Valley of the Wind
Chapter 5: The One and Only
By: Zashire

Once Naruto had made a visit to the hospital to get his arm rewrapped, Temari led him to the place where she had been staying at for the past few days. He found and extra bed, where he sat down and explained the meeting with the Kyuubi and what they could do from there. They decided to focus on trying to settle in a bit, seeing as they wouldn't be going back to the future anytime soon. Naruto could tell Temari was unhappy about it, but there wasn't really anything he could do about it.

Temari was still a bit mad at the blonde, but it had worn off over the intervals between the meetings with Hashirama and Kugiro. She figured she might as well get along with him if they were going to be living together for a while. She would miss her brothers, but tried to convince herself that she was just on some extended mission… one that involved visiting dead people… and, well, maybe it was better to just face reality. She was stuck in the past for now, with no foreseeable way out. It sucked.

Which led them to their current situation…

Grumble!

Naruto grinned out of embarrassment. "Uh… I'm hungry?"

"So? What do you expect me to do about it?" Temari huffed in annoyance.

"They never said what we should do about food-"

"The market's just down the road."

Temari sweat-dropped.

"But what about money?"

"Don't you have any?"

"Yeah..."

"So go use it."

"Is it good here?"

"Why wouldn't-" Temari cut herself off as realization hit. Hard. The blonde idiot had a point. They were over fifty years in the past. Did they use the same currency? She had completely forgotten to ask Hashirama about it when she had the chance. And now that he had brought it up, she felt hungry too. "Damn it."

"So what are we going to do about it?"

She got up off the chair she was sitting in and went over to the door. "Let's go browse around town. We'll stop by Senju-sama's later."

Naruto grumbled about being hungry, but one glare from Temari made him shut up and comply.

xxx

"Hey, Hashirama?"

"Yes, Uncle?" the addressed man replied as he looked up from his paperwork.

"Why are you so… I don't know… willing to recruit those two into the ninja force? We haven't even known them for more than a week. The boy less than that." Kugiro tried his best to explain his question.

Hashirama leaned back in his chair and sighed. "I will be placing them under a trustworthy person if they pass the test. Think of it as a way to keep an eye on them."

Kugiro allowed a small smile. "Always two steps ahead, eh?"

Hashirama smiled back. "I need to be if I'm expected to be a leader." He shifted his attention back to his desk, and noticed a variant form of a purse lying next to the stack of papers. He looked back up to Kugiro who was about to leave. "Please give this to Temari and Naruto when you see them next. It must have slipped my mind earlier, what with all the confusion. They need to eat if they expect to live in any time."

Kugiro chuckled as he caught the purse his nephew sent his way. "Will do."

"Thanks," he was about to work again when yet another think came to him. "Also, tell them to go to the Tree at 0700 hours tomorrow if they are interested in joining our force. Someone will be there to meet them."

Kugiro looked puzzled for a moment, and tried to figure out who the 'someone' was. He had a fairly good idea, but nodded anyway. "Will do."

Hashirama soon went back to his paperwork after his uncle left. Two blondes he was acquainted with had it in for them. Their worst nightmare would be coming for them all to soon…

…at precisely 0700 hours tomorrow.

xxx

Naruto wore a puzzled expression as he and Temari strolled through the streets of quite possibly one of the largest villages on the map, even though it wasn't that large. It had a nice variety of everything for everyone.

Temari glanced over at the other blonde every once in a while. He was an odd character. She hadn't known him for very long… Actually, it was pretty sad. She had probably spent more time with him in the past than in their time. She sighed. Anyway, he was odd in her opinion. One moment, he would be risking his life for one of his friends, and the next, he would be complaining about how hungry he was. There was such a difference between his laidback self, and his serious self that it was almost scary.

Another thing she noticed every time she glanced over at him was that he looked confused. It was starting to wear on her that he didn't say anything about it. She considered leaving it alone, but after one last look at him, she snapped.

"Okay, spit it out. What's wrong?!"

Naruto snapped out of whatever daydream he was in and looked over to the girl. After a few moments, the question finally registered.

"Why does everyone keep their merchandise out on the street where people can steal it?" he asked, and nodded over in the direction of one of said shops for emphasis.

Temari's eyes widened. Who knew the blonde paid that much attention to his surroundings? From what she could tell, he seemed to have a one-track mind. He just seemed to keep surprising her.

"I really don't know. I never noticed that back at Suna. Life could easily be different here."She didn't want to mention anything about them being in the past out in public. The last thing they needed was to draw attention to themselves.

Naruto nodded. "So… about that food…"

Temari was very close to whacking him on the back of the head again. Stupid one-track mind.

"I don't know. Let's go look for Senju-sama's office. Maybe he could help us."

Just as they were about to change directions, a voice came from behind them.

"Meh, he's kinda busy right now. Can I take a message?"

Naruto turned around with a surprised look on his face.

"Miss me-?"

WHAM!

"Don't. Do. That. Ever. Again!!!" Temari practically shouted through clenched teeth.

And she thought I had problems with manners? Naruto thought with a bewildered look on his face.

"I'll take that as a 'no,'" Kugiro grumbled as he lifted himself off the ground. "You know, that's going to sting for a few days?" he mumbled while rubbing the back of his head.

Temari crossed her arms. To think this was the guy that was threatening me less than a week ago. It almost reminded her of Naruto. They both had many different sides to their personalities… most of which were completely annoying to her. Lucky me.

"What'd you need to tell us?" she asked in an annoyed tone, completely forgetting about the money they needed for the food.

As if acting as a reminder, Kugiro threw a purse at her. Out of instinct, she caught it and opened it. "That is a very generous sum of money from Hashirama. Use it wisely, because that is all you will be getting unless you join the ninja force or get a job around town."

Temari began to nod but stopped. "Has Senju-sama decided to offer us positions amongst the ninja?"

Kugiro laughed. "It won't be that easy. But to answer your question, yes, he has decided to. If you're interested, go to the Tree at 0700 hours tomorrow, and someone will be there to meet you."

Naruto grinned. Temari nodded, her previous anger gone.

"Please tell him thank you for the money, and that we will be there tomorrow morning."

Just as Kugiro was about to leave, Naruto piped in.

"Um, where exactly is 'the Tree'?"

Kugiro laughed again, and pointed behind them. "Not very easy to miss."

Both blondes followed him and looked.

Slightly off in the distance stood a very tall tree. It seemed to be taller than any of the other ones around it.

Naruto bravely spoke both their thoughts.

"How did we not see that earlier?"

Kugiro laughed and said goodbye, leaving the blondes to wallow in their stupidity. Temari was carefully reconsidering her skills as a kunoichi, while Naruto… was more interested in some nice smelling food that came from a food stand s few feet away.

Temari sighed. "Kami-sama pray I survive this…"

xxx

Shortly after their meeting with Kugiro, Naruto and Temari found themselves seated at a table outside of a small restaurant. The blonde boy quickly found the ramen section on the menu, and nearly squealed with glee that they had his favorite food in this time period. Temari was a bit surprised by his eagerness to get the food, seeing as she hadn't known too much about him before being taken back in time with him. She would have to learn about some of the other blonde's habits the hard way…

"Can I get you two anything else?" their waitress asked with a smile as she walked up to their table.

"No, thank-" Temari began, but was interrupted.

"More ramen!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically.

Temari glared at him, but quickly focused her attention back on the young woman next to her. "I'm sorry, but we're fine. My friend really doesn't need any more food. May we please have the bill now?"

The waitress frowned slightly by the loss of business, but nodded and turned to walk away after a final glance at the two blondes.

Once she was out of earshot, Temari returned to glaring at the other blonde.

"What the hell was that for?!" she hissed.

Naruto looked at her with a surprised expression.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Yes!" she growled. "We're short on money as it is. The last thing we need is for you to eat your way through our money in one night! We need to make this last until we can get some more from serving as ninja."

"But don't we have a lot as it is?" he questioned. "Besides, we might be officially ninja tomorrow."

She frowned. "That doesn't mean we will be starting missions right away."

He sighed. She did have a point. "Fine."

She leaned back in her chair. "Another thing you need to work on is your manners. They're terrible."

He huffed.

"At least show your superiors some respect in the future. Never interrupt Senju-sama. He is quite possibly the strongest ninja alive right now. The last thing we need is for you to be making an enemy of him."

Naruto stared at her in disbelief. Sure, he agreed that he could brush up on his manners a bit… but Hashirama was far from being one of their enemies. Would an enemy give them as much money as he had? The blonde sighed. They were both over thinking everything. They had a test tomorrow that would affect their futures… well, pasts… it was all too confusing.

Temari sighed as well. "Let's just get going soon, okay?"

"Sure," the other blonde agreed. As he finished his bowl of ramen, he went to move the bowl aside using his left hand, but then remembered it was unusable at the moment.

Temari frowned when she saw this. "Are you sure you'll be up to whatever Senju-sama's going to throw at us tomorrow?"

"Yeah," he said with a shrug. "Not like I really have a choice."

The blonde girl grunted. "Show a little more confidence."

He suddenly remembered his conversation with Hashirama earlier. His face brightened up a few notches. "Don't worry about me. I'm sure we'll pass no matter what."

Temari looked at him, a bit surprised. She wished he would get his emotions sorted out soon, because his little bipolar episodes were starting to wear on her. He had acted similarly back when they were browsing around the town earlier. One moment he would act depressed, and then the next, he would be back to his normal, happy self. What was causing these changes? Well, I guess I can't blame him too much considering everything that's happened in the past few days… I've barely been keeping myself together, and I don't even have half of his problems.

"You know, if you have to get something out of your system, now would be the time to do it. I'm here and I'll listen to whatever you need to say," Temari offered. Her eyes widened a bit when she realized she had actually said that out loud.

Naruto looked a bit surprised as well, but then grinned again. "What do you mean? Nothing's wrong."

She sighed and rested her head on one of her hands. "You're not fooling anyone. I can tell you're upset. Just get it out now."

Naruto's eyes dropped. "Imagine having one of the most feared creatures of all time trapped inside you, not being able to use one of your arms, and having to worry about how you'll get said creature to get you back to your own time." Naruto dropped his head to the palm of his left hand, just like Temari had a few minutes prior. He locked eyes with her, but she quickly jerked hers away. "Sorry for complaining like this, but it's hard to look forward to anything in the situation right now."

She sighed. "It's fine. While I can't empathize with you on the first two, I can on the third. Sorry if I sound completely rude sometimes, but the whole matter right now is stressful and annoying. I really just want to go home. I never really realized how much I loved it there until it was taken away like right now."

Naruto smiled a bit. "I have to agree with that."

"I guess all we can do right now is try and pass whatever the test is tomorrow. We'll have to focus on getting back home later… especially with your…"

"Arm," he finished, looking down at the useless limb. "I'm not mad at you about it, so don't be afraid to mention it."

"Yeah," she said with a small frown. "Let's just try to stay on good terms with each other, and sooner or later we'll figure everything out and get back home, okay?" She finished her statement with a light smile.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed with a grin of his own.

"Here's your bill," the waitress said as she placed it on the table. "Thank you for coming. We hope to see you again in the future."

The two blondes almost laughed at the mention of the future. Temari quickly thanked the waitress, paid the bill, left a tip, and stood up. Naruto looked up before following.

"Ready for bed yet?" Naruto stifled a yawn.

Temari nodded with one of her own. The sun had gone down several hours ago and it was finally sinking in.

"Yeah, let's get going." As they pushed their chairs in and started to leave, Naruto remembered something.

"Oh yeah, about the thing at the hospital a few days ago…"

Temari waved it off. "Don't worry about it. Yeah, I'm still a bit mad, but if we're going to get anywhere in this time, we might as well get along." Naruto grinned. "Though I'm not sure if I'm sorry about slapping you or not. You were being kind of an ass." The other blonde frowned. "Whatever, let's just call it a night, and try to start over tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, but I'm not looking forward to getting up that early," he whined.

Temari stared. "How is 0700 hours early?! Baki-sensei made us get up an hour before the sun came up on a daily basis. How lazy was your sensei?"

Naruto just laughed. If she only knew…

"Hey! I asked you a question!"

Their night continued like that for a while after.

xxx

A pillow greeted Naruto's face as he cracked his eyes open the next morning.

"We're going to be late if you don't get out of bed this instant!" the other blonde said loudly as she prepared to chuck another one at him.

"Meh, I'm up, I'm up," Naruto grunted as he threw off the covers and got out of bed.

He grabbed a change of clothes and went to the bathroom, skipping the shower when he realized what time it was.

"Crap! We only have 10 minutes until the meeting?!"

"Yeah! That's why I've been trying to get you up for the past half hour. It was kind of hard to do because of how loud you were snoring," came the muffled response from outside the door.

Naruto cursed at himself and changed as fast as he possibly could. Temari stared in disbelief when he came out of the bathroom a few minutes later.

"That was quick." She scanned his ninja gear. "Have everything?" He nodded. "Then let's get going. We're going to have to skip breakfast."

Naruto groaned but followed as the other blonde ran out the door.

xxx

It took them five minutes to get to the Tree between all of the civilians and ninja trying to get around the small village. Naruto continued to curse himself for sleeping in, and prayed that they made it on time.

Temari, on the other hand, didn't bother with cursing off anyone in her head, and instead focused on weaving a way through the crowd for Naruto and herself. They only had a few minutes left, and she was determined to get them there on time.

"There it is!" Naruto shouted from just behind her.

She looked up, and sure enough, the Tree was not fifty meters away. As they came up to it, they noticed a man with white hair, along with two young girls, one with dark blackish hair, and another with brown hair.

They soon came upon them and stopped for a minute to catch their breath.

The man with white hair stood up, and Temari could see that he held a pocket watch in his hand.

"Right on time," he said with a smirk.

The two blondes finally looked up to the man. His hair didn't seem nearly as white this close up. Naruto could easily compare it to that of Kakashi's. He also noticed the reddish-brown color of the man's eyes. They seemed familiar, but for some reason Naruto couldn't place it. Neither could Temari.

Temari recognized one of the girls next to the man as Hareshi, but she couldn't tell who the one was. Hareshi noticed her stare, and grinned back.

The other girl seemed shy, and blushed a bit when she saw Naruto. Temari frowned a bit, but snapped out of it when she heard a cough.

Both she and Naruto focused their attention on the man again and waited for him to speak.

"Now that you two are here, let's begin," he said. Soon after, he sat back down on the grass at the foot of the tree. "Come, sit."

Both blondes did as they were told and sat in front of the trio.

"No need to be so stiff… you two are pretty much members of the ninja force already," the man explained.

Temari looked confused. "But don't we need to take a test? Senju-sama said that we were required to pass one before we joined."

Naruto nodded in agreement.

The man held up a hand with two fingers extended. "Alright, two things. One: I make the rules about the test. It will be a simple sparring match. I will report what I gather from the matches, and make recommendations on how your abilities will or will not assist in our ninja system. And two: be careful who you refer to as 'Senju-sama' around here. For a minute I thought you were talking about me." He laughed as if he had said something funny.

Temari looked confused. "Are you related to him?"

That question only made him laugh louder.

"Why yes, I am. My name is Senju Tobirama - the one and only brother of Hashirama."

xxx

Well, I'm going on vacation all of next week, so here's an update. :)

I'll try to update more often.

Hope you enjoyed it,

Zashire