A/N: If the title of this chapter doesn't cue you in to the last big distraction leading up to the Chunin Arc, the events in the recap section just below it should; I couldn't in good faith skip the story as it's a great tale of falling from grace only to find your redemption with the help of someone equally lost in the world.

Also, I'm guessing people like my portrayals of the Yamanaka heiress? I'd like to think it's because of her strong personality, however, they tend to pop up following some particularly detailed section involving what she's wearing at the time. I have no idea whatever could spur such revelry (but I enjoy the feedback, both positive and otherwise).

Quick update to tide the story flow over. I need to flesh out the storyline beyond the Chunin Arc but I didn't want to drag this update out much longer. It's time to meander from the touchy-feely romance and work back into the gritty blood and guts.

Keep the reviews coming, please and thank you!

~Siva'a-tasi

~III~

Chapter 23: Lost Then Found in the Land of Snow

~ Previously on No More

Perfect. Heavenly. Divine. If no other words existed to capture what she felt in her heart, those three were one hell of a start.

Walking with her jacket on to ward off the chilly air from her partially-exposed back, a fresh lily tucked behind her left ear, Ino giggled and clung her way down the brightly-lit streets of the Market District. She clung happily, both arms wrapped around the left bicep of her freakishly wonderful date bouncing back and forth between squeezing her chest against his rock-hard arm and laughing (internally) at the misfortune of her flamingo-colored frenemy.

Her date, yes, as it could be considered nothing less than a date, with Naruto-kun had been everything (up to and including this quiet stroll to their last destination for the night) that she'd hoped, begged, and pleaded every Kami of love and luck that she knew of for. She was pretty sure that Hestia-sama's name found its way on to the list of deities between her shower before getting dressed and squeezing her melons into their constrictive prison for the night.

It was praise and prayer well-given in her opinion, the jealous glares of the mini-army of women stalking them to the club like a soothing balm to her worried mind. Shizuka was still out there, after all, her face popping up at odd intervals including a brief image of her during dinner at the Golden Leaf. She shook away that disturbing memory given that the woman's angry emerald eyes vanished when Ino's head snapped back to confirm what she thought she saw.

She kept telling herself that it didn't matter now. That meal of perfect pasta with prawns and creamy alfredo sauce was part of a five-course masterpiece. The fact that the Golden Leaf threw in complimentary champagne for the Genin couple made the chocolate soufflé afterward just another sweet coating to her growing lead over every other girl chasing after his heart.

She just couldn't let up. Despite her mind telling her she was strong and could survive losing him to the dark-haired kunoichi, her heart was arguing too loudly not to believe the lies. Despite the independent front, she needed him in her life. She lo… liked him a lot. But how to tell him?

Glancing up into the sparkling sapphires that passed for the smiling eyes of Naruto Uzumaki, Ino resolved to find a way. His casual ease around her, the loving concern he showered her with daily, it all screamed for her to hurry almost like he was standing just outside of arm's reach daring her to make the leap. The boy that kept his entire academy class beyond arm's reach, had opened his entire life to her as was daring her to take the next step.

It was more than she'd ever gotten from Sasuke Uchiha. Whereas the broody survivor flung off all affection, Naruto was like a warm magnet drawing her in, a soothing glow he shared with no one else. That simple truth made this night all the more tantalizing given their first stop of the night, the latest Princess Gale movie starring Yukie Fujikaze.

For two hours, Ino got to sit snuggled up next to Naruto hugging this same arm to her chest much to his red-faced delight. While the blushing died down some, his enjoyment of her charms remained throughout the evening as she rested her head on his shoulder and munched happily from their shared tub of buttered popcorn.

When the Princess's retainers were surrounded by the carnage of their army's defeat and staring at their own imminent demise, Ino's heart surged in commiseration mirroring her plight alongside Naruto as he prepared to face down an army of gold-digging trophy wives. When Princess Gale rallied them to face her nemesis, the evil sorcerer Mao, Ino's mind subconsciously inserted Shizuka as her nemesis then draped the vast army of undead minions in flowing kimonos and garish makeup making their destruction even more satisfying.

The lights coming on in the theater meant that the night was halfway done but even that couldn't dim her enthusiasm. They were off to The Grand Oak next, Konoha's premier club for a night of dancing and heated body rubbing wrapped in driving bass. It made her thighs warm just thinking about it.

Saturday night was big band night, where the DJs intermixed the latest club hits between band sets, and Ino was looking forward to breaking in her new silver ballerina flats.

She squeezed Naruto's rock-hard bicep with her boobs one more time enjoying the heated flush in his cheeks as she giggled her way through the quarter. She also sighed happily at the anguished cries of "Hussie!" as they died out in the alleyways behind her.

She was winning after all.

~III~

~ Konohagakure no Sato, Saturday Night in the Market District ~

Asuma considered himself a lucky man. Judging by the jealous glares he was getting while walking down Konoha's main drag towards their Saturday night club destination with Kurenai-chan hanging on his right arm and Anko silkily swaying her hips just to his left, he'd say that the hateful looks by lesser men were well worth it.

It didn't mean that he wasn't nervous. Both women were wearing the equivalent of "that little black dress," those being one-piece ensembles that showed lots of curvy leg, back, neckline, or some combination of all three in Anko's case. Kami she was a sexy goddess in that forest-green getup and her tastes were thankfully beginning to rub off on Kurenai in her wine-colored shoulderless-sleeveless carbon copy.

The shiny material reflected nicely and highlighted all the shadowy parts of her body indicated hidden treasure he so wanted to unveil one of these days.

All too soon the angry stares gave way to booming dance beats he could feel in his sternum. With a squeal, both women began pulling him past the waiting civilians (shinobi all received head of the line privileges) and into the club proper, Asuma trying valiantly to keep his eyes off the very curvy bottoms of his two escorts for the night.

He still needed to find a way to pawn them off on some hopeful sucker since he couldn't dance to save his own ass. More often than not, the two gyrated sensually on the dance floor to pass the time and he sat alone smoking and drinking to his heart's content. Perhaps some chump would come to his rescue tonight.

He really started to pray once the modern clubhouse beat gave way to the high-energy horns of the band pushing out peppy tropical tunes, tunes that drew ecstatic squeals from his date and her best friend as the two began pulling him to the edge of the floor. Were these even the same women he thought he knew? With a muffled groan, he trudged along dragging his feet while his eyes scanned the crowd for the first sacri-… er, volunteer.

To his enormous relief, all three of them froze as they joined the growing crowd ringing the open area meant for people to dance, Asuma's eyes nearly bugging out of his head as he saw two of his Genin center stage moving flawlessly to a high-tempo Latin beat.

Ino he didn't recognize right away and that added to the immediate shock and awe. The silky lavender outfit she wore hugged her slender yet curvaceous frame making her seem much older, her braided hair whipping about as her taller dance partner flowed effortlessly into and out of her reach in the traditional one-two-three-pause-five-six-seven-pause rhythm of the fluid ballroom dance style. Naruto was wearing black slacks and polished shoes that gleamed with attention to detail, his sand-colored short-sleeved button-up ringed near the bottom with a wingless dragon of burnt orange. Without his hitai keeping his hair up, he'd painstakingly combed it all down so that it framed the upper sides of his face and hugged the back of his neck just above the collar.

It was this same Naruto that was gliding like a professional dancer as he meshed perfectly with his hysterically-grinning partner, the girl's delight written all over her face. They were alone on the floor and together they commanded the attention of everyone not a part of their small universe of two.

Asuma noted their excellent synchronization. It wasn't perfect. There were misses, stutters as momentums clashed briefly, however, their reaction times as trained shinobi allowed them to correct real-time giving a credible performance that seemed practiced enough to draw spontaneous clapping from the crowd enjoying the performance, civilian and shinobi alike.

The two spun and twisted, twirled and dipped then repeated as the music drove them onward. Finally, as the band prepared to break following the thirty-minute set supporting the well-received dance, Naruto spun her gently away and, with the gentlest of tugs, twirled Ino back into and against his chest, her curvy thigh hiking up to latch onto his hip as she straddled his left thigh. With her hand coming up to cup his face and his left hand sliding down to her lower spine, the ending matched perfectly with the final trumpet blasts coming from the music box.

Watching the two panting teens laughing face-to-face, their bodies pressed together erotically on the floor, Asuma began to dissect the amount of coordination required for them to pull that off performance then glanced sideways at his date for the night. He'd need to find a partner for Shikamaru but there might be a way to leverage the skill he'd seen from the blondamic (blond plus dynamic) duo and spend weekends with Kurenai here in the club without going bankrupt doing it. That's why sensei's had a training stipend, right?

Hell, maybe Naruto would entertain them while he safely drank himself stupid.

It was as the underhanded Sarutobi was sneaking a peek at his love interest's gorgeous (and slightly jealous) profile, that he noted Anko's serious and hateful demeanor. 'Could she be… jealous?'

That thought lasted all of two seconds before he shrugged it off with a short burst of air. The Snake Queen was jealous of a Genin? Not in this universe. Instead, he turned back to see his charges sliding off the floor only to find Naruto's arms being grabbed by other women, both young and old, asking him to teach them the basics of the dance they'd just performed. With Ino's giggling consent, he stayed behind to begin a crash course in Salsa dancing, one Kurenai sought quietly to join in on with Anko not half a step behind.

Secure in their developing relationship, he raked his eyes over the rest of the crowd to catch the granite stare of Princess Shizuka staring down the back of his blond kunoichi, the girl's angry eyes following Ino until she caught Asuma's stern gaze. Realizing she'd been caught, the reserved princess turned her eyes back to the floor and locked in on the bashful Genin trying to teach almost a dozen women standing in a line stretching in both directions the basic step and hip-swaying motions of the latest dance craze.

"Whew!" Ino gasped out. "That was fuuuuuuuuuuuun!" Asuma smiled at her before turning his eyes back out to the floor.

"You and Naruto dance well together. How long have you guys been practicing?" Ino's maniacal laughter shocked him slightly.

"This?! This was our first time!" She was raising her voice to be heard over the freshly returned club music but Asuma heard her clear as day. She saw as much when his jaw fell open dropping his cig onto the stone tiles where she could crush the abominable thing underfoot.

Asuma scowled and lit another. "You mean to tell me this is your first time dancing with him?" The grinning girl nodded her head excitedly and squealed like a small school girl. He would have called bullshit if not for her behavior and Naruto's, until recently, persona-non-grata reputation throughout the entire village; no way the club would let him in without some serious political muscle power to back it up, like the beloved daughter of the village's top head smasher.

Instead, he turned to gape at the now embarrassed Genin trying to extract his head from Anko's cleavage as she tried to grind him into the floor. Thankfully Kurenai, and an army of annoyed girls waiting not-so-patiently for their turn, came to his rescue.

"He's really good." She tittered uncontrollably for a second. "He calls this 'footwork training.' It's surprising really since I didn't know that he could dance at all." She took a napkin and dabbed lightly at her neck and cleavage. "He's really smooth and patient when it comes to teaching and not just dancing, but all sorts of things."

He glanced sideways at the glowing girl reminding himself that she was only fourteen no matter how she longingly stared at her blond counterpart.

"Plus, this is a great workout! We should bring the team some time to work on our team footwork!" Asuma smiled for the first time that night and Ino felt the color drain from her face as she caught his sudden burst of… enthusiasm.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Ino…"

Her smile faltered. His look conveyed an underhanded scheme in the making if ever she saw one and Ino had the strongest desire to go back onto the dance floor where it was relatively safe and all she had to look out for were a dozen conniving bitches out to steal her man from underneath her.

~III~

November (what was left of it) and December stilled as far as regular activity was concerned. With the exception of periodic bandit clearings and the occasional birthday (Hinata's proved a challenge when it came to delivering her birthday present), regular training and D-ranks captivated most of Team Ten's time.

Naruto completed his level one and two Fūinjutsu certifications at the standard Konoha testing phase giving him access to explosive notes and remote detonation seals primers. Combining his elemental storage arrays, it opened up an entire catalog of options when it came to detonating arrays, one that made his teammates nervous with his frequent cackling at odd moments (the boy appeared scorched and frazzled so often Ino made it a regular habit to check for hidden injury or missing digits). Jiraiya was the only other seals master remotely capable of vouchsafing his skill level in Uzushiogakure sealing methods at levels one through three, not that he was particularly keen on spending time with the old lecher. Anything beyond that he'd have to manage on his own unless he could scrounge up some long-lost master from his destroyed village. That said, by the time January came around he was preparing to earn his mastery over the first stage of his favorite art, Abe-san and his family encouraging his studies whenever they could. He found it useful as Shizuka's attempts to sneak into his bed at night grew increasingly bolder as time went on.

Asuma (once the holidays ended) ramped up their training even going so far as to leverage Chunin instructors to help with Ino's Iryojutsu and Shika's Genjutsu development. He was hoping to build their elemental mastery to usable levels by the time the Chunin Exams rolled around as the defensive nature of Ino's Suiton affinity offset nicely with Shika's Katon bend. Naruto assumed it would be close, but he could at least work with Ino during their morning training sessions.

Speaking of morning training, Naruto needed to adjust their plan once Ino starting training three times a week. He couldn't alter his training days with Gamatetsu so the Clone Brigade was forced into gainful employment beyond blowing each other up. Naruto found himself growing increasingly jealous of the lucky chakra doppelganger that got to spend morning's after their laps helping her perfect her own taijutsu style, no matter how much she improved.

Big Band Night at The Grand Oak became Team Ten's standard Saturday training event, much to Shikamaru's chagrin, especially when he had to line up with all the other female hopefuls to take lessons from his blond teammates. The fact that Asuma refused to let him smoke until he'd found a partner each week and spent no less than thirty minutes engaged in actual dancing only made him more cross. After much trial and error, the sullen Nara struck a bargain with Fumiko Shizen, a kunoichi from their class recognized as the female Nara equivalent in both intellect and lack of motivation, finding a steady and recurring partner to work through his forced drudgery. Naruto found it odd that the self-admitted slacker gradually began to spend more time dancing with the doe-eyed brunette of the Shizen Clan without additional prodding from their sensei.

He found it... troublesome.

Before the Uzumaki Heir realized it, January rolled around with new surprises and adventures.

~III~

The front door opened with a soft click, the lean figure at the entrance pausing to listen quietly to the soft ticking of the clock in the tiny kitchenette. A keen eye scanned the tidy apartment as the figure counted a quiet thirty-second delay before gliding past the immaculate desk in the corner and through the efficient two-room flat. Pausing by the small hall closet and the barely larger bathroom, with working hot water no less, the blanket of silence broke with the figure's next few short intakes.

Sniff! Sniiiiiiiiiiiff!

'Interesting.' A gloved hand gently pushed open the bedroom door, the owner sliding inside to witness the barely-covered Nadeshiko heiress draped directly over the sleeping form of a whiskered blond, the male's soft snores pouring unabated into the heavily musked room. From where the shadow stood, it wasn't terribly difficult to see what was happening, and the figures uncovered eye narrowed dangerously at the large expanse of side boob spilling over the sleeping male's ribcage.

The covers had been pulled down until they covered the lower halves of both occupants; the boy's bare chest covered by the girl's equally naked upper body. On his forehead lay a paper seal with the kanji for sleep glowing dully as the room's legal occupant slept through the assault on his person, the girl's hips rising, rocking and falling beneath the covers. Her face was contorted with pleasure and concentration as her breathing began to hitch and increase.

Anger flushed through the tall figure's body and he started to step forward, his right arm outstretched to yank the distracted girl away only to freeze as her face contorted almost in agony as she seized, bucked twice, then grunted out a hissing breath matching the boy's twitching spasms beneath her body.

'Outrageous!' he swore silently, his one eye blinking even as comprehension dawned. Would this start a war? At a minimum, the alliance would get called off. Normally the girl would be imprisoned or executed for…

His mind caught then stumbled as he chided himself for thinking like a rational person. This was Naruto he was considering. Most likely the Council would look the other way and accept the sealed treaty without a backward glance. They wouldn't care about his pain and the Nadeshiko would still get what they wanted.

He felt violated for the unconscious boy, angry even. No one but the Hokage would care and there wasn't much he could do about it short of going to war, a war the Council wouldn't (couldn't) refute even as they undercut Konoha's forces to hamper him.

The figure stepped forward quickly, his palm glowing briefly before it brushed lightly against the girl's shoulder. Her tired eyes opened briefly before the pulsing seal took affect forcing her into a dreamless slumber. Sighing as he sat on the edge of the bed, Kakashi Hatake ran through a large number of seals before placing his fingers on the temporal lobes of the slumbering male, a pale blue glowing flowing from his hand into the forward brain of Naruto Uzumaki.

"Sleep well, Naruto. Most likely when you awake, she'll be long gone and Konoha will be the mysterious benefactor of their ratified treaty. It is my hope that you will remember none of tonight… nor any of the other nights she snuck in here without your knowledge." It wouldn't matter much after this last jump anyway as none of this was going to stick. No sense making a big deal out of it.

The one-eyed Jounin frowned at the pretty girl draped all over the Yondaime's son wanting nothing more than to slit her pretty throat. 'It's always the gorgeous ones you have to watch out for.'

Instead, he rose to silently depart the same way he came knowing that the chakra from his seal would dissipate within the hour. More than likely Shizuka would remove her own seal and depart leaving him none the wiser even if a tiny bit stickier.

Strictly on impulse, he stopped and lifted the covers revealing her shapely legs and backside… a shapely backside covered in dark panties highlighting her still developing curves resting comfortably on top of Naruto's ramen-themed pajamas. Pajamas still snugged tightly around his waist.

Apparently, she wasn't willing to go that far, yet.

His eye clamped shut as he tried to clear his nostrils of the heavy musk wafting up from under the covers. Someone was clearly aroused despite the lack of coitus. Perhaps her gyrating hips were a subconscious reaction? Perhaps she was just a horny minx? More than likely she was escalating, building up to a line she was growing more and more comfortable with crossing?

Shrugging as he lowered the covers again, he left as quietly as he arrived.

There wasn't much to do about it now especially since he'd imparted the information Naruto would need to complete his project. It was vitally important that things went correctly this time around. The butterfly effect from previous jumps had grown beyond previous calculations. Any more tampering and it would be impossible to predict the rippling cataclysm on the timestream.

No, they really needed to get it right with this next one.

Taking his last stroll through the quiet village, Kakashi pushed his chakra into the doorknob of his father's home to gain entry, locking the door one last time once he stepped inside. With a brief pulse of chakra, a duplicate Kakashi popped into existence, nodded once to its creator, then sprinted upstairs to the second floor of the quaint home.

Kakashi ignored the dusty picture frames and the largely undisturbed home. The air inside felt… old, for lack of a better word. Dust hung heavy even though the objects inside appeared fairly modern and well kept.

A pair of recliners rested peacefully across from each other and angled towards the small hearth. The built-in bookshelves rising from the floor to the ceiling and across to the other side of the fireplace held an odd collection of books and scrolls, most notable being the dust free and pristine collection of bright orange books arrayed in perfect order centermost on the shelves.

Kakashi's face scrunched up in disgust as he glided away from the door, skirted the unused kitchen, then quietly trudged upstairs into the small hallway with four closed doors. He strode lazily past the first two doors ignoring the bathroom to his right and the accompanying linen closet directly across from it. Pausing as his hand reached for the second door on the right, his head turned to consider the closed door directly behind his now turned back.

'Nope, not my place to help with that. He'll take care of it when he's ready.' With a heavy sigh, he turned the nob and strode boldly into the small bedroom with a hearty, "Tadaima!" His face fell in dramatic fashion even though he knew the prone figure lying on the western style bed hadn't moved. He knew for a fact that the figure hadn't moved in over eight months but he enjoyed the family routine regardless.

Muttering a hushed, "Okaeri nasai" through the side of his mouth, Kakashi put on his patented eye smile and plopped down into a chair waiting for him just to the left side of the bed.

"Boy! You won't believe what that prickish Uchiha runt did today." Overexaggerating his sigh and slapping his palms loudly against his thighs, the elite's exposed eye shot open in mock hurt.

"What?! How dare I insult your 'cute ultimate-uber-favorite Genin' of all time?!" He leaned forward dramatically, his eye narrowing in frustration as he jabbed a finger into the cheek of the sleeping man wearing a lower face mask and hitai-ite jauntily covering his left eye, the right one closed and blissfully unaware of what was going on. "You bastard! If you'd done your job right the first time, none of this would have been necessary and I wouldn't be back in this hateful time of my life trying to un-fluster cluck it!"

The rage began to dwindle suddenly as the figure leaned back in the chair, his eye wandering to the ceiling absently.

"Although, we didn't foresee Chouji getting shafted with the emo-prick this time around. Gotta make amends for that." His eye, now angry again, shot down towards his apparently sleeping twin. "Didn't foresee Tazuna's death either and what a right mess that was let me tell you! And you were a right bastard to snag. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were remembering past jumps. Took seven attempts to hit you with that paralysis seal long enough to seal you up in stasis." The figure absently rubbed their chest as if remembering some past trauma.

Suddenly, his somber mood vanished as he chirped happily, his sandaled feet lifting from the faded carpet to land heavily on the man's sleeping chest.

"So, the emo-bastard cried for either a B-rank or two more C-ranks today and I laughed when the Hokage shot him down. Heh, good times indeed. Instead, we got a D-rank to clean out and repair the east orphanage's septic tank." He shuddered and once again felt pity for the amiable Akimichi. "I felt it appropriate to humble the whiny brat with another Tora capture, which was made more difficult by the lingering smell from the previous mission." Here Kakashi laughed long and hard until tears began leaking from his right eye even as his head bobbed happily at the memory. He stopped abruptly when the clone stuck its head in the door with a quick, "It's done."

The seated Kakashi nodded once. "Make sure to take this bum back to his apartment once I'm done here." The doppelganger nodded in return then backed out of the room with a soft click of the door.

"Welp, looks like we've reached the end of our journey this time around, old boy." The still chuckling Kakashi slapped his thighs one last time before turning serious.

Sliding the back of his left glove down to reveal an odd seal shaped like a hollow and segmented octagon, he glanced at the seven red sections (and one flashing golden section) noting he had about another hour left to his countdown. The center of the seal had a globe-shaped orb with five different sections, each showing a different set of kanji.

Replacing the metal-backed glove, he flew through a long series of seals bringing a blue glow to his hands. His right reached up to palm his own forehead while the left reached over and repeated the same gesture to the sleeping cyclops. Once the glow faded, the suddenly very tired Kakashi snarled down to his twin and rose quietly to make his way out of the room again.

Going next door, he entered the bathroom and, without pause, stepped into the tub which was filled with a bubbling liquid the color of oatmeal. The solution immediately began to hiss but he appeared unaffected as he locked eyes with the clone, his head dropping in altitude as the two spoke.

"I've tied off the tether which should give you about two hours' worth of chakra." The clone nodded. "Make sure you're not seen and do us all a favor and buff the seals on Naruto's apartment if you can. If not, we'll have to make sure we address that in the next jump."

The clone nodded somberly as his eyes tracked Kakashi's descent into the pooling mass of now pink oatmeal. He appeared to be… melting?

"Hopefully it will be the last." With that, Kakashi Hatake, or what appeared to be Kakashi Hatake, melted into a puddle of dark pink goo as his clone opened the drain and began rinsing his remains away.

~III~

As the last of his Genin took their respective places in formation, Asuma turned to his father with a raised eyebrow, an unlit cig clamped loosely between his lips.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Team Ten." The Genin looked a little confused. It wasn't like they could refuse a summons from their Hokage, could they? "Normally what I'm about to ask of you would go to a heavy strike team like Team Seven, but they are otherwise detained dealing with an emergency situation involving the Katabami gold mine in Kawa no Kuni."

Hiruzen tried an easy smile receiving a welcomed response only from the kunoichi then promptly surrendered the effort as being futile before tossing a B-ranked scroll to the Jounin leader. Every eyebrow on the squad tried to climb off their respective foreheads.

"Since your team is better balanced with a fair amount of power, I see no harm in giving you this mission in their stead." Asuma's whistle caught his Genin by surprise.

"You sure about this pop?" Asuma made no effort to hide his familiarity with the old man as he stared at the scroll in his hand like it suddenly grew claws and fangs. "While I appreciate the bump in pay, these missions are for experienced Chunin teams, not Genin no matter how strong my Genin are."

Team Ten flushed red at the praise. Hiruzen chuckled, his eyes crinkling merrily at the corners as he set his pipe down on its cradle.

"Normally I would never consider offering this mission to a Genin team no matter how seasoned." Iruka was squirming uncomfortably seated next to the old man's desk. "However, the mission has been bumped to a B-rank solely because of the person being escorted and not because there is an expected risk of fighting enemy shinobi."

Puzzled, Asuma tore the scroll open and immediately sucked in a double lungful of air. 'This is going to cause hell-.'

Ino squealed loud enough to rattle the reinforced glass windows of the office.

'Yup, there it is.' Everyone in the squad knew how much the perky blond loved Michy, the actor that portrayed Sukeakuro, the dashing kenjutsu artist in all the Princess Gale movies. They also knew this marked the second instance where Ino battled with her pinkette frenemy concerning their one allowable marital infidelity: the dreaded superstar crush.

While she was growing very fond of her blond idiot, her second love of the "Dashing Michy-kun" was a well-known not-secret. If Asuma was reading this scroll correctly, they'd be spending a great deal of time with the entire cast as they escorted the entire entourage to Yuki no Kuni for their latest movie project.

"Alright, gang. It appears we will need to do some research for this job. Meet at the movie theater tonight and we'll watch the Princess Gale flick so that we can familiarize ourselves with our client." Naruto's faced scrunched up in concentration.

"But sensei, Ino and I-uuuurrkkkk!" A sweetly smiling Ino dusted off her hands as she calmly stepped on the lips of a battered splotch resembling their former blond teammate in order to silence his sputtering groans of agony.

The three males not lying in a pool of their own blood cringed with great concern for their fallen comrade. None, however, were foolish enough to jump in and save him. Shikamaru flinched more than the rest wondering if a particularly pulverized splotch of tissue was the boy's unfortunate spleen.

"What Naruto meant to say sensei was, 'We'd be honored to undertake this vital preparation as a serious part of our mission, and we'll meet you there at seven-thirty.'" The boy bleeding out under her foot groaned in pain and she shushed him harshly but lovingly.

~III~

Having recovered from his near-death Michy-kun driven experience (and having narrowly escaped waking to a scantily-clad Shizuka sleeping peacefully on his chest as she straddled his body), Team Ten mustered near the Northern Gate on their way to Yu no Kuni, the Land of Hot Water. They were going to skirt the former Ta no Kuni in order to meet their clients in Yugakure. From there it was only a short journey to the northern port village of Haru no Haru.

Once there, Naruto would learn the greatest truth Shikamaru could pass on to him; women, regardless of origin, were troublesome in their own way. Every last one of them. It was a universal truth made evident the moment a horse and rider came barreling down the busy streets of Haru no Haru.

This truth came wrapped in the form of a runaway horse terrorizing the shopping district the threesome loitered in while awaiting the arrival of their sensei with the gentleman holding the client end of their contract.

Indiscriminate destruction of property is often unavoidable when large quadrupeds force their way through busy market places not meant for horses. It also helps if the rider has zero concern for the safety of others and, as Naruto observed the raven-haired woman plowing through fruit stands, trinket vendors, and spools of cloth, this crazy woman met the criteria for all three conditions. His eyes narrowed even as the trio leaped up to the wall of a nearby building, several disgusted tsks following them to a perch the frantically fleeing duo could not reach.

It lasted until the cadre of armored samurai blasted down the street after the racing woman, a good dozen or so horses finishing off anything not already trampled or toppled in the wake of her bid for freedom. Ino gasped as her arm shot out after the fluttering robes of the woman.

"That's Princess Gale and she's in trouble!" Naruto's eyes narrowed as his head turned to watch his blond teammate streak off after the colorful blur atop the enormous equine that nearly flattened them all. Unfortunately, several thoughts flashed behind his eyes in the ten seconds he stood plastered to the building face while his blond-haired training partner raced off to save the day.

He didn't get a good luck at the rider's face while escaping the pounding hooves of the larger beast. Clearly, Ino saw something he didn't but could she have been wrong? Were they about to interfere in the affairs of some vapid noble? Haru no Haru had their share of wealthy socialites, places commoners and shinobi dared not tread unless openly invited.

The samurai he did get a good look at, their burly forms calmly pacing the object of their frustrations. Samurai tended to work for someone powerful and powerful people generally frowned upon uninvited guests butting into their affairs. Standing by and allowing public kidnappings to take place were very unappealing but Team Ten had other business to attend to meaning involvement in random acts of stupid would be less than desirable. Perhaps this might impact their upcoming mission. Who knew to be honest?

"We don't have time for this, Shika." In all seriousness, Naruto was wondering where their lazy sensei was. He was wondering why they hadn't received details on their mission. Unfortunately, it would have to wait as he jumped off the wall keeping him above it all and shot off across town's skyline.

With a terse, "Troublesome," Shikamaru joined his grumbling teammate looking to make sure Ino didn't hurt anyone unnecessarily in pursuit of her goal to protect her favorite movie heroine.

~III~

Naruto Uzumaki was enjoying the gentle swaying of the ship beneath his feet. The horizon had begun to lighten in that pre-dawn grey he'd grown all-too-familiar with during his normal morning routine only this time it came with the salty tang of the sea as their boat bobbed its way northeasterly through Aisu Bay. Given their mad dash northward during the first night, it was only a matter of time before their "guest of honor" awoke to grace them with her lovely presence.

Her discovery of their first day at sea had been, for him, an enjoyable revelation. All distraught and flustered, she'd burst onto the weather deck in her night robe much to the red-faced embarrassment of her film crew setting up their ship-based scenes. Ino was all a-gaga over her favorite actor and never noticed but Shika's tomato red cheeks indicated he enjoyed the plunging neckline and slightly see-through cloth doing little to hide the woman's curvy figure.

Naruto never gave her a second look and pointedly turned back out to the waves. He smiled briefly as he saw the large graceful form gliding quietly just beneath the surface a few hundred yards out. Why couldn't the haughty ice princess be more like the Umihebi?

Under the best circumstances, she was triflingly boring, her rude tongue and shallow personality barbed and condescending to everyone but her three co-stars. Even her manager Sandayū wasn't spared her typical ire and it grated his nerves. Yes, she was top billing. Yes, she was famous across the elemental kingdoms and not just the Land of Fire where her film company based out of. No, none of it gave her due cause to be an insufferable ass to everyone else. He was truly learning to despise the woman and love the onscreen persona; if she could separate the two, then so could he.

It truly amazed him how much less amenable the woman was when drunk (if at all possible) and, if not for the judicious application of sleeping drops in her incredibly disappearing cups of sake, they may not have made it to the pier in time to sail that first night. Her bullheaded refusal to film in the Land of Snow still perplexed the blond Genin. What was she afraid of? More importantly – given her penchant for fleeing, what (or whom) was she running from?

He could see it behind the stone wall Yukie Fujikaze wore for a face. Intractable? Certainly, but behind it all lay the face of someone running, hiding. Naruto was familiar with masks as he'd worn one the majority of his youth. Thinking back on it, he still wore one only he'd exchanged the bumbling fool for what he hoped resembled the cool competence befitting his chosen career.

No, the stubbornly anti-social actress went so far as to lead them on a merry chase three nights ago hoping to flee from her past. Despite not being much of a betting man, Naruto would have given even odds that her past tied her to the great frozen north that was Yuki no Kuni, a shiver crawling up his spine as he listened to the dice tumbling about inside his head.

He had the unshakable feeling their luck was about to turn for the worst even as the very air he gulped in during his morning reflection began to chill with each passing hour that the ship pushed onward. It was an eerie pins and needles sensation at the back of his neck he just couldn't shake. Even Yukie's sullen scowl as she underwent her normal three-hour morning makeup process couldn't alleviate the eerie feeling.

Then the animated screaming from the director began drawing his eyes forward to the bow of the ship… and the incredibly large iceberg blocking their path.

~III~