Quietly a girl walked through her village. She was young, couldn't be older than six, but already her path was shrouded in hate and ridicule. She had only her brother and the demon sealed within herself to rely on, to have as a source of strength... Her emerald orbs did nothing to hide her pain or sorrows. They only served to reflect it in great amounts. Her clan had died off years ago, leaving only her brother and herself as the surviving members of the attack that started the cycle of hate.

"Shirou..." She mumbled her brother's name as she thought of him. Had it not been for him she would have surely been dead. She shook her head ridding herself of these thoughts as she continued towards the gates of Yamigakure, the Village Hidden in The Dark. She loved her village dearly, never once receiving hatred for her tenant, but she had to leave. She just couldn't stay when Akihiro, the previous Kurokage, had passed on... or rather he had fallen in battle.

Her brother knew of this and so... he decided that he would take her to Konoha and ask to become shinobi there. It wasn't like he was going to leave his little sister. As soon as Shirou caught sight of the girl he called out to her, "Maisou!" The little girl stopped next to him as he quickly lifted her onto his back and asked, "Is Midori-nee-sama coming out?"

Maisou nodded as chakra as black as the midnight seeped from her body and took on the form of a tall, slender woman. The woman was dark-skinned with hair that matched irises reaching down to her hips. Interwoven throughout the purple locks were shades of darker and lighter purples contrasting with her onyx orbs. Her arms were folded underneath her large breasts, doing nothing to hide her tattooed abdomen. Her arms were littered with tattoos as well, most of them containing something that could be linked to wolves. She wore dark pants that clung to her skin with a green shirt that was cut off just under her breasts.

"What's goin' on kid, Shirou-chan?" Midori, the nanabi wolf, asked looking at the sight of two backpacks containing their belongings at Shirou's feet. Shirou merely gave her a look and instantly the woman understood. She picked up the heavier backpack and strapped it onto her back, before she slid the smaller one, much lighter than her own, onto Maisou's whom was still on Shirou's back. "Let's go."

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Maisou sighed quietly as she looked back on the day she left Yami. That had been nearly seven years ago... she was thirteen now and her appearance had drastically changed from her frail six year old self. Her crimson hair was braided down her back and ended at her hips, a long piece of black cloth interwoven into the braid that Shirou had given her that also was used to tie off the braid. Her bangs hung lowly around her face bringing attention to her pain filled emerald eyes that her clan seemed to be haunted with. Her body had developed nicely, maybe even a bit quickly by some standards.

Her attire consisted of a fishnet shirt that clung to the top half of her body with an onyx, sleeveless, half shirt that stopped to show her fishnet covered stomach. She wore forest green cargo pants with bandages and her kunai pouch on her left thigh. Covering her hands were fingerless black gloves with metal plating on the backs and to finish off the outfit she wore standard shinobi sandals.

Today had been the day her sensei, Umino Iruka, had announced they were to take their graduation exam, some had been more thrilled about it than others. One of those had been the number one idiot in this year's class, Uzumaki Minato, named after the Yondaime Hokage, as his brother was named, Uzumaki Jiraiya, after the great sanin, and their sister, Uzumaki Tsunade, also named after one of the great sanin. The Uzumaki siblings had always been an annoyance to the fiery haired girl, how they were always so enthusiastic and cheerful was beyond her.

Iruka's voice snapped her out of her daze, "Akuma Maisou!" She quietly made her way down to the testing room and waited for further instructions. "Alright, Maisou, I'm going to have you perform a henge then create a few clones." The Akuma nodded silently before running through the hand seals for henge.

"Henge no Jutsu!" She quietly called out. A poof of smoke later revealed her to have transformed into her brother. Iruka smiled proudly before gesturing for her to continue. Maisou released the jutsu before bringing her hands to form the seal for shadow clones... she wouldn't waste time on simple bunshin when she had already learned how to make kage bunshin. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Now standing in front of Iruka were five Maisou's each one looking ready to pull a kunai.

"Congratulations, Maisou! You pass." He said as he tossed the somber girl a hitae-ate. The girl let the faintest of smiles show as she tied the hitae-ate around her waist before leaving the room and returning to her seat next to Shirou.

Shirou too had grown up from his eight year old self. The fifteen year old boy had shaggy crimson hair with bangs that messily framed his face and somewhat obscured his emerald eyes from sight. His eyes held the same pain as Maisou's, however his were in larger amounts. He had developed a rather muscular build over his years of training and had two piercings in his right ear while only one was in his left.

His clothing consisted of a sleeveless dark purple shirt that was somewhat baggy on his form and standard black pants with his kunai pouch strapped around his right leg like his sister had it. He had already taken the exam and apparently passed because proudly hanging around his neck was a Konoha hitae-ate.

"Congrats, Imouto! We'll go out and get something to eat tonight to celebrate with Midori-nee-sama." Shirou said with a bright grin that invoked a smile from the girl as she returned the congratulation and confirmed that they would go out, before she felt a pair of arms hug her from behind.

"Maisou-chan! You passed too! Maybe we'll be on the same team!" A loud voice yelled as Maisou sighed instantly recognizing it to belong to Uzumaki Jiraiya. The boy had developed a crush on her and made it a point to prove it to her everyday at the academy. Iruka had noted it was "Naruto and Sakura" all over again.

"Sure... whatever you say Jiraiya-kun." She replied with as she took in the boy's appearance more closely. He had long indigo hair that was tied into a short pony tail, most likely inherited from his mother, with bangs framing his face. His features resembled his mother, Uzumaki-Hyuuga Hinata, more than his father, Uzumaki Naruto. She noted that he even had his mother's pearl like eyes indicating his byakugan.

As she moved on to look at his attire she noted that he seemed to like the color sky blue. His short sleeved shirt was sky blue with the kanji for "Jiyuu", or freedom, in black on the left sleeve. His bottoms were simple khaki colored baggy shorts he topped it all off with shinobi sandals and his new Konoha hitae-ate around his right arm.

She contemplated her next words before she decided against asking the boy to join her, Shirou, and Midori for dinner... no one knew about Midori other than Shirou and the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade Senju... whoever her teammates and sensei would also know. She'd tell them. She promised herself and Midori that she would. "Jiraiya-kun, after we find out our teams, would you like to have lunch?"

These words made the Uzumaki grin as he shouted out his answer, "Of course, Maisou-chan!" Maisou allowed herself a small smile as she listened to the boy begin to ramble on. Maybe the kid wasn't as bad as she thought him to be...

Shirou watched on with a smile of his own. At least she was finally opening up to more people...

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A/N: Ok! So I will now reveal the pairings that are thus far decided upon! And because well... *SPOILER* Neji died in the war... he won't be in this... except for being mentioned and on the K.I.A. memorial... ANYWAYS! Here's the pairings:

NaruHina

SasuTen

LeeSaku (GO LEE!)

KibaIno

Saix?

ShikaTema

MaisouxJiraiya (Uzumaki Jiraiya... just cause I feel the need to clear this up.)

Shiroux? (I'll reveal that when I know!)

Tsunadex? (Uzumaki Tsunade...)

Minatox? (Uzumaki Minato... No one's been brought back from the dead... sadly.)

Midorix? (YES... I feel like giving a biju a pairing.)

Gaarax? (It'll either be an OC or Matsuri...)

Kankurox? (Same deal as Gaara.)