His blue eyes seemed so dull and grey compared to the sight before him; the light of the sun shone brighter from the ground where built up rain water became glass that reflected the light for him to see. The Valley of Light, named for the magnificent view due to the mountainous region during the rainy season, was covered in green moss and other plant life that thrived in the area. Naruto was left breathless as he watched the reflection of the mountains and the sky in the many mirrors that were created due to the many natural basins that populated the area. One of the largest mountains in the distance was so massive that its cap was covered in snow even now when there was not another snowflake in sight.

There was a wind rolling through and he could feel its caress along his shoulders and the back of his neck as it swept through his clothing and refreshed him, causing him to shudder at the cool lick of its breath as it passed on like a lover's roaming kiss.

Chapter 18

Naruto looked up from the valley of mirrors, the aptly named Valley of Light, and turned to look back at Anko, while Tayuya was up ahead. The older woman's face was covered by tilting forward a wide brimmed monk's hat tied underneath her chin and her temptingly touchable body barely hidden by a short, blue and white yukata that had beautiful designs of blue bonnets stitched into the fabric. Being herself, Anko opened the front of her Yukata enough so that Tayuya had a hard time trying to figure out how her goods hadn't spilled out of them ever since purchasing it on their journey to the capitol of Hi no Kuni, the Land of Fire.

Tayuya was hardly at a loss for words, even with the miraculous sight before her: "What the hell are you two standing there for? It's just a bunch of puddles of water, let's go!"

Naruto smirked, took a deep breath of the fresh air that inhabited that place and he walked along. Anko shook her head, smiling under her hat and shrugging. "Ah, you've ruined it for me. Now it all seems so mundane!"

Tayuya smirked. "Illusions; silly, aren't they?"

They shared a smile as they made eye contact.

Naruto stepped into the water after kicking off his sandals and closed his eyes. He wasn't sure what it was about the area, but he felt that maybe one day he'd like to come back and visit it after the things that needed to be done were done. Finality. Naruto searched for it by searching for signs of the Sannin, Orochimaru, whose reach seemed to be unending. Their travels brought them to two cities and four towns, each which was being wrapped up within the snake's coils some way or another.

Mitarashi Anko, who was traveling with them under the name of Mizuri Ai, had revealed herself to be a missing-nin from Konoha who came to Mizu in an effort to unravel Orochimaru's current plot.

Tayuya vaguely remembered Anko due to a brief meeting with her as a young child when she was first brought into the Sannin's venomous care; but for Tayuya to see Anko as she was then and as she is now, she was shocked at the wild change in demeanor that a person could undertake within the span of ten and some years. Seeing the way Anko was now, with the fact that she had abandoned her village in essence to protect her village, all of the while facing her mentor of ancient history… Tayuya had to admit that she feared what would happen in her own life within a few years, and wondered if such a drastic change was avoidable. Although, admittedly Tayuya had no idea what Anko thought and the woman seemed to be less than forthcoming with her feelings about herself. She was starting to realize that though time had its grasp upon her and she could not keep it from changing her, time's fierce grasp was more like a gentle tug to those who embraced it.

She looked at Naruto. His mind was occupied solely on finding his abductor. Anko suggested at first that they head back to Konoha to head off any kind of desperation that the village and its leader may have toward his abduction.

Instead, he said he intended to visit the capitol and see if there wasn't something that he could do there to lure in the Sannin. Often times, to find the snake, it's best to find the tree in which its prey lays its eggs. The high population almost guaranteed that there would be a surplus of stupid, alone, and different people for the Sannin to choose from.

Naruto stepped out of the water and shook each leg before stepping back into his sandals and walking towards a small pass within the valley that snaked around mountain triplets. The winding valley between the mountains was steep and long, giant rocks littered the tops of the mountains on small plateaus where ancient landslides left footholds and notches in various locations around the mountainside.

A heavy hand gripped the top of a boulder sitting on a lip high above on the mountain side and there were movements in the mountains all around them that were very high up and difficult to discern from the wind blowing through the valley.

"It's kind of eerie in this little area here… real dark because of the tall cliffs up there." Tayuya muttered, annoyed as she looked around and didn't like that they only had two real exits. The plentiful rainfall made it nearly impossible to grip on to the cliff sides long enough to climb up, even with chakra.

"Naruto…"

"Yeah, I know." He turned his head and looked up over his left shoulder and caught a glimpse of red that meshed well with the clay of the cliff side.

"We're in a bad spot," Anko started, aware of the dangers of all of those heavy rocks hanging high above their heads, "Tayuya, watch our six. We don't need any surprises."

"Namikaze Naruto!" came a coarse yell, anger laced in its tone. "How perfect is it that you should meet the final darkness within the Valley of Light! The Shinigami will gnaw on your weak little soul tonight!"

The three travelers looked up and saw a series of red faces glaring down at them and a few men dressed in samurai armor leaned over the edge with arrows cocked back within the draw of their bows and pointed straight down at them. Naruto searched through the faces and found the speaker up ahead a few meters, smirking with pride in his eyes.

"Nonoko Bankei. You survived; you are lucky." Naruto said curtly.

"Not as lucky as you are, surviving the infiltration of the Nonoko clan as you did; they say fate and luck are intertwined and that when you're luck runs out you are fated to die. Well, that luck has run out my friend; you will die here, Namikaze. I think we'll only kill you and keep your two women alive for our celebration afterwards, what do you think?" Without warning, Bankei called out to his guards, "Take out his legs!"

Naruto moved to dodge the arrows but they were too fast and the samurai far too accurate. They compensated for the movement he made by watching his hips to see which way he would dodge instead of his feet, and nailed both of his knees with ease, dropping him down onto his side as two feathered shafts stuck out of the top of his thighs just past his knee caps.

Bankei smirked, shaking his head at what he saw as a sorry display of a ninja's abilities. "To think that I couldn't even show you the effects of my kekkai genkai; how disappointing that I will have to embellish the story of your defeat a bit when I tell it to my clansmen."

Naruto laughed, shaking his head as he hunched over on the floor with his face nearly into the ground. Tayuya had rushed over to him and drew out her flute to begin playing a genjutsu, but Anko quickly stopped her by placing a hand on her elbow. "Don't. Not yet." Anko reached into her kunai pouch but did not pull anything out of it. Instead, she simply clenched her hand tight.

They shared a look and the two young women looked down at the blond who was currently gripping the wooden shafts of the arrows that were embedded in his knees. His arms were shaking, but he managed to tear each of them out without snapping them.

"You fool! You can't simply yank those out like that, you'll tear up your tendons and then what will you do!" Bankei began to shake his head, but then he saw Naruto stand up and he froze.

Surprised, he looked at some of the samurai that were shooting the arrows and saw they seemed confused as well. Their accuracy was top-notch. There was simply no way they had missed vital muscles and tendons… he shouldn't be able to stand. When Naruto hopped up and landed uneasily on his toes, testing out his legs, they were all left dumbfounded, even Tayuya and Anko.

"That hurt… how many arrows do you have?" Without turning to her, he said simply, "Go ahead Anko."

She nodded, smirking and pressed her thumb against one of the walls of the narrow valley. Tayuya noticed a smearing of blood on the wall and then suddenly a giant yellow snake broke out of the clay and shot straight up to block their path as they went through the tunnel that was dug into the cliff side. When Anko looked in, she saw that her second snake summon was busy making its way through to give them a path, so she quickly followed suit. Tayuya was second to enter, but she quickly turned around and called out to Naruto.

As the smoke cleared, Naruto looked up to see a swarm of boulders and arrows as they fell into the valley, but when his eyes locked with Bankei's and saw the smirk on his face, he only scowled as several arrows pierced him before a boulder fell down and crushed his body.

Tayuya, stunned, fell to her knees for a moment. When she saw the giant rock land on him, she knew she had to get out of there. Quickly, she stood back up and turned back around to run down the tunnel made by the snake.

As he lay under the boulder, Naruto's back arched as his lower body was crushed underneath, and suddenly he disappeared into a small cloud of smoke.

When the snake finished digging its tunnel through the valley's mountains, Anko watched as it slithered out of the hole at the end and a bright flash of light appeared as the sun above shined its rays upon their exit. When she finally reached the end she saw that the snake had regurgitated the young man on the floor, where he was still nursing the wounds to his knees and the arrows had yet to be removed.

Tayuya, who was slowly gaining on Anko, was crying the entire way. She couldn't believe how easily he had been killed; her heart ached at the loss and she couldn't compose herself. She couldn't believe that the person who saved her from her inescapable end in Mizu had been killed so ruthlessly. He seemed to be such a good person, even if he was a little headstrong and focused on Orochimaru. It wasn't until she reached the light at the end that she saw Naruto sitting on the snake's belly as Anko used medical jutsu to cleanly remove the arrows.

"I didn't know you knew medical jutsu." He said, looking up at Anko while she worked.

"I learned it a long time ago because I wanted to be like lady Tsunade when I first became a kunoichi." Anko shrugged. "You don't forget because of the intense training…"

Naruto nodded.

Tayuya's heart was racing and she felt the urge to act on impulse; the way he was on the floor, bleeding profusely from his legs while he tentatively messed with the arrows to try and see if they would slide out, didn't help. When she knelt down beside him she hugged him as tightly as she could. She felt uneasy when he didn't bring his arms back around her to return the hug.

"What was that for?" Naruto asked, confused. His legs still in pain, he didn't think to try and comfort the girl who probably thought he had died.

Tayuya shook her head, blushing brightly, "Nothing, you asshole, I'm just happy to be alive…" She wiped away a tear after she turned her back to him and looked toward Anko with a forced smile on her face, "You are the craftiest woman I've ever met!"

Anko's smirk was lighthearted. When she turned to Naruto she tried to hide the distaste from her face as she looked at him and tiled her head toward the snake. "He's staying because he's offering us a ride to the capitol, if you want to take it."

"We can't just leave them. We should deal with them now. I don't like leaving them to their devices while we're trying to find traces of the snake."

"We can't face all of those warriors on our own. Your legs are messed up; we shouldn't do anything reckless, Naruto."

Naruto stood up. Now that the arrows were out of his flesh it healed rather quickly. He could walk pretty well, but he knew any high intensity movement would be impossible for a few hours. "I'm fine." He lied.

Tayuya looked at him, wide-eyed. What in Kami-sama's name is he?

"Walking or not, we cannot face them. You may have survived infiltrating their base by surprise," Anko said, glaring now, "but fighting them in close quarters combat is almost as bad as fighting a Hyuga. Their touch zaps you and dehydrates you in a very bad way. One touch to the head or heart and we're dead. Not to mention we're at a disadvantage in long-range fighting due to those samurai."

Naruto conceded. "I guess we could use an ally." He tested his legs patiently, leaning from one side to another before lifting his leg up one at a time to wait for them to heal. "Do you know anyone who is working in the capitol that might be able to help us?"

Anko frowned. She turned to look at Tayuya for a second who was busy touching her lips with her finger tips. "No, no one. I cut ties with all of my contacts in Konoha, the few that I had."

The look on Naruto's face soured and he eyed Tayuya for a bit before looking back up towards the mountain, "Then we are running out of options… going on only increases the chance of another ambush. We were lucky you were so quick and that you didn't need any seals to summon those snakes. He's right though, our luck might run out."

Anko groaned, "Just… let's just hope that it holds out a little bit longer. Once we get to the capitol, we might be able to do something more. And if we have to face them head on, I'd rather do it in a busy street where we can hide away instead of out here on the plains where we have no cover."

Tayuya placed her hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Listen to her. They are too strong for us to fight on our own in this place."

He sighed and looked back up towards the mountains and set an explosive seal on the wall of the tunnel that was dug out by the snake. While he was activating the seal, he called to Anko with his back still turned as he peered down the long tunnel. "Hey Anko, have you ever seen the Scroll of Sealing?"

She shook her head and shrugged, "Orochimaru taught me a technique from it second hand. I have never looked inside of it, though."

"Which technique did he teach you?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"I don't want to talk about that," she said, standoffishly.

He frowned, but continued anyways, "I learned Kage Bunshin, but I can't perform Tajuu Kage Bunshin because it requires too much chakra… I was able to see Bankei even as the boulder crushed my clone earlier… even though I was hiding in the snake's mouth. It came like an afterthought in a memory once the clone was dispelled. That was the first time I noticed that about the shadow clone technique."

Anko nodded. "It's an interesting venue, I suppose, to use as a method. It wastes so much chakra though."

Tayuya piped up, confused, "Why didn't you just use a kage bunshin when he was shooting the arrows? Then you wouldn't have this injury."

Naruto nodded, "Precisely because it uses far too much chakra. Plus, I had to be convincing to give Anko time to get the snake to block the first few attacks with his body. If I just let him find out that it was a kage bunshi, all of us would have been in trouble because I can't make more than a few of them without passing out. I didn't want to be low and chakra in case we needed to fight back."

"They'll be coming soon, we should leave." Anko said, placing her hand gently on the belly of the snake while it looked down at her inquisitively.

Naruto nodded and straddled the back of the snake as it began to slither about. "I hope he doesn't mind that I will be hitching a ride…"

The snake didn't seem to understand what he was saying, oddly enough, but Anko's calm brown eyes placated the serpent before it tried to wriggle about to get the young blond off. Anko herself threw her leg over the side of the snake and sat directly behind Naruto, grabbing him by his waist while Tayuya decided to run alongside them; just because it was friendly, didn't mean it wasn't still a snake. Snakes reminded her too much of Orochimaru for her to feel comfortable, and she didn't try to pretend otherwise.

They rode the back of the snake for another hour before arriving at the bridge to Hi no Kuni's capitol, the famous Kumamoto City.

Chojuro shook his head as he, Ao and the Mizukage sat alone in confusion when they found out that Naruto paid off the rest of his lease and packed up a few meager things while leaving everything else behind that he had used to furnish the apartment. There was a note for Chojuro that simply said, 'If you're ever in a rough spot, send a messenger bird to Konoha. They'll know how to contact me.'

Terumi Mei frowned as she sat on the empty bed in the boy's room while Ao went through the apartment, trying to look for clues that would lead them to him; they hoped that he was careless enough to leave them a trail to follow, but apparently he had learned quite a bit while running missions for Mizu.

"We taught him too well." He said, finally ceasing his search in the boy's apartment. "Perhaps if we would have imprisoned him from the start…"

Mei looked at him in disgust, "What he has done for the village more than makes up for this … I couldn't even call this a betrayal… I have a feeling I know why he's left. It was too great of an opportunity to get one step ahead of Orochimaru. He aims to face the Sannin directly… perhaps before he comes back to claim him."

"The fool." Ao sighed, shaking his head.

"Mizukage-sama." Chojuro said, standing up from his seat on the living room couch. "Send me after him, on an official mission."

Mei swallowed uncomfortably as she saw the young man step up to her. He had a look in his eyes much like Naruto always carried; it told her and anyone else that, one way or another, he would find a way to reach his aspirations. "Cho-kun… I can't just… how do you intend to find him? Just walk in a random direction?"

"No. We know that he has to make contact with Konoha to get this messenger system set up. It's not something that he has already set up; it would've been too risky while living here! Also, he didn't have the network available to help him establish it."

Ao smirked, "Interesting idea. So you think that he just recently gained an ally besides Tayuya of Sound?"

Chojuro nodded, "It's Ai. I'm sure of it."

Mei shook her head, "I'll admit: she has been missing for a little while now… She just got promoted; she wouldn't leave after such a raise in pay and… Ao, was she given access to our libraries?"

He looked at her cautiously and nodded. His jaw was clenching. "She actually… had it a little earlier than intended."

Mei's eyebrow twitched.

"What?"

"I… well, she was given access before her promotion because it was such a sure thing…"

"… by whom?"

Chojuro rolled his eyes while Ao stuttered. "I… I was the one who let her in early."

"She got into his pants, probably." Chojuro said, smirking while Ao's one visible eye widened and he looked like he was ready to strangle the boy to keep him quiet.

Terumi Mei rubbed her temples and muttered out, "Men…" shaking her head at the fact that one of her top body guards allowed a known seductress to get him to break the rules, even if she was going to be granted access into the private library of the swordsmen anyways due to her recent promotion to jonin status. "It can't be helped, I suppose. Ao, you are on leave starting the end of the week until further notice. I will have to pursue an investigation to see just what she read in the library that set Naruto on his path so quickly."

"How could you be so sure that it was Ai who did the research for him, and what in our libraries would have anything to do with Orochimaru?" Ao asked, furrowing his brows.

"You have fought him before, haven't you?" Mei asked, crossing her arms.

Ao nodded, "Well, yes, once, but I was fighting together with my master against him. I hardly learned anything about his goals or that he even was the Kage of Sound until recently."

Mei nodded as well and then turned to look at Chojuro. "The seven swordsmen of the mist and the previous Mizukage have records of bouts for control with Orochimaru. He joined a group of elite shinobi right after the fights, but there were several of them and there was even a time when Orochimaru was close enough to assassinate the Mizukage and just let him go. It isn't explained as to why, but I know the reason. Our Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura, was the holder of the three-tailed monster turtle."

"But what does that have to do with Naruto?"

"That, I don't know." She bit her lip and turned to look at Chojuro, who kept the same look in his eyes. "Ok, Chojuro. You may leave to try and intercept them. I will send a team to Konoha so that you can work your way along the route you suspect them to be on. You will have a month to find him. If you cannot, you are to return to Mizu or else be declared a missing-nin and we will have to dispatch our ANBU to kill and retrieve you. Do you understand?"

Chojuro, used to the harsh ways of the Mist, nodded once and stepped forward. "Please, allow me to take the sword with me."

The Mizukage was silent for several seconds before she nodded. "Fine. You may take the sword. I now give you the honor as the one and only seven swordsman of the mist…"

Ao was about to speak up when Mei turned and glared at him, "As for you, I suggest you shut your trap now unless you want me to shove my fist down your throat! We are going to have a talk about letting your other head control your actions."

Ao shut his mouth, feeling that it had become dry all of a sudden.

Mei smiled at Chojuro after her glare at Ao disappeared and leaned in to give him a kiss on the lips. He blushed a healthy red and touched his lips, whispering how he knew her lips were as soft as flower petals. "You come back to me in one piece, Cho-kun. I will miss you very much."

Chojuro smiled and turned away to retrieve the sword.

When he was ready to leave, the Mizukage called him and smiled when he turned around one last time. "I have a boat waiting for you. It's a fisherman's boat and it's heading to trade with a merchant in Hi anyways. You can hitch a ride to get to shore."

Chojuro only shook his head, surprising Ao and the Mizukage. "I can't do that."

"How will you leave the island?" Ao asked, dumbfounded.

He turned and looked towards the water and the beach just outside of Naruto's apartment. With a nod, he left the apartment and his two surprised elders as he walked alone down to the shore; he took his first step on the water and smiled one last time at the amber haired kage and her bodyguard and his friend. "See you in one month!"

"Cho-kun, you won't make it walking all of the way across! The whirlpool might return, it claimed the lives of fire nobles and even the Daiymo's sister… there's this whole political boil-over because of it and our trade routes are being affected by it… don't risk your life needlessly like that!" She ran up to the shore and called out to him even louder as he continued to walk. "No one has ever done it before!"

He grinned and shook his head, waiving back without turning to look at them. "Naruto did."

And with that, Chojuro continued to walk and used the least amount of chakra with each step to conserve his energy.

The Mizukage and Ao watched in silence as waves of water roared as they crashed onto the shore, forcing the two of them back.

"I'll take one of these."

"Why sure, young lady! But are you sure you can stomach that? Very few pretty girls like you come asking for skewered scorpion!"

Her soft, full lips spread out slightly as she gave a knowing smirk. "I guess I'm one in a thousand."

"Hah! More like one in a million! Don't downplay yourself, young lady!"

She blushed at his kind words, "Thank you, sir."

"Ok! Buy two and I will give you a third free, deal?"

She smiled.

"That's a deal."

Shortly after, Yamanaka Ino stood on a small bridge leaning over and chewing down on the nutty tasting scorpion as she waited patiently for her father to return from his meeting in the heart of Kumamoto. He was currently interpreting the dreams of the daimyo's youngest nephews whose been experiencing terrible, prophetic nightmares. The one that triggered the series of nightmares was that of the death of the Daimyo's sister, his mother. She died a grueling death when a giant whirlpool appeared suddenly in the waters between the fire and water countries. They found her body and those of her servants and several other passengers when on a luxury ship created for nobles and ambassadors to other countries.

Ino sighed and closed her eyes, sucking down the crunchy treat and wondering why her father had not let her join him in his diagnosis of the young boy whose fatal dreams have been coming true of the people living in the city.

Naruto and his company made their way up a small bridge over a ravine and saw a young blonde woman leaning up against the railing. He could only see her from the back, and she had quite the figure. Naruto looked surprised and for a few seconds his heart began to pound in his chest. He remembered the girl from Konoha that tried so hard to save him. He remembered that feeling of strength entering his bones like it had when he was under the scrutinous lights of the hidden passageways in Konoha's walls.

He smiled, and then kept walking. Anko and Tayuya followed by calmly, barely giving the young woman a glance even as she turned to look at them as they had fallen behind; even with his legs shot, Naruto forced himself to keep up his pace, not wanting to appear weak or hurt.

Ino saw her reflection in the water over the rail; she's changed, and the young girl that she used to be was no more. Ino looked up and bit down on another scorpion, looking around when she finally noticed the man walking up front with his stick, barely catching the glimpse of one blue eye and the two women behind him after they had already passed him.

Several moments later, her heart wrenched tightly and she squashed it.

I hope you've enjoyed the chapter and that I've successfully set up the next chapter for their reunion.

:) Review if you like.