Naruto raised his eyelids. His vision sharpened, and he saw a beautiful girl of twenty-five years of age, looking down at him. She had beautiful long fire-coloured hair dropped down her back. The hair was covering her right eye, and her left eye was pitch-black. She was wearing black clothes and a white cloak. She had a kind, maternal gaze. She had touched his forehead, healing his mind from the evil illusions of earlier.

"Uhh, where... where am I?"

"You are safe, Naruto."

He heard a kind, motherly voice. These words ran down the girl's lips. Naruto winced, sat up, and scratched his head. He gazed at the girl, who watched him with worry.

"Who... who are you? How do you know my name? And what is this place?" he looked around, finding himself in a green forest. He got freaked out when he saw the Grey Ninja and the Black Ninja - his kidnappers - lying on the ground unconscious, beaten up, all covered in scars. "These guys?!"

"Please don't get mad at my brothers. They're always idiotic." the girl sighed.

"Your brothers?!" Naruto freaked out even more, now staring at her.

"Yes. Well, what can I do?" the girl shrugged, "They always mess things up, especially that one," she pointed at the Black Ninja. "But they both are punished now severely and won't wake up in a little while, so there's just the two of us."

Naruto raised an eyebrow:

"But, those guys wanted to kill me. If you're their sister, why did you heal me?"

"They didn't want to kill you, Naruto, they just had to watch over you like I ordered!" she glared at them. "But they always mess up... Ugh, this is so hard!" she palmed her face, "I forbade them to hurt you in any way, yet this dumbass still did it and in a severe way of his!" she looked at the Black Ninja, who was unconscious anyway and couldn't hear her, but she couldn't hold her rage.

Naruto watched her with his eyebrow raised:

She's totally crazy, just like Sakura...

"So, um, if you say you ordered them to watch over me, does that mean you're their... leader?"

"Leader? I'm not just their leader! I'm their eldest sister, and the one who raised them! But all they do is run around like the little children they were years ago!" she then chuckled: "Sorry, bursting out all of my maternal rage as if you're actually my friend or anything... You don't even know me. Anyway, Naruto, I'm Lao Shin, and there's nothing scary about my wanting to see you, because we didn't want to harm you. Instead, we... desperately need your help."

"My help?! You could just say so from the beginning! I wouldn't freak out as much back then!"

Lao chuckled:

"I'm really sorry. I will definitely repay you for that accident."

"Yeah, anyway... What help do you need from me? How can I aid you?"

"You are the only one who can help us defeat the one who wiped out our whole village and clan, along with our parents..." Lao's eyes filled with tears as she recollected her bitter memories. "We craved for revenge since that very day. Our father asked us to defeat that guy. He told us that we would be able to do it only if we combined our powers with the mighty beast of the west - the nine-tailed fox, Kyūbi. You, Naruto, are its jinchuriki."

"Oh..."

"Please, help us, Naruto!" Tears fell down Lao's cheeks, "You're our only hope."

Naruto sighed. Whole village wiped out, whole clan... He could imagine what would happen to him if his village was wiped out, and he had even experienced that feeling of shock, terror, and despair from Pain's attack, and through that Black Ninja's illusions. He could understand... He put his hand on Lao's shoulder:

"I will gladly help, Lao Shin. We will defeat that murderer, I promise!"

"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!"

Lao hugged him. Naruto widened his eyes and blushed.

"This indeed means a lot to me, Naruto," Lao said. "It means a lot to all of us. That guy, he's not just a murderer, he is far more than that - a bloodthirsty monster, a demon, and he must be eliminated before he crushes down the whole world_"

She couldn't finish her sentence - her eye widened as she coughed out blood and fell to the ground. Sasuke's blade had pierced her body right in the center. Naruto gasped:

"Sasuke!"

Lao blacked out, blood pouring off the center of her back. The wound caused by Sasuke's blade glowed white, from strange chakra energy. Sasuke widened his eyes:

"Huh?"

He quickly took the blade out of the girl's body. The chakra struck the unconscious Black and Grey Ninjas from the inside. They shrieked and woke up from the internal pain right in the center of their bodies.

"Naruto, let's get away before they strike!" Sasuke shouted.

"No, Sasuke, you've got it all wrong! They're good guys!"

"What? They've nearly killed us back there!"

"This girl... she needed my help!" Naruto felt worried for the unconscious girl and the strange white chakra coming out of her wound.

The Black Ninja could barely stand up. He coughed:

"Nao, we... Lao... needs help..."

He fell off again.

"Ugh..." Nao looked forward, and squealed in shock: "Lao!!!"

Meanwhile, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Hinata jumped down from the trees. Hinata hugged Naruto. Sakura watched the Black and the Grey Ninjas with surprise and compassion. She had pity on them now.

"Lao!"

Nao, the Grey Ninja, gave a desperate squeal, tears pouring off his eagle eyes. Sakura felt awful - these two boys, they loved this girl so much... This eagle-headed beast was too heartless before, but now, he was crying. She didn't know eagles could cry!

"We must help them!" Naruto shouted, "These guys are in great danger!"

The Black Ninja coughed, and mumbled:

"Shin, Lin, calling all. Emergency... Maybe you've already... felt it. Shao Lin speaking, the Black Ninja. Little Mommy is hurt. Please, anyone..." His vision went blurred, "Help... mommy." Tears fell off his eyes as he blacked out.

Naruto was shocked:

"No!"

The eagle-headed guy whimpered:

"Lao, it is... all my fault. Sister... M... Mother..."