Chapter shout out! ExiaDark, skybluelover123, Amaz1ng101,HaleyBecker, XxSasuNaruxX, Asuna8762, katiebaby6, and LittleMissBritan.

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This is strange. I feel like I know where I am right now, but everything is wrong. It's the same forest that I travelled through all the time, east of Konoha, but there are fewer trees and more small roads that I don't know where they leave. It's also weird because I should be nowhere near the village, seeing as the team and I was heading for the north-east border. I can't remember much of what happened, the last thing was telling Rin to stay behind me after we got ambushed by Iwa-Shinobis. Did Kakashi, Obito, and Rin beat them? Where are they, I can't even sense any of their chakras? Was Minato-sensei's part of the mission successful? Why was it after I woke up on the side of the road that I was alone? Why did I wake up on the side of an unfamiliar road? And more importantly, what all happened after I blacked out? My head feels like it was put through a vice. Maybe after I walk for a while I'll hopefully remember something.

I frowned when I looked down at what I had written, brushing my tangled hair out of my face.

So, because I have no clue what's going on, but I do know what I have to do. 1. Find my teammates (and beat the hell out of them for leaving me behind) 2. Find my flute, because my flute and all my shinobi tools were gone when I woke up. Even my headband! And last but not least 3. Get back to Konoha (and get a new headband)

I nodded my head in conclusion before snapping my journal closed, placing it in the only pouch that I had left on me. After I made sure that the top was snapped closed I stood up from the branch I was sitting on, dust from the dirt that had literally covered my clothes. My dark purple crop jacket with a longer left sleeve and my dark blue half skirt that covered nearly all of my left leg and went up to my mid-thigh on my right leg were by far the worst, stained and a little tattered, but I knew a good tailor in the Village so I wasn't all that worried. My light blue tank top, the fishnets I wear underneath my jacket that and my black shorts that I wore under my skirt were better but still dusty.

The only part that wasn't as dirty was the bottom of my left sleeve was wear my clan symbol was located, which is a crescent moon that had three lines running from the bottom left to the top right, connected by two stars. The top half of the moon was silver while the bottom half was gold. I didn't really know why that single part of my whole outfit wasn't dirty, but it wasn't taking precedence in my mind right now. I looked up and saw through the tree tops that it was early in mid-morning.

'Well, I guess I should better get walking', I thought to myself as I jumped off the tree branch and made my way onto the road, taking the direction I had seen an elderly couple take as they talked about the 'giant village' that they were heading too. It had been a few hours ago, so I didn't really expect to see them again. 'Idiot! You should have asked them what this 'village' was!' I scolded myself, trying to tame my tangled hair before I gave up and tied it into a high ponytail as I slowly made my way on the road.

'Well, seeing a random red-haired girl stumble out of the forest, covered head to toe in dirt, asking about where they were going would have probably scared them off. I just hope I don't get lost before I find my team. I for one do not want to spend a day, or night in an unfamiliar territory while a war is going on, especially alone with no tools.'

---

'And I am so officially lost...' I had been walking on the small road for more hours than I could have kept track of, trying to stay going east encase I got lucky, but too many times the road forked off and went in two or three different directions. I had not seen a single soul while I was walking, human or animal, so when I was walking I would often snack on plants I found that I knew were edible, but they didn't fully satisfied me. For a while a small creak travelled alongside the road, so I was able to stay hydrated, but I ended up taking a turn that the creek did not.

'If only there was a wild strawberry patch,' my mind tended to go off on its own after a while. Most of the time I would have pulled out my flute to keep myself from keeping myself entertained, but I did keep myself from dying of boredom by singing some tunes that I knew, but some of the time, I just hummed.

What I did find weird was that there were no lingering kunai, shuriken, or any debris laying around, or hear the sounds of a fight in the distance. I hadn't seen such a calm landscape in months since the war had started, and most places like this with no small villages around and still close to a days travel to the borders would have been places that fights would have gone on between enemy shinobis.

"Okay, I must still be asleep and dreaming, because there is no way that everything is this peaceful! Maybe I'm half awake and the team is bringing me back to the village," I closed my eyes and slapped both of my cheeks. "Time to wake up Harmony. Wake up."

I slowly reopened my eyes and saw the same scenery I had seen before, and I was still the only one of the road as the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon. I frowned and painfully pinched my arm. "Ow! Okay, not dreaming! Definitely not dreaming."

I looked around, trying to see if I could find any indications of a town, but as far as I could tell, the area I was walking through wasn't home to any civilization. I frowned and crossed my arms, looking back at the sunset colour splashed sky. I had been walking all day, a few breaks with little nutrients and water, my strength feeling like it was being drained from my body, and my memories still too foggy to make anything of it. All I could now remember was the sound of a flute, a sad lonely tune.

'Well, I guess there's no point on finding camp yet, even though it looks like I will be spending the night alone in a war zone, no matter how peaceful it looks. Who's going to get no sleep tonight? Oh right, I don't get much sleep anyways. Might as well keep on walking till I pass out. Maybe then someone will find me and maybe help... Or just kidnap and sell me or just kill me on the spot,' so that's what I did, just kept on walking east for a few more hours until it was getting too dark to see and my feet dragging across the ground, fighting to keep my eyes open. I had taking up talking to myself instead of humming, just to fill up the deathly silence that surrounded me. Though it didn't help with my paranoia

"God dammit. Just where in the hell am I? And where the hell is everyone? You know what? I'm still not fully convinced that this isn't a dream. Well, maybe if I pass out right now, I can go back to where I really am and wake up from this stupid nightmare. At least for once it's not a nightmare filled with gore and blood. Oh god, please don't tell me I just jinx that!" I frantically looked back and forth, paranoia flaring until I got a grip and realized how stupid I was being.

"Geez, stop freaking out Harmony. There's nothing here but trees, trees... And more trees. Oh well, I guess I just... Have to...-" my mind went black as my body went limp, making me fall over, unconscious in the middle of the road. Right as I was saying 'I guess I have to just keep walking.' Ironic, isn't it?

---

When you've passed out from exhaustion and paranoia, you would expect to have someone see you and ask if you were alright and maybe bring you to a nearby hospital. That or see you passed out, kidnap you, sell you, or kill you right then and there. But nope, none of that was my case. I woke up, covered in even more dirt, in the middle of a flipping road surrounded by TREES! I was in the same spot I had passed out a few hours before, and no one even found me!

'Stupid "great village". If you were so great and so nearby then maybe one of your 'great' shinobis would have been able to find a helpless person passed out in THE MIDDLE OF A ROAD!' I was very tempted to break out swearing like a sailor, but I took a deep breath and slowly counted back from ten.

"Calm down girl. Just calm down. You woke up in the same spot, which means no one walked passed you when you were out, or no enemies, shinobis, or ordinary people. All you have to do is take a few more deep breaths, concentrate, look at our surroundings and continue walking." Doing as I said I took a deep breath to center myself, then walked up to a random tree, then walked up it, continuing until I nearly reached the top. I walked onto a hanging branch and squatted down, balancing myself and buffering the wind.

'Now look at our surroundings...' I looked directly in front of me, which I was guessing was south by the way the sun was rising, and then looked Westward, then to the North. All I could still see were trees. Sighing, I turned my attention to the East. I felt as if the blood left my body, leaving me cold. I could see mostly only trees, but on the horizon was a humongous circular wall with a pair of green doors. The whole time I was walking I had guessed that I could have been heading to Konohagakure, but I had dismissed it numerous times, nearly hoping that I wasn't. I shouldn't have been anywhere near here. It shouldn't be possible!

'But I'm so close to being home...' I shook my head and jumped down, branch to branch until I landed slowly on the grass. I only really had one option, the same one I had chosen since I had woken up. Keep on walking. Judging by how small the walls seemed, it should take me at least nearly another whole day by walking, or around half a day if I ran through the trees. 'If only I was fully healed right now,' I cursed my aching joints as I began to walk. I was going to wait until my body hurt a little less and had a bit more rest before I pushed it too hard.

'It shouldn't take too long fo-' the sound of my stomach grumbling, cutting off my thoughts. My face went from pale white from seeing the gates to cherry red.

"First, I guess I should try and find something else to eat. If I'm this close to the village there should be at least some type of edible vegetation."

---

'I'm not sure if I could call this a glass half empty or half full.' By the time the moon was sinking to the horizon, I had made it to the main road, and the gates were only maybe a mile away, clearing in sight, which was really good, but it didn't really seem to matter all that much. Small waves of pain had been coursing through my body for the past few hours, making the walk longer than it had to be. I had never gotten the chance to run through the trees because of it.

'Finally, almost there.' I thought tiredly, taking another shaky step after another, fighting to keep my eyes open and not to sway to much. 'I'm almost there. I can finally see everyone again, and give some fellow teammates a piece of my mind.'

A few more shaky steps towards the village. Nearly halfway there. 'That's it, just keep your mind on other things than the pain, you can do this.' I kept this mantra up until I slowly closed the distance, silently celebrating when I finally crossed the gate line and in the village, even if it was only a few feet.

"Who are you? State your name and purpose of coming to the village!" someone demanded from the side. Foggily I remember that it should be from where the gate desk was, with the guards. It was strange. The person's voice didn't sound like Tezuka's voice, one of the current guards. I tried to move my head to see who had replaced Tezuka, but just moving my head made me wince in pain, but I still fought against it and looked at him slightly.

"I said, state your name and purpose for coming to the village!" he demanded again. He was someone I hadn't ever seen before. He had spiky black hair, and a few bandages on his face, but that was all I could make out in the dark currently.

"...Harmony Kakureta Merodi... And I belong t-" and that was all I was able to say before I passed out ... Again.

----

You know what's a good feeling? Knowing that even though you just woke up in the hospital from passing out because of exhaustion, that you're safe, and that there's no once staring at you in a creepy way? Well, I'm glad you know that feeling because I only got to experience it for a few seconds before I noticed that four masked ANBU were standing around in my hospital room, all looking at me.

"Once you are fully recovered, you must report to the Hokage office," the ANBU to the right of me, with what looked like a lion mask, informed me in a monotone voice. I looked at the three of them, trying to figure out what was going on before nodding my head slowly to the one that spoke. After I had nodded then turned to each other and each formed a single hand sign, disappearing in a cloud of smoke from their teleportation jutsu.

"Well... That's not odd at all. I mean, it's not like it's every day when a chunin like myself gets to meet four ANBU for no reason, whatsoever. Even if it was just to tell me to go and see the Hokage. A doctor, nurse, or even a fellow chunin could have told me that!" At the beginning, I had said it in a sarcastic tone, but by the end I was a little on the worried side. I looked around the room and saw for once I have not hooked up to a dozen machines, meaning I wasn't seriously injured at all. "I wonder if I will be discharged soon..."

I never was a person who tended to stay in hospitals for very long... Most because I tend to escape through the window when I was in one. But because of how serious things seemed to be right now, I decided it would be best if I properly, with a doctor's permission.

'If I don't, those four ANBU will probably come back and detain me. Don't know why, though. Just what IS going on here? And why hasn't anyone visited me yet?' I mulled over that as I waited for the doctor or nurse to come. Which they did, around an hour later. The nurse did a few routine test and then went over my vitals. After going through everything the doctor cleared me and gave back my belongs, telling me I could leave once I was ready before she and the nurse left the room.

'Now time to go and see gramps. I wonder if he misses me yet. I've only been gone for a few days now. Me being gone, and returning alone wouldn't be a good enough reason to send four ANBU to my room.' stretching my arms over my head after cover my head after getting changed, I couldn't help but smile softly at the thought of seeing the Hokage again, even if something was going on. He was like family to me, a grandpa figure, after my family was killed. I tried to go and visit him every day, and if I missed a day I would stay even longer the next to make up for it. I would also spend my days either at my sensei's house, who became like a father for me or at my teammate's houses.

'I better get going. As much as I respect them, I really don't want them to come and visit again,' I walked over to the window and opened, jumping onto the ledge, and then leaping off, landing on dusty gravel. After looking back at the hospital, I noticed something was off. 'Was the hospital this big?' I cocked my head to the side in thought, before shrugging and making my way to the Hokage's office.

---

"Just why is there always so many stairs?!" I demanded, just like I always did as I walked up the spiralling flights inside the building. But really, it was just a way to distract myself. On the way to the office, I noticed that so many things in the village looked different. There was even an extra face on the Hokage Mountain that looked a lot like Minato-sensei. I even had to ask an old lady how to get to the office, because there were so many new buildings around that it severely confused me. People seemed happy and unafraid, and when I tried to talk to some people about what was going on, they all told me that there's been peace for the last decade!

'Just what is going on here? It's like I time travelled or something!' I scoffed at the idea of time travel as I arrived at the door to the Hokage's over, about to knock on it when an elder's voice cut me off.

"Enter."

'Did gramps always sound that old? Or is it muffled by the door?' I wondered as I moved my hand to the doorknob, twisted it, and then opened it, stepping inside. The moment I saw him sitting behind his desk, my question had been answered, but only to have another questioned asked.

'He looked like he has aged at least another twenty years! How is that possible? The last time I had seen him was before I went to go and meet up with everyone at the gates less than a week ago!'

"How..." the question that was dying to be asked died on my lips. This was simply wasn't happening!

"Harmony... Is that really you?" gramps asked. I couldn't help but continue to stare at his white hair and new wrinkles. Even though my mind was in shambles since I had woken up I easily replied to him.

"I'm pretty sure I'm still me. Still weird red hair and abnormal amber eyes. Though I don't know why so many things have changed... I was here only five days ago," I dropped my stare at him and took to looking around the office, which hadn't seem to change all that much, like everything else in the village. "Oh, and have you seen any of the members of my squad? I'm starting to think that I'm seriously losing at a game of hide-and-go-seek, one that I don't remember signing up for. Especially since there's a war still going on." When I looked back at the somehow aged Hokage I found that he was now looking down at his desk.

"No. I'm sorry. I haven't seen your full squad. I haven't in a very long time," The way that he said that made an unpleasant feeling run down my spine. I took some of her current confusion and turned it into anger. This was beginning to really scare me!

"What do you mean 'full'?! And for a very long time?! We just left for a mission! One that you assigned us!" I walked over closer to him and slammed both of my palms onto his desk. "Just what in the hell is going on here Gramps?!"

"Harmony. You've.... You've been missing and presumed dead for over thirteen years now. The war had long passed."