Naruto fan-fictional epilog story by ShiverX
- enjoy -

Part 1: The past and the future.

Chapter 1: The mysterious awakening:

"Shhh" this is what she thought, to the extent she actually formed her lips to the sound.
The silence was proof more than anything that there was something amiss.
Normally you would hear the bugs of the night or the distant sound of animals and people moving around, even at night. Many would consider Konoha to be a quiet village but it was not always so. And Nila often thought that it might be because of it's more "active" past that it never seemed to be completely silent. She could not remember one day in her entire fifteen year old life when she had heard total silence. The thought amused her and annoyed her at the same time. She loved to let her mind wonder but it was the same tendency that often got her into trouble. It was the same reason why she was still not Jounin. And there she went again!

Nila snapped out of her thoughts and focused on the sounds of the night, or the lack of them. Total silence. She could hear her self breathing while she sneaked up out of bed and up to the window. She opened the panels and peeked out. Outside the village was dark, no lights was shining like they used to, was there a power outage? She could still see quite clear though as the stars and the moon shone very brightly above. As she looked up towards the moon her eyes caught a glimpse of something red. She turned her head and there was something she had never seen in her life. A red meteor was burning through the atmosphere, or thats what she thought it was at least. She had only read about it in books.
Her eyes wide taking in this sight she felt somewhat drowsy. Letting the panels drop she backed into the room and sat down on the bed again, her head filled with ideas.

A second later she was up and filling her kit-pack with needful things. Kuenei, scroll, some provisions her flute and some other tools.
She slowly opened the door and snuck out, focusing her chakra on her feet to step lightly as to not awaken mom and dad. She came to the stairs leading down to the first floor. She could hear the faint sound of someone breathing heavy. "Good, dad is asleep" she thought and jumped up on the side wall focusing chakra to hold her in place. Sneaking down and up to the door of their bedroom while hanging from the sealing Nila watched the slight opening leading into her parents room. They were both asleep. She smiled and continued to sneak away past the kitchen and to the front door. She made a hand-sign as she dropped to the floor producing wind-chakra under her feet softening the sound as she landed. It still made some sound though and she made a face as she sat perfectly still waiting to hear if someone woke up. Her parents had always been light sleepers in regards to her sneaking out. "Well, her mom at least" she thought. During the years she had gotten quite good at it. It was never to go out and do bad stuff or meet boys or anything like that that many of the other girls her age were doing, she imagined at least. No, she had always been a bit "awake" at night and just loved roaming the nature around Konoha. It calmed her and she often slept outside, to her parent's dislike. There she went again drifting away in thought from what she had to focus on.
She sighed. It seemed no one was awake still. She took her cloak, the dark one, and sneaked out closing the door real silent behind her.

Outside she looked around at the now dark village. The moon was shining brightly and at the hight were their house stood overlooking the village she could see far around. Above her was the big bright red meteor falling and burning. Now when being outside she was consumed by the image. Her eyes wide she couldn't take her eyes of it. It was so close....and silent. In fact she heard nothing at all, it was unreal. Standing like that for some time she lost track of time as the meteor spread across the sky. It was so close she could se it move at quite a speed. Following it's path it neared the mountain monoliths of old that hovered over Konoha looking down and for ever watching over the villagers. The stone depiction of the past and present Hokages. She stopped for a moment at her fathers face. It looked really young compared to now but still the likeness was uncanny. It even bore a somewhat goofy look with that grin it had. She had always found it funny how her goofy father could actually be the Hokage. She new he was strong but sometimes he really didn't fit the description. She admired and loved her father but as a daughter it was hard seeing the very respected and even feared man in him.
The seventh Hokage huh. She glanced at the face before and looked upon another face. More gloomy and spiky haired. He had only been Hokage for a short time but he was handsome. She blushed a little at the thought. She was not normally one to think such thoughts.

Her wandering mind was interrupted by a boom and a green flash! The meteor had shifted color and was rapidly speeding up, descending! She stood up and made a hand sign.
"Byakugan!" she exclaimed and her inherited eyes kicked in. She focused her eyes on the meteor and was immediately blinded by the green flames. She couldn't see past the flames! They were some sort of chakra it seemed. With her eyes she could follow the path it took in it's decent though. Noticing where it went down behind the tree's far away she took out her map and checked. It would probably be just outside the fire countries borders. Putting down her map she didn't think twice about speeding towards the crash-site. This adventure was something she was not going to miss! And as the lights started to reappear in the surrounding houses she quickened her pace towards the edge of the village.

In the meantime some distance away Sasuke slowly awoke from a dream. He was almost back at the fire counties borders and had set up camp for the night. He could clearly remember the dream. It was about his brother Itachi. In the dream he had been living with his brother at a house by a lake somewhere away from Konoha. The weirdest part was Itachi and Sasuke had both been older. In short Itachi had been alive. Sasuke concealed his face in his palm. "just a dream"....
Suddenly he twitched and removed his hand from his face. His Manekyu Sharingan was activated?! "What!?" Why was the Sharingan activated like this when he just woke?
Confused he got to his feet and looked around. With the Manekyu Sharingan he could see quite clear in the dark forest that surrounded him and besides, the stars and moon was out to lighten the sky. He looked up and was shocked to see that he missed the quite obvious object flying across the sky. "A meteor?" he whispered. Thinking closer on the subject it was no surprise at all. The meteor didn't make any sound, in fact, everything was in total silence. He began sweating and with all his senses on high alert he scanned the surroundings and realized nothing around him was moving. Nothing at all, no creatures, no insects. Something weird was going on, this much was clear.
Sasuke turned his gaze to the meteor and fixed the sharingan on it. He could see it clearly as it was surrounded by some kind of chakra. He could even predict it's chakra projectory and thus he knew it was going to fly for some time still.
Focusing closer on the meteor as to see what was behind the chakra he found himself *yawning* and feeling as falling to sleep. Right before he involuntarily would doze of it suddenly seemed to react to his gaze and with a blinding flash and boom it turned green. Blinded Sasuke tried to look up again just to find that the meteor had changed path. It was falling fast and it was falling towards the location where he stood.
"It reacted to my Sharingan?" Sasuke thought as he gathered his equipment. "I must get out of here quick!".
Sasuke began running sideways to check the meteors path, still going towards the boarders but not straight. He could see the meteor moving as he himself moved wich could only mean it was really close. Furhermore it was getting bigger by the second as it closed in on the location.
Focusing chacra in his feet and legs he sped up to highest speed and with a flash he was jumping from tree to tree.
After some minues, looking up and evaluating that he was out of harms way he slowed down but still kept going as to make sure he was out of the blast radius when that thing hit the ground. After yet another couple of minutes Sasuke could feel the heat from the meteor's chakra. it was burning and appeared quite physical to Sasuke's surprise. The heat-wave soared overhead and past Sasuke as the meteor made it's final decent. Sasuke jumped down behind some trees to take a final cover, he brazed himself for the impact.
The impact never came. The night tuned dark again and in a moment all of the surroundings was bursting with sound once more, animals and insects. "What in the world is going on here?" thought Sasuke. "I better check it out".

In Konoha Village Naruto woke up from what seemed to be a long sleep. His eyes focused to regain vision in the darkness, it was still night. He slowly sat up as to not wake the woman lying next to him. He looked down on her and smiled. After all these years he was still fascinated by just looking at her. Her blue hair and calm face as she slept. The moon and stars from outside shone into the bedroom aluminizing her figure. He smiled at the vision."To think Hinata, we almost didn't get to be together" he thought and stroked a line of hair from her cheek. Hinata stirred in her sleep and woke slowly smiling at Naruto when she saw him.
"You can't sleep honey?" She sai d and he crawled down so that they where face to face. "I don't know why, I just woke and I feel completely rested" he whispered to Hinata. "Oh do you now?" Hinata smiled and kissed him.
They lay like that kissing for a moment when all of a sudden a boom was heard from outside. "What the!?" was Naruto's reply as he jumped out of bed getting dressed. "That sounded like an explosion!". After dressing he looked out the window but the village was mostly silent and dark, which was weird. Only a few windows was lit. His eyes went left and right and he caught glimpse of someone running away at high speed. Whoever it was they were already some ways of. A thought struck him. "Nila!" he exclaimed. At the word Hinata sat up quickly and looked straight at him. "What?" she ordered in a somewhat upset voice. "Is Nila out again? At this hour?" Hinata got dressed and joined him at the window. Naruto kissed Hinata again. " I'm sure it wasn't her. How could she have passed the detectors I put up in the stairs and windows?" he explained.
"She is smart Naruto, she wouldn't fall for those just as she haven't fallen for your other traps. Maybe she found another route." Hinata said. Naruto scratched the back of his head and smiled goofily at the remark. "Yes, she always did outsmart me. She must have gotten that from her mother" Naruto smiled again. Hinata looked at him with a smile. Go Naruto, check to see if your daughter have escaped again.

Confusion and pursuit

Nila was running like the wind. She laughed at the thought, wind chakra should enable you to do just that. She guessed that fire/lightning should be faster though. Her mind contemplated this as she kept jumping and moving towards the crash site.
Strangely enough there had not been an noticeable explosion or crash from the meteor that she could have seen or heard. She thought about it for a moment. Something was very strange about that meteor. First of all there were the fact that chakra normally couldn't be seen with the naked eye. Second this chakra was green...and then there was the silent it brought. Maybe it had some sort of barrier that removed the sound? Nilas mind wandered again and just as she jumped into a clearing her foot was caught in a snag and she fell. In an instant she thought about using wind to soften her blow but there was no time to react, she crashed in the ground and her foot still stuck in the snag twisted painfully. She cursed her clumsiness for a second. then she looked at her foot. Nothing to bad but she wouldn't be able to move as fast anymore. As she got to her feet she felt a stinging pain in her leg. Once again she cursed her self and then started to walk fast. As the foot got used to the strain she soon sped up into somewhat of a easy sprint.
Trying her best to keep the pace she soon arrived near the boarder. Once she got close she slowed down. She didn't know exactly where the meteor had fallen. She stopped and looked around. She heard animals and the sounds of the night, just as normal. The forest also looked fine, and nothing indicated impact. It was weird, there should be some sign of the impact. She couldn't have been so wrong as to where the meteor had struck?
Starting to walk again she got a bad feeling. Whatever the meteor was it was becoming more and more apparent that she didn't understand it. Nila didn't like to not understand things. She would obsess over things for long times until she had at least a basic understanding of how they worked. This was the very core for her capacity with chakra-based Ninjutsu and a big reason for her results in school. Her mind was curious, or so people kept telling her. She was quite proud of the fact that she was a good "problem solver" as she thought of it. That though defined her and was something that she often depended on in uncertain situations. This was definitely one of those.
Nila shook her head dispersing all the thoughts. She was going to have to be focused for this, she thought as she moved closer and closer to her fateful meeting.

Sasuke was moving with a precision that would make any normal ninja seem clumsy by comparison. He moved fast and his sharingan was activated to pick anything unusual.
The fact that there had been no impact alerted him on many levels. Whatever that "meteor" was it had activated his sharingan. It was in al certainty something powerful, something dangerous. He wondered if Karin had ben able to feel the chakra from the meteor if she had still been around.
His trail of thought was soon interrupted as he picked up on a movement on the ground about a hundred meters in front. He landed on a branch and observed.
Below, a ninja was moving at a slow pace towards the meteor area. The ninja had blue long hair, a woman. She was young and seemed to be scanning the area ahead. She didn't notice him, which was understandable, he thought and focused on her with his sharingan.
There was something familiar with the ninja on the ground, but he had never met her before, that he was sure of. She had quite a large amount of chakra reserve. Did she have anything to do with the meteor? She seemed to be looking for something. Probably for where the stone had landed. Sasuke paused for a second and thought about the situation. Of course there would be more Ninjas that had seen the Meteor that would come looking for it. It was actually weird there were no more ninjas this close to the crash site. He quickly snapped out of the thought as his eyes reacted to a detail on the young ninjas clothing. A Konoha emblem! The girl was carrying a headband of Konoha on the right side of her gear. It was partly concealed by one of her smaller packs hanging from a belt-constraption over her shoulders. "Konoha haa?" He thought. That meant trouble for him. For so long he had concealed himself, not going back to that place. Sasuke's thought went to Naruto and it hit him. The likeness he had felt before, it was Naruto! Sasuke smiled, a somewhat vicious smile. This had become quite interesting. The branch twisted as the force of his chakra pressed down when he jumped into the air, following the young ninja towards the meteor.

Nila felt a tremble in the earth as she moved closer to what seemed to have to be the crash-site, even if there was no signs so far. The tremble wasn't an earthquake but rather more of an stir or unrest in the earth. Nila couldn't explain it better that that. She had never felt anything like it. Just as she recovered her stance from the first shock another one came. This one didn't shake the earth but rather her senses. She felt it move up her leg and into her body.
Feeling woozy she experienced something unexpected, her senses where heightened by the force. She could hear all sounds around her and see the smallest detail, extremely clear. She felt a presence behind her, hiding. She could hear it.
Then as quick as she had gained it, the heightened state faded again and she exclaimed. For some reason time seemed to had stood still.
Stopping she braced herself for another shock, breathing slowly trying to force her senses to focus. Did she hear anything just then or had it been her imagination? At any rate she felt like someone was watching her. What did it all mean? the force, the stalking presence?
The first rule of Ninja was to conceal themselves at any sign of danger, to assert the situation before acting. This was in many ways in contrast to her fathers more robust way of doing things. "Follow your feelings Nila" - was something he had told her over and over. To trust the gutsy way. But that of course was something her mother hadn't recommended. She always tried to instill more of a calm sense into Nila, or so it seemed.
Nila shook her head again, "Focus!".
I need to get away from the ground, she thought, the force came from there. And I need to hide as to avoid anyone around that might not be friendly.
And with that she jumped.

Sasuke didn't move a muscle. The girl had stopped so suddenly he hadn't gotten the chance to properly hide his presence. He was pretty sure she had noticed him. Now she seemed to be totally still, she was probably scanning the area. Maybe she was a sensory type of Ninja?
All of a sudden she jumped towards the side and some tree's standing at that side. She was making her move, he thought. She had quite the speed and had it not been for the fact that his sharingan was activated her little surprise dodge would have worked. As it were he could follow her chakra trail into the trees. He smiled. Naruto indeed, but more refined. There was no immediate rush to move forward. He could stay concealed, waiting for her to move. Sasuke made a series of hand-seals. "Shizen ma-ji no jutsu" he thought as the seals completed and immediately he became transparent. A nice little jutsu that was almost undetectable and that made him blend into the environment body and spirit. The only thing he could not hide was his life force. This had caused him quite a lot of trouble back in the days with Naruto.
The girl seemed to sit still on one of the branches. With his sharingan he watched her chakra emit from the hiding place. It seemed unrestful, she was afraid.

Nila's heart pounded. She was listening intensely. She felt for the first time since leaving the village that she might have made a mistake. The meteor, or whatever it was must have attracted more ninjas. Why did she not think of that before she left? She had never faced another Ninja out-side the village and the jouunin exams. She had felt the presence quite clearly at that time, but maybe it was only due to the effect of the force she had felt? Maybe there was no Ninja watching her. But who else had emitted the chakra serge, or the force that shook the ground? She thought back to her learnings under Master Shikamaru about chakra types and strategies. Earth type, not strong against wind but also not weak against it. If there was a fight the outcome would probably come down to techniques. As long as the person stayed hidden there was not much Nila could do. She had never been able to master the shadow clone technique her father was so famous for. She had to the most been able to hold one clone, and not for to long.

Some time had passed and the girl hadn't moved at all. Her chakra was beginning to stabilize, she was getting more calm and sure of herself. Sasuke breathed slowly, time was on his side and he had no interest in confronting the girl yet, he was merely following her for now. The meteor had to have something to do with this shinobi and he was determined to find out what. What other reason would a Konoha Ninja be doing here?
He felt like he had come across something huge. For some reason the girl had some relationship to Naruto and whatever that cluts did it usually ended in something interesting. He smiled at the thought.
Obviously deciding the immediate threat was over, the girl slowly began to move forwards again. She was still concealed like a shinoby should but she still moved with some speed. Sasuke exhaled and silently followed her, making sure she couldn't detect him. He kept some distance but her chakra trail was easy enough to follow. Suddenly she turned quite strongly. "Trying to avoid followers by changing directions" he thought as he easily followed after. She also seemed to speed up and Sasuke had to let some of his defenses down to keep up, she was much faster than he had originally thought.
After what seemed to be quite awhile she slowed down and Sasuke resumed his fail-safe silence mode. The forest around them started to end and tree's to land on became scarce. He adjusted and took to the ground. He could move faster on the ground but was more exposed.
Suddenly the girl's chakra stopped all together. With the sharingan he saw ahead that she was standing still at what seemed to be a clearing by a river. He closed in and hid behind a tree to observe.

Lost into dream.

The clearing was bigger than it initially seemed and Nila knew she was in the right place. She could feel something pulsating from up ahead, and soon she could see it. The green fire was still burning and the light it gave of was shining in a pulsating matter. The meteor was not a big as she initially thought, or had it become smaller? She could feel energy emitting from the fires and she stopped some meters away from the stone. Looking at the meteor and the flames her head felt heavy and she noticed that even here there was no sound around. Not even the flames made any sound at all. For some reason, somehow it was very alluring, the green flames. She took a sep forward without knowing why and yawned as drowsiness filled her body. She felt as in trance as another step was made, and then another. Every step closer to the meteor and more unaware of her surroundings, the green light felt so comfortable in her mind. She drifted of into a dream.

Sasuke had been patient but something was wrong with this situation. The girl had not moved at all for some time. Just standing there and staring as if she had fallen asleep. He made a snap decision. He had to confront her. Maybe she was waiting for something but whatever it was she had clearly reached her destination.
He threw the shifting dark-blue and silver-grey cloak over his back and pulled the hood up. The cloak made him shift in and out of the environment and made it hard for people to focus on the details of his appearance. The hood concealed his face, better to be sure she couldn't describe him later.
Deeming that his concealment was suffice he jumped out from the trees and into the clearing right behind the young Kunoichi. She still didn't move. Maybe she hadn't noticed him? He took a somewhat casual stance but still keeping his defenses intact. He was not worried about this Kunoichi, but one thing he had learned about Ninjas and about Naruto in particular was that he should never underestimate surprises or opponents until he had a full understanding of them. He had learned this the hard way and was still paying for those mistakes. Anyway, he had become an expert in asserting situations and taking mesures to always have the upper hand. He approached the girl slowly.
"Oy! Konoha Shinobi!" He stopped and observed. "What are you doing out here?" She still didn't move. " Are you here for that strange meteor?" No reply. There was definitely something wrong, the girl was unresponsive. He took some steps sideways to get a better look, and activated the sharingan. The face of the girl was somewhat concealed as she seemed to be looking downwards towards the ground. He watched her chakra, it was very calm. And then he realized! She was sleeping, she was standing up and sleeping! "Naruto indeed!" he thought. Annoyed by the situation he approached her.
"Oy!!" he called a little louder. Still no response. She seemed to be heavily asleep. He scanned her appearance. She was wearing a dark cloak probably used for sneaking in the night. Over her shoulders bas a belt contraption that followed her back and chest. It was used for hanging bags, Kuenei and the sorts. By her side was the headband of Konoha. She seemed to be carrying a book or two in her light backpack and the rest of her gear was also seemingly made to be light but full of places to put small stuff. He noticed a flute sticking out from one of the pockets. He couldn't define any particular fighting style in her gear except the kuenei but she seemed to be a jack of many traits with the various objects. There was definitely something suspiciously familiar about the girl. She looked alot like Naruto, but her hair was darker with a blue nyance. But the thing that stood out the most was her eyes. Sasuke recognized the Byakugan immediately but it was still different from the one he remembered from Konoha. A mutation maybe?
"A daughter" he thought. "Maybe, she seems to be the right age for that." However it was she didn't seem to wake up. Maybe if he shook her? He stepped forward and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Nila.."
Just like that she woke up and felt fully awake, as shaken from a weird dream. She was still standing in front of the meteor and the flames was still burning but she was alot closer now. She had no memory of how she had approached the stone. Had she fallen asleep? What was going on here!? She looked at the flames and the stone and realized something she missed before! The stone was not touching the ground! It was hovering just around half a meter above the ground. She took a step back and suddenly the stone began to move. It transcended slowly towards the ground. Nila took another step backwards. As the stone touched the ground she could feel the force surging outward from it trembling the earth and her senses. It stirred her chakra and she became dizzy. Somewhere she could feel a touch on her shoulder just as the shadow clone was released.

Sasuke cursed as the girl standing in front of him went 'poof' in a cloud of smoke and disappeared. He had been fooled by a simple shadow clone. Be it an extremely well done clone as to fool his sharingan.The most basic rule when dealing with Naruto was shadow clones! How could he have missed it! He cursed himself one more time and threw his hood back as he scanned the surroundings. No sign of any chakra. She must have used the clone to lure him away so that she could avoid him! Simple but brilliant! He must have lost at least half an hour if not more. He looked back the way he came from. If he hurried he should be able to pick up the trace of the meteors chakra. He was sure that was where he would find the Kunoichi!

Nila exclaimed as she strained to regain foothold after the woozy aftereffects from the force unbalancing her mind. She almost fell to her knees but at the last second she pulled up her foot to hold her weight. Landing on the foot she miss-stepped and felt the pain from the twist she had received earlier when she fell. Her foothold crumbled as pain surged though the foot and up the leg. In a jump like motion she was falling forwards towards the flames. In her mind a form of panic arose and everything seemed to be moving in slow-motion. As the flames hit her she was engulfed in them. They spread all around her body and it was a paralyzing feeling of clearness and energy. The flames didn't burn at all but her mind was numbed by the pure force of the chakra. She landed straight on the rock. Was it her imagination or had it shrunk even more? It felt like the size of the meteor now was the perfect size for her body. The surface felt smooth as she landed on it. The flames and the force impact on her whole body and mind was rapidly making her uncontious. "Mother!...Dad!..." was the last thing she thought as she slipped into the darkness of dream. She was afraid.

Naruto was sitting on the roof of the eastern lookout tower and observing the guards running around on the streets of Konoha. He had alerted the guards that something was up, most of them had been asleep as he found them.
Something had happened during the night, this much was clear. But exactly what was hard to determine as nothing seemed to be changed in the village. Except for the fact that the morning felt unnaturally slow and all guards falling asleep on the post, it seemed to be like any other day. But something was wrong. He could feel it. Again he exhaled and started to gather Natural energies. In sage mode he could feel the presence of all in the village. Again he accounted for all the villagers. All except Nila. This was nothing unheard of so he didn't panic. Nila had wondered outside the village before, she liked the nature. It annoyed him that she hadn't told them and he still needed to find her, or her mother would never let him hear the end of it. He smiled at the thought of Hinata. She was so beautiful as a mother. Nila was both of their pride, she was smart and talented, although be it somewhat distracted, but in that regard she reminded him of himself as younger.
Thinking of Nila he extended his awareness to outside the village searching for her life-force. Further and further he searched but her force was nowhere within his range. Then he felt it, something strange in the eastern borders of the fire country. Whatever it was he had never felt something like it. It was some sort of chakra force, strong. He let the sensing feeling go and focused on the village. "Yes!" His suspicions was true, the same feeling as that force emitted lingered all over the village area. It was faint and would probably be missed by the best unless they knew what to look for. Naruto was adapt at reading his surroundings after many years of actively using the teqnuqie to it's fullest after gaining it so many years ago. He knew what it meant. Whatever the force was it had passed by or through Konoha. Even with his speed it would take him about an half hour to get to around the source of that chakra, and that was IF it didn't move. He had a lingering feeling that it was important that he investigated this but first he needed to find Nila. He extended his searching again, this time all together in the direction of the force. Poking even further towards the border he found Nila. He was surprised as to how far away she was. He could not determine the state she was in. A sting of worry rose to his chest. Why was she in the direction of the other lingering force? This could be dangerous. He stood up and his white cloak flowed in the breeze just as something unexpected but at the same time familiar hit his sences. It was incredibly faint and for Naruto to find the chakra pattern was nothing but pure luck. His "gaze" had touched the exact spot of the chakra source as it used a burst of chakra for some kind of ninjutsu. The pattern was all to familiar, "Uchida" He whispered, Sasuke! "but how!? Why!?" Whatever reason it didn't matter. Naruto made a hand-seal as sweat drops began to form in his forehead. There was no time to loose, Nila and Sasuke in that direction! "Kage bunshin no jutsu" A shadow clone burst out at his side with a loudly 'poof'. He looked at it. " You know what to do" he told it. The clone nodded and they both formed another seal. In a flash they were gone.

Sakura knocked on the Hokges door. It was early but Naruto was already up to something. The guards was all in a riot and she had awoken to the running of feet outside her house. "Not very Shinobi like" she thought to herself. She was not in the best of moods this morning. Naruto was always a handful but to stir up the guards over something unknown. And of course he was nowhere to be found. Her only choice was to see if Hinata knew where he was. He did not make Sakura's job as advisor easy with his impulsive actions. There was no doubt he was a great leader and an incredible Shinobi, especially on the battlefield, but his administrative skills and subtleness still needed a lot of work.
The door opened and Hinata looked back at Sakura. "Sakura!" She smiled. "Come inside. What has Naruto done now?" she smiled again and you could see she was amused. "Done now? I didn't say he did anything yet?" Sakura raised her eyebrow and gave Hinata a wondering smile. "No, no, but I can tell on your face Sakura, you always get a certain face when he has done something" Hinata giggles at Sakuras suprise. "That may be true" Sakura smiled back. Hinata always made Sakura smile these days. She was totally changed from back before Naruto. Sakura and Hinata were somewhat close friends now.
"No nothing really, just stirring up the guards and I need to know why. Is he here?" Sakura entered the hall. "No, I'm sorry" Hinata shook her head. "Well, do you know where he was going or why he alarmed the guards?" Sakura made a gesture towards the village. "Well, Nila went missing this morning again, so I send him out to look for her. But I don't think he would tell the guards that, and well, you know he doesn't need their help to track people." Hinata hesitated and got a worried wrinkle in her forehead. "Has something happened in the village then?" she asked. "Well, I don't really know and that is why..." Sakura was interrupted by a wind breeze that announced the Hokages flash step movement. Without warning he was just there outside the door as if he had always been there. Naruto was dressed in his usual white cloak that he started to wear after the war against Danzo. He often said that it was to spread a positive light among people. Sakura thought, like most others that it represented his bound to the fourth Hokage and the ideals he held. Naruto's hair was blond and somewhat longer than his younger self from team 7 and he actually looked like the fourth. His face was somewhat torn from all the hard battles they had endured during the wars following the summit, but he still looked as youthful as he always had. He seemed calm except for his eyes that clearly showed distress.
"Sakura? Ah good! Then I don't have to find you to! Hinata!" Naruto stepped into the door past Sakura and kissed Hinata. "What's up Naruto? It's not like you to send a clone to kiss your wife?" Hinata smiled at her husband. "Ah yes. I'm here to tell you that I have found Nila. She is east of the village, some distance away. I'm going there now to find her." Naruto looked at Sakura. "And there is more, I had to leave in a hurry because there was some strange force that passed through Konoha last night" he explained. " A force? Naruto? Is that why you alerted the guards?" Sakura didn't understand it. "Yes because all guards had fallen asleep. Whatever it is it had something to do with that. Not only that but the source of this force is now in the east also" He looked back at Hinata. "Is there any danger?!" Hinata asked in a worried voice. "Well...I don't know. But that's not all" Naruto looked back at Sakura again. "And this is why I had to hurry. I felt someone else over to the east." Naruto hesitates. "Who?" Sakura still didn't really understand were Naruto was going with this. "Sasuke" Naruto almost wispered the word but everyone in the room heard it clearly and reacted with shock, Sakura couldn't believe her ears. "Sasuke? But... He is alive?!" Sakura raised her voice and Naruto grabbed her shoulders to stop her from falling. He looked into her eyes. "Yes! I felt him, I'm sure of it. He is out there Sakura!" Naruto smiled at her but then he got serious. "I'm going after him Sakura, you take care of things here, I'm relying on you. Try to find out if anything else happened in the village during the night". Naruto turned to Hinata. " I will be back with our daughter soon, don't worry, as you said, she is smart and won't do anything dangerous". Naruto kissed Hinata again and disappeared in a 'poof' of smoke. Left were Hinata and a severely shocked Sakura. "Sasuke.." she whispered.

Chapter 2: Another Beginning

ryo looked at the frog that was jumping into the pond. He liked frogs. This frog was brightly colored in red and blue. All in all the forest and lake was his favorite places. The town and the people in it were to busy and he never felt at home there. He reflected on the townspeople and how he was going to get lunch. He leaned down and picked up his fishing-rod. He turned to the water and looked at the surface. The fish was out there, he could feel them. He smiled at the thought. He had always been good at finding stuff and Raiku always praised him on that. He should share the fish with Raiku. Maybe he would get a present today? It was his birthday after-all. Raiku was coming home today, and he always brought something from his trips. Yes, ryo would definitely get a present! He smiled again and aimed at the spot where he had felt the fish.
As he heaved to throw the line into the water the air trembled and created ripples on the pond. In the motion Ryo could not stop the rod and being shaken by the tremble he dropped the pole and fell forwards into the water. Something fell on him.

Nila was dreaming, she thought. She was emerged in green flames but she felt nothing. Somehow she felt safe. Nothing made sense. She had her eyes closed, she was sure, but she could still see her surroundings. There was nothing around her but green flames. She seemed to be suspended in this nothing, just floating. Her thoughts wandered and she saw in her mind her father, her mother and Konoha. She didn't feel afraid anymore. She smiled as the thought brushed her mind, anymore. Anymore implied that she had been afraid but she could not remember why? Maybe she was really dead and this was the afterlife?
"Nila.." a comfortingly familiar but at the same time alien voice whispered in her mind. "Nila..It's time.." it continued. Nila reflected on this. "Time for what?" she thought. "Open your eyes!" The voice was somewhat higher now. "The awoken, it's time..." the voice was really alluring. "Hey! Wake up!" The voice sounded different, younger, more desperate? She stirred from the dream and opened her eyes.

What Nila saw was weirder still. In front of her everything was blurry and dark. she could see a light beyond the blurriness and it swayed back and fourth. Beyond the blurriness was also something that blocked the light from time to time. It moved. Then when her head was gripping the reality around her something else moved really fast past her eyes really close to her face, a fish! She was surprised and inhaled in shock. The water rushed into her mouth and somewhat down her lungs as she realized she was under water! She panicked and struggled to move and in that instance a hand visualized in front of her head. She grabbed it and felt the force of someone pulling her up. As she broke the surface she gasped for air but could only cough for several seconds. Nila thought she would suffocate and tears formed in her eyes from the strain. Someone embraced her and pulled her up from the water and they both fell as the person slipped backwards onto land. As they hit the ground, or as in Nila's case the person the air was pressed out of her lungs and with it the water in her throat. She took a big breath and felt her body come back to life when the air rushed into it. They both just laid like that for some minutes, just breathing from exhaustion. "Someone saved me..." Nila thought to herself. "Thank you" she whispered. She felt utterly spend and confused. Where was she? Why? Who?
"That's alright" the same young voice as from her dream just before she woke, said. She opened her eyes again. She was looking straight into a couple of green eyes. She was lying on top of a boy whom apparently had been the person that pulled her up. He seemed to be around her age, maybe somewhat younger. His eyes was green and big. His dark-blond hair reminded her of her father. He was dressed in a water drenched blue cloth that she didn't recognize. It was more a robe than any traditional cloathing. He also had a cloak on. He seemed to be tired as well, and he seemed to be blushing?
She was suddenly aware of that she wasn't wearing anything. Reactively she clung to him sheltering her body from sight. "ehh!?...Look away!!" She exclaimed as her head turned red. "I... I.. I'm sorry" he stuttered and closed his eyes and turned his head. Nila was on her feet faster than she thought possible after what had just happened, she turned around and hid behind a tree. "Wha...What's happening here" she exclaimed somewhat out of breath, her face red.
"Where is my clothing!?" Nila hid her body with her hands, still behind the tree. The boy was on his feet and looking the other way, his face also red. "I....I'm sorry....I didn't mean to...." he stuttered. " I was just fishing in the pond when you...eh..." he was struggling with the thought. "appeared...i guess". "Appeared!?" Nila's words came out in a more accusing matter than she meant. She was very confused and tired. Just what had happened? Her mind was foggy, but she remembered....the forest...the meteor, the stranger!? " I'm not lying!" Exclaimed the boy in defense. "I..I don't know what happened. One second you weren't there and the next you fell on my head...sort of...I don't know why or how or where your clothes are?!" Ryo had never had anything like this happen to him before. Maybe the girl was a demon!? Ryo had heard about all kind of monsters and beings roaming the countryside. But she didn't look like a monster. He blushed at the thought of her appearance. They both stood in silence for a moment and Nila composed herself, "Focus... what is happening" she thought. The boy spoke again, "Who are you? Are you a demon?" he said in a curious but hesitant voice, still not sure of the situation. The moment the words left his lips he felt himself blush even more, what a silly question to ask someone. Not even a demon would actually expose itself and proclaim it's a demon. Or so he imagined, he had never met one.
Nila peeled out from behind the tree. "A demon?" she asked. "What are you talking about. Can't you see I'm no demon?"
"The boy blushed again, both at the echo of his own thought in the girls question and the fact that she referred to her looks. "I.. I don't know. I didn't see you!" he lied to save some face. Nila was starting to get a hold on herself and smiled, an obvious lie. But more pressing right now, then the boy, was the question of where she was?
She looked around the area. It didn't look like anything she had ever seen. There was a somewhat thick pine-forest growing around a smaller lake it seemed. But the lake was in itself be-littered with vegetation growing all over. At the side of the lake a road passed and continued into the forest. Around the road was a clearing and the forest gave way to a rocky field some way down the path on this side of the lake. It was only a dirt-road and not many transportations would be able to use it. In short Nila had never seen this type of environment before. It seemed so different from the nice forest areas around Konoha. The lakes around the village were all much ..."cleaner" was the word that came to mind. But she knew that, that was not the case, they were only different in nature. Nila had a vast interest in nature and having spend a lot of time outdoors she knew how different places could be. Sadly she had never been outside of Konoha much. "So, I'm in another country" she whispered to herself, "but how?". She began to worry and remembered the boy. Turning again and looking out from behind the tree she could see him standing, still with his back towards her.
He seemed to be in some sort of inner dialog with himself as he struggled with his thoughts. Recognizing her own wandering mind in his strange behaviour Nila smiled again. There didn't seem to be any hostility at all in this person. "Where is this place?" she asked. The boy jumped at the sound of her voice, snapped out of his thoughts and instinctively turned his head towards her. "Hey!" Nila clenched the tree as to shield herself from his eyes. He immediately turned his head again and started to stutter. "Em..eh, sorry... Th...this is the inochi no ki Sawa in the foot of Mt Kaeru". He exclaimed. "The what?" Nila asked. "Is this a forest? She looked around again, Sawa(Swamp)? She never heard of such a place before. "No? This is the lake, I was just here fishing.. em...Where did you come from?" the boy asked carefully. Nila thought, is it a good idea to tell him from where she came? After all, neighboring countries could be hostile. "I'm from another place far away, also in a forest" she lied. "Oh, so you are a traveller?" the boy continued. He had heard about many places far away and met his share of travellers. They were rare in this day and age but every other year or so the settlement did get visitors from far of places. "But aren't you a little young to travel alone?" he asked. The roads are not safe. Or are you really strong?!" The boy's voice turned to hopeful and exciting. "That is not important right now" Nila stalled. "Do you live around here?"
"Yes. I live some way's of here in the local barrack lodge Hiru Ki." the boy answered willingly. He sounded almost proud. "What's your name?" Nila asked. The boy was quiet for a second. "My name is Ryo" he replied. Nila was suprised at the way of introduction. It was really informal and leaving out his family name? Also the name sounded Weird somehow, she couldn't explain the feeling. "What's yours?" Ryo asked. "I'm Nila" she replied in the same fashion, but then she changed her mind. There was no threat here. "Em... Nila Uzumaki" she corrected. "But call me Nila, ok? What's your family name?" The boy was quiet for some time. "I have none. Or I can't remember it anyway" the boy smiled and started to walk towards Nila's location. "Stay away!" She exclaimed. "I'm still not wearing anything!" The boy stopped some steps before the tree. "I know Nila.. he tested her name. But that's why I'm giving you this"
He kneeled down emptying his bag. There was some cloth, a blanket that was neatly folded. He threw the blanket, a belt and his cloak over to her. "Here, It's not much but try to cover yourself with that. We can't be standing like this forever and you need some clothes" he smiled at her again. Apparently he also had gained control over himself for the moment. Nila took the gift and wrapped the blanket over her hips. It would do nicely as some kind of skirt. The cloak she hang over her shoulders and the front covered most of her body, except her belly. The belt was used to hold the blanket and cloak in place. Feeling satisfied with the clothing she came out from behind the tree. Standing in front of each-other they observed one another for the first time face to face. Nila looked at Ryo.
He was a little taller than she even though his shyness seemed to make him younger than her. His green eyes was kind and he smiled at her in a friendly way. Ryo reached out his hand to shake hers. She took it. "Nice to meet you Ryo" she proclaimed and smiled herself. For some reason she felt totally at easy. "So" they both exclaimed at the same time. Surprised they laughed about it. All of the sudden Nila's stomach growled. She looked down in embaressed surprise and Ryo smiled at her. "Are you hungry? Good thing I had just located some fish before you fell on me" he smiled again. "Now where did they go?!" Ryo started to look around and walked pass Nila towards the lake. He picked up the fishing rod and walked over to a log at the edge of the water. "There!" he proclaimed and pointed certainly at a point in the lake.
"They didn't go to far" he smiled again and sat down. Nila could clearly feel the chakra flow emitting from Ryo as she sat down next to him on the log.

Reaching destination.

Sasuke was moving as fast as he could still keeping his sharingan hard at work tracking for the Konoha Kunoichi. She was very good at covering her traces but Sasuke still had the advantage of the sharingan. He could still see traces of her chakra. And even if that had not been the case he had her location in mind, the meteor. He was getting closer and closer to the crash-site.
He slowed down as he saw some kind of force emitting throughout the ground. He barely dodged it as it extended upwards into the tree and out onto the branch where he was sitting. He jumped and landed again. The chakra force was green and moving in a pulsing pattern. Without his sensitive sharingan he would never had the time to register and avoid the pulse. It was moving at a high speed. He timed his jumps to advance forward and soon reached a clearing. He landed on the branch closest to the opening and his eyes got blinded. He had to release his sharingan. The whole scene was as bright as the sun, chakra emitting from the girl and the whole clearing. His eyes in normal mode he could focus on the female ninja in the middle. Something was wrong. She was lying down, almost as if she was sleeping. A closer look revealed that she was not touching the ground. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw that she was infact lying on a rock that was burning with green flames. The fire almost seemed to avoid the Kunoichi but Sasuke knew that she was engulfed in those flames none the less. With that thought he felt the energies from the meteor. They pulsated again up towards him. The sensation was extreme but controllable. He had anticipated the pulse to continue even after his release of sharingan and in the right timing with the pulse relayed chakra to his feet to block unwanted chakra flow. It dampened the energies that was flowing from the meteor but did not block them fully. They were really strong. He felt a bit disoriented and energized at the same time. The chakra was feeding him with energies! He figured he had to dampen it even more to remain in control. Waiting for the next pulse, counting the time in his head he shifted even more chakra to his feet making the shield - jutsu stronger at just the right time. He felt the pulse hit his feet again and this time the shield blocked the chock enough. Sasuke smiled to himself. This Jutsu required an extreme control over your chakras. Not many Shinobi was able to perform it. His smile faded, he needed to get to the shinobi and fast. He could question her later. Timing another pulse with his jutsu he jumped down to the ground and stepped forwards towards the meteor. In an instant he felt the pulse rush up through his feet and into his body!? "Wha..." He exclaimed as his world spun out of order. He had timed it perfectly, the pulse had come to soon. He staggered to remain on his feet.
"Sasuke" a voice wispered in his mind. The voice sounded familiar but yet he did not recognize it. Before he could do anything he was hit by another pulse. To his horror this one had another effect on his body. His Sharingan and then Manekyu sharingan was activated by itself again. He was blinded by the bright chakra all around. Struggling to take control of the situation he felt himself slipping out of consciousness, the energies pulsing more and more frequently into his body. His vision faded and all turned to white. Was this the end for him, he thought? He, Sasuke that had reached so far in the Arts of Ninjutsu. "Sasuke, it is time" the voice echoed. "Time to see." For some reason the voice calmed him down. Whatever happened he didn't care anymore.

Naruto was moving at an enormous speed. His senses was focused in front of him. For some reason Sasuke's chakra had increased hundredfold for a couple of seconds, then it had disappeared. What had happened. Naruto could still feel the residue of the shock that had shook the land up ahead. Had there been a battle? Who could have fought Sasuke?! And why had his energies disappeared? Had Sasuke lost? Had he used a space Jutsu like before? Whatever it was Naruto had to hurry to not loose trace of him and to find his own daughter that might be in danger. He couldn't feel her energies anymore either. Sweat poured down his forehead as the fear crept over his heart. "Let me be in time, let me be...." he said out loud. The branches under him broke as he jumped between them at full force.

Raiku was exhausted. His party was nearing home. They had been away for two whole weeks and the mission had been a mild but not complete success. The shipment was made and Hiru Ki would not need to worry about finances for a couple of months. The rise-fields around the lodge was it's livelihood and to protect the shipment was his job. There had been an attempt at a raid towards their caravan during the travel. Many of the guards had lost their lives but they delivered in time. Thank the heavens there was no larger bands that attacked and because they stayed to the road no wandering spirits crossed their path. All in all it was a success. The problem was that now they had to hire more guards and that would take some time. Not to mention that two of the guards that died was his personal friends and under his command. Raiku always dwelled on the missions over and over. If there was only something that he could have done better. He always felt somewhat responsible as their captain. He was used to death, who weren't these days? But it still always hit him hard in the end, the death of comrades. He felt empty inside, as always after such things. The world was a dark place. He could only hope to defend his corner of it. For as long as he could remember he had lived in the Barracks. Apparently the wars had taken his parents, just like so many others before and after him. He couldn't remember them anyway, and there was nothing special about that. The townspeople was his family. He smiled at the thought of the townspeople. Ryo would probably be waiting for him with thousands of questions, as always. He felt a thread of hope in the darkness, the next generation was the ones that would make things better. He and his like would pave the way for them. All this was dreams of course. He could still remember the catastrophe that beset the largest town in the southern parts of these countries. He had only been a small boy at the time but the horror stories that followed with the refugees told a grim tale of fire and chaos. The town had apparently been some sort of capital with a lord and everything. Anyway, the town was gone now. Wiped out by the dark spirit. The roamer that appeared where to many humans gathered, or where the sins became to great as other versions of the legend said. The problem was of course that the stories and legends were so numerous and varied that it was hard to tell what was true or not. The thing that no one could deny was of course that the town was no more. After the fall of the kingdom the violence had intensified. Bands of raiders had formed all over the country. Nowhere was safe. Many villages had fallen at that time. Hiru Ki had become quite big with refugees trying to start over. The safety had gotten better over time as things settled down but no one had really risen to take over the kingdom. The country was full of smaller settlements but nothing big. People got by, doing trading amongst the villages.
Raiku looked up awoken from his thoughts by the town call. There in the horizon on a hill by the mountain was home. He smiled again and the whole caravan seemed joyous.

Nila and Ryo was walking along a road going down the mountain, they were both eating from the fish they caught. It was a fish Nila had never heard of. Blue fins and red belly with goggly eyes and sharp teeth. The fish tasted somewhat like chicken and Nila was happy to get some food into her growling belly. They walked in silence eating. Nila was in deep thought. She glanced to the side at Ryo. Thinking back on the fishing endeavors of Ryo her mind was trying to make decisions. Ryo had referred to a skill set he apparently had. It had been somewhat awkward for him to talk about but he still believed in the ability to the extent that he could tell her. "I don't know why, but I feel I can trust you" he had smiled like he did. "I can feel where the fishes are" he had continued. "But please don't tell anyone of this, ok?" he had ended and smiled again. He had then continued by pulling fish after fish from the lake with his fishing pole and line placed perfectly in front of the fishes. The "skill" was nothing mystical to Nila, but the use of chakra like that was different, she had never seen it quite like that before. And the boy seemed unaware of what he was doing to. Nila looked at Ryo again. "How long have you had this ability" she asked. Ryo looked up at her and seemed to study her. "My whole life" he said. "You think it is weird?" he sounded unsure. Nila hesitated. "No.." she replied. Ryo didn't look convinced. Nila looked at him again, she decided to tell him. "I have seen this before" she explained. Ryo looked puzzled by these words. "What do you mean?" he stopped in the middle of the road and Nila did to. She formed the words in her head. " The thing that you did is actually something we", she made a sweeping gesture towards herself, "in my village I mean, use a lot." Ryo seemed stunned at this. "So?.. you already know about it?" he sounded somewhat disappointed but excited at the same time. Nila smiled.
"Yes. It's called chakra control" You use your inner energies to perform various tasks." She paused for a second looking at his fascinated eyes. Something struck her as odd. "All Ninjutsu use this in their techniques??" " Surely you must know about Ninjas yes?" she was getting more confused. "Ninja? What is that? It sounds cool!" Ryo smiled at her and she could see he was a little embarrassed about not knowing. He actually didn't know about Ninjas. A boy of his age not knowing about Ninjas was not something normal. Where in the world am I, she thought and her distress showed in her face. "What?" Ryo asked her. What is it? I'm sorry if I don't know. I've never heard of them Ninjas? What is it they do? Maybe we call them something else here?" Nila thought about his words. Maybe they were samurai? Her father had spoken of these warriors. "A Ninja is a sort of warrior that uses ninjutsu to fight or do other various things. It's not always used for fighting but can be applied to other things, just like your fishing." She raised the fish to indicate. "Although, I've never seen it used like that before and never by anyone unaware that they were using it. It's mostly something you need to be aware of to have that kind of control you displayed at the lake." she paused, "I don't know, but it seems you have some sort of talent for this that I have never seen before." She shook her head a little, she was getting ahead of herself. "But what I mean is, haven't you herd of Ninjas? It's quite odd, at least for me. Where I'm from Ninjas are everywhere. In fact, I am a ninja also, sort of. Surely you know of the great Ninja nations?" She looked questionably at his confusion. "Eh...No...um.. I'm sorry." he bowed his head as he tried to remember. "What is this country called?!" she asked. Ryo looked up and smiled. "I know that!" he exclaimed. "Not all people around here do, but I know what it is called, or rather used to be called. My friend Raiku told me about it, he still remembers you see. He is really smart and strong." Ryo smiled again. "teikoku wa , taiyō no" he said. "The empire of the sun?" Nila had never heard of it? "Yeah..." Ryoseemed to reflect upon the words. "Well, we should ask Raiku about it. He will know more. And maybe he knows about Ninjas as well? So that means your a warrior?" Ryo smiled and started walking again, Nila followed. "Lets head home!" he explained. "Raiku should be arriving soon" he quickened the pace. Nila followed him while thinking to herself, trying to understand. "Where in the world am I...." she whispered...

Sasuke woke up from what felt as a long, long dream. As he opened his eyes he saw grass covering the ground where he had fallen. He knew he had fallen because his body ached all over and he was lying flat down. He spit some dirt that had entered his mouth. His arms was scraped and somehow he had dried blood on the side of his face. He tried to get up, his body was still functional and he didn't seem to have any more serious injury. He reached for his head and found a wound on his forehead. It was the source of the blood but it wasn't deep and it didn't bleed anymore. "what happened to me..." he wondered and slowly arose from kneeling to standing. He used a tree that was standing beside him for support. As he got up he felt his hand touch something sticky on the tree. He looked up and at his hand. Instinctively he withdrew it from the tree and almost fell over from the reaction. His hand was covered in blood. The blood was smeared all over the tree-side. As if waking up again his censes came rushing back to him and he looked around in a defensive stance. The area around him was covered in a morning dust and the atmosphere was accented by the smoke and dirt covering patches all around him. Everywhere there was broken weapons and bodies. This was a battlefield!
He was standing on a rising in what seemed to be the middle of a battlefield. Turning around he saw in the not so far of distance the contour of a huge army. He turned around again, on the other side, more up a slope of a mountain was the other army, massive in its size also. "What the!... I'm actually right in the middle! " he hissed to himself. How had he come to be here!? Where was this place!? He looked closer on the surrounding victims. It was a chaotic mix of women, children and men of all ages. Whatever was happening a massacre was apparently apart of it.. There! he saw a flag. "Konoha!?" he exclaimed. No it was similar to konohas sign but also different. There was a flame surrounding the leaf and the spiral was broken. There were also a lot of other flags and sign Sasuke didn't recognize.
A "swish" sound caught Sasukes attention and he merely ducked an arrow aimed for his head. It bore right into the trunk of the tree and he stared at the projectile.
His sharingan activated. The arrow was not infused with chakra.

Raiku and the caravan had settled inside the wall of Hiru Ki and was dispersing. He had just reported everything to the town-elder and handed over the appropriate documents. There was much to do now. New guards had to be trained, and the relatives of those lost had to be taken care of. But for now, for the rest of the day, at least Raiku was free to take it easy. He gave his horses reins to the stableboy. Before letting him walk of he took his bags. putting them on the ground he dug deep into one of them. From it he fished a wooden flute. This flute was made of a special tree from a mountain far to the north and it's music was said to have a healing effect. This was all superstition of course but Raiku liked the myth. He wanted Ryo to have a healing effect on the land. It was Raiku's hope and dream that the next generation wouldn't need to fight. Of course he would teach Ryo to defend himself but the flute was a better present for his birthday than any weapon. He was only turning fifteen after all. Raiku smiled again and looked around. Where was that little rascal? He should be here eagerly awaiting Raiku's return. Raiku was sure that Ryo knew this was the day, they had send word in advance.
He looked around again. Nowhere? Raiku walked over to the wall and shouted to the guard up in the tower. "Where is Ryo?!" he asked. The guard looked down on him. "I think I saw him sneak out and towards the mountain again quite some time ago. he was to fast for me" he replied. He looked towards the sky. The sun was soon going to set. "I thought he'd be back by now, he always is? the guard looked worried. Raiku knew that Ryo sometimes went to the mountains despite his warnings that Ryo should stay inside of the village. There was many dangers outside these days. Ryo didn't listen. He loved the mountains. But just as the guard said, he had never been out after dark before. Raiku picked up his bags and ran towards the barracks where both he and Ryo lived.

Naruto arrived at the clearing from where the source of the energies he had been feeling emanated. He had long since lost Sasuke's and Nila's presence from his mind. A small panic had set in his heart, if he lost Nila.... Then all was pointless..
As he landed on a branch someways of from the meteor he saw them! Nila! Sasuke! They were both lying on what seemed to be a burning rock. The rock was engulfed in green flames that didn't seem to touch either of them.. But Naruto knew that that flames somehow engulfed them as well.. It was a feeling, a strong feeling. The meteor was clearly the source of the strong energies that he had felt all the way to the village. The stone seemed to be the exact size for Sasuke and Nila to fit on it, side by side. The panic in his heart spun out of control. He couldn't feel either Nila or Sasuke, their energies didn't exist. Tears poured down his cheeks as he jumped with full force down towards his daughter. "Nila! No!.." Everything from that moment seemed to be moving in slow-motion. He landed beside his daughter and without hesitation he reached for her. As his hands neared the stone the flames stretched out for him. The second they touched his hand he heard a voice echo in his head as energies rushed into his body. "Naruto! The enlightened.." He panicked and struggled to release himself of this new threat. The surge of energies was relentless and nummed his sences. He could feel a connection being made. The energies took Naruto's mind and he felt as if he was floating. Vision turned into bright white and he was lost in its brilliance. Pacified he felt his panic slip away. The voice was somehow familiar...but he could not identify from where? "Two become one, end the cycle, mend the broken.." the voice echoed again. Somehow Naruto found these words wise. He smiled and closed his eyes.

Nila and Ryo arrived at the foot of the mountain later during the evening. Once they came to a more open area Nila could see the wall surrounding a village that was build somewhat in a heightened position. "There it is! Hiru Ki! Home!" Ryo sounded really glad. "Raiku will be so happy to be home to. I have been waiting for the merchant caravans arrival for two weeks! He protects them you see." Ryo looked at Nila again. "I think he is going to like you. He is also a warrior." Nila smiled at the words. She looked at him seriously. "Can this Raiku also use special abilities?" she asked. He hesitated. "No, not that I know. As far as I know I'm the only one." he shrugged his shoulders. "Why? Is that important?" He hesitated again and then his eyes got a somewhat curious look. " Nila, if your a Ni. em Ninja you also have some abilities?" he nodded his head towards her. She smiled again, his enthusiasm was rubbing of on her. "Yes, I know a thing or two" she answered. "Are you strong? Show me something!?" his eyes showed a fierce interest. Nila started to gather wind chakra in her feet. "I'm not very strong, but I'm quite skilled with molding chakra" she explained. Ryo repeated the words "moulding chakra" to himself. As they came close to a tree standing along side of the rode Nila jumped up into the air using her wind chakra as a push. She landed gracefully on a branch. Ryo's eyes was full of admiration. "How did you do that!?" he was observing closely. Nila smiled again. She decided right there to teach him. As he already had the talent and had used chakra on his own, it was best to teach him so he could control it. "I will tell you later. I've decided. Because you already know how to draw chakra, I will show you how to use it." Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of galloping horses.