A dark haired woman walked down a long narrow hall. She had green eyes and wore a long white coat. At the end of the hall there was a small room. She entered the room and bowed. "Nothing yet from the leaf ninja, Roosta."

Roosta had his back to her facing the wall. The room was simple, no windows or furniture of any kind. In the center there was a statue of a dragon. He walked around it and then turned to his subordinate. "He is tough I give him credit for holding on for this long. Especially under you, Izumi." Her eyes narrowed. Roosta saw this and smiled. "Don't worry besides I have something else planned for our guest." He touched the head of the dragon. "Everything has happened as was planned. The leaf, the cloud, the sand…by the time the villages figure out what is truly going on it will be too late. Let them think this nothing more than revenge." He took his hand off the statue and walked passed Izumi. The woman just stood in the room admiring the statue before returning to Kiba.

The hidden cloud village

Naruto and Sasuke made good time to the village. They stopped just outside the main gates. Both were standing behind several trees away from the view of the guards. Both were quit tall, one wore a sword while the other had "What do you think? Plan A or Plan B?" Naruto looked over at Sasuke. Sasuke just looked at the Cloud ninjas standing there conversing.

"Are they supposed to be on watch or on a brake?" Sasuke commented as he scanned the front entrance. He then turned to Naruto. "I don't know, Plan A isn't exactly the best plan but then again neither is B. How about we cover both bets, you do Plan A and I got Plan B." He turned his attention back the gate.

Naruto thought about this. "Alright, that actually might work out for the best." They both nodded and Sasuke then vanished. "Good luck old friend," Naruto said to himself as he walked out of the tree line and approached the cloud ninjas. "Hello, I have urgent information for this village. I need to see the Raikage immediately." The two guards looked at each other and then at Naruto. Naruto simply shrugged and waited for them to make their decision. 'Maybe I should've taken the other plan.' Naruto thought to himself.

"Follow me." The cloud shinobi standing on the right said. He motioned inside the gate. Naruto nodded and followed him in. Meanwhile just inside the city walls Sasuke crouched on top of one of the buildings. He watched as Naruto was being escorted and then went his own way.

Konoha

The room had not changed since the last time Vidina walked in. Well almost. He noticed the flower had once again changed. The girl was gone however. She started coming in the late afternoon now. Vidina looked at the clock. Any moment and she would come through those doors and reclaim her seat. Most of his wounds had healed by now and he was almost back to his normal self. He then heard a soft voice coming from the bed. He raised an eyebrow and watched silently.

Tapion's eyes began to twitch. He slowly opened them and quickly shut them due to the intense light of the room. He let out a groan and a moan as he shifted his body around in the bed. He then slowly using all his strength sat up and more cautiously opened his eyes. The light was so bright he was forced to squint for a few minutes. He cupped his face; the air was cold and stale. It felt like he had just taken his first breath. "How long have I been out?" He mumbled to himself. He then noticed his arms were bandaged up.

"About a month by young lad." Vidina said approaching the foot of the bed. "You are safe, in the hospital." Tapions vision was still blurry but he squinted and focused on the figure.

"You, you're the one that saved us." He said in a crackly voice. He looked down and noticed the hospital gown and slowly all his senses started coming back. He looked over to the table and noticed yellow tulips in a glass vase.

"More like you're the one that saved me." Vidina smiled. "That barrier you put up around us worked." Tapion looked on puzzled but then remember the battle and closed his eyes.

"I can't believe that actually worked. I didn't know what that guy was planning to do so made a small bubble out of all the chakra I had left." He said while trying to move his body around.

'I was right. The bubble was able to absorb some of Roosta's attack and because the attack was not directed it at us we were able to survive. Roosta didn't believe I could block it so he decided to disperse the attack. It was aimed at the village. Why would he do that?' Vidina thought to himself as he watched the boy slowly wake up. "What is your name?"

Tapion looked up at him. "Tapion. What is yours?" He asked. Tapion began to remove his bandages.

"Vidina." He stated. He took a few steps to the right of the bed. Tapion then looked up and saw his head protector and noticed that is was blank. Vidina caught this. "Yes I am not from this village. I came from another village a very far away. How would you like to go there?" He smiled at Tapion.

"What? I don't understand." Tapion looked on at Vidina puzzled and confused. Vidina walked to the other side of the bed.

"You impressed me with your abilities during the battle. How would you like to train under me for a while?" He took a seat in the chair by the bed waiting for his answer.

"I don't know, what about the village, my comrades…I can't just leave them." He paused and looked at Vidina. "I know you are strong, as strong as Kage but I can't leave my friends and my mother." His eyes then went wide. "My mother where is she! Is she okay?"

Vidina closed his eyes. "She was killed during the attack, I'm sorry." He opened his eyes to see how Tapion would handle the news.

"What?!?!" Tapion just froze in his bed. "Mother…" He uttered. Vidina did not no what to do. He decided to just continue the conversation.

"My journey is not without purpose. The leader of the Shinobi that attacked this village is a friend of mine. I go to find out why he wages this war."

"A friend! He almost killed you." Tapion snapped out of his gaze. "I will go with you. I want to become stronger." Vidina could see the fire in his eyes.

'This is not good; revenge is in his heart.' Vidina thought. "Very well we will leave once you are able to walk."

"I am coming too." They both turned around. Naomi stood at the doorway. "You aren't planning on leaving me behind are you?" She walked up to the bed. "Its good to see you awake again." She smiled.

Vidina was about to say something but then thought of what this might result in. 'She could help put out the fire in his eyes.' "Yes you can come as well."

Else where in the village

Saitou and Hikari were walking there the market place. They had just completed their latest mission. Saitou looked up into the clouds as they walked. "I wonder what Hinata-sensei wants." When they arrived back they got a message to meet her by the noodle shop. Hikari just shrugged as she motioned in front of them. Hinata was standing there with her arms crossed. She lifted her head and looked at them and smiled.

"I'm glad you two were able to complete the mission by yourselves. I know its been rough on the two of you." Saitou looked down and Hikari didn't even flinch. "Even if you choose not to admit it to yourself." Hinata smiled.

"Why have you called us today?" Hikari asked unemotionally. Saitou rolled his eyes at her comment. After a year and a half she still as cold as when he had met her.

Hinata looked at the two of them. "The Sixth has a mission for you two, actually for all the genin but at your current levels you can't do it. Luckily we have time. I will be training you even harder than I have. We have one month to get you guys ready." Saitou and Hikari looked at each other and then at Hinata.

"What about Tapion? He's still hasn't awakened." Saitou asked. Hinata paused for a second.

"Tapion is gone." This got their attention but before Hikari and Saitou could ask her, Hinata finished her statement. "Him and Naomi left the village with that man you that saved you two. They have their own mission as so do you."

Earlier that day

Hinata walked up the stairs and into Neji's office. She was expecting another mission when she opened the doors. Inside Neji was standing in front of his desk. "Your late."

"I know." She entered the room. "Had some things to take care of. Why did you call me here?"

"It about the war." He turned around and walked behind his desk. "After the battle we lost a lot of our people and I've been forced to break teams up. We need the genin." He looked at her seriously. Hinata understood what he was asking.

"But they are not ready for this. Granted they are strong but they are kids and this is war." Hinata stated.

"Exactly this is war." The Sixth closed his eyes. "I knew what you were going to say so that is why I choose you for this mission." He opened his eyes. "I want you to train the genin and prepare them. I don't plan on sending them into combat but I need them to be ready for anything."

"Wait…" Hinata thought about this for a second. "Where's Sasuke he should be here for this."

"He's gone, I sent him and Naruto on an urgent mission." Neji looked and saw Hinata flinch a little upon hearing hie name. "I'm afraid you will have six genin to deal with on your own. You have one month to get them ready. I'm sorry I do not want to do this but I have no choice."

"Actually you will have four kids to deal with." Vidina walked into the room. Hinata turned around to face him. "Tapion and Naomi are coming with me, if it is okay with you." He did a small bow toward Neji.

"Where are you going?" Hinata asked. "Why take two shinobi from our village with you?" Vidina smiled and approached the desk.

"I am not sure of the girl but the boy has great potential. I want to bring that out in him, push him to see how far he can go." He then turned his attention to Neji. "I go to gather information on your enemy."

"Our enemy, don't you mean your enemy as well?" Neji asked waiting for his answer. Vidina just laughed.

"No, Roosta is my friend. I do not condone his actions and that is why I have decided to stand against him but no he is not my enemy." He beamed a smile at Hinata. "So what do you say? Will they be allowed to accompany me on my mission?" Neji and Hinata looked at each other for several minutes not knowing what to say.

The hidden cloud village

Naruto felt uneasy standing where he was. The room was long and narrow. He stood in the middle with several cloud shinobi around him. He was getting restless, he had been standing there for about twenty minutes waiting to see the Raikage. Suddenly the Raikage appeared several feet away. Naruto noticed the number of shinobi between him and Raikate. "Oh boy, I really wished I took the other plan." He said to himself in a low voice.

"What information do you have?" The Raikage was of average height and lifted the hat to get a good look at Naruto. Naruto was a little bit startled, Sasuke told him that the Raikage was a man and yet the person before him was a woman.

"I come from the Hidden leaf to warn you. Our enemies come to kill you. I was sent to stop them." All the cloud shinobi immediately went on guard ready to attack Naruto at that point.

"And why should I believe you? How do I know you are not the one that is going to kill me?" She asked taking a few steps forward.

"You don't, you just have to trust me." He smiled bowing at the Raikage. He knew he was in a delicate situation and if he were not careful they would kill him without a second thought.

Outside Konoha

Vidina fastened his coat and stretched his neck a little. His body was still recovering from the battle. He looked behind him and saw Naomi and Tapion with their backpacks. "Are you two ready to go?" He turned back and then started his way down the path into the forest.

Naomi nodded and took a few steps before Tapion grabbed her arm. She turned around and Tapion gave her a serious look. "Are you sure you want to come with us? I need to go but you don't have to. You can stay with your family." He would have said more but she put two fingers on his lips.

"If you keep talking like that I'll have to hurt you." She removed her fingers and turned around. "Now come on, he's getting away from us. If we don't hurry we'll lose him." She started walking toward Vidina. Tapion shook his head and turned around to get one last look of the village before joining Naomi and Vidina.

A/n: Sorry for the long gap but school's kinda of taking over my life. I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Things are getting interesting now. So many characters are coming into play. I don't know which to show. lol