Firstly, apologies on deleting the other two fics, but my friend was the brains behind those two. I'm usually her bouncing board for stories since we both love Naruto and Final Fantasy, but she was too nervous to post her own stuff, so she e-mailed it to me and I posted it. She and I had a falling out recently, so, no more of those stories, from this profile at least. Anyways, this is a more action oriented type of fic, with romance taking the backburner in it, mainly because I'm not sure I want the main character paired with anyone at all. There is going to be fluff and stuff, but it's not going to be romantic in nature, more like family fluff, if that's even a thing... Not entirely sure... Sorry if that doesn't float your boat, and I won't blame all of you who already follow me if you unfollow me. I'd probably do the same, honestly. Anyways, here's the prologue for The Cat's Meow! Tehe! I know it's lame, but it get's me every time! Enjoy!

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Prologue

It was winter time in Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves, that fact only proven by the light dusting of snow covering the ground, slowly being built up by a continuous, but light, drizzle of snowflakes. At this time, mostly everyone in the village was indoors, and the majority were asleep, seeing as it's only just passed midnight. One person, however, has no home to speak of, having been abandoned by her supposed sensei, Orochimaru of the Sannin, in favor of taking Anko Mitarashi with him. Now, most people would wonder why she thought this was a bad thing, but only until you saw her. This girl is not a normal girl, having been one of Orochimaru's favorite test subjects, even being used to test out an early version of his curse mark. As a result, the young girl, who is no older than eight years of age, is entirely covered from head to toe in short blue fur, with pointed and decidedly felid ears on top of her head, as opposed to the sides like normal. Her remaining body parts are mostly human, with the exception of a set of retractable claws on her right hand. She has a decidedly short stature, even for her age, and she is very thin from years of getting only the bare-minimum of food and water. Her face is round, with a slightly misshapened nose and small whiskers poking out of her cheeks, although they aren't very noticeable.

Currently, she is kneeling in an alleyway covered in snow and sobbing while holding a piece of clothing against her right eye, covering a slice that starts at her eyebrow and goes straight to her cheek bone, splitting the surface of the eye as well as the lid and skin around it, a last 'parting gift' from Orochimaru. Little did either the girl or Orochimaru know, that parting gift awakened something he could only dream of. With the combination of the very rare Shakuton (scorch release) bloodline that the girl was born with, and the injections of the cells of the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and then the curse mark experiments, along with replacing her right eye with a Byakugan from the Hyuuga clan before destroying it, and the trauma of being attacked and abandoned by the only person who ever showed her any interest, good or bad, this little girl has just unlocked a Doujutsu thought to be a myth before now. But enough of that, let's watch this little girl's story unfold.

'Otou-sama... Why did you leave me? Was I not strong enough? Is that why you picked that bean girl?[1] Maybe... Maybe if I got stronger...'

"Hey, what are you doing out here?! You'll catch a cold!"

'Otou-sama... I've decided. I'm going to train. I'll become the strongest ninja in the world, and then maybe you'll take me back!'

"Hey! Can you hear me? Are you alright?"

The girl is suddenly pulled from her brooding by a small hand touching her shoulder. Before she could even think, she grabbed the hand and pulled the person over her shoulder, throwing them a few feet away to land in a heap. The girl then put her hand to her mouth and gasped. "Ah, oh no! I didn't mean to! It just happened!"

The heap of a person groaned as they sat up, revealing a slightly older, four years older to be exact, girl with brown hair cut into a chin length bob that framed her face. She had brown eyes, and rectangular purple markings on either side of her face, centered on her cheeks. She was currently wearing a giant poofy white jacket and some black shinobi pants that were tucked into thick boots. She pouted at the girl, then gasped as she finally got a good look at her. The girl was now standing, and was no longer covered in snow. This, however, revealed the dark grey tank top she was wearing, with a chunk from the bottom currently being used to stem the bloodflow from her eye, and a pair of cargo shorts. Not exactly the warmest clothing... The snow falling off also revealed something a little more important, that she was not a normal girl. Said not normal girl was now standing in front of the ex-projectile. "Are you alwight?" She said with a grin so big it forced her eyes to close.

The brunette eyed the girl for a minute before finally standing up. She looked over the much smaller girl, and then hesitantly held out her hand.

"My name's Nohara Rin."

The other girl looked down at her hand with a look of utter befuddlement, which in turn revealed her eye, causing the girl to gasp and lean in closer to look at it. "It's so pretty... How is your eye so... Purple? And why does it have rings?"

The girl looked up at Rin, then tilted her head. "Purple? Wings? My eyes are bwown... And I don't think they have wings..."

The brunette looked some more, then frowned and stood up straight, holding her hand out again. "Okay, I already introduced myself, it's only polite if you do the same."

The girl tilted her head, then nodded slightly. "Ah... Dango." The girl said, which was followed by the stiffest bow known to the history of history. After said bow, she immediately turned away and started walking briskly out of the alleyway. Rin stood there for a few seconds, then frowned.

"Hey, get back here! I wasn't done talking to you!" She yells, then jogs to catch up with the... Cat girl, for lack of a better term... And slows to match her pace when she does, with a scowl on her face. "That wasn't very nice..."

"It wasn't supposed to be nice." The 'bluenette' says with a scoff.

Rin's scowl turns into a full blown glare, and she 'hmph's' and turns her head away. "I was going to ask if you wanted to be my friend, but with that attitude, I'm not sure I want you to."

Dango stops and stares at Rin. "Fwiend? I don't need fwiends. I need power. Fwiends only get in the way." She says with no small amount of disdain, then continues walking through the snow in the general direction of the hospital, leaving a gaping Rin behind, until she shakes her head and runs to catch up again.

"Alright, fine! I'll let you be my friend, okay? You don't have to be so rude... I was only kidding about not wanting you to be, anyways." The brunette states, strongly at first, but tapers off into sheepishness at the end.

Dango groans and starts walking a little faster. "Not intewested. Go bug someone else."

Rin matches her pace, then puts a hand on the cat girls shoulder. "Please?"

Dango keeps walking as she sighs. "No."

Rin's face starts to look slightly desperate at this point. "Come on, please? I really want to be your friend! Pretty please!?"

Dango stops with a tick mark forming on her head, then turns towards Rin. "For the last time, NO!" The bluenette yells in Rins face, a full on glare forced upon her face. "Now LEAVE ME ALONE!" Then Dango storms off, leaving Rin standing there in tears. She continues going towards the hospital while muttering about annoying girls and not needing 'fwiends'.

After about five minutes of walking, she finally steps inside the hospital, and walks up to the receptionist, who almost screams when she looks up. Said receptionist immediately calls an ER doctor due to the blood covering most of the right side of Dango's face and upper torso, right before the cat girl passes out and smashes her face on the counter, which is quickly followed by a long and painful trip down to the floor.

~Dango~~Dango~

Meanwhile, Rin is sitting in the snow crying where Dango left her. 'Why wouldn't she be friends with me? Am I too ugly? Or maybe she thinks I'm too needy? I shouldn't have begged her so much! Oh! I've got to go find her and apologize!' Rin sniffles and wipes her tears, then stands up and runs after the cat girl, following the fresh footprints in the snow.

~Dango~~Dango~

A pair of eyes barely open, only to quickly close again as one was met with a super bright whiteness. 'Ugh... What? My... My eye hurts... Otou-sa- Oh... I forgot... He chose that bean girl over me... I'll just have to get even stronger, so he sees that he made a mistake and takes me back! Step one, open my eyes!'

The eyes, belonging to Dango, slowly open again, this time fighting to stay open. As they adjust to the bright whiteness, she starts noticing details, all of them pointing towards her being in a hospital room. She slowly sits up, and then reaches to her blanket, only to discover that her depth perception is off as she hits her leg with her hand. That's when she realizes her right eye is covered in gauze. She reaches up and is about to take it off when she hears a noise coming from her blind side. She whips around, only to be met with the sleeping form of Nohara Rin sitting on a chair, snoring softly. With a confused gaze, Dango slowly gets up and shakes the girl, causing her to stir. She yawns and stretches, then looks at Dango and smiles. "You're awake."

"Why?" Dango asks with a frown.

Rin also frowns, then stands up. "Why what?"

"Why won't you leave me alone?"

Rin frowns and sits back down. "Well, at first I only followed you because I wanted to apologize for pestering you, but then I saw all the blood and I wanted to make sure you were okay. You are okay, right?"

Dango sighs, then looks around until she spots her clothes sitting on a counter on the other side of the room. She starts making her way over to them, while pulling off her hospital gown. Rin 'eeps' when she sees this and turns away.

"Ne, Dango-chan? Shouldn't you do that... You know, in private?" Rin says with a bright pink blush staining her cheeks while she suddenly finds a spot on the opposite wall to be extremely important.

Dango ignores her and begins the difficult task of dressing herself with messed up depth perception. After about nine minutes, she finishes, leaving her dressed in the same clothes she had on previously, although they seem to have been washed. "Hey. How long have I been here?"

"Uhm... Almost a week?" Rin answers while studiously trying to not look at Dango in case she was still naked.

Dango's only uncovered eye widens, then she suddenly appears in front of Rin, scaring the poor brunette badly, adding on a glare for good(read: bad) measure. "What do you mean a WEEK!?"

"Am I interrupting something?"

Both girls jump and turn towards the door, just noticing the dark haired man, around thirty years old, entering with a smile. Rin gasps and stands up, then bows slightly. "Hokage-sama! To what do we owe the honor?"

The Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, chuckles and enters the room, shutting the door behind him. "I'm here to talk to the young lady here, Nohara-chan. Now, I need to speak with Dango about some important things. Do you want her to leave, Dango-chan?"

Dango looks at Sarutobi, then switches to Rin, then back to Sarutobi. "She can stay." She says in a quiet voice, ignoring the gasp from Rin. Sarutobi smiles, then sits down on the bed. Dango sighs and sits next to him. Hiruzen opens his mouth to ask a question, but is interrupted by Dango.

"I was Otou-sama's test subject for as long as I can wemember. He said he found me after my village got burned down by bandits. He was the cause of my... Unique-ness... I'm a failed attempt at something called a cuwsemark..." Dango said with a disappointed frown.

"And the weason he slashed my eye was because he gave me a Byakugan after I survived the Mokuton (wood release) jutsu experiment. He left me behind after he found a better appwentice... The bean girl..." She stated with a fierce, albeit one-eyed, glare at the ground with clenched fists.

Sarutobi frowns and puts a hand on her shoulder, then pulls her into a hug, ignoring the stiffening of her muscles. They stay that way for a few tense seconds, then Dango relaxes and starts literally purring into the Hokage's chest. Eventually the Hokage releases her, and she coughs and stares at her hands. "Sowwy... So... What happens now?"

"Well, Dango-chan... What do you want to happen?" Hiruzen asks with a gentle smile on his face.

Dango looks up from her hands with a determined expression on her face. "I want to become a ninja, but not just any ninja. I want to be the stwongest."

"I'm graduating the academy this year, so looks like we might see a lot more of each other, Dango-chan." Rin says with a blush, while the Hokage smiles knowingly.

"Well, that settles it then." Sarutobi says, causing both girls to look up at him in curiosity. "I'll have you enrolled in the academy. If you do well, you may even end up on a team with Rin-chan here." The Hokage smiles slightly pervertedly, but it's replaced with a cleaner version before either of them notice the nature of said smile, not that they would, what with their young ages.

"Slightly unorthodox to have two females, but not impossible. Especially with those eyes of yours, Dango. I expect great things from the bearer of a mythical Doujutsu like that."

Dango looks up at the Sarutobi with a frown. "You said eyes, as in plural. I only have one Byakugan, and it's destroyed..." The cat girl says with obvious confusion.

"Ah, no one has told you yet. Well, first of all, your Byakugan is fine, although we don't know if it still functions properly. The reason I said eyes is because you, my dear, have awakened a legendary doujutsu called the Rinnegan. No one since the Rikudo Sennin (Sage of Six Paths) has had this doujutsu, and it's abilities can only be guessed and speculated at. Why don't you take a look in that mirror over there?"

Dango stares at him for several seconds, then jumps up and runs to the mirror while tearing off the gauze. She's greeting by a strange sight. Everything is the same, except the eyes. Her left eye, the undamaged one, is solid purple with a pupil in the center and several concentric rings expanding outwards from it. On the inner most ring is a single tomoe above the pupil. The right eye is virtually the same, albeit it is blood red, with an angry looking gash going down the center, blocking the pupil and tomoe from being seen. The muscles around said eye are also distended, most likely influenced by the fact it used to be a Byakugan.

Dango turns back around and smiles at the Hokage. "That is so cool! I have a bloodline! I always thought I was just an owphan, but I'm a diwect decendant of the Wikudo Sennin!"

"So Orochimaru never told you about your Shakuton (burst release) kekkei genkai(bloodline limit)?" Hiruzen asks with a frown.

"Shakuton? I've never heard of that natuwe style..."

The Sarutobi chuckles. "That's because it's nearly extinct. Shakuton is a two-part nature kekkei genkai, mixing fire and wind into an explosive. I know of a few scrolls that can help you gain control of your elements, I'll have them brought over to you along with your academy books."

Dango smiles brightly, but then stops. "But wait... I don't have a place t-"

Rin interrupts her with a squeal. "You can stay with me, I've got a spare room! Oh, just imagine it! Me and you, roomates! We could stay up really late and tell each other secrets, and..."

Dango turns to the Hokage, completely ignoring Rin's rant about them being roomates, even though she said she had a spare room... "I would wather die." She states with absolure seriousness.

The Hokage frowns a bit, then shrugs. "I'll see what I can do. For now, we need to make sure you're fit for strenuous activity, because you start the academy next week!"

END!

So, how was it? You guys better be nice to me, yesterday (today, since I still haven't gone to sleep [backwards logic, I know... but still valid!]) was my birthday, so I expect good reviews, and constructive criticism! I want feedback! It helps me improve my writing, and who knows, maybe it'll motivate me? I mean, I have no plans to drop this anytime soon, but still... I'm not the most motivated person, so any pushes from you guys would help a lot. Anyways, this fic is basically swapping Kakashi with a short cat girl and then I threw Yamato and Nagato into the mixer for shits and giggles, although one of them *coughNagatocough* will still be in the story, because I don't want to have to re-think the whole Akatsuki plot... Too much work... *cough cough* For clarification, no, Dango will not be totally OP'ed... I'm going to try my best to make it believable as a Naruto off-shoot, so yeah. Also, I played around a little with the timeline to make it work, Anko is now as old as Kakashi and Gai, and Orochimaru left during the Third Shinobi war, not after, which would also make his place in the Sannin non-existant, because they earned that title towards the end of the war. Jiraiya and Tsunade will still hold said title, though. So, only two Sannin in this AU. Also, I'm not re-explaining or translating things every chapter, so brush up on your Romaji and japanese terms if you don't want to have to translate all the time... Okay, on to the only explanation in this chapter.

[1] Anko Mitarashi is named after a specific type of red sweet beans (Anko beans), usually the ones that are used in a red bean paste that is sometimes served with Dango (Go figure...), so when Dango says 'the bean girl' she's talking about Anko, also known as crazy snake lady.