Nina stared at the strange man with poisonous eyes, she hadn't heard that name in a while.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

"I'm not sure I can tell you that." The pitchy voice said. "But I bet you're wondering how I know Madara-sama!" He taunted in a singsong voice. "Well, he never did tell you and I'm sure he wouldn't like me spoiling the story. Don't worry though! I'll make sure to tell him about our encounter, Madara-sama be glad to hear about his old friend..." And with that, he disappeared into the ground.

By now, Nina had neither the energy nor the will to chase him. She sighed, he must have known that the ritual would leave her weaker than usual.

She simply turned around and began walking back to the village.

Reaching her home on the outskirts of the village, Nina pushed open the door and sat down on the bed. It must have been around two in the morning by then, the moon still hung high in the night sky, radiating its deep red color. She assumed the village's festivities had concluded already as the village was completely silent, only the spots of light from the lanterns marked that anything had happened that day.

"You're getting much better." The rare compliment came abruptly one day when Naruto was practicing walking on water. It had been a few months since he started training under Nina.

"Really?" He asked, a smile now plastered on his face. "Thanks, sensei!" He turned his attention back to the task at hand: getting to the other side of the river. After he made it, he turned around and made his way back to the side he started on.

"I must talk with you about something." She said.

He skipped over and sat in front of her.

"What is it?" He grinned.

"You have not yet told your mother."

He frowned.

Yes, Kushina still didn't know he was training to be a shinobi, but why bring that up now?

"I wish to bring you on a short trip out of Konoha in two weeks' time, I doubt any excuse will be able to convince her of your absence for four days." She continued.

Naruto thought for a moment and, sure enough, he was unable to think of anything.

"I guess I have to tell her, huh?" He sighed.

"Think of it as your first mission from me. I expect to hear good news." She said, standing up. "Our time is just about up, I'll see you tomorrow." She nodded a goodbye and disappeared, leaving the boy to dread getting home and having to face his mother.

"Hey, Mom... can I talk to you?" Naruto asked slowly, peeking his head into the room where Kushina sat.

"Of course dear." She patted the spot next to her.

Naruto dragged himself over and sat down, eyes glued on the floor.

"Uh... you know how I really want to be a ninja? And how I've been going out every day?"

Kushina nodded, eyeing him with concern.

He took a deep breath and braced himself for her reaction.

"Well, I haven't been with my friends like I told you. I found a sensei to train me." He said quietly, hands gripped tightly.

He only heard silence coming from his mother.

"Naruto, you're not serious, are you?" She tried to laugh but it came out more like a cough.

He said nothing.

"...that's not possible. No one in the village would have ever agreed!" She reasoned desperately. "If you really do have a teacher, who is it?" Her voice made it clear that he had no choice but to tell.

"...her name is Nina... She's really nice and-"

"Enough!" Kushina sprang up from her seat, now fuming with anger, she turned around and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

"Sarutobi!" An angry redhead kicked open the door to the Hokage's office, two guards trying to calm her down.

"Kushina? What are you doing here so late?" The old man blew a puff of smoke and set his pipe down.

"How many shinobi in this village are named Nina?" She demanded.

Sarutobi raised as eyebrow at the question.

"What's wrong? Has something happened?" He asked, concerned.

"Just tell me!" She yelled.

The old man sighed, putting two fingers to his temple.

"Well, the name isn't very common but it's not too rare either, maybe a dozen shinobi have that name. Now why do you ask?"

Kushina clenched her fists.

"Naruto's been training with someone behind by back, apparently the person is named Nina." Every word dripped with poison, he had never seen her so angry before.

Sarutobi sighed.

"Kushina, would Minato have wanted the boy to grow up not having known the grip of a kunai?"

She froze at the sound of her late husband's name.

"Would he want Naruto to live a civilian life?"

She fell silent for a moment.

"Minato's gone." She stated bluntly, not a trace of grief remaining. "I accepted that a long time ago. It's my job to protect Naruto."

With those words, she turned and left the tower.

The sun peeked over the horizon as Naruto tiptoed downstairs, trying not to wake up his mother, he didn't want to have to face her again.

He made it to the training field and saw that Nina was there already, sitting on the dried grass.

"Hey sensei." He greeted.

"Good morning." She seemed to have picked up on his sullen mood and decided to avoid any talk about his mother. "We will start with simple chakra exercises then move on to more complex skills."

That day, Naruto practiced chakra control as well as learned a few basic jutsus. He was exhausted by the end of their training session, however, this was a different form of tired than what he normally felt.

Nina seemed to notice his puzzled expression.

"Your chakra has been drained significantly, you will learn to expand your reserve later on. Be sure to get enough rest tonight or your chakra will not replenish." She explained.

With a nod, Naruto promised he would get a good night's sleep and waved her goodbye.

Nina sat on her bed, still as a statue.

There was something nagging at her, something was telling her that she needed to do something.

A familiar face popped into her mind, one that had been invading her thoughts for the past few weeks.

Unsure of what to do, she decided to get up and visit an old friend.

A figure donning a dark cloak kneeled in front of an old, worn gravestone, legs folded beneath her. She stared at the nearly unreadable words that had been etched on the surface so long ago.

"You really aren't dead, are you?" She mumbled softly, eyes fixed on the weathered stone. "Where you have been all this time?"

She continued to gaze at the grave for many more hours, only moving when heavy raindrops began pattering down on the grass. She quickly stood up, gave the grave one last glance, and disappeared.

The village was seeing an intense downpour, the worst one in a long time. Anyone unfortunate enough to have been out was now rushing to get inside. Nina was, unfortunately, one of these people. Not wanting to be drenched by the merciless rain, she hurried into a small teahouse, luckily there weren't many people inside, only a pair of elderly men. She took a seat on one of the cushions surrounding a low-set oak table took a slow breath.

"Excuse me, miss, but would you like anything to eat or drink?" The owner, an old woman, approached with a warm smile.

"Yes, green tea please." Nina responded, though only out of politeness.

The owner nodded and excused herself. A few minutes later, she returned with a steaming cup of tea, she set it down in front of Nina and turned to her with thoughtful eyes.

"I'm sorry, but have we met before? You look so familiar."

Nina remained calm, assessing the situation: this woman may have seen her before and may even know her name, but she couldn't feel any chakra coming from her, meaning that the woman posed very little threat.

"I'm afraid I do not recognize you, ma'am." Nina responded politely.

The woman smiled.

"Must be my old eyes playing tricks on me." She chuckled lightly. "Anyways, what's your name, dear?"

"I am Yoshikawa Ia." The answer was quick, as if it had been repeated a thousand times. It was simple, really: Yoshikawa was a common surname in the Land of Earth and Ia was the name she had always used as a cover.

The owner looked surprised.

"Really? What a coincidence, my mother was named Ia as well. My name is Hasu. Senju Hasu." She introduced.

Something clicked in Nina's mind and for a second she smiled, a real, genuine smile.

"Nice to meet you, Senju-san." She nodded.

"Same to you, Yoshikawa-san. Well, I've bothered you long enough, I should get back to my work now." The old woman stood and shuffled into one of the back rooms, out of sight.

Just then, the door to the teahouse slammed open, a man stood at the entrance, completely soaked.

"May I have a towel?" He asked one of the server girls who quickly ran into a room and retrieved a large white towel. "Thank you, miss." He tried to get as much water off as possible, trotting over to a table and sitting down. The table happened to be set next to the one Nina was at, he glanced around the small shop and his eyes landed on her.

Even though she didn't look at him directly, she could see him staring from the corner of her eye, there must have been something along the lines of suspicion in his stare.

She saw him stand up.

"Excuse me, but do you happen to be a shinobi?" He asked while approaching her table.

She turned to look at him, a middle aged man with damp gray hair that would have been white in its dry state. His attire clearly stated that he was a ninja.

"I am not." She replied quickly, nothing about her appearance should have provoked the thought so she wondered why he would asked.

The man plopped down on the seat across from her.

"Really? Huh, I could have sworn that I've seen you somewhere, thought it was on a mission... Guess I was wrong!" He laughed heartily. "They call me Jiraiya, Legendary Sanin!" He flashed a smile. "What's your name?"

"Yoshikawa Ia." She hoped he would take a hint and leave her alone.

Apparently not.

"Not from around here are you? Sorry you have to see such bad weather on your vacation here, it's usually not so terrible in Konoha. I've just come back from a long journey in the Land of Water. Have you been there before? Beautiful place." He continued to make meaningless small talk for the next hour, all while receiving no interest from the woman.

Her patience had just about worn thin when she noticed the rain was lightening and took the opportunity to escape the conversation.

"I should be on my way now. Take care, Jiraiya-san." She said, quickly whisking herself out of the teahouse, only stopping to thank the owner.

Jiraiya watched her leave, he seemed to be deep in thought.

'I must have seen her somewhere...'

Weeks passed by in a flash, the days were just routine by now. Well, that is until one day Naruto came running up to her right before their training, rambling about something she couldn't make out.

"Naruto." She interrupted him. "Speak slowly."

He took a breath and shakily spoke again.

"Lord Third was killed."

Nina's eye narrowed.

"How did this happen?" She asked sternly, knowing that Hiruzen couldn't be killed by just anyone; he was Hokage for a reason.

"I don't know for sure but I swear I saw these weird humanish things around the place where his body was found! I think they were tan colored, really creepy too!" He waved his hands in front of him desperately.

"You witnessed the attack?" She frowned. Where were the anbu? Where was everyone else?

"Kind of. Well I only saw what happened right after."

Nina asked him to retell everything he saw in detail. He did so and she listened attentively.

"You say this happened just now?"

He nodded.

She paused and thought for a moment.

"Forgive me, but I'm afraid our training must be canceled today, I have something to take care of." She sent him home for the day without further explanation.

She didn't waste any time in taking off, a dark cloak draped over her shoulders, Nina scanned the deep forest for chakra signatures. There were a few that were clearly just children playing, but other than that, nothing.

Of course she couldn't detect him so easily, she would have known the truth long ago if she could. He was likely using some sort of chakra seal. She reasoned that if he had remained hidden for so long, he must be somewhere underground. If that was the case...

Nina sent a small burst of chakra into the earth and closed her eyes. She could feel the chakra spread through the ground, outlining everything from buried stones to underground rivers, however there was no open space under there that was large enough to hide a person. She continued searching, sending brief bursts of chakra into the ground while walking slowly through the forest.

For some reason, she knew that he couldn't be far.

"Zetsu."

The humanoid figure immediately appeared, half its body sticking out of the rock wall.

"Yes Madara-sama?" It spoke in an odd voice, sounding almost artificial.

"Do you feel that chakra?" The old man asked, voice dry with age. "That's the one I've told you about."

"Ah, I remember speaking to her, quite an odd chakra she has!" The creature remarked cheerfully.

"She's finally trying to find me, and it won't be long until she does." He stated, voice filled with amusement. "Get the boy, he will stay here to greet her."

"I thought you would want to speak to her. It's been a while since you two have met, right?" Zetsu asked curiously.

At first there was no response from the other man, then after a second, he smirked.

"Our reunion is going to have to wait a little longer..."

Nina scanned the area around the large rock. She had found that there was a large, empty space right underneath it. She couldn't tell what was inside but the space was certainly large enough to house multiple people. Unable to think of a quieter way to move it, Nina simply gathered chakra in her palm and pushed it out of the way, a loud stone-on-stone scratching sound broke the silence of the deep forest.

She jumped down into the dark space.

There was someone there.

A chakra source was not five feet in front of her. They seemed substantially powerful and from the looks of it, they were a fire user.

"Nina, is it?" The person asked.

Not receiving a response, he continued.

"I've been told to deliver a message." He stated.

"Where is Madara?" She demanded bluntly. She was in no mood to play his game.

"You just missed him. He should be dead right about now."

Her eyes widened in surprise.

"But no need to worry, that's why I'm here, to relay his words. Madara-sama says that you two will meet again very soon. He's looking forward to a good fight."

From the small window of her house, Nina stared up at the pale moon, eyes empty, as if she wasn't really there.

'Madara...'

She knew he had a plan, if he did actually survive all this time, he wouldn't have let himself die without a plan to return. But what could bring the dead back to life? If such a jutsu did exist, it was a threat to the balance of the worlds, its maker must have been either extremely thoughtless or outright stupid to think that trying to cheat death would be a good idea. A jutsu like that would undoubtedly bring terrible disorder. Making such a jutsu would be difficult but ilkely not impossible.

There must be a way to prevent Madara's revival...

'When am I going to learn something new?' Naruto sighed wordlessly, repeating the same hand seals over and over.

He had been practicing the signs for the teleportation jutsu for almost an hour now and he thought he was pretty good at it. However, Nina was sitting silently, staring off into the distance as if her mind was wandering far away. Naruto didn't dare to ask to move on from these seals, he knew that she would teach him when she thought he was ready. Despite that, he was still slightly bored by the repetitive motions. He wasn't even actually doing the jutsu, he was just going through the signs without any chakra. He sighed.

'Maybe she's testing my patience... I'll prove that I can do it!'

Nina sat at the edge of the village on a high branch of an old tree. She stared at the golden glow that bathed the village. As brilliant as it was, her mind was too troubled to appreciate it. She knew something had to be done, but what? She needed to talk to someone who knew Madara well, though there weren't many left, if any.

Suddenly, she remembered something: there was one left. Although they weren't on the best terms, there was a chance that he may know something, and that was good enough a reason to have a chat with him.

"Naruto, I have a favor to ask of you." Nina said.

The sun was shining bright though the air held a chilly sting.

"A favor? What is it, sensei?" Naruto asked curiously. She had never asked him for anything before, besides, what could she possibly want from him?

"I need to take a look at your chakra. It will help me know which areas you are naturally talented in and which ones you will need more training in." She lied smoothly.

"That's it? Sure!" He nodded with a smile. If it would help him get stronger then he would agree gladly.

Nina instructed him to sit down and close his eyes, she sat in front of him and placed a hand on his forehead, closing her eyes as well.

The boy's chakra was strong and could be felt heavily throughout his entire system. That wasn't what she was looking for, however. Nina was looking for something specific, something that seemed to be hiding from her.

A wisp of red chakra, highly contrasting with the prominent blue of the boy's, floated slowly towards her. There it is. It felt as if she was being pulled in by the chakra. Her vision blurred for a moment.

Once she could see clearly again, Nina found herself in a dimly lit room with water covering the floor. Everything was just as it was the last time she was here all those years ago.

She stood up and turned around, knowing what she would see.

An enormous steel cage towered high over her, the shadows obscuring the inside.

Everything was still for a long while, she didn't move or speak, and neither did whatever was in the cage.

A deep laugh broke the silence after a minute, echoing throughout the endless room.

"Look who it is." A gruff voice mused. "Haven't seen you since you trapped me in the boy..."