Slightly-longer summary: Naruto reached his dream of Hokage. He, along with those of his generation, settled down and had kids of their own. The result: new genin teams, talk of war, and a talented young girl, ready to lead the charge. Said girl's name: Tsukino Kasumi. This is her story, that of her talented team, the sensei who leads them, and the challenges her generation faces during these troubled times. Can their strength alone see them through?

A/N: I don't own Naruto. I do, however, own a good deal of these characters (like Kasumi) as they are OC's (it's a future, slightly AU fic, for crying out loud). Things that happened in the manga/anime may not have happened in this story (AU, future...) and things happening here will definitely not have occurred in previously mentioned things. Again, it is my fanfic, so sticklers, try to un-stickle yourself. This is meant to entertain, and hopefully it does just that.

Also note that certain jutsus will be made up, styles invented, characters, places, pairings, etc., but I hope you can enjoy this anyway. It still relies heavily on a lot of the stuff that has already happened in Naruto, and a lot of Naruto's generation will be present, just older. Late twenties, early thirties, that kind of thing. I don't seek to offend, merely to weave my own tale from an already entertaining manga/anime series.

Prologue:

Kasumi had a good memory. Not like her obaa-chan. Her obaa-chan was always forgetting things, things she had known for years and years and years. Things like Kasumi's name, and that the sweet drink she liked so much was called tea, and even the fact that her son and his wife were dead, had been for a while now, so that every time she called for them in that anxious, wavering voice of hers it only made sense that they didn't answer because they weren't around to do so. Yet Kasumi's obaa-chan couldn't remember that so she called for them anyway, and when Kasumi tried to calm her down sometimes it wouldn't work because half of the time she was a stranger to the older woman, who was frightened and confused and didn't want to be calmed down, not by a girl she no longer recognized.

Kasumi's memory was good though. She remembered a lot of things, even if her obaa-chan didn't.

Having a near photographic memory helped.

Still, some of the things she remembered were rather pointless, like what she had for lunch two weeks ago and the number of steps it took to get from her obaa-chan's house to the academy (more than she often cared to count). Sometimes they were more important, like the lesson Iruka-sensei had demonstrated nearly a year ago on chakra, and the constellations in the sky her ojii-chan had taught her when she was all of six years old, pointing each one out and the stories behind them as she sat beside him on the stone bench in their garden, caught up in the warmth of the summer night's air and the smell of tobacco that clung to her ojii-chan's wiry frame, strong but comforting.

Yet there were some things Kasumi couldn't fully remember.

Things like her dreams.

She dreamed regularly when she was asleep, sometimes long and hard and sometimes restlessly, tossing and turning beneath her thin blanket, a crease gracing her furrowed brow and a half-frown tugging on her lips. But more often than not her dreams were forgotten as soon as she woke, the light of the morning sun washing over her face and with it the fuzziness of a remembered thing as it slipped away, just barely out of her grasp.

On the day of her hopeful graduation-to-be she dreamed of her parents and nee-chan. She knew she did because when she woke she could still feel their presence lingering in that realm that hangs between reality and imagination, their blurred outlines fading further and further away with each reluctant blink she gave until they were gone altogether, disappearing into the murkiness of things past. Then it was just her in the room, lying still and motionless on her futon, her musings and distant memories her sole company in the atmosphere of the quiet morning.

She didn't let her lack of memory bother her as she slowly sat up and set about getting herself dressed, slipping wordlessly into her mesh shirt and long shorts before she pulled on her dark t-shirt, which hung rather baggy and large on her thin frame. In this same manner she strapped on her various kunai and weapons, checking and double checking them as she always did. She fed herself breakfast because it was a special day (it wasn't everyday that you graduated from the academy, after all) and left money in an envelope for the care taker who would come to watch her obaa-chan. She felt slightly guilty that she couldn't do so herself even as she pushed the emotion away, knowing it would only make her miserable, which was the last thing she wanted to be, especially on a day like today. After she had carefully counted the amount (leaving a bit extra as she always did, though it meant she would probably have to go without dinner again) she slipped into her ninja sandals, giving one last glance down the hall to her obaa-chan's room, which she did not approach for fear of waking and unintentionally terrorizing the older woman, the thought of doing so making her heart ache.

Then she was out the door and on her way to the academy, excitement mixing with the butterflies in the pit of her stomach as she walked along, silently asking her parents and nee-chan to wish her luck, even if she was aware that she did not need it. She was Tsukino Kasumi of the Tsukino clan, and the sole barer of its kekkai genkki. She would become a shinobi and make her family proud, even if most of them were no longer here to watch her do so. For while her memories of them might have faded with time, even if she could no longer recall the exact pitch of her father's deep laugh and the details of the crow lines around her mother's eyes, or even the width of her sister's cheeky grin she knew, once, that they had loved her, and she carried that love where it mattered the most, deep in the recesses of her heart and soul. It gave her strength and courage and a strange optimism so that each step she took was light, each thought determined, and she knew, in her heart of hearts, that today would be a good day. Today, she would graduate.

Now, it was only a matter of making it happen.

Prologue, so not a lot happened. The most basic of basic introductions, slight background on Kasumi. Next chapter, a lot more will be revealed. Still, let me know what you thought.

Thanks, much obliged.