CHAPTER ONE

They were tracking her. Like hounds after a fox, the four ANBU operatives were tailing her. She hadn't been certain before, had thought maybe they were simply passing by. Lilia had been camped in a cave, a small fire right at the back provided warmth. She thought it had been hidden, the light wasn't visible from outside of the cave. When her perimeter alarms alerted her to the presence of the ANBU she had remained hidden, waiting to see if they would pass by. They didn't. They must have smelled the smoke and come looking for the source or perhaps they had been tracking her for longer.

No, that was impossible. She had become exceptionally skilled at covering her tracks over the last 5 years. But Lilia wasn't stupid, she wouldn't take chances and underestimate them. When the operatives hadn't passed out of her perimeter within the expected time period, Lilia had decided it was time to leave. She had snatched up her small pack, her black cloak embroidered with red clouds and the fish on a stick that had been roasting on the fire. The cave had a small exit at the back, small enough that even her petite, 5"4' frame struggled to get through. Once out, she took to the trees, not bothering to extinguish the fire. If they were tracking her, it wouldn't make a difference and if they weren't it might make them pause enough to let her escape.

Leaping from branch to branch, Lilia made the hand sign for the shadow clone jutsu, never breaking her stride. The 3 clones appeared with a soft 'poof' and dashed off in different directions. Knowing that this wouldn't be enough to fool ANBU skilled enough to have found her, she set to work, placing genjutsu traps and exploding tags. Not once did her stride falter. Her hands flew deftly through the necessary seals. Once she was certain she had placed enough to at least buy her time to escape, she focused her eyes on the trees speeding towards her.

"Sharingan." She whispered. At once, the forest came alive. The tree's seemed to sway to a number of wind currents, a squirrel dashed into her path and then didn't, a bird dived and caught a mouse but didn't. Everywhere she looked she saw possibilities. But that wasn't what Lilia focused on. Drawing a deep breath, she concentrated, allowing her instincts to guide her through the forest. She dragged something up from within, a taint in her bloodline, a marker that she was not pure Uchiha. The shades of the trees and animals around her became darker, the colour seeming to drain. As the colour drained, the picture in her mind grew, encompassing a near 360 degree field of vision. She focused even more, ignoring the hundreds of possibilities that played out before her as her vision grew. Finally, she found them. They were close. Too close. And avoiding her traps. She cursed under her breath. They were good and she would have to try harder if she wanted to escape. Something caught her attention, to the right of the group of 4 ANBU. A wolf? No, a dog. Her heart fell and she nearly lost the Byakugan. A dog. Did that mean Hatake- no, she would have picked up on his chakra signal. An Inuzuka then. She recognized another of the chakra signals. Even though it was familiar to her, frustratingly she couldn't place it. Not that it mattered, with the Inuzuka able to sniff her out there was no way she was escaping this one. She would have to fight. Lilia dropped the Byakugan as her head began to pound with the effort of holding it. The colours returned but Lilia kept her Sharingan active. She didn't want to fight them, she didn't want to risk hurting them. Perhaps she could trick them? Either way, she was going to have to face them. Stopping dead on a branch and spinning on her heel, she turned and awaited their arrival.

Genma released another trap, this one genjutsu based. He had known it would be hard to keep up with the missing nin but he hadn't known it would be this difficult. They were incredibly skilled at evasion and trap setting. If it hadn't been for the Inuzuka's hound they would have run straight past the camp.

As the group had come upon a small cave, a fire still burning happily at the back, Genma started to get an itch. It was the sort of itch that suggested something wasn't right. Tsunade had gathered the group of 4 together only 2 days previously. Genma hadn't known any of the other 3 in the team and their grouping seemed odd. At first glance, it didn't seem as though their strengths complimented each other. The Inuzuka was a good tracker but was a new recruit, only recently entering the ANBU ranks. Then there was Izumo, Genma wasn't even sure he was ANBU but there he was in the uniform. The guy was good with a shuriken and he was fast but speed didn't seem to matter when in a 4 man cell. The third was a Hyuuga from the branch clan. Although technically the branch clan didn't exist anymore, the guy still acted as though the world had done him some great injustice. He wouldn't even give the team his name. And then there was Genma himself, he was skilled with poisons and genjutsu (his worth was becoming more obvious the more genjutsu traps he disarmed). All in all, the team seem a bit rag tag.

What was even more bizarre was that although Tsunade had informed them they were to track and retrieve a missing nin, she hadn't specified which missing nin they were to retrieve. It wasn't for lack of questioning on his behalf! For some reason Tsunade had not deemed that important enough information to share with the group. In fact, the only concrete information Tsunade had given them was the message they had to deliver before engaging the missing nin and the directive that whoever it was, was not to be seriously injured or killed.

"She's stopped." The monotone voice of the Hyuuga surprised Genma so much he nearly lost his footing as he leapt to another branch.

"She?" Kiba gave a derisive snort. "I didn't think we had any missing Kunoichi?"

"Are you questioning my eyes?" The Hyuuga snapped.

"Eyes front and cut the chatter." Genma barked. He wasn't in the mood for any more of their bickering. The Inuzuka and Hyuuga had not hit it off. He picked up a chakra signal a short way ahead. It wasn't strong but that could be because she was masking it. Whoever she was. Truth be told, Genma couldn't think of any female missing nin either. He mentally scanned the bingo book but drew a blank. Maybe she wasn't in it? Could be a low level missing nin. Would explain why Tsunade felt it appropriate to send lower level ANBU, would be good experience for them.

"I've got a bad feeling about this. Something isn't right." Izumo adjusted his mask slightly, speaking low so only Genma could hear.

"You and me both." Genma refocused ahead, the chakra signal wasn't moving. Was she looking to fight them? They would find out soon enough. A niggling thought began to worm its way to the fronts of his mind. Why wasn't Kakashi here? Usually the copy-nin was Tsunade's go-to guy for rounding up missing nin. Even low level. He would be able to provide the rookies with some good training too. Genma forced the thought away as the group of 4 began to fan out. They were almost on top of their target now. Genma led the way, clearing another branch, and stopped dead. He could see their target clearly now. She was stood, frozen on a branch just ahead of them, black and red cloak of the Akatsuki hanging from one hand, the other supporting the strap of her pack. Her eyes were trained on them and Genma avoided meeting the eerie red and black gaze, he hoped the others had the sense to so the same. He would have called out a warning but he didn't want to trigger her.

Genma's heart was in his throat, how could Tsunade have sent such an inexperienced team after someone like her? Her profile in the bingo book was sharp in his mind now. Lilia Uchiha, Sharingan user, very much S-Class. At least he understood now, why Tsunade hadn't sent Kakashi.


Lilia leapt lightly and quietly to the forest floor, the ANBU followed immediately. She scanned each of the spread out ANBU in front of her, attempting eye contact with each of the four. They were inexperienced. Two of them had met her gaze, even though their masks partially hid their eyes, they could not be hidden from her Sharingan. She recognized one chakra signal, the one in the bird mask, as belonging to a Hyuuga, though not one she knew. He must be young, at least new to ANBU as he had met her gaze and held it. The operative directly opposite her was wearing a fox mask and was one of the two that hadn't met her eyes, his chakra signal was the familiar one she couldn't place. Why would the village send such an inexperienced team after her? They must have stumbled across her by accident and decided to give chase. She would end this quickly, disable them long enough to make good her escape.

Lilia flicked her gaze to the operative with the dog, aptly wearing a dog mask. He would be the most troublesome one as he could track her. The second his eyes met with hers, he crumpled to the floor. The operative beside him, the one in the cat mask, gave a yelp and ran toward him. The large white dog sprang forward, in front of its fallen master and bared its teeth at her, growling protectively. The Hyuuga, despite a warning yell from the fox mask operative charged her. Lilia jumped back lightly, avoiding him as he attempted to shut down her chakra pathways. She sprang into the air and flipped over him, landing not far away. Lilia summoned her chakra as her hands flew through the hand signs necessary for an earth jutsu. As the Hyuuga span and tried to follow her, the roots of the trees around them shot out and wrapped around his limbs, pulling him back and pinning him to the trunk of a large oak.

A kunai whizzed past her ear as Lilia managed to avoid it by a scant inch. The one in the cat mask launched a second kunai at her, this one with an explosive tag on it. Idiot! If that thing exploded it risked injuring his team mate she had trapped against the tree. Instead of dodging the kunai and allowing it to explode, Lilia caught the kunai and in one fluid movement, threw it away to a safe distance. It exploded in the air.

"Watch where you throw those things, idiot! You're going to get me killed." The Hyuuga shouted out angrily, fighting against the roots that held him.

"Sorry!" The cat mask cringed away. Lilia frowned. How the hell, were these guys even ANBU? Standards had seriously dropped since she had been in the black ops.

Suddenly, the Hyuuga broke free and lunged for her. She twisted her body, avoiding his blow. With a mental apology she feinted with a right punch and kneed him in the groin. The Hyuuga dropped immediately, groaning in pain. Lilia looked to the fox and cat masks. The cat was in a defensive stance whilst the fox looked ready to leap to his comrade's aid. She decided it was time to make her get away. As she turned to flee, a familiar voice spoke out.

"Lilia Uchiha?" The voice was gravelly, she could detect the nervousness in the tone of voice but there was also uncertainty there. No doubt he had realised that she was avoiding killing them. She ignored voice and started to run up the side of a tree, chakra holding her against gravity.

"Lilia!" The voice called out, sharper now and more confident. "Lady Tsuande, the Hokage, has a message for you." That made her pause. Lilia knew what the message would be. She had been waiting for the message for some time. Tsunade had been Hokage for a few years now, Lilia was surprised the message hadn't come sooner. She slowly turned back to face the ANBU, the one in the fox mask had moved closer, as though to give chase. His mask turned up to where she frozen halfway up the side of the tree.

"What is it?" Lilia asked.

"She said it's time you made good on you promise and time she made good on hers. We have been instructed to escort you back to the Hidden Leaf Village."

Lilia nodded. It was what she was expecting. That didn't stop her heart from leaping into her throat or her muscles from tensing in a fight or flight response. Fox mask must have noticed this. He held his hands in front of him, showing himself unarmed. Not that that meant much to a ninja but the gesture was designed to be placating, as one might do if trying to prevent a frightened animal from bolting. Lilia made the conscious effort to relax her body. She deactivated the Sharingan, her own placating gesture. She pushed off from the side of the tree and landed silently on the ground, facing the ANBU.

Fox mask stepped uncertainly towards her. The Hyuuga, aided by the cat mask groaned as they moved to stand beside their comrade. Dog mask was still out cold, though now led in the recovery position, his white hound sitting guard.

"I will come with you." Lilia was proud of how confident her voice sounded. Inside she was shaking. Lilia looked to Fox mask, expecting him to have relaxed slightly. He seemed as tense as before. He turned to the cat mask.

"Inform the Hokage." Cat mask nodded once, dropping the arm of the Hyuuga. The Hyuuga stumbled slightly as Cat mask turned on his heel and sprinted off in the direction of the village. Lilia raised an eyebrow slightly at the speed of the man. Fox mask turned back to Lilia. He reached into a pouch on his hip and Lilia tensed, ready for a weapon to be drawn. Instead, he drew a set of handcuffs. As he approached Lilia, she crossed her arms and raised both eyebrows at him.

"No. No way. I am coming with you of my own free will, there is not a hope in hell you will get those on me."

"We have to-"

"I don't care." Lilia stared into the eye holes of the fox mask, just able to make out his brown eyes in the darkness.

"We will to go through the village," Fox mask continued as though she hadn't interrupted him. "We need to protect them."

"I'm not going to do anything to hurt the village."

"We don't know that!" The Hyuuga spat. "You attacked us and you might be using us to get to the village."

"Ok, firstly," Lilia turned to confront the Hyuuga and raised an index finger. "You attacked me, I defended myself and then saved your life from an exploding tag – secondly," Lilia ignored the man as he tried to protest and raised a second finger. "You tracked me down to bring me back to the village and I am going with you because I promised Tsunade I would. If I wanted to attack the village I would have done so by now and in the wake of the failed Chuunin exams."

The Hyuuga made to respond but Fox mask stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Lilia, please." His tone of voice, a cross between boredom and exasperation was so familiar. She stared a little longer at the eye holes before it finally clicked.

"Genma?" His shoulders tensed ever so slightly, giving her the answer. "Holy crap, Genma! No wonder you guys got through my traps. Should have known Tsunade would send you out after me." Despite the situation, Lilia smiled a genuine smile. It had been years since she had seen the man but he had been a good friend many years ago. She recognised the hesitation in his movements as he reached up and moved his mask to one side of his head, revealing familiar brown eyes and shaggy brown hair. The years had been good to him, well as good as they can be to a ninja - which usually means 'not dead'. But there was uncertainty and a tinge of fear in his eyes as he finally met her gaze. It reminded her of who she was and what she would face when she returned to the village.

"You seem well, Lilia."

"You two know each other?!" The Hyuuga screeched. The two ninja ignored him.

"I need you to put these on." Genma said. His voice was calm but his eyes searched hers. Lilia sighed, deciding it would be easier to simply go along with it and not wanting to cause an old friend any more distress. She nodded once and tucked her cloak through the straps of her pack so her hands were free. Lilia approached Genma and stood before him, hands outstretched and eyes never leaving his. Genma opened the cuffs and slid the cuffs on her wrists. As soon as they had clicked in place, Lilia picked up movement to her left and pain exploded through her cheekbone and across her face. She span, yacking her cuffed wrists free from Genma and activating the Sharingan. It didn't work. She tried again and again, the Sharingan wouldn't respond. Her chakra wasn't responding. Too late she realised the cuffs were blocking her chakra.

Genma swiftly moved between her and the Hyuuga.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Genma snapped, shoving the Hyuuga away as he tried to advance towards her again. Lilia fixed him with her best 'I'm going to maim you' face, the flesh of her left cheek throbbing. The Hyuuga stalled, clearly nervous of her despite the cuffs.

"She attacked me and kicked me in the groin." The Hyuuga was righteous in his anger. Lilia growled and stepped forwards. Genma placed a hand out and shot her a look out of the corner of his eye. It was a warning not to escalate the situation. Had it been anyone else, Lilia might have considered ignoring him. As it was she simply glared at the Hyuuga.

"You'll get more than that for blind siding me." She muttered under her breath.

"Go and get Inuzuka and start walking." Genma stared down the Hyuuga until he finally relented and moved away with a grunt of annoyance. Lilia watched as the large white dog bared its teeth when the man tried to approach his master, making the Hyuuga jump back in fear. Genma sighed in exasperation and rubbed a hand down his face.

"So, having fun with the new team?" Lilia gave him an innocent smile when he looked at her.

"Tonnes." He deadpanned.

"So, you won't mind if I 'relieve' you of the Hyuuga?" Lilia chuckled when Genma rubbed his chin as though seriously considering the suggestion. He seemed much more relaxed now she was in cuffs. The thought made her a little sad. "What's with calling Inuzuka by his real name? Don't ANBU do code names anymore?" Lilia enquired as she started to follow Genma who was striding towards where the Hyuuga was struggling with the large white dog.

"Oh yeah we do, but since you blew my cover," Genma smirked when she winced apologetically. "and since you would have already guessed he's at least affiliated with the Inuzuka clan because of the dog – I didn't see much point."

"Fair point."

"Akamaru. Down." Genma called out as they neared the Inuzuka. The large dog gave one more careful look to the Hyuuga and backed down, allowing his master to be hauled over the Hyuuga's shoulders.

"Can you wake him up?" Genma asked.

"Sure, just take the cuffs off." Lilia tried her best 'I'm harmless' smile. Genma only snorted in response.

"You." The Hyuuga turned to face Genma with an annoyed 'what'. "Carry Inuzuka until he wakes up, I'll stay with Lilia." The Hyuuga started to protest. Genma shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, you watch Lilia. But since you just split her lip you might want to make sure you stay out of range,"

"And sleep with one eye open." Lilia chimed in. The Hyuuga 'hmphed' and secured the unconscious man around his shoulders. He stalked off towards the village, Akamaru on his heels. Genma followed him and Lilia kept pace. It would be slow going, with Lilia unable to use chakra they wouldn't be able to run through the trees. That meant a trek through the forest. It should only take a day and a half to reach the village from here, even with them having to move at a pace only slightly faster than a civilians.


The group had been travelling for a couple of hours when Lilia could bare the silence no longer. The Hyuuga stayed a good few paces ahead of herself and Genma, which was fine with her - her lip and cheek were still throbbing.

"So…" Lilia drawled, looking up at the sky as Genma turned his head to look at her. "What is it that Tsunade wants from me?" She thought she knew the answer but figured she would see what information Genma had.

"Dunno." Genma followed her eye line up to the sky before returning to watch the path ahead of them. "We were given very little information. Didn't even know who we were coming to get when we left. Tsunade just told us we had to bring back a missing nin alive and unharmed." He glanced at her swollen lip and cheek. "Suppose we screwed that last part up."

Lilia chuckled and grinned, making her split lip throb again. "Ah don't worry about it, he hits like a civilian." Genma snorted when the Hyuuga huffed and started walking quicker. Genma slowed his pace, widening the gap between them and the Hyuuga and still unconscious Inuzuka. Lilia didn't comment but slowed her pace to match Genma's.

After a moment of silence Genma quietly asked; "Why are you coming with us?"

Lilia had been expecting the question. "Because Tsunade has asked me to. Well, she is calling me out on a promise I made a long time ago." Genma raised an eyebrow. "I made her a promise that when she summoned me back to the village, I would come without question."

Genma was quiet for a while. "What promise did Tsunade make you?" From the tone of his voice Lilia could tell he wasn't really expecting her to answer. She smiled and looked at him.

"She promised that she would tell the truth."

"What?" Genma was clearly shocked by her answer. "What truth? You left the village."

"I did but there is more to it than me just deciding to leave."

"Then why? Why did you abandon us?"

Lilia shook her head. "It's not my secret to tell, not yet." Genma frowned, looking sceptical.

"Is Tsuande bringing you back into the village to live – as a citizen?" Or is she bringing you back to face justice? It didn't need to be said but she could hear the unspoken question.

"I don't know." She hoped she was going back to reintegrate with the village, as much as the thought terrified her.

"But you joined the Akatsuki. They have been working against us for years. They have hunted Naruto and they killed the Kazekage." Lilia stopped, concerned about the anger in his voice.

"Genma, you don't seriously believe I had a part in that?" He refused to meet her eyes. Her heart sank. Of course he did. That was how the whole village saw her. Suddenly, she wasn't so certain she wanted to re-join life in the village.

"You abandoned the village. You abandoned your friends." It hurt her to hear the disappointment and bitterness in his tone. The pair had been friends when they were younger, not especially close but close enough that she didn't want him to think ill of her. Though that seemed unavoidable at this point. She lifted her cuffed wrists to place one hand on his shoulder. He didn't flinch.

"I swear, I had no part in that. I mean no harm to the leaf village, I never have. I haven't seriously injured a single leaf shinobi since leaving the village. Genma, you know me well enough to know I couldn't do that. I mean, I stopped that exploding tag from going off near that asshole – though starting to wish I hadn't!" Genma's brown eyes met her grey ones. She held his gaze unwaveringly.

"Look, I've known you a long time so I'm willing to keep an open mind. But you won't get the same from others in the village."

Lilia smiled brightly at him. "I know, Genma, thank you." The pair started walking again. "So why did Tsunade not tell you who you were coming to get?"

"Pass. Who knows why that old bat does the things she does. Though I think she was worried we would bail if we knew we would be up against you with only a message."

"Sorry, must have given you a bit of a fright when you found me."

"Just a little. It would help if the team was experienced."

"All greenies?"

"You could say that."

Silence fell again. Lilia looked up to the sky, the bright blue expanse marred only by a single cloud that looked vaguely like a kunai. She knew she had to ask the question.

"How angry is he?"

Genma looked sideways at her. "He was fuming. Now we just avoid saying your name."

Lilia winced.


A/N Hello and welcome to my new story! I apologise for the length of the first chapter - not all the chapter will be this long! I want to provide a bit of a disclaimer - this story will not follow canon but it is set in the Shippuden, before the death of Itachi. I will likely deviate from some main plot points but since this is only a fanfic I hope you will forgive me :)

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed the first chapter! I would love to hear from you with your feedback!

- Quinn Thomas