Chapter Twenty Seven: Found. Living in the Land of Snow.

Team 7 sat in the second carriage of Koyuki's troupe as they moved through the icy landscape. Inside, Kakashi blinked in genuine surprise as he looked over the hand-drawn map Naruto had just presented him with, "Is this for real?"

Naruto smiled from underneath the bandages covering most of his head, "Yeah, Nadare and I went over the maps to find any weaknesses in their defence. My Uzugan copied it, and I think we should move here," he said, pointing to the mountainous area between Train tracks, mines and the Hexagonal Shrine, "So that we have access to their trade routes and if we are pushed back we can go to the mines. This will let us set up a defence and put us in an area that Dotou isn't willing to see get damaged."

Kakashi eye smiled at Naruto, "Sounds good Naruto, now head up stairs and finish healing your team mates."

Naruto smiled in embarrassment, "Are you sure there's nothing else you need me to do?" Naruto begged.

Kakashi chuckled, "After that, just rest for a moment. We'll need you to show us the way once we make it to the end of the tracks. Also… I want you to begin hypothesising on what we may be up against."

Naruto nodded as he let out a weak sigh and turned to move upstairs, taking his time since both of his team mates were pissed off at him to say the least. As he got to the door he knocked twice, though he raised a brow as he saw the door open from the use of a Chakra string.

Naruto smiled as he poked his head in, "Hey Hina-" he said before a pillow hit his head.

Hinata smirked at Naruto as the pillow she had thrown fell from his face, "Can you finish off my ankle Nii-kun?" she asked with a smile, trying to diffuse any tension from earlier.

Naruto smiled nervously as he came over to her and knelt by her side, lifting her leg in his hands as they began to glow green and he healed her ankle over a minute or so. The silence was palpable between them, making the room heavy with it's presence.

"Do you-"

"Should we-"

The two went silent after they had begun speaking at the same time, causing the two of them to blush in unison before looking down at their laps.

A minute later, Naruto finished healing her completely and even channelling medical Chakra into her system to float through and repair any minor damage or tightness in her system. He put her leg down and stood up while she spoke up finally, "Do you think after this is over, we can go out somewhere?" she whispered softly.

Naruto turned to her with an amused smile, "Are you asking me out on a date Hinata?"

Hinata blushed in embarrassment but also frowned at her own blush, she nodded once before staring out her window in silence.

Naruto walked up to her and bent down to kiss the top of her head, causing her frown to disappear as her blush returned full force, "I'll see if we can get some time here in Snow before our teams part ways, is that okay? we'll have to go get the girls and Kaa-san but right after, we'll do something?"

Hinata nodded. Prompting him to stand back up and move to walk away, only for her to grab his hand, "… Promise?" she asked softly.

Naruto smirked and nodded as he squeezed her hand for a moment before they let go, "I promise." he said before walking to her door and leaving her to smile softly to herself as she looked out the window.

###########

Tsunade sighed as she tried to zip up the front of her new Snow Chakra Armour with two bulbs, but just like every other uniform she had been issued in life, it was unable to hold back her ample bosom, "Alright, I guess this'll do." she mumbled to herself as she reached down and twisted the bulb that was over the front of her hips. She reached over her shoulder to activate the one on her back as she walked towards the door to the room she had been given and pushed it open with her foot.

Tenten and Ino were helping Temari get her new Suit on before standing in line, causing Tsunade to sigh at the skin tight suits. Yes, they were stronger then the average armour, perfectly circulating temperature for the wearer AND in theory they could use a defensive Chakra shield that repelled any Genjutsu and low level Ninjutsu, 'Though they could've added a little extra material to these suits, even these barely-teens look evocative in these.' she thought before waving at the three of them.

Temari, Tenten and Ino turned their backs to Tsunade, allowing her turn on the globes on their lower backs as well as Ino's second globe which was on the top of her left shoulder.

Tenten reached up to the globe over her heart and activated it herself while Temari did the same with the globe on the front of her pelvis, causing them all to glow slightly as Chakra shimmered across the suits.

"Alrighty girls," Tsunade began as before clearing her throat, "Grab your weapons and follow me. Dotou and Nadare will lead us to where the enemy got Naruto, we'll make a play from there."

Temari hoisted her War Fan over her shoulder and double checked the hand fans she had holstered on her thighs, she then took a deep breath and channelled her minor level of air bending, causing her exhale to be a strong breeze, "Ready Tsunade-sama."

Ino lifted her hand up to her face and clenched her fists, causing her to take a deep breath as she closed her eyes and felt the power of the Land of Snow affecting her Water Bending strength, her eyes snapped open with a glossy shine over the iris, "I'm ready."

Tenten lifted two scrolls that she put in her ninja pouch before picking up a pair of thick bracelets that held an obvious seal on each one and putting them on her wrists, "Good to go."

Tsunade nodded to the girls as the door behind her opened once more, showing Dotou standing in a set of black Chakra Armour while Nadare was back in a new combat suit. The two stepped aside to allow the three Gennin to follow them out into the hall as Tsunade followed behind them to walk side-by-side with Dotou, "How's your other man doing?"

Dotou smirked, "After the surgery you did on him he's up and ready to move around. He insisted on having me attach one of our latest tools on him so he can assist us."

Tsunade frowned, "He's not ready for the field, I just had to remove his arm."

Dotou nodded, "Which is exactly why he wanted to test out our weapon..."

BOOM

Tsunade and the group stepped out of the hallway and into the snow, seeing Mizore's arm had been replaced with a fully robotic limb that could punch through the solid rock underneath the snow.

Dotou smiled as the group was getting together closer to the repaired man, 'Now it's time… to get Koyuki, to make Tsunade mine, and to spread the influence of the Land of Snow!' he thought with a dark chuckle.

###########

"Here we go," Naruto said as the troupe began to head down a slope, "That cliff there, if we show the civilians a way up then us ninja can move the supplies up as well and we can move to the defensible location between the shoot locations you talked about and Dotou's castle." Naruto said as he turned back to face the rest of team 7.

Sasuke nodded, "I'll get to finding a safe scouting route." he said before walking off and taking out a smoke.

Kakashi rolled his eye at Sasuke, "Alright, Naruto go confirm the site and tell any civilians in the area that there's an invasion coming and they're to head inland. They'll go towards Dotou and if we're lucky lead him down the most obvious way that we can set up for traps the whole time."

Naruto and Hinata nodded as Hinata cleared her throat, "Hey Sensei? If there's a chance that Tsunade-Kaasan's team is going to be affected by whatever was on Naruto, shouldn't we find a way to notify them?"

Kakashi shrugged, "If you can think of something that stops light and sound interference that's not Chakra based then yes, definitely." he began as if he was about to continue.

"So if their view is effected when they look at us why don't we leave a sign that says 'Hi Mum I'm fine, the Chakra orb thingys effect your sight and makes you think every ally you have is actually an enemy so you should probably turn it off for a second if you see a faceless enemy.'?" Hinata asked.

Naruto blinked at Hinata in surprise as Kakashi held his chin in thought, "That's a random idea, do you think it would work?"

Kakashi hummed, "It could, but honestly if I was a bad guy and we captured you, then wouldn't I be able to get enough information to know you're on a mission with your mother AND that you don't know the limits of the gifted armour?"

Naruto sighed, "Yeah, then being able to deduce that they'd assume that we as 'bad guys' know that the armour gives them an upper-hand. Thus trying to pre-emptively disarm them before we ambush them right?"

Hinata pouted, "Then… what if we find out how the armour identifies us as different to others?"

Naruto and Kakashi seemed to ponder the idea for a moment.

"Umm, Kakashi-san?" Sandayu asked as the three turned to him, "What should we do?"

Kakashi cleared his throat, "Right, Naruto, go check the area as we discussed. Hinata, use your eyes and locate a civilian route from here to up the cliff. Once you do, take a few along the path and have them escort the supplies and people up there. By that time Naruto will have located somewhere for them to stay and we can move everything else up as well. Once we do, I will plan daily expeditions for the shots needed by the director and I want Naruto to inform both you and Sasuke of what Tsunader's girls have been learning and ways to hold them for a moment. Once you two have a necessary grip on what he says you need, the three of you will be in a rotating watch until the shooting is done. With luck, we finish before whatever happens with Dotou even comes to pass, without luck, he'll get to us, Tsunade will tear down the mountain with us under it and the girls will assassinate each of you before we get a chance to even blink. In that scenario, I hope to at least break her from whatever this armour is doing to her and I hope she can put me back together before I die." Kakashi said with an eye smile, "So, are we sorted for the next few days?"

Hinata pouted but nodded, "Just one thing, why are we following Nii-kun's orders?"

Naruto smiled sheepishly as Kakashi cleared his throat, "Well… basically… he outranks you and Sasuke. Technically speaking, he's more of an asset than either of you are."

Hinata looked at Naruto and scowled as he sheepishly laughed, "Sooo… off to work then?" he asked as she punched his arm playfully.

##########

Sasuke raised a brow as he walked into the empty town, looking around to see the houses abandoned, a few burned to the ground and only one sound emanating from somewhere near the back of the village. Sasuke crouched suddenly and moved behind a tree to look out between two buildings.

After a few seconds of near-silence, Sasuke moved towards one of the two buildings and looked between them, raising a brow at the cages set up behind the town. He walked out from hiding and glanced at the many open and empty cages, his eyes coming to a rest on six cages that were still closed.

Three skeletons in a large cage connected to a larger caged area and two dead animals. He got closer to see into the larger area of the caged area, seeing a heavily breathing white tiger on it's side and a small group of birds cuddled together in a small cage on top of the Tiger. Sasuke crept closer and closed his eyes, sensing that there was no active Chakra signatures near him except from the direction he had come from, 'Since that's the team I'm clear,' he thought as he moved closer to the cages, causing the caged bids to begin chirping in unison as Sasuke looked up at them and raised a brow, 'Are those… doves? But they look kinda… woolly.' he thought curiously as he got close enough to observe the animals, he came around the back of the large cage to see the tiger's face and….

….her cub that couldn't have been birthed more then ten minutes earlier.

Sasuke stared at the tiger's face, who howled in pain as she tried to stand to give birth to the next cub. Sasuke saw the pain in the tigers eyes as it barely managed to push out the next baby before it fell on it's side again.

Sasuke immediately sprinted towards team 7, "NARUTO!" he shouted urgently as he sped along.

###########

Hinata jolted up straight, "Sasuke's running back towards us… he's shouting for you Nii-kun." she said curiously.

Naruto looked over his shoulder at Hinata before looking up the cliff face since the two of them were already half way up. Naruto looked back at her again, "I'll move ahead, you continue marking the path for the others." he said before disappearing in a Body Flicker.

##########

Landing atop the cliff, Naruto dashed ahead for less than a minute before running into Sasuke, who immediately waved him down, "What's up?"

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's wrist and began to drag him, "There's someone we need to help, she's giving birth."

Naruto put a hand on Sasuke's hand holding his wrist, causing the two of them to Body Flicker ahead a few hundred metres and arrive near the town. Sasuke ran in without any worry, letting Naruto know it was safe. The two rushed to behind the largest building in the small town, causing Naruto to pause as he saw the cages, "Geez..." he mumbled before seeing Sasuke run up to the largest cage and grip the lock with his clawed gauntlet, tearing it off and allowing them inside. But the moment Naruto's eyes lay on the tiger he froze, "I'm a people doctor Sasuke, I don't think-"

"Try then!" Sasuke ordered as he came around to crouch in front of the tiger's face. It looked up at him again as he approached, growling slightly and trying to get up, but Sasuke got down on all fours and made a sound he had learned from his own tigers meaning something along the lines of 'peace'.

The Tiger seemed to relax, but kept a wary eye on him as it panted. Sasuke maintained eye contact with the tiger as we waved Naruto over, letting him move closer and analyse the cubs, after a moment, Naruto shrugged, "I think they're fine, I've flooded them with medical Chakra to make sure the only thing that can happen in their system is something healthy. So at least they can't get any worse."

Sasuke nodded as the tiger whimpered, he raised a hand to her as she tried to stand, "I think there're more coming Naruto." he said as her supported the weight of her upper body by moving on all fours and moving his head underneath hers. The tiger slumped slightly on him, causing him to grunt at the weight as it began to give birth.

Naruto took one look at the adult tiger, malnourished, looking as though it hadn't been trained for the wilds and an infected wound on it's front-right paw, "Sasuke… birth is a pretty draining process, she's already weak and injured."

"Shut up and help her," Sasuke ordered as he managed to glare past her injured limb and up at him, "Do everything you can, now."

Naruto sighed as a third cub was pushed out, he gently lowered it down to the ground as the tiger slumped once more, allowing Sasuke to lower her onto her side again, "Sasuke… I don't think I can-"

"Please," Sasuke whispered as a tear came to his eye, but his glare not lowering from Naruto's gaze, "Just do something."

Naruto stared at Sasuke for a moment in surprise before nodding silently, "I'll try," He formed hand seals and placed his green glowing hands on the tiger's back, "I don't think there's any more cubs inside her… but there are masses near her womb, masses that opened long ago and spread something through her system." he said sadly.

Sasuke nodded in thanks before crawling back from the tiger for a moment, she whined slightly in pain and continued panting, "Shhh..." Sasuke whispered softly as he reached up to stroke her head.

'please...'

Sasuke gasped as he heard the tigers thoughts, accidentally causing him to recoil slightly. The Tiger whined in pain and nudged slightly closer to him, allowing him to place his gauntlet-armed hand on the tiger's head once more, causing the eyes on both gauntlets to glow slightly.

The tiger blinked at Sasuke, 'please… protect them… I smelt your scent on the wind yesterday, I held on… I waited...' She thought weakly as he noticed tears in her eyes, 'please… help them...'

Sasuke felt his own breath shudder as he looked into the tiger's eyes, "You'll be fine… you waited long enough."

'I...waited long enough,' the tiger thought weakly in agreement, as it shuddered a heavy breath, 'you made it here… cubs need… a pack,...they… need...family...'

Sasuke watched the tiger's eyes close, seeing her head slump limply out of his hand as her heavy panting stopped, causing a silence to echo in the cage for a moment as Sasuke's gaze moved to Naruto, seeing the blonde boy shake his head. Sasuke looked down at the tiger as he felt his Sharingan turn on and something change. But he ignored it as his gaze turned to the three cubs resting on the snow covered mat the tiger had been on.

Sasuke formed a single handed seal, warming up his entire body with the use of Fire Chakra before sitting down next to the late mother and picking up her cubs gently, he sunk down as he tried not to cry, resting the three cubs on his stomach as he watched them and shook.

Naruto stood up and took a deep breath, seeing Sasuke was somewhat traumatised by the unexpected and sudden moment of sadness. He looked at the still tiger and suppressed his sigh, "I'll go get the team, do you need anything?"

Sasuke hugged the small cubs closer as they began to whine, he shook his head and stayed silent huddled against the tiger.

Naruto looked at the back of Sasuke's head for a moment and left the cage, creating a Shadow Clone to get the team as he heard chirping. Naruto looked up at the woolly doves and raised a brow at their odd evolutionary trait.

Having heard the clone leave, Sasuke thought Naruto was gone, so he raised a hand and put it on the dead tiger's head, "I'm sorry… if I knew somehow that you were here I'd have been much faster." he mumbled before looking down at the cubs on his torso, "I won't let it happen to you too… you won't grow up without parents. I swear." he whispered emotionally before letting some tears fall, unable to stop himself from thinking about his own mother being taken from him far too early.

Naruto gulped at the raw emotion in Sasuke's voice before disappearing back out of view in a silent Body Flicker. He loudly ran back towards the cages and spoke up as he got close, "I sent a clone to them, want me to check on these birds?" he asked as he leaped on top of the cage to get to the birds while the two boys remained back to back.

"Do what you want..." Sasuke said hoarsely before returning to silence.

Naruto knelt near the cage – noticing absent-mindedly that the bird cage had it's own feeder – and used his strength to crush the locking mechanism and open the cage. He sat back, expecting the six birds to fly out, but to his surprise one hopped out and onto his bent leg.

Naruto blinked at the bird for a moment before it sang, causing him to smirk at it before the other five came out and hopped onto him as well. Naruto waited til the end of the song before standing up, raising a brow as they flew around him in a circle only to come to a rest all over him, one on each shoulder, one on his head and three landing on the scroll he had tied across his lower back. Naruto looked around with a raised brow, pausing in shock since they just seemed to just settle on his person, "….Oookay." he mumbled to himself as the bird on his left shoulder pooped.

##########

The clone leaped up over Hinata, seeing she had found a safe route up the cliff for the civilians as he fell down towards Kakashi and the troupe, "Sensei, the village was empty of civilians but there's some caged animals. Sasuke and the real me is looking after them."

Kakashi sighed and nodded, "Well, have Naruto find the largest building for the civilians to hold up in. We'll head up once Hinata comes down."

The clone nodded, "Yeah… by the way, Sasuke has cubs now."

POOF

Kakashi waved the smoke from his face and looked up the cliff, "Cubs? What could've happened in twenty minutes that lead to that?" he mumbled to himself before moving to continue helping the civilians.

##########

Kakashi blinked in surprise as he finally approached the cages, seeing Naruto's clones finish reorganising them into a neat pile other then the large cage which Sasuke was still sitting in with the dead tiger and her cubs. The thing that had Kakashi's attention, was how Naruto managed to recap the situation without bothering the six small birds perched all over his body, "… and that's when you guys managed to get everyone up here." Naruto finished with a small smile.

Kakashi nodded slowly, "Well… I guess nothing really changes. For the next three days we'll settle in and get the needed shots. Then we'll see if we can find Tsunade." he said with an eye smile.

Naruto nodded, staying silent as he kept his gaze on Sasuke.

"Hey Sensei?" Hinata asked as she came close, her Byakugan scanning the surroundings of the village the whole time, "Do you really think their film is the most important thing?"

"For our lives, no." Kakashi said with an eye smile, "For the mission, which is the sole purpose for us being here, most definitely."

Naruto chuckled ruefully, "The Mission comes first."

##########

Four days later…

##########

Sasuke sat atop the temporary lookout holding his three cubs as he looked out over the horizon. It was just after sunrise as he found them waking up, causing him to turn to the case next to him and open it, taking out a mix Naruto had made that emulated what he could find from the tiger mother's natural lactating process.

Sasuke smirked slightly as he looked at the first bottle in his hand, 'Even though he pisses me off, Naruto really is a useful ally...' he thought before his smirk faltered, 'No.. he's my friend.' he thought before chuckling to himself slightly.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he saw something in the distance, causing him to sit up straighter and focus on the smoke in the distance with his Sharingan. Sasuke frowned and took out a shuriken, tossing it towards the largest building in town.

##########

Hinata's eyes opened at the sound of a bell ringing next to her, telling her Sasuke's Shuriken cut a rope next to her, dropping a small rock that fell onto the bell to wake her up. Hinata immediately activated her Byakugan and saw what Sasuke was seeing, so she stood up and whistled loudly in two different tones before running towards Sasuke's location.

##########

Hearing the whistle, Naruto stood up from his place inside the building, causing the six birds on him to flutter down into their shared cage which he had open by his side.

Naruto formed a hand seal and appeared by Hinata's side as they arrived at the base of the watchtower together, Naruto looking towards the rising smoke in the distance, "Hinata?" he asked in concern.

Hinata frowned, "It's another train… but I can't see inside it from this distance, the metals that built it are Chakra conductive, enough so that it's even blocking the Byakugan for the most part." Hinata mumbled in awe and genuine surprise.

Naruto scowled, "Hinata, I'm going to go tell Kakashi-Sensei. Keep an eye on it's wheels and if it begins to slow near us then send up a flare. Either this is Nadare's team coming to find us or it's a train moving past and they don't even know we're here."

Hinata nodded, "It's a good thing we decided to move off the tracks." she said as she watched Naruto leap away.

##########

Nadare stood with Tsunade in the first carriage of the train, the woman unable to hold back how impressed she was, "This train is pretty amazing y'know. How is it powered again?" she asked curiously.

Nadare chuckled, "We have Shinobi who failed their tests apply for many jobs in the Land of Snow, four of those are powering the engine of each train that we use. They use a low level lightning jutsu to generate the electricity and the machinery transfers that energy to the areas it's needed in the train, usually the engine or the brakes."

Tsunade hummed as she nodded before her brow furrowed. Nadare raised a brow at her as she formed a hand seal, "What are you doing?" he asked.

Tsunade shook her head before sighing, "I thought I sensed Naruto's Chakra but I can't feeling anyone outside this train."

Nadare smirked, 'She doesn't know we're using Chakra in the metals to block her and her students from sensing their comrades,' he thought before nodding, "Yeah, there's not usually anyone around for miles."

Tsunade nodded, "Yeah… I'm going to go check on how the girls' training is going." she said before turning to leave.

The moment the door closed behind her, Nadare reached up and pressed a speaker, "Hey Mizore, check the maps that Naruto marked out earlier, see if we're near any place he knew to be safe."

"Got it." Mizore's voice came through the speaker.

###########

"Alright," Kakashi said with a sigh from the outside of an abandoned mine that the director was using for a few 'cave' shots, "Make clones to gather the civilians near this mine if we need to defend them. I want you to move with Hinata and keep an eye on them. I'll settle this here and get Sasuke."

Naruto nodded, "Hai Sensei!" he said before forming a hand seal.

POOF

Ten clones ran towards the people in view while Naruto and his remaining six clones disappeared in matching blurs. The real Naruto appearing behind Hinata, "Let's move closer." Naruto said.

Hinata nodded as the two of them sprinted towards the cliff top, sliding on their knees as they came near before crawling to the edge as Hinata began to whisper to him, "I think I can see someone inside, but I can't see their Chakra or anything."

Naruto nodded as he straightened his neck slightly, allowing him to see the train coming closer, "Scan as much of what you can see and memorise it, I'll try to do the same." He said before they became quiet. Less then a minute later the two ducked, her Byakugan scanning what she could while Naruto peered his head over the cliff, keeping an eye on what he could as it passed.

Naruto's Mangekyou activated as he focussed as hard as he could, time seeming to slow down as his perception took in only one thing from the passing train.

Nadare's Chakra Signature flickered into his vision for a millisecond before it was gone, allowing him to see nothing but the mechanisms outside the train.

The train didn't even slow as it moved past, heading deeper into the Land of Snow.

Naruto frowned in thought, 'The only thing I remember that was in that direction…. Was the Hexagonal Shrine and I think some watchtowers near that… other then that only an abandoned township… maybe another mining town like this one was.' Naruto thought with a sigh, trying to remember the specifics of the map in his head.

"Ino! And Tenten!" Hinata exclaimed.

Naruto looked at Hinata with a raised brow, "Eh? You saw them in there?"

Hinata nodded, "I'm certain of it, Ino's Water Chakra was active enough that I saw it flowing in some water, Tenten's as well in a weapon I think." Hinata said urgently as the train disappeared around a corner, the smoke retreating into the distance.

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other after a moment of silence, but the silence was broken as Sasuke ran up to them alongside Kakashi, "Anything important?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto and Hinata nodded, "My team is on that train Sensei. So is Nadare, the guy that tricked me and is working for Dotou."

Kakashi sighed, "Alright then… Sasuke, tell your tigers they'll have to look over your cubs tonight, how long until they can be reverse summoned?"

Sasuke blinked, "I… didn't know that was an option?"

Kakashi face-palmed, "Really? They're TIGERS Sasuke, your Jungle Tigers just need to approve of them and they'll tell you. I've had three puppies be recruited to Pakkun's clan. As canine, they just had to be a month old first."

Sasuke nodded, "I'm going to go check on that Sensei, I'll be right back."

Kakashi sighed and nodded, "Good, Naruto, I've moved the civilians inside the mine but it looks like our location wasn't blown. So I'll tell the crew that they can get back to filming. Tonight, we're running through all of the information you two gathered and we'll make an action plan."

Hinata and Naruto nodded in unison, ""Hai Sensei!""

##########

Tenten smirked as she managed to make the rock in front of her crack simply by clapping at it, she had been trying to do so for over an hour, so the small success was enough for her to feel satisfied in her days' training.

Looking over to Ino, Tenten raised a brow in genuine surprise since Ino was managing to conduct the water in the bucket in front of her. Ino lifted her arms, twirling them around to stream the water upwards from the bucket. Tenten smiled as Ino twirled in a circle, bringing the water around her a few times before it sunk into the bucket again, only a few drops out of place, "Ino! You did it!"

Ino finished her movement and returned to her original stance before opening her eyes and smirking, "Hell yeah I did! Something about this place just makes it so much easier to connect with the water."

"Yeah, and the air too."

The two looked over to Temari as the girl sat in a meditative position, holding each of her two hand fans upwards as she breathed slowly. To the surprise of Ino and Tenten, they could see a small plume of wind moving from between her lips with each breath.

Ino smiled as Tenten frowned, "Temari-chan! You're already bending!" Ino exclaimed happily.

Temari's eyes opened, "I think I've learned this quick because of my already mastered Wind Chakra, though other then with my breath, I still have to use my fans as a medium." she said with a smirk.

Tenten looked down at her rock with it's crack, 'I'm still on the second step of my Earth Chakra… lucky Tsunade-Sensei has some trick for me to learn at our next stop, I hope Iruka-Sensei knows what he's talking about.' she thought with a sigh.

Ino stretched as she turned towards the head of their carriage, "I'm gonna get some food, you guys want me to grab you something?" she asked with a stretch.

Temari shrugged before glancing in the opposite direction down the train, "Actually… I was thinking about going to get a drink. We're not going to be needed until tomorrow anyway right?"

Tenten frowned, "You drink? At our age?"

Temari raised a brow, pointing to Ino, "Thirteen," she said before pointing to Tenten, "Fourteen," and then herself, "Sixteen. Besides, in my village beer is still legally a soft drink soooo… later." Temari said with a smirk as she turned and walked out.

Ino rolled her eyes, feeling Temari's joking intent unlike Tenten, who thought Temari was once again taunting her.

Ino shrugged, "Ten-chan? Want anything?"

Tenten shook her head and sat back down with her rock, "No, I'm gonna train more."

Ino sighed as she felt a wave of frustration from Tenten. But she turned and left without saying a word, 'It's so weird feeling attuned cause of where we are, like, this Land of Snow is totally helping me key in to my water Chakra.' she thought with a proud smirk.

A few moments later, Ino went to open the door to the food carriage only to feel a wave of maliciousness coming from inside the room that quickly faded.

Ino opened the door and stepped through to enter the next carriage, raising a brow as she saw Mizore and Nadare had just finished a heated discussion before Nadare stormed off.

Ino closed the door behind her, planting a smile on her face as Mizore turned towards her, "Ino-san? How long have you been there?" He asked with a red face as if he had just been yelling.

Ino smirked, "Just got here… are you okay?" she asked as she moved over to the buffet tables.

Mizore sighed heavily and nodded, "I will be… once I get the little bitch that took my arm." he said as he clenched his new fist.

Ino frowned slightly as she grabbed her food, 'He's not going into this with a clear head… that's gonna make things harder.' she thought to herself as Mizore glared out the train window.

##########

The next evening

##########

"Aaaand Cut!"

Hinata saw the scene be completed and Kakashi begin to talk with the Director about their movements for the next day with her Byakugan, "Sasuke-kun, Nii-kun is escorting Miss Fujikaze and Sandayu back to her carriage."

Sasuke nodded as he stood, glancing back at Koru and Kuro as they took care of his three snow cubs, "I'll move to the tower then." he said before before leaping onto a nearby rooftop and towards the tower in the middle of town.

Hinata scanned the area with her Byakugan, making sure that there were no Chakra signatures approaching them, '...Three days of filming and no trouble. Two more days and we'll be done.' she thought with a yawn.

##########

Naruto sighed as he once more had to hear Yuki complain to Sandayu about their current location, 'Gotta give it to her though, as an actress she's pretty impressive.' he thought with a chuckle.

"What's so funny blondie?"

Naruto glanced back at Team 7's client, "You ma'am. Your passion for the arts is obvious, I mean, look at how good you are right? Yet for some reason you do nothing but complain about it. It's interesting to see, such duality." Naruto said with a smile.

Naruto continued to lead the way as he noticed the sudden silence. Glancing back, he was surprised to see Yuki was staring at him in shock. Naruto raised a brow as Sandayu scratched his head sheepishly, "Sorry Naruto-san, I believe she hasn't been talked to like that before."

Naruto walked up to the two of them with a smirk before placing a hand on each of their shoulders, all three of them disappearing to her carriage in a Body Flicker. Yuki stumbled back to sit on her bed as Sandayu dropped into a seated position, "No worries, just rest up for a while and I'll be back later, you can tell me off then ma'am." Naruto said with a bow.

Yuki seemed to snap out of her surprise and stood, "Now wait just a minute you little-"

POOF

"Dammit!" She shouted as she dropped back onto her mattress with a scowl.

Sandayu shakily stood, "U-umm, he's one of the ones protecting us ma'am, maybe we should be kind to hi-" he began until she threw a pillow at his face angrily.

"Shut it Sandayu!"

############

Naruto appeared next to Sasuke in a blur as the two of them looked around from their aerial position in the town's watchtower... "You seen anything yet?" Naruto asked after a moment of silence.

Sasuke sighed, "No, but stop freaking out. We'll find your team and Tsunade-sama, just be ready." he said without turning to face Naruto.

The blonde smiled and nodded, for some reason feeling like Sasuke's words were empowering, "Yeah you're right." he said with a yawn.

Ding

Sasuke and Naruto looked up as one of the three long ropes connected to the bell above their heads was pulled. Glancing over the edge, they saw Hinata waving up to them in a relaxed stance, "Filming done?" Sasuke asked.

Hinata nodded with a smile, causing the two boys to leap down as she spoke, "Yep, filming is done for the day, the set designer has begun to set up what's left for tomorrow." she said to the two as they landed by her side.

Naruto hummed before looking over to some of the crew members, seeing that they looked injured, "Hold up, what happened to them?"

Hinata looked at them and smiled, "They're just extras Naruto, they look that way through make-up and special effect gels."

Naruto hummed to himself again before scratching the back of his head, "Y'know, I kinda wanna go see this movie once it's ready. With the little I've seen offstage it's really got my attention."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "You do that then. I'd just ask Hinata since she's the one who's been watching the filming in progress."

############

Kakashi listened quietly to the director as the man discussed his plans with the senior staff, leaving the Jonin to absent-mindedly flick through the script that Koyuki had left on set.

'Tis the fair maiden's fight that brings hope to the lands, for the power of Rainbow brings light to all of man. The truth in it's power, the folly of defeat, Princess Gale brings power to... dear log this is poorly written.' Kakashi thought with a sigh before flicking through the pages.

Kakashi blinked as he got to one of the scenes that were cut from the final edit, 'Having betrayed his allies, Shishimaru reveals that he never was really on the enemy's side and double crosses them? so.. a fakeout? Or fearful of the ramifications of his choices so he back tracks..?'

Kakashi then looked up in thought, "Dotou tried to fake us out..." Kakashi mumbled to himself before standing with an eye smile, "But not if we throw it at him first."

##########

Chapter End.

Next Chapter Countdown; 1 month from 20/11

Love ya and leave ya, Alky Out