Prologue: I Will Not Be Stopped

There she is. The ANBU member thought as he spotted a girl of no more than 15 years walking down the path. She was very pretty, with unique short white hair and tanned skin. Wooden sandals crunched against gravel as the girl walked, her head bowed and eyes closed. A fan was held in her right hand over her mouth. It was a simple blue and white fan, and it matched her beautiful dark blue kimono and silver obi.

Nobody has seen her for 12 years. She is the last of her clan, and believed to be one of the strongest. We have orders to take her out, no matter the cost…but should we really do it at night? That is when she is strongest…especially since tonight is a full moon…no. we have to strike now, before we lose her again.

The group had been tracking this particular girl for some time now, ever since her reappearance a few weeks ago. She was brilliant when it came to losing trackers, this group having lost her trail several times in the past weeks. He signaled the group to commence with the operation and 4 other top ANBU members sprang from the tree and surrounded her. The girl stopped and looked toward the shinobi, revealing bright green eyes that reflected the full moon. Upon recognizing them as ANBU, her eyes flashed with an unidentifiable emotion and she stated "You should not have come."

None of the ninja answered, but all of them simultaneously launched their attacks.

She simply stood there, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

In the blink of an eye, one member had fallen down, his body entirely stiff, as if he had frozen solid. Another soon was halted in midair, and began bleeding from his eyes, nose, and mouth. Before anybody could comprehend what was happening, the other two fell, never to rise again. Now it was just her and the ANBU she first addressed.

"I will not be stopped. Prepare to join your comrades." Her voice was colder than ice, and it froze the ANBU in his tracks. She held her fan and pointed it toward his throat. Her lips curved up into a smirk as she stated: "Tell my old teacher Zabuza I said 'hi'." The girl snapped her fan shut, and the man clutched his throat and fell to the ground.

She resumed her position and continued down the road, chuckling to herself, "Soon my revenge will be complete. He cannot hide for much longer..."

Chapter 1: Meet Team 7!

Naruto Uzumaki walked the streets of Konoha, unusually listless and unexcited. Team 7 had met at their usual spot, like they normally did. Sasuke and Sakura were there before the Kyuubi container, as usual. And Kakashi was not. As usual. Sakura had asked Sasuke out, he had denied, Naruto was there to accept, but then got punched in the head by Sakura, same old, same old. When Kakashi finally DID arrive, he got yelled at for being late, by Sakura and Naruto, of course, and quickly stated that there was no mission for the day, and the genin were free to enjoy their day as they pleased.

Of course, this annoyed the ninja to no end. Once again, they were stuck for hours waiting for their sensei, only to find yet again that there was nothing to do. Naruto was getting disturbed by how much his life seemed to keep repeating itself.

As the blonde approached the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, he decided to get some lunch. After all, he had skipped breakfast to try and be early. This failed, of course. He sat down in his usual spot, only to see that he was not alone.

A girl sat in the seat next to his. Her long black hair hid most of her face, but Naruto could make out that she seemed about the same age as him, possibly older. She was wearing a pretty dark blue kimono that had a sliver obi, and Naruto noticed a closed fan lying by her right hand. While he was staring, she finished her ramen and asked the old man for some more. She was eating Naruto's favorite, Miso Ramen. The voice that emanated from her mouth was smooth as water, soothing in a way that made the blonde want to fall asleep. Suddenly, she turned to face him, sending a questioning look. Naruto couldn't help but be entranced by her eyes. They were a bright green that sparkled in the noontime sun, full of curiosity as to why this random person was staring at her.

Naruto quickly looked away, but that didn't discourage the stranger, who offered her hand and said in that oh-so-nice voice "Hi. My name is Ayumi. Who are you?"

Naruto took her hand and shook it, blinking like an idiot, then smiled and said "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna be the next Hokage!"

The girl smiled a small smile and played along, deciding to humor him for the time being. "Really now? How old are you?"

"I'm 12!"

She smirked. "Isn't that a little young to be Hokage?"

Naruto suddenly turned serious. "I'm not gonna become Hokage overnight. It'll take years of hard work. There is no easy way to become Hokage."

The girl made a small sound of agreement as her ramen was set in front of her. The owner of the stand turned to Naruto and asked "Well, Naruto, the usual, I suppose?"

Naruto blinked at the man and said "Yeah. The usual." His usually loud and obnoxious voice was withdrawn, and not all there.

He snapped out of the daze he was in and turned toward the girl. "So, I've never seen you around here before. What are you doing in Konoha?" She slurped some of the remaining noodles out of the bowl before answering. "I'm just passing through to go visit some friends of the family."

The two lapsed into a comfortable silence as Naruto received his ramen. He began to eat ravenously the second it touched the counter, remembering the reason he had come here in the first place. This action did not go unnoticed by the girl, who stopped her drinking of the noodle broth to stare at him. "Hungry much?"

Naruto put the empty bowl down and sighed. "Hehe. Yeah. I skipped breakfast so I could get to my team's meeting place earlier this morning."

"Did it work?"

"No, it didn't. But anyway, if you need anybody to you around town while you're here, I'll be glad to!"

She smiled that happy little conspirational smile and said "I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Naruto." She left the money on the counter and got up to leave. Picking up her fan, she walked away.

The Next Day…

Naruto was at the bridge with Sasuke and Sakura waiting for Kakashi as usual. The routine had gone as it always had, and the genin were waiting for their sensei. Naruto was watching from a tree for the lazy Copy-Cat ninja, when he noticed a figure approaching the bridge. He jumped down from the tree and ran to greet the person, recognizing her as the girl from Ichiraku he met yesterday.

"Hey!" He waved her over frantically, and she looked up and saw him. She saw the blonde running over to her, and next thing she knew, he was dragging her over toward his teammates, who were a pink-haired girl and a stoic-looking boy. Both seemed to watch their teammate in confusion as he ran after this total stranger and dragged her to meet them.

"Hello, Naruto." She murmured when he finally stopped. "I had some time on my hands, and I figured I'd take you up on your offer for a tour of Konoha. I asked around, and people said that I could find you here."

Naruto smiled his trademark grin and answered "OK, but lemme introduce you to my team first! "This," and he pointed to the girl, "is the lovely Sakura Haruno." The girl waved to the newcomer, unsure of who she was and why Naruto seemed to know her.

Naruto then pointed to the boy, who was eyeing the girl suspiciously. "And that person over there is Sasuke. He's nothing special. Just ignore him." The boy called Sasuke just 'hn'ed and went back to glaring at the newcomer. Whoever she was, Sasuke didn't like her already.

"And there is our sensei, Kakashi, but he's late, as usual, and we have to wait for him."

The girl looked knowingly toward the one Naruto had introduced as Sasuke. "Surely you're not Sasuke Uchiha?"

He stared at her, one eyebrow raised in suspicion. "Yes, I am."

"Ah, that's what I thought. I've heard good things about you, Sasuke."

Sakura was a little upset about being ignored, and about this older woman talking to her Sasuke, so she interjected "Um, excuse me for asking, but who are you?"

The stranger looked toward Sakura as if just noticing her. "My name is Ayumi."

"Uh, Ayumi what?"

The girl was about to answer when a silver-haired man appeared behind Naruto, an orange book held in his left hand. "Yo." he said casually, flipping a page of his book. Upon his arrival, both Naruto and Sakura turned toward him and yelled "YOU'RE LATE!" He seemed unfazed, however, and just turned to them. "Well, I would have come sooner, but I—"

"NO! Kakashi, don't even start! You have no excuse for being so late!" the pink-haired girl screeched.

"Well, you're right. There is no excuse. But who is this?" He pointed to the girl, who had remained motionless throughout the shouting. Naruto blinked before answering "This is my new friend, Ayumi! I'm gonna show her around Konoha after today's mission! We do actually have a mission today, right?"

Kakashi examined the figure before him. Something seemed off. He then asked her, "Ayumi?"

"Yes?"

The silver-haired jonin noticed her voice was clear as glass.

"What is your last name?"

She gave him an empty look for a flash of a second. Only Kakashi noticed it, but it was gone almost instantaneously.

The girl waved her fan slightly and answered "My last name is Kinahaku." But Kakashi, once again, made note of the fact that her voice hardened slightly at the mention of her name.

Kakashi 'hn'ed at her answer, not fully believing it, and decided to follow her later. He then promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I guess we don't have any missions today. Want to hang out, Sasuke?"

The raven-haired boy was already gone.

Naruto stared at the place where his teacher had been standing seconds before, then blinked. "WHAT!? How could there be no missions for two days in a row!?"

The cool voice called out to him. "Naruto? There's no need to get upset. Because if I remember correctly, you did already have plans." As she pointed out this fact, the normally calm voice suffered from a hint of impatience.

The blonde smiled his big idiotic smile, which made Ayumi twitch slightly. Naruto missed this, however, and laughed. "You're right! Let's go!"