Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

POV: ITACHI

Obito-san has been coming to the house for dinner after coming from a mission. His training with his sharingan was over, but Mother often invited him to come to our house. Mother loved to have him around the house, she is fond of him and he knows how Neesama is doing.

"Before I forget again" Obito-san pulled out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to me. "Iruna-chan told me to hand it to you. Sorry, it took a while."

I nodded and opened it for me to read.

Itachi, meet me where you can see the beauty of Konoha after your class at the academy. I'll be waiting.—Iruna

"When did Neesama hand this to you Obito-san?" I asked.

"A month ago, I was going to hand it to you the following day, but I had a mission."

Then, Neesama won't be there anymore. I'm a month late.

P.S. Don't trust your eyes for they deceive and feel. You're a genius. I'm sure you know what I mean or it's too vague that you'll miss it. Also, watch out for mummies and snakes.

POV: IRUNA

I was seated in front of a pond while I concentrated channeling the nature chakra into me before water fell over my head again. I blinked away the water from my eyes and glowered at the reflection of the black long haired, yellow eyed guy wearing a deep blue yukata his black wings folded behind him. He held an empty basin at his side.

"Don't think of anything else, Iruna." Nabi said. "The point of this is for you to free your mind of any thoughts."

"I know that." I said huffing.

The water Nabi poured on me was equivalent to the club the elder toad hits Naruto with. Falling into the pool of bath when I arrived allowed me to be sensitive and vulnerable to nature chakra at the same time. It was no joke when I have to be doused with water every eight hours, or else be turned to a real bird and remain like that for the rest of my short shinobi life.

"Again clear your mind of everything."

Nabi is my designated teacher for Nature Chakra, who is a crow. How is he a crow, but has a human form? It's a norm here. It's something you don't ask a why on. It just is. One can try to ask, but it's like how the world or the universe came to be. You're not sure what the answer really is.

I did as Mirus instructed forming the needed hand seals and just as my view of Konoha disappeared…I felt the wind beneath me or I felt gravity doing its work.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" I shouted for I don't know how long but soon fell in a pool of…hot water.

I resurfaced then blinking away the water from my eyes or blinking to get rid of the hallucination in front of me or I was in heaven? There were two men there with wings on their back sans any clothes except for a towel wrapped around their waist. I would have thought they were angels if their wings didn't vary in color, one had black wings, and the other had red-orange wings.

"Iruna!" I heard Mirus voice clearly above me while I had a staring contest with the three men in front of me.

I looked up to find a woman with shoulder length brown hair and brown wings hovering above me. She looked as young as the three men present and even pretty. She wore a white and brown yukata. Her eyes were sharp and yellowish.

"Ah, Mirus?" I asked.

"At least you recognize me by my voice." She said dropping onto the stone floor at the edge of the pool. "I should have explained some things before coming here."

"Like falling into a pool of water that makes me hallucinate?"

I heard a low chuckle from one of the others present and ignored it.

"You're not hallucinating. You fell into the baths or specifically the mens' bath. Eishi ended up here like every other summoner before him who wanted to learn about nature chakra."

Huh, I didn't think that this would happen to me ever. It felt like retribution for sending Anko to the lake a number of times. The baths isn't a bad idea, maybe…

"You can think about seals some other time." Mirus said. It hasn't been that long and she already learned that. "You're cleansing is over."

"Cleansing?"

"Yes. It's a custom for every summoner to fall into the baths before entering the domain."

I blinked at her. That was the strangest thing I have ever heard.

"Now, come on get out of there. We have to hurry."

"Sorry for falling out of the sky and disturbing your bath." I said bowing to the men there and getting out of the pool.

I trailed after Mirus like a lost puppy as we left the bath bypassing others like them having wings on their back and there were children in the streets with small wings behind them. There were some without wings, but they had feathers hanging about their hair or it was their hair?

I didn't know how long we were walking, but looking about the place it was close to nature. The area where the bath was on the ground yet the buildings seemed to be made around the greenery and rocks here. We walked towards the direction of large trees like the ones I saw in the Forest of Death. It had wide trunks and leaf canopies covering the place into the shadows.

They have winding stairs about the trunks to get up near the branches and it was a lot of turns it made me a bit dizzy. They had bridges from one tree to another and certain ones lead to a higher area or to a lower area. There were houses by the branches, sort of like nests.

"Mirus?" I said then as I looked at the bridges, a maze of bridges actually.

She hummed in answer.

"Where is your house?"

"You mean my nest, but you can call it that."

They are avian, but I think I'll go with house.

"Just past this bridge then take the northern bridge from this one and your there."

"I'm going to get lost." I mumbled as we got to about seven diverging bridges, and there's one of them leading to another area with eight paths.

"Getting lost is one way to learn."

We got to her house eventually and she handed me a yukata to change into. It was black and had a red obi. After changing we set off again, taking a different bridge.

"Now, to start it off, you thought I would be in the same form I was in, in your realm, right?" She asked.

"I thought it was the same for you as the toads. How old are you by the way?" I replied and earned a whack on the back of my head for my latter question.

"In your realm we are in our avian form, but in our realm we are in our true form. The toads are in their truest form."

"So there are also eagles, sparrows, parrots and other avians living here?"

"Yes and no."

"What do you mean?"

"You've seen those without wings, but have feathers on their hair, correct?" I nodded. "They are those that do have wings, but cannot use them to fly. This realm is connected to where you are from as is connected to the toads, dogs, slugs, and other still present summoning scrolls."

At least I know I'm still in the Narutoverse.

"You're not surprised." Mirus said then.

I shrugged. "Anything seems to be possible."

"Not anything, just some things."

"Where are we headed?" I asked.

"To the Tree top."

"Aren't we already in the Tree top?"

"No. We are in the residential area. The Tree top is an equivalent to the Hokage tower you have or a palace."

"So, you have royals here?"

"You can consider them that seeing as their species has lived longer than my own or the others here. While the rest of us are in our seventh or ninth generation, they are still in their second."

I wonder what species they are.

"Why are we going there?"

"It's custom for the visiting summoner to present themselves."

"So, I have to show them courtesy and be polite?"

"Remember what I said when we met and you'll be fine. I won't repeat it to you."

Ah, yes, her opening speech to me then. Be truthful, so don't lie, I guess.

"Why are you the guide again?"

"You should remember to listen carefully." She replied with some annoyance in there. "I don't like repeating myself."

"Why are you the guide again?"

She sighed in return.

We got to a large tree I meant the largest tree present. It was like the mother of all mother trees here. It was taller, wider and had a long flight of stairs to go with it. Yet the view as we got higher was brilliant. It was like looking over Konoha at the Hokages' monument only this one was under the cover and the small lights that passed through made the place shine more in the cover of shadows. It was that beautiful.

When we got past the canopy of leaves and got blinded by the sunlight for a few seconds. I gaped at what I was seeing. It was like…it was like a place in the game of Final Fantasy Nine. The place in the game was a tree, of course, guarded by a sand storm, and above the branches was a place or a village, but in front of me was so much better. I don't think I can compare a palace to something that seemed to work well with nature.

It was like looking at a tree with a lot of bird houses placed on strong branches. Only the bird houses were majestic, breathtaking and large.

"You can gape later." Mirus said amused. "We're already late because you wanted to wait a bit longer for your brother."

But she didn't rush me. Itachi didn't come like I hoped he would. I didn't want to leave without a goodbye to him, maybe he was busy.

I followed Mirus pass by two men with black wings and held spears in their right hand by the main entrance. They nodded to Mirus before resuming their earlier position, standing like statues and their gazes fixed straight ahead.

We entered a chamber that had a low table and ten seats by it. At the head of that table were two persons, looking at them they were the same men at the baths that I fell in arriving here.

The man with red-orange wings gave us a warm smile when he saw us. His coppery long hair was left untied unlike in the bath and fell over his shoulder. The man with black wings seated on his right wore glasses over his yellow eyes, his black hair was also long but he had it tied. They're hair color was the same with the colors of their wings, but that wasn't true for everyone here.

"Welcome" The one with coppery hair said. "Come sit." He gestured to the available seats.

POV: MINATO

I just left Naruto in his crib to let him sleep before I went to the study room. I was just by the doorway and I looked over at Iruna-chans' desk opposite of mine. Usually it had scrolls, books and some of her fuinjutsu tools or the scrolls and notes that were ordered sitting there to dry.

Now, it was empty of anything. It was a barren desk right now. It seemed a bit lonely not to see her by her desk working on a seal or reading while I checked on some paperwork here before sleeping. It would be the first to look up not to see her there.

I went over to my desk and just sat down, when there was a poof and a letter appeared on top of my desk. I stared at it for a while, at the front of the envelope it was addressed to me.

Hokage-sama,
You are the only one who can read contents of this letter, and it took me a while to even get it right. I have wished to tell you this, but with my leave I believe this would be better. There is a person in Konoha that covets the powers of the sharingan and may already possess it without anyone knowing. What secrets Konoha has, this person knows as well. They have done actions thinking it is for the good of the village, but done so with an iron hand and have destroyed lives outside and within Konoha. They are not alone and have help. This help seeks to prolong their life and has done some heinous actions for this sole purpose.

P.S. You may want to give Kakashi a different mission every once in a while aside from babysitting. He gets bored inside the house. You can get Obito to do the babysitting. Naruto likes him even with the hair pulling and biting. On another note can you hand Itachi something for me when he graduates? I might not be there to congratulate him myself. I left it with Kaka-nii.

P.P.S. This letter will turn to ashes after ten minutes.

Iruna-chan knows about Kushina being a jinchuriki, what else does she really know? Allowing her to leave Konoha to train, was that really a wise decision? She knows some things. She didn't answer my question the night before she left.

"Why didn't you accept my offer to have one of the anbu help you with kenjutsu?" I asked her when she gave me the box containing the seal orders.

"I appreciate the offer, Minato-san, but…there are things that you won't always be able to help me with." She replied.

"Is this about you becoming stronger?"

"Yes and no. I just don't think anyone in Konoha can help me right now." She said walking towards the door.

"Is there a chance that you won't come back to Konoha?"

Her hand fell on the doorknob as she stood there her back to me.

"Good night, Minato-san." She pulled on the door and closed it behind her.

I couldn't tell what she would have answered to my question. I understood why she wanted to train with Mirus and leave Konoha. There are eyes on her here. I failed to return to her the freedom she had before the Kyuubi was released.

POV: IRUNA

I entered Mirus' house and was about to sit down for dinner.

"Stop right there." Mirus said from her place in front of the stove, which consisted of something like a fireplace and a pot hanging above the flames. "Go wash up."

I sighed. I didn't bother complaining about that, after complaining a number of times about washing up when I already get doused with water by Nabi she wouldn't let me eat without doing what she says. She told me before 'This is my house. You're under my roof. You're not doing anything else except eat, train and learn here. You're doing what I tell you.' I can't say anything to that, she reminds me a bit of Mother that way.

I came back after washing up and changing into cleaner clothes. Nabi was there as the usual after Mirus introduced him to me as my teacher. They were friends even for a hawk and a crow. You'd think they had a certain dislike for each other like the falcons and eagles. I have seen a fight between those two, and it was something Mirus told me to take into consideration when choosing someone for my flock. To get my flock though, I have to interact with them.

"How was it?" Mirus asked when I sat down.

Nabi snorted as he snatching almost all of the meat from the servings in front of us. He's a glutton, but it doesn't show.

"Are you even trying, Iruna?" Mirus turned to me a frown on her.

"You should know better than asking that question." Nabi said rolling her eyes. "We'll take some time off tomorrow. You may want to use that time to reflect on yourself."

I was thankful for Nabi replying, it saved me from answering. I had to redo my chakra control and I managed that for three or so months, but nature chakra isn't the same as the chakra in my body. I am trying, but I don't know what's wrong. I'm the one who's the most disappointed with myself. It was already four months and it felt like I was still at the beginning.

After breakfast the following day I decided to head to the center. The center was where they stored all of the knowledge their scholars gathered from the other realms, or what one calls a library. It was housed in a tower at the center of their habitat or city.

The library being the center point, the residential area was to the west of it, the baths are on the east, to the north is the business district and the south side was the beach and cliffs. The center is where the younglings head to something like going to elementary then to a secondary education. It was like being in my previous world only it was more of fantasy than science.

On the way to the center I bumped into the two young love birds, in human years they're around Minato-sans' age. There names are Shiri and Kaori. I met them when I got myself lost and didn't know how to get back to Mirus' place.

An interesting thing about love birds, they mate for life. Also, they know where the other is no matter the distance. A good thing too because after helping them one time to carry their groceries they had given me their feathers to which Mirus told me meant that they now belonged to my flock. Here, I thought I had to fight with some, to which Mirus said there were some that asked for one to gauge the summoners strengths before handing their feather.

"Iruna-chan, lost again?" Kaori asked.

"No." I said.

She had been amused when I was lost the last five times I came across her and didn't help the first few times in navigating me back to Mirus'.

"I just thought to head to the center and do some reading."

"How's your training on nature chakra?" Shiri asked. "It's been a while since someone like you came to learn nature chakra. It's not easy the longest a human tried to learn nature chakra from us was a decade."

"That long?!" I said surprised. I can't waste ten years of my life here!

Shiri nodded. "But the shortest was two years."

Am I even going to get back by four years?

"You can always live here instead." Kaori said offhandedly. "You don't have to worry about war here, not like in your realm. Scholar Shota said humans have that tendency to fight over land, but it's strange since you can't own the land. It belongs to nature, like all of us do."

"It's about whose the better." I said.

"Well, I suppose there is the alpha, but that happens with those in a pack. You're all humans there. Why fight on whose better?"

"You're only confusing her, love." Shiri said. "She already has nature chakra to worry about."

"Oh, sorry!" Kaori apologized. "It's just you humans are strange and fight on silly things."

"It's fine. Sometimes I think what we do is silly." I replied smiling.

"Why aren't you with Nabi today?" Shiri asked me.

"Nabi gave me the day off, said I need to reflect."

"Oh, well then isn't nature the best place to reflect instead of the center?" Kaori said there was a bit of a calming aura I get from her, even though she says some strange things. "I find myself sometimes going to the cliffs to listen."

"I don't follow."

"Well, you're learning how to harness nature chakra. That statement though is a bit contradictory in itself." Shiri said. "Think about it, nature and its chakra."

"Okay." I nodded.

"See you around, Iruna-chan." Shiri said waving at me. "Don't hesitate to approach us if you need any wisdom on love or anything. We are members of your flock we'll help as much as we can."

"Thank you." I said bowing to them.

"Bye, Iruna-chan. Go to the cliffs, you might find your answers there." Kaori said over her shoulder following after Shiri and holding his hand.

It was strange advice from Kaori, but it was still advice. I wouldn't lose anything from going there.

AN: Sorry for not updating this in a while. I got busy with my other fic and that fic nabbed me good. Ideas just kept coming, but there was a nagging in the back of my head the ideas I had for this fic.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and for those that patiently waited for this update. Tell me your thoughts and how different it is with the previous ones. I really want your feedback, sometimes I need your help via your reviews. Anyway, until the next! I hope I can balance my job while writing this. ^^, A big THANKS TO ALL OF YOU MY DEAR READERS!