A sprawling mountain village lay clustered amongst a swath of silver pines. For miles to the south, towering peaks stood sharply against the sky with wreathes of mist encircling their dewy caps. At the outskirts of the village a sharp rustle in the underbrush marked the passing of a red fox. The nighttime creature sniffed the chill air warily, cautiously eying the lights in the village. It slunk through the darkened leaves, scenting for mice or lizards, when a loud crack echoed through the trees. The creature froze, its nose twitching and ears held erect for any hint of danger. A wild burst of flame brightened the forest, the wave of heat toppling the small animal and sending it scampering madly away.
A terrible scream and the shattering of wood pierced the murky night. A woman dressed in a dark silk shift burst from her home onto the porch, gazing out at a fire that sprung up on the roof of one of the other wooden houses. She grimaced through the grogginess of her interrupted slumber and immediately pulled a length of ribbon from her pocket. With swift fingers she pulled her long dark hair into a bun and tied it in place. A young girl peeked around the sliding paper door, blinking in the wavering light.
"Okaa-san?" she asked in a small voice, a worried crease appearing between her dark eyebrows.
The woman turned, her hard look softening, and ushered her daughter back into the house.
She led her to the bedroom and closed the sliding door. Kneeling down, she gazed pointedly into her small face.
"Hané, you need to stay here," she said firmly "I need to see what is going on and you have to stay safe, understand?"
The girl's eyes were wide as she attempted to grasp at what was happening, but she nodded in confirmation.
"Good" her mother said with a strained smile, stroking her hair and then standing to change into more practical clothing. When she had donned a light set of armor, she pulled two short katana from their display and fastened them to her back. She turned to her daughter again, hesitating.
Kneeling, she gazed at the young girl earnestly "If I don't return, you run, okay? Don't look back and don't look for me. Run into the forest and head for another village."
"But Oka-san, why can't I help? Master said-"
"Yes, I know you've been training" her mother interrupted and then placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a strained smile. "And I know you've been doing very well, but this isn't the time, just stay put."
Leaning down, she kissed her daughter softly on the cheek, and lingered for a moment, as if reluctant. Her eyes tightening with resolve, she turned for the door, closed it behind her and dashed from the house.
Flames licked at the sturdy wood of her home and she watched in anguish as the fire from the stray fireball consumed it greedily. The young girl had escaped in time, but she wondered about the other families with their homes ablaze. Her heart racing, she gazed down the main street to the center of the village. At that moment, her mother's voice and ashen face flashed through her head,
Run!
But instead, she gripped herself and shivered in the cold mountain air -torn. How could she run when her mother had gone to fight for the village? What had she been training for since the time she was two but to defend her family and comrades? Whatever this intruder was, they were powerful enough to use jutsu such as the one turning her home to ashes.
She took a wavering step towards the clamorous sounds of battle and then another when, suddenly, a demon sprang out of the night. Gazing up in terror, she could see that it was a tall man with wild, dark hair. A full, orange and black mask obscured his face and he leered down at her through a single eyehole cut into the left side revealing a single blood-red eye.
"Hello, little one," he called in a voice as wide and deep as the night. The sound of it chilled the breath in her lungs and made her feel as small as one of the many stars above them. Despite this, she fought the urge to flee and fixed him with the fiercest look she could manage. He chuckled at her poorly concealed fear, a sound even more unsettling than his voice.
"Brave, aren't we? Few can stand before this eye without losing their heads in fear." He laughed again, "But, I'm sure you'll remember it well." Reaching for his waist, he pulled out a long, black kunai and with a near invisible flick of his wrist, sent it flying towards the frozen girl. Her mind raced frantically, attempting to recall all she had learned about weapons, parrying, dodging and defense. But everything she knew was as frail as paper before that eye. Just as the kunai made its way to her wide-eyed face, there was a flash of moonlight and a resounding clang. The kunai span in the air and lodged itself into a nearby wooden beam.
"Kaa-sama!" Hané cried, seeing her mother appear before her, standing between her daughter and the dark-haired man.
But her attention was fixed on the latter. "You're that man, aren't you? The one who should be long dead. Uchiha Madara."
He made a negligent gesture, "I've been known as many things. Names hold no importance for me."
"What are you after?" she growled fiercely.
"Oh, don't be so coy," he simpered, "I seek the sacred place this village has protected for millennia. The Valley of Mist."
"Well you won't find it," she snapped, "you could torture every villager here and not a soul would tell you."
"A tempting offer, but there's no need for that," he replied lazily. "I'm sure your daughter there will answer easily enough." The red eye glimmered cruelly.
The woman glanced back at her daughter, her eyes narrowing in realization.
"Oh yes, I'm well aware that she was chosen. It is a great honor, is it not, to train under the dragon lord?"
"You won't have her," She hissed clutching the hilt of her drawn katana.
He shrugged. "Very well. I suppose, I'll have to remove you first."
It was then Hané saw, from behind the defiant form of her mother, that the pupil of his eye was looped into an intricate design of patterned circles. At his statement, the design began to spin, pin-wheeling faster and faster. She saw her mother move towards her, shadowed by the surrounding flames, before vanishing into a bloodstained night.
It had been a year since the night her village was ravaged by the masked man known as Uchiha Madara. Her mother's last words rang stark and hollow in her memory, like reading something carved in stone.
"You won't have her"
Her memories of what had happened were cloudy at best, but she did know that her mother had been true to her word –Hané had awoken the next morning in the forest, a few minutes from the nearest village, sooty but otherwise safe from the masked man. There was only one other thing she knew for sure.
Her mother was gone.
She trained every day at the mountain, tirelessly enduring her master's rigorous instruction. Lan Wu was as patient as a mountain stream but he never let up on his pupil.
"Again", he rumbled, snowy lotus flowers quivering with the sound of his dragon's voice. Exhaling slowly, Hané straightened her position, and once again placed her feet firmly on the water's surface. Rivulets of water poured down her slight, shivering body, causing the fabric of her clothes to cling to her skin. The seven-year-old girl had been training since the sky was grey with dawn, and now the sun had begun its fall back to earth. They were training at one of the mountain's many lily ponds, where the water ran as clear as the sky.
Swaths of reeds swayed on the banks of the pond and glittering koi glided shyly at the edges, cautious of her rapid movements. Once more, she raised both hands in front of her, keeping her fingers relaxed, and took a steadying breath. She focused on the koi and the lily pads and the swaying leaves, drawing upon the energy they emitted. Tapping into her chakra and mixing it with the natural energy, her hands twisted in the air, coming together to form several shapes with rapid succession.
"Suiton" she said firmly, "Water Dragon Justu"
Tendrils of water leapt from the pond, thrashing and curling under her command. They stretched high up into the air and converged into the serpentine form of a dragon. It threw back its head and unleashed a fearsome roar like that of a great waterfall before erupting into a fount of water droplets. Fleeting rainbows veiled the air as the water crashed back down into the pond. Soaked, exhausted and yet thrilled at her success, Hané danced across the surface of the water and stood expectantly before her master. His massive, serpentine form lay curled amongst the reeds beside the pond. Beside him was a small pile of chestnuts, which he had meticulously cracked open for the tasty meat inside. She wondered how he ever managed it with those claws of his, each one longer than one of her arms. The ancient blue dragon snorted in acknowledgement, unleashing a gust of warm air that ruffled the small, damp girl. "Well done, young one," he said, with a voice like a crashing waterfall. "Your persistence has paid off in full. I believe you are now ready for the next part of your training."
"Yes!" she exclaimed, twirling about in her excitement. After two weeks of practicing the required hand signs, she had been able to command the water into form on her first try. Master Lan Wu, however, was adamant that she perfect the jutsu, resulting in another week of refining her technique.
Halting abruptly in her display of enthusiasm, she cleared her throat and bowed sheepishly at the waist. "Thank you for believing in me, Master."
The dragon chuckled with a sound like river rocks clacking together. "It is not too difficult to do so. I haven't had such an enjoyable pupil in many centuries. Now then."
He shifted his sinuous bulk, causing his misty scales to gleam like seashells in the light. Standing on all four legs, he stood more than twice as tall as the young girl. Lan Wu possessed, like all of his kind, a grandeur that few beings did; ever since she was small she had found him to be an imposing presence. The lengths of his oak-hued antlers would make even the proudest stag envious and his claws shone like polished obsidian.
His great age only made him more awe-inspiring. Lowering his grizzled maw, Lan Wu placed his velvety nose on the top of her head, which was impossibly small in comparison. She giggled as the tendrils around his snout and his silver-streaked beard tickled her face. Hané had trained under Master Lan Wu since she was two, having been chosen by the Dragon Lord himself to become a dragon sage.
Upon the destruction of her village, she had been forced to flee to the capital of the land of fire, Konohagakure, the hidden leaf village. She had stayed in the capital for some time before finding her way back to the Valley of Mist, a mystical place where dragons of many ages and sizes resided and where Lan Wu ruled as Dragon Lord.
With a shake of his great head, her master drew back and looked down at her with large amber eyes.
"Training will begin again in two days. I expect you will be here at sunrise."
Hané nodded, smiling, "Yes, Master."
"Very good." he rumbled. Then, his long body coiled in on itself and he launched into the air, his entire length trailing up towards the sky. She watched him fly toward one of the distant peaks, admiring the way he snaked through the air as if it were water, his feathery tail sweeping far behind. When the old dragon was a speck against the sky, Hané turned and took the path that lead down into the valley.
There was a portal in the lower valley that reverse-summoned to the Hidden leaf village. No matter how tired she was from training, she always went back to Konoha as soon as she was able in order to see her friends, and of course, one friend in particular. Peering into the waters of the portal, Hané gripped the stone rim and placed both feet on the still surface, emitting chakra from the bottoms of her bare feet to keep her from sinking into the deep water. Taking a deep breath, she made a hand sign to activate the portal, and vanished.
Itachi Uchiha paced away from the dissipating crowd at the Ninja Academy. The graduating class had just ended their graduation ceremony, him among them. Though he was just eight years old, he had graduated at the top of his class among other students who were four years older than him. His parents had been present, but had gone home before him since he had insisted on waiting for a friend of his to arrive. Several minutes had passed, however, and he began to walk home, thinking that she had been unable to make it back to the village that day.
"Itachi!" a voice called from the top of a nearby building. The dark haired boy gazed upwards; his even darker eyes alight with surprise. Leaping from the tiled rooftop, a barefoot, chestnut-haired girl landed lightly beside him, her thin form dressed in a short blue kimono. "Congratulations on graduating!" she said breathlessly, beaming at him. Itachi ducked his head, laughing a little.
"Arigatou, Hané"
"Yuruse Itachi, I couldn't make it to the ceremony in time, Master had me practicing my jutsu all week." She paused in her rapid stream of words and Itachi waited amusedly while she caught her breath.
"Oh!" she said suddenly, reaching into one of her wide sleeves.
"Here, a present for you" She pulled out a thin, chain necklace adorned with three small metal hoops. "Master Lan Wu gave it to me. He said it 'helps to maintain balance in one's chakra' or something like that."
Itachi eyed it with interest and smiled, "Thank you."
She smiled in return and unfastened the catch. "Here, let me put it on."
He lifted his long hair and she placed it around his neck, the hoops resting lightly in place.
"Perfect," she said, pleased that it fit. Grinning to himself, he caught her hand and they continued walking up the main street.
"Would you like to join us for lunch? Oka-san made something special," he asked. She nodded happily, "Of course"
The two of them made their way through the village streets until they reached the Uchiha district. They passed the Uchiha police station, the entire Konoha police force having been run by the Uchiha clan. From there they turned a corner and arrived at Itachi's house. Upon coming within sight of the house, a small, spiky haired boy peered from behind the front door.
"Hello Sasuke," Hané said, waving at the bright eyed four-year-old.
"Onii-san, Hané Onee-san!" he cried enthusiastically, dashing from the house to greet them. Behind him, Mikoto Uchiha, Itachi and Sasuke's mother, came to stand in the doorway. Just like her sons, she was black haired and dark eyed.
"Welcome Hané-chan, glad you could make it in time." She said pleasantly.
The three children walked up to the house and Hané bowed, "Thank you for having me, Mikoto-san."
The kind-faced woman smiled "Anytime, Hané, anytime. Now, come on inside, lunch is almost ready."
Hané knew better, and yet couldn't help but let a bubble of laughter escape her as she saw him approach from the house. His thin, frame was clad head to toe in official ANBU armor. Long black sleeves, pants, a padded, bone colored vest and arm-guards. His shoulders were left bare, exposing the curled tattoo on his left shoulder that marked him as a member of ANBU, the Hokage's elite force of ninja. Itachi gave a short, amused sound, and scuffed a sandaled foot against the ground.
"It doesn't look that ridiculous, does it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her, his lips twisting slightly.
Hané laughed again, "No, no, I didn't mean it like that," she assured, waving her hands apologetically.
"I just think you look very..." she looked at him thoughtfully, considering, with a curious touch of melancholy, how much he looked like a boy in a soldier's armor.
"Grown up," she finished, and then smiled "You're incredible, only thirteen and you made it as ANBU captain."
He shrugged, "You could have made it too, but you declined the Hokage's offer."
She laughed and shook her head, "Its not really the job for me. Anyway, I couldn't make the armor look half as good as you do."