Over the hill came two travelers cast in a silhouette. They were around the same height, fairly tall, and fairly noisy as laughter tumbled down the path in an announcement of their presence. When they drew out of their darkened figures, two women stood before Naruto and Jiraiya. The taller one was light in skin with blond hair held back with dark blue ribbons to match her eyes. The shorter, but only by half an inch, was darker in skin with dark eyes. Their hair was formed into a multitude of braids, though only the darker one's took on an appearance of scorpion-tail stingers. This darker one was clad in red with symbols of fire written on her hair band. Yet, she was the one most light-hearted amongst the two.

Naruto gazed at them curiously, or more dumbfounded really. They definitely did not seem to be of any sort of danger, and when he looked over at Jiraiya, he received only a shrug. The two stood up as they approached, and a gentle air of tension drew between them. "Please move aside," the darker one requested. Their faces were stern now, and they could see more closely their features, for upon their faces sat tattoos of scorpions and dragons. While the lighter one seemed from afar completely helpless, that dragon upon her face proved otherwise.

However, Jiraiya simply shook his head at the two and smiled. "Not without knowing by what means you are here, or your names, or any other personal information you might give us so that we may disclose it to any third party vendors." He snickered at their glares and gently raised an apologetic hand. "Of course, if you wish not to, you could always go away."

This time, the blond spoke up. "Listen, we have business with your...Hokage. It is of no importance to you or your little...child, here what our names are or our whereabouts."

"Oh, now you've done it..." mumbled Naruto as he cast them a glare. But, before he could do anything stupid, Jiraiya had him held in a headlock.

"Really, now? Then why is it that you carry that particular forehead protector?" he inquired towards the konoha-marked insignia with a deep scratch across it. "One, we would know any of our own kind who had once bore that symbol, and two, we would know if that person had betrayed us."

"My name is Hitomi, if you must know, and this is neither mine nor Akane's." Hitomi threw the band at Jiraiya's feet and made her way past him. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we must speak with your Hokage." Akane followed and swept the band up off the ground, seeing as it was their only piece of evidence.

"I don't see why you're so angry with them, Hitomi. They were only trying to make sure we weren't going to attack the village."

"Really, Akane? Did it ever occur to you that perhaps their Hokage knew why we came here and wished us to be scared away? Their Hokage is a coward." Akane sighed at her friend's remark, and just shook her head. Only time would tell if what she spoke was true, so their first task must be to speak to the Hokage.

Jiraiya and Naruto stared after the two for a moment, and then quickly caught up. "Well, at least let us guide you in. You won't be met with friendly faces if you appear out of the blue." They walked but a few strides ahead of Akane and Hitomi and led them into the Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village.

People everywhere stopped what they were doing to take notice of them. For, what Jiraiya and Naruto had missed proved to be the one thing they were afraid of. Their forehead protectors bore no insignia. They were Ninjas, but not from any recognized village. Any such village was either an enemy of the rest, or a spy agency from one of the villages. Since these two were unknown to any of these villagers, neither could be good.