A/N

Most of this belongs to a guy called Masashi Kishimoto. He's not me by the way. The differences are many, so It's rather easy to tell. Only the OC's, some original moments and other original missions/scenes belong to me.

"Kazekage" = speech

'Kazekage' = thoughts

kazekage = emphasis

"Kazekage" = Biju talk

'Kazekage' = take a guess why don't you.

Chapter 1: Prologue

The Kazekage's office is silent. It's occupants, quiet.

"Rasa."

A man, looking dignified, dressed as he is in the Kazekage robes, turns his head to the speaker, piercing onyx eyes conveying nothing.

"I understand your pain, but with the economic situation…"

The Kazekage rockets to his feet, slamming his fists against the table, the burst of motion causing a breeze to blow through the room. The council starts. Some in shock. The civilian members in terror from the killing intent that the radiating from the Kazekage.

"Ebizō." He speaks, quietly, yet somehow his words spread through the room, commanding it to silence. "You. Will. Not. Seal. Shukaku. Into my children, do you understand?" At this the elderly speaker leans back slightly and raises an eyebrow – the effect causing the their extremely long lengths to flutter against his cheeks.

The elder council member opens his mouth once more.

"There is no other choice Rasa. Shukaku's seal is unstable, it needs replacing. We need a weapon. Hence, we must seal Shukaku into a new host – a weapon that isn't already famous won't exactly rake in clients, will they? So, the host must be of your family, as an existing shinobi will die from the strain of the sealing."

Rasa's head dips, tousled, burnt copper hair shading his face. He grits his teeth. Golden dust particles coat him and then disperse. He disappears with them.

Ebizō sighs, his face clear of emotion or feeling. He rubs a hand down the side of his face, turning to look at the ceiling of the office.

"ANBU."

A group of masked and veiled men and women blurs into existence around the council.

"Trail him. It's for his own good. Go."

Just as quickly as they entered, the group is gone, the window silently opened, and a breeze filtering through the room.

(3 hours following)

Rasa steps into a lavishly furnished room, hidden in the depths of the Kazekage estate. He remains in the shadows, observing, watching.

A brown-haired woman - her hair so bleached of a brown it's almost grey, reaches down to the tops of her shoulders, no further. It frames a rounded face – is tending to two children. One is swaddled in cloth, whose brown hair and square face so similar to his own are the only visible things. The other child sits on the table in front of the woman, this one's blonde hair in four spiky ponytails. Rasa keeps watching, eyes softening with love. Those eyes drop to the woman's belly. It's rounded.

She's pregnant. Heavily so.

"- You'll have two new siblings soon Temari-chan! How exciting ne?" the blonde toddler giggles in reply, clapping her hands – 'so tiny…' – "So, I was considering names," the woman whispers, "and I want you to tell me which ones you like best okay?"

Rasa's fists and teeth clench again, eyes hardening slightly. He leaves as quickly as he entered.

"Hmm?" The woman pauses, her stare falling on the shadowed corner of the room. She sighs.

"Kaa-chan?"

"Aa, Temari-chan, gomen, let's continue, shall we?"

Chiyo walks into a on the south side of the village, its patrons drinking heavily, all shinobi. She navigates through the crowds to the counter, and slouches onto a stool, resting her head in a hand. Soon enough an employee makes their way to her – her sharp bug eyes stare them down.

"Get me a Bunpuku. In one of your retro glasses."

The employee staggers off, their eyes still on hers. A different one arrives at her stall a moment later, holding a small wine glass, containing an opaque blue fluid. Chiyo grabs the glass energetically, staggering off without uttering a single word of thanks. She loses herself within the crowds, taking a sip of her drink, grimacing at the ancient, highly bitter taste. She eventually finds, and leans against, the eastern wall. Reaching a hand up to her mouth, she takes a microchip from between her teeth. She lowers her hand, touching it against the wall. The chip sinks through solid sandstone.

A coat of chakra surrounds her, a fuinjutsu cast genjutsu hiding her from sight and notice.

She almost collapses into the wall. It accepts her, swallowing her up, and she falls lightly onto the other side of it. She gets to her feet, dusting herself off, still holding the drink. She ascends the steps above her, the darkness above neverending, until she reaches another door. She pushes it open, and steps out onto a balcony dug deep into the walls of Sunagakure, the cool night breeze washing over her. It overlooks the village, giving a beautiful view.

She steps out beside another figure, both silhouetted against the view.

"Brother." She murmurs.

"Sister." Ebizō whispers in reply.

Both are silent. Chiyo flicks her wrist, the motion so fast that it's almost untraceable.

Her glass goes flying.

"I forgot how much I bloody hate those."

"That could be considered littering," Ebizō mocks. Chiyo shrugs in reply. His lips open further. "Karura is due in two weeks." Chiyo sighs, putting a wrinkled, liver spotted hand on the banister.

"So? All we have to do is move the sealing forward then. We know her current children aren't suitable – they don't have the capability of magnet release."

" Indeed. Get your puppets ready Chiyo. Rasa might resist."

"What you're suggesting comes dangerously close to treason, Brother dearest…"

"Rasa is a traitor himself! He's putting his own family before the village's wellbeing!" Ebizō snaps, then pauses, rubbing at his eyebrows. "Sorry, I lost myself a bit – again." Chiyo's hardened face doesn't soften. "Look. We need this - we cannot rely on other villages, on Konoha," he murmurs, venom dripping off his words. "To provide for our people and village, we need a client attraction. A powerful shinobi. A famous shinobi. What better than a Jinchuriki of the Kazekage's clan? You know Rasa will resist - he's a family man. If he does we should fight - It's for the greater good."

Karura, wife of the Kazekage, Rasa, is lying in a hospital bed, being prepped for an ultrasound by a med-nin. ANBU are hidden in the ceiling.

In another room, a medic is knocked out by a slouching, cloaked figure. They reach out to a red button in the wall…

A bell rings out in the reception area of the sunagakure shinobi hospital. The receptionist sends an intern away to fetch a superior.

The intern reaches the door of the uppermost hospital room. He slowly opens it – a kunai is held against his throat by a veiled and masked ANBU.

"Gomen, ANBU-sama, but Kiku-sama is desperately needed elsewhere! … please don't kill me…" the intern whimpers pathetically, sweat rolling down his face, vision darkening from the stress of the situation. The ANBU relaxes their hold, and the intern bolts out of the door, the med-nin trailing after him. The ANBU watches them depart, hand still on the door handle – they slowly close it, turning to Karura, their attitude almost familiar.

"Karura-sama, I will be handling your preparation from he-"

The ANBU falls forward, a senbon stabbed into their back. The door opens once more, and a short, figure shuffles inside, two puppets at their side, defining features covered by a blackened hood. Just as more ANBU fall from the ceiling, more senbon sticking from them.

The cloaked figure pulls down their hood.

Karura's eyes widen with recognition –

"Elder Chiyo-sama…"

As Chiyo begins pulls out a pot of ink, infusing her chakra within it, another cloaked figure bursts through the window.

"Chiyo, we have little time. They will realise something is amiss soon enough."

The gravelly, aged voice is instantly recognizable to Karura – both of the honoured siblings are in the room with her; and both of the honoured siblings are betraying her. Shocked as she is, she is silent. Until she shouts with surprise that is, for Chiyo's chakra strings have just latched onto her, forcing her arms down, and her body to lie flat.

"Lie still, young one. This won't hurt a bit," Chiyo's ink stained palm approaches Karura. "It might, however, hurt a lot." They make contact.

Karura. SCREAMS.

...

"You just love clichés don't you?"

"Shut up Ebizō."

The scribbling of a pen is the only sound that fills the Kazekage's office this late at night. Meaningless paperwork sheet after meaningless paperwork sheet fills the completed tray. All is normal. All is typica-

A crack sounds, and Rasa's eyes widen. He stands, his pen dropping onto the floor. His mug tilts onto it's side, coffee spilling onto the desk, ruining his work. He starts breathing heavily, hands shaking. He throws himself through the windows, meeting the next roof with his feet and blurring in the direction of the hospital faster then the eyes can see.

There is a family photo on his desk, framed in glass. There is a crack right above his wife's face.

(A minute later)

Rasa crashes through a window, glass shards spilling to the ground in an almost silent room. The tinkling sound isn't nearly beautiful enough to stifle the gruesome sight that meets his eyes.

Karura. Spasming, gulping, gasping for air, froth spilling from her mouth, muscles clenching sporadically, unwittingly. Her eyes rolled back in her skull. Only the whites showing.

Chiyo's hand on her stomach, ink spilling from those wrinkled, scarred fingers, leaking onto his wife, his Karura…

He roars – a desperate, yet terrified sound – one no one has heard in a very long time. Golden dust grasps Ebizō, quickly covering up the left side of his face, digging into wrinkled skin. Blood begins dripping from the forming wounds, staining the gold crimson.

"Stop her! Stop her damn it!" Spittle flies from Rasa's mouth in his rage, as Ebizō groans in pain.

He laughs – Rasa's sand fluxes, a fresh wave of blood dripping down Ebizō's cloaked form. "She can't, She can't!" Ebizō states, hysterical. "Else all three will die, hah!"

Rasa's hand clenches – Ebizō stops laughing. "Not the answer I wanted. If you let them die Chiyo, I won't just be the left side of your brother's face that's… damaged… it'll be all of it. Every single pore, wrinkle, scar. All of it."

Rasa taps one of the knocked out ANBU with an extended foot. Almost immediately, the ANBU bounds to their feet.

"Get me an iryō-nin. And some handcuffs while you're at it." The ANBU is all too happy to comply.

"Skip the handcuffs." Chiyo's higher voice speaks out. "I mean, isn't it nice that the puppet corps are so graciously watching your other two children today?"

Golden sand spreads further upon Ebizō's form. "That is treason, Chiyo..." the deep bass of Rasa's voice contains an underlying threat.

"What's treason, is when a Kazekage refuses to commit to a way of providing for the village. Besides, what's done," she lifts her hand from Karura, Ink sinking into her flesh, the seal completed. Among Karura's refreshed wails, Chiyo says this - "is done."

January 19th.

That was the day that two twins were born. Myself – and my brother, Gaara. We were booted into the world prematurely, yet according to my tou-san, this was an unfortunate necessity. Due to this, Karura, his wife… she died. You may think that him saying that this was a necessity was callous. It's not. He cares for her. Cared for her. So much so that he named me after her favourite colour.

Shira is my name. White, in translation.

Apparently, white can mean purity, or innocence. It's strange, this name choice. No shinobi can successfully be innocent. We're effectively mercenaries who aid our village. Therefore, we… eliminate some threats. This lack of innocence is especially true for me. I've seen my fair share of missions, some with my brother, some without – As a result, I've seen my fair share of accidents shall we say. Especially when Gaara was a bit of a deranged psychopath as a direct result of our disastrously tragic past. Now I look back on it, It's kind of a wonder that he – we, turned out as good people as we are. Why, you ask, is it a wonder Shira? You and Gaara are so nice...

Thanks. But, I'm not really sure you want to know. It's a bit… ambiguous at times. A tad gruesome. An average amount of confusion. A bloody lot of violence.

You're sure? Well fine then. The first event… we were six, and…

A/N

Question of the chapter:

…

I don't really have anything to ask…

…

Meh, I'll just have to be boring then.

Favourite colour? Favourite book? Movie? Answer whichever.

This is a bit shorter than I'd like, but that's because it's a prologue. They're generally short I've found, unless they're an origin story.

Could a birth technically count as an origin story? It is where a person originates from so...

That's confused me for a while now.