Author's Note: Hey gais. Just wanted to get a few things out of the way before we start. FIRST OF ALL.

THANK YOU xWeAPoNLoVIngHYUugAx FOR BETA-ING FOR ME! I LOVE YOU.

Second of all!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto!!!

That is all. :D

RESONANCE

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Prologue

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Music. It's the single most important thing in my life. As long as I had music surrounding me… I was happy. I could've had the worst day of my life, my brother could've been killed, or I could've been in great pain, but once the music was on, every worry, every stressful situation would be forgotten. I'd be carefree.

You could trace the origin of my love for music to my father. He was a man who was as passionate for music as he was for his family. Whenever the skies themselves seemed to be crying, when the sun was hiding itself behind the clouds, or even if it was simply me begging him to play a song, he'd bring out his viola and whip his bow across the strings. I loved it when he played. He and his music made up such a big part of my life that I thought it impossible that he wouldn't be there as I grew up.

And then that impossible happened.

My brother, Katashi, and I were staying at our grandparents' house at the time. It was close to dinner, if I remember correctly, and we were arguing who was cooler: the Sandaime or Yondaime. Neither of us knew much about the latter, seeing as I was maybe a month old when he had died and Katashi was only five. Really, we were arguing simply for the sake of arguing.

When a ninja had suddenly arrived to tell us of our parents' death, I remember that my first thought was that the whole thing was a joke; that Mom and Dad would walk into the room at any moment and say, "Just kidding!" But eventually the reality of the thing sunk in. They were gone. Dad was gone, and he would no longer fill our house with his songs.

Katashi had figured this out quicker than I had, and I could see tears slowly tumbling down his cheeks. That was bad in my eyes, very bad. My brother never cried, my brother wasn't supposed to cry! He was the one who always laughed, always smiled, always told jokes. Other than Dad, I looked up to the boy beside me who was shaking with grief. He made not a single sound, but that seemed to make things worse.

My own eyes began to sting and blur, and I found myself leaning into him. Side by side we grieved, two siblings now orphaned. And then I finally heard it; the sound of him crying.

"Why them?" He sobbed, leaning forward so that his normally tied-up hair fell forward to hide his eyes, his expression of pain. "Why them?!"

If I wasn't crying so much, I would've been asking the same thing.

My parents were good people who always tried their best to keep Konoha safe. They may have not been the strongest, but they were among the most dedicated. To have been killed off in what was supposed to have been "a simple escort mission" in their words was just…

Terrible. Awful.

I was only seven, yet the two of the people I held dear were ripped away from me by the cold hands of death.

Gramps and Grams had taken the ninja downstairs so that they could learn more about the whole ordeal, leaving Katashi and I alone.

"Katashi," I whispered, throat tight, "What'll we do without them?"

"I don't know…"

The next day there was a funeral for Mom and Dad, as well as the two other nameless shinobi who lost their life on that stupid, stupid escort mission. I cried when I found out that they never recovered the bodies, that I wouldn't get a chance to say a proper goodbye. They only had their photos, which were surrounded by a wreath of flowers that looked too colorful for a time of mourning. The Hokage said a few words, words I never heard because my sobbing was too loud.

I only calmed down when a couple of Dad's friends began to play their instruments. They weren't nearly as good as my father was─ who seemed to paint a picture with music only, who could write a song and make a story with it, who was just so wonderful at playing the viola─ but the music was just so comforting that my sadness was lifted, if only a little.

It was at that moment that I realized that now music would be the only thing that would make me happy. Sure, I still had Katashi, as well as Gramps and Grams, but what if they left me too? Music wouldn't leave me, it would always be there.

Always.

-musicisthewayoflife-

When I was first enrolled into the Ninja Academy, all I could seem to ask was why.Why would I want this? Becoming a ninja? That'd get me killed. That's what would get Katashi killed. That's why Mom and Dad were killed. The path of a shinobi was riddled with death and destruction, something that I didn't want a part of. I wanted to create songs, influence the lives of those around me with music.

Also, seeing some of the other students getting picked up and dropped off by their parents made me so jealous. It wasn't fair for them to be so happy with their parents while I was alone. Grams and Gramps couldn't walk too far when it was hot out and Katashi usually had to meet up with the Genin team he was recently assigned to in the mornings. Sometimes he'd pick me up after school, but those moments were rare.

Why I never just skipped was beyond me. Maybe I felt as if I owed it to them; to Katashi, to Mom and Dad, to Grams and Gramps. I went, but I never enjoyed it. However, Katashi had said something shortly after my enrollment that stuck with me, strengthening my resolve. He said to do it for Gramps and Grams, and if not for them, for our parents, to do it in remembrance. And so I did.

The other kids were screaming and hollering in the class, teasing each other, laughing at jokes, just having fun, while I usually sat alone, daydreaming about the past, filling my mind with a sound I would never hear again. I'd think of my father smiling down at me, singing silly songs where he'd randomly place my name in just for the heck of it, or patting my head affectionately as he told me how wonderful music is and how "Music is the way of life."

I'd agree, I still do agree. Music was the only good, pure thing left in the word. It was untainted, like a newborn child. It swirled around us and never went away, ever omnipresent. No matter where you went, no matter what the culture, there was always music.

When our teacher, Umino Iruka, came before us one day and immediately started the lesson by stating that we must dedicate our lives to Konoha and the way of the ninja, I immediately thought of what Dad would always say to me. Music was the way of life.

If my life must be the way of the ninja, then I will combine music along with this ninja way.

And I'd use it to make a difference. No more needless deaths, no more sadness. I wanted to be a ninja that walked on the path of saving lives, instead of taking them.