The sun was about to come up, the two racers were warming up. As soon as the sun rises, the race is on. Towns people were around, cheering, excited for the festival. "What kind of race is this?" Naruto asked.

We looked at Sakura. "You know the kind with a start and finish." She said, pulling up what looks to be a map. "Listen carefully and I'll explain."

We looked at the map she held. "The starting point is here, the harbor of Degarashi. From here, the runners head for Motoroki Shrine. That's the midpoint." My face paled as she pointed across the water. "They run over water?" Naruto asked.

I elbowed my stupid brother. "No you dunce. It'll be by ship, right?" I asked Sakura. She nodded and continued. "Anyway, the runners pick up the jewels from this shrine and the first one to get them to the Great Todoroki Shrine wins. That's it based on the basic rules though. Other then that, just about anything goes. Short cuts, dirty tricks, anything." She concluded.

I sighed. This is going to be a long race.

"That's why hiring ninja to help you out is okay too." Sasuke inputted from next to me. "Okay, so where are the ninja the other side hired?" Naruto asked. I shrugged and leaned on Sasuke. "They're around. I promise you that." I grumbled, glancing at a man with green hair who was blended in with the crowd. Three other were near him. Ninja.

This is going to suck. "I don't care what you guys do, but whatever happens just stay away from me." Idate spoke mid-stretch. He and Naruto then began squabbling, big shocker.

"Attention! Attention! The Race to the Great Todoroki Shrine is about to begin! Running for the Wasabi is Idate Morino!" The announcer spoke through the speaker phone.

Cheers erupted as people cheered for the kid. "Ready for the Wagarashi family-" I toned out, not giving a damn about them. Instead, I glanced at Sasuke, who was staring at Idate calculating. A smirk tugged on my lips. Looks like he finally figured it out.

"Runners, take your marks!" The two did and the gates started to open to the docks, where two ships awaited them. "GO!" The announcer shouted as the sun rose.

The two took off. "Guess we better get going too, what the?!" I blinked as Idate ran off in a different direction. "What is he doing?!" I shouted, running after him.

Sakura and Naruto shouted at him, telling him he was going the wrong way, but Idate just continued running. "Idate!" We shouted. Where the hell is he going?! Tch. I should have placed a seal on him. We're supposed to go over the ocean! Ghek. Over the ocean . . . over the water. Water.

My stomach churned a bit. I shook my head wildly. No! Swimming is child's play! I know how to swim!

"We'll catch up to him pretty soon." Naruto grumbled as we jumped from tree to tree. Sakura shook her head. "But it's too late now. He'll never win this far from the port." She said.

She's got a point. But Idate seemed pretty set on winning. "I don't know, he might have planned to come this way from the beginning." Sasuke spoke my thoughts. Of course he'd catch onto it.

What is this kid up to? We finally caught up. Naruto had decided to jump down and run with him. Sasuke, Sakura, and I stayed in the trees. They're heading straight towards the edge of the cliff. "Watch out!" Sakura warned.

I groaned. "Genjutsu? Really? Come on, I hate Genjutsu." I snapped. They were a bit ahead of us, lower onto the cliff side.

Idate ran for the end of the cliff. "No! Don't go that way!" Sakura shouted. Naruto looked around, confused, before he realized what was going on.

He ran after Idate to save him. I quickened my pace. Idate had run off and began to fall. Naruto jumped after him, catching him by his clothes. I jumped down after, and snatched Naruto's leg. Chakra chains came from my back and quickly shot up and into Sasuke and Sakura's hands. We swayed around a bit. Someone put one Genjutsu over another. That's not easy to pull off, nor is it easy to escape.

I hate Genjutsu.

Idate screamed a bit and moved around. "Stop moving! Sasuke, Sakura, hold on tight!" I shouted up before slowly going up by shortening my chains. As I shortened the chains, Naruto scolded Idate, and Idate shouted and moved around too much. Naruto's pouch opened and all his ninja tools fell out.

My temple throbbed and I quickened the process and we were back up in no time. "Look, I didn't need your help okay?" Idate spoke. Naruto stood fast, enraged my his words. "You didn't need it huh?! What about a thanks for saving your life?!" Naruto roared.

Idate shot him a glare. "You only save me because you're bound to by duty! There's no need for me to thank you." He shot at him. Before Naruto could retort, I quickly covered his mouth. "He's right. I wouldn't save a brat like him if it wasn't part of our mission. You reap what you sow."

Sasuke nodded and stepped up. "Listen, if you don't want to end up dead, I suggest you stick close to us." Idate just started walking off. "And where are you going?" I asked, crossing my arms. My brother stepped up. "What happened to Port Degarashi?" He asked.

Idate stopped and glanced back at us. "What about it? Forget the port, I'm heading north of here." North, ah! I see. So this was his plan all along. "You are? So does that mean it's faster that way?" Sakura asked.

Idate smirked. "That's right." Hm. Naruto scoffed. "Yeah, maybe. How do we even know we can trust this guy?" He asked. He's got a point.

"That's the problem with all you ninja! Look at this time of the year, there are some pretty strong seasonal winds blowing hard across the sea. Back at the starting point, I noticed the clouds. I could see the wind was blowing towards us. On top of that, there's a port to the north where the ocean current flows directly to NagiIsland. That's what I was saying. You ought to use this a little more right here." He pointed to his temple.

I smirked and crossed my arms. This kids good. Very impressive. "Well let's go then." I said. Idate turned and ran north, us following after him.

As we ran back to the forest, we broke through to a beach, the ocean was calm and flowing gently. "NagiIsland right?" I asked, nodding to the island not far from here. "That's right. We could probably get there in an hour. One sec." Idate ran to the boat house nearby.

The old man there spoke with Idate before pointing to a large boat. We all quickly boarded and set sail. Sasuke was in charge with the giant paddle and Naruto and Sakura were with the roped.

I stood by Idate, looking ahead I could vaguely hear Naruto and Sakura whispering back there. Suddenly Naruto laughed loudly. "Get real, that blockhead could never be a ninja!" He laughed, obviously referring to Idate.

I sweat dropped. Naruto . . .

"Look who's talking! Last time I checked, you were the reigning king of stupid." As much as that annoyed me, it didn't at the same time.

Why be angry with something that's true? "Well yeah, but come on. I did make it to the final rounds of the Chunin Exams didn't I?" Idate tensed and whirled around quickly, facing them.

"You didn't really make it to the final round did you?" He asked my brother. "Yeah, that's right! And if I hadn't been interrupted in the middle of it, I could have won the tournament and become a Chunin!"

I rolled my eyes. He did in fact win his match. But out of all contestants, I doubt anyone will become a Chunin based on what the elders were looking for.

Well, maybe with the exception of Nara.

"Yeah well, whoever your proctor was must have been a pushover. Sounds like the Chunin Exam has lowered it's standard some." I looked at him carefully. He doesn't know?

He quickly covered his mouth, realizing what he had said. "So that means you were . . ." Sakura trailed off, smiling. Idate quickly looked ahead. "You guys seriously don't remember him?" I asked.

Idate turned to me, eyes wide. "He's Idate Morino. Who else do we know with that last name?" I asked. Sakura's eyes widened. "No way . . ." She mumbled. I nodded. "Our proctor." Sasuke answered, already having it figured out. "That's right. Little Idate here is the younger brother of Ibiki the Sadist."

"What'd you say?!" Idate asked, turning his attention to me. "Well, he's not your dad right? He's your brother." I stated. "My brother, he's alive?!" He asked, clearly shocked by the news.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Well of course he's alive. Why wouldn't he be? He threw such a curveball at me, the tenth question." Naruto said. Idate looked between us. "Seriously? He's really alive then?"

I tensed and quickly moved forward and caught an arrow. Glaring at the boat behind us, I snapped the arrow. "It's an ambush." Sasuke informed us.

Great. More arrows descended upon us, which we deflected them. Sasuke and Naruto were in front of Idate, Sakura and I. "Naruto and I will fend these guys off. Miyuna, Sakura, you two keep an eye on Idate."

"Maybe we should all just run." Sakura offered. Sasuke told her it was too late. I turned my gaze on the water. This is going to suck. More arrows fired, but hit the ship. There were ropes attached to it, which the other ship used to get closer to us. "Start working on these ropes. I'll cover you." Sasuke told Naruto, who immediately went to work.

I got a bad feeling about this. Naruto, not having any sharp objects turned to Idate. Before he could say anything, I tossed him a kunai and he immediately cut the ropes.

However, clones emerged from all over the ship. Sakura screamed at the sudden appearance. "Don't worry Sakura! It's just a bunch of clones! Only the real one can actually attack us! We're going to be fine." Naruto tried to reassure her. I looked over to Sasuke, who was on the other side of the ship. He nodded and activated his Sharingan.

"Miyu! Sakura, Naruto! Watch out! One of them isn't a clone! Be careful!" Tch. How annoying. "Just tell us where Sasuke." Sakura said as she stepped closer to me and Idate. She glanced at him. "You better stay close to our side Idate." She said.

He shot her a look. "No way! Why would I want any help from a bunch of ninja?" This brat! What's his damage? "Look around pal. Beggers can't be choosers." Naruto shot at him.

"Naruto! Behind you!" Sasuke warned. I looked over to see a rain ninja attack Naruto. However when he did, Naruto disappeared. "A clone? Ah crap." The rain ninja grumbled. Four Naruto's descended down. "Clone for Clone!"

The ninja jumped away and off the boat. The real one got away. "Nice work Naruto!" Sakura praised. I glanced at the clones. These guys. They're from the Chunin Exam! Naruto and Sasuke attacked the Clones, which have turned to Water Clones at this point.

I was about to help, when a drop of rain hit me. What? I wiped my face as more rain fell. Black? "Wait a sec, I think this is oil." Sakura said.

Ah shit. I looked over to see Sasuke preparing to use his Fire Ball Jutsu. "Sasuke, stop! If you use that jutsu we're all going to go up in flames!" I shouted. He immediately stopped and glared at the oil descending upon us.

Looking over, I witnessed an arrow set on fire hit our ship. Shit! Fire began to spread quickly all around us. We're not going to be able to stay on here. Even if we put it out, a fire this big, the damage is too great.

Idate began to freak out a bit, staring at the flames in horror. No, not the flames. A memory? "What are we going to do Sasuke? The fire is out of control!" Sakura asked our team leader.

"We dive into the ocean. We're just going to have to swim to the port at NagiIsland." He called. My blood ran cold. "Swim?!" I shrieked, showing panic for the first time in a while.

Naruto turned fast to look at me, realization on him. I bit my lip and turned to Idate. "You know how to swim right?" I asked. He nodded. "Of course." Was his response. Looking around, I'm quite confident that the smoke should hide us from him.

"Alright, you go in first and we'll follow right behind you." I told him. "With all this smoke we should be able to slip away unnoticed." Sakura assured him.

He glared at us. "You can forget about it! What do you think? I'm stupid? You four probably just want to use me as a decoy!" He accused us. "What are you talking about?!" Naruto shouted.

He stepped back. "You intend to have them focus on me so that you can get the hell out of here!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?! If we stay we're going to die!" I shouted at the stupid Idate. "I said no! I don't trust ninja!" I quickly stabbed a Water Clone coming up behind him. "Get out of here already! We don't need you getting in our way!" Sasuke shouted, fending off Clones.

Shit. At this rate the clones will get to us. I started fighting them as well. I was fending off one when I noticed one climb onto the ship behind Idate. "Sakura!" I shouted, motioning to the pillar.

She quickly grabbed it and struggled. "Ah! Son of a!" She managed to tear it off the ship floor. Finishing the Clone in front of me, I tackled Idate as she swung it, destroying any clone within the pillars reach. I jumped up onto it and higher into the air, breaking through the smoke.

They're watching the ship carefully. Hm. I quickly dove back into the smoke and landed next to Sakura, who was holding her shoulder in pain. "Sakura! What happened?" I asked. She smiled lightly. "I'm fine. But Idate, you need to hurry. Go on ahead. I promise we'll be right behind you."

She protected him. Sakura . . . I turned to Idate. "We're not going to let you die. Go." He looked hesitant but nodded and quickly dove off the ship.

Naruto ran over to me. "Miyu, can you do it?" He asked. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I looked at the water fearfully. "I know how to swim. I'll be fine." I told him. Sasuke and Sakura ran over to us and we all jumped off the ship.

The cold water hit me hard and memories of years ago immediately flowed back into my mind. Fear started to bubble up. No! Shaking my head rapidly, I began to swim in the direction of the island.

Come on Miyu, focus. As I continued swimming, the flashes became more and more vigorous and my fear and panic only continued to max out.

Focus! Focus! Focus!

I tried to focus on the task. I'm swimming just fine. It's easy. As I continued, I felt a hand wrap around my ankle. I quickly turned to see the rain ninja, grabbing hold of my ankle. I tried to pull away, but they began dragging me down, down, down to the ocean.

I fought to swim up, but I kept on getting dragged down. The memory of the current pulling me under flashed. The tightening sensation in my chest, my lungs, the burning sensation, the memories of drowning.

Uncontrollable fear and panic welled within me, and I lost it. I let out a scream, and water rushed down my throat.