Disclaimer & Author's Note: I do not own anything Naruto or Zelda that is mentioned in this plotline. All I own are original characters, items/weapons/jutsu/ect. Now, this chapter was a bit difficult to execute properly, and it's been awhile since I last updated this storyline. But do not worry, for I will continue to please the fans of my fictional works. For now, please bear with me fo the slow updates to this story.

Chapter Twenty Three

Epona whinnies as she jumped over a fallen tree. Hena laughed as she held onto Naruto.

"Wow! This is so much fun!" she yelled.

Naruto grinned.

It has been a week since the shop had closed. The reason was Hena wished to visit Liz, but didn't like to travel alone, so Naruto use the whistle to call Epona, in less than five minutes, the mare emerged from the trees, and once they were packed, left Konoha Lake. They had been traveling for the week towards the border to the Country of the Rivers.

Soon, they emerged in the somewhat wet lands of River Country.

"This way Naruto-kun," Hena tells Naruto, looking at the map.

He turned in the direction she pointed at, and traveled down the trail. It soon led them to one of the flowing large rivers of the country. Built near the edge was a house that acted as a sort of dam. A construction of metal and wood. Waiting for them outside was a tall young woman. She looked like a nimble fighter in Naruto's mind, and like Kikoru, she wore her dark hair in an afro. She wore farmer's overalls, sandals, and a v-neck light blue tee.

"Liz!" Hena called, as Epona slowed to a trot.

"Ahh, so, this is the boy you're dating huh?"

Liz walked over as Naruto boarded off Epona, and shook his hand. "I'm Liz. I'm the oldest sibling."

"Nice to meet you," said Naruto.

"Liz, leave him alone," said Hena, as she grabbed her stuff stored in a scroll.

"So, is he a mercenary? Looks a bit too young to be one."

"He's a ninja, believe it or not."

"Really?" Liz questions.

"He did something that was frowned upon by Konohagakure no Sato, that they put him on a three month probation. He has a month left before he's allowed to resume duty as a Genin."

"He reminds me of those ninjas who dress in their own ways off to the far west."

Hena smiled, anchoring onto the blonde's arm.

"He's better wearing the tunic. Remember that old photo I have in my book?"

Liz blinked, and then blinked again. "Ah, I see... now that you say it he does look like that guy... only you're blonde has sun-kissed yellow. So, is this your horse?"

"Not originally. She was a gift from the Fire Daimyo. Her name is Epona."

Epona nickered.

"Ah, I got some carrots if she likes 'em."

"She'll eat anything, though she's fond of apples."

Epona nudges her head against Naruto, causing him to chuckle a bit.

"Well, come on in. The rivers are always flowing and it's what gives my place electricity. Though I hate it when the winter months come up..."

"Yeah, that way she has to pay to get electricity pumped to her house from a village somewhere."

"Quiet you," Liz said.

Naruto just kept smiling.

=0=0=

The lake was empty, and it allowed nature to frolic the beaches near the forests. Of course, a certain group of Genin and Chunnin were looking at the note posted on the bulletin board outside Hena's Fishing Shack. Hinata turned around after reading the note herself. She wanted Naruto... then she saw someone sitting on a lawn chair on the dock, fishing. She recognizes the afro hairstyle the guy sported.

Is that Kikoru-san?

She walked over, not noticing that the others looked at the Hyuuga.

"Ano... Kikoru-san?"

Kikoru looked to his right, and them beamed a smile. "Ah, girl, hi. I'm surprised you remembered me."

"Yeah, you sold us that lantern."

Kikoru smiled. "That's nice. How is it?"

"Naruto uses it when it's needed. It helped us get through that dark forest."

"I'm glad. I decided to come here to visit my sister, but it appeared that she gone to visit our older sister Liz in Kawa. I did hear that she was dating a wonderful guy though. I was hoping to meet him. Oh well."

The guy had such a care-free attitude, you couldn't help but smile.

"Oh, that's nice. Well, my friends need to go. We were hoping to see Naruto here, but he's gone. Bye now."

"Good bye friend." And Kikoru returned to fishing.

Hinata walked away, and she felt everyone else follow her.

"Who was he?" Kin asks.

"Hena's brother, Kikoru. He sold Naruto-kun a lantern."

"With the note on that board, Naruto is in Kawa... troublesome," Shikamaru said.

"Wouldn't he get in more trouble for leaving like that?"

"He's still on probation..."

The note they read said the following:

Konnichiwa!

We're sorry but Hena's Fishing Shack is closed until further notice. I and my part-time employer/boyfriend Naruto have gone to visit family in Kawa no Kuni.

Hena (& Naruto)

P.S.: Do not pollute the lake and the surrounding environment! It's unhealthy and it pretty much pisses us off. Please discard your trash and other unmentionables in the right labeled dumpster bins near the fences. If a Konoha Shinobi is reading this, Hena's Fishing Shack requests a D-Rank Mission for three Genin teams with small pay.

Details: Clean the trash around the lake, and the bins by the fences (bins are to be cleaned completely and scrubbed down inside, and outside if you wish to do so). Pay is 200 ryo per Genin and 500 ryo for the participating Jounin-sensei of assigned Genin Team.

Naruto (& Hena)

Shikamaru was the one who made a copy of that message note, and have handed it over to Tsunade when they had returned to the village. Tsunade sighed. Naruto was in Kawa no Kuni, with that girl who two weeks ago calmly kicked her ninja out whom went to grab Naruto to return him to the village. There was a bi of a fight, and it did not take a genius to see that the girls who Naruto were mostly with had gone into a bit of a depression. Still, a mission is a mission, so she wrote up the contract, and just got an idea.

"Shizune, get me these people in my office now."

Shizune nodded and left, looking on the slip of paper she was given. Tonton suddenly passed gas, which sounded disgustingly wet...

"AND GET THIS PIG OUT OF HERE!"

She ran to open the window.

Damn! We feed it healthy food and yet it smells horribly.

=0=0=

In Kawa no Kuni, Naruto was relaxing comfortably. He had shown Liz what he knew so far with his swordsman skills. He was not by all means an expert, but he knew enough to keep himself up in guard, and attack at the right moment. Suddenly his eyes are jolted open when Hena jumped into his lap, giggling.

"Whatcha thinking of, Naruto-kun?"

"Oh... nothing much, really," he responded, smiling.

Hena smiled and leaned close. "Really, or was that a lie?"

Naruto pecked her on the lips. "Dunno..."

"Tell me."

He sighed. "Wondering what my friends are doing... I'm pretty sure they're disappointed I'm not even in Hi anymore."

"Still beating yourself up on that?"

"Not as much, no... I just... well, I just wish they didn't have to hurt my feelings that way. They knew what my childhood was before the Kyuubi was ripped right out of my body... they should have known better."

"They'll change..."

Naruto nodded gently.

"Hope so..."

Naruto leaned back, and Hena just curled up in his arms.

=0=0=

Naruto hiked back up the mountain trail, after trying out that little game she charges random passerbys. Needless to say, it was fun; canoeing down the river, while trying to launch a given supply of arrows. The trek was wonderful for Naruto due to exercise. Although, there was this minor incident of a lonely bandit mugging him, trying to is the keyword. Naruto had simply kicked him in the jaw and continued on. And then... his luck began to change yet again, and it started with a sudden drop into darkness, and the fading cry of Hena at the half-way point of the path to Liz's place.

Naruto groaned, as he awoke some time later. He had no clue how long he had been knocked out but, he looked around, dragging out his Lantern. He wished he never did. Corpses... mummified corpses. There were also some bones littering the ground, and a few rats that still managed to survive here. All of a sudden he heard skittering-like noises, before he saw a few of the bodies twitch, and then begin to get up, and attack Naruto. He swore as he clipped the Lantern to his belt while attacking with the sword.

After the last mummy had been killed, he heard the whoosh of flames, and the area is lit up. He was somewhere he should not be in, but he was trapped here somehow... but something was telling him... that there was an evil in this area that needs to be destroyed. "Never would have thought I'd stumble upon a hidden underground laboratory or some bull like this."

The underground chambers. Naruto would not have known until later, but he had stumbled upon one of Orochimaru's long abandoned hidden bases, bases used for his mutation and human experimentations. He had summoned Gamakichi and Gamatatsu and told them to inform Ero-Sennin that he had gone on a weekly trip with Hena to visit her sister Liz, only to find some sort of abandoned chamber filled with corpses. Due to the way the area had been sealed, decomposition has lessened to a mummification effect instead of a rotting effect. It was cool in here, but there was also that dark chill of immediate danger in the air. Being brave though, Naruto did not deter; he continued onward after the two toads had returned, saying they had delivered the message to Ero-Sennin. So, it was Naruto, Midna in his shadow, and the two toads riding on each of the blonde's shoulder, going through the hallway, heading down stairs carved into the hard earth.

Reaching the bottom, he opened the door, and found himself... inside another underground chamber. But, the torches were all lit, and there were dangerous auras littering the area now. Naruto could feel the evil that pulsed in here. Especially the giant mutant spiders that looked like they had been successfully bred with scorpions came at him, hissing and spitting a yellow stream of webbing from the fanged mouth that was its stinger coming from the skull-shaped bulbous body. Naruto jumped, and retaliated with the Master Sword. The creature hissed as Naruto stabbed it again for good measure. To his surprise, it exploded into ash and dust that evaporated away.

Okay, now something is definitely up here...

He looked around. The chamber was a fusion of hard earth and metal. Torches gave the light in the area. Down below was a dangerous looking purple fog, and he could see water. The floor he was on is a bridge-wide walkway suspended by pillars underneath and by chains from the ceilings connected to the railings that was the height of the average adult's waistline. Corpses littered the large platform in front, which after he walked onto it, a sudden barrier surrounded, preventing escape. Twili Parasites emerged from the twilight and all burrowed into the mouths of the corpses. The rotting mummy-like enemies were now reanimated, and they attacked Naruto with clumsy abandonment. There were a total of nine mummies wanting to devour his flesh. That was not going to happen. Naruto pulled out the Sword of Evil's Bane, and sliced the first mummy, crippling it before slashing at the head, also killing the bug. He kept attacking, backing away and pushing them back with a Shield Attack, until the last mummy collapsed and the bug was sliced to dust. The barrier of energy that sprung up dissipated.

"Ya know what, on second thought, you two can return back. Don't need your dad trying to kill me cuz you two got hurt."

"If you're sure boss, but don't hesitated to call us. I just don't like that chill hanging in the air."

Two poofs of smoke and the two child-like toads are gone. Midna emerged now that the coast was clear, and followed Naruto as he ran, and jumped a gap to another octagonal platform suspended by thick chains. Little do they know, that the further they traveled in, the more evil they would encounteer...