Naruto said it when he was seven and he would gladly repeat it when he was sixteen; he hated mist. It was everywhere, smothering the landscape like the weather was actively trying to create an air of depression and hopelessness. The worst part was that due to some freak geography feature the mist had somehow become saturated in chakra. He couldn't see or smell more than a few feet in front of him and he hated relying purely on his hearing, especially when travelling through a place known for a technique called 'silent killing'.

Fuu and Tayuya were even more unnerved, lacking even hearing to go on, having to stick close to Naruto or risk getting lost completely. Naruto cursed constantly to himself, he knew he should have sent a message ahead and gotten a guide; too late now. He sighed for the umpteenth time and trudged on, doing his best to ignore the oppressive mist and stick to the somewhat obscured path that he hoped led to Kirigakure. 'Seriously, is Konoha the only hidden village actually easy to find?!'

Of course Tayuya was more vocal in her cursing; swearing every few minutes when she tripped over something or nearly lost sight of Naruto. If there were enemy ninja watching them then she made it fairly easy for them to be found; he didn't stop her though, it was almost comforting to hear her voice even if it was just curse words. Fuu was much quieter having been here before and experienced these conditions on her last visit.

"Hey Shithead, are we fucking there yet or am I going to have to stop and ask for directions?!" Naruto's eyebrow twitched dangerously as he continued walking ahead.

"How the fuck should I know? We could be walking in circles!" He was becoming more irritable as the hours dragged on and it was partially true that he didn't know where they were going. He might have still had his sense of hearing intact but it didn't do him a lot of good when there was nothing to listen to except Tayuya bitching and moaning. "And we are not stopping for directions, I'll get us there!" Tayuya just huffed to herself and crossed her arms under her chest, mumbling to herself.

Fuu seemed to get more and more miserable as time passed; Naruto wondered if it was because of Chomei. If anything hated water more than an animal with fur it was an insect, knowing that they couldn't fly if their wings were laden with water. He cursed again as he slapped another mosquito that landed on his neck; it didn't seem to stop these ones though. He sighed to himself, letting his arms go limp in front of him as he strained his ears listening for any signs of a direction they could go in.

"Right, fuck this." Naruto's face set into a determined mask as he breathed in as deeply as he could, his chest expanding to accommodate all the air. He forced his shakra in, saturating his lungs with an equal measure of both his and Kurama's chakra. "Wind Style: Grand Great Breakthrough!" Naruto released an enormous gale from his lungs, comparable with a small hurricane as it blitzed through the landscape, clearing the fog and even ripping a few trees out of their roots.

Naruto smiled to himself as he looked around the now mist-free environment, panting a little from the weather-scale jutsu. Tayuya just gained a tick mark over her forehead as she looked around them.

"You couldn't have done that three fucking hours ago?!" Naruto just put a palm to his forehead, quelling his rising headache as best he could. He just motioned for them to move on before the mist settled around them again, he didn't fancy doing that jutsu every five minutes or so. Unfortunately they didn't plan on one thing; none of them knew at all where they were going. The problem with Kiri was that because of the mist; nobody could make an effective map of the place. The only true way to get in or out was experience or a guide, or sheer chance.

That meant that even though the three of them could now see more than a few feet in front of them, they were still hopelessly lost. Thankfully fate seemed to throw the trio a bone for once as two figures appeared in a nearby tree. Naruto's hand instinctively went for a kunai in his pouch but he froze when he got a better look at the new arrivals.

"Ao? Chojuro?" He received equally incredulous looks from the two Mist-nin as they looked over the now rather tired group.

"Naruto? Fu? And...?"

"Tayuya." Naruto quickly clarified for them, their faces turning into those of recognition and understanding.

"Hi Fuu." Fuu smiled warmly at the blue-haired swordsman causing a small blush to break out over the bridge of his nose.

"Hi Chojuro." He waved at her timidly and Naruto once again thought that he needed some serious confidence counselling, he was a swordsmen of the hidden mist but he certainly didn't act like one.

"I should have known it was you Naruto. Only you would be brash enough to simply dispel the mist around Kirigakure. You know in my day, we used to hire guides for this sort of thing and their pay would go towards helping the village." Naruto just nodded along, knowing that Ao was in lecture mode; he had never actually seen how long they lasted, Mei would usually threaten him with death before he could say much.

"So are you guys here to help us get to Kiri?" Ao shook his head, the earrings with the kanji for 'to hear' shaking as he did so.

"No, we were merely sent out here to investigate the high-level jutsu you used to clear the mist." Naruto smiled sheepishly and just shrugged innocently, Tayuya now giving him glares.

"Like I said, three fucking hours ago would have been nice!" Naruto kept his smile up, although it looked remarkably strained at this point; all this time walking through the mist had slowly worn down his last nerve.

"So can you guys help us get into Kiri now? We need to speak to Mei." Ao just nodded while Chojuro's attention appeared to be elsewhere, specifically Fuu who was just looking around the landscape.

"Of course, Mei always looks forward to your visits." Naruto smiled sheepishly again, this time out of embarrassment and just motioned for the two-Kiri-nin to lead on. The enlarged group quickly took off through the now much clearer and more visible surroundings.


In Naruto's personal and unspoken opinion Kirigakure was one of the most beautiful places he had ever visited and a small part of him said that he ever would. The elegant and perfectly crafted buildings reached up into the sky, the wet stone of the cylindrical buildings glistening with moisture that caught the light no matter what time of day it was. The village itself was rather spread out for one of the hidden villages, more relying on their mist to confuse and disorient any potential threats instead of walls.

The people of Kirigakure adopted a 'buildings are less precious than lives' approach to war, sometimes sacrificing entire districts for their guerrilla tactics. That didn't mean that they neglected their homes and through the early morning mist that was obvious to everybody standing atop the cliff that gave the best view of the village. In the centre of it all was a large circular building, resting atop great stone arches with a multitude of aqueducts sprouting from it like the focal point of a spider's web.

Naruto actually heard Tayuya's breath catch in the back of her throat as she looked out over the indescribable vista; exactly how he and Fuu had been on their first visit. Ao motioned them on, knowing that many of the Kiri shinobi didn't like foreign ninja standing around in their village. It was nothing personal but tensions were still a little high after the recently won civil war. There were no gates to Kiri anymore, the last ones having been destroyed in the last fight of the war so that the rebels could stream in and overwhelm the 'loyal' shinobi.

Everywhere you looked, despite the overall beauty of the place, you could see the evidence of conflict. There were scorch marks from excessive fire jutsu, walls caved in from pressure or explosions, sometimes entire buildings lying in rubble. Naruto sighed as he took in the sights, war was never a pretty thing; he had learnt that much in his brief life so far. People tried to glamorise it but the consequences were always the same, people died, families lost loved ones and people became homeless or starving.

They all entered the Mizukage tower, the three foreigners glad to be out of the ever-present chill the mist provided. On the contrary everybody in Kiri just seemed to be used to it, accepting the chill as if it was the most natural thing in the world, which to them it was. Supposedly the only time the mist had ever cleared from Kirigakure was when Mei fought against Yagura himself. Her lava release was supposed to be so powerful that it literally burned off the water vapour out of the air, although it only lasted a few days.

They finally made it to the Mizukage's office, having to wait outside until the timid-looking secretary made sure Mei wasn't busy with anything. They were ushered in after they heard a few angry words from inside the office that sent the secretary scurrying away through the building. Ao and Chojuro stepped in first, taking their rightful place at Mei's side as she looked painfully down at the piling paperwork on her desk.

"Aargh, I can see why Yagura lost it now; there's no end to this damn paper! AND WHY IS IT ALWAYS SOGGY!" She slammed a fist in to her desk and Naruto noticed the wood creak dangerously under the impact making a trickle of cold sweat run down his neck at seeing the angered woman. Ao coughed into his hand loudly, which caused Mei to look up, not having realised people had even entered her office. She made to look around at Ao but Naruto's mop of blonde hair caught her attention first. Her scowl quickly melted away into a genuinely relieved look as she took in the young Uzumaki.

"Naruto, Fuu, it's really good to see the two..." She looked around and finally spotted Tayuya whom was amusedly observing the stressed Mizukage until now. "Who are you?" Ao leant down and whispered something in Mei's ear and a look of recognition overcame her face. "Oooh, so you're the girl Naruto wouldn't stop talking about while he was here, really knew how to put a lot of the Kiri girls down that boy." Said blonde just chuckled sheepishly while Tayuya just blushed, looking over at her boyfriend questioningly.

She stood up from the desk, completely ignoring the paperwork which was her plan from the start and walked over to the trio. Before Naruto and Fuu even knew what was happening they found themselves embraced in a one-armed hug each, both being pressed into Mei's impressive endowments without her realising. Ao just raised an eyebrow, a disapproving look coming over his eyes as they nostalgically looked back to the past.

"Really Mei, that's most improper. In my day a woman hugging another man would get them some strange looks unless they were married..." Of course all Mei's selective hearing caught of that was "woman...man...get...married." In a move so fast Naruto honestly believed Mei had copied the Hiraishin she was across the room with her lips close to Ao's ear.

"Ao, shut up or I'll kill you." The room went deathly quiet with Ao wondering just what he had done this time, the rest of the room merely sweat-dropping at the out of the blue threat. Mei turned around, her stern features set back into a happy smile as she walked back around the desk.

"Well, what do I owe the pleasure Naruto, Fuu, and Tayuya?" Naruto smiled awkwardly, glad that the tension was lifted but still just a little freaked out by how bipolar Mei could be sometimes.

"Actually, we came to ask about the Sanbi. We understand that it was released when Yagura was killed." Mei looked down in a little sadness, Yagura had been her friend once, it had pained her to have to kill him like she did.

"Yes, it was released; we were by the shore when Yagura died, the Sanbi disappeared into the waters." Her eyes narrowed slightly as she took in the trio. "What is the Sand's business with the Sanbi?" Naruto shook his head quickly.

"No, no, this isn't about the village, we are only here to make sure Orochimaru doesn't get his hands on the Sanbi and to get some information of his whereabouts." Mei sighed to herself, walking across the room and flopping down in her large comfy chair.

"Well at least that confirms the sightings of Sound ninja around the coast." Naruto's eyebrow raised, that meant Orochimaru was in fact making a move, and soon it seemed. "I have no idea what the snake thinks he can do with a tailed-beast, I hope the thing rips his head off." Naruto had also been wondering that, the only thing that made sense was for Orochimaru to be planning on making a jinchuuriki. If Naruto could help it he wasn't going to allow that to happen; he wouldn't let another poor child live like he had, especially with Orochimaru.

"We are currently much too busy with the repairs, fortifications and missions to investigate the rumours but if you're willing to take care of the problem I have no problem in letting you know the details." Naruto nodded his head in thanks. "Supposedly the sightings have all been along the eastern coast of the main island, near to where Yagura died. It makes sense to start a search there but in my opinion the Sanbi is probably long gone."

"As if, Isobu was the laziest bastard I've ever met even for a turtle. I bet he hasn't moved more than a few hundred feet from where he was released. That big turtle is so docile it makes me wonder how we even came from the same chakra source." Naruto looked over at Fuu and from her distant expression he could tell she was receiving similar information from Chomei.

"Are you sure Kurama?" Kyuubi didn't say anything but he could feel the nod from inside his mindscape.

"Thank you Mizukage-sama, we'll start looking there." Mei just groaned at the name, looking like she seriously wanted to melt something at that point.

"Please, I've told you before, call me Mei. Mizukage makes me sound so..." She scrunched up her face in disgust "...old." Naruto just nodded with a smirk, Mei's insecurities about her age and marriage were well known throughout the Land of Water, not that anybody would dare talk about it around her. Mei motioned to Ao with a hand and he stepped forward from his position behind here, still weary of her earlier threat despite the frequency of such occurrences.

"Ao, I want you to accompany them to where the Sanbi was last located. We wouldn't want our guests getting lost again would we?" She said it with a smirk and Naruto just shrugged.

"It's not our fault we didn't grow up in this mist. How do you guys even navigate in it anyway?" Mei just tapped a conspiratorial finger to her nose.

"We have our ways, although Ao has his own method." She didn't elaborate on that, instead dismissing the group and returning to her paperwork. She could have sworn that it seemed to have grown even more just while she was talking. "WHERE ARE YOU COMING FROM!?" Naruto and Tayuya snickered as they left the office with Ao just looking embarrassed at his Mizukage's behaviour.

"Do you think we should have told her about using clones to do paperwork?" Tayuya just shrugged and carried on walking. Ao caught that though and his eyes lit up, he could tell Mei that and hopefully get back in her good graces. He smiled to himself, a rare sight on the grizzled veteran's features these days and the group left the Mizukage tower in good spirits.


Whatever spirits the group may have left with were quashed after long enough running blind through the tree tops. All they had to go on was Ao who appeared as a fuzzy silhouette in front of them. They were making good time but none of them liked randomly running through the mist when they couldn't see where they were going. Naruto was just about to clear it away with another wind jutsu when he saw Ao stop and hold up a hand. The three Sand-nin stopped on the same branch and tried to peer through the mist to see why Ao stopped.

The oppressive fog parted just enough for Naruto to catch a glimpse of glimmering blue water beyond the trees they were standing in and he breathed a sigh of relief. Before them was a large beach that spread out in both directions as far as he could see, which admittedly wasn't very far. There were a few large boulders jutting out of the waters close to the shore but after that it seemed to drop dramatically and become deep.

"Okay we're here so uhh, what now?" Both Fuu and Tayuya looked at him incredulously while Ao regarded him curiously.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You don't have any plan at all?" Tayuya smacked Naruto around the back of the head in annoyance. "Ugggh, great, now what the fuck are we supposed to do, how are we even going to find the thing?" Naruto just shook his head quickly.

"Don't worry about it, he's nearby." Ao's look of curiosity grew at the strange declaration as Naruto realised that the three of them weren't alone. He sometimes forgot that some people didn't know about his tenant and now he was receiving suspicious glances from the man. Ao's visible eye narrowed for a fraction of a second before his features relaxed and he nodded.

"Very well, I have escorted you as ordered, when you require a guide back to Kirigakure use that same jutsu as before, either me or another shinobi will come to bring you back." Naruto nodded his thanks, wondering about the sudden change in the man's attitude but not questioning it. They watched Ao disappear back into the swirls of mist, masking his presence instantly to all except Naruto who listened to him leave for as long as he could.

Naruto sent another glance behind him at the sprawling ocean and grinned, quickly closing the distance between their position and the shoreline. He was quickly followed by Fuu and Tayuya who looked around, awed at the massive beach that appeared to take up the entire coastline but for all they knew could only be a few hundred meters long.

"Well Kurama?" He felt the impatient nod from his head as Kyuubi returned to branching out with what senses she could muster from within Naruto's body.

"Yes, Isobu is close, I can feel him. He's deep below the waters although I'm not sure how you plan on bringing him out. He's naturally reclusive, loves peace and quiet and if he had his way would gladly just sit out the remainder of his life at the bottom of the ocean." Naruto cringed, much too docile for his tastes, how could you live your life without excitement or adventure? It would feel far too empty.

"What about just flaring your chakra or Chomei's. Wouldn't that bring him out to investigate?" He felt Kyuubi shake her head slowly.

"No, Isobu hates us almost as much as Shukaku. He never liked that he was pigeon-holed as one of the 'tailed beasts' purely because we are a form of kin. It made humans far too interested in him, disrupting his peace and resulting in him getting sealed." Naruto nodded, he could at least understand that, somewhat. He looked out over the ocean, his mind already whirring with ways to draw out the reclusive biju as he gazed at the sunset. The light from the fading sun filtered through the mist creating beautiful hues of orange or red and tinged the sky a light pink.

"Okay, there's nothing we can do today, we should head further into the forest and set up camp." Tayuya looked displeased; she had hoped their business would be quick so she could return to somewhere warm and dry. Her hair was already becoming a nightmare, she was just glad that the Land of Water wasn't too humid or it would be uncontrollable. She definitely wasn't looking forward to sleeping in the mist, everything would get soaked through the night.

"Fine, let's just get to sleep so we can get this over with tomorrow and get out of this fucking mist." Naruto nodded his head in agreement while Fuu seemed rather distracted. Usually at moments like these Naruto just figured she was talking to Chomei, they seemed to do that a lot nowadays. He often wondered what they talked about and wondered if he looked the same when he was speaking with Kyuubi.

"No kit, you look a lot more idiotic." He just growled in annoyance and followed Tayuya into the forest so they could set up camp and get some sleep. Hopefully by the morning the mist would have cleared so they could at least see themselves do nothing all day in an attempt to get the Sanbi to surface. A few minutes later they were all getting into their sleeping bags with Tayuya forcefully getting into Naruto's. He smiled, missing these times when they were out on the road just snuggling up to one another; it gave him nice thoughts as he drifted off into sleep.


Fuu was the first to wake up; no matter how long she spent with Naruto she still could never get more than a few hours sleep. It never really affected her so she never really questioned it but it did mean a lot of fumbling around in the dark early in the mornings. 'Why can't I have night vision like Oniisan? It's not fair.' Then again, she could fly; in her opinion that was a much better trade off; Naruto had often expressed his jealously over that particular ability of hers.

She idly noticed that the mist had cleared up giving them much better visibility in all directions. She also noticed that at some point in the night she had managed to work her way across to Naruto where he had instinctively wrapped his free arm around her shoulders. It was an old habit from time spent on the road that it seemed her body never quite got rid of. She simply felt safe wrapped up in Naruto's arms and in a way she envied Tayuya for getting his warmth at night.

She stood up and stretched off all her muscles, including her wings after letting them unfurl from her back. She thought about taking a quick flight like she liked to do in the morning when travelling but thought against it considering she didn't know who might see her. Naruto had never actually come out and discouraged her from flying but she could tell it caused them a lot of hassle when a villager noticed her soar overhead.

Instead she chose a random direction and started waking, intending on investigating the area a bit, mostly out of boredom. She wouldn't get lost, finding Naruto to her was like finding her own hand; it was easy for most jinchuuriki to find others but for Naruto and Fuu it had become practically instinctual. As long as they weren't separated too much then they could always find one another, it was just another benefit that their tenants gave them.

She wandered through the forest, lightly trailing her hands against trees she passed as she took in the smells of the forest with a smile. Fuu loved nature, there was no one particular thing she like especially, just the whole concept of living free without restrictions or obligations appealed to the part of her that enjoyed flight so much. Subconsciously she twitched her wings as she inhaled deeply, just enjoying having the chance to be out here.

Without the mist smothering everything in sight the forest was actually quite beautiful, sparkling with early morning dew. Multiple varieties of flowers dotted the grass and she followed them as they began to grow more densely. They led her into a clearing where she saw a strange sight, from the trees she could spot a young boy of about her age sitting in the middle of the clearing, leaning against a tree and smiling down at something in his hands. Fuu couldn't make out what it was but it glittered slightly in the early morning sunlight.

She pulled her wings back in and walked out into the clearing, immediately catching the attention of the boy. He had long light brown hair that fell down his back and wore a blue tunic over a green shirt and navy pants. She wondered what he was doing out here and wondered if there was a village nearby that they could get supplies from. The boy seemed more fascinated by the headband tied around Fuu's arm.

"Who are you?" Fuu just smiled sweetly, earning her a small blush from the boy; something she had noticed happened a lot around boys her age.

"I'm Fuu." The boy smiled weakly, managing to look her in the face as he spoke.

"I'm Yukimaru." Fuu's smile brightened as she skipped over, sitting down next to the boy and trying to get a look at the object in his hands.

"What's in your hands?" Yukimaru made a better attempt at hiding it but Fuu managed to catch a glimpse of what looked like pink glass before his hands covered it.

"Why do you want to know?" Fuu just shrugged innocently, looking around the clearing and the multitude of flowers it contained.

"I don't know; I'm just curious." Yukimaru seemed to examine her closely, but not so much with suspicion as plain intrigue.

"What are you doing out here, there aren't any villages around here." Fuu looked back at him, still smiling lightly.

"I could ask you the same thing." Yukimaru gulped even though there was no malice in Fuu's voice, it made her wonder why he was so nervous. She wondered if it had to do with her; she had noticed boys seemed to change when speaking to her, like Chojuro.

"I like to take walks in the mornings; I'm travelling with people that scare me a little bit." Fuu cocked her head slightly to the side, thinking about what he said.

"Then why do you travel with them?" Yukimaru took another subtle glance at the object in his hands.

"They aren't all bad, Guren is really nice to me and Gozu is nice to her so he can't be that bad. The others are kind of mean though, but they don't do anything or Guren gets mad." Fuu nodded, she understood about having a person in your life that was special and you would go anywhere with, even if it meant going with people you didn't like.

"So is this Guren special to you?" Yukimaru smiled softly, looking up at the sky where the stars still twinkled in the early morning light before the sun overpowered them.

"Yeah, I didn't have many people after my parents died, but when I found Guren she was nice to me." He looked around, almost furtively as he scanned the clearing before finally relinquishing his hold on the object in his hands, opening them up so Fuu could see. "She gave me this." Fuu looked down and saw a white camellia flower encased in what looked like a light pink glass, or maybe some kind of crystal. It looked beautiful and perfectly cut.

"Wow, it's really pretty." Yukimaru closed his hands protectively over the flower and Fuu raised her own in a placating gesture.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to take it or anything. It's obviously really precious to you." He nodded with another sad smile before looking back at her, or specifically her headband.

"So are you a shinobi? I don't recognise your headband." She smiled proudly at him, moving her arm so he could see it better.

"That was my gift from my precious person, my Oniisan, except he isn't really my brother but he acts like it. He's the first person who ever showed me kindness in my life." Yukimaru nodded along with her, understanding what that felt like more than most.

"But why does it say seven? Aren't they supposed to have the symbol for your village?" Fuu thought about it, subconsciously looking back in the direction of the camp.

"My Oniisan has the same thing but his says nine, he says that our loyalties shouldn't be to a village. They can be destroyed, moved, or rebuilt. He likes to think that his loyalties or to his friends and the people he loves; or at least that's what he told me." Yukimaru smiled, he liked the sound of this person's brother; he sounded a lot like Guren, although she was loyal to Orochimaru.

"But why seven? Or nine?" Fuu just smiled devilishly, eliciting a second blush from the young boy.

"That's a secret." Yukimaru wanted to ask more but he found he was a little shy around this strange girl. "So what about you, why are you out here..." She motioned with her hands to the clearing in general "...so far away from any village?" Yukimaru's head dropped down and he stared at the flower-ridden floor.

"I'm not supposed to say." Fuu just opened her mouth lamely before closing it again.

"Oh." They sat in silence for a while, neither sure how to continue the conversation before their answer was given for them.

"Fuu!" Her head whipped up and looked in the direction that the voice had come from, it was Naruto, she knew that much. Yukimaru seemed a little shocked by the new voice and looked like he wanted to leave so Fuu put a hand on his shoulder which earned a third blush from the young boy as he stared at the caramel hand.

"Don't worry, that's my Oniisan. He's probably just worried about me." Yukimaru smiled a little bit, reaffirming his idea that her brother seemed like a nice person if he would worry over her. Naruto chose that moment to walk into the clearing, already knowing where Fuu was thanks to their connection.

"There you are Fuu, what have I told you about running off?" Fuu just looked down and sighed exasperatedly.

"To come back before you wake up." He nodded with a small frown, he didn't mind her having walks in the morning but he didn't like waking up and not seeing her there. He noticed the boy sitting next to Fuu and saw her hand on his shoulder; he immediately became suspicious of the situation.

"Fuu, who's this?" He kept the hostility out of his voice until he was sure about the situation, not wanting to frighten the boy if he was innocent. Fuu just smiled up at him, patting Yukimaru on the shoulder.

"This is Yukimaru; I met him out on my walk." Naruto smiled softly, it was just Fuu being her usual self, trying to make friends with as many people as possible; he guessed she took after him in that regard. His smile grew warmer as he walked over, noticing that Yukimaru seemed to grow uncomfortable the closer he got, it reminded him of the first time he met Fuu.

"Hi Yukimaru, I'm Naruto." He held out a hand while crouching down and the boy tentatively took it, shaking hands lightly. "I hope Fuu wasn't too much trouble for you." Said girl pouted lightly from the insinuation while Yukimaru just blushed again.

"N-No, she was actually really nice." Naruto's warm smile returned as he looked between them, his eyes narrowing mischievously. He may have once been naive to romance and attraction but Tayuya had changed all that, he wondered what was really going on here.

"Well good." Fuu seemed to catch the slight insinuation in Naruto's voice and the ever so slightly joking way he talked and scowled. She wanted to tell him it wasn't like that; that she and Yukimaru were just friends but she didn't want to upset the boy's feelings. Tayuya had once told her that boys were mostly clueless about romance and would always deny any feelings they had; she forgot to mention that girls could be the exact same way. None of them got any time to ponder on Naruto's words as a fourth figure darted into the clearing, looking over the scene with a trained eye.

"Yukimaru, what are you doing out here?" Naruto turned to eye the newcomer, seeing a tall woman with spiky blue hair pulled into a pineapple-like bun with two long, thin bangs framing her face. She wore a fur-lined green kimono with a thick yellow rope tied into a downwards knot at the back. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the two figures that she didn't recognise, both wearing strange headbands that just had numbers on. Something about the blonde one struck her but she couldn't quite place what it was.

"Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki." Guren's eyes opened wide at the statement, this was the boy Kabuto was telling her about, except he wasn't really a boy, more a young man. In fact if he wasn't the enemy Guren might have been attracted to him, he was remarkably handsome in a wild kind of way.

"Guren." Naruto nodded politely with a smile.

"Sorry if I kept your friend, my sister seems to have taken a liking to him." Both Yukimaru and Fuu blushed, the latter scowling at Naruto while he just enjoyed seeing her irritated face. Guren on the other hand looked at Yukimaru curiously, she had never seen him make a friend before; a part of her was sort of happy while another worried about what effect this could have on the mission.

"It's no problem." Naruto just nodded politely again while Guren motioned with her hand for Yukimaru to follow her. He got up and walked out of her in the opposite direction of Naruto's camp but stopped at the edge of the clearing. He returned around and waved back timidly at the two of them.

"Bye Fuu, Naruto. It was good meeting you two." The two waved back but Yukimaru was already gone, vanishing into the trees. Naruto waited a few moments before turning to Fuu with a large smirk plastered over his face.

"So what was all that about?" Fuu just scowled at him in annoyance.

"Shut up." With that she marched off back in the direction of the camp with a chuckling Naruto not far behind.