A/N, and some background info on the story:

This is my first fic, so I'm excited to publish this! Expect some errors, but still a great plot. We've got big things planned, and appreciate all suggestions.

Wait, did I say "we"? That's right! I'm co-authoring this fanfiction with one of my close friends, Gigabyte. Since the story is written in third person limited, we decided to have two characters share the spotlight. We each are writing our own storylines that will intertwine near the climax of the story. To indicate that a segment is written by Gigabyte, the part will have this in its beginning:

~~~~~{G}~~~~~

To indicate that the segment is written by me, it will have this:

~~~~~{SI}~~~~~

Hopefully your much valued reviews will be more addressable to either of us. (If any reader has suggestions, we're completely open. Ideas and fixes are always welcome! If you do write a review, definitely expect a response from either Gigabyte or yours truly, and we'll try to get back to you and give you a response that shows our appreciation and any answers!)

We will update this story often, so stay tuned!

Enjoy reading!

~~~~~{SI}~~~~~

The seven feet tall dark flames in front of him were a harsh warning and reminder of the inevitable danger that lay ahead of him, and the one he had just faced. After lifting the bow he was carrying and willing it to disappear, he stepped onto the intimidating flames.

When his feet touched the dark fire, it was as if the flames cowered and shrank in fear. The invincible dark flames of the Amaterasu jutsu backed down and allowed him to pass into the next room of the dungeon.

It was filled with a pool of still water which had no sense of life in it. The cavern was illuminated only by the anti-light of the receded dark flames behind him. His nose twitched as he looked to his right and saw two dead bodies.

He couldn't be... Too late?

The ninja sprinted down the pool to the other end of the cave. As his feet landed on the cold stone, the water behind him exploded. The sound nearly destroyed his eardrums, and displaced more than half of the water, some of it landing on him. Drenched, the ninja groaned and frowned. It was all a trap. A genjutsu, a trick on his mind. He rushed through the opening and moved a large stone to cover it.

The shinobi squinted and tried to find an opening, one from which real light shone. The surface had to be close to the hiding place, or the lair of the monster. Behind him, he heard the rocks being chipped away. He knew the sound was meant to scare him away, but the ninja grimaced and continued feeling his way through the rest of the wall.

As soon as his hands found a crevice, the stone behind him crumbled. He needed to hurry. Slipping down the passageway, he heard footsteps quickly approaching from behind. He turned and began weaving the hand seals for his most powerful jutsu. He squinted and could make out the image of the reptilian creature that had been chasing him. A confrontation was necessary.

"Amaterasu!" His own black fire erupted from his palms and covered the pathway behind him. His eyes flashed and everything was clear. He began to see stars but continued to sprint. He had to make time somehow...

After five minutes of sprinting like never before, his eyes deactivated and he was left in the dark again. His cheeks had been tingling for the past few minutes, so he touched them and felt the blood.

Normal, he thought. He had used Amaterasu after all. He hadn't heard the beast after he had used the jutsu on it, so he began to take note of whatever he could see in his new surroundings. Shortly after he had begun to sprint, the pathway began to widen until it reached a small chamber with three tunnels. One of them led back to the monster.

He marked it with another quick Amaterasu, this time conserving his energy and making it smaller. He picked the tunnel that came up next clockwise, and went through it. It was smaller, so he had to bend his head forward to get in.

Craning forward, he moved quickly, using the change in center of gravity to gain speed. He heard a distant roar behind him, no doubt from the monster that he was evading. His feet splashed through a dark, unknown liquid that he couldn't see due to the absence of light. Sensing something was wrong, he stopped and bent over to take a close look at the liquid that had layered the floor.

Blood. Doubts crept into the shinobi's head once again, but he stood up and continued. It meant he was getting closer... His suspicions were quickly confirmed as he saw a speck of light in the distance. He doubled his speed and dashed towards it. The light was getting closer now, but he heard the stomps of the monster behind him also incrementally growing in volume.

Another two steps, and the wall behind him exploded. He just kept running, and didn't look back. He was in close proximity to the light now, which seemed to be another opening into another cave. The landscape was becoming increasingly rocky and dirty as opposed to the smooth, stone tunnel that it had been before.

The monster suddenly stopped its stomping.

The ninja didn't like being left in the dark. Activating his eyes once again, he immediately felt a pang of dizziness. He was able to see the beast off in the distance, bending down to see the floor where he had been standing only moments ago.

He turned back around and sprinted towards the room, letting his eyes return to normal. After reaching the light, he squeezed through the hole to find his mother, father, and village neighbors cowering in corners.

Unfortunately, the beast had caught on and had reached the hole only moments after the ninja. The wall was slowly crumbing. The ninja knew that this moment was crucial to him and his loved ones. He began weaving the hand seals for Amaterasu, but it was too late. The beast crushed the wall into a million pieces and stepped over it.
For the first time, the ninja had a good look at his pursuer. The monster was tall, reaching about seven feet in height. It glowed with a purple aura, which the ninja guessed was from the chakra. It had a horrendous face, with yellow eyes and a snake-like tongue. It was missing a nose, and its reptilian skin looked rough and purplish-black. The serpentine beast looked like a dragon, but walked with its feet in the cave rather than flying. Its stomps created small imprints in the cave system s floor.

The ninja let out a small breath. "Amaterasu!" The black flames released from his palm once again and landed on the beast's body.

There was no doubt about it. Someone had summoned the monster to chase him and track him down. He frowned as the black flames slowly killed the beast. It shouldn't have been this easy if the beast had been giving him this much trouble... Suddenly the beast disappeared into a puff of smoke and shurikens flew behind him, landing in the village elders. This had to be planned. By killing the most respected people in the village, the assassin would lower the overall morale of the group, thus making everyone an easier target. The shock had to slow them down, as well.

Why did he go scouting in the first place? Why today, of all days? He had just brought trouble back for everyone. He didn't turn back to see the damage that the shurikens had done. He could hear the screams and wails of his fellow villagers behind him.

He charged towards the puff of smoke to see where the attacker could have gone. As he expected, he didn't find any trace of a human, but there obviously had been one here some time back. The dark flames that were covering the remains abruptly dissipated on his command, leaving the room dark.

And then all hell broke loose.

Only three shurikens were fired. They were lit up with the same black "anti"-light as the flames of his Amaterasu, but they lacked the same chakra that normal shinobi used.

The shurikens suddenly split into hundreds and every single one met their target. The entire group of villagers were killed within the blink of an eye. Including his parents, his close friends, and his role models. They were just gone, and he couldn't get them back. The moment was lost.

Behind him, he felt the presence of the murderer. Dark chakra seemed to emanate from him, and the killer intent was palpable. Without looking, the shinobi let rage overtake him. He began to shiver as the emotions hit him like a guillotine, slicing his mind over and over again.

"Why... Why did you do it?" The ninja let the anger creep into his voice as the emotion slowly overtook the initial shock that he had felt. His arms fall to his side, limp and emotionless. His voice came out as a croak, but still didn't do justice to his sadness and sorrow.

"They rebelled. You all rebelled. In order to secure the power of the beasts, every traitor must be slain." The ninja couldn't understand the response. The drawling voice taunted the shinobi, almost provoking him into fight.

"What-What about me? Why haven't you killed me heartlessly, like you have... Like you killed the rest of my comrades?"

"You aren't a traitor. You're pure blooded."

As confusion struck the shinobi's mind, a heavy object slammed into him and he fell forwards. Darkness enveloped all, and that was the last time that the shinobi saw his family.

~~~~~{G}~~~~~

He strained his small neck as he tried to look around the room. Mitsuru could hear a woman sobbing from somewhere. He couldn't do anything, he couldn't move. Panicking, Mitsuru began to cry. Loud wails echoed within the small walls of the room.

He heard a man scoff, "Great, the brat is crying." I m gonna go outside, woman. Stay where you are, or else The sobbing quieted down after a few seconds. Then, he heard the woman whisper, I m sorry . Then, a bright flash of light blinded Mitsuru. He was falling in a black void. He heard the woman's sobbing echoing around him. Mitsuru heard the man's cackle. The two sounds echoed louder and louder until his brain pounded. His ears couldn't handle the sound. His heart pounded, and he couldn't breathe. He heard his own crying filling the air. A loud beeping noise started driving him insane.

Mitsuru suddenly awoke from the nightmare as he fell flat on his face. Groaning, he groped around trying to find the blaring alarm clock. When he found it, he groggily found the snooze button and pressed it with whatever energy he had. Rubbing his eyes, Mitsuru looked around his room. There were clothes strewn everywhere. He picked up a t-shirt, looked at it briefly, and threw it away. It landed near his small desk on top of a couple books. Other books were stuffed in cabinets and shelves. His dresser was opposite his bed. He looked in the mirror that was propped up against the wall, dangerously balancing on his dresser. He saw his sleepy face and brown eyes squinting back at him. His messy black hair was sticking out in multiple places. He wasn't necessarily athletic, but he was fit, which came with being a shinobi. Mitsuru saw that his mom put out clothes for him at the end of his bed. The clothes were a purple t-shirt and jeans, with his trademark black jacket on top. He put them on, and looked around for his ninja headband. He found it on his bed, close to where it was. He must've slept with it in his hand. Grinning at the thought of him clutching onto the headband for dear life through his forgotten nightmare, Mitsuru looked at the time: 7:55 a.m.

His heart leapt to his throat. His sensei had told him to be at their regular training grounds by 8! Frantically, Mitsuru took the stairs three at a time, and burst out of the house while grabbing a piece of toast and hastily letting his mother know that he was leaving. He wolfed the slice down and jumped onto the nearest rooftop and began leaping from roof to roof, determined to get there on time. He saw other shinobi doing the same, except on the streets like normal people. He felt a tiny pang of envy since he noticed that none of them were rushing like him.

Mitsuru glanced at his watch. 7:58 a.m. He looked ahead, and was able to see the training grounds ahead. He spotted two figures in the clearing. He burst forward with renewed effort. He leapt from the final two rooftops and then onto the ground, where he sprinted the final few meters to the clearing. He casually approached the two figures up ahead. He managed to make out the figures face. He recognized them as his two squadmates.

First there was Hoshiko. Her face was easier to notice. Mitsuru's small crush on her enabled him to sense her a mile away. Her beautiful face was smirking as she watched Mitsuru. Hoshiko was about as tall as Mitsuru and was watching him with her bright green eyes. Her black hair was tied in a ponytail that reached all the way down to her waist. Changing her expression to one of annoyance, she told Mitsuru as he reached her, "You barely made it, It's 7:59 a.m."

"Yeah, Sensei's gonna chew you out," added Katsuo. Katsuo was... well, he was hard to describe. Mitsuru was slightly jealous of him. He was handsome with a perfect jawline and structured face, and had an amazing body to boot. All of the girls that he had met seemed to somehow fall in love with him. Hoshiko was no exception. She seemed to always blush around him. And it seemed Katsuo reciprocated those feelings.

Mitsuru panted, "Yeah, yeah, well, he's not here yet, so I m probably fine."

"Are you now?" Mitsuru whirled around and saw...nothing. Katsuo and Hoshiko wore the same expressions on their faces.

The same voice chuckled and suddenly, the air in front of Mitsuru crumbled. From the rubble emerged Mitsuru's sensei.

"Takeshi-Sensei!" Mitsuru gasped.

In his mind, Mitsuru realized how dumb he was. Sensei had his Camouflage Stone Dome Jutsu. He had seen him use it multiple times, but he had still forgotten that his sensei could be anywhere. He looked up at Takeshi-Sensei's face. His war-hardened face smirked at him, the scar on his mouth stretching. His grey eyes locked onto Mitsuru's, picking out the guilt in his eyes. He shook his bald head and said, "You were nearly late, you should know better than to sleep that late."

Mitsuru mumbled, "Yes, sir." Takeshi nodded.

He continued. "Alright, as I'm sure you know, we have one week left until chunin exams. I hope you've been training hard."

A stone seemed to have dropped in Mitsuru's stomach. He had completely forgot about the exams. "Judging by the looks of Mitsuru, our benevolent savior, that is a no." Takeshi said.

Hoshiko and Katsuo roared with laughter. Mitsuru felt pretty embarrassed, but Takeshi always made sure to make someone feel ashamed.

"Moving on," He said, shaking his head. "For this entire week, you will be given the whole day to train. I've sectioned off parts of the forest for you. You each get ten square miles of forest to practice on. Put 'em to use," he grunted.

Then, he lead us each to our squares. Hoping for an advantage, Mitsuru looked around at his trees. They were average, not looking abnormal at all. Even so, he was at a disadvantage. He was a fire-style user so if he used a fire style jutsu on a tree, he wouldn't be able to stop the fire that resulted from it. Hoshiko was a wind-style user and Katsuo was an earth-style user. Neither of them had to deal with fear of a forest fire... Mitsuru's trees would just burn down. Mitsuru sighed, and sat down on a nearby rock. He didn't know what he should work on. He listed off the jutsus he knew in his head: Fireball Jutsu, Phoenix Flower Jutsu, Dragon Fire Jutsu, Crimson Chains Jutsu, and Ember Clone Jutsu. Five. Mitsuru had five Jutsus. He shook his head. Unbelievable. That was nothing compared to his peers. He got up and decided to practice as hard as he could. He needed an edge on the competition somehow, right?

The day went by pretty quickly. The only exciting parts were when Mitsuru nearly died because he was blown into the air by a gust of wind (no doubt from Hoshiko) and had to painfully choreograph a landing in a nearby canopy to protect himself. Then, he had to sprint away as a wave of solid earth nearly slammed into him, destroying nearly a quarter of his trees (again, no doubt from his other so-called teammate, Katsuo). Then, Mitsuru managed to destroy three massive trees with a single Fireball Jutsu.

The sky was pink and orange when Mitsuru finally decided to go home. "I'm home!" Mitsuru called.
"Late as always. Your mother said 7. It's 7:03." The response was short and sweet. Well, not too sweet.

Mitsuru groaned inwardly. It was his grandmother, knitting some purple cloth on a chair by the furnace. Mitsuru lived with his grandmother and mother. Grandmother Fuzuki had always been strict, even when Mitsuru was young. She was his paternal grandmother. Her gray curly hair fell over her face a lot. She had a tan, wrinkled face, and cold blue eyes that always seem to judge him.

"I'm sorry, Grandmother," Mitsuru muttered.

She didn't respond.

"Mitsuru?" A sleepy voice said.

Smiling, Mitsuru saw his mother in her green pajamas, with Hidden Leaf symbols. Her black hair fell down on her shoulders and a bit on her face. Her brown eyes were crinkled in a smile. Mitsuru went over and hugged her.

"How was training?" She asked him.

Mitsuru went over the events of the day in reflection. With a sad look on his face, he added, "But I only know five Jutsus..."

Mother laughed. "I'm sure you'll be fine, you have strong Jutsus." Mitsuru nodded, unconvinced.

Grandmother seemed to have stopped knitting. Mitsuru looked over to find Grandmother staring at him, with a look of... pride? No, it couldn't be. Grandmother noticed Mitsuru looking at her. She went back to knitting.

They ate dinner. When Mitsuru went to bed, he found something surprising on his desk: a book. Even stranger, it was a book he hadn't seen before. It had a red cover with gold writing saying Jutsus of the Shinobi World.

Mitsuru picked it up, and opened it, and flipped through it. It was amazing. It gave descriptions of the Jutsu, gave the class where it could be mastered, the name, and all of the Jutsus were organized alphabetically and by chakra nature. For the next hour, Mitsuru flipped through the book and chose Jutsus he liked. He decided on two. The first: Blaze Rush. The book put it as this:

Jutsu: Blaze Rush

Class: Chunin

Description: The user performs the aforementioned hand signs and must release large amounts of chakra from their body. However, it must be distributed equally around the body, or the user is at risk of burning themselves. If performed successfully, the user should be wrapped in flames. The flames can be used as a weapon and as a defense. The user's strength is amplified by the flames. Users must remember that damage is reduced rather than increased when used against people with an affinity for Water Style. A stream of chakra must always be maintained to keep the flames going. It is directly proportional to the intensity of the flames surrounding the body.

The Jutsu would be useful to Mitsuru, he like being fast. He preferred quick battles, anyways. The next was the Flame Pillar Technique. The book put it as:

Jutsu: Flame Pillar Technique

Class: Chunin

Description: The user performs the aforementioned hand signs and a spinning ring of fire appears in their hand. The user proceeds to throw the ring. Where it lands, a pillar of flame stretching nearly 50 feet high appears. If the target gets trapped inside, they will quickly overheat and pass out from the intense flames. Even if, the target is not trapped inside, the user can hit the target head on, causing a miniature explosion.

This one Mitsuru liked a lot. He could prepare and rest a little if the target was trapped inside, maybe even make them pass out. It was a perfect technique to stall with.

Mitsuru rubbed his bleary eyes. He was exhausted. As he was closing the book, he noticed handwriting in dark red ink in the back of the book. It read:

Jutsu: Inferno Fist

Class: Jonin

Description: This Jutsu is extremely powerful and can instantly kill an opponent when used by a skilled shinobi. First, the user must draw a seal on their hand. The seal is pictured below. Then, chakra must be emitted from the hand making a small fire. The more chakra that the user uses, the more flames appear. When the flame reaches its desired size, the user must close their hand. If performed correctly, the hand will be lit on fire, signalling the completion of the Jutsu. Next objective: Strike the Target.

This is odd, Mitsuru thought. First of all, it was handwritten. Clearly, this meant that the Jutsu wasn't part of the book originally. It was probably written by someone who was trying to test it out, or share their own creation. But who? Secondly, the person who wrote it tried to make it sound like an amazing Jutsu. They wanted people to imagine how awesome it would be, like not explaining what happens when the target gets hit, or when they blatantly say how powerful this jutsu. It was probably written by a child, maybe a teenager, or even someone with little writing experience. But who?
Mitsuru rubbed his eyes again. He decided that he would worry about it later. He threw the book on the desk and let the irresistible waves of sleep take him.