~Alai~

At first I wasn't quite sure where I was. The last thing I remembered was being captured by Orochimaru outside of Konoha. But then as the light filled my eyes I realized that I was no longer in the forest.

"I feel like you can only use this trick if I'm unconscious."

"Trick?" a man spoke up from behind me, making me spin around to lock eyes with an unfamiliar man. He had long brown hair that reached to the middle of his back, his armor was red with black clothing underneath. Yet despite the fact he was covered in armor and an overwhelming energy level, his face told me he was kind. Much like Minato and Naruto.

"Your not Minato."

"Nope that's not my name, sorry!"

"So then, what is your name?"

I held my hands together behind my back as I tilted back and forth, waiting for an answer. He smiled back to me before answering.

"My name is Hashirama Senju. I am the first Hokage of Konoha."

"Oh! well then I suppose I should thank you then."

"For what miss?"

"If it weren't for you protecting Konoha, I wouldn't have been able to have a safe place to stay when I arrived."

"Well I'm glad it was a safe haven for you. But can I ask... how are you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing. I'm currently unconscious."

"I'm here to talk to the Beckoner. She brings spirits like us to the next world.

"Yay, looks like Minato got everyone to stop saying 'Messenger of Death'!" I hopped up and down quickly before noticing the First Hokage's confused expression.

"Your a Beckoner? and who's Minato?"

"The other person who managed to bring me here. He said he would tell everyone that I'm a Beckoner and not a Messenger of Death."

The First Hokage laughed for a moment before I realized something. Something that confused me.

"So if Minato didn't tell you, how do you know about Beckoners?"

"When I was alive, there was a woman named Skye with the power to access this world. She discovered a way to control a creature to use in battle during the war. The last time I saw her was when she helped us name Konoha. She disappeared after that."

One thing caught my attention out of that whole explanation. I lifted my hands to my chest and held them as I ran to the First Hokage.

"You knew Lady Skye?"

"She's famous now? Should have known. How is she?"

I shook my head, he wouldn't know how much time had passed in this world.

"Lady Skye passed away, she was the first Beckoner in my worlds history."

"Some time must have passed. How did she die?"

"Legend says she died with her husband in the battle of Tasuhc."

"Legend? I always knew she'd make history."

"She was the first Beckoner in my world. After she died, she became the goddess who every chosen Beckoner prays to."

His eyes got wide for a moment before leaning back to laugh. After noticing my expression he calmed down and looked down to me.

"She's kind of a big deal now then, when she disappeared she must have gone to your home."

"So why were you looking for Lady Skye?"

I watched as his features hardened, he was becoming serious.

"There has been an odd feeling in the spirit world. I think it has something to do with the spirit she summoned."

"Her husband?"

"Her what? No. She was married?"

"Yes, she had two children as well from what the stories tell."

"Her husband was her summon?"

"Yes, he gave his life to become a summon to help protect Myrna during the battle."

"The one she used here was different, she had a connection with the tailed beasts of the ninja world."

"So she had two spirits? That's impossible! Beckoners are only able to link themselves with one spirit."

"Maybe she lost that link when she crossed into your world."

"But I had kept mine, it doesn't add up."

I turned slightly away from the first Hokage to think about the possibilities. If I hadn't been able to stay connected with Talon then I would consider it...

His laughing soon cut me off. "What's so funny?"

"You remind me of her. What is your name?"

"Alai sir."

"Hm, you are exactly like Skye, you look like her, even act like her."

"Thank you First Hokage of Konoha."

He scrunched up his face then, showing his distaste.

"I hate formalities, you can call me Hashirama."

"Can I call you Hashi instead? I like using nicknames!"

"Only if I can call you little Skye."

"But that's the goddesses name!"

"And I said you remind me of her." he started laughing again, but this time I was laughing with him. Our moment was sadly short lived though, as I felt something pulling me back from the realm where Hashi was.

'I didn't get to say goodbye.'

I mentally pouted as I felt the sensation of grass brushing up against my skin. My torso was being lifted into someone's arms with my legs still on the ground.

When I opened my eyes my vision was blurry, not that it mattered because the second my eyes opened I was pulled into a bone crushing hug while being picked up into the air and swung from side to side.

"THANK GOD YOUR AWAKE!"

'That voice...'

I pushed away so I could get a good look at the person hugging me to death. My eyes brightened up the moment I saw who it was.

"NEMA YOU FOUND ME!"

"OF COURSE I FOUND YOU, YOU WERE IN TROUBLE MY AWESOMEST BESTEST FRIEND ALI!"

As we were hugging and having our amazing moment, a voice broke through it behind us.

"We were about to give up chasing Orochimaru down when we heard the whistle, so we got you out of there. Alai..."

I looked over into my brothers eyes, expecting to get a lecture about how worried he was.

"I'm sorry we left you there."

'Well that's unexpected.'

I let go of Nema and hugged Kalen this time. I could tell that he felt terrible about it. I had to cheer him up!

"You were just doing what you thought was best, and I'm glad you did. I had a lot of fun there. I have to tell you something though, Kalen Konoha is in trouble. That man Orochimaru, he's working with Suna to destroy Konoha! He's after Sasuke!"

"There's not much we can do, and now that Orochimaru has an interest in you, we have one more dangerous person to worry about. Finding out who the masked man isn't worth losing you in the process."

Kalen tried to turn away, signaling an end to the conversation, I looked to Nema for help but he seemed to agree with Kalen. I had to make them understand.

"But Kalen!"

"I'm sorry, there's just too much at stake."

"Talon chose Sasuke!"

I blurted out the one thing that would get Kalen to listen to me. I looked at Kalen's back while Nema broke our short silence.

"Then that means the Uchiha brat is a warrior..."

"No..." Kalen's voice created tension in the air. He wasn't happy right now. He turned to face us. "He's HER warrior, we're going back to Konoha. Why is Orochimaru after him?"

"No idea, but he gave him something by biting him."

"Well he took off as soon as we got you back. Looks like we have more time."

Kalen turned to face me before walking back in the direction of Konoha.

"But we just LEFT Konoha!" Nema shouted at us, he never was a fan of returning to places a second time.

"Deal with it! Besides I left all my stuff back at Kashi's anyway." I stuck my tongue out at Nema playfully before I had to quickly dodge a flying fist. It was how Nema and I always were, and just like always Kalen had to break our fun time up.

"We're going to find out how much time we have until the attack, Alai we're going to be training you up until then."

"What about Sasuke?"

"We're going back there for him but I'm not going to go into this battle blind. I'm going to make sure that your prepared."

I nodded in agreement before taking off after Kalen, Nema following behind while muttering something incoherent. If I knew my best friend at all though I can predict that it's something along the lines of. 'Stupid Uchiha having to be the warrior.' or even 'Stupid Talon.'

In fact..

'My bets on both.'

~Nema~

Once we snuck our way back into the Hidden Leaf, we followed Ali back through the streets to find the copycats house. She had her bow with her, but wanted the chance to get the rest of her stuff.

"Hold on a second." Ali stopped us on a rooftop overlooking a major street in the village. She looked to Kalen before jumping down to the path to talk to someone.

The chakra signatures weren't very strong, Genin level at best so I wasn't too worried. That was until I saw Kalen's face. He looked concerned by the sight of the people.

When I looked over the edge I saw three people talking to Ali, one was a fattie who was munching on a bag of chips. He had his brown hair up above his head in two places with his headband holding it in place. White scarf with a green jacket covering his white undershirt. Typical black shorts with bandages covering his limbs, but what caught my attention was the swirls on his cheeks. He was an Akimichi.

The boy next to him didn't interest me at all, he was of the Inuzuka clan, scruffy brown hair with a fluffy grey hoodie and black pants with the signature red fangs on his cheeks. From what I had heard about his clan, they had a strong bond with their animal, and the dog he had with him wasn't even fully grown yet.

It was the last boy that made me slightly confused, I couldn't tell what clan he was from, but he was the one Kalen was focusing on. He had his brown hair in a bun and his headband around his left bicep. He wore a grey vest covering over his fishnet shirt with black shorts. He looked lazy to be honest, but if Kalen was worried then so was I.

"So why are we worried if she knows them? "

"I know two of them, the one with the headband on his arm is Shikamaru Nara and the one with the puppy is Kiba Inuzuka, they used to play with Alai when they were younger."

"Well we did bring her back here, she was bound to run into all her old friends. Plus they're only Genin, I doubt they would be informed about her disappearing again."

"Shikamaru Nara is a genius..."

"Then isn't this a big problem?"

"Why do you think I'm worried? But we can't be seen."

We looked back to Ali to see the fat boy still eating his chips, the dog on Kiba's head had moved to Ali's arms. The Nara kid stood with his hands shoved in his pockets. We listened in on the conversation.

"Alai? You realize you have Jonins and ANBU looking for you right? Is everything ok?"

Alai reacted to the Nara kid's statement quickly with a face filled with guilt.

"I didn't mean to worry anyone. I just wanted to make sure my team was safe. I'm sorry Shi."

We watched Ali and the Genin exchange a moment of silence before it was broken.

"How are they doing?"

Nara shrugged his shoulders before explaining. "We found them in a clearing. Naruto was sleeping just the troublesome moron he is, Sakura was hurt pretty bad... and Sasuke..."

The Akimichi and Nara looked away from Ali as if they remembered something they wish they hasn't. Ali didn't take the negative update well, she ran up to Nara and grabbed ahold of his shoulders, shaking him.

"But what? What about Sasuke? and how did Sakura get hurt?"

"Some Sound Village team ambushed them, my team and an older Leaf Village team helped them out, they'd been picking fights with us since the first exam."

"They called me fat!" the Akimichi shouted out, as I was thinking 'at least it's the truth' Ali was comforting the little fat Genin.

"I'm sure you made them pay for it Choji, but thank you guys. For helping."

The Inuzuka stepped forward and gave Ali a hug before I could notice that her facial expressions dropped.

"And Sasuke?"

All three boys looked at each other before the genius Shikamaru kid decided to answer. " He was unconscious when we first got there, but during the fight... He changed. There was this dark chakra and black patterns on half of his body."

Ali's eyes widened as mine did before she responded. "Black patterns? are they all ok now?"

"They made it through the second round if that's what you mean."

"So the teams moving on."

Nara shook his head and corrected Ali. "Once the second exams were over, we had to fight one on one in a preliminary round. Sasuke and Naruto made it, but Sakura went against Ino and both were knocked out."

"What about you guys?" Ali looked to all three boys eagerly, she was happy to speak to her other friends.

Dog boy spoke up before anyone. "Well I was the one who fought Naruto so... yeah."

Ali gave him a quick hug before speaking. "I'm sorry Kiba, I'm sure it was a close match."

"I almost beat him, but he just wouldn't stay down. Shikamaru here won his match though."

She laughed slightly before turning to the chubby kid. "Who did you face Choji?"

"The leader of that Sound Village team, the one that attacked your team in the forest. I lost..."

"Konoha will make him pay in the next round. Congrats though Shi!"

"Thanks, Shino made it in too."

"How did Hinata do?"

The dog boy became angry with this, I almost jumped forward, but Kalen stopped me and shook his head. I went back to watching.

"She was beaten pretty badly by that scumbag cousin of hers."

"Neji?"

"Yeah that guy, if I see him again I'm gonna pummel his face in."

"He's a good person Kiba, he's just.. upset about a lot of things."

"I hope Naruto beats him real good in the finals."

"He's against Neji then..."

Chubby spoke up from the background in an attempt to change the subject.

"Will you be watching everyone at the finals?"

"Of course I will, when will they be?"

Nara shrugged his shoulders quickly, "A month from now."

Ali nodded her head quickly, I smiled at the way Ali managed to get the info she needed so easily.

"But listen, you guys said everyone was looking for me. I think I'm gonna go find Kakashi-sensei and let everyone know I'm alright."

They all said their goodbyes before turning away from Ali, she waited til they were gone before she jumped back up with us. I nudged her shoulder with mine.

"Good job on the intel Ali, on to copy-cats?"

"Yeah, we should hurry though. I think Shikamaru may have figured it out."

~Alai~

We picked up the pace back to Kashi's house, but not without checking for any Konoha Shinobi. Nema looked around unsure of himself as Kalen and I looked upon Kashi's home.

"This is it." Kalen spoke up, gaining Nema's full attention. He looks at his house for a few minutes before announcing.

"There's no one there."

At first I was really surprised, and while Kalen was telling Nema not to underestimate Kashi's skill. I realized it, he wouldn't be here.

"Maybe he thought she would abandon her stuff. Besides, don't they all think Orochimaru kidnapped her?"

"Shi said everyone was looking for me, which means they're in the village. They must know I got away."

"So then copy-cat must be on the hunt with everyone for Ali then!"

"Are you really that stupid Houzuki?" Kalen challenged. Nema was going to say something when they realized I was spacing out.

"What's wrong Ali?"

"Kashi won't be here, he's guarding Sasuke at the hospital."

"We're you planning on seeing him?"

I nodded slightly to my brother before continuing. "Not now, I'd rather not have to run. We have to be careful in here though, I'm sure he has more than the usual traps set up in case I came back here."

We were long gone within the half hour. Taking one last look from the forest path before it completely vanished.

'One month.'

~Kakashi~

Once I heard the scream I followed it further outside of Konoha's gates until a loud whistle pierced the sky. The scream may have worried me but the whistle terrified me. It was Alai and Kalen's way of saying they were in trouble.

I hurried to the area where the whistle originated, but found nothing more than tracks. Three tracks to be specific, one who appeared in the middle of a clearing and ended up running down one path away from the village and the other two tracks were close to each other, before walking off toward the village.

Kalen and Nema found her.

After realizing that I managed to make my way back quick enough to catch some other Jonin leaving.

"Kakashi Hatake, shouldn't you be out searching for the brat?"

"She's gone Asuma, Kalen and her friend Nema found her."

"So she got away again? Lord Hokage won't like this."

"I know, but I think I know something that will ease his mind, Tell your father I will be right there."

Asuma frowned quickly before taking off toward the tower. Before I went to tell the Hokage anything I would make sure to set extra traps in my apartment, her stuff was still in the living room. I knew what she was planning if she managed to get away.

She would come for her stuff and then see Sasuke.

~FF a few hours~

Sasuke was knocked out cold still when I'd decided to go check on the traps at my apartment, fearing she caught on to my plan.

It wasn't a surprise to me that none of the traps were set off. Or even that her bag was long gone.

But the note did...

'Thank you. - Kalen'

~!~Hi ere'body, next there will be the last chapter in this book. After that it will be back to some real fights, and I even get to shed some light down on the Tyiadains :o

ALSO! Big shout out to Mirla-chan for reviewing my story. Thanks Mirla-Chan I really appreciated it. Made me all happy inside ^.^

Ok TIL NEXT TIME!

I do not own Naruto or any of their characters. Only Alai Nema and Kalen. ~!~DawnxAingeal