A Rose By Any Other Name

“Kakashi-sensei! Why do we have to wake up so early for this mission?!” Naruto whined, rubbing his eyes. The early morning light was trickling through the open window to shine on Team 7, packed and waiting to head out.

“Because Tsunade-hime said we had to.” Kakashi said plainly. “Now, does everyone know the nature of our mission?”

“Yes, sensei!” Sakura confirmed.

Sai, paint brush and paper under arm, nodded solemnly.

Naruto looked like he was going to say something, but was interrupted by their squad leader.

“You don’t have a clue, do you?”

“Well, what do you expect?! I can’t memorize anything out of one blood-shot eye! It’s ridiculous! I mean, this isn’t even urgent!”

“It is to the people in the Land of Oaks. This girl is to be the future military leader over the entire country.”

Sakura frowned. “What I don’t get is…why would they send complete strangers like us to retrieve someone so important?”

“Because, the Land of Oaks has no Shinobi village of their own. And, as you remember, we are allies with them.”

“Yeah yeah. So we’re stuck having to drag Snooty Princess back to Wanna-be-a Village?”

Kakashi gave the blonde boy a stern glance. “Don’t give her any sass, Naruto. Besides, rumor has it that she didn’t run away…she was captured.”

Excitement lit up Naruto’s eyes like blue fireworks. “Really?!”

“Yes. And we’ll probably have to go through thugs and, perhaps, foreign and rogue Shinobi.” He waved his hand carelessly. “But, if you don’t want to get stronger by defeating tough enemies, then…”

Naruto wasn’t even there anymore. He opened the door again and stuck his head in. “Well, c’mon! The open road awaits!!”

Sai blinked as they made their way to the door. “Kakashi-no danna, the report didn’t say anything about-”

“Naruto doesn’t need to know that.”

Sakura sighed. “At least it’ll be a nice place to visit. All those beautiful trees and flowers…”

“The middle class even live in small huts so as not to disturb the wildlife.” The pale boy agreed. “I read in a book once that people like that are often called ‘tree-huggers’ or ‘flower children’.”

“Well, whoever they are, they need our help.” Kakashi stated, and with that, the conversation ended.

With Naruto in the lead, they set off southward to the mysterious Land of Oaks.

“We’ve been walking for six days straight!” Naruto complained.

“Oh, be quiet, Naruto!” Sakura huffed beside him. “It’s not my fault. Yell at Kakashi-sensei, not me.”

The blonde boy straightened. “Okay, I will!”

Kakashi was in the lead, Sai in the middle, and the other two walking side by side in the back. Their feet crunched lightly on the snowy-dusted dirt road. It was Spring, but it hadn’t melted. Even the river downhill had yet to thaw.

“Yo, Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto let out a steamed yell to the Jonin. “When are we gonna get to this so-called ‘Land of Pokes’, anyways?!”

Sakura punched his head down. “Land of Oaks, you moron! Not pokes!”

“We entered about two days ago.” Sai stated.

“Huh?!” They were both shocked.

Kakashi looked over his shoulder, still walking. “Well, technically we don’t reach the actual political border until at least tomorrow. But, yes; this is the Land of Oaks.”

“It doesn’t look as pretty as it sounded…” Sakura glanced around at the dead trees and deserted prairie.

“Of course not. You wouldn’t know where you were unless is was Spring.”

Naruto growled. “It is Spring! What the hell does the season matter when we’re-?!”

“Quiet!”

All of them stopped as Kakashi, tense.

The blonde boy shivered. Not only from the cold, but from excitement.

Then, the Jonin signaled down the hill. “There!” He bolted down the hillside, his team following close behind.

There was a wooded area that sprung right up from the foot of the hill, and Kakashi dashed right into it without a hint of qualm.

After a few minutes of dodging sycamores and leaping over boulders, they stopped in a small clearing. Kakashi stared upward.

“What gives, Kakashi-sensei?!” Naruto breathed, annoyed to hell.

Sakura regained her breath, starting to get a cold sweat. “Yeah, what did we come here for?”

The Jonin pointed to the sky. “That.”

Naruto looked up. “Huh?”

In the branches of a tall oak tree, held up by a string, was a wind chime. It used slightly thickened, hollowed-out branches instead of metal, and they clang together with a strange, pretty sound. It was ringing in a pattern, but the wind wasn’t blowing; not even a whisper.

“It’s a wind chime!” Sakura exclaimed.

Sai just stared at it blankly. “So? What does it have to do with our mission?”

“The Land of Oaks may not have Shinobi, but their Mages are as common as ninjas here. They are said to communicate with these special wind chimes which are actually used for Morse code…” Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the device. “And it seems to be addressed to us.”

Naruto’s face lifted. “What does it say?! Well?! What?!”

Kakashi listened to the cascaded note, sweet and long. “…Konoha ninjas…cannot meet with…feudal lord…until our citizen…is found…-”

“What?! How are we supposed to get help to find her?!”

“Naruto, be quiet! He’s not done!” Sakura bopped him in the head.

The Jonin waited until the message repeated itself, not translating it until it was finished. He looked taken aback.

“It seems we won’t meet up with the Lord of Kashiwa no Kuni (Land of Oaks) until the citizen is returned. And they were resourceful enough to mark where she was last seen.”

Sai looked surprised, despite his expressionless face. “Where?”

Kakashi lifted his head again. “The Mages put the wind chime right at the spot. It saves us the trouble of running blindly through these forests.”

“Wow.” Sakura agreed. “That is convenient.”

“They also said to cut down the chime as soon as we received the message, so…” Kakashi pulled out a kunai and threw it into the canopy, severing the nearly-invisible string. The wind chime began to topple to the ground.

“I got it!” Naruto jumped up, making a Handsign. “Shadow Clone Jutsu!” Another Naruto appeared and leapt higher in the air. It was about to snatch the wind chime, but it seemed to fall right through it.

“Wha-?”

There was a ‘poof’, and the clone was gone.

Naruto squinted at it as he got closer. “Huh?”

“Naruto!” Kakashi suddenly yelled. “Get away from it!”

“Ah!” The sudden command made him falter, and he landed on his buttocks at the feet of his other teammates. “What’s the big idea?!”

Kakashi pointed a finger at the ground. “Look.”

The younger Shinobi glanced that way, and Sakura let out a small, frightened yelp.

The wind chime was moving, clacking and clicking into the shape of some sort of arachnid. It shuffled it’s wooden stick legs, like a Face-Hugger from Aliens, then darted into the bushes of a gorse berry.

“Should we follow it?” Sai looked like he was ready to give chase to the wind chime spider.

Kakashi shook his head. “It’s not of our concern. Here.” He gave out radios for them to put on. “We’ll use these to communicate if we run into any trouble. Don’t go out of range of them. If you do, we’ll be in trouble.”

Naruto snapped his on his neck. “So, where do we look?”

“Fan out from this spot.” The Jonin placed the device in his exposed ear. “If you find anything suspicious, radio in and we’ll come running. We’ll meet up again right here.” He took a dagger and pushed it into the ground with his foot, leaving the handle exposed.

Sai looked him in the eye. “And if we find her…How will we know it’s her?”

“That’s right.” Sakura realized. “We don’t even know her name.”

“Just yell out ‘princess’. She’ll come runnin’.” Naruto muttered.

Kakashi gave him another look. “Naruto…”

“Fine! Okay!” He turned around and jumped into the branches of a maple. “But if I find her first, if she’s a snoot to me, I can’t promise I’ll be gentle!”

The Jonin sighed. “Alright. Scatter!”

The rest jumped in different directions, the sun just settling into the middle of the gray sky.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Stupid princess.” Naruto cursed to himself, leaping through the trees. “What the hell does she think she’s doing? Getting me out of bed too early, that’s what.”

Three hours, and still no sign of human life anywhere. No footprints, no hair strands…nothing.

“~You know, we can hear you, Naruto!~” Sakura griped from the other line. “~Get over it. You got out of bed six days ago!~”

“It doesn’t change the fact that she got us up just ‘cause she felt like free-lancing outside of her land!” He thought he saw a footprint in the crunchy white blanket of snow. Just a rabbit’s track.

Kakashi buzzed in. “~Remember, Naruto. She wasn’t running away.~”

“I know, I know.” He jumped back into the treetops. “But this wouldn’t have happened if she would just keep in her village!”

“~She was.~” Sai reported. “~It’s as if she were taken right from her sleeping chamber a week ago.”

“Then she should have better security! She’s probably rich enough!”

Presently, Naruto came upon a break in the trees. A river ran straight through the huge forest. To his left, he heard the loud rumble of a waterfall. The mist surrounding the base was so thick he could see nothing through it.

“Hm, that’s weird…”

“~What’s weird?~” Kakashi demanded.

The blonde boy ignored him, walking casually into the clearing towards the collected fog.

“Ah!” The moisture in the air sent a jolt from his radio through his body. He tore it off quickly, throwing it on the ground and rubbing his neck. “Dammit…”

“~Naruto, are you there?~” His sensei’s voice crackled. Naruto just stepped over it and continued walking. “~Naruto?…Naruto!~”

Naruto walked slowly towards the roaring water, perplexed by something he didn’t quite understand himself. He felt the mist begin to smother him, and he soon felt warmer than he should have been in the cold Winter weather.

He unconsciously unzipped his jacket as he continued forward.

*Snap*

Naruto whipped out a kunai, making careful sure whoever was there in the fog with him wasn’t aware of his actions. Soon, though, the mist lifted only just.

Then he saw her.

A figure, sitting on a large, rough stone right by the shore appeared. He could tell it was a girl, because she had her thin, smooth legs dipping in and out of the water, one at a time. He even saw her lift a leg into the air, droplets flitting about, and she giggled.

Naruto was confused. How could she stand the water, it being so cold?

To check, without taking his eyes off of her, he knelt down and brushed the surface with his fingertips, expecting to feel thin ice.

But his hand touched warm, soothing water.

He realized with amazement that the fog around him wasn’t mist; it was steam.

Naruto watched the ripples travel up to the waterfall, the place where the girl was. She froze. Then she whipped her head around, looking right at him. She ran into the woods.

“Wait!” He started to run after her, but felt something trip him and he fell into the water. Splashing and sputtering, he hauled himself onto the liquid surface as it browsed along lazily.

Naruto shook his spiky hair, letting the droplets fling everywhere. “What was that all about?”

“There he is!”

He glanced over his shoulder to see the rest of his squad running over the current to him.

“Oh, guys! You won’t believe what I-!”

“What did I tell you about staying in range?” Kakashi demanded.

The blonde boy faltered. “B…But I was! I-It’s just that the mist- er, steam made the radio go bonkers!”

“Then why didn’t you turn back?” Sakura implied.

“I saw someone! In the fog!”

Kakashi tensed. “Where?”

“Right over there!” He pointed to the boulder. “She was sitting right there, and then ran off that way!”

Sai blinked calmly. “Did you see what she looked like?”

“How the hell am I supposed to see anything in this stupid steam?!” Naruto waved his arms around.

The Jonin grabbed his flailing arm. “Never mind. This might be the future governess you saw. Lead us in the direction.”

“Right!”

They ran back into the woods, unaware that the snow and ice from the trees were melting rapidly. The river ice broke with a profound crack, and water gushed over it. Even more so, they didn’t notice the tree root slithering back to it’s original spot from where it had tripped Naruto.

Spring--and something else--had come.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“I swear, she came this way!” Naruto exclaimed.

“Yeah, right, Naruto.” Sakura scolded. “You probably made this up so you wouldn’t get chewed out for dropping your radio.”

They had been looking for ten minutes, following the Orange Wonder’s route. Nothing. Not a trace of the mysterious girl.

Sakura was pretty much fed up with her teammate’s whining. He could get on her nerves pretty quick, these days.

Kakashi stopped. “No use in arguing now. Let’s make camp here, so we’re close to the river.”

Everyone agreed, and they started rolling out their sleeping bags.

The pink haired girl heard Naruto’s stomach growl from across the clearing. “I’m starving!”

“Then go catch some fish for us. Sai-san, go with him to get water.” The Jonin nodded to her. “Sakura-san, get firewood so I can start a fire.”

“Yes, sensei.” She got up and trudged into the forest. Some ‘beautiful place’ this was turning out to be. It was nothing but a cold, dead wasteland.

A thorn bush scraped her knee, and she winced. “Damn.” She knelt down and gathered some sticks as she tried to stop the bleeding. It was pretty deep, almost a gash.

Humming.

Soft, sweet humming.

Sakura looked up sharply, surveying the clearing. No one was there. Then, what followed the humming was a note from a stringed instrument. The cords were only just similar to that of a guitar.

Suddenly, she felt strange. Almost…at peace.

She knew that she should probably call out to the others, but she couldn’t find her voice. She just stood up and limped slightly to a hedge with frosted red berries on it. Looking over the edge, she gasped.

There was a beautiful girl, sitting at the foot of a tree, strumming a mandolin.

Her pale skin had no blemishes, no scratches, not a single abrasion. Her hair was a long, rich, dark green color, pulled into a single, loose braid over her shoulder. She wore a brown mid drift kimono, cargo shorts, and strange bracelets and necklaces that jangled as she moved her fingers and wrists.

Sakura felt perplexed. What was a girl doing out in the middle of a dense forest, alone, playing a who-knows-what? And she was wearing Summer clothing when it was clearly Winter, as well.

Then, the girl stopped, frozen in place. A note from her instrument hung in the air, like a ghostly memory.

She looked directly at Sakura.

“Hey! Don’t go!” She reached out a hand to stop the girl as she took up the mandolin and darted through the trees. Sakura took a few steps forward to go after her, but fell to her knees in pain.

“Ah!” She clenched her teeth and clutched her bleeding leg.

Sakura stayed like that for a minute, waiting for the pain to ebb, thinking how useless she was to the team if she couldn’t run.

Then she stiffened, feeling someone touch her shoulder. Looking up, she immediately felt a relaxing sensation. It was as if some sort of trance was put on her, but she didn’t mind it at all.

The girl who had run away from her stared into her green eyes with her powdered blue ones; they glowed in the darkness like azure fire flies. She put her fingers to her lips, signaling to be quiet, like a criminal trying to convince a toddler to be quiet while he escaped his cell.

Sakura loosened her grip on her foreleg, and nodded dully.

Reaching out a delicate hand, the girl touched her wound ever so slightly. To Sakura’s shock, it didn’t hurt. She looked down at her knee, and her eyes widened in awe.

The girl’s hand was glowing a shimmery green, but it wasn’t chakra that Sakura had ever sensed before. It seeped into her gash, making it shrink and shrink until it was barely a pencil mark. It had healed over to nothing but a scrap in a matter of seconds.

Then she looked back up at her healer, and was horrified to discover that the girl who had just erased her pain was…blind.

The girl look blankly, sightlessly, at the ground to their left. She got up when her hand stopped glowing and offered it to help her up.

Sakura took it, too amazed for words.

A small smile played on the girl’s lips, and she nodded, as if confirming that Sakura had been healed.

“Hey! Sakura-chan!”

The girl’s eyes widened, staring at nothing. Then she stumbled backward and ran through the trees. Sakura shook her head to clear the daze, and realized that her squad was surrounding her.

“Sakura-san.” Kakashi sounded surprised. “What are you doing out here? I thought I told you to get firewood.”

“Er…I was, but…Hey!” She waved at the trees where her healer had disappeared to. “Come back! Please! Follow the sound of my voice!”

Naruto squinted at her in confusion. “What’re ya shouting at the trees for?”

“There was this girl I saw here. She was playing, uh, some sort of instrument, and I was watching her. Then she looked right at me, and-”

“I thought you said Naruto made that up.” Sai blinked.

“Well, he-!” Sakura shook her head, frustrated. “Whatever. The point is she was alone out here, and she might even be the person we’re looking for!”

Kakashi nodded. “Right. Lead the way, Sakura-san.”

Sakura sped through the trees with her companions close behind. She was confused as to why she didn’t mention to her teammates that their adversary was blind. It had never occurred to her, and she felt that she shouldn’t tell them for now.

Where were these thoughts coming from? And how could someone who couldn’t see be able to run around and dodge trees? Maybe she wasn’t blind…But she highly doubted that.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Naruto scanned the area as they leapt through the trees, with Sakura in the lead. He knew there was a girl at the waterfall from before, and know she had Sakura spooked. Something just wasn’t right with this person they were after.

And Sakura was holding something back. He knew it; he could sense it.

‘Since when could I sense things?’ He thought to himself. Naruto couldn’t answer this question.

“Over there!” He heard Sakura shout.

Naruto narrowed his eyes through the darkness as they circled the person. It was the girl he saw at the river, all right. The silhouette was exactly the same.

But the girl seemed scared, frightened, hugging herself and flinching at every move they made.

Sakura took a step forward, speaking gently. “Please, I’m grateful for you healing me. Now you should come with us…We’re here to help you.”

This girl healed Sakura? What had happened in the ten minutes they had left her alone?

The girl whipped her head around and glared at her, with a strange, far-off look in her glowing eyes. “If you wish to help me, then let me be.”

“We can’t do that.” Kakashi had taken a step forward before he had spoken, and jumped back in surprise.

A tree root had snapped out of the ground, trying to grab for his foot.

Sai misunderstood this as an attack, and brought out his sketch book. He summoned three ink monsters, and they charged her.

The girl gasped, and shielded her face with her arms.

“Whoa!” Naruto had to balance himself better as the ground shook from under his feet.

A vine from the overhanging branch of the tree nearby came at the summonings like a whip, and the monsters were reduced to ink. Then the tendril wrapped around the girl’s waist and began to lift her gently into the tree.

“Oh no you don’t!” Naruto made a Handsign as he pulled out a kunai. “Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!” Five Narutos appeared and lunged for the living branch.

The girl was distressed, covering her ears, eyes shut. “Stop this! Stop it right now!”

Naruto and his clones grabbed onto the vine and started cutting with their knives, but more branches struck and only Naruto was left, clinging to the vine that held the girl captive.

Looking down, he saw the most peculiar sight unfolding.

White tailed bucks with huge antlers were surrounding his teammates, stomping and snorting in rage. He heard a bear in the distance.

“Stop!!”

Suddenly, the tendril shuddered at the girl’s cry, and slowly started to lower, the smaller branches untangling from Naruto’s arms and legs. The deer shook their heads irritably and backed away, disappearing into the shadows of the forest.

Now they both had their feet firmly on the ground, and the vine retreated, almost reluctantly into the willow tree.

Naruto heard the girl stumble. “Hey!” He caught her just as she was about to fall to the ground. Her breathing had slowed down.

Sai closed his sketch book. “That was…strange…”

“No doubt about it.” Kakashi confirmed. “This is our runaway citizen.”

“Hey! I thought you said she was captured!”

“She may have been. Did you see the way those branches and animals were surrounding us when all we did was try to talk to her?” Sakura rubbed her chin.

Naruto looked around as he adjusted the girl in his arms so he carried her bridal style. “I don’t see anybody around…”

Kakashi scratched the back of his head, obviously bored. “Well, we may as well keep an eye out while we take her back to her land. C’mon. If we hurry, we’ll make it there by twilight.”

“Yes, sensei.”

They jumped through the trees, following Kakashi, silent.

Naruto glanced down at their prisoner’s face.

‘Prisoner? What am I thinking?! We just saved her from those trees…’ Naruto’s thoughts trailed off. Something was giving him the idea that they were doing something terribly wrong. He tried to push these thoughts away as he faced ahead again.

Unaware of what was happening, the team didn’t notice that the leaves and vines were reaching out for the girl, and the birds followed them overhead.

The Shinobi had taken something precious of theirs--and they wanted it back.