Chapter 1: The Past

For seven years, I've lived fully trusting my parents, without any worries. We were always on the move, but this never seemed strange to me. I had always lived like that since as long as I could remember. My mother was a kunoichi of Kirigakure. She told me that, after falling in love with my father, she quit her village to follow him. My father is a man named Orochimaru. She told me about how she found him badly hurt, one day in the snow. Apparently, he was running from his village, Konohagakure. She took care of him and they ended up having me. I was spared from further details. I had deep black eyes and long black hair. Sometimes my eyes would change into yellow, snake-like eyes, just like my father's. It used to happen randomly at first, but I was able to control after a while. I never saw my father much. He would come and check up on me once in a while, taking weird tests. He said it was for my health. When I was about six, we went back to Kirigakure. I was never allowed to leave the house. One night, however, I snuck out. I stumbled upon a poor little boy who looked like he went through hell.

"Hi. Are you alright?"

I asked him. The boy stared at me for a bit and burst out crying.

"Don't cry! What happened?"

"My… my family… I…"

"What's your name?"

"My name is Haku…"

"Nice to meet you! My name is Akia."

I don't remember much of what we were talking about. All I know is that I figured out that Haku's family was murdered and that he accidentally killed the people who were after him. I snuck out a few times to see him. A few days later, he stopped showing up. I was worried at first, but then we had to move again.

We went to another one of my father's underground hideouts. However, this time it was different. He introduced me to one of the people who worked with him. His name was Kabuto. For some reason, he asked my mom to wait for me in our room. He then took me to a room full of vials and needles. There were a lot of tools that I had never seen before.

Kabuto: "Are you sure, Orochimaru-sama, that her body will withstand it?" Kabuto asked my father.

Orochimaru: "What do you think I've been doing for these seven years? I was making sure that she would be perfect for this." My father replied. "As soon as I saw Shiroko, I knew that our child would be one of the most perfect test subjects. Our DNAs were a perfect match."

At that time, I was too young and naïve to understand any of this. If I knew, I would've tried to run away to escape the pain that I had to endure after that.

Orochimaru: "First things first. During all these years of research, I was finally able to combine portions of each of the bijuus' chakras. This will give birth to the Ten Tailed Beast. Of course, it will only be a very small portion of what the Shinju used to be. The more Akia grows older, the more powerful the beast will become. Now the first step is to put a curse mark on our little Akia."

My father looked at me with a big grin. His neck extended, and before I could react, a piercing pain shot through my whole body, starting from my neck where he bit me. I wanted to scream but the pain was too much that I ended up passing out.

I woke up to my mother's voice.

Shiroko: "We never agreed to this Orochimaru!"

She was screaming and I could hear her crying. I tried to move, but I felt something restraining me. I started to panic.

Shiroko: "You said that you wouldn't touch Akia! We made a deal that I'd let you continue your experiments and in return you wouldn't touch Akia!"

I started crying and screaming, feeling as though my neck was about to explode.

Shiroko: "Akia! My baby!"

I saw my mom running towards me, and then she stopped with a shocked expression. I saw her coughing out blood. I lowered my gaze and saw a sword piercing right across her chest.

Orochimaru: "I have no more need for you, woman."

I heard my father say with an amused voice.

I started screaming and crying even harder, then I felt an unbearable pain in my neck, and I fell unconscious once again.

I would regain consciousness once in while only to catch some bits of what my father and Kabuto were saying.

"Let's insert the bijuus' chakras now Kabuto."

"Yes…"

"We did it…"

"We were found out!"

"Surrender Orochimaru!"

The next thing I knew, I was alone in a dark place. I recognized the place as my father's hideout. I got up and felt a huge wave of exhaustion and pain wash over me. I managed to get out of the hideout, and found myself in a forest. I started wandering around, trying to find help or anything that would keep me going. I started remembering all the things that have happened to me. How my father, whom I trusted, killed my mother and used me as a test subject. This whole time, his only goal was to conceive the perfect test subject. I remembered that people had found the hideout. I remembered he tried to escape carrying me. I guess he hid me thinking he'd retrieve me later. I started feeling so much hatred towards him. As I was walking around, a bunch of ninjas in masks surrounded me.

"Is that the girl?"

"She fits the description."

"Get her."

What did they want from me? I thought at the time. What did everyone have against me?

"Stay away from me!"

Suddenly, I felt a huge surge of chakra extending from my body and grabbing each one of the ninjas. It was all so fast that I couldn't do anything about it. They were all drained of their life force and fell to the ground, as still as boards. That's when I started to understand what I had done. I killed these ninjas. Strangely, I didn't feel bad about it. They were the ones who attacked me! I felt a presence behind, and before I could turn around, I was knocked out.

When I woke up, I was on the ground. The second thing I saw were the bars that separated me from an old man in red and white clothes. I noticed the shackles around my wrists and ankles.

"So you finally woke up."

The old man calmly said to me. I sat up and looked at him with expressionless black eyes.

"So you are Orochimaru's daughter."

At the mention of my father's name, rage filled me. I didn't say a word though.

"You poor girl, going through all this at such a young age…"

I didn't look at the old man. I didn't want to trust anyone anymore. His words were all lies. I knew he didn't mean it. Even if they did sound real…

"How about we make a deal, you and me?"

This time I lifted my head and looked at him with a hint of curiosity.

"I will provide you with a home and all living essentials if you become a Konoha shinobi and go to the academy."

A Konoha shinobi?

"Are we in Konohagakure?"

My father's former village. The one he ran away from.

"Yes, we are."

If my father ran away from here, then there must be someone strong enough in this village that drove him away. If I learned from that person, I'd be able to get my revenge on Orochimaru. That was what made me take my decision.

"I accept."

"That was quite a fast decision. What's your name little one?"

"Akia."

"I am Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage of Konoha."

The Hokage… I've heard about the five Kages.

Third Hokage: "Now let's get you out of here."

A few days later, after I recovered my energy in my new home, a one room apartment, I started attending the Ninja Academy. Getting used to the training took me a while in the beginning. By the age of ten, I started getting used to it. I didn't approach anyone, and no one approached me, except that blonde haired guy. His name was Naruto. I didn't pay much attention to him, though. Most of the time, he was too busy picking a fight with Uchiha Sasuke. It was only a few days after I had arrived to Konoha that Sasuke's clan was exterminated by his older brother. He didn't talk to anyone, just like me. But people were oddly attracted to him. On the other hand, people tried to avoid me, having heard that I killed five Anbus before coming to Konoha. There was also the fact that I was Orochimaru's daughter that made those who knew him avoid crossing my path. Naruto was also avoided by everyone. The first time I met him, I felt something familiar sealed in him. It felt similar to a portion of what I had sealed inside of me. I didn't really mind having Naruto around. I just didn't want to get close to anyone.