There were firecrackers going off down the street, and the sounds of laughter and music could be heard throughout most of the village. It was October 10th: The Kyuubi Festival. It was on this day 10 years ago that the Fourth Hokage had slain the monsterous nine tailed demon fox, the Kyuubi. But not everyone was celebrating...many of the inhabitants of the village settled for drinking their sorrows away. This day was more than a holiday for many...it was a day of mourning. But for a select few others, it was a day of vengence.
It was common knowledge among the elder ninja that nine tails was, in fact, not destroyed, but sealed away. The host of the beast? A young, blue-eyed, blonde haired girl by the name of Uzumaki Nahiko. And at this very moment, she was missing...and this was never a good sign...
She sprinted down the alleyway, barely managing a glimpse behind her, hoping to outrun her attackers. She'd been running through these alleys for years now...ever since she'd been forced out of the orphanage. For some reason, the villagers would always chase after her on her birthday, screaming obscenities at her and calling her a monster. Why? Why would they always cast her vile glances and try to hurt her? She had no time to ponder this thought...if she didn't focus on where she was going, she'd likely run into a dead end...and she hated to think what the men might do once they got their hands on her.
She'd managed to evade them for five years now...sure they'd get a few lucky shots in, but that was it...and most of those came from things that they threw at her. She'd been navigating the alleys for such a long time that she was confident she could lose them...but this year, it looked like not all of them were drunk...and some of those villagers were unnaturally quick on their feet. She knew there were ninja mixed in...and she couldn't afford to stumble. She might not make it out alive.
Unfortunately for her though, Murphy's Law found her to be the perfect victim. Just as she made to turn to another alleyway, a man jumped from the shadows and planted his foot into her gut, sending her flying into a dead end. She'd barely managed to get her wind back when she was lifted up by her hair and a kunai knife was slid down her front, slicing her shirt in half.
"How about we teach this demon bitch some humility, eh boys?" the man called to the villagers gathered behind him.
With a swift thrust, Nahiko was pinned to the wall by her throat. He quickly removed his hand from her throat and held one of her hands against a wall, and impaled it, sticking her to it. Her scream couldn't be heard...the festival was too loud...or so the men thought. As the men began to argue about who would go first, a young pale-skined boy ran up to her and pulled the knife free. She hit the ground screaming in agony, the tears clearly plastered to her face.
"How dare you!" the boy yelled, turning on his heel to face the mob, "You don't do this to a lady!"
"And who do you think you are, telling us what to do, boy?" a man called from the group.
The boy lifted his head to reveal pale, silvery eyes. There was a unanimous murmur through the mob...they knew who this boy...this Hyuuga...was. He was Hyuuga Hiro, first born son of Hyuuga Hiashi, and heir to the Hyuuga Main house. And where the Hyuuga heir could be found, there were likely Branch bodyguards nearby. Today was an exception though. Hiro's escort today was Hiashi himself.
The Hyuuga head landed softly in front of his son, glaring at the mob with enough intensity to cause many of them to scatter. Too bad they didn't realize he'd had branch members cover all possible escape routes.
"What is wrong with you people!?" Hiashi harshly stated in a rhetorical question, "She's a little girl, and the first thing you do when you get her alone is try to force her into submission!?"
"She's no girl! She's not even human! We should kill her now before..."
The man didn't get to finish his statement before his head rolled.
"Do you forget?" Hiashi asked the mob, his voice growing ever colder, "That we are a military state? The word of the Hokage is law, and the punishment for disobeying his orders is death. We are shinobi, and we hold to the laws of our leader. We are each his weapons before we are even human. Does anyone else wish to lose nine pounds of useless meat today?"
The mob broke apart, many of them screaming...of course their screams may have been caused by the branch house members being a little...forceful with them. Hiashi bent low beside his son and the crying girl.
"Nahiko? I am Hyuuga Hiashi," the elder man stated, "I'm here to help you. Climb on to my back so I can take you to the Hokage, alright?"
The girl nodded her head and stopped cradling her bleeding hand to climb onto the older Hyuuga's back. When she was well and settled on tightly, the man took his son in his free right arm, and the three lept to the rooftops.
-----
"This is getting ludacris," Hiashi stated, obviously flustered.
"Agreed. The men that did this to Nahiko will be punished severely...what of the man that instigated it?" an older man asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"He broke your decree of silence, Hokage-sama. I ended him."
"Ah. So be it."
The older man looked over to the sleeping form of Uzumaki Nahiko. The girl had been put through so much for being so young. From the day of her birth people had been trying to kill her. Now that she was older and beginning to physically mature, he was terrified that she may lose her innocence in the worst possible way.
"Hiashi, can I make a request of you?" the old Hokage stated after a brief moment of silence.
"What is it, Hokage-sama?" the clan head responded, watching his son glance over at Nahiko curiously.
"I cannot allow Nahiko to live with any one clan...you know this...else she would have been moved into the Hyuuga compound quite some time ago, but could I ask that you spare a few select shinobi for the purpose of guarding her from the shadows? Even if you can only spare one a day, your help would be greatly appreciated. I fear many in the village, and many under my command, still feel as though this innocent girl is nine tails."
"I will see what I can do, Hokage-sama. Many in the Hyuuga clan are still indifferent to Nahiko, so I'm certain I can find a few shinobi to fit your expectations. I'll bring them by tomorrow morning."
"Very well...and thank you, Hiashi."
"Nahiko holds a special place in my heart to, Hokage-sama...though for me, it wasn't her that created that space. It was a young blonde man with great ambitions and an even greater concept of honor."
"Of course, Hiashi. You can leave Nahiko here for tonight. I'll take her home when I'm done with my paperwork. Thank you for everything today."
"Don't mention it, Hokage-sama, it is my duty and honor to serve."
-----
Nahiko woke several hours later in her own apartment. She couldn't remember when she fell asleep, but seeing as it was nighttime now, she figured she'd been asleep for a few hours. She reached across her bed onto the nightstand and grabbed a leatherbound notebook. She rolled over, away from the window and clutched the notebook close. It was her lifeline...the only reason she hadn't gone insane yet. And tomorrow she was going to fill a few more pages. But first, she needed to get some sleep. Her first day at the ninja academy was in less than ten hours.