A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Elder Scrolls Skyrim, or any of its characters

She can tell he's new right away. Not from Windhelm, certainly not from Skyrim. The cold wears him, she can see it under his skin and behind his sapphire eyes. The inn creaks with the frozen air that sweeps in behind the man's entrance, and abruptly stills when he finally shuts the massive door. She watches him stumble between tables to the bar, stiff like wood. Then a smile when he greets Elda, the innkeeper, bringing life to the puppet. She can almost bask in its warmth, finds herself leaning towards him like the leaves in spring. The helmet comes off, and out pops a head of gold coins twinkling in the candlelight. His colorings are an elaborate Nord camouflage, but any native worth their stuff can see underneath the underneath. No, definitely not from Skyrim. Somewhere warm based on his tan skin. Somewhere far, far away.

Sakura returns her gaze to her drink, feeling oddly bonded to the stranger. Her own rose hair marks her too, there is no trust of outsiders in Windhelm. The Nords are nervous, at times superstitious. War is calling on the wind and they are wolves caught on the scent, the drums in their veins beginning to beat. She wishes she was born with the bloodlust that consumes the natives here, but she's always been a student. Books and spells are her guide. A week ago she decided to flee to High Rock, before the Nord superstition turned into an all-out witch hunt. She looked enough like an elf, being Breton, and used magic to boot. She wasn't going to take the risk.

The chair in front of her shot out from under the table, screeching against the floor. She nearly gags on her mead at the intrusion, emerald eyes shooting up to meet depthless, ocean blue.

"Hey, I'm Naruto." He sticks his hand out across the table, bumping into her empty food bowl. She limply grasps it, too in shock to object or attempt to quiet the boisterous man.

"Sakura."

"I can tell you can help me, Sakura," he continues, letting her hand go and grasping his chin. He furrows his brow like he's reading particularly tough literature and scrutinizes her.

"Help you?" she repeats dumbly, mead forgotten in her hand and lip beginning to curl.

"I have a way of sensing these things." He nods sharply, kicking his feet up on the table and leaning back on his chair.

She is flabbergasted, astounded at the creature that has suddenly waltzed into her life. When it becomes apparent that he has no intention of explaining himself, or what he even needs help with, Sakura feels the telltale tick in her brow begin to twitch. She places her drink between them with a crack and leans forward on her elbows.

"Is there anything at all you'd like to add?" she gives a smile, appealing as the permanent grin fixed on skulls. "Or are you just going to continue spewing nonsense?"

"Oh! Yeah I guess you're right…where to start," He pauses and exhales sharply, "I need help with just a couple things. The first is getting my bastard friend back from a bunch of murderers," His eyes sharpen at that, glinting like those of an animal, "Then I need to find the Greybeards…and who knows after that. I'm sort of picking things up as I go."

"You don't just find the Greybeards," Sakura scoffs, "They live on top of the Throat of the World, no one has heard from them in years. Why would you need to see them anyway?"

"Because they asked me to come."

Sakura stares vacantly at him, then rubs a hand across her forehead soothingly. "You're telling me a Greybeard came down from the mountain, and asked you to come see them?"

Naruto finally looks abashed at this, he shifts his gaze from her to the hearth.

"Not exactly. They sort of spoke to me, shouted more like it, from the sky." She sees him swallow slightly.

"From the sky?" Her brows furrow. Now that she thinks about it, she'd begun to hear rumors of some event in Whiterun. About the return of a being straight from the oldest myths in the realm. Sakura feels the pieces falling to place in her head, the puzzle of Naruto being to form a picture. The man sitting before her couldn't possibly be...

"I heard them." Naruto fixes her with a look so intense she almost blushes. "The world is in danger, Sakura, a danger that hasn't been seen in hundreds of years. Somehow I'm tied into it, somehow I'm supposed to help, but I can't do it alone. They told me so, they want me to see them."

"Why do you need me?" She breathes softly, "You don't even know me."

"Like I said, I have a way of telling things about people. And you're the one I want." His electric grin is back. Infectious, she thinks, dangerous. A fox who has caught his dinner.

She agrees before she can stop herself, cursing her sympathetic nature. If the kid turned out to be a crackpot, at least she had the chance to earn some more money before her journey. If he was right…then she may have just fallen into a legend.

"Dawnstar?" Sakura questions. Her boots crunch in the freshly fallen snow, and from what she can tell of the looming clouds there is more to come. Most of Windhelm is still sound asleep, the only sound the snow tumbling over itself in the wind. "That's the opposite direction of Whiterun."

"Like I told you back at the inn, I need to find my friend. That's the whole reason I came to Skyrim in the first place." He grips the strap of his bag and tightens it over his shoulder.

"But why there?"

He glances back at her, peering through his messy frock of hair with an almost clinical gaze.

"Sasuke has gotten in with some bad people. They made him some promises that he thinks he needs," his voice sounds hoarse, regret hangs heavily on each word. "He had a rough past and is blaming all the wrong people. But I'm going to save him from himself."

Sakura takes this in quietly. Unsure whether to press him about this Sasuke character. She thinks about all the things Naruto has promised to save in the short time she's known him, as if they are just things to check off a supply list. His friend. The rest of the world. "Still doesn't answer my question, why is he in Dawnstar?"

"If the rumors are true," He chances a quick glance at her again, "Then that's where the new Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary is."

Sakura's blood freezes in her veins, and she snaps her head to meet him eye-to-eye. "I thought their lair burned to the ground…they said they found bodies."

"It did and there were bodies, but not all of them perished in the fire. A few weeks ago some shady people started showing up in Dawnstar, apparently passing through and heading along the shore. One of them sounded a lot like Sasuke."

"And how do you propose we take on the entirety of the remaining Brotherhood? Just waltz into their home? How do you know your friend is willing to be saved?" Naruto's plan is full of holes, and she is not going down on the sinking ship.

"We're not going to Dawnstar just yet, I have another idea. We're going to take them out from the inside, and then deal with Sasuke."

"The inside?" They stop in front of a forlorn house, windows utterly dark.

"I hear there's a kid named Aventus Aretino in Windhelm who has performed the Black Sacrament, and we're going to answer it. If that doesn't get the Brotherhood's attention I don't know what will."

"You think they'll be appreciative of that? What if Sasuke recognizes you?" Her brows draw together as her minds whirls through the potential faults in his plan. Too many.

"That's where you come in. You'll have to go under cover, and eventually get me inside." Naruto grins at his genius.

Sakura's mouth pulls down into a frown, she blinks in frustration as snowflakes cling to her eyelashes. "And why won't they kill me for taking their contract? You're willing to bet my life on potentially pissing a murdering cult off."

"The Brotherhood is dying. They're desperate for new members," Naruto raises his hand gives three booming knocks to the door, "Besides, if you're ever in any danger I'll be around to save you."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Crossovers are fun.