I sat on the steps of our most recent abandoned cabin twirling a kunai on my middle finger. My guardian, Ro, was inside after he'd won our sparring match earlier in the day. That meant it was my turn to make dinner. I huffed out a small sigh, enough to flutter my bangs on my forehead, and cupped my head in the hand not twirling a kunai. Life was getting boring again. I hated when things got boring, especially as boring as having to be in charge of dinner. I haven't quite mastered the art of being still or calming my mind. It was evenings like this which brought out my true restlessness.

My ears picked up a rustle in the bush and my next twirl of the kunai had it leaving my fingers. The leaves rustled again, this time heavier as something fell. Internally, I groaned, that fall wasn't as heavy as I'd hoped. Looked like it would be rabbit stew for us tonight.

"Ro!" I called, turning the stove off while stirring my stew one more time. "Dinner's ready!"

The floorboards creaked under Ro's weight as he trudged into the kitchen. Ro used to be a top ANBU shinobi of Konoha, one of the legendary members. It was one of the reasons he had been chosen as my guardian. Now, he kind of resembles an overgrown-father type. He used to be strappingly tall, now his back is a bit hunched up. His muscles used to be lean and wiry, now they're all just thick and while I have no doubts at all that he's retained his strength, those muscles are hidden beneath an extra layer of skin. His hair, which used to be lush black, had turned to thinning salt and pepper. I knew there were still women who swooned over him, but to me, I could see how old he'd gotten.

"Smells good," he said, sniffing the air. His voice was a pleasant, soothing rumble. I had always loved the sound of it.

"Thanks," I replied, spooning some stew into his bowl.

We sat down at the small table together, sinking into a comfortable eating silence as we usually did. It was a while before I spoke up.

"How much longer are we staying here?" I asked, careful not to sound too whiny or he'd respond harshly.

"Another day or two," he sighed, leaning back on his elbows.

"And where are we off to next?" I continued, curious if we had a plan or were just back to wandering. This was the time of year we would generally meet up with my father.

"Not sure yet, Jaada," he replied. "Very good stew." He patted his stomach and rose from the table. I held back a growl, he was keeping something from me.

I looked out the window as I washed our dishes from dinner. As it got darker outside, my reflection became more prominent than the abundant trees. I frowned a bit at what I saw, I looked far too much like my father for my liking. I had his coal black eyes, his strange silver-white hair, his pale sun-sensitive skin, and Ro had told me many times I could also have his aloof, sarcastic attitude. My hair, however, unlike his, was tame and long. I had short bangs that just covered my Konoha forehead protector, I usually let a few strands of hair hang loose from my ponytail, which fell in a nice wavy waterfall down to the middle of my back. I actually really like the texture of my hair, it was the color I had a problem with. Ro said it made me my father's daughter through and through.

I've always known my father, he shows up at least once every year for a span of at least two weeks. Some years, especially when I was younger, he came more often and stayed longer. In the years since he's left ANBU and officially taken on a genin team, he has only been able to come for that one fortnight. His name is Hatake Kakashi and he is known as one of the top elite ninja throughout the shinobi world (and even in parts of the civilian world).

Through my life and moving from place to place with Ro, I've assembled a picture of my life story, so here it is. Kakashi was kidnapped during a PTSD episode he had just as the shinobi villages managed to piece together an uneasy treaty at the end of the Third Shinobi War. Many hidden villages were trying to find any way possible to be able to undermine the other villages in case their treaty was broken, which, in those days, was considered to be a guarantee. So, Mist decided they would take pre-emptive actions and impregnate their top kunoichi with the most elite male shinobi they could capture. Kakashi was just emerging in the world as an undefeatable genius, so they decided he would do. Things happened, the Mist kunoichi became pregnant and Kakashi only had the slightest notion of what had happened when he escaped.

I was born when he was about 14 and I was kidnapped from my mother just days later by disguised Konoha ANBU. My mother was killed by Mist ninja who thought she had planned my kidnapping, even though she wasn't involved at all (Mist ninja are rather paranoid). Ro had recently lost his wife and newborn daughter in the war, so he volunteered to take me as his charge since Kakashi was far from mentally or emotionally able to handle caring for a child. Konoha received several threats from Mist about taking me back, but no one was ready for another destructive battle just yet, so Konoha claimed ignorance on the matter and sent Ro to become a rogue ninja with me in tow. We've been on the road ever since.

Kakashi takes solo missions when he comes to visit me and we train hard almost the entire length of his stay. He officiated me as a genin when I was 8 and I took the chuunin exam in Suna a couple years later, under a pseudonym. Now I'm 16 and Ro has been pushing Kakashi for me to take the jounin exam for over a year now.

So, that's basically it, my life in a nutshell. My favorite weapon is my katana, my chakra nature is almost even between lightening and water (not enough for a legitimate kekki genkai, but I use both pretty often and can use them together) with a little bit of earth affinity hidden in there. I have two rather large ninken hounds as summons, Auri and Tekki; they're both sweethearts and I love them, they've saved my butt many a time as well. Thinking of them, I smiled, finished putting away our dishes, and went to living room to sleep on the couch opposite Ro's already resounding snores.

"Up and at 'em, kiddo," Ro greeted, pulling on my feet the next morning. I grumbled and kicked at his hands. I'd been awake since he'd been thundering around, but I really hated getting out of my warm, comfy futon. "Morning training, I'll meet you at the pond in 15 minutes."

I sighed, got up, stretched, got dressed, managed to stuff some rice in my mouth, and was out on the pond 15 minutes later. If I was late, Ro would go that much harder on me in training. I walked out to the center of the pond where he was waiting.

"Are we sparring today?" I asked him.

"Nah, there's a group of ninja within a 50 mile radius of us. I want you to find them and figure out where they're from, where they're going, and what their mission is. If they see you or a fight breaks out, you lose. If you can manage all of this and be back here by dinner, you win." He explained, he always liked making my training into a self-competition.

I just grinned. Stealth-tracking and intel-gathering were two of my favorite things. They both took concentration and good intuition, which eased my restless mind.

"What do I win?" I asked, as was part of our routine.

"Bragging rights and a free dinner," he responded fairly. "Begin!"

I bounded off into the trees, quickly finding the highest one and scampering to the top. I took in a deep breath through my nose. A 50 mile radius was about 25 miles beyond my scent range, but if I couldn't smell anyone here, that was a 25 mile radius I could knock out of the way. I turned my head and sniffed again as the wind changed direction. Sweat, coming from northwest. I could only smell it because of the wind, so they were further than 25 miles from my current position. I scampered down the tree and took off.

I love running, my armor is weighted to keep me training in speed, but I would happily run as my sole mode of transportation. I kept the hint of sweat in my nose as I ran, when it grew faint, I would jump to the top of whatever tree I happened to be on and wait for the wind to blow it again. As I closed in on my intended targets, a familiar chakra signature tickled at my senses. I frowned slightly, if it was him, he was probably on another mission. Ro would have told me he was coming and he wouldn't have brought, I sniffed the air again, three other people with him.

Then something occurred to me, it was Kakashi, if I could figure out his mission without him ever knowing I was here, I could tease him about this forever. I smiled to myself, this training just got a lot more interesting.

I pressed my hand into a nearby puddle on the forest floor and quickly melted myself into it. Hurray for recent rain, this puddle was still connected to the raindrops on the leaves and the trees. I let my consciousness slip between puddles and raindrops, getting ever closer to them. At a large enough puddle, where I could smell 4 distinct people, I let my body transfer over as well. It's a rather slow method of travel, but puddle hopping is excellent for stealth. As long as the body of water I melt myself into is large enough, I can transfer my mind's eye to smaller puddles and raindrops which are still connected to the water system, while keeping my physical body safe in the larger part of the system. It takes a lot of concentration and chakra for me to do this, but that's half the fun of being a ninja anyway.

Finally, I got them. Kakashi was most definitely the captain of the team, unsurprising, and there were three younger ninja, probably a year or two older than me. One had insane blond hair, he was wearing an orange and black jumpsuit; that one had to be Naruto. Another was a kunoichi with short pink hair and a short red battle dress, Sakura. The final member of the team was one I'd never seen before, nor had my father described him. This one could not be Sasuke. He had dark hair, pale skin, a belly shirt, and a roughly cut sword. Very odd. He, like Kakashi, was emitting much less chakra and much less of a scent than the other two, so I deduced that he had a higher ranking, probably jounin level, or a strong background in stealth.

Kakashi held up a closed fist, indicating for the others to stop. They all landed gracefully on their branches and I could feel their chakra signatures flare slightly. Their senses all heightened to search out any unfamiliar chakra. Kakashi continued to hold his fist up for another minute before he opened it and gestured his team to continue forward with an open palm. From this, I gathered that they were searching for someone. There didn't seem to be an outside threat, but when their chakra flared, they were extending their awareness boundaries. If they were on a mission for information, they wouldn't have stopped unless they'd already found a presence.

I let my subconscious slip back into my body in the large puddle. As soon as they were far enough away, I solidified my body to its normal state and stood, wringing the water out of my hair. They were obviously using a nonverbal method of communication, so my follow by puddle-hopping wasn't going to get me any closer to knowing who they were trying to find. I resolved to trail behind them and observe their movements until I came up with a more concrete plan.

As they continued their stop, observe, and go type progression, I picked up on a few more indicators. Firstly, the person they were searching for was not a direct threat to them. Although their chakra signatures flared, there was no ferocity, no preparation for battle. Second, they were searching for a rogue ninja. If the person were civilian, they would not be taking such care with taming their chakra in the first place, they would have senses heightened at all times. It must be a rogue ninja because of where they are in the woods and how often they stop. No one comes to the deserted woodsy type places Ro and I call home except for civilians who live off the forests and rogue ninja who never want to set foot in the shinobi world again. The only reason for Kakashi's team to be stopping so often in these woods is that they know their target is nearby. As I realized these things, I also noted that they were Konoha ninja. This meant that all three of my training objectives were answered! Their mission is retrieval of a rogue ninja, this forest is their destination (until they find their target anyway), and they will bring him back to Konoha. I skipped delightedly and was just turning back to head to Ro when I heard a scream.

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