Terumi Mei looked at the sky, dark and scattered stars filling her vision as her mind wondered just how this could have happened.

The red-head had been on a standard patrol mission, considering how short on shinobi the rebellion was every hand was needed for even the most basic things, like patrols such as the one she was on. Despite not holding any land, the Rebellion was still based in Water country, and as such needed to patrol the land around their base constantly to ensure the Mizukage's forces could not sneak up upon them.

She had gone alone, for both a legitimate reason and because of a touch of arrogance on her part. After all, other than Yagura himself no shinobi in water country could match her. Her actual reason was two-fold. The logical and legitimate reason was because they couldn't spare the shinobi to run two-person patrols, and as such when there was someone as strong as her they ran the patrols alone to save time.

Despite that rule her "generals", and she used the term loosely, didn't like her leaving the base alone. Fortunately it wasn't because she was a woman, otherwise her generals would find their balls melted off, but rather because if she died the rebellion would swiftly fall. She was the strongest, and their only hope of defeating Yagura after all. Regardless, it was irritating. The rebel base was cramped and stuffy, and Mei had had a wishing for the open air, and as such she had gone on patrol. That had proved to be a mistake.

She was on the edge of the rebel occupied area, and it was then that they struck. Two high A-rank missing ninja, hired by Yagura to assassinate her. Considering she was pushing mid-kage herself, that wouldn't be such a big deal. But the two had pulled from the seemingly endless supply of bandits with a full fifty of them. Once again, normally not a problem for her, even with such superior numbers, and even with two A-rank ninja she would be able to win. Not without some effort, but she would be able to do so without an undue amount of trouble.

So why was it she was currently up against a cliff, bleeding from four different severe wounds? Well, it was rather simple. There was a traitor in the rebel compound. Not really much more of an explanation, considering when she tried to dodge an attack she was barely able to move, getting her first injury. Then it was the second not long afterwards, followed by the third and fourth before she managed to get out of there. Considering she had no knowledge of what she had been poisoned with, she could only pray that it would wear off before she passed out from blood loss, or they found her. Whichever came first. She never thought that she would become a damsel in distress, but she really hoped someone came across her, other than the ones hunting her.

"There you are! You've given us a nice little chase, but now it's time to give it up whore!" She sighed mentally. Of course they would find her. 'Every god damn time! Do they have some sort of tracker on me?' She sighed, once again turning her gaze skyward. She saw something odd, three hawks circling around above her. 'Odd. I thought it was the buzzards that were attracted to death? Oh well my feathered friends, if you were hoping for a feast, I'm afraid that these men will disappoint you. They intend to take me alive, most likely rape me, and then take my broken body to Yagura so that they can get paid.' She took a deep breath before stepping away from the cliff, ready to face her death with dignity.

~Break~

Naruto looked down, his golden eyes refined via chakra to the point of allowing him to zoom in from above so long as he had a point of focus.

"Do you see them Naruto?" Takami asked, the formerly small summon showing off his massive real size. Takami was actually as big as the other two hawks circling around with them, about the height of a single story house. Naruto shrugged that aside and paid closer attention to the group below.

Fifty-two men and a single, injured woman, red hair for some strange reason. 'That's two in as many days. It's not that common a color is it?' He thought to himself. He replied to his summon, eyes still focused on the group.

"I can make out the numbers and hair color, along with the color of their clothes. My eyes are not good enough to make out the other details." The hawk nodded, jostling Naruto slightly.

"That is the rebel leader, Mei Terumi." Naruto stared incredulously through his mask at the hawk.

"Impossible." The hawk glared up at him through one eye, the other remaining on the group as they circled around it.

"Impossible eh? And what makes you say that?" Naruto channeled more chakra to his eyes, a small drop of blood falling from the left one as he strained his eyes past their limits.

"The leader of a rebellion is an important person, important enough that they should only take to the field in dire circumstances, or there is something going on that requires their personal attention. It's the same sort of thing with a Kage, or any leader for that matter. While leading by example is all well and good, if you do something stupid like go off by yourself this sort of thing can easily happen. I would like to think that the leader of the rebels of Kiri would be intelligent enough to avoid this sort of thing. And that's not including the little fact that this seems just a little bit too convenient. "

"Maybe she just needed to get away from everything for a little while. It would certainly explain why she's so close to Konoha." Naruto hummed in thought before sighing.

"Regardless, I can't just go on my way and take the chance that she's not the rebel leader. I also have a valid excuse here, rather than finding their base where I will undoubtedly be questioned heavily. If I go in with her, it may just be a little less." Takami smirked, well as much as a hawk could smirk anyways.

"Well then, make an impression Naruto!" A dark aura seemed to leak out of the now brown-haired man.

"I intend to."

And Naruto overbalanced, falling over the shoulder of the hawk and towards the ground below.

"Ninpou: Strike and Bind!"

~Break~

Mei honestly wasn't sure what just happened. She had strode forward, intending to meet her death with dignity by using a suicide technique she had been preparing, which fortunately required no hand seals, otherwise she wouldn't be able to perform it, when the screech of a hunting hawk was heard. It was all the warning the group was allowed before he struck.

She had taken one final look at the sky, and seen a falling figure. The harsh cry startled her, especially as all three of the hawks formerly up there were gone now. When he hit the ground, the affect was beyond mere words to describe, but she needed to form some evidence of the man's skills, so she would try anyways.

Head first he rocketed towards the ground, she saw his lips move slightly as he flipped, mere feet from the ground, his feet now slamming into the ground. There was silence for a second, before a massive shockwave blasted all around him, dust exploding into being as a large part of the ground beneath him was simply obliterated. The shockwave launched every single bandit into the air as the cry of a hawk was heard once again, somehow piercing through the rest of the noise. The man vanished, even as hawks appeared beside bandits, latching on to them with what seemed like all the force of the man's fall, shattering most of their bones and even causing some of the weaker bandits to explode from sheer force.

The only two out of the group who had managed to keep their feet had been the two shinobi, and in the dust she saw them die, blood spraying from them, but no visible wound until several seconds later as a click was heard in the now silent clearing.

Mei looked on, stunned, as the hawks vanished as easily as they came, no smoke to denote summons, and the man walked over to her, hands glowing green. She tried to shrink away, but the blood loss was getting to her at last. He spoke up, voice quite and deep.

"Stay still, you'll only aggravate your injuries." He briefly scanned each injury with the glow, before focusing on the most serious. She spoke up this time, her own voice weak even to her ears.

"What…why?" He shushed her with a look, Mei feeling the fear that all shinobi fear of ticking off a healer.

"Sit down first, and then I'll explain." He helped her sit down, the adrenaline in her wearing off and leaving her quite weak, fully at the mercy of this strange brown-haired man.

"I've been hunting those two ninja for a while now. I've never had a chance to take them down until now, seeing as you were being very good bait." She was too weak to snap at him, so she settled for a growl. She sensed that he was slightly amused by that.

"Seeing as you were so good at that, I thought that I would heal you. I don't see a forehead protector; perhaps you would consider joining me? I could always use a distraction in my line of work. Besides that, the little lava you managed to conjure seemed quite powerful, even if you could only get very little of it out." The man had been healing her as he talked, and once the blood pill he forced down her throat took affect she started to feel better, and think a bit more clearly. She took a closer look at him, focusing on things that had passed her by when she was unable to concentrate.

A simple black ensemble, dull grey arm and shin guards, and a few other scattered pieces of armor covered tan skin. A blank ANBU mask covered his face, but there was brown hair visible above that. Then other observations that she had unconsciously made came to the forefront. Despite the light teasing tone in his voice, there was something behind it, not dangerous, but…it was as if something was missing from him.

Meanwhile Naruto was returning the favor, getting his first proper look at the woman he had saved. Luscious ankle-length red hair styled in a herringbone pattern, one bang covering her right eye, two others dipping down around her neck and the last curving slightly under her left eye, a shining emerald skin was covered by a long blue dress, rather low cut, under her breasts in fact, but they were covered by mesh armor, even if that still revealed a fair bit of cleavage. Of course, said dress was rather cut up, revealing significantly more than it should from the various injuries she had sustained, and the near misses, but Naruto was ignoring that.

Mei was still all over the place mentally; even if she was regaining her functions, one does not fully recover from severe blood loss that easily. While she could focus somewhat, she was nowhere near her normal level of functioning. This left her easy prey to a slight genjutsu from Naruto, which brought out and enhanced an idea she already had.

"Ah…no, I am afraid that I cannot join you. I have something that I have to do. Perhaps you could help me with that though. After all, I can guarantee you a safe place to stay after it is done." 'If he is a traveling mercenary as I suspect he is, considering the lack of Hi-Tae-Ate, he should be tired of being attacked by missing ninja trying to make easy payment. The fact that he's hunting A-rank ninja means that he has some skill at least, even if he isn't good enough to take on two A-Ranks by himself. However, he was able to kill them all by ambush, with hawks. We need someone stealth like that. All the original ANBU serve the Mizukage. Of course we couldn't really expect otherwise could we? If ANBU betrayed the Kage it would defeat the entire purpose of their existence.'

"And why should I bother with settling down? I quite like my little life, living in the shadows, not having to answer to anyone's authority.I'm sure that whatever you have to offer cannot match up to that." 'The genjutsu should easily be taking affect by now. She will feel the need for a certain set of skills, especially now that I've found evidence of that poison in her body. My little genjutsu will prey upon her need to have someone she can trust, and according to what she knows my current loyalty can be bought. And we all know that good ninja do not bite the hand that pays them.'

Mei held her head in her hands, groaning mentally. 'I am not up to negotiating with someone right now…still…with an unknown traitor in the rebel forces, I need someone outside the group that I can trust. He's a mercenary, I will be able to pay him once the rebellion ends, and we win. Normally I wouldn't bother, but our forces get ripped apart by people who have been trained for stealth. If he dies, well I won't have to pay him, so no loss. On the other had…if he is good with stealth, he should be able to find our little traitor. Perhaps they might even approach him in an attempt to hire his services.' All of this took her several minutes to puzzle her way through, when usually it would only take her keen mind a few seconds.

"I'm willing to pay you." She said, still holding her throbbing head. She had just figured out that she hated looking at a blank mask. In addition to not being able to see the wearer's reactions, it was also making her headache worse. The man placed a green-glowing hand on her head, easing off her headache. She sighed in relief.

"We'll talk about that later. You aren't going anywhere for a few days." Mei's head snapped up, a protest clear upon her face, only to be cut off by him talking first.

"Even if you had a better healer you would still not be moving for at least the next twenty-four hours, and you're lucky it's not worse. Unless you feel like reopening those wounds you are going to stay sitting." She stared at him for several seconds before talking again.

"I can't, I have to get back, they will be looking for me." The man shook his head, sitting down as well.

"Good luck with that. I think you might make it a mile before those things open from the stress, even if you're just walking. Of course, do it if you wish, I will not stop you, but you will do no good to anyone the way you are now." She growled again, but this time it was at her helplessness, and her inability to move. So now she was stuck with someone she didn't know, had never seen before, and the only bit of info that she had on him was one attack, his summons group, and the fact that he was a mercenary. She settled in, resigned to a wait, but also trying to set herself up for an interrogation.

"You never told me your name." she stated, beginning her questioning with a simple one, one she should have asked earlier.

"Hanzo." He said, voice still mostly emotionless. She had noticed that other than the occasional tone of emotion the man's voice was mostly emotionless.

"Hanzo…" she tasted the name, one she had never heard before. Their was no way to tell if he was lying, so she would have to rely upon other methods to see if he was a spy for the Mizukage.

"And yours?" he asked.

"Mei." He nodded, as if confirming something.

"The head of the revolution of the Mist, I'm honored." He said; that slight mocking tone returning.

"You have heard of me?" she asked cautiously, preparing herself incase she needed to melt him. She was caught off guard by a slight, humorless chuckle coming from inside the mask.

"One cannot enter the Elemental Nations without hearing of the Kiri Rebellion, and one cannot be in Kiri long without hearing of its powerful leader. You are well known, well-liked, and also reputed to be kage-level. I guess that explains the poison I found in your system." Mei relaxed, releasing the chakra she had built up. She still stayed on edge, but it was not as much as before. Naruto grew a bit irritated at that, but shrugged it off, knowing that her mind had unconsciously dispelled his genjutsu, even if the affects still lingered.

"I see. Then you know what it is I ask of you." Mei watched him nod before responding.

"You wish me to join your little rebellion. Considering you have just met me, I find myself wondering why." A second genjutsu, even more insidious then the first played on what insecurities the woman had now, causing her to spill her worries to him. This was as far as he would go though, because once she had finished his place in the rebellion would be assured. She would not be able to afford anything else.

Mei sighed, her worries and fears had been piling up for years, even before the rebellion had started. She looked at him. Her instincts, or in this case Naruto'sgenjutsu, were telling her she could trust this man, and she really did need someone to talk to, just be completely honest with and be herself with. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't have dreamed of doing anything remotely similar to this, but thanks to the genjutsu and her injuries her common sense was a little lacking.

"A myriad of reasons to begin?"

"How about at the beginning?" And despite the all too common answer, she did, going all the way back to before the rebellion.

"If you are to truly understand why I want you to join, you need to know what you would be fighting for." Most mercenaries wouldn't, and she knew this, but Mei retained enough of her usual mind to know that she would not be able to allow him to leave after this, and as such endeavored to convince him to stay. The nod she received encouraged her a little, making her hope that he would not become a security threat to her revolution.

"It began a few months after our YondaimeMizukage, Yagura of the Ocean, took office. He is the current Jinchurriki for the three-tailed tortoise, and as that beast is the most peaceful and calm of the Biju, so to wasYagura the calmest of our shinobi. He was a peaceful soul, preferring to simply meditate in his favorite clearing alone then deal with the trials and trouble of the Kage position, but the elders wished a change from the village's reputation as "The Bloody Mist." Yagura had always been a strong opponent against the practice that was common in our academy, of causing graduating students to kill their best friend. In fact one of the things he promised to do was rid us of that practice."

She smiled, remembering the small Kage fondly.

"So gentle and kind, but then everything changed. Yagura received a report from one of his ANBU, a fox-masked man with spiky black hair. The man with that mask left, and was never seen again, but he left a lasting legacy. It was small changes at first, a strict edict here and an extra tax there in the name of village security. That was nothing special, but I could see the slow changes in him. His eyes, once a warm and caring brown became dark, losing that spark of kindness they had always held. No one else suspected anything, but I had been friends with him for some time, and could see it." She sighed, low with sadness.

"I wish that I had done something, tried to help him more. I tried many things, attempted to fix whatever was ailing him, but to no avail. By the time the dispute over whether or not to keep the practice that named us the Bloody Mist came up it had become obvious to me that he was sliding down a slippery path to dictator ship.

That day proceeded as planned at first, the two sides came up and presented their arguments, and it was clear which one we should have gone with. I saw something that day, something that makes me believe he is under some sort of control or genjutsu.

There was a struggle within him, as clear to me as you are now. He agonized over his decision for sometime, eyes going dark, warming up again, but finally whatever darkness is inside him won out. The practice stayed, and while his reasons were logical, it still surprised everyone. I think that was the day I first got the idea for a rebellion.

It became evident soon after that just how much he had changed because of whatever is influencing him. The once kind and happy man became cruel and dark, imposing rules and regulations that even Iwa would deem extreme. All too soon came the blood-line massacre.

I'm still not sure how long he had been preparing it, but I do know that this civil war truly started on September Sixth, roughly ten years ago." She paused as Naruto evaluated her. She couldn't have been older than thirty-seven, probably closer to thirty-five. She would have to have been just entering her twenties when all of this started. 'So what was her relationship with Yagura? Not lovers considering the age but…a mentor perhaps. Some sort of father or older brother figure.'

"The first I knew of it was when myself and the remaining swordsmen of the mist were gathered in a show of force by Yagura. We left, along with a large force of shinobi, and wound up near a blood-line clan home. These were the Yuki, a clan of Ice-using shinobi who had always been loyal to Kiri. We were ordered to massacre them. Three swordsmen of the remaining five stayed their blades in shock along with myself, but the remaining two and the army destroyed the clan home. Not a single member was left alive when they were done.

Zabuza, Kisame, and Jinin nearly attacked Yagura, staying their hands only because I stopped them. As strong as they are, even they would fall before Yagura and the army, especially with the other two members fighting beside him. I gave a reason as to why we didn't join the massacre, saying that if so many high-level shinobi were to join in attacking a single clan it would spread rumors that Yagura feared them. He accepted that reason, and allowed us to return. Jinin and Zabuza screamed at me for stopping them once we got a good distance away, but the now calm Kisame, strongest of the group, shut them up easily and explained why I did it.

Kisame immediately began planning with me. We couldn't let this go unpunished. Yagura had officially gone mad, and even if he was controlled by something else we would still need to end him, to give justice to those who had died. Did you know that it was actually Kisame who was supposed to lead the rebellion? We were evenly matched at that time, and I had no desire to have the weight of a nation falling upon my shoulders. He, on the other hand, was not only willing, but eager. Kisame was a strong believer in Kiri, and believed that in order for it to thrive the village must be unified. What Yagura was doing would only result in a long and bloody war.

Not a month later I noticed a change in Kisame. Where once he had been eager and passionate, now he was almost depressed. He never responded to my queries on what was wrong, but I had my suspicions. I believed then, and still do to this day, that the man who is controlling Yagura paid Kisame a visit as well, for his eyes now held the same darkness. It was not as pronounced however, which makes me think that Kisame could be brought back under the right conditions.

I couldn't trust Kisame anymore, and not to long after that Zabuza failed an assassination attempt against Yagura, resulting in him fleeing from Kiri. Kisame was chased out by Yagura soon after. With my only remaining ally, Jinin, I began crafting the bones of the revolution.

The first that I recruited are my generals now, those who had blood-lines or spoke out against Yagura, those who I knew would be the next to be killed. All too soon Yagura's madness continued, affecting the entire country with an anti-bloodline fervor. I lost my advisory position, and soon enough it was my clan being massacred.

Not too long after that Jinin and I were able to start the rebellion, but it was at the cost of his life. Yagura somehow discovered our plan, and while we had few, we were all some of the stronger shinobi around. Jinin proved just why he was a member of the swordsmen though, taking down Jinpachi of the Heartless pair before falling to the other member, Kushimaru.

From there our numbers have only grown, but at every turn we have been outmatched and outnumbered by Yagura's forces. His elite ANBU outmatch us at every turn, taking what gains we get and destroying them.

Beyond that, it seems like half of the recruits we get are traitors. Yagura knows our every move, our every base, our every plan. And everyday those few people, both with and without blood-lines, who stay in the village are abused and degraded, if not executed." She had been strong for the entire the entire story, but now a tear made its way down her cheek.

"I just received word that the last of my clan, my parents, were killed." Another tear fell, followed by another, and soon Mei was crying, shedding the tears that had been building up since the day Yagura changed. She nearly collapsed, stopped only by the arms of the mercenary, who held her as she cried. Neither knew just how long she cried, but by the time she had finished it had gotten light again, having been the middle of the night when she started.

Red-rimmed green eyes looked up at Naruto from his shoulder, and Naruto for the first time felt guilt. It was an odd sensation to him, having never experienced it before. 'Dammit Jiraiya.' He thought. Naruto hadn't thought that the man had affected him that much. A shinobi simply couldn't afford to have anything remotely resembling guilt. It could paralyze them, cause them to freeze during a kill. Jiraiya had, despite Naruto attempting to force him to be serious, done his very best to both pervert Naruto, as well as humanize him. Between Danzo and the constant kills, Naruto had crafted his battle-mode to stay on permanently, but somehow the fact that he had been the driving force behind this woman's tears was tearing at him inside.

"Thank-you." She said voice raw from her tears. Naruto did not know exactly what she was thanking him for, whether him holding her or being a sympathetic ear, but he nodded anyways. She separated from him, something inside her gone now. Everyone was weak at some point, and at that point they need someone to support them. For Mei, that point had just passed, and much to her shame, it had been with someone she barely knew, and could have easily killed her during that time. She breathed lightly for some time, attempting to fully recover before continuing.

"If you do join us, and I hope you do, you will be fighting to save the lives of practically everyone in the Land of Water. As I'm sure you know, the Daimyo's wealth and land are tied directly to their shinobi village, and with our current weakness we are vulnerable. I am willing to pay you what you wish, within reason, whether it is Yen (money) or if it's a position that you are suitable for once this war is over." She fell into silence, hoping that this man would agree. She could not afford to let him live otherwise.

Naruto was silent for a long time, in fact the sun was fully up before he answered her, plenty of time for her to get nervous and prepare to kill him.

"I shall fight beside you."