I

The sun is shrouded by the clouds, and the weather is neither too hot nor too cold. Thus in many ways, this is a great time to begin a journey, or go for a walk in the park. The sky outside is blue, and yet she chose to stay inside, away from them all. The people in the streets beyond the walls mark the noise of day, and contrasts the silence inside, a single wall is all it takes to separate noise and silence, awareness and confusion.

Looking through the scrolls she had devoted her past months to, she quickly reread the words all written by brush, for self-assurance before attempting the jutsu.

She breathed a deep sigh, and she looked at her watching teammate. "Well, let me begin."

Neji activated his byakugan, "Try it."

Her fingers flickered, and it soon blurred as she attempted to continue seal after seal.

"This is the last one!"

Neji could slowly see the surroundings spin and twirl, and after a while, he smiled slightly.

"Very good, Sakura. It worked, but it's too obvious to me."

"Hai!"

II

The morning sun casts its' soft rays on the rocky terrain, and the wind howled to awaken those still caught in a long slumber. The barrens where little tree offers shelter and shadow, the unfortunate people are forced to build their home, carved out of rock, and in doing so, made use of their expertise on mining and drilling. Gold, silver and valuables are what sustained this country of stone, and the more lush grounds to the north are the places where food is cultivated for the people.

There, on a little dry tree, stood a vulture awaiting it's next meal, yet it seems to know that his food will come rarely and far between.

The Tsuchikage was awake over the night, listening to the seer, and planning for times to come. It had never been a good time for the man, and with the threats of criminals, it is unlikely that they will be left alone by these thugs. Never so long as they continue to rely on mining for primary income, and never as long as the great criminals are free, out in the open plains.

The Tsuchikage sighed, and soon, he walked towards the door.

III

"WHAT?!" The loud roar silenced the wind, and rattled the floating leaves around them.

Itachi and Kisame lowered their heads, not saying much.

"I finished my part, and you people lose him to a bunch of lousy stone ninjas."

The Uchiha offered no reply, and Kisame kept staring to the woods around them.

"What has gotten into you people? Can't even handle a single simple task easily? I thought I just asked you to watch him and keep him within our midst, and now what?" The man seemed to boil with anger. "You people better get him back from those Stone ninjas, or else!"

IV

The dark room once again revealed little of the surrounding, but the glimmer of dawn awakened him to embrace the chilly air of captivity. Naruto glanced around him, scanning for all signs of life, and to his dismay, found none.

Slowly closing his eyes, he concentrated his hearing and senses on the surroundings, with the hopes that this method would offer more insight to the world around him, and everything beyond. Slowly, he could see the room in a different light, sensing only the edges of items, and the surface of things, from there, he knew he was alone, but an area of smooth edges told of a one-way mirror, used by his captors to observe him.

"I know you people are there... Come out." He called.

His eyes remain closed; his ears still scrutinized his surroundings for any movement. Then, the door creaked open, and from the screech of the door, he knew it was made of metal.

"I see. Your hearing is highly acute, the mark of a ninja trained in visionless combat. So, where are you from? Mist, or Cloud?"

Naruto smiled to himself, and for once, he is mistaken for a ninja of another nation. "No. I am from Konoha."

He could not here any gasps of surprise, but he could here the twitching of muscles. "Is that so? What name do you go by?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Then, the door opened again, and from the sounds of it, he was probably the kage.

"I'll handle our captive. You people can leave us alone." He commanded, and the other interrogator exited through the opened door.

Kagizume promptly remarked, "How do you actually plan to get out?"

"No idea." He replied through thought.

Naruto heard to soft flicking of a switch, and his skin sensed a heightened intensity of light. "You can open your eyes, Naruto."

The blonde did so, and stared at the Kage, now revealed by the lights.

"What do you want from me?"

"I've heard quite an interesting news about you."

"Is that so?"

"Vessel of the Kyubi, and also the vessel of another creature?"

'How the hell did he know I was inside you? I revealed no aura, no chakra, no energy, no electrical discharges, no bloodscent and no seals, so how in the world he know?' Kagizume rapped.

"It is interesting and also disconcerting to me that this other creature could easily flatten my home, and knowing that, I wish to offer you a little help, so long as you keep your friend... contained."

Naruto chuckled, "And how in the world do you know I harbor another monster within me?"

"Ah... Good question, but it is one I refuse to answer."

The blue eyes glared at the kage, clad in the old ceremonial robe of those given the honor of leading a village, and that good old kage hat which Naruto still wanted for himself. The man around him was pretty daring, even when he knew of the existence of one not bound by seals. "And why so? I believe I can ask my friend to do a little damage..." Naruto knew that would not happen, but he had learned the power of fear from Kagizume and Kyubi, and as they put it, 'You can make a person do anything when they are afraid.'

The tsuchikage seemed rather unsettled, but after a while, he knocked on the mirror. "You can come in."

The new figure is an old man, not very strong, and yet he had this aura of wisdom around him.

Kagizume exclaimed, "He has the power of a seer... I see. Naruto, he picked up our conversation with Phobos."

'How?'

"Conversations that transcends galaxies need immense powers, and therefore, such a powerful beacon of paranormal activities are easily detected, and furthermore, he is in close proximity when the transmission was happening."

"He was spying on us?"

'Yeah, by being at the right place, and at the right time.'

The old man spoke, "A great evil this way comes... Isn't it? Eight years is all we have left to save ourselves from it."

"As you see, I relied on my faithful friend for this knowledge, and with such knowledge, I am forced to offer something."

Kyubi interrupted, "At least this human knows how to keep himself alive."

Naruto chuckled, his laughter bounced of the closed room. "And what do you wish to offer me? I would do well with my freedom."

Kagizume once again interfered, "You should allow him to offer. You just wasted a good opportunity to force this man to submit and aid you."

"Freedom, that I can give. I can offer you aid, and some money for your quest. But I cannot openly support you, because in Konoha, you are a wanted criminal, and if I did, it would be an indirect declaration of defiance and war on your hometown. In addition, supporting you would allow for the rise of suspicions that I may also harbor the missing-nin of sand, Sabaku no Gaara, and the missing mist demon, Hitoku. So, I could not support you that openly, as it would mean opposition and trouble for my country."

'Huh? Gaara is a missing-nin? And who the hell is this mist demon?'

"So, I can offer you aid, but no much. You will still be largely on your own. I hope you can understand, because going to war against Leaf, Sand and Mist is suicide."

"Well, what do we care, brat? We were always on our own, isn't it?" Kyubi spoke.

V

Leaves blown by the wind entered through the window, and onto her head, awakening her from her slumber. Staring at the small leaf that had entered through, she remembered the lessons she had as a child, but her reminisces of times long past was replaced by the sight of stacks of untouched paperwork.

But what really caught her eye was the newly updated list of missing nin throughout the region, and she felt slightly upset again.

"Where in the world are you, Naruto?"

Through the door, came Hatake Kakashi, one of her elite subordinates, dressed in his usual attire.

"I want you to... kill Naruto, before Akatsuki can unseal Kyubi." She said, but the copy ninja could sense the reluctance and pain in her words. "I don't want to, but I guess I have to."

IIII

HAHA, politics and enemies.

Anyway, Ideas and reviews are most welcome. Thanks for your reviews. And sorry if my chappies are short. I can't find the urge to write that long, cos if I want to write long, I will take really long time to update.