"On we march, to the countryside! With every step we take, we're going to die!" Naruto sang as he led the way to the Land of Rivers.

The four had already crossed the Land of Fire border nearly a hour ago. In a few minutes they would reach the beginning of the cliffs and were follow a path that lead to castle. It was mid-afternoon, but the clouds had begun to block the sun. Hinata was behind Naruto, giggling at his marching song. Sai and Sakura were walking side-by-side, bringing up the rear. Sakura had her arms crossed with a scowl on her face. Sai wasn't doing much except reading in a book.

"This is going to be a disaster," Sakura muttered. "With Naruto leading us, we're most likely going to fail."

"He's your teammate. You should have more faith in him," answered Sai.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. That was a new comment coming from Sai. Every since they met, he had always had a cruel word for her and Naruto. She turned to look at what Sai was reading.

'How to Make Friends'

"Really? You're reading on how to make friends?" asked Sakura.

"Naruto suggested I should learn to be friends with you two so we could become better comrades. I found this in the library."

Sakura was skeptical, but curious. "What's it say?"

"It says 'one way to make friends is to make a friendly introduction.'" Sai bookmarked his spot and held his hand for Sakura to shake. "Hello. My name is Sai."

Sakura smiled and played along. "My name is Sakura. What does it say next?"

"'Next, give a comment about the person.'" Sai smiled at Sakura again. "Your hair reminds me of a piece of gum I once stepped in."

A tic appeared Sakura's forehead. The next second Sai found himself buried into the wall of the cliff. She gave a small growl and continued walking, leaving Sai in the bedrock.

"Making friends is difficult," he said.

Meanwhile, Naruto finished his song with a flourish, much to Hinata's amusement. He smiled as he heard her giggle.

"You have a nice laugh," remarked Naruto. 'Why haven't I ever noticed that before.'

Hinata stopped immediately and blushed. She tried to say something that wouldn't make her pass out. "Thank you, Naruto."

Naruto's smile grew. He also noticed how lovely she was when she was blushing. It always seemed to make her glow. Not red glow, but more like illuminating.

"You nervous about going back to the castle?" asked Naruto.

Hinata shook her head. "No. We know what was causing those spooky things last time. I'm not nervous at all."

Naruto nodded. However, he still couldn't shake the feeling of the chill crawling up his spine. Maybe it was just the memories he had of the castle.

Soon, with each step he took, he noticed how harder it was to see his surroundings. The mists had begun to envelope them. It was even beginning to block what sunlight was left

They had arrived at their location.

"We're here," Naruto announced.

He heard Sakura and Sai's footsteps behind him. "Are you sure?" asked Sakura.

"Cliffside roads, thick mists." Naruto took a deep breath. "Yeah, we're here."

"So what do we do know?" asked Hinata.

"Right now, we stay close," said Naruto. "This mist is thick enough that we could easily get lost. I'll take the lead. Sakura, you're behind me. Your strength will be our leading force in case we're attacked and get passed me. Sai, you're behind her. Your Ink Beasts will help us cover our escape in case we run into trouble. Hinata, you're in the back. With your Byakugan, you'll keep an eye behind us. Everyone understand?"

The rest nodded, very surprised at his ability to read the situation and make a strategy for it. However, Naruto was just taking a page out of Shikamaru's book. He remembered how he analyzed the situation during Sasuke's retrieval. So he took his team's attribute's and applied them to the situation.

"I want all of us to be one step behind the other," Naruto continued. "Now form up."

The team got into position, one behind the other. Naruto led the way on the road. He felt very confident in his abilities, especially when his friends were right behind him to help. But if anyone wanted to harm them, they would have to go through him first.

They spent the next hour walking along the cliff, searching for any signs of the their targets. Naruto wanted to see if there were any clues on the roads before they went looking in the forests.

"Naruto!" called Hinata from the back. He saw her pointing at something in the road ahead of them. He couldn't see anything through the mists, but he could smell something.

He pulled a kunai from his pouch and got into a defensive position. Soon, he heard footsteps. Then, the squeak of a wagon wheel. And finally, the outlines of several people.

"We're okay," said Naruto calmly. "They're just merchants."

"How do you know? I can't see anything," hissed Sakura.

"I can smell the goods they're carrying," Naruto answered.

Several people were hauling packs or pushing wagons. With their wraps around their heads, goggles and the long heavy clothes, Naruto guessed they came from the Land of Wind.

"Hello, there," said one of the merchants.

"Hello," answered Naruto. "What brings you here?"

"We're on our way to the Village Hidden in Valleys. It's our quarterly trade."

"I see. You should be careful traveling these roads. We heard some people have gone missing."

The merchant looked down. "We know. We lost one an hour ago."

"What?" said Sakura and Naruto.

"One of our own. We took a lunch break and some of the men went into the forests to find water. However, one didn't return. We spent an hour looking for him, but I'm afraid there was nothing we could do."

Naruto stood taller. "Well, we're here to find out what's going on. If we find him, we'll take him to your convoy."

The merchant smiled. "Thank you. I'm sure Lord Kazekage would appreciate it."

"Anytime."

The Leaf shinobi watched the merchants pass on. When they were gone, Sakura turned to Naruto.

"You shouldn't have promised him that. We have our orders."

"Our orders are to find anyone who has been lost in this area. I think that applies to Sand merchant as well."

Sakura nodded. "Fine. So what now?"

"We continue on."

They formed ranks and walked for another hour till they found the spot where the merchants had their camp. On the road we're several footprints overlapping each other along with a few small pieces of trash. They couldn't find any sign of the lost merchant. Naruto took a look at the surrounding area. It was nothing but forests as far as the eye could see. The trees were grouped so close together that walking would be difficult. That and the mists that still surrounded them make the woods look like it was night.

"He could be anywhere by now," said Sai. "Either lost further into the woods, picked off by bandits or eaten by wild animals."

"Orders are orders," said Sakura. "We got maybe 12 hours to search this area before we have to head back and report to Lady Tsunade."

"Well, we better get started," said Naruto. He held his fingers in a cross symbol. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Several poofs of smoke surrounded them and cleared to see nearly 60 clones waiting for orders.

"Form up into teams of three. When one of you find a clue, find us. We'll be taking the route north of here."

"Right!" yelled the clones. An instant later, they were off into the trees.

"You are useful," said Sai. "I thought it was a joke people told me."

"Thanks," Naruto said sarcastically. "Well, we better get started."

The team took off into the trees, keeping a good distance apart to search but close enough to keep with eyesight of each other. But it was still going to be a real hassle with on the four of them. After nearly an hour and half of searching, Naruto was beginning to think it was pointless. While, Hinata was a good asset to the team with her Kekkei Genkai, she couldn't search a whole forest for one clue. He really wished Kiba and Akimaru was here. Those two and Hinata would have been a big help with their tracking abilities. Shino too, but frankly, he scared Naruto.

But they had to make do. Another good asset was when Sai used his Super Beast Scroll technique and took to the skies on his giant hawk.

Naruto's clones were big help, but there wasn't much they could do with trying to find the original once they found something. Plus, they can really act like goofballs. Punching each other, making jokes and pulling pranks. Even now, those thoughts were giving him a headache.

Suddenly, something clamped onto his neck with sharp teeth, ripping his flesh.

"Gah!" Naruto yelled as he lost his footing. He was able to land on a branch, but not comfortably.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" yelled Hinata as she leaped toward him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he gasped as he rubbed his neck. What happened? He was sure he felt something cut into his throat. He had a fleeting image of a giant red wolf leaping out of the brush and attacking. The last thing he saw where it's milky, white eyes full of killer intent.

"What happened?" asked Sakura as she and Sai landed beside him.

"Nothing. I just lost my footing."

Sakura scowled. "You need to keep an eye out. I can heal, but we can't afford you getting injured."

"I understand."

Sai took flight, Sakura leapt away, but Hinata stayed behind to watch Naruto until he got to his feet. He tried to shake the image out of his head, but those eyes really freaked him out.

"Are you okay?" asked Hinata.

Naruto nodded. "I'm fine. Just a little dizzy."

"Ok, then. Please be careful." Then leapt off.

Naruto continued his trek. It wasn't until 10 minutes later until he had another vision. Same wolf, but this time, the wolf grabbed him around his leg. Seconds later, two more visions came to his mind. One being attacked from behind and another one where he was grabbed by the throat again.

'What the hell is happening?' he thought as he grabbed his head. Headaches were just pounding away at his skull. Each pulse led to a new vision of him being torn to shreds.

"Here!"

Sakura's voice broke through the hazy fog in his head. He leapt towards the sound of her voice, now wasting a single second.

Hinata was there while Sai landed his bird beside them. An instant later, Naruto was right beside them.

"What did you discover?" asked Sai.

"Look," Sakura said as she pointed to the ground. Shuriken stars littered the ground around them. Some of them were covered with dried, black blood. Looking around, Naruto saw that some were stuck in trees as well as several kunai.

"Was there a fight here?" asked Naruto.

"Looks like it," said Hinata. "But there is a lot of blood here."

"It's not human," Naruto said suddenly. Everyone looked at him.

"How can you tell?" asked Sai.

"I can smell it," he said quietly

Sakura knelt down and passed a glowing hand over a large spot of blood. A few moments later she stood up with a frown on her face.

"Naruto's right. It's not human."

"What is it then?" asked Hinata.

"From what I can tell, it's some kind of canine."

"It's wolf," Naruto answered. "The woods are filled with them."

"How do you know that?" asked Sakura.

Naruto didn't answer. Instead, he noticed a particular pattern to the blood droplets. They pattern that they fell and the direction they followed.

He followed it, ignoring the cries from his friends.

"Naruto come back!"

He didn't listen. Instead, he followed the pattern. It wasn't long before the scent of copper was getting stronger and the blood pools were getting bigger.

Soon, his trek led him to a small clearing and a horrendous discovery.

Sakura and Hinata landed beside him.

"Naruto what are you-"Sakura started before she gasped.

A body, or what was left of one, laid in the clearing. A giant, dried blood pool and what could only be a small pile of clothes in the center. There were no arms, legs, or even a head. The only thing that seemed to remain were the bitten off stubs of the hip bones and a rib cage.

Hinata stiffened a cry and turned away.

"How long?" asked Naruto stiffly.

"At least two days," answered Sakura. She swallowed as she examined the legs. "No traces of internal organs. Also, there are teeth marks on the bone. Looks like your guess was right about the wolves, Naruto."

"It wasn't a guess."

Sai walked into the clearing. He didn't even bat an eye at the body.

"I found this a few meters behind us," he said as he held a partially, stained cloth. What wasn't stained was a dark, gray color.

"What is it?"

"I think it's part of a Sand shinobi's flap jacket," Sai answered.

Naruto blanched as he recognized the fabric. "So the team Gaara sent might be dead as well?"

"It looks that way."

"Naruto!" Hinata cried. Everyone turned to see her with her Byakugan activated.

"What is it? What do you see?" asked Naruto.

She pointed off into the distance. "I see someone. Someone alive."

There was no need to order; all of them took off in the direction she pointed. Each one pushing their hardest since a life may depend on it.

It took a few minutes before Sakura spotted the person first. "There!"

A man was stumbling through the trees. It looked like one of the merchants from earlier. He was clutching his right arm, which was bleeding profusely through his fingers. The look on his face said he must have run into a demon.

"Help!" he screamed as he hurried towards them.

"We're coming! Just hold on!" Naruto called out.

Hinata, Byakugan still activated, yelled, "Watch out!"

Naruto didn't have time to ask what was wrong before a red blur shot through the trees and grabbed the man by the throat. He only had time to scream for a second before his throat was ripped out. Then three more blurs charged him down, tearing the man to shreds instantly.

Naruto held out his hand to stop his teammates, knowing it was already too late to help him. Even with Sakura's healing techniques.

"What the hell?" asked a shocked Sakura.

The visions Naruto received earlier were nothing compared to seeing the wolves up close. At first, he thought their fur was red. But with a closer look he realized that they had no fur at all. Instead, it looked like they were skinned, showing the red sinew of muscle and blood. What was worse, there seemed to giant wounds missing from parts of their body. Parts that weren't bleeding. On a body that was nearly tall as Naruto's shoulder

Hinata was beginning to retch. The sound caught the attention of one of the wolves. He stared hungrily at them with white, dead eyes and blood dripping from his maul.

The monster charged them. One to never down from a challenge, Naruto charged right back.

"Naruto!"

Naruto answered by pulling several shuriken out of his pouch and throwing them towards the wolf. All of them landed on the wolf, several of the them landing in its throat and one in the eye.

The monster didn't even slow down. In fact, it only charged towards him faster. His comrades stopped feasting on the man and charged with him.

He gaped at the scene. The force he threw stars should have immediately killed it. With that, Naruto did the only sensible option to save him and his friends.

"Run!" he yelled.