I don't own Naruto and I don't know anyone who does.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you going to admit that having us sit through hours of cold weather survival lectures was a waste of time?" Naruto asked, his new boots crunching in the snow as he walked.

Kakashi was reading a very familiar book. "No," he replied. "It pays to be too careful when it comes to snow. You two aren't used to it and I didn't want you to make a mistake without even realizing it."

"Besides," Sakura chimed in, "the mission isn't over yet. We still have to get through the Land of Snow to the coast and sail back to the Land of Fire."

"It's as good as," Naruto responded. "We protected the 'national treasure' while it was being moved and now we're done." I still don't see how a shoe is a national treasure.

"Well we're not out of the woods, or should I say snow, yet Naruto," Kakashi noticed that snow had begun to fall. He put his book away.

The trio continued to walk along the path that was cut into a mountainside. Their winter cloaks flapped around them. All at once, they heard an inhuman groan from high above them. Then there was a low rumbling sound.

Kakashi grabbed his two students and shoved them face first into the mountain. He was right behind them pressing them closer to the rock with his arms. The pressure suddenly released, "hold on with your chakra" he shouted in their ears as he weaved signs. Naruto and Sakura did as they were told. The rock above the two jutted out suddenly with a complaining screech just as a wave of snow came down around them. The little ledge protected the spot they were standing in and not much else. The raw power of the falling snow astonished them as the roaring of it blocked any other noise. The way it moved and heaved around the ninjas destroyed any other sense, they could only hold on.

It only lasted for a few seconds but it seemed like an eternity. When it did end, Sakura cracked her eyes open and turned to look at Naruto. He was shouting something at her but it only came through as a muffled and muddled sound. She shook her head at him, her mouth hanging slightly ajar. Naruto was frantically kicking at the snow that had gathered around his legs, trying to get on top of it. His head jerked back and forth between looked out and around and down at his feet as he freed them.

Sakura began kicking her booted feet free of the snow as well when her hearing began to come back. Naruto was probably still shouting but the words came to her as if shouted down a long tunnel. "We have to find him!"

Her head whipped up and around the way she had seen Naruto's do only moments ago. Kakashi was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened?" Sakura asked on reflex as she got on top of the snow once more.

"I think sensei called it an avalanche in the lectures," Naruto said.

Sakura was surprised that Naruto had actually paid attention during those lectures but she let it go for now. "I mean what happened to sensei?!"

"Oh," Naruto said and looked up. He knew there had to be something there because the snow had been diverted around them. They would have been washed away otherwise. Sure enough, a piece of the mountain that hadn't been there before jutted out above them.

"He must have used some sort of earth style jutsu to extend the mountain over us but gotten washed away before he could make it big enough," Sakura concluded.

"I felt him step away from us right before the snow hit," Naruto added. "He must have needed the room to weave signs."

Sakura nodded at this while Naruto looked for a way back onto the path they'd been on. He made to step onto the snow outside of the their personal piece of cliff.

Sakura grabbed his arm, "what are you doing?! It could be dangerous!"

"Sakura, we have to go look for him," Naruto retorted. "He could be hurt or…need our help. Now come on we've wasted enough time as it is."

"Did you even test the snow? How much of the lecture did you pay attention to?" Sakura pulled a scroll from her pack and unrolled it on the ground. She summoned a long rod from her storage scroll and set it next to her while she repacked her scroll.

When she looked up again Naruto had created a shadow clone. He grinned at her. "Why do I need a pole when I can have a clone check it out?"

Before Sakura could say anything, the clone had sprinted out onto the unevenly covered path. At about ten paces away the clone's foot broke through the snow and sank down into it hip-deep. Then the snow higher up the mountainside that had been stacked against the snow that had just been displaced buried the clone in a fresh mini-avalanche. The clone poofed and the snow slid into its place, settling once more.

"Because clones are a waste of chakra that we should be saving in case we need it for warmth later," Sakura said dryly.

Naruto mutely got out his own testing rod. Then he said, "we've got to get to him as soon as possible."

"We will, but he'd want us to be safe too," Sakura said.

They began making their way down the path they'd been on. It was now tilted at a 70 degree angle that wanted to sweep them off of the face of the mountain. Despite the danger, it was the only way they knew to get to the bottom semi-safely.