Unlike her own village that used deadly traps to keep out intruders, this one apparently used its shear confusion as its weapon. The sharply immense forest of trees that looked identical soon had Rido running in circles and by the time the sun was cresting on the horizon, she was exhausted.

But I have to keep moving, She thought. If the catch me I'm as good as dead.

Just then she heard voices to her right getting louder as they closed the distance.

But Rido didn't have the strength to move anymore. Maybe they'd let her go if she was kind. It was a hopeless thought but what else could she do. They no doubt, thought that she was a spy. And no ninja village ever had mercy with spies.

Rido's mind filled with horrid images of ninja torture techniques as they would try to wring all the information from her they could. But she wasn't a spy, not that they'd care to listen to the truth.

Oh God here they come. Wait…that's much too noisy to be a ninja. Then who?...

Just then, a tiny boy came stumbling out of the underbrush along with two other miniature ninjas. All three children were wearing fake plastic headbands that had the heart shaped crest of the Hidden Soul.

"Rido, we found you." The first boy said.

It took Rido a while to actually recognize the kids because she was still coming out of her panic, but almost immediately after the littlest boy spoke she familiarized their faces.

"Takamichi, Sora, and Hozumi. What the hell are you three doing here? This is a dangerous place for little kids to be, in the clutches of another village!"

The smallest boy, Takamichi waved Rido off as if her warnings were for nothing. "Come on, Rido. You know me! I can take on all these village idiots and then some! Hey, come out and fight me stupid Leaf ninjas!"

Rido hand to smash her hand against Takamichi's mouth to get him to shut up. "Shhh! Do you have a death wish? Don't you understand that that little plastic thing on your head doesn't mean you're a shinobi? You could get killed and they won't hesitate to do it."

The little girl, Hozumi, went trembling at the mention of death. "Really? Maybe she's right Takamichi. Maybe we'd better go back home."

Takamichi glared daggers at Hozumi. "Nobody asked you!"

Rido had about enough of their loud child's play. "Alright, alright. Just get out of here. Please. Especially you Sora. Mother would be horrified if I told her what you were up to."

Sora hated getting nagged by his mother so without consulting with the others he turned and walked off. He was the type of kid who went to his own flow.

"Hey Sora wait for me!" Hozumi called affectionately and dashed after him.

"Aw come on you guys!" Takamichi groaned. He looked back at Rido. "We came to tell you that your family is expecting you back soon with your mission succeeded." And with that he followed in pursuit of his friends.

Aw great. Her clan was in waiting and she was nowhere near here goal just yet.

Suddenly Rido was on the ground, her legs knocked out from under her by some dark sliding figure.

They had arrived.

Another shady figure jumped out of the forest from Rido's right and flung a handful of kunais at her. But Rido couldn't move to shield herself. She was being pinned down by some sort of ninjutsu. But the knives missed her, landing in the ground at both her sides.

But then the kunais contracted together revealing the wires that were binding her and circling it around her more tightly. She barely had enough room to breath let alone struggle.

Both figures approached her and the knelt down to meat her face to face. She didn't recognize either of the ninjas but it was apparent that they were both jonin and both of the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Your name foreigner." The first asked.

"Mutsuhito Rido of the Hidden Soul."

"Hidden…what? Soul?"

Rido nodded slowly.

The second ninja whispered something to the first and then turned back to her. "Why have you come here?"

"…" Rido couldn't tell her real objective. She couldn't lie either, they were specially trained to detect that. She had to keep silent, no matter how bad it looked for her case. "No particular reason."

Both shinobi stared at her. Ninjas always had reasons for imposing in another village. Everyone knew this.

"Were going to have to take you with us." The first shinobi ordered.

Great, here comes the torture. I wonder what they'll do to me. Maybe they'll lock me in a dirt cell or tear my skin off until I talk. Or maybe—

"Rido!!" A loud voice called from the forest. Just then the Uzumaki came stumbling out making no less noise then the kids had.

"Uzumaki-sama?" This was just about the last thing that Rido had been expecting. But she was so relieved that she could hardly feel her heart. Naruto had come to her rescue…technically.

Naruto looked confused. "What are you doing to my friend Kakashi-sensei?"

The first shinobi stood and turned to Naruto. "You know her Naruto?"

"Yeah, I do! Just what do you think you're doing sensei?"

The second shinobi stood too. "Sorry Naruto, we didn't know."

Naruto huffed and then bent down to cut the wires constricting Rido with a kunai.

"Thank you so much Uzumaki-sama!" Rido gushed as she freed herself. She had never been so happy to see anyone in her entire life.

"It's nothing," Naruto said with that hundred watt grin of his.

"We apologize madam." The one called Kakashi said.

"You'd better." Naruto growled. "Come on Rido, let's get out of here."