Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Only my OCs.

A dirty head of scraggly purple hair ducked into an alleyway. Up ahead of her, her mark walked on, unsuspecting. He was a man in his mid-twenties who didn't stand out from the crowd in any obvious way. But if one looked closer, they could see that his clothes were made of sturdier material and was cleaner and better kept than any of the passer-byers. A somewhat well off man, with a wallet barely visible in his right pocket. And better yet, he looked distracted; the perfect mark.

Sharp black eyes noted that her target was approaching the location, so she took off down a side street that wound around a stone building and led to the corner ahead of the mark.

"He's coming, go!" The purple-haired street rat hissed to her partner in crime.

Said partner, an equally dirty looking boy with brown hair and eyes dashed around the corner and down the street. The girl waited a few seconds before running after him.

"Shinji! Mom told us not ta go too far! She's gon' kill us!"

The brown haired boy laughed and stuck his tongue out at her before running faster.

"Neh! Ya'll never catch me, Nee-chan!"

The two 'sibilings' ran past the people in the crowd, weaving smoothly between them. However, the purple-haired girl stumbled and bumped into a man before continuing on her way.

"Sorry mister!" She called behind her.

The man grumbled and waved distractedly before continuing on. The two kids continued running and didn't stop until they had reached a crumbling monastery carved out of stone, just like every other building in Iwa.

Panting, they stopped and rested for a good five minutes to regain their breath. Finally, the purple haired girl sat up and fished a wallet out of her pocket.

"Ooh, wha'd we get this time, Nee-chan?"

"You can drop the 'nee-chan', we're done actin' now." The girl responded blandly. The boy pouted.

"But Terra! You're almost ma sister even though we're no related by blood."

"Whatever, Hiro."

Terra brushed him off while opening the wallet. Hiro shrugged and scooted closer, leaning over her shoulder to see what was in it. Bills spilled out into the hands of the two thieves.

"Thir'y, four'y, fif'y! Was a good haul today, this'll see us food for another few weeks." Terra said, stern demeanour relaxing somewhat in the face of a windfall.

"I don't think so."

Terra and Hiro spun around, hearts pounding, at the unexpected voice behind them. Standing there was the man Terra had pickpocketed earlier, looking distinctly un-amused.

"How did ya find us!?" Terra demanded after she had recovered from her shock.

The man snorted before reaching into his pocket, pulling out a headband. The rocks carved on it gave them pause, and they felt their shock instantly turn into dread. The man glanced down at their pale faces and sighed.

In Iwa, ninja were always above the law, no matter who you were. You could be the richest Lord in Earth country, and still, in the eyes of Iwa, you were beneath shinobi by law. It didn't matter that they hadn't known he was a shinobi; they committed a crime against a ninja, and because they were unknown homeless children, they stood no chance of protesting if he decided he wanted to punish them.

"Listen, I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I have a proposition for you."

"Proposition?" Terra questioned, still eyeing the ninja warily.

"Yep. You two managed to get one over on a ninja. Even more impressively, you managed to pickpocket me. I know talent when I see it. You two were rather impressive. I won't do anything about the stealing, so long as you two join the ninja academy."

Both Terra and Hiro stared at him wide-eyed. To join the academy was every orphan's dream. Three hot meals provided for them every day, a roof over their heads, clothing that they won't have to steal, and a chance to do something with their lives; to become something more than just a petty crook scraping by on the streets. Hiro jumped up.

"Yes! We want to be ninjas!"

Terra grabbed him by the collar before he could throw himself at the man.

"What's in it for you?" She asked suspiciously. "Why would ya do this?"

An approving smile crossed the ninja's face and he nodded.

"A very good question. You see, the Tsuchikage has been nagging me for some time about taking on a student. I've been through every kid in the academy, and no one has what I'm looking for. They either don't have the skills, or they're a pampered clan brat. But," and he looked at straight at Terra:

"You managed to fit the bill. Not only did you manage to pickpocket me, I didn't even feel a thing. You can act, you're careful, controlled, and you have a good eye for detail. Out of all of the people in the crowd, you picked me, the one who would have the most money. And you would have gotten away with it too, if I wasn't a ninja."

He straightened up and eyed her.

"So, I want you to go to the academy and become my apprentice so I can get the geezer off my back. You'll be required to learn everything I teach you, and as my apprentice, represent me well."

Terra nodded slowly.

"Kay. Tha' makes sense. But why Hiro too then?"

This time the man chuckled.

"Would you join without your little brother?"

Terra shot a glance at the brown haired boy, who was looking at her with wide eyes.

"…He's not ma brother." She said rather half heartedly.

Hiro beamed at her, knowing he was slowly wearing her down. It was only a matter of time now that she gave into the inevitable.

"So do you two accept?"

There was really no question about it. This was a once in a lifetime chance, and there was no way they would pass it up.

The man smiled at the two affirmative answers.

"Excellent! Lets head to the geezer now, shall we?"

They obediently trotted after him, somewhat shocked at how suddenly their lives had been changed.

"So what are you two called? I can't just call you brat number one and two now, can I?" He said cheerfully.

Hiro pouted up at him while Terra conveyed her displeasure with her glare.

"He's Hiro, an' I'm Terra."

The man nodded.

"Well, I'm Katashi. We'll have a lot of things to go through after talking to the geezer. First thing we'll have to fix is your accent. You two will need to make it more proper, or else infiltration missions will be impossible."

Terra nodded. "Understood sir."

"Oh, and one more thing, apart from the Tsuchikage, no one is to know that you managed to one-up me. I have a reputation to uphold you know, so you two are banned from talking about it. That's an order, you got it?"

Hiro ducked his head, grinning. Terra felt her lips twitch and squashed her own smile with a force of will.

Katashi grumbled under his breath.

"Man, I'm never going to live this one down."

There we have it! Terra's background will take up the next few chapters, but I'm going to do a lot of time-skips until she's a teenager. Minato will be entering the story sooner than you might think, so don't worry about waiting too long to see him. This story will be centred mostly on their relationship, but a realistic and complex plot is needed for them to actually develop anything. So do bear with me if I start getting into too much detail about politics or jutsu theory.

Please review! They encourage me to keep writing!

Blackbird0~