I trudged through the unyielding tree branches tugging Kuria behind me. Our pace was slow, steady, and consisted of dragging feet and tripping over branches. My Byakugan worked to its full extent to scour ahead for enemies that may attack. Kuria moaned slightly as she stumbled once more over a fallen branch. My Byakugan was beginning to weaken so I began to slow to allow my senses to catch up with the Byakugan. I could feel, ever so slightly, the presence of chakra ahead of my Byakugan, about three hundred metres away from where we currently stood. As we inched forward I realised we were nearing another village but whether this was the village we required was still unknown to us as we continued on our way.
At seven years of age both Kuria and I were still nervous about leaving the safety of the mountain passes that guarded us our whole lives until now. Kuria's hand snuck to my shoulder pulling my attention back to the area around us, and more specifically, behind us. The large and prominent amount of chakra I felt behind us was so close and so…cold I wasn't sure if they meant us harm. I slowly drew a kunai from the pouch on my hip and pulled Kuria's wrist, turning her against my side, then, pinpointing the location of the chakra with my Byakugan, I spun, flung the kunai in the direction of my opponent and dragged myself and the tired Kuria to the side of the clearing we had entered. When I glanced back I saw a boy, my kunai pinning the hem of his pants to the tree he had been in, wearing a Hidden Leaf Village forehead protector.
Kuria clung to my shoulder, her legs beginning to give way as her exhaustion began to take its toll on her frail body. Her little bob of golden blonde hair was dirtied and strewn across her face. I knew she was tired and just her appearance proved that to our opponent. He seemed older than us but he wasn't trying to hurt us. I still wasn't going to trust him though; I would not let my guard down.
I opened my mouth, just letting my little white fangs peek through, and hissed, with my lisp reiterating the fact that I wasn't afraid to bite, "Who are you?" he seemed to understand but didn't answer. I raised another kunai, taking steady aim at his leg, aiming to hurt him this time. He still refused to acknowledge my existence. He raised his head slowly, eyes closed, then opened his eyes to reveal the bright red and black eyes of the Sharingan. If he expected to cast a Genjutsu on me he was mistaken. I let a small smirk creep onto my face, one fang dipping out of view.
"If you think you can cast a Genjutsu on me, you're clearly underestimating me," I said, trying to clearly pronounce each syllable. I focussing so much on my speech I had let my guard down. As Kuria glanced out from behind my masses of curling red hair he caught her eyes with his and proceeded to force his Genjutsu on my weak and tired cousin. Placing both hands on her shoulders I poured some of my chakra into her, dragging her from her waking dreams.
As I turned back to face the boy I started to produce my own Genjutsu. "Who are you?" I hissed out once more. He began to crumple under the weight of the Genjutsu that Kuria had now joined me in casting. He fell to his knees, nearly tumbling off the branch he was precariously balanced on.
"Stop, please stop," he managed to mutter through the deception enforced on his mind. I pulled my chakra back and stopped the Genjutsu I was casting but Kuria held hers at a steady level, he was only half in the Genjutsu. He no longer hallucinated but he was unable to move without feeling, or imagining feeling, pain. I placed a hand on Kuria's shoulder once more, snapping her out of her unwavering focus. He fell forward, toppling off the branch and dislodging the kunai. I left Kuria and, using my body as a cushion, caught the boy before he hit the ground. With a little effort Kuria forced the boy off of me and against a tree, where she then let go of him and let him slide to the ground with his back to the tree. I tried to focus of the leaves in the canopy of tree branches draped across the sky but they didn't interest me. "I want to see clouds…"I whispered, my lisp making my S's draw out and the rest of my pronunciation slightly different to normal. Kuria didn't understand, being too tired to decipher my unusual speech patterns, so I withdrew my fangs and repeated myself. She understood this time and then there was an answer to my weak demand.
"If you come with me I can get you somewhere you can see clouds," said the boy, still leaning against the tree. His eyes were wide and a monotonous black that was hard to look away from and, it seemed, he had trouble avoiding contact with my bright green eyes.
"You're from Konohagakure?" Kuria asked weakly.
"Yes."
"Will you take us there?" I asked, still maintaining constant eye contact with him.
"Will you try to kill me again?"
"We weren't aiming to kill you, merely make sure you didn't hurt us."
How old are you two?"
Kuria smiled weakly, "Seven, and we can already beat you when were at our weakest."
He smirked in return, "The next generation always surpasses the one before them, you have already surpassed me. I am Itachi Uchiha." I dipped his head in acknowledgement and his black hair flopped over his eyes before he brushed it away irritated.
"I am Hannako Esumari," I hissed with pride, my fangs protruding slightly. "And I'm hungry."
Kuria looked at me with fright before turning back to Itachi. "I'm Kuria Shinda and I suggest we find a way to get animal blood before she eats you," she said sweetly, but the warning still came across.