"Hey Angeles! Have you ever been to the Land of Waves?" Naruto asks, pulling me out of my trance. Shaking my head in response, I sighed, rubbing my bandaged hand absentmindedly.

We have been walking for about two hours now, judging by the suns position. My legs felt a little like jelly, but I kept walking with a steady stride next to Kakashi-sensei. Tazuna walked in front of us, while the other three of my team walked at the head of the group.

I made a bit of small talk with Naruto about ramen, then went to talk to Tazuna. He told me a little bit about Inari, and that he was his grandson and how he cherished him. It refreshed me on a couple of pieces of memory when I realized where we were in the episodes.

The chunin of the mist, the brothers, will be here soon...just gotta watch for a puddle if I remember correctly...

We walked across a bridge and I caught up to Naruto again.

"Hey Naruto, could you hold this?" I asked him nonchalantly, taking off my moon necklace and handing it to him.

"Sure, why?" Naruto gave me a very confused look.

"If we get into a scrape I want to be able to get to you."

"What?"

"Nevermind."

A couple of minutes later, I spotted it up ahead. A small puddle off to the side on the road. I took a side glance to Kakashi, as if sending a message.

Kakashi took my glance and looked ahead, confirming what I saw. He took a moment, then turned his gaze back to me and shook his head subtly. I raised an eyebrow, but then got what he meant.

He's going to see who the brothers are after. I remember now!

I looked straight ahead again with a neutral expression, walking straight past the puddle without as much as a glance.

It only took a couple of seconds for the brothers to come out of the puddle and shoot their chains at us. My glance immediately went to Kakashi, remembering that they went after him first.

It was then I realized that the chains were whipping around me instead! I froze in fright.

Holy shit!

"Team!" I shouted, as they just turned around to see what the sudden noise was about.

In miliseconds I had gotten trapped in the chains. They tightened around me like vices as my arms were pinned to my sides. The sudden grip made me grunt, not counting on it to be that tight. Some of the sharp blades of the spiked chain dug into my skin, drawing blood and creating a stinging pain throughout.

Sakura face twisted into horror, but it wasn't as sad as Naruto's terrified expression.

"First one!" A brother boasted, tightening their chains to rip me apart. I screamed, and so did Sakura and Naruto.

The chains came free, flying in all directions as the pressure was released from holding me came through. Though, what made everyone freeze was that I was gone. Not as in my body parts everywhere, it was that I was gone.

"Sike!" I smiled from my new position next to Naruto, the orange clad boy making a yelp noise. The chunin looked from their gaze from the spot I once stood a milisecond ago to a widened stare at me. Kakashi looked startled as I took the necklace from my best friend, who looked super relieved but still shocked.

"Thanks for holding that," I thanked Naruto, putting it around my neck again. The Mist Brothers didn't spend a second to waste, appearing directly behind Naruto and I with chains in an arced motion.

"Again!" one brother declared, but didn't get a chance to make a move as Sasuke kicked into gear.

Sasuke had jumped to get a better angle and pinned their chains to a nearby tree with some very precise aim of shuriken and kunai to make sure they stuck.

Sasuke then landed on their chained metal arms and promptly kicked both directly in the face, making them release their chains. They had been kicked toward Naruto and I, giving us a pretty clear view of Sasuke's awesomeness.

"Wow," Naruto muttered in admiration for Sasuke. I hum in agreement.

The two brothers didn't stop there, of course.

One circled and went for Naruto again while the other arced and went straight for Tazuna. Naruto froze while Sakura had a burst of bravery and jumped in front of Tazuna with her own kunai. Sasuke saw that and sped to get in front of Sakura.

Naruto was left undefended and frozen, so I got in front of him and flicked out my assassin blades, brandishing them. I swung to parry the jab of the brothers poisonous claws, and parried a couple more until I saw an opening when he swung too wide. I went for his solar plexus after quickly sheathing my blade as to not hurt him badly, uppercut him in the chin with a strong elbow, then forcefully kicked him right in the gut away from Naruto and I. He tumbled right into Kakashi's blow to the head, knocking the Mist chunin out as he held the other limp chunin in a headlock.

"That's enough," Kakashi finished.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura's face seemed to scream as it brightened into a very happy smile.

Tazuna took a big breath, relieved that he was protected.

I sheathed my other blade, taking a breath of relief. My heart dropped a little when I heard Naruto groan a little, so I immediately turned to him. The look on his face was shell shocked, and I assumed he was going through a monologue while staring at Sasuke.

"Sorry I didn't help you right away, Naruto. I didnt mean for you to get hurt...I just didn't think you'd freeze up like that."

Kakashi walked over to Sasuke and Sakura.

"Good work Sasuke, very smooth. You too Sakura. Angeles, you had premonition and defended your team mate well. I appreciate this teams work."

Thanks, Kakashi...except Naruto still got hurt.

My mood instantly deflated.

"Kami, Naru-kun...I'm so sorry," I whispered, "I didn't protect you well enough, I..."

"Hey," Sasuke spoke, directed to Naruto.

"Yeah?" Naruto replied, taking his attention off of me.

"You're not hurt are ya?" Sasuke poked fun at him, "scaredy cat."

Naruto's face instantly turned to anger as he shouted, "SASUKEE--"

"Naruto!" Kakashi cut Naruto off from his charge at Sasuke, firmly stating, "stay still. These ninja have poison in their claws."

Naruto froze in terror, staring at his wounded hand as Kakashi kept talking, "we need to take it out of you quickly. We have to open the wound and remove it. It's in your blood so don't move around."

"If you move too much it'll spread the poison," I chimed in, walking to him and taking up his hand and inspecting it. Naruto shook in fear.

Kakashi then turned to Tazuna and said, "we need to talk."

-------------

We got the brothers tied to a tree and we stood in a semicircle around them.

"Chunin from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Their specialty is relentless attack. They keep fighting no matter the sacrifice."

I listened to Kakashi as I sat Naruto down and cleaned the blood with a cloth I had in my bag.

"How did you know about our ambush?" One brother asked. Kakashi turned to me and I raised my head. Knowing what was coming, I put the cloth I had back into my bag.

"Would you do the honors, Angeles?"

"Erm...sure, sensei," I replied, standing up and explaining, "I had a gut feeling at first. Those so far have never wronged to me, so I handed my moon necklace to Naruto."

I took the necklace from my neck and held it by the chain, letting everyone see it.

"What's so special about the necklace?" Sasuke asked.

I didn't reply to the question right away, I just tossed the necklace to him with a smile. He caught it with ease, giving me a look then inspecting it. Sakura peaked over his shoulder. Sasuke turned it over and saw my hat marking.

"Is this made of chakra?" Sasuke asked. As soon as he did, I Blinked right in front of him right to the marking.

"Yep!" I replied in a chipper tone, making Sasuke jump and Sakura yelp.

"That's how you Blink?" Naruto asked, finally getting it after seeing me do it many times. Sasuke had a look of realization and Sakura had her wheels turning as her face showed understanding.

"That's right Naruto," I smile genuinely at him, "though we're getting a little off track, so I'll talk about my Blink later. To answer their question, I saw the puddle and it didn't make any sense. A puddle on a clear day...when it hasn't rained in weeks?"

"Very noticable," Kakashi confirmed, "spotted by our observationist. And he let me know."

I laughed a little, sarcastically jabbing, "and you didn't help us when we actually got attacked."

"Why didn't you stop them then, Kakashi? Why let the genin fight?" Tazuna asked our sensei.

"Because I need to know what they were after."

Kakashi then grilled Tazuna on his choice of mission rank, the danger of the mission, and how we were in over our heads.

"You have your reasons, I can tell, but we are now beyond the scope of this mission," Kakashi announced, setting everyone on edge.

"Why go after me, though...?" I asked the chunin, "I'm a genin as well."

"From behind you looked taller and older than everyone else."

"Do I? Woah dude," I breathed, my eyes wide, "I may be tall, but my sensei here is more than 15 years older than I am! And he's jonin! I mean, you can tell by his walk stature!"

"Simple mistake," Sakura cut in, "you are very mature for 19, and to be honest you have a...prominent presence like Kakashi."

I huff, crossing my arms, now very aware of the height difference I had with my silver haired sensei. Sakura went to change the subject by my reaction.

"We should probably go back to the village...we're in way over our heads. We're just genin, we shouldn't go on a higher ranked mission like this. And we'll probably need some professional medical attention on Naruto," she reasoned.

"Argh...I hate this!" Naruto growled, grabbing everyone's attention. With this, I knew to step back and let him have his moment. Naruto stuck the kunai he had into his hand and I winced, but didn't do anything to stop him. I listened to Naruto's promise on the pain in his hand to never leave his friends to fend for themselves again with a proud expression, but it slowly drifted to concern as I watched the puddle of blood on the ground under his hand get larger. Kakashi was the one to say something first.

"That was nice, and you seemed to have stabbed the poison out...but if we don't stop the bleeding, you'll die."

Cue Naruto literally freak out. I go to get him a couple of bandages and handed them to Kakashi which took them to wrap Naruto's hand. Kakashi paused, then continues wrapping his hand. Naruto asks if he'll die, and Kakashi promises he won't.

Must've seen Naruto already healing.

"Let's get going. We don't have much time to waste," Kakashi hummed.

"Alrighty," I mumbled, adjusting my turtleneck.

We all started off again, ending up at a boat on the edge of a large body of water covered in mist. What seemed to be a friend of Tazuna's was in the boat waiting for us, and started to row us across to get to the Land of Waves.

I prompted Tazuna on why he needed our help, and he explained the situation. Gato, his tight hold on the land, the crippling poverty he had caused, everything. In real time, it sounded more horrible and just sad. It ruined the air when Tazuna tried to guilt trip us into helping him by using his Grandson. Knowing his antics, Kakashi accepted anyway since we were this far into the mission. Tazuna took it as the work of the guilt trip and quietly congratulated himself.

"I've been meaning to ask you, brainiac, since we're all getting cozy with stories," Tazuna turned to me, "What's up with your eyes? You have heterochromia or somethin'?"

Sakura shifted too, piping up, "yeah, and your hair is different today."

Only Sakura would notice hairstyle.

"Hair gel, for one. And uh..." I cleared my throat, "this was a lovely gift from a disease called Kalisis."

"The sapping of chakra disease?" Kakashi asked.

"That's the one," I replied, unwrapping my bandages to show the ink like marks I had received.

"The eye color change is new," Kakashi commented, inspecting my red eye.

I hummed, letting the curious Sakura take a closer look at my arm and letting her hold it.

"What ointment do you use, Angeles? It smells...flowery? Lemongrass?" Sakura questioned.

I chuckled a little, "and sage. I'm surpised you recognize the smell. It's something I picked up from the hospital, having to go back every month to keep the seal on my hand in check."

"There's a seal?" Sasuke prompted.

"Mhmm," I answered, letting Sakura unwrap it all the way. She gently removed the bandages and her eyes widened.

"This seal looks complicated!" She spoke in awe, looking at the little circles and patterns printed onto the back of my hand. Sasuke peeked over to look at it.

"It was quite a pain, let me tell ya," I mutter honestly, "it still bothers me sometimes."

Naruto nodded, "yeah, yeah! you told me about that! You said you rub at it sometimes."

"I still do," I confirmed, "it acts up a lot these days."

"It's nearing the end of the month," Kakashi broke in with concern evident in his tone, "are you sure you can do this mission if you miss your chance to go back to the hospital?"

Sakura agreed, "yeah, what if it acts up in the middle of battle?"

"I'm sure it won't happen. We'll get this done in a couple of days, then go home. The next appointment I have is a week from now. It's okay, I'll be fine," I assured them in a calm tone. My head felt light and my hands started to tremble, my body warm but extremely cold at the same time. I pushed it aside, ignoring the feelings and focused on my reflection in the water that parted for the boat in the ripples.

Kakashi dropped the subject as we neared the end of the water ride. I took a deep breath.

Zabuza is next.