C1. Azrael

Sound ninja were sprinting through the forest at high speed. Ahead of them, in all of the green lush and vegetation, was a somewhat small black speck running ahead of them. One of them, in either irritation or fear of losing their prey, struck the ground with his fist. The black speck jumped as the wave of sound almost found his foot. Now it was a tree race.

"This guy...he knows what he's doing." One of them uttered to the other.

They came upon a mountain that became a dead end for the chase.

"Hah! There's no where to run now! Turn and face us!" One of them yelled in triumph.

The figure they were chasing was wearing a long black leather trench coat. As he turned to face them, his hair, dread-locked and black as night, barely moved from his slow speed of rotating. His skin was a fair brown and he stood about six ft. tall. He wore a black turtle neck sweater under his trench coat that hid the bottom of his face. He wore black baggy pants that were complimented by black hiking boots. His eyes were a swirling mix of red, orange and yellow.

"Fine."

The two ninja didn't act in time to get out of his way as he quickly punched them both in the stomach. They bent forward from the pressure, but he wasn't done yet. He kept his punch going straight until both were lifted off their feet and into a tree. They rose, slowly, but with a look of disbelief, fear, and anger.

"You...wretch!" One yelled running at him with a kunai bared.

The guy dodged him effortlessly, then the ninja stopped, and a look of surprise appeared on his face. A four foot sword was sticking out of him, shining beautifully in the sunlight, despite the blood. He twisted it, and the ninja's body went limp and slid off the sword. His buddy looked in shock.

"So, the rumors are true." He said in a shaky voice.

"I find it hard to believe that Orochimaru would send two chuunin like you against someone like me." The guys said in an arrogant voice.

"My Azrael. I've never known you to be so...arrogant." A slithery voice came from directly behind him.

Orochimaru was standing right behind Azrael, back to back. Azrael, as if by instinct, fear, or surprise, jumped away from him in a second. Orochimaru turned to him and smiled, showing that freakishly long tongue as he licked his lips.

"Or...so brutal." He also added looking at the dead shinobi to his side.

"Lord Orochimaru," the other ninja said quickly, but was cut off as Kusanagi impaled him from behind and flew to Orochimaru's hand, still stained with blood.

"I have no need for weaklings like you." He said coldly.

He turned back to Azrael to see that he was already a distance ahead of him.

"No worries Azrael," he said smiling, "in this ninja territory, you will find no home. Mistrust and conflict shall be the two that bring you back to me, along with all of your power."

Azrael leapt through the trees at break-neck speed. His only concern right now, was to get away from Orochimaru.

'What the hell is he?' Azrael asked himself as he leaped through the trees.

He was going so fast, before he knew it he saw a flash of blond hair, then the trunk of a tree. He jumped up quickly and turned around to see who it was he ran into.

"Hey! Watch where you're going pal!" He heard a cocky yet irritating voice say as he turned around.

A kid with an orange jumpsuit wearing a headband with a symbol on it with blonde hair, blue eyes and whisker markings on his face was glaring at him.

"Naruto! What are you doing! That's no way to talk to someone!" He heard a girl's voice yell.

A girl with long pink hair ran up beside Naruto and knocked him upside his head. A large knot appeared on the top of his head as he hollered in pain.

Two more people appeared right behind them. One of them had tall white hair and had the same headband covering his left eye. He was obviously the adult in the group. He looked at Azrael with questioning and searching eyes. The other one had black hair that fell over his head band. He looked real familiar to Azrael.

'Is that Itachi Uchiha?' He asked himself. A flash of the Akatsuki jacket flashed in his mind. Then he realized 'Can't be. This must be someone like a younger cousin or something. There were rumors that one Uchiha survived the slaughter of that tragedy.'

"Care to tell us who you were running from?" The adult asked him.

Azrael quickly snapped out of his thoughts and looked them all over. They didn't look like much of a threat, but there was something about the blonde one, Naruto. Something about him seemed...dark and sinister.

"Well? He asked you a question." The Uchiha said forcefully.

Now Azrael got on the defensive. "Don't think for a second genin like you can give me an order that I'll follow."

"Yeah? Let's put that to the test!" Naruto said.

He leaped at Azrael to throw a punch in his face. Azrael grabbed his fist with his left hand, his right hand flew to his throat, then he threw him into a tree. The pink haired girl gasped as the adult looked on. Now the Uchiha joined the fight. Azrael's suspicions of him being an Uchiha was correct when the red-totemed eyes of the sharingan surfaced. Azrael had experience fighting the sharingan with his numerous encounters with Itachi. He knew what the power of that kekkei genkai was capable of. However, Azrael noticed that this Uchiha's Sharingan wasn't as proficient as Itachi's. A smile crept up his face.

In a second, his fist was at the Uchiha's cheek, making him spin in place before Azrael delivered a quick knee to his stomach. Uchiha bent over from the pain, then Azrael lifted him up and threw him at the oncoming Naruto.

"Okay Sasuke, Naruto, that's enough." The adult said calmly.

"But Kakashi-sensei.." the pink-haired girl began.

"No Sakura, this foe isn't for genin like you. So, do you have a name?"

"My name is Azrael. That's all you need to know."

"You're pretty quick for a young ninja. You almost remind me of someone we just ran into."

Azrael looked back the way he came. He felt something fly past his cheek and ping into a tree. He dodged a blow that sent the earth flying. The others also jumped out of the way. He caught a glimpse of Kakashi revealing his sharingan left eye, but if would do him no good here.

"You run from Orochimaru Azrael? I thought that you'd have more honor than that." A voice came through the mist.

A man, about 6 ft. tall with cuts all over his body and pale skin with dead yellow eyes wearing nothing but black pants said.

He leapt at Azrael, who spun as fast as he could, causing a swirl of wind to interrupt his attack and send him flying back. As he rose, Azrael's right hand glowed white as he ran towards the man. His delivered a punch that seemed to burn some of the skin off the man's face before he flew at an incredible speed the way he came.

"Who was that?" Kakashi asked demandingly.

"Take me to your village." Azrael said quietly.

"What for?"

"I can't say now. No telling who's listening."

They ran back to the village hidden in the leaves to inform the hokage about the danger about to plague their village. The image of Azrael's punch and the incredible level of chakra he used playing back in everyone's mind as everyone periodically looked at their strange but powerful new guest.

'It starts' He thought. 'I only hope I've acquired enought power to finally kill him and send him past the plane of oblivion.