Chapter 1

The Girl with Red Eyes

She jumped from tree to tree, going as fast as she could. She had been travelling non-stop for the last 3 days. She had passed through the Land of Wind and was now in the Land of Fire, a few miles from the Hidden Leaf Village. She was travelling quite fast and would be there in another 30 minutes.

/Calm down\, spoke a voice inside her head. /Your using up too much of your chakra, rest a bit. We'll be there in 30 minutes.\

The girl ignored the voice, like usual. They had had this argument many times, and no matter what the voice said, the girl never stopped. She was running out of time, she had to stop him.

Sasuke Uchiha.

/\/\/\

Neji stood on the huge wall, looking down at the forest with his Byakugan. He and a few other Hyuga were guarding the West side of the village wall; anyone who came in the village or went out had to confirm their reasons with the guards and if they were trying to attack the village they would be dealt with by them. Most of the Jounin had been sent out on missions, leaving the Chunnin to guard the village.

Danzo had been named Hokage as Lady Tsunade was still in a coma. Neji honestly couldn't believe it, of all the people, they had to choose that man. Neji had ever liked him; he always had this weird feeling whenever he was near him. Not that he had ever been that close to him, he just always found the old man odd, as though he was hiding something.

He searched his section of the forest again, and stopped. He felt a faint chakra approaching from the East, and then it disappeared. He looked at the others to see if they had felt it, but they didn't look like they had.

He looked around again, but didn't see or feel it. He knew he hadn't imagined it; Neji didn't slip up like that, so the person must have concealed their chakra. "Hinata-sama," he called, his eyes still not leaving the forest below.

Hinata walked over, "Is something wrong, Neji-nii-san?"

"There's someone down there," Neji said. "I'm pretty sure it's not a villager, as the amount chakra I felt was quite large and they are hiding."

Hinata thought for a minute, then spoke, "The Five Sage Summit is in a few days, so I doubt any of the other nations would attack. So maybe it's a rogue ninja?"

Neji nodded, "Possibly."

He saw something move in the shadows of the trees and looked up at the other Hyugas. "There is something down there. Hinata-sama and I will go investigate," he called. They nodded in response, watching the two cousins as they jumped of the wall, landing perfectly on the ground.

"Byakugan," Hinata called, veins appearing around her pearl eyes.

The two walked into the forest, listening and looking for any signs of the ninja. As they went deeper into the forest, they felt someone's chakra. It was very faint, but it was still there. They neared it, trying to keep a hold of it, moving quickly, but cautiously. They heard someone panting and a thud, like something hitting the ground.

That's when Neji felt the person's chakra. He search for it with his Byakugan and found them, getting up from the ground, a few meters from where he and Hinata stood. Their chakra was quite faint, like the person had been using it non-stop.

The two Hyuga looked at each other and started heading towards the chakra. After a few meters of walking, they found the person. They wore a hooded cloak, covering their body and face.

"Who are you," Neji questioned. "What is your business here?"

The hooded figure chuckled, "Leave it to a Hyuga to find me."

A girl? Neji thought. Her voice was smooth and silky, and sounded quite familiar to both Neji and Hinata. However, they couldn't tell where they had heard it before. The girl raised her hands up. Both Hyugas bent down ready to fight, only to hear the girl laugh and pull down her hood, revealing her face.

Blood red eyes stared back at him.

"I need your help."

/\/\/\

Sakura and Ino looked at the girl in front of them. Watching the worried look on her face. She had come to the healing tents and had told them to come with her as it was an emergency. Hinata was acting weird and wouldn't answer them when they asked what was wrong.

Hinata led them to a clearing that was the Team 7 training grounds, the only things that seemed to have survived Pein's attack. Sakura frowned as the memories came flooding back. She shook her head, trying to bock them and looked at Hinata. Why had she brought them here?

She looked around and saw a few others standing under a tree near the river. She became even more confused when she saw that it was Neji, Tenten, Lee, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, Sai and a bandaged Naruto.

Hinata, surprisingly, ignored Naruto and went to stand by Neji. This added to Sakura's confusion. What was worrying the Hyuga so much that she had ignored Naruto? Sakura had healed Naruto earlier after his encounter with the Cloud Ninja, so she already knew what happened.

Kiba, who sat on Akamaru, "Oi, Neji. What'd ya call us here for?"

Neji didn't answer his question, instead he stepped back and a figure hopped down from the tree branch above. Everyone took a step back, pulling out a weapon, ready to attack the intruder.

"Thanks for the meal," the hooded figure said, revealing to be a girl. She had a white bowl in her hands, which she set down on the grass.

She turned to the ninja behind her and chuckled, "Hyuga, you might wanna tell these guys to calm down."

"Please," Hinata started. "S-She's not the enemy."

Sakura pulled back her kunai, the others followed, relaxing their positions.

"What's going on you guys?" Tenten asked, looking at the girl, who still had her hood on. "Who's this?"

"You know Hyuga," Sakura saw the girl frown under her hood. "You didn't need to bring the whole of the Konoha 12. Team 7 would have been fine."

Neji gave her a look.

"Okay, okay," the girl chuckled.

She lifted her arms and pulled down her hood. She had long, black hair which had been pulled into a pony tail that reach mid-waist, chin-length bangs framed her face. They were parted at the side, and covered her left eye. She looked tired and had bags under her eyes, like she hadn't slept in days. Her onyx eyes looked over at them as their expressions changed, from shock, to confusion, then to a serious look. Tenten, Lee, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, Sai and Ino jumped back, ready to attack. Sakura and Naruto stood rooted I their positions and Neji and Hinata seemed unfazed.

"Y-you look just like …" Naruto trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

The girl grinned at him, "My name is Rieka Uchiha. I'm Sasuke's sister."