You, I Will Follow : Prologue
At the edge of Konohagakure, hidden by trees lies a small shrine's staircase. If the path were to be followed, of course at the top would be a simple shrine but also a small house. The house had been passed down through a few generations of maidens and priests belonging to the Satori clan. It was a clan that utilized the powers of chakra to aid in healing and was never inclined to be aggressive. The last child born to the Satori line was a female and, unfortunately, she had been deemed sterile. She went on to become a priestess and married, but had a sullen mindset that she would be the last of her clan's name. As her relatives died off or had been killed by various means and people, this young woman and her husband lived their quiet days in a solemn cloud. The man had no ability to use chakra and made a living from wood carvings which he sold to help benefit the shrine, but the lack of an heir caused him to begin to despise the woman he married. He was old fashioned and had only married her for her title with the belief that she would provide great children for him. She did not disclose that she was sterile until after they had married.
One day, while she cleaned the shrine as she always did in the morning, the woman heard the soft cries of a baby by the front of the shrine and rushed over. There, tucked into a tree's crook was a baby bound in a soft pink blanket. Immediately, she removed the child from the tree and looked around with hopes to catch a glimpse of whomever had left the child. No footsteps were heard and so the woman peered down at the softly sniffling baby in her arms. It was a baby girl, no more than a few days old. It was such a shame, but the woman smiled at the baby girl, feeling blessed. She rushed home, eager to show her husband.
The reaction she received from him was less than desired and he even threatened to throw the child down the hill their shrine sat upon. With a bravery fit of the last priestess inside of Konoha, she proclaimed that they would keep the baby girl and raise her as their own, or she would by herself. Bitter towards the infant, her husband told her to do as she wished.
Over the years as the girl grew, she proved to be a charming little blonde haired, blue eyed girl, a contrast to the brown eyed and haired parents she had, but no one questioned it. At least, not to the little family. Gossip and rumors followed the three all around town, but the woman ignored them; her husband on the other hand, took everything they had said to heart and grew even more hostile towards the child and his wife. He never showed any affection towards either of them, just made his meager living and lived his life.
The tragedy of the Nine Tailed Fox attack only made the husband feel inferior to his wife. He watched as she used kekkai ninjutsu or barrier ninjutsu far advanced than what he had ever seen to protect various parts of the village and in the aftermath, watched as she healed others with her advanced knowledge of medical ninjutsu. He, on the other hand, could only be there to bring in supplies when they were needed.
While the husband stewed in his own world of self loathing and bitterness, his wife and her adopted daughter enjoyed their life together. They would go to festivals and walks around town, making friends as they both went. Two friends in particular brought the pair more into the gossip spotlight; the youngest son of the Uchiha clan and the jinchuriki boy. Both friendships caused the family of three to become social outcasts, but it effected the husband more so. His sales went down considerably as rumors were spread about his little wood carving shop and the less customers appeared in his store, the worse his outlook got.
Eventually, the husband couldn't handle the stress anymore and set fire to his wood carvings. Due to the fact that his workshop was nothing more than a small addition to the house they lived in, he had inadvertently trapped himself inside with the fire. His screams and pleas were what had awoken his wife and her daughter, only to have them realize that they too were trapped because of the fire. The priestess, being a genuine kind soul, rushed to help her husband while pleading for her daughter to remain safe and escape. Unfortunately, the girl passed out from inhaling too much smoke and was unable to get out by herself. Thankfully, the police force and other residents of Konoha rushed to the aid of the Satori family. All three members were able to be rescued and rushed to the hospital. Because she had hid in her room, the little girl suffered very small burns which allowed the medical ninja there to focused more on her smoke inhalation. The priestess, unfortunately, died as she had tried to save her husband from being burned to death. The husband survived, but not without consequences. He suffered major lung damage and had been paralyzed from the waist down. For the rest of his miserable life, he was told he would need a wheelchair and a machine to help him breath. He was also told that his wife had died but their child survived. He cringed. He had to take the girl back with him.
From then on, he finally acknowledged the girl as his daughter, but the word was always said with such hate behind it that she grew to detest the word. Her home life was as empty as it could have been, considering the man rarely spoke to her or interacted with her. She had to learn from books and scrolls the path of a priestess and wanted to honor her late mother by continuing her legacy, even though she herself was so young.
Not too long after the fire, the Uchiha boy started training to become a ninja. Excitedly, he would show her all of the cool things he could do and she would try them out. At first, it was merely play for the two, but when his father became overly serious about his son's training, the girl stopped taking it as a game and decided that she would help him train as well as continue to be a self taught shrine maiden.
A few years later and tragedy struck the Uchiha clan. The unspeakable act by the eldest brother left yet another hole in the girl's heart. She sought out her friend and was there for him as he had been for her over the years. She continued to train with him, cheering him on for his goal to become stronger and aiding him in any way she possibly could. Those years had taken her from the friendship she had with the jinchuriki boy, but it wasn't done out of hatred for him; she just had a one track mind as a child. The closer she grew to the Uchiha boy, the more his fellow classmates (more specifically the girls) grew to resent her. She didn't even go to the academy and yet she was able to be by his side as much as possible. The time she spent with the boy was always best compared to when she had to go home and face her father, if one could even call him that.
It was around the time her friend had graduated from the academy that her father's health took a downward spiral. They had no money for the expensive procedures it took to keep him alive and the girl was unable to gather any spare money to do them. Yes, there was a small secret treasure stash under the shrine, but she dared not touch it for his sake. She only dove into it and took a few coins to keep the shrine running and to make sure they did not get evicted. Since most of his time was spent in and out of the free clinics or the hospital, the girl left her father to deal with his failing health by himself; yes, she was doing it out of spite because of the fire, but it was also because the way they lived was more as if their existences were forgotten to each other. It was a very unhealthy way for a young girl to live, but no one intervened mostly because no one knew the depth of how unhealthy their parent and child relationship was. Each mission, minor or not, her friend's team took on was a horrible waiting game for the girl. She spent all of her free time training as both a maiden and a ninja or taking care of the Uchiha's dwellings, the apartment he lived in on a more common basis or the old compound where his family used to live.
On one particular mission, though, the girl couldn't help but think that things were going wrong. Unfortunately, all she could do was wait for her friend to get home.