Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Why

"What's your name?" A man with spiky black hair, and beard asks while taking a smoke from a cigarette. He's staring at me from the other side of the campfire with an expression that isn't too inviting. The fire feels nice and warm; I haven't been warm in a while. There are three others with him, one girl, and two boys that look to be about fifteen, maybe sixteen. The girl has long blonde hair and is sitting next to me on the left, and to my right sits a large boy that has swirls on his cheeks. And next to the smoking man is a boy whose hair makes his head look like a pineapple. All four of them are looking at me waiting for an answer. But I don't want to answer. It's to soon.

The man sighs, and lets a long stream of smoke leave his mouth, before he puts out his cigarette. "Look kid we aren't looking to harm you or anything, but it's pretty suspicious when a beat up, chakra exhausted little girl comes wandering into our lands with a pouch filled with kunai and shuriken". So they know that I'm not completely helpless. My age is probably the only thing keeping them from tying me up. But they did take my weapons away the moment we ran into each other. Right now the pineapple kid is analyzing one of my kunai. As if it can explain to him what happened. I want them back, all of my weapons. After spending weeks with those weapons being the only things that helped me survive I feel almost naked with out them. I don't think I can get food with out them. And if I run into any more bad people it would be hard to get away with out them.

I lick me cracked lips before turning my eyes back on the man. I want to run, need to run. But I don't think I'll get to far consider that I'm sitting shoulder to shoulder with two of the these strangers. And I'm not stupid enough to think that I can last by myself with out some form of weapon. Maybe if I answer they're just let my go, with my kunai, if I promise to leave their lands. "Manami". I forced out in a raspy voice. I haven't used it in a while.

"Huh?" The man asks, as he leaves forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

I take a gulp of air before stating, "My name is Manami". Feeling four pairs of eyes taking me in I wrap my arms around my knees and rest my head on top of them. I wish that I could go home. But I can't.

"Manami-chan", the blonde girl said. Why did she add chan to my name? She doesn't know me. "How old are you?" She asks.

I turn to look at her, and I have to put my head back just to see her. "Nine and a half", I answer.

"And what are you doing in the land of fire?" The man asks.

"Is that where I am?" I blurt out without thinking. Father would be displeased.

All four at them stare at me as I inwardly scold myself for my blunder. Too many mistakes and I might end up dead. "Okay", the man said, "Tell us how you got here."

I bite my lower lip. I don't want to tell them. I've been told my whole life not to tell others about us. Though I guess it's just me now. "I don't know where to start".

The boy on my right places a soft hand on my shoulder, but it causes me to jump, another mistake, showing weakness. Looking at him I see that he carries a gentle smile on his face. "The beginning is usually to best place to start".

I nod, take deep breath and begin.

"My father used to say that our blood is special, the blood that exists only in him and me. Not my mother, and not my brother. I asked him why. Why is the blood different between my brother and me when we share the same mother, and father. He just smiled the smile that adults always give to kids and said, "one day you'll find out why."

That was his response for everything. His answer to why big brother went to school in the village while I stayed at home. Why the girls from the village played with dolls, and skipped rope when I played with knives, and attacked pieces of wood for practice. And why everyday father showed me something new that made me think of a hundred questions that he would never answer.

As far as I can remember every day I was father helping him in the forest, cutting wood. Because he was just a woodcutter living on the outskirts of a small farming village in the land of Earth with his young wife and two kids. That's what father told me to tell anyone who askes about our family. Only I know that that was all pretend. Mother might have suspected that something was amiss with father, considering that one of us often came home with bruises or odd wounds, and that father choose the help of a little girl over that of his one and only son, but she never questioned. Probably because father always made sure that a cart filled with wood came home with us. As long as father kept food on her table, and a roof over her head, mother wasn't bothered with the activities of her spouse. And that fitted into father's plans perfectly.

Although wood was cut every day that was spent in the forest, the wood wasn't father's main focus. I was. Since I was big enough to go all day with out napping, from sun up to sun down Father had me glued to his side. Instructing me in why I should keep my hands up when being on defense in a fight. Educating me on the subject of anything that is remotely related to chakra. Encouraging me to learn too discipline my emotions, and most importantly, training with me, so that I could become a strong shinobi.

Everyday with my father was rigorous, and challenging. But I enjoyed every minute of it, because I had something that a lot of kids only get for an hour or two at most. I had my father's undivided attention all day, every day. Though I could never brag or gloat, because that would involve sharing with others what my father and I did day after day. And he had forbidden me to pass than knowledge on to anyone, even my mother. When I asked him why he said, "One day you'll find out why".

I wasn't the only person that father gave answers too that didn't explain anything. My brother, who was four years older than me, always wished that he and I could switch places. He was the son; he should have been the apple of our father's eye. He never told me this wish, but I could see it engraved into his honey brown pupils. He had my mother's eyes, whiled I had my fathers solid onyx pupils. Pupils that made reading emotions a lot more difficult that honey brown ones. My brother would ask father why he couldn't work in the forest too. Especially since he would be inheriting father's wood cutting business, seeing as he was the eldest and father's only son. Father would reply, "It's my fault that you can not join us, but it's better this way". Another answer that explained absolutely nothing, but at that point I understood why big brother couldn't learn all of these skills with me. Because the special blood in his veins was dormant, and mine wasn't. Father loved both of us; I just needed him more than my brother.

At the end of summer of my eighth year I could successfully hit any target with kunai, or shuriken. I could form one or two shadow clones at a time, and execute the replacement justsu, and I was fast, faster than any of the other eight year olds in the village. At that age I liked to think that I was the most powerful kid in the land of earth, and that I could easily do whatever I pleased. But father said it would be stupid to let my self-confidence become too big. He told me that for my age I was a good little shinobi. But that was because I did little else than train my skills, or learn new ones, and because he only had me to train in an environment that offered few distractions. Father was also quick to remind me that I had never met another shinobi in training, or even seen a fully pledged shinobi. Nor had I ever been in a real fight. He insured me that if I entered a fight with any one that had ability higher than a genin that I would lose. Even up against a genin my ability may be to little. I needed battle experience to truly be a good shinobi. I could always improve techniques, train new moves, and learn a lot of justsu, but that's not much good when I don't know how to apply them, and that knowledge can only be obtained through experience. Though fighting, outside of sparing with father, was strictly forbidden. I don't quite understand it but our blood, our abilities were something that needed to be kept under wraps, because it they weren't people would get hurt".

The four strangers exchange looks with each other, with a silent look of comprehension in their eyes. What do they know?

Pineapple head said, "you speak pretty well for a nine year old".

"I'm nine and a half", I said to him. "And that's how father spoke".

Pineapple head nods at me with a calculating look as they all wait for me to finish my story.

"At the end of that same summer father said I was ready to learn something more about our special blood. He called it the katon jutsu. He had to be careful when he demonstrated it. Because the katon is this huge fireball that comes out of the mouth, and if the forest burned down then the family income would've been gone. Father said that anyone that has our blood could use this jutsu. I asked him if brother could use it as well, and father answered yes if some one would teach him. So I asked him why big brother wasn't learning about katon too. And Father said, "One day you'll know why".

From that point, until the middle of winter my days where spent practicing the katon. It wasn't hard to pick up on the hand signs, or the correct posture needed to perform the jutsu. The hard part was building up the right amount chakra to produce a good fireball. Too much risks a back lash of fire, and if too little of chakra is used then I was lucky to even get a puff of smoke. I didn't like this jutsu too much. It would char my hair, and make my lips chapped and my skin dry. A few mishaps even left me brunt. But when I finally mastered this jutsu father smiled, patted me on the head and said, "you are a true member now". I asked what I was a member of. And father answered, "One day you'll know what".

Even time I learned something that father considered to be a mile stone he would give me more information that couldn't be shared with others. When I first learned to summon chakra father told me about the special blood that runs in our veins. When my aim became accurate father told me why it was important that I learn all these skills. And after I learned the katon he told me a story.

He said that he used to be a chunin for a village called Konoha. He wasn't very well known in the village but his clan was because of their special blood, our special blood. One night when he was coming back from a mission later than planned, and when he was close to home he heard a scream followed by another, and another. So father said that instead of taking the regular route home, to see what was going on he jumped up onto a near by roof. He said what he saw changed his life forever and would be the cause of many nightmares in his future. Father said that he saw another member of his clan slaughtering his clansmen. At this point in his story Father had dropped his head and begin shaking it and he said, "But instead of going to save my people I fled like I coward." But I don't really know what he meant because I don't know what a coward is. Father finished his story by saying that he fled from his home to the land of earth. Where he settled down as a every day woodcutter, married my mother and had my brother and me".

I paused to take another deep breath, but the blonde turned to her companies and said, "You don't think",

But the smoking man interrupted her with a sharp, "Ino!" before looking back at me. "But how did you end up here?" He asks pointing to the ground by his feet as an example.

I stare at him pointedly. "I'm getting there", I said. The man waves his hands in the air as if to say, 'go on'. I take another breath. "Then in the spring, about one or two months after I turned nine father was going to stay late in the forest to get more wood, but I was going to go home. On my way home I saw two very scary men. One was blue, one looked a little like father, and both of them had black cloaks with red clouds on them. When father first started to teach me about chakra he said that if we ever see any foreigners we would have to hide our chakra, and I would have to act like any other country girl. But I'm not really good at suppressing chakra, it give me a headache. So when I was getting ready to pass them I started to hum under my breath, and kept my head down, pretending that I was completely focused on a song. I've seen a lot of girls from the village do that. So I thought that the scary men would just think that I was one of those girls. But when I was doing that I heard one of them say something about finishing the four-tails job by the end of the week. I think it was the blue man who said that. My head was starting to hurt, and right when I started to pass them I accidentally messed up, and some of my chakra became sensible. But they didn't seem to o anything so I kept on walking. Then the blue one called out, "oh! Brat". A normal country girl would do something in response, so I did too. I turned around to see what they wanted, but I remembered that I had to avoid them from looking at my eyes, because father said that our eyes are tell tale signs of our special blood. So I looked down. The blue man asked me if there where any shinobi in the area. I shook my head no. He then asked if I was mute. I shook my head again and said what mother always told me to say if I ran into strangers, "My mommy told me not to talk to strangers".

The blue man smirked at me, his teeth were very pointy, and he called me a stupid brat. I thought they go back to their business now, but they didn't. I was starting to get nervous, because they wouldn't leave. But then father came, pushing the wood cart. He looked at me, saw the two men and froze. The other man, the one that kind of looked like father said, "Hisao", in a dark voice. Hisao was father's name, but I had only ever heard mother use it before.

Father's eyes turned red, before he let go of the cart. I ran over to him as fast as I could, and hid behind his legs. I thought that father could make them go away. Father was the strongest person that I've ever known. Father moved into a offensive stance and called out, "What are you doing here traitor!"

But neither of the men answered him. The blue man looked like he was having fun when he said, "Looks like you missed one Itachi, and he reproduced".

Father flinches but he doesn't look away from the two men. He whispers for me to take a kunai from his back pouch, and to run when he says to. I obeyed. He also said that I was too run as far and fast as I could away from the men and home. He didn't want me to lead the men to mother and brother. He said that I should avoid fighting them at all costs. And he told me that I they came after me I would have to do everything in my power to get away, but my main focus should always be to run. He said that being a coward is what kept him alive for so long, and that now it was my turn to fight for my existence. Father said that he loved me and he yelled, "Now!" And he lunged forward. I didn't run right away like I was supposed to. Everything was happening very fast. The man that looked a little like father barely moved before father was knock to the ground. I didn't know what to do. My heart was beating very fast, but I couldn't move. Father's look a like said, "You always were weak Hisao", as father groaned, and forced himself to his feet. He yelled at me to run, and this time I listened. But I didn't run far away like father said to. I ran home, I wanted my mother. I heard a lot of metal clashing together, mean sounding laughter from the blue man, and father's screams. I was clutching the kunai that father had me take so hard that my knuckles started to feel stiff. I used some chakra to make me go faster, like how father taught me to a while ago. When I got home I ran through the kitchen door. Mother was there with brother, getting ready to eat dinner. I tried to pull them out of the house so that we could run to the village to hide and wait for father. But I was breathing to hard to tell them to do anything. There was this loud smash, and glass went flying everywhere as father came diving in through the window by the kitchen door. He wasn't moving. Mother fainted, and brother yelled. I heard a very loud laugh. I grabbed father's kunai pouch and ran out the front door, as the two men where entering through the kitchen door".

By now I'm sobbing. The campfire no longer feels warm, and I want to stop, but I can't stop talking. I have to finish. "My mother and brother are probably dead. My father is dead, and I didn't do anything to help them. I was too afraid. I used all my chakra to run away as fast as I could, but I have to keep running, who knows when they'll catch me. I don't understand why they haven't caught me already".

Four pairs of eyes stare at me with pity, as I sob into my knees. "If they haven't caught you by now they probably had something else to do than murder a kid", the smoking man said.

I let out a hiccup. The large boy reaches over and pulls me into his lap. I flinch, but don't fight, to tired to fight. He starts to bounce me up and down with his knees; like how my father did the first time I got a bloody knee when I was four. It's childish, but it makes me feel better. I start to nod off to the sound of the four people talking in hushed tones. Leaning against the large boys chest I fall asleep wondering why my father's eyes turned red, why that man knew father's name, why did my family have to die. Why?