he was, even Naruto did not expect the loud explosion that sent a tremor through the huge iceberg.

The crew froze, looking behind the actors almost in awe.

Yukie just knew that this was it. This was going to be the end of her. She had previously hoped that when the time came, she would feel relief, but she felt terrified.

Something blocked her view.

Naruto turned his head a fraction, showing the side of his face to Yukie. "Everyone get behind me!" He didn't have to repeat himself as everyone scurried behind the blond man and the leading actress.

Of all the strange things to notice right now, Yukie noticed how she could feel the warmth of the blond man who stood only inches in front of her. His body was literally radiating warmth. She glanced down and saw the snow slowly beginning to melt at his feet. He seemed to thrum with energy.

A voice rang out across the now and ice, bringing the attention of everyone to itself. "Welcome to the Snow Country."

Naruto looked at the man wearing an almost-white bodysuit and strange looking armour, lavender hair just visible from his head covering. Something about the man twigged a memory, but he couldn't quite recall.

"I welcome you, Koyuki. Did you bring your hexagonal crystal?" Attention turned to the woman with pink hair, outfit and armour matching the first speaker, who stood on the tip of a tall peak of ice.

Naruto turned a questioning glance to his ward. "Koyuki...Princess Koyuki?" Suddenly it fell together, why he felt he should recognise the two ninja. When he had lived with ANBU, he had often pestered the ANBU for details of the more dramatic missions they had been on. His father had told him of the mission to the Snow Country where he had saved the young Princess Koyuki after her father was overthrown and killed. His father had described the ninja in simple terms, but their appearance matched his father's words exactly. And that meant…..

Naruto's gaze shifted to a seemingly innocent snow rift. As Naruto predicted a third figure erupted form the snow.

"So you detected me…. interesting." The third ninja was dressed in yet again the same attire, but he was built larger than the others and his eyes appeared almost black.

The two blue eyes of the Jinchuuriki narrowed. "Fujikaze-san…Koyuki…whatever your name is, stay there unless I tell you to move." With that he dashed forward at the large snow-nin, his speed nothing impressive.

Naruto need not have worried about his ward moving as she fell to her knees as fear began to freeze her blood in a way the subzero winds never could. She recognised the three and she was suddenly returned to her childhood. To the day her childhood ended.

Furasshubakku no Jutsu! (Flashback Technique)

The little princess sat at her small desk, one sleeve rolled up and her tongue protruding slightly as she focused intently on the parchment in front of her.

Koyuki had to force herself not to hold the quill too hard. The key to calligraphy was smooth and fluid movements, or so her father had told her.

She finished the kanj she was writing it and held up the paper, blowing gently on it. It wasn't as good as her father's, but it was legible.

The first sign that anything was wrong came when she realised she had unconsciously scrunched her nose up. Now she focused on her nose, she detected an acrid odour, reminiscent of the smell of burning logs in the fireplace, except it was much harsher to her young nose.

She heard a 'whoomph' and suddenly the smoke began to pour in around her door. She was too young to know that the sudden increase in smoke could not have been natural.

Koyuki just stood, frozen. She had no idea what to do.

Within a single minute, the smoke began to sting her eyes and lungs as the air became a wall of black.

She coughed and began to stumble around, unable to even see the door. She fell to the ground as she began to feel lethargic.

She barely felt a pair of hands reach down and pull her off the ground. She felt her stomach lurch and a sudden rush of cold air against her skin. Of course the air was actually quite warm, due to the extent of the fire, but it was relative. Her body showed its relief by forcing deep breaths of air into her lungs. Her head began to clear. She looked down at a black-clad pair of legs pumping as her saviour ran through the snow.

Koyuki watched the wooden decking fly past her eyes as drops of water fell against the back of her neck. She didn't realise that the roaring flames that had swept through the palace were melting the snow before it reached the ground.

The air suddenly became hot again and the princess realised they had headed inside once more. She felt herself being placed on the ground, and she managed to balance enough to remain standing. The walls around her were beginning to burn, but the room was relatively smoke free due to the open door and the flow of air caused by the heat of the flames. She was still afraid, but had no choice but to trust her safety to the white-haired figure that ran across the room. She was young, but she knew that he had already saved her life.

It was only then that she considered why the man was running across the room and she saw something on the floor that made her blood run cold despite the heat. It was a body and it was wearing her father's kimono. She wanted to run over, to see if her father was okay, but her feet became rooted to the floor.

Koyuki's mother had died before she could remember and her father had managed to be both parents as well as rule an entire country. He was the person who would have made her feel like a princess even if they had been the poorest people in the country. He had been her whole word. Somehow...somehow she already knew he was gone. She would never see the special smile he had just for her. She would never feel his hand on her shoulder when he spoke to her, teaching her the ways of the world or offering her encouragement. No, she would never have that again.

When the figure jumped over the fallen form, the young girl absently noticed the mask on his face, as her mind began to go into shock. She idly wondered if the mask was to protect against the smoke or if he wore it every day.

Koyuki saw the young man reach out a gloved hand and held it somewhere against her father's body. The young man's eyes closed in regret for a moment. It confirmed what she had known in her heart. Still, the blossoming pain in her chest threatened to consume her. She had to turn her head away and close her eyes, feeling the pressure of tears behind her lids. She had to open her eyes as tears forced they way out. She looked at the cracked mirror in front of her and saw her reflection. She realised that she was looking at the only family she had left. Herself.

Time seemed to freeze and before she realised what happened, she was picked up once more and found herself in a familiar position on her rescuer's shoulder. She watched the flaming walls pass by and her father disappear from sight.

She suddenly wanted to go back, to see her father again. He could still be alive, couldn't he?

There was a loud crashing noise and Koyuki felt cool air against her skin once again, this time the truly cool air native to her homeland.

Koyuki was dropped almost haphazardly onto a wooden crate and she could see her home in its entirely, firelight transforming it into something entirely alien.

With a shout, a sharp cracking noise and several barks, the snow beneath her began to move.

The little princess was forced to watch as her home began to move away from her. She felt like a part of her was torn away and was being left behind. She stretched out her hand, as if she could reach out and put her shattered world back together. The grief seemed to solidify and force its way to her throat. Her mouth opened to let it out. "Tousan!"

Furasshubakku Kai!

The largest of the snow-nin jumped on his board and sent chakra to his feet, determined to meet his foe head on. After all, the blond man wore no Haiti-ate and was not particularly fast. No match for a Jounin of the Snow.

Naruto saw the other two snow-nin were waiting to see the outcome of the clash. He saw the dark-eyed man, who his father had named Fubiki, extend an armoured arm.

To the observers of the fight, it looked like the blond was about to suffer a severe blow, but the blond suddenly increased in speed dramatically.

The giant sword seemed to simply appear in his hand, he pulled it back and to his right before swinging it forward, but the movement was too fast for anyone below Jounin level to even see.

Mizore was sent flying backward like a meteorite, fragments of armour falling into the snow. He hit a snowdrift and vanished for a fraction of a second before shooting from the other side. He passed through two more until he hit a wall of ice. His head slumped forward, limp, but his breath was still visible in the freezing air. A large chunk of his armour was missing from his arm. A small amount of blood trickled from the gap, but the armour had saved his life.

Naruto let out a deep, almost meditative breath and returned the sword to his side, ready to defend or attack with equal fervour, his face hidden as he seemed focused on the ground.

The fox-boy's head suddenly lifted and he looked straight at the two remaining snow-nin, allowing a menacing tone to enter his voice, a near-sadistic smile on his lips. He had to admit he enjoyed the idea of fighting more than before he had been kidnapped and altered. "Not even close to good enough. Can you do better, Fubuki?" He saw the woman's eyes widen slightly. "Or perhaps you, Nadare?" He noticed the remaining male snow-nin's expression was more controlled than his female comrade.

A quick shift of feet and the blond was once again gone.

Fubuki formed seals as fast as she could. "Hyouton: Tsubame Fubuki!" (Ice Element: Swallow Snow Storm) A deadly flock of hardened ice birds shot toward the oncoming blond.

The unofficial team leader followed with an attack of his own. "Hyouton: Haryuumouko!" (Ice Element: Fierce Tiger-Dragon) A long creature, dragon in shape but with a tiger's visage, chased after her teammate's flock.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. He was surprised to see such ice techniques. He was under the belief that only those with special bloodlines, like Haku, could perform such techniques. He wondered if Haku's ancestors originated from this country, rather than the Water Country.

The observers saw the attack hit and keep on going.

Any relief of the two snow-nin soon died when a spinning torpedo shot from the tail of the combined attacks, the front glowing brightly.

Naruto swiftly extended one leg, quickly followed by the other, throwing his weight downward. There was no sign of the sword, suggesting he had once again sealed it away. On his right wrist was a small, glowing shield. It wasn't as wide as his shoulders, but the spinning motion had broken the force of the two attacks and created a safety-zone for his body. He had lacerations along his arms and blood flowed freely for a few moments until he began to heal. He reached down and reactivated the suppressor seal for his shield.

Before starting his current mission, Naruto had taken the time to try and compensate for his inability to do jutsu. He couldn't use a defensive jutsu, but he had the shield from the Hokage. Of course it hadn't been just as simple as using it. He was constantly outputting chakra and would be until he gained better control. When he forced it out, it was wild, unrestrained and was expelled from his whole body. When a typical ninja used chakra, they had to focus it on specific areas of the body for it to have any effect. Since Naruto had vastly more chakra than even most Jounin, if he expelled chakra from his entire body, any given square inch was still releasing as much chakra as the average Jounin focusing their entire chakra on that same inch. Because of this, he had put seals around the Hi no Enjin (Ring of Fire) and the shield the Hokage had given him, to negate his chakra, which he would then deactivate to see the fire on his ring or activate the shield. If he didn't they would be activated whether he wanted to or not, as soon as he began to use chakra. He simply forced out more chakra to make the shield stronger. Even though he could not target his hand, enough reached his had any way to make the shield shine brightly. It was crude and a massive waste of chakra, but it helped make up for his current handicap.

Naruto didn't seem to notice the snow and ice on his clothing and arms, already melting into water because of his warm aura. He seemed to be thinking.

The blue-haired man and pink-haired woman watched the blond. He was an opponent to take seriously, not to attack hastily.

Nadare glanced at his female comrade and jerked his thumb into the air.

With a smirk and a nod, a pair of wings extended from a small device on the pink-haired woman's back, made from dark grey metal and a purple fabric.

The kunoichi went from standstill to airborne in an instant.

Naruto had not been expecting such a feat, but he simply took the information in. His eyes followed the flying woman as she continued to rise, but he didn't miss the sound of the footsteps of the snow-nin leader dashing off. He ignored this for now and his attention turned back to the airborne kunoichi.

He had to admit, the technology that allowed her to fly was impressive. It wasn't a simple case of wings and chakra. No, somehow the armour was causing chakra resonance, leading to a controlled cascade effect which the wearer could wield. The creative person in him admired the work that must have gone into such equipment. It wasn't unlike one of his own projects.

Fubuki looked down at her opponent. She pulled out several kunai, each with a small sphere attached. She threw two down at the blond.

Naruto dodged to the left and jumped back, watching the two spheres hit the ground and two large clusters of ice erupt. Another clever invention. The sphere seemed to contain a liquid imbued with elemental chakras, specifically air and water.

He avoided another sphere, forcing him back as the kunoichi herself retreated. He wasn't fooled for a moment, but he would play along. He ran forward, now dodging a combination of ice-spheres and explosive tags.

Fubuki watched as their target's bodyguard closed the distance between them. She gave a small smirk and launched her last Koori-Tekidan (Ice Grenade).

Naruto watched the kunai falling, in the background of his vision, the pink-haired woman was already turning away. He knew a trap was about to be sprung, but he was not so easily ensnared. In a flash, he unzipped his jacket and pulled it off. He barely noticed the frigid air on his skin as he bundled his jacket and held it up. The kunai and sphere struck the jacket, but there sphere did not break.

The blond ninja took the kunai in one hand and dropped his jacket, unconcerned about the cold. The woman was about to disappear around a peak of ice. He smirked and launched the kunai.

Fubuki's eyes widened as she heard the passage of a kunai in the air. She increased chakra to her wings and began to shoot up, but she wasn't in time. Her own weapon hit her foot and exploded.

Naruto watched as ice seemed to explode off the flying woman's foot. The ice crystal grew, encasing the kunoichi's body up to her waist. Because her arms had been at her sides, to streamline her body in flight, her hands were encased in ice.

Suddenly it seemed gravity had noticed the flying ninja.

Fubuki's eyes widened as her stomach lurched and she began to plummet.

The crash - created by the giant chunk of ice hitting the ground - sent ice-shrapnel in numerous directions. Naruto calmly tore a jagged piece of ice from his shoulder, and dropped it bloody tip first to the floor. When the debris settled, he noticed the bottom spikes of the ice cluster were broken. He saw the woman embedded within struggling. No doubt snow-nin knew how to use chakra to protect themselves from being frozen, but she was still trapped. Now she no longer posed a danger, he immediately lost interest and knelt to the ground and once again unsealed his sword.

Nadare watched from where he was hidden in the snow, in front of a row of tall spires of ice, wondering what the blond was up to and he prepared to launch his ambush.

Naruto closed his eyes, focusing intently as his hand pressed against a specific area of his weapon's blade. As continued to focus, the chakra that he constantly output seemed to diminish greatly. The blond was actually able to feel the cold, if only a little.

The trapped female stopped struggling for a moment, seeing that she was not in danger for the moment. She watched as something seemed to appear on the large blade, but it was only vague at first. Slowly but surely she realised that she could see kanj symbols beginning go glow in white and they were getting brighter by the moment.

Nadare suddenly realised he couldn't afford to wait for the blond's next move. The blond might have somehow figured out he was there, his male teammate having only half-heartedly hidden earlier. He began to form a long series of seals. "Hyouton: Itsukaku Hakugei!" (Ice Element: Beautiful White Whale)

It couldn't be seen from here, but behind the ice spires, themselves behind the hidden snow-nin, was a dip in the icebergs surface, meaning the sea was only yards away from them.

Naruto's eyes remained closed as he listened to the water's surface break. Of course he had heard the sounds of the sea a short distance in front of him. He had heard the same sound on the deck of the ship the previous night, though a little more haunting.

Fubuki's eyes widened as she saw a large, white horn suddenly appear behind the ice-spires in front of them. It was quickly followed by a large body of white. A white whale made entirely of ice. It would crush her, and probably her opponent, into nothing but a watered down red smear on the ice. She watched as the tail finally appeared, even as the head began to descend. She decided to spend her last moments cursing her supposed comrade to the deepest depths of hell. She didn't even notice the increase in light that was coming from beside her prison.

Beside the kneeling figure, the sword seemed to be covered by transparent, white fire, causing the blond's hair and remaining clothing to flutter wildly.

Naruto could see the bright white light through his eyelids and feel the airstream against his face. He prepared himself for the glare and wind as he finally opened his eyes. The seals on his sword were no longer discernable as such, the entire blade seeming to glow. He may not have been able to control his chakra correctly, that in turn meaning he couldn't create his usual blades of wind-chakra, but it didn't mean it wasn't there. He couldn't do more than mindlessly push it out, just like his normal chakra. However, if he expelled it, a suitable seal could effectively siphon it. If a seal master examined the seal he was touching and the seal on his stomach, they might have seen more than one or two similarities.

Naruto gripped his sword, his thumb placed on the highest seal, which could be found on the hilt. His father's knowledge of seals had really opened up a myriad of possibilities to him, ones he might never consider if he wasn't unable to use ninjutsu. He put the tip of the blade in line with his back foot.

The whale's tail finally passed over the small peak of ice, its trajectory meaning it would miss the user of the jutsu. Its shadow fell upon the two who it would crush, now only twenty feet above them.

Tensing powerful muscles, the Jinchuuriki took his thumb off the last seal and began to swing the massive blade.

Nadare had already begun his escape when the blade first stared to move. He ran straight up the nearest hill of snow and vanished.

A white flash caught Fubuki's attention and she watched as a large arc of white chakra was blasted forward. Half of it buried itself into the ground and half hit the whale. There was a sudden blast of air as the arc lost stability. It hit her with such force that she was torn from the ice which trapped her. She was smashed through the jagged pieces of ice that had constituted her prison, slicing her skin and breaking more than one bone. She hit the ground headfirst, cutting her scalp on a piece of ice-shrapnel. Her eyes closed halfway as everything became blurry, she could feel something warm at the back of her head.

Naruto had been prepared for the backlash. The sword had unleashed a large quantity of dense wind-chakra. He had never used the attack before, but he knew that the 'wave' of chakra would only be stable for a moment before the chakra expanded to a more reasonable density, rather explosively. He watched as the two halves of the whale fell aside - forced apart by the explosive expansion of air - missing him and also the large fragment of ice beside him. One thing he had not considered was the large crevice that was created, which must have been nearly twenty foot deep at the lowest point.

Naruto looked behind to the crew now standing on the boat and the woman now known as Koyuki standing where he had left her, apparently in shock. He smirked to himself and took a piece of paper from one of his pockets, about twice the size of an explosive tag. He tossed the piece of paper into the air, where it began to lazily flutter down into the small chasm.

The blond boy was about to dash off when he heard a soft moan. He turned his head to see the pink-haired snow-kunoichi beginning to move slowly, a pool of blood underneath her head. He was conflicted. On the one hand, he had been raised to eradicate threats to himself, his mission and his precious people without remorse, but on the other, his mother had raised him to hold human life in high regard. After less than a second's hesitation, he quickly moved past her and hastily grabbed his jacket, speedily shrugging it on and not even taking the time to zip it up.

It was at that moment, the kunoichi moved and her pink hair fell across her face, reminding him of his mother.

Now with even more urgency, the Jinchuuriki ran back and scooped the woman up, not stopping as he shifted her under one arm. He didn't know if it was the right think to do, but he didn't have time to make the choice and if he decided later that he should have saved her, it would be too late. Besides, it was one thing to kill an enemy who was a threat, but to leave a helpless woman to die did not fit with his sense of honour.

Naruto was a blur across the ice as he imagined the scene that was playing out behind him. He waved at those on the boat, signalling them to cast off. He just hoped they understood and that they'd had the sense to get ready for cast-off.

Now over a hundred yards behind the rapidly escaping blond, in the bottom of the man-made fissure, a small puff of smoke issued from the single piece of paper that had finally reached the bottom. When the smoke cleared, a large pile of explosive tags became visible, the occasional one innocently fluttering in the breeze.

The young Hatake was quickly approaching the edge of the iceberg. He noticed the larger snow-nin a little distance away, stumbling quickly away, his path diverging away from the blond's. He was promptly disregarded as unimportant.

Naruto ducked down slightly when he was about to pass the snowboard. Grabbing the device, he flipped it round and jumped, pulling his legs back and putting the board to his feet. He felt some force grip his feet firmly, obviously designed to keep the rider in place without straps. It was a testament to how hard the previous rider had been struck that he had been separated from the board.

The board hit the snow moving, the chakra output from the boy causing some internal mechanism to create thrust from the back of the contraption.

In the crevice, the seemingly innocent pieces of paper suddenly made a not so innocent sound, but only for a moment.

Those on the ship watched the massive fireball shoot up into the air, taller than the highest of the surrounding peaks.

A loud reverberating crack filled the air, echoing in a foreboding manner. A web of cracks formed around the crevice and rapidly began expanding out along the ice at great speed.

Naruto accelerated to even greater speeds, but as he did, he noticed the ship beginning to move. The tether snapped as some crewman panicked and the ship slowly began to move away. He could hear the angry and panicked shouts of the crew as they pointed towards those still on the floating ice-rock.

Knowing that the cracks were quickly approaching, Naruto bent his legs as he closed in on his ward. He grabbed Koyuki with his left arm and straightened his back, but kept his legs slightly bent, to help maintain his balance.

Finally the actress/princess seemed to wake up with a gasp, her eyes facing the direction from which her bodyguard was running. She watched as darkness seemed to appear in her line of sight. Dark cracks in the ice began to gain on them. "It's hopeless." The young princess's voice sounded desperate, but at the same time accepting of her fate. Her comment received no response.

The ship was now several yards from the frozen 'shore'.

Earlier, the boarding plank had been fixed firmly down with large steel rods, to stop it slipping on the ice. Half of it jutted into the air where it had previously met the side of their ship. Naruto lowered his head and output even more chakra, speeding up yet once more as they hit what amounted to a ramp.

The snowboard grated across the wood, but the thin layer of ice that had already formed on it since that morning allowed the board to move across its surface.

The web of cracks finally reached the plank and, losing its anchors, it fell to the freezing waters below.