Attention: I am resubmitting my story from the beginning. I felt as though I wasnt going into enough detail with my OC, so that is my reason for this revamping exercise.

I apologise, but this means deleting all previously-existing chapters and beginning from the start. It's the same story -just longer.

Review, please -but no flames are tolerated.

BTW, I don't own Naruto or anything associated with it. None of the characters (save for the OCs) are mine. I would have thought that was obvious, since this is a fanfic

Prologue –At Night

The Hidden Tooth Root Village

The sun was setting. Soon the moon would rise into the sky with the onset of night. And the darkness of the night was something to be feared if you dwelt in the Hidden Village veiled in the mountains of the Land of Fangs, hidden to all and secret to those from outside the daimyo's palace.

The village was wedged in the bottom of a deep ravine, located at the centre of a multitude of steep cliffs and towering peaks, the buildings organised around a naturally formed freshwater lake that served the purpose of a natural reservoir. It was young –it had been standing for less than three years. The shinobi here were still getting used to fact that they didn't have to cower away and travel anymore –that this village, this land was their new home.

And at night, the village may well have been a ghost town. Women and their children, as well as those too old to fight, crowded into the safety of a cavern carved out of the side of one of the mountains. It was supposed to have been a hiding place should the village ever be attacked by an enemy force. Only one building still had lights burning –the home of the Patriarch of the Shensi clan. A man stood at the window of the room from which he worked during the day. His long auburn hair was tied back into a strict ponytail, and he was dressed in battle-garb that generation after generation had worn –plated and reinforced chest armour with arm guards over a form-fitting suit, tabi boots, and a cloak that swept around his shoulders, the bottom half emblazoned with the swirls of the sea.

A tear crept free from his green eyes as he held a babe wrapped in warm blankets to his chest. To think his daughter might live to see the last days of the village. The attacks on the village had been the work of a demon, a mass of black wings and terrible noise, with a savage hunger and a taste for human flesh. He had no idea where the beast had spawned from. And the shinobi who could fight it were dwindling down night by night. If it kept up like this, they would be forced to abandon their home and return to being wandering nomads.

The daimyo had permitted them one more night –just one more night –to deal with the beast. After that, he would call in for the aid of one of the five Great Shinobi Nations. That would spell the doom of their Hidden Village –their funding would be pulled and they would no longer have the status and independence of a Shinobi Hidden village.

There was only one choice –just one. He held the bundle tighter –his infant child slept on, unaware of the world and the dangers lurking in the shadows.

"Tsukimi –please, forgive me," he whispered, shedding a tear for his fallen and beloved wife. It wasn't fair –little Hazuki had already lost one parent, the night after she had been born. "Hazuki –you're going to need to be strong."

There was so much she would need to learn, so much she would have to learn to cope with. He was dooming her to a dangerous life –the least he could do was make sure that it wasn't painful or lonely. She would be a hero, after all –the child who saved the village.

There was a knock on the door, and he slipped the envelope onto the desk for his advisors to find when they were clearing out the office for the next occupant. He turned to face the door as it opened to reveal a shinobi. The man was in his late thirties, his black hair short and orderly, his onyx eyes underlined with red and wrinkles.

"Our forces are prepared for nightfall, Lord Shensi," Tsurugi said, bowing forward slightly to his brother-in-law.

"Thank you, brother," Ichiro replied, laying a hand on the warrior's shoulder. He was still grieving his sister, the pain so raw and fresh. "Return to your men; the Shadow Beast will be here soon. Be assured, I will be on the front lines soon."

Tsurugi inclined his head, heading back to his station, determination in his eyes and mind. Tsukimi had loved this village –loved the land, the people, her husband, her infant daughter. She had given her life for the dream that Hanonekagure should exist for more than one more generation.

'Take care of little Hazuki,' his twin sister had said, gasping out the words as she lay at Death's door, the words coming in short painful gasps. That beast –that shape-shifting darkness-loving demon that seemed to thrive on chaos and could disperse as though they were smoke –had murdered her.

Ichiro looked out of the window again as his brother-in-law left. There was no other choice –the village was doomed any other way. This village was the pride of his father, the source of his own pride. He would defend it –even if it cost him his life; even if it altered Hazuki's fate.

The sun was almost gone –it was time to begin preparations for the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Two Gates Sealing jutsu.

Hideyoshi, for all his age and white hair, was still an agile old monkey. He hopped from rock to rock, searching. The demon was gone, suddenly being dragged into something with a blood-freezing scream, and there was only one thing that could have stopped the demon –a sealing.

That was what had Hideyoshi concerned –a Sealing Technique powerful enough to imprison a beast that powerful came at a heavy price. And that price was the caster's life. There had to be another, a host in which to bind the demon. The caster had to be his son –but who was the host?

He landed on the top of a ledge about halfway up to the peak, overlooking the battle-scarred Hanonekagure. Heavy panting drew his eye, and his breath caught. He found the man he had been looking for, leaning against a boulder near the back of the ledge, his days-old child in his arms. He was still breathing, but looked at death's door himself. As he moved forward, he was the cuts and lacerations all over his son's body.

As he got nearer, Hazuki began to shiver and began to bawl loudly. That drew his attention from his half-dead son and he saw that the word for 'seal' had been etched with chakra onto her stomach, just above where the umbilical cord had been, and around it were two Four Symbols Seal markings, with a gap between the two in order to allow any escaped chakra to be suppressed and converted into Hazuki's own, the gaps marked by four feng-sui signs. It was the mark of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Two Gates Sealing technique, a jutsu that sealed a powerful demon into a human form. The power of the demon resided in Hazuki, their fates intertwined. When Hazuki died, the beast within her would die as well.

Hideyoshi scoped up his grandchild, pressing her against him so that she could feel the warmth, wrapping her in a blanket that had been put beside the ceremonial throne where she had been placed by her father. His worst fears had been confirmed –his eldest son was almost dead, and his granddaughter had been branded with a heavy burden.

"Father," he heard Ichiro whisper, and looked down, kneeling and allowing his son to grip his shoulders. "I love this village, Father –I couldn't see it fall. There is just one thing I want –Hazuki must be treated as a hero. It is only because of her that this village is still standing. She is the sole reason we have a tomorrow here."

Those happened to be his final words before his eyes flickered shut, his head rolled, his hand dropped, and his breath stopped. Hideyoshi stayed by his eldest son's body, crying as Hazuki whimpered slightly in his arms. He stayed like that until his tears transformed into silent hiccups of agony. He looked up as something changed; looking ahead of him, he saw that the rocks were illuminated golden. Through teary eyes, he saw that the sun was starting to rise; one of the rays of light struck across the little girl's face –the hope of the village's future now that they had survived the night.

"Grandfather!" he heard from behind him, and turned to see the son of his now-departed son, Takajin, heading towards him. The twelve-year-old Genin faltered upon seeing his father's body, the ceremonial throne and his infant sister who was just starting to drift to sleep. "Grandfather, what happened here?"

"Send word to the daimyo –the beast has been defeated," Hideyoshi said, adjusting the girl in his arms and turning to face Takejin. "And spread the word among our people –the village stands because of one little girl. We have a bright future ahead of all of us."