Naruto lunged towards Sasuke and they proceeded to beat the hell out of each other until Naruto ended it proudly with his knee lodged into Sasuke's back and one arm holding both of Sasuke's. "I was only pretending to be asleep! You owe me 12 bowls of ramen!" he said laughing as they both got up.
"We're already late. Maia is waiting by the gates..." he said, knowing Naruto hadn't even begun to study for the mission.
"Who's Maia?"
"Sakura's replacement."
"How do you know? Why does everyone tell you everything? I've gotta be prepared for missions too...damn-" but the tirade was cut short by the condescending Sasuke.
"All the information is in that unopened scroll by your bed, genius," he said in that annoying monotone, I know everything voice.
"Oh," he replied, trying desperately to think of something smart to say..."I don't need to study if I can just ask you, so just tell me on the way to the gates," he said, really hoping that Sasuke wouldn't be difficult. Like that was really going to make him read a damn book anyway.
Sasuke repressed the urge to laugh when he really thought he ought to make Naruto pay for his laziness. But of course, that would take too much energy,
and Naruto really did retain more when he listened to Sasuke. "Maia was born in the mountain village. She had some kind of disability and her parents left her in the wilderness to die. Apparently, that's a common practice in the North. However, a Konoha undercover spy took pity on her, and saw the potential in having a mountain born ninja, loyal to Konoha."
"Shit," he said, teeth clinched in anger, "I already can't stand the Northern kingdom. What kind of disability does she have? Is she really a ninja?"
"The spy that raised her is dead, and there is no record of her disability. As far as any of us can tell, she's normal. Neji and I both studied her with our power, and we were unable to detect anything abnormal."
"That's weird," he said, and a rare look of deep thought captured his features. "How am I going to find out what's wrong with her," he said to himself.
"It will take three months for us to travel to the Northern kingdom on foot. While we travel, it's her job to teach us the language, the culture,
and the geography."
He looked at Sasuke in pure disbelief. "Why pick me of all people to go on this mission? Sure you'll be acting like you were born and raised in that god-forsaken place within a month, but I don't have a Sharingan to copy her every move. We may as well announce to their village "A SPY FROM KONOHA IS HERE!" and wait for them to kill us!"
Sasuke smiled. He didn't think Naruto would ever understand his own capacity for growth. "It won't be a problem. You're going to to use your kage bunshin jutsu the same way you used it to create your own jutsu."
The two friends reached the gate, and were greeted with a silent nod from the Kunoichi. Her arms, legs, and most of her face were wrapped in cloth bandages, and her clothing consisted of brown tattered, dingy pants with an equally worn and unmatching army green t-shirt. Her long hair looked like it had been pulled up haphazardly about a month ago, and hadn't been touched since. She had two short swords that she carried on her back, and a purple napsack tied around her waist. She certainly didn't look like a civilized resident of any village, and that get up would attract the attention of anyone. Her eyes were vacant and she seemed to stare through both Naruto and Sasuke.
"Let's go," she said, and she walked ahead of them. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other briefly, and followed. Not looking back she began her lessons of the mountain kingdom. "The language and grammar are quite simple. Here is a list of a thousand words. Study them, and we'll begin pronunciation tomorrow." She tossed two small notepads behind to them, and that was all that she said for the rest of the day.
The month was filled with lessons on dance, culture, language, and Naruto exhausting his chakra to keep up with Sasuke's learning pace. Maia was more closed off than Sasuke had been as child, and they knew nothing more about her than what they had known from the beginning. The two friends would talk about her, with Naruto doing most of the talking, and Sasuke pretending not to be intersted.
One evening, while they were practicing traditional dancing, Naruto was feeling brave enough to ask Maia to be his partner. Sasuke had adamently refused,
and he just wasn't able to pick it up on his own. He walked past the campfire taking deep breaths, and twirling his thumbs like an academy student.
"Umm, Maia...umm, well, could you umm give me some...I mean..." Naruto stammered uncomfortably.
"You want me to dance with you?" she asked blandly.
"Yeah," he said, looking down at his feet.
She stood up and turned her back to him. "Copy my every move," she commanded. And slowly she moved from right to left, dancing the part of a man,
but doing it much more gracefully than Naruto or Sasuke. She stepped to a rhythym only she could hear, and Naruto struggled to imitate her perfection. "Do you think you can remember that?" she asked sharply.
"Uh, yeah."
"Alright, now do the same thing, only I'll dance the lady's part."
"Could you hum something...so that I can follow along a little easier?"
Maia stopped and looked at him, maybe trying to decide whether or not he was trying to make a fool of her. "Okay."
And so the disaster began. Naruto turned left instead of right, promptly tripping over Maia's feet and falling in the fire. Uncontrollable laughter erupted from Maia and Sasuke. "Oh, I hope you do that in front of the daimyo!," Maia she said in this uncommon spell of mirth.
"It's good to see you smile," Naruto said brightly, "I think it's the first time I've seen your teeth."
She looked at him with her vacant eyes, and then slowly turned her head towards the fire. "Speak to me in the mountain tongue or I won't answer you from here on out."
Naruto sighed and got ready for bed. "You don't speak to us anyway," he thought as he drifted off to sleep.