"How long do you think you can hold out like this?" Manciple's voice murmured, flowing like cold syrup through Tomoki's drugged mind.

Leave me alone, Tomoki thought back angrily, feeling nothing, sensing nothing. The trauma of Empress Desdemona's attack upon him, her wires biting through his flesh, roared like blazing comets through his consciousness. That and why he hadn't seen before that she was completely insane?

"Brother, please –."

I told you, don't call me that! the boy snarled bitterly. If I was anything like a brother to you, you'd help me; you'd get me out of this!

"But I only want to unite with you…and the others, returned the ghost's disembodied explanation which was labored with emotion. All together we'll be complete. As one, we'll be powerful."

Just go away, Tomoki grumbled to the darkness.

His unwelcome spectral companion said nothing for a time – long enough for the ninja to start to believe that maybe he had, but then: "I have to say, I'm simply amazed at your willpower," the guei fawned softly, but his admiration seemed sincere, "the way you've slowed your breath and heartbeat. But you can't stop this." The voice waited for a reply and somehow seemed miffed at not receiving one. "Just accept it, please brother, your delay will only cause you greater pain. The Shan Empress has marked you with her seals and…and, I do so hate to be the one to tell you this…has buried you, so there really is no escape. Again the spirit paused and again was rewarded only with silence. "What are you waiting for anyway, a miracle? Don't you see that your fate is inevitable? What, do you think your yellow-haired friend will save you?"

Maybe, the genin stated curtly.

The guei's voice fell quiet for a moment then returned along a different tack. "Haven't you forgotten something? it said. Your parents, your family, the village where you grew up, did they not all die in the bone fire of another's depravity? Who came to your aid, anyone? Mankind is indifferent to suffering and must answer for it. Don't you see that?"

So what are we supposed to do, the genin wondered, destroy the world like Desdemona wants?

"It won't be quite as dramatic as all that," the ghost clarified, though not by much. "We won't have the power to destroy humanity and we won't need it. Once our essences mingle and are released into the world, we will embolden the foremost aspects of men's character. Tyrants, sycophants and zealots will ascend and turn the rest upon one another. We don't have to destroy humanity, you see, we will only help it destroy itself."

Tomoki put aside his revulsion for the spirit's callus explanation and attempt to manipulate him. For someone who wants to be my brother so bad, you know nothing about me, he assessed. I did lose everything and I am an orphan, but I will never hold my pain over anyone else's. My life is dear to me, but I cannot put its value over another's.

Manciple cried out, stung by the boy's remarks. "You're insufferable! Life has taught you nothing!"

Huh, the genin responded disparagingly, what a funny thing for you to say. When people die they give up what they had in life. The wealthy give up their treasures, kings give up their kingdoms and lovers give up their loves, but not you. I refuse to be judged by a spirit who's taken its shackles with it into the afterlife. That's why I could cut through them, right? Silence ensued, whereupon Tomoki reiterated: well?! Realization set in. Oh! Wait a minute; is that your little secret? Do all you guei have such attachments that anchor you to the living world? His thoughts roiled with laughter, an odd sensation, not being able to express it physically. I came close to the truth when I cut through your collar, didn't I?

Manciple, if he was still there, refused to reply. What? taunted Tomoki, don't you want to talk anymore? Are you mad at me?

"I'm not mad, Tomoki, really," the guei answered at last, "because we'll all be together in the end. When next we meet, you won't refuse our company or our purpose. You won't be able to…but more importantly, you won't want to."

The boy fought fiercely to reign in his thoughts, for Maniciple's words really had made him afraid. Sounds fun, he managed to force a glib reply, I guess I'd better rest up.

"Yes, brother, rest – rest in peace."

Naruto Uzumaki walked along the clean, orderly streets of the Hidden Stone Village with his hands in his pockets. The sky was still overcast and gloomy. Everywhere he wandered, the shopkeepers, vendors and menials all glanced at him then looked away whenever he looked back.

A frown creased his face. This was worse than it had been back home, where some people at least had gotten used to him. Aw, what am I doing here anyway, the ninja lamented. This place sucks. I should be back training. That old pervert, Jaraiya's hard enough to find anyway. Who knows where he'll go if I'm away for too long.

The further on he went the more disoriented he felt. These avenues were too clean, too orderly, and there were none of the strange landmarks, distinctively-shaped buildings and polygonal plazas like they had in Konoha by which he could find his way. Only the oppressive walls of Castle Omphalos, which struck high over the rooftops, told him how far he had gone.

There's something really strange about this place, and the people too, he considered, then grumbled at his inability to put his finger on what it was. After awhile he balled his fists, thinking: Oh, no, I've been hanging out with Tomoki too much! Now I'm starting to think like him! I should've known he'd get me involved with something crazy.

But this was more than paranoia, or a sense of dislocation at being in an unfamiliar place. That would be understandable. Ever since he'd started out, he felt certain that there were eyes upon him, watching and waiting…

"Hi, Naruto!" a voice chirped, making the genin startle.

Naruto whirled toward Reona who stood there with a smile on her slightly cherubic face. "Hey, Reona," he replied in a forced cavalier tone, then remembered her partner and added sharply: "are you alone? That Fugo guy isn't around here, is he?"

Her brown eyes widened while her two braids swayed in the rising wind. "Huh?" she replied puzzled, then blurted with a laugh, "no!"

"Good," said the blond ninja, who frowned seriously then raised an eyebrow at her. "How did you find me anyway?"

The young stone-ninja's eyes widened. "Oh, I spotted you a mile away!" she explained cheerily. "Your orange really stands out." Her expression turned thoughtful. "It's kind of a weird color for a ninja to wear, isn't it?"

"Oh, er," stammered Naruto in his high, gravelly voice, "it's actually great camouflage as long as I keep my back to the sun."

The girl froze at his explanation. "I…wow, I didn't think of that," she confessed, at which Naruto smiled and scratched behind his head. Reona smiled demurely then looked around. "So…where's Tomoki?"

Naruto made a face and rolled his eyes. "Don't ask…he's off dreaming, meditating…something, I don't know." The genin's expression changed suddenly. "Hey!" he started to ask, "do you know where a hungry ninja can get some ramen around here?"

The girl's nose wrinkled as she looked at him confused. "Ramen?"

Naruto stared, appalled at this heresy. "Noodles?" he explained irritably.

"Oh!" she said and nodded. "Well, sure. Follow me!"

The leaf ninja surely didn't know how the kunoichi could tell one block from another, but after a short while she ushered him into a small restaurant, whose uninspired sign read plainly enough: 'Restaurant'. The place was immaculately clean, with its little tables and chairs arranged in perfect symmetry, and completely empty of inhabitants except for them. Following Reona's lead, Naruto sat down, though apprehensively.

The proprietor appeared after a few minutes: a matronly woman in a grey dress and perfectly-white apron. Her eyes rose with alarm at the sight of the leaf-ninja but then softened with an almost reverent look when Reona turned to her and smiled.

The two ordered their meals and the woman brought out cups and a pot of steaming tea while they waited.

"What was that all about?" Naruto asked the girl. "Are you related or something?"

"No," said Reona quietly. "She's just being nice because she knows I'm supposed to deploy soon."

"Deploy?" replied the boy thickly.

"Um-hmm," she reaffirmed, obviously discomfited by the subject, "with my class. I'm a genin now, and we're all headed to the frontier."

The ninja's face sank as he took in what that meant. Unlike the missions he'd undertaken as a genin, some fearful and dangerous like his journey to the Land of Waves but many more tedious and unremarkable, she was going to war. "Oh," he said sadly. "Do you know where you're going?"

Her brow narrowed slightly as she chewed at the corner of her lips. "My…my unit's been assigned to the River Lands." The way she said it told him that she had some idea of what that meant. The boy recalled the stuffed example of what she'd be up against from the Tsuchikage's hall, and the chunin Catullus' dire report about them.

For one of the few times in his life, Naruto tried to contain his reaction. He looked around tensely and wrung his hands. "Oh," he managed almost carelessly, swallowed, and took some of his tea but couldn't hide his concern. "Well," he tried again. "How long do you have to stay there?"

"How long?" the kunoichi repeated and looked back at him curiously. "Until it's over," she said as if it should be obvious, "until we win."

This was more than the boy could stand. "Until you win?!" he shouted and shot to his feet. "It's been over four-hundred years already!" As he stood over the shocked girl, his mind swam with the implications. Though his own lord Hokage had sent him and genin younger than him to face death, he could not imagine the old man sending generation after generation of his ninja off to a war that seemingly had no end. It came to him in that moment what it was that bothered him about this place – there was no abundance of young people like there was in the Hidden Leaf Village. The reason for that was clear, they had been sent to war.

Naruto's hands shook; his jaw was so tense it quivered. As he stood there, huffing for breath in his anger, he felt helpless. There was nothing he could do. He had no right to stop her. Even if he did, the war would rage on and on as it always had. "This will never happen," he vowed in a furious voice, "in the Hidden Leaf Village when I'm Hokage." The girl stared at him wide-eyed with alarm and mystification as he went on: "No matter what, I'll find another way!"

"Wh…when you're the Hokage?" she squeaked uncertainly.

The boy nodded seriously and returned to his seat. "Believe it."

Their food arrived just then, breaking what would have been an extremely awkward moment. Unfortunately, this place's idea of 'ramen' was thick, yellow noodles drowning in gravy. Naruto grimaced and almost groaned in disappointment, but he was ravenously hungry and so he ate anyway.

Once outside after the two had finished their meal, Reona looked up at Naruto and brushed a strand of stray hair from her pale face. "It was good seeing you again," she offered. "I wasn't sure I would after we left you at the Castle."

"Huh?" replied the leaf-genin absently, for he'd been completely absorbed in thought. "Yeah, you too Reona."

"Hey, um, Naruto," she started again abashedly. "Would you tell Tomoki I said 'hi'?"

Naruto smiled and his deep blue eyes narrowed into crinkles. "Sure I will," he said agreeably. "He'll feel bad about missing you, but that's what he gets for acting all weird and stuff."

She smiled back then asked, "What did the Tsuchikage want with him anyway? Uiko never did tell us."

"Oh, well, uh…I really can't say," he hedged. She knew nothing of her lord's demise, and telling her about that or of the monstrous guei would do nothing but upset her. "It's top-secret ninja stuff."

"Oh!" she said and blinked. "Well, ok, I understand."

"I should be getting back," offered Naruto with a frown as he looked up into the darkening palisades of clouds. "I told Tomoki I'd meet up with him after awhile."

"Yeah, I need to go too," the kunoichi explained. "To get ready…you know."

As they started to part ways, Naruto turned back to her. "Hey, Reona!" he called. "Be careful; I mean it!"

Reona looked at him and her expression melted at his concern. "Thanks Naruto," she offered. "I will."

Walking back they way he thought he'd come, Naruto felt increasingly uneasy. He'd never liked this place, and the more he found out about it the worse he was sure it was. The weather had been dreary all day, which didn't help his mood, and now it seemed as if a storm was rolling in. The wind had picked up, the air had grown cold and seemed heavy with moisture. The clouds which had been as a solid wall of grey since morning were thicker now and murky.

The genin quickened his pace, anxious to rendezvous with Tomoki before things really got bad.

"Hey," said a strong, mellow voice. "Look there, it's that leaf-ninja."

Naruto stopped and turned toward where a man stood, leaning casually against a wall with his arms folded. He was tall and sleek-looking but with a rugged nose and jaw. A majestic black mane flowed back over his headband which had upon it the crest of the Village Hidden among the Stones. A woman stood beside him, also wearing the uniform of a stone-ninja. She was attractive, fair-skinned and with ribbons of striking, silvery-blond hair.

Naruto, having been taken off-guard, gave them a blank look but then narrowed his eyes seriously. "Yeah," he began, lowering and toughening his voice. "What about it?"

"Not a thing," said the man, who sauntered up then looked down at him with a calm expression in his dark eyes. "I just wanted to say, as one ninja to another, that I heard about your fight with the guei. I'm impressed."

"Truly," added the woman in a cool, professional voice.

The genin was taken aback at this. "What, really?" he squeaked excitedly then huddled against a chilling gust of wind.

"Oh yeah," said the man, who gestured absently. "My name's Minoru. I'm a jonin of the Hidden Stone Village," he offered with an air of pride, then bowed.

"And I am Ai," said the woman who also bowed, then snickered at her companion, "a chunin, since we're throwing our ranks around. I heard about that fight too and I must say it sounds like it was quite the epic battle!"

Naruto looked away, self-effacingly. "Oh, well, I don't know about all that," he replied modestly.

"Come now, shinobi shouldn't be so shy!" insisted Ai, who raised an eyebrow toward her partner before returning her attention to the leaf-genin. "You fought that ghost, Manciple, and I heard nearly defeated him."

"Indeed," added Minoru flatly, "even surviving an encounter with him is proof of your worth."

Naruto nodded then grinned goofily at their praise.

"Hey," said Ai eagerly. "You haven't told us your name."

"Oh!" piped Naruto, alarmed and surprised at his oversight, then declared loudly: "My name is Naruto Uzumaki – number one ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village!"

The two stone-ninja looked at each other. "Ah," exclaimed the kunoichi. "We should have guessed that."

"Huh?" wondered Naruto. "What do you mean? Do you guys know me?"

"We know of you, certainly," answered Minoru coolly with a nod.

"Well, sure!" Ai agreed and winked at him. "We like to keep track of what's going on in the other Villages, you know, to see what the competition is up to. For instance, we know all about your mission to the Land of Waves, how your team took down the infamous Zabuza Momochi and how you personally took down his apprentice, Haku."

Naruto gasped then stared at them, eyes wide with shock. "You really know about that?!"

Ai put a hand over her mouth to contain her laughter. "Of course!" she chimed. "You didn't think you can keep a story like that secret, did you?"

"Well, I…"

"Tell us," the woman urged. "What rank have you achieved? You must be at least a chunin by now."

The question took the boy by surprise. "Uh, no," Naruto admitted, a little self-consciously. "I'm still a genin, but I'm close to chunin! Actually, I'm in the middle of the chunin exams right now!"

The jonin hummed thoughtfully, then opined, "You're sure to pass."

"As long as you train hard," Ai added and raised her forefinger knowingly.

"You better believe I train hard!" Naruto exclaimed, and his brow furrowed as he raised his fist for emphasis, "every single day like my life depends on it!"

"As you should," the stone-jonin affirmed, "because I'm sure that your opponent will be fierce."

"Um-hmm," grunted Naruto. "He's an arrogant, stuck-up little --," his rant gave way to a long trail of expletives, "named Neji Hyuuga."

Ai's face lit at the mention of the name. "Ah," she began, "a worthy opponent for you -- the prince of the Hyuuga clan. He won't be defeated easily."

The boy's sapphire eyes widened. "You know him too?"

"That should come as no surprise," ventured Minoru. "After all, his clan is renowned. It is said that no man can stand before the full force of their byakugan combined with their unique gentle-fist fighting method."

Naruto's mouth hung open at the jonin's analysis. The man had a point.

"Don't lose heart," offered Ai supportively. "I can see greatness within you and hidden powers anchored by an indomitable will."

"Come on," said the jonin who squeezed Naruto's shoulder reassuringly. "Train with us a little while. We'll give you some pointers. I think the experience will do you good."

Naruto looked up with hope shining in his eyes. "What, really? You guys want to train me? That'd be great!" he gushed, but then his glee faded and he frowned doubtfully.

"What is it?" asked Minoru.

The leaf-genin hesitated and his eyes searched uncertainly. "It's just that," he muttered as if to himself, "there was someplace I had to go…"

The two stone-shinobi exchanged glances. "I'm sure it can wait," suggested Ai. "After all, there's plenty of time."

Naruto looked up. Over the buildings and rooftops of the Hidden Stone Village, the dark clouds had receded, giving way to white and pale grey, with streaks of early-afternoon sunlight pouring through. "Oh!" he pealed. "I didn't think it was so early."

"Haha, you're still used to Konoha," the jonin pointed out. "We lie along a higher latitude here."

"Sure," Naruto agreed. His cheek twitched with one last lingering reservation, but that faded almost instantly. "I…sure!"

The two stone-ninjas conducted Naruto to a well-equipped training ground and put him through his paces: calisthenics for strength and balance, running laps around a daunting obstacle course for endurance and coordination, sparring to work his punches, kicks and combinations, then grappling to develop his ground-fighting skills. Minoru and Ai were vastly strong and lightning quick, and it was all Naruto could do just to keep up with them.

Lastly, they had him work on his jutsus – all of them, from simple substitution and transformations to his shadow-clone jutsu and his nascent summoning jutsu.

It seemed as if he'd been at it for a long time. He was as exhausted as he'd ever been, and felt unusually cold, but the sun was still high and bright in the sky when he checked.

"You can't be tired yet!?" prodded Ai, who frowned sternly and looked down at him with hands braced on her hips. "You can't quit until you've summoned a real frog at least, and not just the same old tadpole."

"Yeah, you're right," Naruto allowed, though his vision swam and his muscles ached unmercifully. Again he made his hand seals and pressed his fingers to the ground, but again only a tiny tadpole appeared. The boy collapsed to his knees at the effort it had cost him. He really was empty now. There was nothing left. "I…can't give up yet," he declared and slowly, agonizingly, pushed his way to his feet.

"Your endurance is truly amazing," observed Minoru appraisingly. "But you'll have to do much better than that if you hope to defeat Neji."

Naruto slouched and braced his quivering hands on his unsteady knees. His breath rattled in his chest and burned cold in his lungs. Why do I feel so weak?! he scolded himself. Sweat beaded on his forehead, ran down his whisker-marked cheeks and flowed over his yellow eyebrows in icy rivers. Why am I so cold?

"Just a little longer," Ai prevailed on him. "Then we'll take a break, ok?"

The genin looked up and gave her a ragged smile, then tried to gather his chakra again for another attempt at the summoning jutsu.

"Naruto?" a girl's familiar voice broke his concentration, and his head wobbled weakly on his neck as he turned to look.

Reona stood on the crest of a hill above them, bathed in sunlight, and looked down at him worriedly. "Are you ok?"

"Sure, Reona," he replied keenly, though his weariness came through in his voice. "Just…getting in some training."

Minoru stepped toward her and drew himself up. "This is a serious exercise, genin!" he spat then gestured back at Naruto. "He needs to concentrate at all times!"

The boy's eyes drifted up towards the jonin. "Hey, you!" he protested. "She's my friend. She can talk to me if she wants."

"Naruto," cautioned Ai. "You can talk anytime. It's your training that's important. The more practice you get in, the better your chances against Neji. You don't want him to beat you, do you?"

"No," the boy growled raggedly. "I can't let that happen…I swore…and after…after what he did to Hinata…"

"Okay then," the stone-chunin insisted, "back to it."

"Naruto," asked Reona again in a trembling, hesitant voice as she clambered down the hillside toward him. "Who are these people?"

"Huh?"

"We are elite ninjas, girl; how dare you interrupt?!" Minoru scolded. "You must leave at once!"

"Wait!" cried Naruto who staggered past them and planted himself between them and her. Panting for breath, he turned toward Reona and almost fell on her but reached out and managed to brace himself on her shoulders.

"Naruto," she whispered fearfully and cast a furtive glance past him. "I don't know these ninja you're with. I've never seen them before in my life!"

Naruto looked at her with dazed eyes. "Reona," he suggested, "you…you can't know every ninja in the Hidden Stone Village, right?"

"No," she admitted, "but I think I'd remember them." Her quiet voice dipped even lower as she grasped the leaf-genin's enfeebled arms, then gently took his chilled, slack face between her small, warm palms. "Naruto, please," she pleaded. "I think this is a genjutsu."

The yellow-haired boy's eyes widened. Swallowing hard, he pushed Reona's hands away and turned toward his trainers. Their outlines shimmered now like mirages, their features blurred into diaphanous nebulae except for the branded characters on their cheeks which were plain as day. As he gasped with the sudden realization, the sun fled what had been a brilliant, clear sky and was replaced by dark and turbulent clouds that swirled and boiled with aberrant energies.

What lay around Naruto was not a tidy training ground but the ruins of a burnt-out building. His orange jacket and pants were smeared with charcoal black and caked with soot. His hands were raw and splintered.

"We are found out, brother," observed the woman, who appeared older now and dressed in a gown of antiquated style. "Though your plan was extremely clever," she opined then studied her expression in a hand mirror she upheld in a dainty wrist.

"So it appears," said Manciple, whose chains jangled almost musically from the shackles at his wrists and ankles.

"Shall we destroy them now?" his companion proposed.

Manciple shook his head slowly. "No need, Sister Sycophant. Our diversion served its purpose, and that is enough. We need to save our energy." He smiled his gap-toothed smile. "Do you see how easily it will be to destroy humanity? It won't take some great plague or a comet from the heavens. All it needs is a push here and pull there to unbalance it. See how easily this boy fell to flattery and his own, dare I say it, slavish devotion to his training. With just a little push, a practice that's good and healthful becomes as deadly poison."

"Hey!" shouted Naruto at the ghostly pair, enraged at their deception. "You haven't won yet! And you won't!"

"Won't we?" Manciple snarled confidently, then held his translucent arms open. "What's to stop us? Is it you, yellow-hair – so tired and weak from pursuit of your own obsessions that you can barely stand?" He swiveled toward Reona who gaped at him in fright. "Is it your knowing and all-powerful Tsuchikage, little girl? He'd dead, did you know? I killed him." Manciple paused to laugh at something before he continued: "I think it's fair to say it won't be your Empress Desdemona. Who do you think it was that summoned us in the first place?!"

Both spirits looked up toward Castle Omphalos, its high walls and gushing waterfalls, as if summoned by some distant, unheard cry.

"Come, Brother Manciple," urged Sycophant gently. "We've lingered long enough."

"Of course," the ghost agreed, then winked at Naruto and Reona. "We shall take our leave of you. We're going to meet your friend, Tomoki, like you forgot to do because you were too busy and couldn't be bothered! He's just crossed over -- our precious eighth soul. Unlike you, I wouldn't miss him for the world, because…he's one of us now!"

Naruto cried out his anguish as the two guei vanished, evanescing like smoke upon the wind. He whirled around and stormed toward Reona who cringed before the madness in his blazing, blue eyes and soot-smeared face. "Reona!" the leaf-ninja barked as he seized her by the collar. "You've got to take me to Plaza Lithica…right now!"

The girl looked back at him in shock. "On the Castle grounds?" she blurted. "I…I can't. I'm not allowed there!"

The boy hung his head tiredly then took a gasping breath. "Please, Reona, you have to. Tomoki's there and those monsters are after him. Didn't you hear?"

A hard look came over her face as she thought for a moment, grunted her assent, then began to make her hand signs. "Ninja art: Ghost Walk Jutsu," she said, as Naruto drew behind her and both vanished into a tunnel of swirling lights.

With Reona following close behind, Naruto found his way back to the spot at Plaza Lithica where he'd left Tomoki. A harsh wind raced over the manicured lawns and immaculate flower beds, and tore though the tree boughs. Of the other leaf-ninja, there was no sign.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and looked around sharply. "Tomoki!" he called out against the fading light which made it hard to see. "Hey, Tomoki!"

"Are you sure this is where you left him?" asked Reona louder than usual to be heard over the wind and threatening rumbles of thunder. "This is a really big place."

"Of course I'm sure," barked Naruto testily.

The two spread out and looked around then up as the clouds began to flash with lightning. "Ahhrr!" growled Naruto who raised his hands then let them fall to his sides in frustration. "Where is he?!"

"Um, well, did he say anything?" said Reona, trying to be helpful. "Anywhere else he was going to go?"

"No, he said he was going to be right here!" Naruto paced furiously, casting his gaze in all directions.

"I, uh, well, there is something I could try," said Reona, "if you promise not to get mad if it doesn't work."

Naruto drew up to her expectantly, then realized she was serious. "Oh, ok," he said and tried to reign in his frustration. "I promise I won't get mad. What 'cha got?"

The girl reached into the big pocket inside her vest and pulled out two wires that were bent into 'L's. She grinned awkwardly as she took them in hand and held them in loose fists by the short legs so that the long legs stuck straight out in front of her, parallel to the ground and each other.

"Uh, ok," ventured Naruto. "How's this supposed to help us find Tomoki?"

"They're called dowsing rods," Reona explained. "You're supposed to be able to use your chakra and sensitivity to locate anything you want to, but I'm not very good." She looked down at the two wires, concentrated, and took a step. The wires crossed immediately, pulling toward each other to form an 'X'. She looked up in alarm. "Sorry, Naruto," she said hurriedly. "Let me try again." Once more, she set up the two wires parallel in her loose grip and took a step. Again the wires crossed.

"So…that means it's not working?" guessed Naruto.

The young kunoichi looked at him, near to despair. "I guess not. They're telling me he's right here."

Naruto looked around again, down at the grass and then at the bare flower bed. "Well," he began grimly, "he's pretty good at ninjutsu, but I don't think he's that good."

"I'm sorry, Naruto, I never was very good at any of this --," Reona began, then cried out sharply as she tripped and pin-wheeled face-first into the grass.

Naruto jumped to help her up. "Reona," he said, "are you ok?"

The girl spit out and brushed off grass clippings from her face, then both looked down at her foot which had caught on something. Naruto drew a kunai knife and lifted the nearly-invisible wire from the top of her boot. "A tripwire?" he guessed, and the two looked around.

"If it was a trap, I sure set it off," said Reona. "Hey, that thing cut almost all the way through my boot!"

The boy frowned. "That sure is weird," he said as he raised his knife up and canted his head to see where it lead. He rose, letting the filament glide over the blade and followed it to where it ended, tied firmly around the branch of a tree. "Hmm, ok," he muttered to himself then traced the wire back the other way, past where Reona had discovered it, to where it vanished into the uncovered ground of the fallow flower bed.

The young genin raised an eyebrow at the incongruity, then wet his lips just as the rain started to fall. Droplets spattered one after the other on his grimy orange jacket and over his face as his curious expression slowly faded and he looked down at where the wire disappeared with mounting trepidation.

He and Reona shared a glance, then threw themselves at the ground together and began to dig, bare-handed, throwing clots of earth behind them as they went. "Wait," growled Naruto, "get back!" The genin gathered his breath and the last reserves of his chakra, made hand seals then shouted: "Shadow-Clone Jutsu!"

Five more Narutos appeared beside him and all set at once to digging just as the drops of rain surged into a downpour. The bare ground softened into squishy mud as the excavation deepened and the gang of leaf-ninjas dug with even greater fervor. One of the Narutos shoveled aside yet another handful of the muck then froze, at which everyone paused to see what he'd uncovered: the edge of a boot sole.

High above, lightning flashed amidst the darkening sky, and the water began to come down in waves that rippled like beaded curtains. Naruto and his shadow clones cleared the mud away and at last pulled Tomoki's body from the reluctant ground. His clothes and skin were cut to shreds, and every inch of him stained from his interment underground. Most horrifyingly of all were his hands, on which every finger was broken and twisted at an unnatural angle.

Naruto gaped blankly at the sight and slumped to his knees as his shadow-clones vanished into puffs of dispersed chakra.

Reona rushed to Tomoki's side, checked for breath and pulse as she'd been trained to, but soon ceased her frantic attempts to administer aid. "Oh, no…Tomoki," she whispered in horror then looked at Naruto with tears in her eyes.

The boy huddled numbly over his knees, while cascades of rain matted his hair, coursed down his face and over his already saturated clothing. "I'm going to kill her for this," he intoned in a haunting voice.

"Naruto…," pleaded Reona softly, though for what she didn't know.

With a strange slowness, Naruto raised his head then looked at her with unblinking eyes. "I'm going to kill her," he hissed intensely, "for this."

"Please," she said as the boy came to a crouch then pushed himself up to his feet, "don't."

Naruto looked through her then turned his head just as another flash of lightning lit the sky. When it faded, all was completely dark except for a pattern of stranger lights and the glow of a single lantern that came from the circle of standing-stones that waited at the center of the Plaza.

Reona rose and went toward the leaf-ninja, her muddy boots slippery on the wet grass, and put her hand on his shoulder. Naruto's head snapped toward her and she froze then stumbled back from the look in his eyes, which glowed red and feral. The boy bent his knees then sprang away, leaping over the rain-swept distance.

Reona stood there in the rain and watched Naruto vanish into the darkness. Expressing a sigh and still shaking with tears, she turned and collided into something soggy and cold that made her recoil, slip and stumble to the ground. A shriek escaped her before she looked up and saw that it was Tomoki who stood there with eyes closed, and a grizzly, fresh brand on his cheek – a character that read, 'Orphan'.

"T…Tomoki?" she ventured fearfully at his expressionless face. "But how?"

The boy turned his head toward her though his eyes remained shut. "Hello, Reona," he greeted impassively. "I need your help."

The girl looked over what she could make out of him though the darkness and rain. "Tomoki," she squeaked uncertainly. "How c-c-come your clothes are clean, and how come you're not cut anymore?"

For a moment it seemed as if the apparition hadn't heard her, but then he paced purposefully toward her and lowered himself to his knees. "My swords," he said, then, with unnatural slowness, raised his twisted, mangled hands, the sight of which made the girl quiver, shut her eyes and turn away. "Listen to me, Reona," instructed Tomoki unemotionally. "I need you to bandage my swords into my hands. Please, do it now."

It seemed to take forever for her to fathom what he wanted, but after awhile she reached into one of her pockets and produced a bandage roll then reached toward where Tomoki knelt and drew his swords. Taking his arm under hers, she pried open his broken, swollen fingers and rested the hilt in his clammy, icy-cold palm. As she bent the fingers back over the weapon and began to tape, she looked over her shoulder perhaps expecting him to complain but he said nothing except: "as tightly as you can, Reona, but leave the wrists free to bend."

The process took awhile but when she'd finished, Tomoki rose to his feet and stood there motionlessly, chin in chest. His hands were no longer hands, but white-wrapped knobs that affixed his swords to his crippled grasp. A flash of lightning reflected from his steel made them blaze for a moment like a bright 'X'. "Thank you, Reona," he said. "That's good."

The girl quaked and swallowed hard against her dread. What she didn't want to do was look past him; to look toward the excavation. Because if she saw that Tomoki's still, lifeless form still rested there upon the muddy lip of the hole she and Naruto had dug, it might be too much for her. "What now?" she managed to ask.

"What now?" Tomoki repeated curiously. "I don't know, Reona, but you should go…very far from here. Whatever happens next is not something you want to be around for."

As the leaf-ninja turned his unseeing face toward the distant circle of standing stones, Reona splashed over the drenched grass after him. "Tomoki!" she called plaintively.

The boy stopped dead, turned toward her and opened his eyes which glowed and crackled with unworldly luminance.