Shiro sighed and cleaned up the mess Naruto had made, not wanting to leave any trace of ninja. Stuffing the pots and other Rubbish into her bag she looked back at the road. She couldn't see any footprints. They probably took the trees.

Shiro tried to think positively in the situation she was in. It meant that she wouldn't get name called constantly or bothered about dating Naruto. But it also meant that Naruto and Sakura could complete the mission by the sleeves and eventually be a couple days ahead of her. Meaning they would get back way before she even got to the assigned village where they would be meeting Himiko.

Shiro had figured out how Naruto and Sakura thought. Knowing them they'd be sprinting towards the village that Himiko lived. Meaning they wouldn't be as fast on the way to land of mists. Shiro didn't want to waste energy right before she had to begin escorting. Her safest best was to hope that Naruto and Sakura would get going before she arrived at the village. B then knowing Sakura she would want to get moving as soon as possible. Shiro had three options.

1: hope that Naruto and Sakura have some sort of compassion left in them that they wait with Himiko at the village for Shiro to arrive.

2: the two would continue on the mission and start heading towards the Mist. Meaning Shiro would have to head straight to the land of waves. Meaning a longer trip and having to spread out her rations over the extra days she would be travelling.

3: she headed back to the leaf, restocked on food, giving the team enough time to start going to the land of waves with Himiko and giving the chance for Shiro to update the hokage on their mission and what her teammate's were doing, meaning punishment.

But punishing them would make them hate her more, meaning there was a higher chance of them doing this again.

Sighing she stood still, in the middle of the road and thought. Her best bet was to go straight to the land of waves, she had contacts there; that being Tazuna and his family. And she knew who Himiko was going to marry. Alright. Hidden mist it is.

Hopefully by the end of this she would be able to meet Himiko too.

----

Shiro sighed deeply as she looked at the vegetation surrounding her. She'd have fishing soon, she was running out of food And water. The team were probably at himiko's village by then. Taking a break she grabbed out a kunai and went over to a nearby river, there was plenty of fish too. Which was good for her. Dropping her bag by the bank Shiro found some fallen branches and made a simple, small fire.

Shiro looked up at the sky, the sun was going to set soon, meaning she'd need to start catching her meal. Rolling up her sleeves and the legs of her pants she stepped into the water and stayed dead still, keeping her breathing soft and silent. She waited for a fish to come into range, kunai up and ready to be thrown. In a flash She threw the kunai; just missing the fish, cursing to herself she grabbing the kunai and tried again. She missed more then 7 times before she actually got one.

Lifting it up by the tail she grinned at her Accomplishment. Taking the kunai out of the fish she skewered it onto a stick and held it over the fire. Keeping it even Shiro sighed and looked around at the darkening forest, the light was escaping as night came. Meaning the team would probably be camping out as well. Would they really be able to get it down though? Shiro was sure that there would be rivals of the wealthy family trying to stop the marriage, meaning they could be in some sort of danger. But it was too late to go to them, they were to far ahead for her to reach in time if an attack did occur.

Shiro had learnt so much over the months that she had been training, Kiba and Lee teaching her how to survive out in the woods alone, kurama and Kakashi too had some pointers, though this was well before she got attacked by gaara. Her body still hurt from the wounds inflicted on her, she was strong enough to survive alone. After all she had survived in the forest of death alone with a broken leg and wrist in the exam. This wasn't that much harder. Maybe even easier.

Shiro didn't know what she was supposed to do with her team. She wanted to speaks her mind but it always came out as mean or bully-like, she didn't want to turn not one of them. A bully who makes people feel bad about themselves. No one had ever taught her how to act towards people. Maybe it was her kind and innocent nature that made her so friendly? She didn't know. But all she wanted was to speak her mind and actually tell them how she felt, blunt or not.

---

She was off in the early hours of the morning the next day, the bridge already in view. It would take longer to reach the land of waves from the village where Himiko had once lived. Which was good for her. Oming into the road Shiro smiled slightly as the bridge became larger and larger, she had helped with defending tazuna all those months ago, she had left an impact on that village that hopefully would of changed it forever. And it did. Because when she got onto it she was greeted with a loud shout from the other end. Looking up she went wide eyed to see a large group of kids running towards her. All had bright grins on their faces as she wa suddenly tackled in hugs, this made her laugh loudly,
"Hello everyone!" She exclaimed. The kids all grinned
"Nice lady!" They all cheered making Shiro smile as she spotted one kid in particular. It was Toshiro and his little dog.
"Toshiro!" Shiro exclaimed, hugging the boy as he grabbed hold of another boy's arm, one she also recognised
"Inari" she whispered. Giving the two boys a kind smile
"How have you two been?" She asked.
"Fine" Inari stated, the same reluctant expression he always wore, Toshiro however was overjoyed
"Great!" He shouted, grabbing hold of her hand and pulled her forward towards the village.

--

Shiro smiled as she waved to Tazuna who had a happy grin on his face
"Shiro! Good to see you!" He stated. "What brings you here?" Shiro smiled and began to walk side by side with tazuna who was delivering some supplies.
"A mission with Naruto and Sakura"
"Ah, how are those two? Still giving your trouble? Where are they?" Shiro smiled
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about"