Chapter 1: Departure

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! I wish I did tho, it's a great series. XD

Nanami was already waiting for them when they got there. She had changed into clothing more suitable to the warm climate, though she still looked uncomfortable in the heat. The outfit was fairly simple, consisting of loose light colored pants and a darker shirt covering a protective chain mesh. She also had strange metal gauntlets and her headband emblazoned with the confusing symbol of her village. She glanced up from her spot in the shade under a large tree and waved when she noticed them.

"Hey guys! I see you're coming after all! No second thoughts then?"

"No, no second thoughts here, believe it!"

"We're not going to let a little snow keep us from a mission." Sakura agreed.

Nanami smiled. "Well, I just hope that you brought a lot of warm clothes, because it's really cold; and your outfit in particular just won't work, Sakura-chan."

"Hey, what's wrong with my outfit?!" Sakura demanded, because she was wearing her usual red dress and shorts; not generally something that anyone would consider inappropriate.

"Nothing, except that you'd freeze to death in about 2 minutes flat, and that's if you're lucky…" Nanami replied hastily.

"Oh, ok then." Sakura answered, smiling as though nothing had happened.

As Sakura and Naruto headed through the gate, Nanami turned to Neji.
"Are they always like that?"

"I'm afraid so," he answered, looking a little put-off himself.

"Hoo-boy, this is going to be a looong trip, I can just tell…."

The walk to the harbor, though it took a few days, was without incident, aside from the near-constant squabbling between Naruto and Sakura.

"What is the name of your village, Nanami-san?" Neji asked.

"Eh? Oh, it's Kumorigakure, the Village Hidden in the Shadows."

"I've never heard of it." Up ahead, Naruto and Sakura were arguing yet again, seemingly over whether or not Naruto was really cut out to be Hokage.

"Well, we're a pretty small village, and we mostly keep to ourselves. A lot of the Shinobi nations around us think we're too small to make good allies, and for the most part, they just ignore us. We're not officially at war with anyone right now, but on the other hand, all of the villages who could potentially be our allies are separated from us by those who aren't. So for the most part, we just work on avoiding drawing too much attention to ourselves."

"So you don't have a Kage then?"

"No. Like I said, our nation is too small to be counted with the other Great Shinobi Nations. Our villages are just ruled by Daimyo, the Feudal Lords. Actually, my father is the current Daimyo of our village."

"So you're next in line to be Kage then, right?" Naruto asked his argument with Sakura finally over.

"Not 'Kage'," Nanami said patiently, "Daimyo. It's not quite as high a position as Kage. Besides, I think I'm going to let my little brother take that role. I'm not much for desk jobs… I hate paperwork." She smiled.

"Hey, Nanami-neechan, what's your village like anyway?" He asked.

"Nami."

"Huh?"

"Call me Nami. Everyone else does, so it sounds a little weird to be called 'Nanami'."

"Okay, Nami-neechan, what's your village like?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"Hmmm… well, most of the year my village is covered in snow and ice, and is very cold. And also, it's actually dark for a couple of months straight in the winter."

"What? No way! The sun just doesn't disappear!" Sakura said.

"Well, our village is so far north that during certain times of the year, the angle of the Earth is away from the sun, and so our night lasts for about 3 months. Other times of the year, it never fully sets."

"Yeah right, only idiots are gonna believe that!" Naruto boasted.

Nami just glowered at him. "It's the truth, Naruto. It isn't the right time of year to prove it right now, but I'm telling you the truth. That's how our clan invented our special Jutsu."

"It must be strange living in a place like that." Sakura mused.

"No, not really. Actually, this place is what is strange to me, what with all the sunlight, and the HEAT…" She made a face.

"Wimp!"

"What was that, Naruto?" She asked dangerously, but before she could do or say anything further, Sakura punched him in the back of the head.

"Naruto, is it possible for you to be a bigger idiot?!"

"Hmph. You just wait until we get to my country, then we'll see who the wimp is." She told him, smirking.

The ship was really quite large, with a reinforced hull to deal with ice in the sea. The masterful craftsmanship and crisp white sails made it a sight to behold, and the group admired it quietly, all of them except one, that is. Name was looking at the massive ship like she'd rather be somewhere, anywhere else.

"Is something wrong, Nami-san?" Neji asked. She jumped a little.
"Eh? Oh, no, nothing at all! They're leaving any minute, so let's get on board, shall we?" Nami said with exaggerated cheer; racing up the gangplank leaving the others staring after her in disbelief.

"Wow… and I thought you were weird, Naruto." Sakura commented.

The voyage itself was without incident, except for the fact that their client had disappeared almost immediately after getting on the ship. None of the crew or other passengers (of which there were few) had seen her either.

"Where did she go?!" Sakura demanded angrily. "She's supposed to be filling us in about the mission!"

"It is a problem." Neji agreed.

"Hey, can't you just use Byakugan to find her?" Naruto suggested.

Neji blinked. "Yes, I suppose so. I hadn't done so sooner because I was expecting her to show up, but I guess I don't have a choice now." He focused his chakra and activated his Byakugan, shifting his focus so that he could see through the walls of the ship. After a few moments he relaxed his focus.

"I've found her, she's in her room. Follow me."

"'Bout time." Naruto grumped.

The trio reached the cabin door just in time for it to come flying open and send Naruto crashing flat into the wall behind it.

"Outta my way, I'm gonna be sick!" yelled a streak of dark red hair and white blankets. They turned just in time to see what could only be Nami go racing up the stairs to the deck and out of sight, leaving Neji and Sakura in her dust.

"…………"

"Well… I guess we know why she disappeared now."

Sakura found her sitting on the deck with her arms draped through the railing, staring out at the horizon, a miserable look on her face. She didn't look up when Sakura came over to join her, but she did at least offer up a sort of apology.

"I HATE sea-travel. It always makes me feel like my stomach is turning itself inside out…"

"Why didn't you say anything? We were worried about you." Sakura said, setting down a small bag and a bottle of water.

"I had a feeling that Naruto wouldn't let me live it down if he found out I get seasick." She finally looked at her with a wry sort of smile. "Big tough Chunin from a secret Hidden Village, VIP client to Konoha brought to her knees by a few waves…"

"Don't worry about it. Naruto may be a little insensitive, but he's actually not all that bad. He might have made fun of you, but I think it would have just been because he was worried."

"….. Ah. Sorry about that. I know you are all waiting for me to tell you more about this mission, but unfortunately, when it comes to sea-travel; I'm not cut out for it; no matter how hard I try to get over it." She looked out over the sea as the first few ice-chunks drifted by. "Well, the one good thing that's come out of all of this is that this is happening during about the best possible time of the year."

"How is that?"
"Well, it's mid-summer, so most of the ice on the sea has melted, and so we're able to make good time. During the winter this area is completely impassable. Even small chunks of ice can wreak havoc on even the thickest-hulled ships."

"I had no idea ice could be so dangerous." Sakura said, looking down at the small chunks. "Those don't look all that bad to me."

"Those are bigger than you think. Ice is heavy, so most of it is underwater. What you're seeing is probably only about 20 of the whole."

"What?! No way!" Sakura looked more than a little worried at that prospect.

"Well, maybe not right now, but later in the year, you'd better believe it. Only ships that have been specially reinforced will even attempt to make the crossing, and even those have been known to either get stuck, or have their hulls crushed like a pop-can between the ice floes." The ship hit a dip in the waves and Nami groaned.

"Oh! That reminds me!" Sakura said brightly, and Nami gave the cheerful Genin a somewhat exasperated look. "I have something here that'll help your sea-sickness!" She rummaged around in her pack and came out with a bottle of plain-looking pills.

"What are those?"

"Ginger tablets. Tsunade-sama gave them to me before we left. She said they'd be a big help, and she's the most skilled Medic-nin in the Land of Fire, so she should know!" She handed the bottle to Nami, who eyed the little tablets a little skeptically.

"Pills like this don't usually work for me, so I don't see how these will help…"

"Just take them!" Sakura said forcefully, and Nami's eyes widened.

"Okay, okay, no need to get your shirt in a bunch…" She tipped a couple of the tablets into her mouth and chased them down with the water Sakura provided.

"There, you'll be good as new in no time!" Sakura said. "So we'll see you in the galley later, and you can fill us in on the rest of the mission details!"

Nami enviously watched her take off back down into the bowels of the ship, wishing that she didn't have to contend with such a rebellious stomach, and hoping that she was right about the ginger tablets.

A couple of hours before they made port Nami, looking much better than she had before Sakura's prescription, came and joined them in the galley.

"Hey, are you okay, Nami-neechan?" Naruto asked when she joined them at their table.

"Yes, thanks to Sakura's help." She smiled. "Sorry if I worried you guys. I was hoping that I'd get over this whole sea-sickness thing, but…"

"It's all right, we understand." Neji said. "We were just hoping that you could tell us more about what you saw in Tawamure."

"Ah… right. Well, it was strange, because when I got there, it was almost like nothing was wrong, the city was still open to customers, and there were a lot more people there than there should have been. I had arrived in Tawamure expecting to find the city empty of all but a few officials to fill me in on the situation, but instead, they kept the business open, even though there was a danger to the civilians!"

"I see, that is strange." Neji agreed thoughtfully.

"Why is that strange?" Naruto asked. "It's supposed to be a public place right?"
"So it would seem, but if there's a danger to the civilians, then any sensible business owner would close their establishment until the problem could be fixed, even if it meant a loss of revenue for a while."

"Yes, because if people kept getting hurt in their establishment, it could lead to lawsuits, and even their business being permanently shut down." Nami agreed.

"So..."

"'So' some of the people in charge of Tawamure may in fact be behind the disappearances; or at the very least, in league with those who are. But that would suggest that whatever is causing this odd behavior and the disappearances must somehow be more profitable than keeping the business open in the first place." Neji concluded.

"But how could that be?" Sakura mused. "It sounds like a huge resort like Tawamure would be really profitable, so what could possibly be a better business venture than keeping something like that open?"

Nami propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands thoughtfully. "I don't know. While I was investigating, I was attacked by one of the resort's patrons. For some reason, he acted as though he didn't know he was a human being, he acted more like a wild animal, and was several times stronger than he should have been. After some effort, I managed to capture him and bring him back to my village to be examined, but with our limited facilities, we couldn't figure out what was wrong; and that's why I came to ask Konoha for help. I had heard of Tsunade-sama's abilities and hoped that she would be able to examine the man, but on the way here I found out that she had been named Hokage for the Hidden Leaf Village, so that plan was lost."

"So… how are we going to find out what's wrong with this guy then?" Naruto asked, frowning.

"Tsunade-sama assured me that Sakura-chan was up to that task, and seeing as she is Tsunade-sama's student, I'm confident that she'll be able to help. Also, she said that it's possible the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan may be able to shed some light into the situation as well." At this, she looked to Neji for confirmation.

"It's true that the Byakugan can see into the human body, but it cannot necessarily diagnose what's wrong with a person." He said carefully.

"Maybe not, but that's where Sakura-chan comes in. If you can pinpoint a possible problem, she may be able to narrow down the possibilities, and find a potential solution to the problem."

"So what am I, chopped liver?" Naruto grumped.

"No, I'm told that you have a number of Jutsu at your disposal that should be useful in this situation. If this problem keeps escalating, it's very likely that we could end up with a serious fight on our hands. I'm told that your abilities are good for evening odds when it comes to unfair fights." Nami said reassuringly.

Naruto jumped up and struck a heroic pose. "Hah! That's right, no one can beat my Shadow Clone Jutsu, believe it!" Both Sakura and Neji looked a little embarrassed and exasperated at Naruto's declaration, but Nami just nodded.

"Well, let's hope so. According to the captain, we should reach the port in an hour or so. From there, we'll proceed to my village, and Sakura-chan can examine my captive." She paused, and gave their outfits an once-over. "You may want to change into your warmer clothes. It feels warmer than it really is because we're inside, but once we reach land, you're going to want an extra layer between you and the cold, so I recommend that you change before we arrive." She said, smiling.

They arrived just after dawn in the cape town of Kaikou without further incident, for which Nami was grateful. It was bad enough having to deal with sea-sickness and uncooperative clients without having to worry about anything else. There were quite a few people bustling about, offloading supplies from their transport ship and loading them onto carts drawn by what appeared to be shaggy, oversized cows. The buildings were all very sturdy, with thick glass and no visible cracks, well-made to handle the tough weather the region frequently had to deal with. The air was frigid, and the wind coming in off of the sea only served to make it worse. Even in their warmer clothing, the Konoha trio was feeling the cold. Nami on the other hand, was looking far spunkier than they had seen her yet, and she hadn't bothered to change at all on the ship. She was still relying only on light pants and a long-sleeved embroidered shirt she'd been wearing earlier, and seemed quite unaffected by the cold air. She took a deep breath and turned to them with a grin.

"Well, what do you think? It's pretty warm today, and the sky is so clear… look, you can see the mountains really well today!" She said, pointing not too far to the north. "That's where my village is, and Tawamure is just a day's travel from there!"

"'Warm'? Is she crazy?!" Sakura asked Neji and Naruto in disbelief.
"She has to be, cause it's FREEZING here!" Naruto turned to Nami and demanded an explanation. "What do you mean, 'warm'?! It has to be about 20 degrees out!"

"Eh? No… it's actually about… 60 degrees right now, which is nice, because that means that we won't need as much of the heavy winter gear for the trip!" She said, smiling brightly.

"Well, you might not need it, but what do you expect us to do?! We're going to freeze out here for sure, believe it!" Nami sighed, and clapped a hand over her face. "That's why I told you to pack and wear really warm clothes, Naruto. You might be cold right now, but it'll get better as we get further inland. Then we won't have to contend with the cold wind from the sea!" She said, pointing out over the water.

"O-oh."

"In any case, we should finish unloading the supplies and find some lodging before it gets dark." Neji said. "Nami-san, will we be traveling by foot?"

"No, we're catching a ride with the supply convoy. That way, we get to my village quickly, and I can help protect the convoy as well. Two birds with one stone!"

"Protect the convoy? Are we expecting an attack?" Sakura said, sharing worried looks with Naruto and Neji.

"Hmm no, at least, not from any rival Shinobi. The route we're taking is a well-used supply route, and sometimes bandits will get desperate enough to attack the convoys. They're all just low-level thugs, but they can be a handful if there are enough of them. Don't worry though; I'm not expecting you to help protect the convoy."

"Hey, we can handle a few bandits, believe it!" Naruto said.

"I know that, but that's not why we hired you. You're just supposed to help me solve the problem at Tawamure, not take on lowly guard duty. In any case," She continued while they helped to load the last of the heavy cargo onto the wagons, "I can more than handle a few bandits on my own. You're not the only one who is capable of the Shadow Clone Jutsu, Naruto." She said with a smile.

"Wait, how come you know that?"

"Because they're used to fighting with shadows, Naruto! Uh… right, Nami-san?" Sakura said, turning to the older girl for confirmation.

"Yes, that's right. A lot of our techniques were borne from spending so much time in the dark." Neji frowned slightly. "Are you related to the Nara Clan?"

"The Nara clan? Well, I'd have to ask my father, but… yes, I think so, at least distantly. I don't think we're directly related to any of them, but I think that some of their Jutsu may have originated in our village, although I myself can't use any of the Shadow Possessing Techniques I've heard of." She threw the last of the boxes onto the wagon and dusted her hands. "Anyway, enough with the chit-chat, let's get going!"

"Okay!"

As it turned out, they did have to deal with one ambush by a group of bandits, but they were just as easy to deal with as Nami had said; and they arrived at Kumorigakure's main gate just as night fell.

"Wow! This place is pretty big, for being a small country." Sakura observed.

"Yes, well Kumorigakure is more or less the Capitol of the Land of Shadows, right after Tawamure. It used to be the other way around until Tawamure really took off though." Nami said quietly.

"Hey, are you okay, Nami-neechan?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, it's just a little annoying to have your home-town outclassed by a tourist attraction, that's all."

"Well, at least it's warmer here." Neji said, thankful for the change.

"True, and we have enough time for me to at least have a look at the man you captured, Nami-san." Sakura added.

"Right." Nami turned to one of the guards minding the gate. "Please let my father know that we've arrived, and let the hospital know that we're on our way to look at the man I captured."

"Understood!" The man saluted and took off.

"Well, we might as well go to the hospital first. My father will most likely be busy with the merchants for a while yet, so we have a little bit of extra time before we meet him."

They followed her through the city, taking in the sights. Everyone was dressed more or less in similar fashion to Nami, not at all bothered by the cool air. The trees that were scattered about the city were very different from those in Konoha, where they were used to seeing broad leaves and flowers there were sharp, sturdy needles and pinecones larger than the average person's fist. What little other vegetation there was were bushes and shrubs, with short, thick leaves that didn't look like they were particularly soft. In contrast, though the buildings were fairly colorful, and featured numerous paintings of animals and sea-life.

Not long into their walk, a large building bearing the universal symbol of a hospital came into view, and Nami headed straight for it. Before they had even reached the stairs leading to the doors however, the guard who had preceded them came running out, and dropped to one knee in front of Nami.

"Nanami-sama, forgive me, but I'm afraid there's bad news!"

"What is it?" She asked, immediately alert.

"The man you captured has disappeared!"