Prologue (EDITED)

"This is such a drag," groaned Shikamaru as he lay flat on his back staring up at the dancing leaves above him.

"You can't just lay there dammit! Fight me!" Naruto shouted, fist clenched as he regarded his opponent. He'd gone through four others, but they all either refused to continue sparring after a while, or just gave up, like in the case of Shikamaru.

"I don't know where you're getting all that energy from, but I don't have any. I'm not moving."

Naruto scowled at the other shinobi before turning to the others who were sprawled out around them. Not many missions had come in that week, which meant that most of the shinobi of the village had nothing to do but rest up and train. Asuma, Guy, Kurenai and Kakashi thought it would be a good idea to put all their respective teams together so they could practice amongst themselves, leaving the Jonin to relax in peace. Of course Kakashi was still nowhere to be seen, but Naruto paid no mind as he volunteered to be part of the first sparring match.

He'd fought Tenten, Choji, Kiba and Shikamaru, all of whom got irritated with his hyperactive self at some point. He was fairly sure that if he sat out the next match, two of his comrades would take the opportunity to spar, but he hated to just sit and watch. It made him antsy.

"Ino! Come spar with me!"

From where she was sitting, Ino blanched. The last thing she wanted to do was get up and fight. It was the middle of summer and the trees did little to protect them from the blistering sun. No one wanted to do anything but lay around.

Except Naruto of course.

"You must actually be stupid if you think that I'm getting up from here, Naruto. Choji finally gave up some shade. I'm not moving."

Chuckling, Asuma looked over at them from where he was sitting with Kurenai and Guy in the branches of a large tree.

"That Naruto never fails to amuse me," he laughed, leaning back against the trunk. A moment later, the grin fell off his face. "Do you feel that?" he asked, but Guy and Kurenai were already looking in the direction the new chakra was coming from.

They all jumped to the ground, drawing the attention of the chunin.

"What's happening?" whispered Hinata just as Akamaru began to growl.

"Someone's coming," replied Sakura, and some of the others turned to her. "You can feel their chakra."

While everyone was engrossed with the incomers, Naruto was still oblivious. Finally noticing that the others weren't paying attention to him, he crossed his arms, glowering at the group.

"Well who's going to fight me!?"

Just as he shouted the words, a patch of black smoke drifted into the clearing. The Jonin were on the move, positioning themselves between the smoke and the group of chunin.

"…I'll fight you…"

The disembodied voice seemed to float around them, but there was no body to go with it.

"Show yourself, villain!" shouted Guy, taking up a fighting stance.

The black smoke began to slowly come together, materializing into something. A girl. It took only a couple of seconds, and most of the chunin missed it, but there she was, a girl, standing across from Naruto.

She was wearing all black. Black cropped halter-top, loose fitting black pants slung low on her hips, black sandals. Even her long hair was inky black as it blew in the slight breeze. She wore her forehead protector on her left upper arm, but the symbol on it was not one that most of the chunin could identify.

"What the…" Naruto whispered as the girl raised her smoky grey eyes to meet his blue ones. "Who…who are you?" he asked, but the girl only smirked.

"You said you wanted to fight, right?" she said, her voice sending chills up Naruto's spine. "So let's fight little boy."

That seemed to jar Naruto out of his temporary paralysis and he narrowed his eyes at the newcomer.

"Hey! I'm not a little boy! I'll show you, just you wait!" he shouted, unaware that everyone was staring at the two of them.

"Do you recognize the symbol," whispered Kurenai to Asuma and he nodded slowly.

"Shadow ninja."

"Please don't kill him."

At the new voice, everyone turned to see a tall man jump down from the cover of the trees. He wore all black, just like the girl, except he also wore a vest like the other Jonin, though his was grey rather than green. He wore a forehead protector bearing the same symbol as the mysterious girl too.

The man looked at the group and then smiled apologetically, running a hand through his dark hair. Looking back towards the girl, he raised his eyebrows.

"I'm serious Arya. If you kill this one too, you're on your own. I'm still filling out paperwork from the last time. And you know how much I hate doing paperwork."

"Yea, and we're tired of having to clean up, so, take it easy."

In a dark blur, two more shinobi appeared by the man. They too were wearing all black and wore the same forehead protector.

"Speak for yourself, Haru. It's kinda fun to watch her when she get's like that," said the man with the brown hair, smirking at his friend.

"You'd watch her do anything, Zen, you freak," retorted the chunin with ashy blonde hair, crossing his arms.

"Who are you?" asked Sakura after a moment of silence. Sighing, Asuma sat back down, Guy and Kurenai seeming to relax ever so slightly. Leaning back, he squinted up at them. "It's fine," he said lightly, addressing the younger shinobi. "They're not going to do anything."

"Do you know these people Sensei?" asked Ino, glancing first at Asuma and then between the other two Jonin. Closing his eyes, Asuma crossed his arms and Ino wondered if he'd heard her question.

"It's been a while. Enta Yumana," he said finally, and everyone's eyes darted to the other man who grinned slowly.

"Asuma, you old dog. I thought I'd sensed your chakra. How've you been?"

"Asuma-sensei knows this guy?" whispered Sakura to Ino as they huddled together.

"Guy-sensei too, apparently," answered Ino in a whisper as they watched the ninja in question burst into happy tears as he enigmatically embraced the new addition to the Jonin.

"I'm alive," responded Asuma with a shrug, and slowly his lips twisted into a grin as he watched Enta try to pry Guy off him. "Just as you are I see. Who are your friends?"

"Ah, let me introduce you to my students, Zen Kureshi and Haru Higa," he said proudly, putting a hand on each young man's shoulder as he mentioned their names. "And our volatile friend over there is Arya Rin."

At the mention of the girl's name, Asuma raised an eyebrow in surprise, both Kurenai and Guy exchanging wide-eyed looks. "You mean…that's her?"

Following their gaze, Enta crossed his arms while he also regarded his student. "That depends on what you mean," he said slowly, keeping his eyes on the dark haired kunoichi.

"So it is true. She really is the one that they speak of," said Asuma, the wheels already spinning in his sharp mind. "The Suicide Killer."

Kurenai gasped quietly, and a wry smile appeared on Enta's face at the nickname. It was an apt one, yes, but even then, he'd hoped that the name would have been dropped, at least by the Leaf ninja. Arya didn't need the encouragement that title brought. She'd spent too much time learning to control herself to be reduced to being 'The Suicide Killer' again.

"I wouldn't say—"

"Arya."

At the sound of his voice, everyone looked over. The Jonin exchanged a quick, wary look before turning to look at him too.

Kakashi.

Sighing quietly, Enta rubbed the back of his neck.

"I was hoping we wouldn't run into him," he muttered, and Asuma couldn't help but chuckle.

If they had been paying closer attention to the girl, they would have noticed that she tensed a moment before Kakashi appeared in the clearing. When he said her name, her teeth clenched and her eyes narrowed.

'Kill him…' the voice inside her head whispered tauntingly, and she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to get herself under control. Bad things happened when she wasn't in control. Very bad things.

She knew, from the moment Enta mentioned that they'd be visiting the hidden leaf village, she knew that they would cross paths with…him.

She knew they'd be watching her now. All of them. And so she took a quiet breath, fixing a pretty sneer on her face before turning away from the blonde kid before her and to the silver-haired man.

"Kakashi," she said, enjoying that something flickered in his one visible eye when she'd said his name. It only lasted a fraction of a second, but she saw it, and she fed off it.

"How wonderful it is to see you again."

As I mentioned before, this story is semi-AU. Exact events that happened in the show probably won't happen in this story. For example, Sasuke doesn't leave in this story, doesn't do any of the other things he did in the anime (ie he doesn't join the dark side). He, Naruto, Sakura and the others will still grow to be as powerful as they are in the show/manga though, so don't worry.

If you have any questions, leave me a review :)