DISCALIMER: I do not own Naruto. However, the girl character, as she is an OC, is mine. =] My first FanFic. I hope you'd enjoy! Read and review please!

Today was the day, Tsunade mused. The fifth Hokage of the Great Village of the Leaf looked back at the letter she had in her hand. Orders from the late Sandaime, orders that she had just received just the day before. She shook her head, even after his death, the old man still had ways to do things that sometimes just plain creeped her out. Expect a visitor. The letter had said. Three simple words, that was it. Underneath, the signature of the man long dead that sometimes seemed to haunt her and below that, the date she was to expect this 'visitor'. Who knew what card the old man was playing, but she trusted the man as she would herself. 'Plus,' the Hokage thought as she stood up and surveyed the busy streets outside, 'Konoha is in a bad shape… We would need all the help we can get.' Her expression turned vivid and she snarled. 'Damn that Snake.' She prayed inside that the old man had some sort of plan, because she was soon running out of them. Who knew being Hokage would be this hard? She groaned, before turning back to her paper work.

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She stood at the tallest tree she could find in the whole forest, looking up she could smell it. Home- Just beyond the horizon the outline of a village could be seen. In her mind's eye she could see the Hokage tower, the hustle and bustle of the villagers and the constant buzzing of activity as the gennin of the Village do their missions. Her heart sped up as her feet picked up the pace. It was too long she had been gone. Too long she had been from civilization. It was finally time, to return home.

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The morning dew had gathered at the tip of the leaves, and as the sun shone across the vast green field, it spread millions of tiny little rainbows that would only be seen by the keenest of eyes. The sun lay low on the horizon, bringing the news of a new day. Colours of purple, yellow, orange, red, diffused throughout the sky, a gorgeous quiet morning. To anyone, it seemed as though nothing could disturb the eerie tranquility of the morning, as though caught in a picturesque moment, the world was finally perfect, just for a second. The sky smiled down upon its good fortune, peace at last…

How badly it was proven wrong.

"NARUTO!" an ear-piercing scream echoed throughout the field. "GET BACK HERE!"

Just beyond the edges of the field a black thing sped through the grass, breaking the morning calm. Right behind chased an orange boy, with bright blond hair and sky-blue eyes who was snarling and trying his best to catch up to the cat. Behind him, a team of three, a handsome, seemingly arrogant young man who bared the crest of the late Uchiha on his back, a young woman with bubblegum pink hair who the scream had belonged to and an older man, an adult, with ash-grey hair and a masked face, and even then, a grin could be seen behind the mask. The girl in pink ran up to the blond boy and smacked the back of his head, hard, his momentum causing him to tumble over a few times before skidding to a stop several feet from the girl. He stood up, cradling the back of his head, whining.

"But Sakura-chan, he was so close, I nearly got him, why did you hit me for?" The girl glowered at him.

"Because we're meant to be saving the cat, not scaring the poor thing to death. Look." She said, pointing out at the cat that was sitting on top of a tree, shivering with fear and staring down at them.

"The poor thing is scared." Sakura then walked up to the tree and held her hand out. "Here kitty kitty. I won't hurt you. Not like that big blond idiot over there."

Naruto gasped in fear. "Be careful Sakura-chan! That thing isn't just a cat, it's a demon in disguise. Look what it did to me!"

True to his word, the boy was marked with enough scratches and bruises to say that he was thrown into a room full of demons.

"Hmph." The Uchiha boy smirked at him.

"What do you want huh teme? I don't see you holding that damn cat." Bit back the blond.

"Naruto! Don't talk to Sasuke-kun that way." The girl said, snapping at Konoha's number-one most surprising ninja. She then turned back to the kitten and slowly, the cat wormed his way into her arms. "That's a good kitty. Aren't you a good kitten?" She said, gushing at the pet cat she held in her arms. Naruto stared at her, jaw-dropping so low it seemed like he had to dig it out of the ground later. She smiled and turned to their teacher. "Well Kakashi-sensei, mission completed."

The masked man smiled, and chuckled quietly to himself. Another day, like any other day. He looked up at the now-rising sun and breathed in the fresh air, they deserved a rest, after all the commotion they deserved to take a break and do some useless D-rank missions. He gathered the three ninja's like a flock and headed to the Hokage tower. A grumbling Naruto, a gushing Sakura and an as always, seemingly emotionless Sasuke following in his lead.

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As she neared the village she could barely control her feet. It took all of her not to run into the village gates and scream that she was home. But she had to stay calm, else they would think she was an enemy. She could not blame the weariness of Konoha, even from where she was she could see the damage that Orochimaru had dealt onto the place she loved. That snake… He would pay.

"You. Stop right there. Who are you and state your purpose of entering Konoha." Shouted a voice as two masked ANBU man dropped from the top of the gate and in front of her.

She looked up at them, stomping down her previous thoughts of strangling that snake-like man, and reached out to take off her helm. She breathed in the fresh air, loving the feeling of the heavy armour off her head and bent her neck to and fro to get used to the feeling, her long red hair tumbling down and reaching just halfway across her thigh. It wasn't as though the armour weighed her down, it was more for the feeling of being inconspicuous, plus, it saved her numerous times from getting her head sliced into half. 'I'm going to have to get this cut'. She mused to herself, thinking of her superbly long red hair. Funny that the reason she didn't was because of him. She remembered on that night, what he said to her.

"Just what do you think you're doing." He asked as he entered her room through her window. She turned her eyes to him and then let them slide back to her long red hair, she had grasped them in her left hand, and in her right a kunai.

"I want to get rid of this burden." She said to him nonchalantly.

"Don't." he gripped her wrist to prevent her from cutting off her pride. "You love your hair. It's the one thing that reminds you of your mother remember?" he said softly. His right hand running across her soft hair, leaving her heart to thud even faster inside her chest. "I know it hurts. To have her gone… But don't do it? You'd regret it. Everytime you look into the mirror you would wish that you had the one last thing to remember her by." He pulled her close into his chest as she wept silently. His musky scent filled her nose and even in her depression, she felt drawn to him, like a bee to honey.

He buried his face into her hair. Breathing in the scent that he loved so dearly. "Plus… I love your hair."

"Answer us!" a sharp voice brought her back to the real world, quenching to longing that she felt in her heart and she turned to them. Their eyes widened slightly as she grinned at them cheekily.

"Sorry about that, I was just day dreaming." She said guiltily, then she straightened up. "My name is Akai Naze and I'm a Konoha shinobi returning from a 8 year long mission."

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"Akai Naze huh?" So this was the girl that Sandaime had been wanting her to expect. 8 years is indeed a long time. Maybe it was a good time as any to have one of Konoha's shinobi return to them. But still, she wondered what was so special about the girl.

"Send her in."

First chapter done, I'm not too sure if it is too short for a chapter.

And yes, I did set this so that Sasuke is NOT with Orochimaru yet although the war is already over. Why? Because I felt like it. And it flows with my story better. I am also unsure whether to turn Sasuke evil yet. I might not, I might. But later on. This is BEFORE shippuden so Naruto has yet to go off and train with Jiraiya. Yes, I have altered the timeline a little, but just read the story. Hopefully, it'll flow.

Keep in mind their age.

Kakashi – 23
Akai – 21
Sasuke – 15
Sakura – 15
Naruto – 15

I actually have no idea how old they are in the whole series so I'm making it up. Unless someone could help me and tell me how old they are. This would do for now. =]

Something to look forward to next Chapter…

Akai explained, closing her eyes. "It… is a very valuable asset to anyone, but very, very difficult to gain."

And

She nodded at her. "I see… But all this… All this for what? What was the point?"

Find out who exactly Akai is and what she can do! (ish)

REVIEW!