Hello, everyone! So this is my first fanfic, so feel free to R&R, but plz be nice. Of course I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. However, Kenchi and Akane are OCs, as well as some other characters that are not in the series. The story takes place a few years after Boruto the Movie when the kids are all around 15. Btw, I gave the backgrounds of the OCs. You might be left in the dark about some things if you choose not to read them, but it won't affect the plot if you want to skip it. Anyway, here are the backgrounds:

Name: Kenchi Sokuyaka
Age: 15
Description: Short black hair with blonde highlights. His eyes are a silvery gray color, and some have said they glow in the dark light of the moon. He is tall but not scrawny. He has toned muscles from nightly training since he was a boy. He has a tattoo on his forehead above his right eye. It is the Japanese character for Reborn. To symbolize his rebirth into the Kazekage's family.
Personality: He is calm and collected. He is strong and silent. But he is not cold. He has a warm heart, like the desert sun. However, he does seem to have Gaara's old temper. But, only if he is insulted and ridiculed to an extreme level, does it come out.
Rank: Anbu Black Ops Officer.
Specialty: Surveillance and Hand-To-Hand combat.
Gear: Has a Raccoon mask for his Anbu operations. It is to honor his adoptive father, Kazekage Gaara. He has three medium sized gourds filled with different styles of sand on a strap on his back. The Red Gourd has the character for Strength on it, meaning its and is course and rough and strong. The Black Gourd has the character for Iron, for the ground iron sand inside it. The Yellow Gourd has the character for Smooth, for the fine and smooth sand he has inside it.
Abilities: Uses the fine sand in the yellow gourd to send out among people and can hear conversations via the vibrations in the sand. He can also track people by creating a copy of his eye using that sand and send it out to the place where he wishes to look. But, he does have a family ability. Something that ran in his family. He has a high regeneration ability. A small gash or cut can be sealed in a few seconds. A longer cut r stab wound would be sealed and healed in a matter of minutes.
Fighting Style: Does not use jutsu, but rather chakra manipulation in the sands and uses mainly taijutsu. He uses the rough sand to create shields and and to reinforce his strikes in taijutsu. He uses the Iron sand to create weapons in which he uses to fight with. He uses the fine and smooth sand for long distance fighting. Making and manipulating whips and bullets to fight enemies from yards away.
Bio: Kenchi was born into a rogue group of ninja. No village to call their own. Wandering aimlessly through the Land of Fire. The Sokuyaka Clan. Back when the Akatsuki was still in the beginning stages, and they didn't have many embers, they took in the clan and used them for strike attacks and taking out jinchuriki. But, as the Akatsuki grew, they used the Sokuyaka Clan less and less. Then, once the Akatsuki was destroyed, the clan ran around raiding villages and doing whatever they pleased. Kenchi was four when his clan tried to raid the Sand Village. Only to them be decimated by Gaara, the Kazekage. The whole clan, except for Kenchi was destroyed and killed. Gaara saw Kenchi and knew that he was innocent. He did not deserve to be killed. So, Gaara took Kenchi to the orphanage in the village. As a year passed, Gaara kept an eye on him, but he saw that Kenchi was being ridiculed and ignored, rejected, much like how he was when he was a child. This gave him clarity and decided to adopt Kenchi as his son. Kenchi was a smart and well mannered boy. He was smart, almost on level with his Uncle Shikamaru. Gaara was proud of his son and he then decided to pass some of his work to his brother, Kankuro and on nights and early mornings, Gaara would train Kenchi in his Sand Style of jutsu. Once Kenchi learned the basics, he began to train by himself and make his own styles and variations of the jutsu. At the age of twelve. His skills were on par with many Chunin level ninja. He knew he wasn't well in groups or teams. So, he decided to join the Anbu Black Ops. He has been very successful for three years.

Name: Akane
Parents: Kankuro and Shizune
Age: 15
Description: Short, curly, deep red hair that's faded at the sides and layered on top. Her right arm is a puppet arm. Her eyes are a light brown color. She is 5'5" and curvy.
Personality: She is spontaneous and funny. She's very clever, and sharp-witted. She is strong, but quiet when you first meet her. She's not very compassionate and will most likely laugh if a friend falls down the stairs, but she's very reliable when it comes down to it. She's good at pep talks and a natural leader.
Rank: B-rank (Jonin) squad leader
Specialty: Assassination specialist
Gear: Has a fox mask for her ANBU operations to symbolize the color of her hair (deep red). She has a hidden compartment in each of the fingers on her puppet arm that hold different useful tools for battle. Her medical/weapons pouch on her belt holds antidote
injection shots, poison, senbon, and tantō.
Abilities: Her thumb contains knives that inject hallucination-inducing poison on contact, her index finger is a senbon launcher equipped with ammunition covered in lethal poison, her middle finger shoots paralysis poison clouds, her ring finger releases a ninja blade from the palm of her hand for her to use (just a regular blade), and her pinkie sends an electric wire out to stun the opponent.
Fighting Style: She is a very well-rounded kunoichi, with skill on the battlefield and off, so she can combine her skills like her bukijutsu and medical ninjutsu to assist her as she fights. She prefers using poison mainly to attack. Since she doesn't have as much skill in self defense, her Mystical Palm technique can come in handy.
Bio: Kankuro met Shizune, Akane's mother, while accompanying Gaara to a business meeting with the Hokage of that time (Tsunade). Two years after the 4th Great Ninja War, they had Akane. Because her mother lives in the Hidden Leaf, Akane was born there. She was born with a defect and her arm came out so shriveled and twisted that it had to be removed. The kunoichi who delivered her, Sakura Haruno, also performed the surgery. Afterwards, Akane moved with Shizune to live with her father, Kankuro. Years later, Kazekage Gaara adopted a son from the Sokuyaka Clan named Kenchi. Because Gaara had made the decision to train Kenchi himself, he passed on some of his paperwork duties to Kankuro. Because of this, Akane had to spend less time with her. Although Akane was upset by this, she understood. Soon, Gaara had nothing left to teach Kenchi and the extra paperwork went back to him. However, Akane was still curious about the boy named Kenchi who must've had major potential if he were to be trained by the Kazekage himself. She came across him training one day and they quickly became friends. Kenchi graduated the academy early and went on to become a Chunin at age twelve and he was chosen by the Kazekage to join the Hidden Sand's Special Operations force. Inspired by his accomplishments, Akane decided to request that the Kazekage let her join also. Gaara agreed that her set of skills might prove useful for the ANBU Black Ops and let her join after she graduated from the academy.

Chapter One (A/N: bold=narration, italics=thoughts, and normal font=dialogue)

Kenchi was waiting at the Sand Village gate. He had his gloves pulled on tight and maneuvered his fingers through the air as he used his sand from his Iron Gourd to make miniature versions of weapons to pass the time. His raccoon mask was placed on the back of his head and his hair waved in the desert wind. His eyes shimmered slightly because of their silvery color. The tattoo on his forehead above his left eye read kanji for, "reborn".

A villager passed him and spat at his feet, flashing him a disgusted grimace as he passed him.

"Horrid monster..." he muttered. Kenchi sighed when he heard that. He was the last surviving member of a clan. The Sokuyaka clan. They were a grunt force for the Akatsuki during their beginning stages. They then became a rogue ninja group who raided and pillaged villages and travelers. The clan has the ability to heal fast. A large cut can be sealed in seconds...and Gaara eradicated them after the Akatsuki was disbanded. He spared Kenchi's life and adopted him because he noticed that the boy suffered just as he had when he was Kenchi's age. Gaara trained Kenchi as his student and son.

"I will change their opinion...I am not a monster..." Kenchi said as he sat in the sand and removed his back strap. He looked at his gourds. He uncorked them one by one and checked their contents. The red gourd was filled with its rough and course sand. The black gourd was filled with the iron sand. The yellow gourd was filled with the smooth sand. The red gourd had the symbol for strength carved and painted on it. The black gourd had the symbol for iron, and the yellow gourd had the symbol for smooth. Then he slipped the gourds back onto the strap and slung it over his back and fastened it.

"Where is this guy?" he said, sending the sand back into his gourd. He looked around and yawned. He had been up since 5 AM going through his morning workout. His adoptive father, Gaara, drilled into him when he first took him in, "Train to be strong, to protect the weak." It's something a friend of his taught him...Naru...something. He then removed the Anbu mask from the back of his head and looked at it. He chose the raccoon after his father. Raccoons are famous in the sand village. The Shukaku was a raccoon demon. He sighed and placed it back onto the back of his head. He took out the painted and dyed sands he carried with him.

"My partner is very late...We were ordered to meet here at 8:00 AM exactly..." he thought looking at his phone, seeing it said 8:03. He groaned and then began to control his painted sand. He was making little figurines out of them and little imitations of art he had seen over the years. I sat there and made combinations of arts and portraits with the dyed sands.

"Shoot, I'm late! I knew I shouldn't have stopped to help every old lady I saw..." Akane thought as she sprinted to the village gate, "The Kazekage is gonna kill me for this...maybe I can convince my partner to not report this little detail in the mission..." As she approached the gate, she saw Kenchi leaning against the post. "Kenchi?" she thought, "He's my partner this time? Yes! I'm saved!"
"Kenchiiii!" she called out. "Gomennn!"

Kenchi blushed and the painted sand fell to the ground when he saw it was her. He turned his head slightly and looked away as he waved his hand in recognition of her. "Akane...It's good to see you. It's been a year right?" he said putting on a cool demeanor now that he had time to gather his composure.

Akane put her hands on her knees to catch her breath as she finally reached Kenchi. "Ehh, it's been—pant—a whole year—gasp—already?" she managed to say between heavy breaths. She straightened up to look Kenchi. He really has changed a lot since she last saw him. For one, his blonde highlights are even lighter now... "Hey, Kenchi, why're you blushing?" She got closer to study his face.

Kenchi turned away and blushed even more. "You...You've grown since I last saw you...it surprised me...That's all..." he said. He then cleared his throat. He looked back at Akane and sighed. "My father should be here soon with the mission details... " he thought to himself.

"Hmm...?" Akane hummed in slight confusion. She looked down at herself. "Yeah, I guess I have. And so have you! Check it out, you're taller than me now!" She reached up to pat the top of his and compare it to her height. Then suddenly she remembered why they were here. "Hey, where's Kazekage-san?" she moved away from Kenchi to scan the area.

Then Kenchi heard Akane's father, Lord Kankuro, talking on the phone and his father, Gaara, was beside him, walking with the composure you get as Kazekage. Kankuro then walked over to Akane and hangs up the phone. "Man, that Sakura girl sure can gab..."

"Kenchi," said Gaara and looked down to him. "Father," he said, bowing to him.

"Daddy-o!" Akane said to her dad, "'Sup?" She was about to give her father a hearty hug, but then she looked over at Kenchi for a moment and quickly bowed as well, getting down to business, "K-Kazekage-san. You've requested our presence for a mission, I assume?" She didn't know why she was getting so nervous. She had spoken to the Kazekage before. "I guess I had never seen him with Kenchi before. They act so formal." From the corner of her eye, she could see her dad facepalming. "Gimme a break! It's my first day on the job!" I thought.

Gaara then looked at the two of us and he handed us each a scroll. "Due to the recent breaks of rogue ninja groups, All Anbu operatives are being assigned partners. You two are now a team. All the information is in your scroll, Akane. And in Kenchi's scroll is your mission," he said.

"There has been a rash of burglaries following a caravan that is to pass through our village. The people of the caravan sent a distress signal to us in hopes that we help them get rid of the burglars. These are A-rank rogue ninja, so they are no joke. Your assignment is to follow undercover and stop whoever is running it," said Kankuro.

"Ehhh?!" Akane thought to herself, "I'm Kenchi's partner for good now. Score! Now it doesn't matter so much if I'm late!" As soon as they received their orders the Kazekage left to attend to other business and Akane's father followed. When they were gone she swiftly turned around and hugged Kenchi, practically knocking him over. "Yay, Kenchi! It's just you and me now. Hey, thanks for not ratting me out to the Kazekage that I was late today!"

Kenchi couldn't talk because her chest was in his face and it muffled his voice. He patted her back to get her off him. He was reluctant to even move because he wasn't sure what to even do in this kind of situation.

"Hee hee, you always get so easily flustered, Ken-chan!" She finally pulled away just in time to watch him jump at the little nickname. "Haha, so you remember the name I used to call you when we were little."

"Yes I do...I feel like I have outgrown that name now...but call me that if you wish," he said sighing and looking around. He stood up and unrolled the scroll. "OK...so it seems that we are to meet the caravan past the forest...here," he said pointing to the map.

A little peeved that Kenchi got so serious so quickly, she looked at the scroll. "I wanted to talk with him a little more..." she thought. "Well, that's not too far from the Sand Village. We have to make sure to intercept them here before the border or else we might fail since we'll lose the advantage of the sand dunes. We'll ambush them on sight. Let's get going." Even though she had also switched to "Anbu assassin mode," she was still pouting.

Kenchi sighed (he does that a lot). "We can talk on the way. After all, we have a lot to catch up on," he said infusing chakra into his feet. He started dashing on the sand, leaving no footprints.

"Eh? Kenchi has improved. That's quite an advanced technique. I guess that's why he has an IQ of 200. He's almost as smart as the legendary Lord Shikamaru Nara of the Leaf." Akane followed Kenchi closely since Anbu must never break from their group unless specifically instructed to do so. As they ran silently, leaving no traces of evidence behind, a question popped into Akane's head. "Ne...Kenchi, were you alright the year I didn't see you? I know some people in the village still hate what your parents did. I hope they didn't give you a hard time about it..." This was a hard area of conversation for Kenchi. The thing is, sometimes they can talk about it, and sometimes they can't. Akane just felt that she had to ask…for his sake.

Kenchi stopped dead in his tracks. "...I was attacked in my sleep. Some of the other villagers tied me up...They cut me all over and watched me regenerate, calling me an inhuman monster. Father was the only one who stopped them." he looked up at the sky (a habit he and Akane both shared) and continued, "…Even though they did this to me, I forgave them. I understand their fear. I do not hold their actions against them," he said with a look of determination, "I will change their minds on who I am...I am not a monster..." he concluded, dashing back into the sand.

So, what did you think of the first chapter? Another chapter is coming out soon, if people like it.