Author's Note: First story! I hope you all enjoy this! I'm not sure if the characters are OOC (Out of Character) or not, so I apologize. I am also sorry if there are any typos or strange mistakes that I have made. Hehe...

Date Posted: November 11, 2013

Word Count: 2,828

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND I NEEEVVEEER WILL! Sadly :(

Chapter 1: Into the Unknown

"Kisa, come back here!" yelled my so-called father from behind me. I scrambled down the steps to the first floor, skipping every other step. I could hear the man cursing, and his heavy footsteps crashing onto the old wooden floorboards. They creaked, and groaned. For a moment, I imagined him falling through, all the way to the basement. It would defiantly hurt, and he probably deserved it.

It felt like it took forever to reach the ground floor. My heart was pounding in my chest, my breath coming out in harsh pants. My whole body was tense and trembling. I knew if I was caught, I would be given a punishment of a lifetime.

Finally, my shoes touched the bottom, and I sprinted through the narrow, dark, hallway before skidding into the kitchen to quickly grab the backpack I had prepared, and then continuing on my way to the door.

"YOU WILL NOT LEAVE THIS HOUSE, BRAT!" Dad roared.

I grinned to myself. Well, he couldn't stop me now, could he? He was probably at the top of the winding staircase, judging by his footsteps, and I was already at the door. He was also the worst runner of his generation, which meant I would have a good advantage.

I fumbled with the crazy locks and it took at least twice as long as usual to unlock them under such pressure. Finally, I was able to yank open the front door with all my might, and leap over the steps before taking off at my fastest pace.

I didn't bother to look back at the house I had lived in for the past twelve years of my life. There was nothing there left for me to care about. Any of my precious possessions were stored in my backpack.

I could feel a smile creep onto my face, as I rushed past the familiar blank streets of my village. There were only a few people out at this time, and it wasn't unusual to see a child running in the neighborhood. Even if they knew my true intentions, they probably wouldn't have minded. There were plenty of runaways that no one really cared about.

I was free, and that was all that mattered.

Well, that, and my survival. But I wasn't particularly worried about that part. I had survived in the wild with a number of supplies and no adult supervision for a month and a half when I was seven. It surely wouldn't be a problem for me, at age twelve.

I could see the gate in the far distance. Several guards were standing there, making sure that no intruders would come in the village. Not that anyone would really want to come in and steal from somewhere that had such a low reputation, population, and quality. We had absolute no extra food to share, so even if someone passed the gates, I doubted they would find much to make a fuss about.

I slowed my pace as I got closer to the large, iron gate. It once had the symbol of the village on it, or so the stories went, but that had been long replaced. The true reason was only known by the older generations, but they wouldn't say anything. This mystery always caused rumors, each more ridiculous than the last, to be spread around.

"Can I help you?" questioned a guard. They looked pretty bored, just sulking around until their shift was over. I kind of felt bad for them. Being part of the Millennium Guards was an honor (or rather, it was). There had been an Academy for the ones training to become part of the Guard. You would have to start by a certain age, and would devote your life to protect the village, just like the Great Five Nations. But that all died away when our leader passed away, and the meanest, most selfish bastard came to take his place.

Everything went downhill when the new leader arrived. We went from being a respected village to a poor, unnoticed place where no one wanted to be.

"I would like to be granted Outside, please," I responded formally. I saw a few of the guards turn their heads toward me and raise their eyebrows. It was dangerous to go Outside nowadays. It was probably especially shocking coming from such a young person like me. Usually, you were only granted permission if you were twenty five and older.

But my case was an emergency, and I needed to get out, fast, before Dad came around.

One guard came up and looked me in the eye. Molten amber against brilliant sapphire. I felt slightly intimidated, but if I showed fear in anyway, the wouldn't give me access to the Outside. I raised my chin, and stared back with defiance.

The guard looked away first, and nodded to his partners. The eyed him in suspicion, but turned and went to the gate anyway.

He looked back at me and stated, "I'll make an exception for you today. You're lucky I'm in a good mood. I can see the determination in your eyes, so I doubt I'd be able to stop you anyhow. But be careful, the Outside is filled with dangers that you've only heard about."

I nodded. I had known that from the start. It would be dangerous, I could even get killed in the first week. But it when it was up against living with my Father for the rest of my life, in a village that was so detached and lonely, I would pick the Outside over that any day.

The guard gave me a quick wink, before moving out of the way of the massive iron doors that parted slightly to give me just enough room to squeeze through. I gave a wave to the guards as a thanks, and then turned to the forest, which had just begun to bloom into the spring season.

The gate behind me slammed shut, and I knew I could never go back on my choice.

I sighed and began my long journey forward, into the unknown.

The first thing I did was search for a suitable place to stay for a night. It wasn't hard; there were tons of trees with large, secure branches. But the one I happened to choose was right next to a small, fresh-water creek.

Fortunately, it was close to a couple of berry bushes. I had studied vegetation in the Outside and had payed attention well enough so that I could recognize if the plants were edible or not. As long as the berries weren't unfamiliar to me, I would be fine eating them.

I was able to gather enough berries to fill my stomach for the evening as well as some extra, that I stored in my backpack.

As the sun set, lighting the whole sky a rainbow of colors, I leaned back on the thick tree trunk and closed my eyes. I wondered if I had become a Millennium Guard, would I have had more chances to get to see the Outside?

I wish I had an answer to that. But Keegan, our current Leader, ruined the chances of anyone from my generation becoming a Guard.

Why did I want to join the Guard? First of all, each and every one of them was respected for protecting the village. The majority of them were born with a unique ability. It was inherited from our ancestors, although it goes so far back that nobody really knew how it originated. But it allowed many members of the Guard to control energy.

It may sound impossible, but it was very normal for a child to be born with that kind of ability. Anyone who had it was offered to be trained in the Academy. It was a difficult process to be trained as a Guard, but despite the hardships, everyone wanted to become a Guard when they got older.

The details of how the ability (which was commonly called the "Power") were not released to the public, but the basic knowledge was that if you trained hard enough and had enough control over it, you could be able to manipulate energy however you wanted.

Depending on their natural affinity, Guards were sorted into groups. There were the members with an element affinity, which was either water, fire, wind, lightning, or earth. And there were others who were adapt with healing, strategizing, etc. They were usually put onto teams of three, with a sensei. In some exceptions, there were four students.

And then there were the most powerful members called "Millennium." The name came from the fact that they were very rare and only a few appeared every century. They would have two element affinities, as well a minimal healing ability. The difference between a Millennium, and a regular Guard was that a Millennium was able to absorb energy with a single touch. They could have their hand brush against an opponent's skin so lightly that they wouldn't even be able to feel it. Without the enemy knowing, a Millennium could suck out their entire life force, and once they realized what had happened, it would already be too late.

Which was the reason why my village was under attack so often. Keegan had been an enemy once. He was part of an organization that apparently had hated our village, and attempted to take out our whole Guard at once.

His plan was very strategic, but he didn't have the strength, nor the numbers to finish everyone off.

Keegan was locked up for years, until the Leader took pity, and allowed him to roam around the village, as long as there was a Guard watching him at all times. That choice was the Leader's downfall. Keegan became very popular among the simple villagers, and slowly he gained political power, and became the Leader's right handed man. Somehow, the Leader personally got involved in a battle that was supposedly not any of his business, and he was defeated.

Keegan was voted as the person to take his place. And the village fell from its once respected title to a forgotten town.

Keegan was someone who I had never liked in the first place. In addition to being deceptive, he would give off some sort of aura that would make me recoil in disgust.

My dream is to find one of the last Millennium Guards, and have them train me so that I could come back to the village and show people that if we fight back, Keegan can be replaced, and the village can become a respected place once more.

When I woke up, it was dawn. The sun was high enough for me to see the area around me clearly, which alerted me to the fact that I had to begin traveling, unless I wanted to waste precious time.

I had a three choices: either go west to the Country of Wind; east to the Country of Fire, or north to the Country of Rain.

The Country of Wind didn't sound too appealing. I had heard rumors going around that the main village settled there had a leader who tried to kill his own son. I disliked unnecessary violence, and although I didn't know if that rumor was true, I didn't particularly want to risk it.

The Country of Rain was somewhere that I doubted I would be able to find someone who could train me. The Millennium Guards had a large rivalry with them, so there would be no point in traveling there, especially since the village was the farthest away.

Which only left the Country of Fire. Luckily, the village there, according to my research, seemed like a rather welcoming place.

Before leaving, I re-checked my backpack to make sure that everything was secure in there. The most important things were at the bottom, snuggled inside a secret pocket. It would be easy to find if someone was deliberately trying to search for absolutely everything in the pack, but it camouflaged well for people who's motive was to steal, and then disappear without a fight.

It was quite difficult to travel across the forest floor. Dead leaves crunched on the ground, and there were massive tree roots littered across the whole area. A few of them were too big to step or jump over, and I had to find another way to get across.

Despite all the problems, I was proud that I was able to progress pretty quickly. Once I got used to it, the forest kind of seemed like an obstacle course that I had to complete in a matter of days. I didn't know how long it would take to reach the village, but I knew that I had to cover as much distance as I could before I started to tire out, which would make the trip take even longer.

It was the morning of my third full day in the forest, when I noticed something odd. Something was out of place. I had only been in the woods for three days, but I was so used to the natural feel of the nature surrounding me, that I knew something was disrupting it.

Most likely, it was other people. Either that, or some sort of natural disaster, although there was not a cloud to be seen in the sky (hurricane/thunderstorm); and no steep cliffs (avalanche).

I decided to camp out in a random hole I found in a tree. It was luckily just large enough for me to crawl into. I couldn't do much about the opening, so I would have to rely on an assumption that the person (if it was a person) would not look too closely at the tree.

Hopefully, I was just overreacting, and it was nothing. But it was definitely better to be safe, than sorry in a situation like this. Although it's a bit cliché, it definitely was one of the most important rules for living in the wilderness.

It only took a minute or two until I could hear voices piercing the usual, quietness of the trees. They didn't sound familiar, so they weren't from my village (thankfully).

"K-kiba...I r-really d-on't th-think we should b-be out h-here with-thout Sensei," a soft, feminine voice spoke. From her stuttering, I inferred that she was either really scared, or shy.

"Nah," a confident voice replied. It was definitely a male. "We'll be fine. Kurenai-sensei left us here plenty of times already. I'm sure that it's safe."

"B-but..." protested the girl. There was a sudden bark. It sounded high-pitched, and young.

"See? Akamaru agrees. It's no big deal, anyway. It's not like we're going that far out from the village," Kiba stated.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Apparently I really close to my destination. And these kids seemed like they were shinobi; ninja who protect their village at all costs. Exactly like my own village's Guards. Maybe they were a lead to my mission?

My mouth twitched downward. Well, I couldn't just pop out of the tree truck randomly, could I? They didn't seem like they had noticed me, and if I came out of my hiding place, they would probably drag me into the village for interrogation, or whatever happens to suspicious people taking shelter in the forest.

Of course, there was always the possibility where I would be granted citizenship...after they made sure I wasn't a spy. Yeah, I sure wouldn't be looking forward to that part.

But the decision was still hanging there: would I come out and introduce myself, or wait, and journey to the village myself, after they had left?

"Hey, you over there, hiding in the tree!" Kiba shouted. "You realize that I can smell you, right?"

I froze, my heart pounding faster. I guess the choice was already made for me.

I slowly crawled out of my lovely hiding place, and stood up, brushing off some of the dirt that had collected on the clothes I hadn't changed in three days. Grinning, I looked up at the defensive ninjas in front of me and introduced myself.

"Hi, my name is Kisa."

Author's Note: Hey, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! It took me about a week to make (I know...I'm slow) so I apologize if my updates are not so quick. :) Until next time, then. Please favorite, follow or review! (or do all three!)