Note: Hi there! I just want to put in a quick forward before we start things off. This is a fic that is going to be focusing pretty heavily on just the sort of behind-the-scenes look on what was going on in the Naruto timeline, as opposed to what everyone saw on the forefront. Team Guy will be recurring characters, considering they are some of Kana's closest friends, but for the most part you're going to be seeing a lot of the adult characters and higher ranking shinobi.

This story's beginning starts just before the Chunin Exams and will continue on into the Shippuden days, staying as close to canon as I can get it. Because of this, there are going to be major spoilers (Even if they're only mentioned in passing). There's also going to be gore, depressing scenes, romance, lemon, violence and just general mature content. This is going to be a very long series, hopefully, but this is the only time I'm going to include a disclaimer.

Update 11/15: I've decided that I'll be cutting this story off with the end of the first Naruto timeline and create a separate story for the Shippuden timeline. This is to just keep things nice and evenly distributed, otherwise this will end up being a 400K word story. The sequel, Red Clouds and Starry Eyes, can be found on my profile.

Info on Kana: She's 17 years old when the series starts, marking her 4 years older than Neji's crew. She's 5'1", 5'2" if you ask her, has pale skin covered in scars and has the Anbu tattoo on her left shoulder. She's not particularly curvy, something that Genma enjoys teasing her for, and what subtle curves she has are lessened by the extremely lean and muscular physique she acquired from regular training sessions with Guy.

I have various sketches of her, which I may or may not digitally color and link here. It depends on how well this story is received.

She's a part of the Shimi clan (Yes, it's a made up clan), which uses a kekkei genkai that is very similar to the Hyuga's called a Kurogan. It allows her to see across distances, with a 360 range, in a sort of "Chakra vision" that's like a hybrid between the Rinnegan's Limbo vision and the Byakugan. This changes the appearance of her eyes from their normal color to a solid black, including the sclera.

The second kekkei genkai, or kekkei tota, in her clan is the ability to wield a special chakra as if it's a nature/shape transformation jutsu. It requires an expansive chakra reserve, as they're literally expelling chakra from their system. This is extremely rare, only appearing in a clan member every few dozen years or so, and those who have the gift are born with white hair that darkens as their moods worsen. All of the Shimi's abilities are based off of Otsutsuki Clan techniques, and the legend within the clan that people born with the kekkei tota are like reincarnations of Otsutsukis, which is why they carry so many similarities.

Update 11/15: If you're confused about how her chakra works, as some people were, it was heavily based off of Kinshiki's abilities. She just uses it in a much more versatile way, like Celty's shadows from Durarara!.

Now on with the story!


Harder. Faster.

Kana felt her legs burn as she pushed herself to run accelerate even faster, her lungs screaming for air. Her puffs of breath pushed back against her face from her mask covering her mouth and she felt her face warm.

The shinobi saw the gates to the Leaf Village in the distance.

'Almost there,' she thought to herself.

Her ears were full of the sound of her racing heart and rush of wind, but she could still hear footsteps all around her. Out of the corner of her eye Kana saw two flashes of green appear and race ahead of her; she swore and channeled chakra to her feet to propel herself forward. While she was able to keep the pace of the two in front of her, it was obvious she wouldn't reach the gate in time and Kana grit her teeth in frustration.

The two green figures stopped at the gates and one began jumping and shouting something as Kana crossed through the gate into the village.

"… Place isn't good enough, Lee," a deep voice boomed next to her.

Kana fell to all fours and desperately fought to catch her breath as she heard the other begin to approach the gates; if there was any moment she wished she could just rip her mask off in public, it was now. Why did she agree to race against Guy and Lee, again?

"You're going to have to train even harder than before. After lunch we're going to sprint 500 laps around the village!"

Oh yeah, if she won Guy was going to buy her lunch. Still, the stitch in her side was making the idea of eating entirely unappealing anyways. She felt a hand on the small of her back and lifted her head to meet Tenten's concerned gaze.

"Are you okay?" she asked, "I don't think I've seen you run that hard in my life. I don't even know why you agreed to race those two… You must have been really excited for barbecue."

Kana gave a halfhearted chuckle as one of her teammates reached out his hand to help her up. On their way back from an assassination mission in the village hidden in the rain her team had met Guy and his team in tea shop a few kilometers out, where Guy proposed a race back to the village where the loser had to buy lunch for the winner. While Kana was the only one that accepted the challenge, the rest of the teams sort of had to keep up. As she stood up she looked at the rest of the group, who were all breathing heavily or doubled over.

"Yeah, I probably… Should have thought that one through," Kana panted, putting her hands behind her head to help her breathing, "Next time I'll make sure to give Lee some extra weights."

Tenten smiled and closed her eyes. Neji shook his head next to her. " 'Next time' ," he noted, "You really are crazy."

Ignoring the jab Kana looked up at her captain, who had regained his breath and was waiting expectantly for her to remember that their mission still wasn't technically finished until they reported to the Hokage.

"I'm sorry, sir," she said, embarrassed, "I-"

Tenpo raised a hand and shook his head, "It's fine, Tsuki. We all apparently needed the exercise, maybe we should start training with Guy and his team."

Lee's eyes shone, unphased at the use of Kana's code name, "That is an excellent idea! Team Guy and the Anbu –"

Neji cut his teammate off, "He's joking."

Lee's face fell, like a puppy who had just had his bone taken away, "Oh."

"I'll drop by the restaurant in about an hour for lunch if you're willing to wait," Kana said, addressing the team but locking eyes with Neji. The corners of his mouth twitched ever so slightly upwards as he held that eye contact, even as Guy's voice bellowed something about making Lee now run laps around the village before lunch in the name of youth.

"That settles it," Guy boomed, "We'll meet at the barbecue joint in exactly one hour. See ya later, kiddo."

Kana nodded and dashed off with her teammates in the direction of the village Academy, where the Hokage's office was located. As they leaped onto the rooftops in order to avoid the noontime crowd in the street, one of her teammates looked over to her.

"So I know you're close and all but how exactly did you meet Lee and his crew?"

"Well you know how my clan's kekkei genkai is similar to the Hyugas'?" she asked, now struggling to keep with her captain's pace. She could practically see Koh squint at her from behind his mask as he nodded in response. "Back in the day my ancestors were actually a part of the Otsutsuki Clan, which is the clan that a lot of clans branched from. Including the Uchiha, Hyuga and Shimi clans," she explained, "For some reason the Hyuga and Shimi clans have always been particularly close, so I pretty much grew up with Neji."

Koh was able to figure out the rest for himself and nodded, "Huh. I guess that would explain why your kekkei genkai are so similar," he said, "So you and Neji are like cousins?"

Kana heard the teammate in the back of formation sigh through his mouse-shaped mask, "Just because they share an ancestor doesn't mean they're cousins," Tirahashi scolded. Koh grumbled something about lineages being confusing and let the conversation die; Kana was thankful, as she really didn't want to get into an conversation about how ancestors and relations went. It didn't really matter, though, as they had finally approached the academy and it was time to report the results of their mission.


"Kana! Kana over here!"

"Lee…"

Kana grinned as she watched Tenten reprimanded Lee for shouting and waving his arms, walking over to the table they sat at in the corner of the room. Guy and Neji scooted over to make room for her as she sat down. The aroma of meat already cooking on the grill wafted up into her nose and made her stomach growl like an angry lion.

"So, Kana, how did your mission go?" Lee asked expectantly before placing a strip of grilled pork into his mouth, "Wash it exshiting-"

"Lee!" Tenten scolded, "Get a hold of yourself, you know they can't talk about their missions. Jeeze!"

Her own eyes looked down at her scarred hands as a sense of regret creeped into her mind; in order to become a member of Anbu you need to have a nature that can handle dark situations, but that didn't make killing a child and his mother suck any less.

Unfortunately she wasn't able to lie and make it seem like she wasn't bothered by the reminder, as her hair darkened from silver to dark grey. Guy clapped her on the shoulder and laughed.

"Sorry, Kana, Lee ran an extra 50 laps and is still feeling the rush of youthful adrenaline. Anyways, I ordered extra side dishes for the table so eat up. I'm sure you're glad to be home and whatever happened on your mission is now behind you so I don't want to see a frown on your face."

Kana looked up at Guy and smiled thankfully at him; he returned her smile and pushed a bowl of rice in front of her. Guy was like a father to her, and one of the few people that she was truly happy to be around.

She picked up a pair of chopsticks and took a few pieces of pork off of the grill, placing them on her rice before scooping a small mound of the food into her mouth. The meat's flavor coated her tongue, warming her mouth and she felt the muscles in her shoulders relax a little.

"I could eat this for the rest of my life, I swear," she sighed, placing her chopsticks down in an excellent display of willpower so she could take a sip of her water. "So are you guys excited for the Chunin Exams? You have been training pretty hard lately."

Tenten laughed, "It's all Guy-sensei and Lee have been talking about," she exclaimed, "They've been running us ragged with constant training." Despite seeming to be complaining, Kana could see an excited glint in her eyes as she started to prattle on about she had just mastered a new move named Twin Rising Dragons. Kana was so proud of all of them, they had worked so hard to get to where they are; glancing up at Guy, she was able to see his own pride as clear as day on his face.

Kana chewed on another mouthful of food and felt someone slide into the booth behind them, "Well I got a day off tomorrow if y'all wanna get in one lasht training shesh before they shtart."

"Talking with your mouth full is hardly becoming of a lady," Neji chided in an amused tone. It was the first thing he had said since Kana had sat down and hearing his voice loosened the knot in her stomach a little. She definitely planned on stealing him away for the night.

"Oh, Neji, it doesn't matter if she's a girl or not," Tenten shot back at him before looking back at Kana, "I think it'd be great if we could meet up tomorrow. I really want to see how my jutsu works against someone at your skill level."

Lee swallowed a mouthful of water and smiled excitedly, "I agree! I cannot think of a better way to test our strength as a team than to fight a jonin such as yourself!"

Kana relished the crunch of the slightly charred edges of a slice of pork as she chewed away at another bite of food. A waitress brought a tray full of more sides, so the group helped move bowls around to free up some table space. When she left with some of the empty side dish bowls, Guy clapped his large hands together.

"Then it's decided," he said, "Tomorrow we will put you to the test as a team: You three versus Kana and myself. We'll each carry a bell and it will be up to you three to –"

"So now you're using my training techniques, Guy?"

Guy's eyes went wide and he grit his teeth in a comical look of shock before slowly looking over his shoulder. His face turned into a guilty smile when his eyes landed on Kakashi, who was seated with Asuma and Kurenai in the booth behind them. This must have been who she felt sitting down earlier. Neji rolled his eyes while Kana and Tenten giggled as they watched Guy struggle to get himself out of this pickle.

"Well you see, Kakashi, I, uh… It isn't necessarily your technique-"

"So you got it from someone else, hm?"

Guy spontaneously started laughing in an attempt to cover his embarrassment. Kurenai closed her eyes and tapped her fingers in an annoyed manner on the tabletop. "Kakashi, let them enjoy their meal," she sighed, "Who cares if he's using the bell test or not?"

Asuma took his cigarette out of his mouth and smirked, "Yeah, it isn't like you came up with it, Copy Cat."

The jab caused Kakashi to wince and shrug, "Whatever," he said lazily, "It's good to see you back, Kana."

The teenager stopped in the middle of filling her half-empty bowl of rice with pork and sides to glance back at her friend, "Yeah, it's nice being home. You going to Anko's later?" With Anko being one of the few jonin that owned her own house as opposed to renting an apartment, the village jonin met up at her house every week for a small party that usually only consisted of chatting over sake and beer. It would be the last meetup for a while, since the chunin exams started tomorrow and everyone would be too busy with training their students or increasing security.

Kakashi shrugged again and turned back to the table where food had just been placed, "Maybe. I have a few errands to run but I think I'll drop by."

Kana wondered if her friend intentionally kept things as vague as possible, something she had wondered for years. The conversation died abruptly and awkwardly, so the group went back to eating their meal; Lee didn't seem to pick up on the uncomfortable vibes and began to rant about how excited he was for tomorrow's training session.


There were few moments in Kana's life where she felt truly loved, but time spent with Neji reminded her that those moments that they did, in fact, exist. His body felt warm against hers on the bench even against the balmy summer air that caused her hair to stick to the nape of her neck. She was glad she wore her casual black crop top and high waisted shorts, because anything else would be pretty uncomfortable in this weather.

She looked over a Neji, who was wearing shorts and a plain t-shirt instead of his normal getup. His long brown hair was pulled back into a high bun, a few strands hanging loose around his pale skin.

"You were gone a long while," he said. Despite his voice being soft it sounded ear-shatteringly loud against the quiet serenity of the Hyuga garden. "Are you okay?"

He turned to meet her gaze with his pupil-less white eyes narrowed into an expression of gentle concern; he knew that some of the missions she went on she couldn't talk about, no matter how desperately she needed to. Not being able to talk could take its toll on someone who had to perform missions as dark as hers, and he knew that. Kana looked down at their laps before taking one of his calloused hands in her own; when they were little she remembered being jealous of his long and slender fingers, perfect for a user of gentle fist combat. They had since become rough and calloused from extensive training and, as she used her fingertips to trace the lines in his palm, she noted that his hands weren't much unlike Neji himself.

"This wasn't… One of the bad ones," she half-lied, "It's already out of my mind. It was nice to see you guys today… How long has it been?"

Neji's hand twitched in her lap as one of her caresses was a little too light, tickling him. She smiled at first but when Neji pulled away she immediately regretted her lack of pressure. It seemed his moments of tenderness were always fleeting until he laced their fingers together in his own lap, placing his other hand over them in a firm but gentle hold.

"Two months, I believe. You were always on missions, or I was too busy with training, so we never got to see each other. And now with the Chunin Exams tomorrow…" He trailed off and the hold on her hand tightened as his lips pressed together in a tight line.

Kana rested her head on his thin shoulder and sighed. "You three are going to be fine," she said quietly, her eyes watching a leaf that had just touched down on the pond in front of them, "I've watched you grow into an excellent shinobi and I'm so proud of you." The girl squeezed his hand. "All of you."

Neji chuckled under his breath and she felt him look up at the glittering sky above them, "You're only four years older than me but sometimes, with the way you talk, I feel like such a child."

A pang of guilt shot through her chest. It wasn't her intention to make him feel like that…

"But I don't know if I envy you."

The pair looked at each other, one confused while the other just looked sad.

"When you became a jonin, I was so angry at myself for not being able to catch up," he explained, "But as time went on, and you joined Anbu… I watched as the light in your eyes began to die. I don't know if I want that yet."

'Oh, Neji…' Kana felt her eyes burn, 'Why can't we just be children again?'