A soft pant was all that betrayed the girl's fleeing footsteps. She was running away from eight years of torture, solitude, and pain. She's a girl on a mission, and determined to get to the end. Panting, she increased her speed, swerving to shake off any pursuers. Soon her frantic running was down to a slow, ground covering jog. Stopping at a clear mountain stream, she paused to drink. Her head flew up when she heard people talking, her stance wary. Curious, she crept forward, hoping to get a good look at the ninja who were nearby. She could tell they were ninja, from the plans they were making.

"Why can't we just head back to Leaf and get our next mission from Lord Hokage?" A young male voice said. The girl shook long, unkempt black hair off her ears and kept listening. There were sounds of a scuffle, a loud yelp and an exasperated sigh.

"Look, Naruto…I intend to give you some survival training in these woods, seeing how they are unfamiliar to the three of you." Another voice said. The voice was rather low, with a quiet drone to it.

"Naruto, let's just do the training, the sooner it's over, the sooner we can go." Another male voice growled. Shifting slightly, the hiding girl got a glimpse of the people she was listening to. A moody looking boy with black hair was leaning against a tree, idly tossing a kunai into the air. Sitting next to him was a disgruntled blonde boy, his blue eyes narrowed as he glaring into the standing boy's black eyes. Three marks that looked oddly like whiskers were on both sides of his face. A pink haired girl was packing up her belongings, green eyes intent on her work. A tall man with silvery gray hair, wearing a mask and had his headband tilted to cover his left eye was standing in front of the three kids; his visible eye was lazy and bored looking. He was wearing the outfit of a Jonin. The girl sighed and decided to stop hiding and just be captured by who-ever-those-four-are. Grumbling to herself, she stepped out of the bushes, startling the ninja in front of her. All had drawn kunai and the blonde threw one, the girl didn't even blink as it struck her shoulder, tearing the thin shirt she wore. She only blinked at the line of blood pouring down her shoulder. The man in the Jonin vest looked at the sickeningly thin girl standing before them. She looked like she was going to collapse at any second. Her eyes seemed to flicker a blood red with black markings in them. The black haired boy saw this and stiffened, looking at the new arrival with calculating eyes.

"Who are you? What do you want?" The Jonin asked, warily placing himself between the girl and his students. She sighed and her knees gave out. Falling heavily onto the ground, she fought to sit upright.

"My name is Crystal. As to want I want, I just want to get away from the dungeon that I've been in for eight years and find a safe place to finish my ninja training." Crystal sighed, her hair blown back by the wind that had been steadily picking up. The sky had taken in an ill humor; dark clouds were obscuring the warm sunlight. The three ninja behind the Jonin glanced up.

"Kakashi-sensei, should we begin to head back to Leaf?" The girl with pink hair said, green eyes worried. The silver haired man paused for a second.

"Yea, we should. And Crystal will be coming with us. Sasuke, Naruto do you guys have your stuff ready?" The said boys nodded and shouldered their packs. The pink haired girl walked over to Crystal and held out her hand.

"Need help getting up? My name's Sakura." She said as she helped pull the other girl up. Crystal nodded and followed the guys silently. She glared at her legs when they started shaking and kept walking. Naruto and Sasuke were fighting as they walked, Sakura would look at them and mutter to herself. Kakashi was keeping a watchful eye on all four of the kids as they walked. Naruto finally fell silent; Sasuke was being Sasuke, Sakura a thoughtful look on her face. The newcomer had her eyes on the ground and she stumbled more than once on the uneven turf. A loud thunderclap sounded suddenly, startling the group. Naruto grumbled, Sasuke looked darker than usual, Sakura seemed scared. Only Crystal looked as though she could care less if it rained or not. Kakashi looked up and frowned. The sky was darkening steadily and they still had two hours before they would reach Leaf Village. Crystal's head suddenly flew up, her eyes wide and scared. She alone felt the dark chakra that was tracking her down, the chakra of a man who would do anything to reach his goals. She whimpered quietly as Sasuke's eyes narrowed, Sakura gasped, Naruto growled, and Kakashi's visible face went pale.

It's him…That guy, what does he want with Sasuke? Or does he want the girl? Kakashi thought as he stopped his group.

"Guys, we need to run now. Use chakra and run through the treetops. Let's go!" All of the ninja jumped into the trees and began leaping through the branches. Naruto and Sakura were in front, Sasuke behind them, Crystal was panting quietly as she tried to keep up with the others. Kakashi was at the back, thinking quietly. Crystal slipped on a branch and vanished in midair. She reappeared on the next branch, eyes wide, and face pale.

I can't keep this up for much longer…If I try to, I'll fall out of the trees… But I cannot allow myself to look weak in front of these guys… She thought as she forced herself to go on. After another ten minutes of this forced travel, Crystal fainted. Kakashi was too far behind to catch her; Naruto and Sakura were in front and did not even know that the girl had fainted. Sasuke heard her footsteps falter. Kakashi's eye went wide as he wondered to himself.

I thought that Uchiha Sasuke would never show compassion for someone in front of the others… Sasuke had flipped over backwards and caught Crystal before anything terrible had the option to happen. He kept jumping as though carrying an unconscious girl in his arms was normal. Kakashi sighed in relief, causing Naruto to look back. When he saw the usually uncaring Sasuke, a small smile popped onto his face and he quickly turned around before Sasuke could see him. A fast, light rain began to fall as they reached the familiar woods of the Hidden Leaf Village. A smile was on Naruto's face as the group stopped at the gate to be let in. Kakashi tapped Sasuke's shoulder as they walked in.

"We have to take her to Lord Hokage, now." Kakashi said voice grave Sasuke merely nodded and shifted the girl in his arms. She was now sleeping and squeaked when he moved her, curled into him even more. Sasuke scowled and said nothing, just followed his teacher as he walked toward Hokage Tower. Lightning flared across the sky as the three walked into the building. Kakashi grimaced then knocked on the Hokage's door.

"Enter." A low voice said, waking Crystal. She blinked blearily in the light. Kakashi sighed before speaking.

"It is Kakashi Hatake and Sasuke Uchiha, We are bringing a girl that we found while returning from our last mission. She wears no headband, but is a ninja." He said. Crystal suddenly realized that she was being held by a boy and turned red, saying quietly, "I can stand on my own." Sasuke looked down at her, a slightly annoyed look in his eyes, and he grumbled, "Better not take any chances of you falling down." She nodded, when it hit her.

His last name is Uchiha? How is that possible…When I was being tortured that day, I heard the entire clan was killed…She mused to herself, frowning slightly, then staring as the door in front of them flew open and they were beckonedin. Sitting behind a simple wooden desk was the Hokage. His hair was hidden under the Hokage hat and he had sharp, calculating eyes, and looked to be in his sixties or better. He put aside the papers he had been reading as the group came in, meeting Crystal's eyes. The black haired girl was shocked as the Hokage broke the Genjutsu Crystal had been using to change her eyes from the Byakyugan. Lord Hokage's eyes narrowed slightly, seemingly seeing that there was a lot more to this kid than met the eye.

"Sasuke, you can set her down in the chair next to the window." The Hokage said quietly. Kakashi was staring into space, and was brought back to reality by the village leader.

"Where did you find her?"

"She found us. She was running away from Sound Village's direction, but she has no headband to prove she is from any village. She said she was running away from torture and a dungeon." The ninja replied. Lord Hokage looked disturbed as he mentioned Sound Village. Sasuke was leaning against the door, his hands inside his pockets, looking rather bored. Lord Hokage turned to Crystal and began to question her.

"Please state your full name, village, age, and birthday." Crystal's eyes took on a terrified cast as she began to talk.

"My name is Crystal Hyuga. I'm from Leaf, sixteen years old, and my birthday is November twenty-first." The Hokage's eyes had widened slightly when he heard the girl's name, but then narrowed suspiciously.

"You were leaving Sound Village, how can you be from Leaf? I have heard of no one with that name in this village."

"Of course you don't… I've only been missing for eight years. My profile went on Missing-nin, for three years, and then they changed it to dead. So I'm practically a supposedly dead Shinobi walking around again. Check the old records if you don't believe me. I'm listed in the Hyuga Clan." Crystal said lightly, trying to look as though the talk was nothing to worry about and something she went through quite regularly. Lord Hokage thought for a minute then began shuffling through the piles of paper in a drawer. After a minute or so, he pulled two sheets of paper out. Reading them over, Lord Hokage frowned slightly.

"Okay, your name is listed, the date you went missing, your ninja rank at that time, and when they said you were dead. What bothers me is the fact that your skills are not listed, nor the missions you had gone on." The Hokage said. Crystal sighed and closed her eyes; she had nothing more to say. Crystal knew that her old teacher probably tore out her records when she had been missing. The Hokage muttered darkly to himself and rubbed his forehead, feeling an impending headache.

"I'll have to look in this a little more. For now you may stay in the village, evidence proves everything you have told us so far as true. You shall stay with Hinata Hyuga until we can settle something else out. Kakashi, you know where Hinata stays, correct? " Kakashi nodded, he already knew he was going to have to show Crystal the way. Lord Hokage smiled slightly and waved them out of his office. Once out, Sasuke turned and started walking for home, hurrying because the rain was coming down harder than ever. Kakashi took the now silent Crystal down the road to Hinata's house. Once there, he knocked lightly. Hinata opened the door with e quiet," Hello." Smiling Kakashi replied, "Hello Hinata, would it be ok if Crystal was to stay here until the Hokage can get her settled elsewhere?" Hinata nodded and stepped aside to let Crystal inside.

"See you around Hinata."

"Goodbye." Turning around, Hinata found the new girl was watching her with the same silvery lavender eyes that somehow had no pupils. Hinata's eyes widened at the sight.

"You're a Hyuga?" She said, not stuttering for once. Crystal closed her eyes, Hinata looked confused, and Crystal smiled.

"I am. My name is Crystal." She said, smiling gently. Hinata paused a minute, then smiled in return.

"Lets get you settled in, and then we can do something to pass the rest of this rainy day…I wish it wasn't raining, I had to listen to Kiba complain for most of the walk home!"

"Who's Kiba?"

"He's my teammate. His family raises tracker dogs, and he was complaining about the rain making it impossible to do anything."

"I see…"

The two girls spent the rest of the day talking, and getting to know each other. Crystal was learning more and more about how much her village had changed since she had gone missing. Soon the sun was going down, but no one could tell due to the billowing black clouds that were moving in. At nine, Hinata and Crystal were working together on their dinner. After they had eaten, Hinata helped Crystal to set up her bed, then after they had said goodnight, silence covered the house and the village.

Outside the village gates, two people stood, watching the guards pacing on their cold, wet, lonely vigils. Standing there, his black mane of hair whipping around due to the winds was one of the most dangerous ninja. He narrowed his yellow eyes with their peculiar purple markings around them, growling quietly. His assistant watched soundlessly as the guards switched shifts, occasional lightning flashes illuminating his glasses and the black eyes behind them, silver hair tied back into a ponytail.

"Is it time, Lord Orochimaru?" He said voice was emotionless and dark. The once revered Snake Sannin stretched against a lightning flash the illuminated him from behind, casting an eerie shadow on his white face, mouth twisted in an unpleasant, evil smirk as a cold, darkly evil chuckle escaped him.

"Yess Kabuto. It iss time." He said, his voice was quiet, a silvery hiss that would cause a shiver to run down most ordinary ninja's spines. But not Kabuto or his followers, they were used to his hissing voice, terrible in his fury, chilling even when he was happy. A smirk twisted Kabuto's face.

"I have some very interesting news on that girl who escaped earlier." Kabuto said.

"Really? What did you discover?"

"She's of the Hyuga lineage, according to what I've overheard, she was born a full Hyuga. " Kabuto said a small note of triumph in his voice. A drawn out hiss was the Sannin's only reply. His yellow, snake eyes were narrowed.

Hyuga, eh? Yesss. She will do nicely for my plan, but I am not ready yet. In a month perhaps, but not now…Sleep in a peace that will not last Leaf Village. By not preparing for war, keeping the ninja prepared, you have signed the contract of your own destruction!

"Let us return home, Kabuto. We have much planning to do." Orochimaru growled, motioning in the vague direction of the Village Hidden in Sound. Kabuto nodded, and both of them vanished, disappearing as a forgotten nightmare, while it may seem to be gone, it will return to force fear into a ninja's eyes, panic in their senses, horror and dread in the heart, all the emotions that will end lives in a bloody war where screams tear through the air. Both clear and crimson tears fall like rain, and signal the end of an entire village's dreams.