I am perfect, I am silent

She crept through the hallway like a ghost might creep, alone, unheard and unseen. It was always like this for her, because no one seemed to notice her even when she tried to get their attention. She was never heard when she was doing this kind of thing, never seen despite whatever guards there might be, whatever security could be on the job.

She'd started with easy places. Single apartment with no one home. Break in, break out. Leave a mark, take a trinket. She wasn't even assigned to do those ones, not a mission but a test for herself, one that she could actually pass, and a victory with no cheering or fanfare, or even respect, or acknowledgement at all, but to her a victory nonetheless.

Then she'd taken the missions. Sneak into this home, silence this witness, kill this crime lord, spook this target. It was all just as easy as if no one was there, up until the point where her knife plunged into their neck, or their wall, or their kneecap, depending on the level of force and the level of the mission she had taken. She never had to fight, and nobody had to know it was her. Not even her team. Not even her team that left her behind and thought she was useless.

She'd done more missions alone at this point, assigned in secret by the Hokage, the Hokage who'd never even looked her way before the night she'd received the letter under her door, the letter that said "I know what you do at night, and I want you to do it for Konoha."

Now she got a knowing look every now and again and with each one a new target, close to the village, far away, it didn't matter. Each one was a new test of her skills. Each one was just the same.

So she started testing herself even more. Sneak into a bar as a minor, avoiding notice of the many bouncers and patrons to escape with at least one bottle of expensive wine. Then two, then three, and then she found herself with a stash of alcohol too big to hide in her room and too large to get rid of. She snuck around the Hyuuga house, the terrifying house where everyone could see everywhere and yet they couldn't see her, she was too weak, too useless… and then she thought to herself, too silent, too good at her job.

There was nothing harder than the Hyuuga compound, she knew it well but so did the guards, the branch family, and the main family. She stole Neji's jacket, Hanabi's necklace, Hiashi's prized family sword, anything she could use to prove to herself she'd been there and conquered that place as well…

And finally, she mimed their deaths, coming within a foot of Neji, six inches from the neck of Hanabi, and one inch from severing the life of Hiashi…

Before Hinata Hyuuga, safe in the realization that she had made his respect no longer worth winning, retreated from Hiashi's unaware form in the dead of night, as silent and unnoticed as ever.