I don't own Naruto!

Looking at the steady, slow breathing of the girl named Emily, Sasuke whispers, "She's out."

"That didn't take long," Sakura adds, a little worried for the girl.

"So," Sasuke says as he gets closer to look at Emily more carefully, "what are you planning, Kakashi?"

"As straight-forward as always," is all Kakashi mumbles.

Sasuke does not leave his position from next to his sensei; he knew that if the man was to share his thoughts, it would be quiet, quick, and not repeated unless he wanted them to hear.

"Well... If I get the permission, I want to train her. The snag in this is that we would be a five-man squad then."

"Well why can't we have a five-man squad?" the slowest one in the group asks.

"Naruto, if a squad gets too big, it becomes harder to hide tracks and complete missions: the whole point of being a ninja," Sakura briefly explains.

"It might work with her, though."

Everyone looked at their teacher. Even Sasuke didn't know the reasoning behind these words.

"Take a good look at that kunai."

The three do so, but nothing clicks. "So she can stop a kunai," Naruto says. "Big whoop."

"Look closer."

Sakura's eyes get wide. "Th-The blade! How?"

Sasuke understands as soon as she finishes. "Kakashi," he coolly says, "Is this girl going to be a threat to us?"

Their sensei's face grows dark as he states, "That's why I want to train her. Someone of her type is easy to influence at her age."

Naruto is still trying to find out what's so special about the blade. "What? I don't get it."

"Naruto, does the blade look dull to you?"

Naruto looks. "Yeah."

"Well," Kakashi further elaborates, "Would a ninja carry and throw a dull blade? And would it pierce a thick book like that?"

Naruto understands. "No. So, what happened that made to blade dull when it hit the book?"

"See the marks? It looks like the blade was spinning when it pierced. However, the wrappings on the handle would have been displaced if the thrower spun it like that."

"So what happened? What did she do?"

"She spun the book."

Naruto looks at Sasuke. "What? But to make a mark like that, she would have needed to spin the book as fast as lightning!"

Sasuke looks back at Naruto. "And, what did she say about it?"

Naruto thinks. " 'How did I do that?'."

"Yeah. That means she is completely inexperienced; she did this as instinct."

"If her skills were refined, she would become a great asset." Sakura adds.

"She rivals you in guts, Naruto, and she rivals Sasuke in natural talent." Kakashi looks at the two with a grin before he adds, "You guys are going to have your work cut out for you."

Emily feels like she's floating, and when she stares at her hands, she can see through them.

A dream, huh?

She feels a presence again. This time, instead of just some kind of bad feeling like with her attempted murderer, the force of pure evil and hatred surrounds her. It's so strong that she thinks she may pass out; something - or someone - is not right.

"Well well... What have we here?" The voice is icy and thoroughly intrigued; the same as that of someone about to dissect a live animal.

I can't form words, can't move let alone run. The sheer volume of his ferocity is squeezing the breath out of me. She just starts feeling hot.

Then, she gets hotter.

And hotter.

… If my body temperature goes up by one more degree, I think my brain's going to melt. On the plus side...

I don't hear that guy's voice.

Emily doesn't feel his pressure. Did this heat do something to keep him away? Where did it come from?

"Emily!"

The girl snaps her eyes open. Kakashi has woken her up, but something's still not right.

"H...Hot..."

Wasn't the heat only in my dream? Why am I so hot?

Something very cold is placed on her forehead. Emily goes from "about to explode" to "slightly chilly" in two seconds. All of the heat just... poof!

"Are you alright?" Sakura is kneeling beside her, clearly scared.

"Yeah," Emily says before sitting up. "Whatever that was, it's gone along with that voice."

Her face is a mixture of relief, unsureness, and confusion. Before she can ask anything, Kakashi gets his questions out.

"What voice?"

Now that she is awake, Emily can recall all of the details and notice things she didn't while asleep.

"There was a voice, but no person, in my dream. He was, or maybe is, so evil and hateful that I couldn't move. It was out of fear; his wickedness kind of... constricted me. There was someone else there; he didn't talk, but I could feel his presence."

Kakashi takes this in. "Anything else you can tell me? What was the man's voice like?"

Emily thinks really hard before saying, "A snake. His voice was hissy as though a snake was talking."

The man is more serious in an instant. He quickly scoops up the girl in large clothes before saying, "We need to move," to his pupils.

Sasuke grabs the textbook and holds a knife like the one the madman used in some kind of ready position; the others do the same.

Everyone jumps onto the tree branches and dives into the green, sprinting in air. Leaves and twigs slap Emily, but she understands that everyone needs to be quiet; they are all running from something.

This goes on for an hour before Kakashi-sensei gives a kind of "okay" to talk and rest.

Naruto says (practically shouts),"Finally!" He pulls out some kind of lunchbox and begins chowing down in agreement with his growling stomach.

Emily realizes something. "What time is it? The sun is setting already!"

" 'Already'?" Sakura asks.

Emily nods. "Before I leapt through the portal, it was only 3:30 in the morning."

Sasuke gives her a weird look. "Where did you come from to go from before dawn to late afternoon? And why were you awake then?"

The girl blushes. "I was doing homework; it's a habit of mine. I'm from Tennessee. That's a state in the country America, which is on the North American continent. My planet's name is Earth, and we have a moon named Luna."

Sakura is surprised. "This planet's Earth, but that continent doesn't exist here, or any of that other stuff besides the moon we have." She turns toward Kakashi-sensei before asking, "Is it a coincidence that our planets have the same name?"

He closes his eyes before saying, "It's possible that it's just coincidence, but I think two more likely possibilities are that her Earth is a future or past version of our Earth or that her earth is in a different dimension than our own."

"So, I'm either a time-traveler or a dimension hopper?" Emily sighs. "I wanted to understand how the universe, heck, the multi-verse works, but this is nuts."

"'Mult-verse'?" Naruto asks.

She nods. "If I had paper and something to draw with, I could show you my entire world, our advances, and what we know about 'the final frontier' since my textbook only covers the biology portion and just an overview of that at best."

"'Final frontier'?" he asks with a confused look.

Emily's leg pulsates, and she cries out. "I'd forgotten it was broken," she mutters to herself.

She is hoisted into the bridal position again.

"Guys, you can talk to her and ask her questions when she's resting in a bed. Besides, the Third is probably wondering where we are."

They pack up their things that they all apparently had out to eat before standing. Sakura and Sasuke each give Emily a rice ball with a simple, "Here," and a, "You must be hungry; have this."

Emily reluctantly takes them (She's never been one to accept things from people.), but stops after they are in one hand. She just stares at the flesh covering her small fingers...

They're too small.

Only then does she realize why her clothes are like blankets on her. "Is there any water nearby?" she asks urgently.

Kakashi is confused but answers, "Yeah, a slow creek about 30m east from here. You want to take a detour?"

"Yeah."

They all head for the water. When the destination is in sight, Emily asks, "Can you put me down by the water's edge?"

Kakashi-sensei does, and Emily does her best not to scream or freak out. Turning back toward her company, she tells them with words full of mixed emotions this:

"I was going to turn sixteen in a few months, but instead, I became twelve again."

Everything with the dream will be explained later. I'm going to try to line the story up somewhat with the actual plot.

Just because she is from Tennessee, don't give her a thick country dialect! I have friends in TN that speak exactly like people in Indiana and Maine!

Comments? Suggestions? Even if you just want to tell me how much I suck, I'm all ears!