Summary: There is said to be an ancient spring, founded and constructed by the very gods themselves to punish those who would bathe in their holy ground. However, they later sealed this area completely, thinking that no mortal would ever be unlucky enough to fall into the mountain guarded realm...

They had never counted on Konoha's most unpredictable ninja doing exactly as they feared, and they shuddered at the consequences.

AN: This is an AU story, obviously, and will be sporting things that are in my other story: Hope is something to work for. This means things like sword-names and such are included. Also, I am upping everyone's ages a bit, at least the "main" characters.

All Academy students are 12. (Udon, Moegi, Konohamaru, Hanabi..) and are in their third year.

All of the Rookie Nine (Team 7 8 10) are 15, and Team Gai is 16. Despite this, the "time frame" and stature of said people are the same, it simply allows me to make them a bit more mature.

0-0-0-0 Konoha, Hokage Tower top 0-0-0-0

"Are you sure about this, Konohamaru?" asked a slightly nervous blonde, his hands behind his head as he stared at the contraption his "Student" had created. It was just a few days after his mission to Wave, and his entire team had been put on temporary dismissal in order to rest in recover. Needless to say Naruto was, of course, ready to go after a meal and a nap but both Sasuke and Sakura seemed completely out of it, as if the battles that happened there struck them somewhere deep in their souls.

Hearing his "Student" (He would never get used to being called "Boss", but it sure felt nice) calling his name he hastily re-interested himself in the small brown-haired Ninja, his face splitting into a grin. "Yeah? What were you saying?" Konohamaru huffed, turning his head.

"I saiiid that this is a totally awesome idea, Boss! Moegi and Udon wouldn't do it but you totally will, right!" He announced with a grin on his face, pointing at the large construct behind him. "It took me forever to make this, and I want it to work! It's totally safe too!" He nodded proudly, putting his hands on his waist and Naruto chuckled slightly, staring towards Konohamaru's invention.

It was a rather nicely carved Catapult, with three logs on each side in a triangle shape, holding up another log that had a very large basket and there was a large string attached to the front on the opposite side of the basket which was connected to a very large boulder which was straining to come down but there was a metal pole blocking it from doing so.

Running his hand along the smooth wood, Naruto felt a small bit of pride weld up in him. "You did a really good job Konohamaru! I mean seriously, this has got to be the best carved wood I've seen." He grinned, seeing Konohamaru's eyes light up with stars as Naruto sat in the basket, a little bit in awe at how large it was. Chouji could probably fit himself in here while in his human boulder form! "How did you do all this? All by yourself?" Konohamaru grinned, rubbing his nose with a smug look on his face as Naruto climbed out of the basket.

"Simple really! I asked one of the nice Akimichi's to help me out." Naruto nodded, smiling and going into a full-blown grin as Konohamaru hastily added. "They only helped me lift things though! I crafted the basket and carved the wood, though the pole was their idea..." Naruto chuckled again, nodding.

"I see..well.. What exactly are you wanting to do anyways, Konohamaru?" The young boy grinned again, climbing into the basket and tugging on the sides to make sure it was secure.

"Simple! I asked Jiji about the Hokage Mountain and he said that while lots of people have been on the faces of the mountain, no one has actually been past that! He said that even he couldn't move the earth there and anyone who tried climbing it mysteriously found themselves back where they started!" He nodded, crossing his arms with a grin. "So we're going to use this." He patted the basket with one hand. "to cross the mountain!"

Naruto's eyes lit up and he looked towards the Hokage's faces once more, all of them giving them their normal stone-gaze. "I see! That does sound neat, Konohamaru but..What if we hit the mountain? Or.. I don't know, go over it?" He tilted his head here, frowning as he ran the image of going splat against the mountain's side.

Konohamaru's smile faltered but quickly lit back up again as he held up two pills towards Naruto. "These are Feather Pills! They'll make us light as a feather if we take them during the fall so even if we hit the mountain it won't hurt us at all!" He grinned throwing one to Naruto who caught it quickly, not wanting to drop a possibly expensive tool.

"But uh.. if we're as light as a feather.." Naruto asked, frowning as another thought occurred to him. "If a wind blows, won't that move us around?" Konohamaru twitched, a frown crossing his face.

"When's the last time wind blew in Konoha? Come on Boss! We're wasting daylight here!" Naruto sighed, but nodded. Indeed Konoha was mostly a dry-heat territory most of the time but there were some random spouts of wind throughout the years...

Naruto shrugged, climbing into the basket behind Konohamaru. Chances were slim that there would be any wind today! Konohamaru grinned, taking out a Kunai from his Shinobi pouch and tossed it at the rope but the Kunai seemed to be too dull to cut through it and bounced off uselessly. Konohamaru's face lit up in a red blush of embarrassment as Naruto chuckled behind him.

"Here, I'll do it." He smiled putting up the familiar Kage Bunshin seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He announced, a clone of himself appearing in a poof of smoke outside of the basket. With a smile the clone picked up the fallen Kunai, twirling it around one finger before looking at the two. "Ready, Konohamaru?" It asked grinning and, after a nod from Konohamaru, it cut cleanly through the rope. This caused the rock above to fall rapidly, landing right on the clone (Naruto winced here) and with a snap, they were off.

Both Konohamaru and Naruto were both gasping as they flew high above the clouds, the Catapult having sent them higher than they had figured and both quickly gripped the pills in the hands, waiting for the decent to start before taking them.

Moments later they began to fall and both hastily popped the pills in their mouth and with a sudden jerk, as if someone had pulled on a string connected to them, both began to fall much slower than before. Naruto let out a heavy breath he didn't know he had been holding and grinned, nodding at Konohamaru. "Good job! I hope we actually made it across, though we haven't seem to hit the mountain yet.. It's really foggy down there." Indeed everything below them was covered in fog and the two were having a hard time figuring out if they were getting lower or not, as the village itself seemed to be missing from their view.

"You worry too much boss!" Konohamaru grinned, though there was obvious nervousness in his voice. "We'll be fine! We haven't became Hokage yet, so there's no way we're gonna die." Naruto chuckled nodding as the two continued their decent.

"So while we're falling.. Whats with you and that one girl, Boss?" Konohamaru asked suddenly, crossing his arms, his scarf waving behind him lazily. At Naruto's confused stare he rolled his eyes, his boss could be so clueless sometimes! "You know, that pink haired one that hits you a lot...She doesn't seem to like you." Naruto's eyes darkened and he sighed, looking away. Sensing his sudden mood change Konohamaru hastily corrected himself." I mean! She does like you I think but.. I dunno, she hits you a lot even when you say smart stuff, Hanabi-Chan only hits me when I um.." He blinked seeing the stare Naruto was giving him, his eyebrow raised and a knowing grin on his face. "What?"

Naruto's grin grew and his eyes squinted together slightly. "Hanabi-Chan?" Konohamaru's eyes lit up with realization and he felt his cheeks grow red and he huffed, looking away from Naruto.

"Y.. Yeah what of it! You call that pink-haired girl Chan too! And Hanabi's sister too!" Naruto blinked in surprise, having not known Konohamaru knew that.

Chuckling, Naruto shook his head slightly. "You got me, I call them both Chan 'cause they're my friends and.. I like them."

"Even though the pink-Chan hits you a lot?" Naruto shrugged slightly, letting out a sigh.

"She's just.. I don't know, temperamental? It's probably my fault because I let her hit me so much... but, at least it's some attention?" Naruto turned his head away from the boy, and Konohamaru bit his lip trying to seek words to console his brother-figure when suddenly both felt a tug on their bodies and they looked at each other with shock written on their features.

"You felt that..?" Konohamaru asked, fear creeping into his voice as Naruto nodded, both of them gulping simultaneously as gravity finally seemed to realize their full weight and with another jerk the two were brought down, fast. The wind whipped past their faces, tugging back their skin and clothing.

Naruto brought his arm up to his eyes, shielding them from the wind as he reached over, gripping Konohamaru's wrist tightly and pulling the boy over. The young Shinobi looked up in shock as Naruto wrapped his legs around the boy, his back now facing the ground as he formed the familiar Kage Bunshin seal once more. With a shout that fell on both of their deaf ears, a large poof of smoke gathered behind the two as dozens upon dozens of Naruto clones came into existence and each one gripped the one in front of them until it was a large boulder of orange, with Konohamaru's blue scarf whipping out of the top.

Naruto looked behind him, eyes narrowed into slits. 'With any luck, these guys will cushion the fall for at least Konohamaru...' He closed his eyes tightly, wrapping his arms firmly around Konohamaru, who was shouting something, but it was muted from the wind rushing past them.

Not seconds later there was a large poof as most of the shadow clones were destroyed upon impact with the ground below, however as their memories came rushing into Naruto's mind he felt his eyes widen in shock at the cold chill they felt right before being destroyed. 'Shit..Is there ice up here!' He thought, his eyes widening further as he turns his head to look, however just as he did the last of his clones were gone with a poof and he was suddenly submerged in ice cold water with rocks brushing against his back.

Reacting quickly, he slammed his feet on the ground below, sending water spilling out of the small pond he and Konohamaru had landed in and he hastily pulled himself to his feet, gasping for air as he rose. He groaned as he reached the shore of the small pond, feeling his head throb from such a powerful impact, even though it was greatly reduced by his mass of clones.

He looked down towards Konohamaru but felt himself recoil in surprise at the log that was there instead. He slapped his forehead, tossing the log to the side and looking back and forth for any sign of his young friend. "Konohamaru! Where are you!" He shouted out, putting his hands around his mouth to add volume, but he recoiled once more at the sound of his own voice which sounded... higher pitched, with a slight whine at the end of it.

Naruto shook his head, frowning and shaking himself to remove the water from his body. 'No time for that right now, I have to find Konohamaru!' He thought, putting the voice-questioning aside for later. He turned around looking back towards the pond with his eyes narrowed, scanning over the crystal blue water. However there seemed to be nothing but rocks, a blue scarf, and … A blue scarf?

His eyes widening, Naruto hastily ran over to where the scarf was floating, grasping it and tugging up what was connected to it with one strong pull. With a gasp, Konohamaru was pulled free from the rock he had been stuck on inside the water and he landed neatly on Naruto's stomach, though he was quickly pulled up to his feet by Naruto, who proceeded to pat his back rather hard to get the water Konohamaru had in his lungs.

Several coughing fits later, Konohamaru held his hand up and nodded, smiling up towards Naruto. "Thanks Bo- Whoa!" Konohamaru's eyes widened and he hmmed, putting one hand on his chin and looking at the ground. "My voice sounds different." He stated, looking up towards Naruto with his eyes squinted. "And your face boss.. It's all.. Pretty?"

Naruto tilted his head, his eyebrow arched up and he turned back around towards the pond, leaning over the side with his hands on his hips. He squinted into the jumbled up reflection that came from the water and he felt his eyes widen as he noticed the now heart-shape of his face and the new curve he had to his whiskers, much like he did when he used his Sexy Jutsu, and his hair was long, about to mid-back just like his Sexy Jutsu as well but not in pigtails.

With a gulp, Naruto slowly unzipped his water filled jumpsuit and tossed the jacket to the side leaving him in his white sleeveless undershirt, his breathing becoming heavier as he cupped the small mounds that had definitely not been there before. "K.. Konohamaru... I think.. I think that I'm.." He turned towards the boy, his eyes widening in shock at the sight of the now shirtless Konohamaru who shared the same horrified look Naruto had on his face. The "Boy" had a heart-shaped face much like Naruto's and "his" hair was also long, but tucked into the scarf around "his" neck and Konohamaru's chest seemed to be only slightly smaller than Naruto's.

"A girl!" They shouted at the same time, both falling right onto the ground with one hand on their heads. "This can't be happening." Naruto stated, putting his fingers on his nose.

Konohamaru's posture wasn't much different, though he had his palm on his forehead instead. "Boss... Maybe this is only temporary?" He, or rather she?, said with a hopeful tone. "Maybe we just used the Sexy Jutsu as we fell?" As if to test this theory he put his fingers together, saying "Kai", but other than a poof from the log he had substituted to earlier, there were no results.

"I didn't preform seals and I'm not missing any chakra except from using my Kage Bunshin." Naruto said, crossing 'her?' arms under the new mounds that was on her chest. "And since we can't release it the only thing we can probably do is transform into our past-forms but that would really ware down our chakra..." She rubbed her chin now, sighing. "First things first, we can worry about this later. Right now we have to figure out where we are." Konohamaru nodded, a frown on her face as she pulled on her shirt again while Naruto scanned the area.

The entire area seemed to be a vast field with the only breaks being the pond that was currently behind Naruto and a bridge that was located far in the distance. Not only that but she could also see the outline of a building just beyond that. With a nod she began to walk towards the bridge, Konohamaru following close behind since she trusted her boss's judgment.

"I wonder if we're really just past the Hokage Mountain? It felt like we fell far longer than that..." Konohamaru voiced out, looking up towards the sky which seemed to be completely white as if a large cloud was blocking the sun, yet the entire area remained bright as day.

Naruto shrugged as the bridge grew closer, which seemed about ten feet long and five feet large with a long blue stream of water flowing under it. "With any luck, we'll find out everything we need to know from this place." As they reached the bridge there was a sudden shout that both startled and made them grow a faint sense of hope.

"Hey! How the hell are you guys up here?" Said the voice, and the owner of the voice was running at them at high speed from the building in front of them. He had thin black hair that went just past his neck from behind and hung over his dark blue eyes which had a dark scar going horizontally through both of them. His skin was tan, as if he was always in the sun, and he was around 5'8 wearing a loose kimono that had the Konoha symbol on the top, which was pure white, but the bottom of the Kimono was black with dark red fire seeming to dance along the hem.

His eyes, Naruto noticed, were glowing with surprise, shock, and fear. All pointed at them. With a huff, Naruto lightly pushed Konohamaru behind her, which caused the man to instantly stop. He stopped on the other side of the bridge, his fists clenched beside him. "I'll ask again, how are you up here? This place is completely restricted to mortals."

The two girls glanced at each other and looked back towards the man. "We're here on accident, we wanted to get to the top of the mountain so we.." She blinked looking towards Konohamaru. "What would you call that thing again?"

"A catapult." She said proudly, smiling and jabbing a thumb towards herself. "Made it myself so I get to name it..." Naruto flicked her forehead, causing the young girl's smile to fall into a pout but it grew serious again as the man made a step forward towards them.

"You're telling me you two.. launched yourselves up here, higher than the clouds, and fell down the Pit without so much of a scratch on you? No mortal could be that lucky, or be that skilled..." He looked towards Naruto, his eyes narrowed and he suddenly gripped at the left side of his waist with his left hand, as if there was something there and his right hand began to move towards it. "You're in league with the demons, aren't you! Targeting the God's relaxation zone, you fiends.. I'll have your heads for this, starting with the small one!" He suddenly charged forward, seeming to pull out a glowing orange Katana from where he was holding, as if he had it sheathed there the entire time.

Naruto felt time slow down as she pushed Konohamaru to the side, her hand sinking into her Shinobi pouch and tugging a Kunai free as she watched the man step onto the side of the bridge, jumping up into the air and heading straight for Konohamaru. She hastily moved into the way, blocking the orange Katana with her Kunai and sending the unprepared Ronin flying back.

With a small spin he landed on a rock inside the flowing river and he huffed, glaring towards the two. "Fine then, you will be first blonde girl!" He jumped into the air and Naruto hastily brought Konohamaru to her feet.

"Run Konohamaru, I'll handle this guy till he starts listening." She nodded, fear in her eyes as she ran to the side quickly, keeping within viewing distance in case Naruto needed help.

Watching the man approach Naruto hastily made some distance between the two by jumping backwards, tugging another Kunai out and clasping it in her empty hand. She bit her lip, trying to remember what Kakashi had told her about fighting Swordsmen, as she had asked when they were resting after the bridge fight with Zabuza.

'Oh? You want to know how I beat Zabuza without getting hit by that sword, huh? It's not that hard if you have good reflexes, although not seeing him made it much harder.' Here Kakashi grinned under his mask, staring at Naruto's excited face. 'You see.. I simply had to listen, hear the wind move from his strikes and dodge accordingly. You could probably do it too, Naruto.. You seem to have good ears.'

Naruto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head slightly. 'Not that good, Kakashi-Sensei! I doubt I'd be able to dodge something that didn't make a lot of noise.' Kakashi nodded here, smiling still as he nodded towards Sakura in thanks for bringing him a tea.

'Yes that could pose a problem if your opponent had a thin sword that didn't make much noise, so just watch his wrist. If you can follow where the wrist is going, you can follow where his attacks will go.'

'What if I can't see him?'

'Then.. well.. You run... Or you rely on luck or your instincts." Here he grinned, shrugging. "Or, in your case, yell until the opponent gets so infuriated they run out swinging without a thought of defense' He laughed at Naruto's sour expression.

Silently thanking the man in her head, Naruto began to keep her eyes locked on the wrist of the man attacking her. He twisted it left, aiming for her hip and she brought her Kunai to block the attack. He seemed surprised once again and was unprepared for the jab of her other Kunai coming towards his own hip. He broke free of the block, backing up to dodge the blow. He charged again soon after, his attacks becoming faster and stronger, causing Naruto to flinch with each blow she blocked and she felt her knees begin to give away. 'Where is my strength? I used to be so much stronger..'

It was then that it dawned on her, that the body she had now was no longer her body that she had known. 'It's... thinner! I can't block like this..' During this thought she had, momentarily, taken her eyes off his wrist and she gasped as sheer pain tore through her flesh, blood dripping from her now gashed open left arm which hung limply to the side now, the nerves cleanly cut through.

She groaned softly, feeling her mind flicker in and out of an unconscious state as she glared towards the man. 'Maybe... it wouldn't be so bad, dying like this..' She thought quietly, feeling heat rush down her arm as the red chakra began to stitch her flesh back together.

Seeing this, the man laughed, throwing his head back. "I knew it! You are with the demons, that vile energy could belong to nothing but a demon!" Naruto flinched, her eyes wide again as the man began to move towards her, grasping his blade tightly. "You're finished, demon spawn!"

Naruto felt anger starting to claw at her mind, and she felt the familiar flash of red in her mind as she heard the words out of the man's mouth. She began to open her mouth to retort, when a voice rang out over the fields. "You take that back you jerk! Naruto-Nii isn't a demon at all! He's caring, and powerful! So you take that back, my Naruto-Nii is going to be the Hokage!" Konohamaru yelled out at the top of her small lungs, a Kunai held firmly in her hand as she began to throw it towards the Ronin.

The man seemed taken back by this but he quickly recovered, grabbing the Kunai out of mid air and smirking towards the small girl. "Indeed? "He" is caring and will be the Hokage? I wonder how he will react to this then?" With a flick of his wrist he sent the Kunai flying back like a bullet towards Konohamaru, who seemed completely petrified by the blade coming towards him.

Naruto felt cold fear creep over her as she watched the Kunai fly towards Konohamaru, and without even a rational thought she began to run towards it. The man made no attempt to stop her as she shoved herself into the way of the blade, her arms outstretched and completely covering Konohamaru's body as the Kunai came closer, until it imbedded itself into her gut.

Konohamaru looked up at Naruto, who looked back at him slowly through her bangs which were now slick with sweat. "You alright.. Konohamaru?" The small girl nodded, biting her lip as she looked towards the Kunai in Naruto's gut. Following her gaze she chuckled, patting the girl's head as she began to pant softly, feeling the fox's chakra wash through her system in an attempt to seal the wound. "Don't worry.. I won't die from this." With a grunt she tugged the Kunai free, tossing it to the side as she looked down at her white undershirt, which was now becoming a dark red as her blood spread across it.

She looked up towards the man again, glaring daggers at him. "You dare attempt to hurt Konohamaru..? You bastard." She stated, venom in her voice as she put her fingers together. "No mercy! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" She shouted out and the man felt his eyes widen in shock as he was suddenly surrounded by a vast amount of the girl before him.

His eyes narrowed and he held his sword up, placing both hands on the hilt of his blade. "I see.. So you were not lying." He frowned as the girls' charged towards him, some swinging Kunai and some just throwing punches towards him. He slowly breathed out, his eyes closing. "Consume, Yuumagure." He stated calmly, the blade's orange aura suddenly expanding and surrounding the entire Naruto army that had him surrounded. When the light faded, the only thing left was Konohamaru who was staring with her eyes full of shock at the man, though the man himself seemed confused as he looked back and forth. "I am sure I only absorbed shadows.. So where..?"

He felt his eyes widen as a fist came up from under ground, slamming into his jaw and sending him flying back into the river with his sword spinning around and imbedding itself into the bridge. With her breaths heavy and sweat dripping from her brow the blonde girl grinned, staring at the dumbstruck male in the river. "So take that.. You god..damned..bastard.." She slowly crumpled to the ground, landing face-first into the dirt...

Then everything went black...

0-0-0-0 Prologue Done 0-0-0-0

Yuumagure – Evening Twilight. Creates a vortex of energy around the user that sucks up all other energy and turns it into light. The "User" is able to "feel" where and what he pulled energy from and will receive some of the energy absorbed.