Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

For any people that read this the first time, I changed Shadow Hawk's name and added more to the story.

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23 years before the start of the show:

Sakumo Hatake was returning from a mission when he heard crying in some bushes by the side of the road. His instincts were telling him to just ignore the sound, after all, it might be a trap, but he decided to check it out anyway.

He went around the bushes and was extremely surprised at what he found. There was a young girl, about 3, curled up next to two bodies. One was a huge wolf and the other was a man. Both were dead. But what surprised him the most was the girl. She had black hair, and wolf ears and a tail. Sakumo figured that she was a half-demon. Which meant that the wolf either was the man's summon or her mother. Either way, Sakumo didn't think that he should leave the girl there. There were several problems with that train of thought. First, he didn't think that the villagers would take too kindly to a half-demon taking up residence in Konoha. And second, even if they did or they managed to disguise it, he couldn't take care of her. He had enough trouble dealing with his 3 year old son, Kakashi.

His train of thought was interrupted by a voice. "Um… Who are you?"

Sakumo looked down at the girl. She was staring at him with wide eyes. "Sir... um...who are you?" She had obviously been crying, and had a stuffed nose.

Sakumo smiled down at her. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you. I'm a friend. Just tell me what happened and I'll see what I can do to help you. What's your name?"

She sniffed. "Shadotaka (1). Who are you, sir?"

"Sakumo Hatake. How old are you?"

"3. Why do you want to know?"

"Just asking. No need to get defensive. You know, I have a son that's your age. What village are you from?" Sakumo asked.

"Huh?"

"You know. Where's your home?"

"I...i don't know, Hatake-san. We kept moving."

"Do you have any relatives?"

"I don't think so, Hatake-san."

"Hmm." Sakumo thought for a minute. "Come with me."

He took her hand. "Um... Hatake-san, where are we going? And what about my parents?" Shadotaka started crying again.

"Uhhh." Sakumo thought. He figured that like ninja, a demon's body would hold valuable clues about techniques medicines and other things unique to their home village. So he should destroy or bury the bodies. They didn't have enough time to bury them so he decided to do the next best thing.

"Hold on a minute." Sakumo started making hand signs. "Fire style, fireball jutsu!" He shot the fireball at her parent's bodies, cremating them. Shadotaka just stared, slightly afraid of the sight of her parents' bodies burning.

"Wow. Could you teach me how to do that, Hatake-san?"

"I can't, but there's an academy where we're going, so if you want to, you could enroll. we're going to my village, Konoha. We'll get going in one minute. I just have to inform the Hokage about you."

"Huh? What's a Ho-ka-ge?"

"That's the leader of my village." Sakumo bulled a scroll out of his vest, bit his thumb and summoned a large pigeon (2). He wrote a note and gave it and some scrolls to the bird and told it to give them to the Hokage. The bird nodded and took off.

"How did you do that!"

"It's called summoning."

"Does your thumb hurt?" Shadotaka looked at the bite mark with interest and concern.

"Not really, it just stings. I'm kinda used to it. I've had worse."

"But it's still bleeding. Shouldn't we do something about it?"

"No, it's fine. Come on, let's go. The Hokage is expecting us soon." Sakumo took her hand and lead her off towards the place that would be her home for the next 9 years.

A few weeks later

"So you found her by the bodies of what you suspect were her parents and you decided to take her here. Am I right?" The Hokage asked, sitting at his desk.

"That is right, Lord Hokage." Sakumo replied.

"Her name is Shadotaka, right? Where is she?"

"She's playing with Kakashi. If you didn't mind, I asked Arashi (3) to watch them to make sure that they don't get into any trouble."

"It's OK. So you don't think that she poses any threat to Konoha."

"That's right, Hokage-sama. The only problem is going to be hiding her ears and tail."

"Well, since she can't use henge, then she can just wear a hat and hid her tail as a belt. I now put you in charge of Shadotaka."

"What! I'm sorry, but I can't take care of her. I already have my hands full with Kakashi; I don't think I could take care of another child."

Meanwhile

"Hihi! I'm Kakashi Hatake. What's your name? Where are you from? Why are you here? Are your ears and tail real? Why do you have them? Are they a Kekkei Genkai? Are you going to the Acadamy? I'm starting soon! How long are you going to be here? Will you be my friend?"

Shadotaka just sat there, dazed by all the questions the silver-haired kid was asking her, and wondering why he was turning blue.

"Um, Kakashi, I know you're excited, but shouldn't you let her answer your questions before you ask any more?" Arashi asked, trying not to laugh.

"Um, mebbe." Kakashi responded, looking at the ceiling.

"Umm… I'm Shadotaka. I'll be your friend! What's this place like?"

"Oh! Konoha is really cool!" He grabbed her arm and headed for the door.

"Kakashi, where are you going?" Arashi asked.

"I'm gonna show Shadotaka around. Duh." He headed towards the door.

"Thanks, Kakashi. Are we going anywhere special?"

"Nope"

After they left, Sakumo and the Third came into the room. Arashi looked like the was taking a nap.

"Arashi, where are they?" a worried Sakumo asked.

"Don't worry, I'm not that irresponsible. Kakashi went to show Shadotaka around. So who's going to take care of her? 'Cause Kakashi and her seemed really cute together." Arashi told them, straightening up.

"I am." Sakumo said. "I hope I do a good job. Ever since Hikari died…"

"Hey, man, don't beat yourself up over it. I think you're doing a great job raising Kakashi and I think that both of them will grow up to be great ninjas and respected members of Konoha." Arashi said.

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(1)- Means Shadow Hawk

(2)-ninja that were going to collect very important information for the war could all summon homing pigeons in case they couldn't get home in time or whatever.

(3) The name I'm using for the Fourth Hokage

Sorry if the three year olds don't sound like three year olds. I don't have any three-year-olds around to ask how they would respond. There will be some time skips in the next chapter or so. Please read and review!