Don't Walk Away

Chapter 1: "A Chance Encounter"


Disclaimer 1: I own nothing of Naruto and all copyright goes to Masashi Kishimoto and the respective parties. However, I do have ownership of my OC.

Disclaimer 2: I reserve the right to edit the Naruto story line in a matter that I see fit for this fanfiction... given that this is a fanfcition. I will however, try to make things as accurate as possible when it comes to this "ninja world."

Disclaimer 3: Strong language will be used throughout the story, so be advised


I originally wrote Don't Walk Away (DWA) when I was 14. However, at 21 I feel that I need to revisit this story and improve upon it since my writing style has changed drastically. For those of you who are new to this story, I say welcome... and for those of you who are returning from when I first wrote this story when I was 14, I say thank you for coming back and re-reading this story. I hope you all get as much out of this "re-write" as I do.

So as of 08/2017 I will try my best to edit and re-write this story... So, I bring you the new chapter of "Don't Walk Away"


"When the sun has set, no candle can replace it."

George R. R. Martin

A young, twenty-something kunoichi was running through the forest at a pace that would make a mere human think that their lungs would explode. Her long, pulled back, sky-blue hair was blown back from the wind that was rushing past her as she tried to evade the people who were chasing her. The kunoichi was used to going on high level missions, however, there was always something off since she stepped foot outside of Konoha about a month ago.

The mission itself was on the simple side of things, especially for one draped in the robes of the Anbu. The kunoichi was tasked to take a simple hidden scroll to the fire temple, and return with a scroll from the monks who practiced there. The problem was, this scroll held some key and important information that many other nations wanted.

That was how this kunoichi ended up where she was now, in hopes of making it back to the village and getting the important information back to Lady Tsunade. She figured that she could outrun the men and that would be preferable than getting into an altercation with them, especially being so close to Konoha. The kunoichi turned her masked face back to look at her assailants and she cursed to herself.

The men were starting to catch up to her. They were close enough that the kunoichi had to drop suddenly to the lower branches of the trees as a kunai flew in the air, ready to hit her square in the back if she wasn't careful. The blue haired nin shot a hand up and clasped the branch, swinging her body back to the top of the branches where she was once running.

She needed to be careful, given the fact that she was having a hard time sensing where her assailant's true position behind her was. Besides the fact of knowing they were close enough that a kunai would reach her, she figured that they had a sensory nin with them as well, blocking her. If she was in one spot and not trying to run back to the front gates it would be easy to find their exact location, but with time sensitive information…

The kunoichi knew that the gates of Konoha were getting closer and closer, even if she couldn't see them through the thick leaves and the setting sun. Dropping down again as the branches at the top of the trees started to become too thin to run across easily, the kunoichi focused her chakra into her feet to help her move more efficiently.

However, it was as if her pursuers knew what she was trying to do, and threw more kunai at her, but this time, the kunoichi took out one of her own metal blades, and used it to deflect the weapons coming towards her. The only problem was, was that there seemed to be an unusual number of kunai coming at her making her believe that some of them where mere shadows and a jutsu was used to make it seem like the kunai were multiplying.

Unfortunately for the kunoichi, when she deflected one of the kunai, she did it in such a way that she nicked her own bicep. In the instant that the metal sliced through her flesh, she smelled a weird odor coming from the blade. It took her a split second to figure it out, but she had been poisoned. The poison was so strong that the kunoichi felt the effects almost instantly. Her body had started to sweat even more and she could feel her sweat pool at the small of her back. Not only that, but her lungs started to tighten and her vision was becoming blurry.

Nevertheless, the woman pressed on. She knew that if she kept moving forward she would eventually make it—she just hoped that she was still alive when she delivered the scroll. Her pursuers were still far enough away that they kept throwing kunai at her, alerting her that even though her senses were being dulled, they hadn't gained any distance on her. Not only that, but the kunai were now wedging themselves into the trees as she ran past, making the kunoichi believe that there was hope of getting out of the situation.

With each step the blue-haired nin took, she felt the poison coarse through her veins and spread to the rest of her body. Her lungs started to make her cough for more air into her system, however, this feeling was only met by blood draining from her mouth. Her mind was beginning to tell her to stop running and to take a moment to breath but the kunoichi knew that if she did that, it would almost mean certain death.

Granted, as the kunoichi knew, her life was filled with horrible memories, but as she felt her conscious start to slip, all she thought about was getting the scroll to the Hokage and how she didn't want to die just yet. The woman shook her head as if to clear her thoughts and flashbacks that were becoming present in the front of her mind.

"Just a little farther…" The kunoichi gasped.

If she wasn't hallucinating, the gates of Konoha were about to appear in the distance and she knew that being a part of the Black Ops had special perks. If she was in the territory of the village and found the hidden village's crest that was craved into some of the surrounding trees, she could instantly transport herself to a place inside the village where she could complete her mission and receive some much-needed medical attention.

As her eye sight started to fade and her body screamed against her wishes, the kunoichi made a last-ditch effort and tried to rely on muscle memory of where the tree was. She never had to use it before and she knew that she never wanted to do so, however, desperate times called for desperate measures. So, she pushed off the branch she was running across and propelled herself forward, outstretching her arm and pumping her chakra into her hand. She was unable to see at this point, but she felt the familiar feeling of a seal craved into the trunk of the tree and the kunoichi would have smiled at her own abilities, but before she could react to anything, she felt herself falling downwards and slamming against something hard before she completely blacked out.


"Kakashi-sensei!"

"…"

"Kakashi-sensei!" exclaimed Naruto trying to get the jonin to acknowledge him.

"Hmm?" was the only response Naruto received as the white-haired nin never bothered to look up from his book.

"Who is the better shinobi? Sasuke… or me? I'm pretty sure it's me because I am going to be Hokage someday!" Naruto yelled loud enough that many of Konoha's villagers rolled their eyes at the boy in orange

"…"

Kakashi knew that sometimes it was better to let Naruto go on his rants without responding. The copy-cat nin knew that the powers that Naruto possessed could drastically make him stronger than Sasuke in the future, however, right now, Kakashi knew that Sasuke was the far-better genin. The way that Naruto and Sasuke acted around each other with their rivalry did remind Kakashi of his own rival: Gai. But that being said, Kakashi stood by his previous assessment.

The jonin had tuned out the yellow-haired adolescent that was still trying to persuade him that he was a better ninja than his teammate. Even now, as the sun was setting, Kakashi just couldn't shake the feeling that something was out of place. He had been feeling that way since he woke up and it had him on edge ever since.

"Naruto! Stop pestering Kakashi-sensai! We all know that you can never compete at the same level as Sasuke can!" shouted Sakura as she approached the two, bringing Kakashi out of his thoughts.

"Come on, Sakura-chan. You know just as well as I that—"

"Naruto… you Baka! You can't do anything… all you do is eat ramen!" shouted Sakura with her hands flying up into the air.

Kakashi watched as Sakura tried to punch Naruto. He always found it funny how Naruto would always take the abuse from his female teammate when Kakashi knew that he could easily block the punch she threw at him. Granted, when Sakura was older, Kakashi knew that he would make it a point to stay out of the way of Sakura's developing temper. In due time, he knew that that temper of hers would be put to the test and filtered into something more constructive. What that was, he had no idea, but he had a feeling that she would make a splendid ninja one day.

Kakashi supervised as two-thirds of his team bickered in front of him. He let out a soft sigh as he glanced up at the setting sun that was just below the trees surrounding Konoha, creating a purplish tint over the city as the darkness of night started to overtake the reds and oranges of the setting sun. That's when Kakashi noticed the hawk circling directly above him, almost as if the bird was a summoning of sorts.

He figured that the Hokage wanted to speak with him about something, but he had no idea what it was going to be about. A part of him knew he had to dismiss himself and see what his leader wanted from him, but the other part of himself wanted to have a relaxing night away from his team. Sighing deeply, Kakashi made up a quick lie to tell his students so he could excuse himself.

"Hey… I just remembered that I forgot that I had to go water my neighbor's plants. I'm sorry, but I will be leaving first" Kakashi said with a smile and chipper attitude.

"No way Kakashi-sensei! You're lying!" Sakura raised her eyebrows as she spoke not believing a word that her sensei was saying.

Kakashi vanished into a puff of white smoke and Sakura's words were the last he heard before he vanished. Arriving at the front of the Hokage's building, Kakashi walked inside and found himself directly outside of Tsunada's door. Kakashi was about to knock, but he heard the Hokage's voice instead.

"Kakashi, please come in."

The jonin noted that this conversation he was about to have must be important given that the Hokage was expecting him and that she knew it was him who was outside her door. So, Kakashi let himself in and let the door close behind him. He casually placed his hands in his pockets and stopped when he reached the center of the room watching Lady Tsunade as she peered out of the window.

"Kakashi… With great sorrow, I must inform you of this knowledge given you are the leader of team seven. I must admit that the Akasuki have been a little to quite lately. I feel like they are planning something big and I wanted to make sure that you were keeping a close eye on Naruto. I am also worried that Orochimaru may make another move on Sasuke soon. We believe that the Akasuki are plotting something big on a tremendously large scale… what that is, we have no idea… However, one of our finest Anbu members elected to partake in the mission of bringing back priceless information from the monks at the fire temple…"

"If I may speak freely…" Kakashi spoke waiting for the Hokage's response and continued once he saw her nod her head yes.

"What do you think the fire temple has that could help aid in our findings about the Akasuki's activities. I have no doubt with the skills needed for the Anbu… but I must ask, besides what this information is about, a general group from the village comprised of genin could have gone through with this mission. I just wonder—"

"We wanted this to be of absolute secrecy, and there are few who I trust, even within this village. I fear that with this information, it could lead to other villages trying to plot something against us and after the third Hokage passed, this village cannot afford another attack like the last one…

"Then why are you trusting me?"

Tsunade turned her head and looked directly at Kakashi.

"I know that you would never betray this village, you have given up so much for it. That is why when I sent the Anbu out, I made sure that she knew that it was a voluntary mission… If she was captured or anyone asked, it was supposed to be a personal mission to get me medical supplies that are only found at the temple… I was serious about protecting this village, and I know you are too…"

"I still don't know why—"

Kakashi's words were cut off as a member of the Anbu appeared in a thin cloud of smoke above Tsunade's desk. The two of them were in shock as they watched the Anbu crash onto Tsunade's desk scattering all the documents that were once neatly stacked on top of it. Kakashi and Tsunade's eyes watched the shinobi on her desk and once reality kicked in, Tsunade rushed forward, and Kakashi completed the same motion.

"Shit… Kakashi… Shizune I need you in here now!" Tsunade screamed from her office.

Kakashi watched as the female Anbu member laid on Tsunade's desk unmoving. However, the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up when the woman in front of him let out an ear-piercing scream.

"Kakashi! Just don't stand there! I need you to hold her down" Tsunade yelled to get Kakashi's attention.

The Anbu that had fallen was the same blue-hair kunoichi that had been running through the forest earlier. However, this time, her hair was sprawled out on the desk and she had a haggard and drained appearance. Her skin lacked so much color that it looked white and her chest heaved up and down as if she couldn't seem to catch her breath.

"Shizune, where the hell—"

Lady Tsunade grimaced when she was cut off by the blue-hair nin crying out in pain. Kakashi wondered why the Anbu in front of him was allowing herself to behave in this manner. He let go of his rule-book a while ago, but somethings are just fundamental for survival being in this line of work, but before Kakashi could comment, Tsunade started to order Shizune around.

"Shizune, make sure you stay clear of that cut on her arm… She has been severely poisoned and I don't need more people falling ill to this…"

Kakashi tried to keep the kunoichi as still as possible as she struggled against his hold. He knew that Shizune and Tsunade were working as hard as they could to get the poison out of her system, making Kakashi realize that the kunoichi wasn't screaming out of her own volition. She was screaming because her body had finally started to shut down and she had no consciousness of how her body was now trying to relieve the pain it was under.

"Tsunade-sama… I don't know if—"

"I am not going to let her die on my desk tonight, Shizune…"

The two women worked on the dying kunoichi, extracting the poison to the best of their abilities. The extraction process must have been a painful one, since the kunoichi tried to move away and out of Kakashi's hold, every time the two medical nins took out the poison. Kakashi could see the Anbu's chest start to rise and fall and prepared himself for another one of her screams.

"Please… hold on… Kakashi, I need you to focus your chakra and push it into her body to help us speed up this process… If we don't hurry…" Tsunade's voiced strained

Kakashi never heard Lady Tsunade finish her sentence and instead he did exactly as he was told. For some reason, he had a feeling that this was why he had been feeling uneasy all day… it was to prepair him for this moment when he would be holding down a member of the Anbu as the Hokage performed life-saving med-ninjutsu on her.

However, just as the three of them thought they were getting through the woods, the kunoichi was able to get an arm free, and not expecting it, Shizune was knocked backwards.

"Shit…" Tsunade muttered under her breath.

Tsunade tried to reach for the Anbu's mask but knew that she needed two hands to fish out the rest of the poison from her body.

"Kakashi, I need you to remove her mask… I need her to calm down so I can get the last of this poison out of her body… I think that the mask is making it so she still thinks she is trying to get away from the bastards who poisoned her…"

"Lady Tsunade… I know that—"

"I am giving you permission to remove her mask… I know that the laws state that you're not supposed to remove a mask of an Anbu member… but I am pardoning you… You have to remove her mask or this girl is going to die on this desk tonight…"

Kakashi glanced down at the petite girl on the desk as he watched her chest rise and fall with labored breathing. He knew he shouldn't have, but he slightly hesitated when he lifted off her mask. Evidently, the mask fell from her face and onto the floor, causing it to crack, and Kakashi now focused on the kunoichi's facial features.

It was clear that she was in a tremendous amount of pain as her face was contorted with it. However, Tsunade was right as the kunoichi had started trying to relax, almost if it was a subconscious feeling of safety when her mask was removed. To Kakashi, the woman in front of him started to spark a few memories that he had thought he had forgotten and he wondered why he was remembering these things at this moment.

"Okay Kakashi, I got the rest of the poison, you can let her go now…" Tsunade spoke with confidence.

Kakashi lifted his arms and was about to back away from the kunoichi when he felt a soft hand weakly grip his wrist. That was when his memories really started to hit the front of his mind with full force. His dark, navy-blue almost charcoal grey eyes, met her light blue ones and he was instantly captivated by them. However, the small moment the two nin's shared was a fleeting one as the kunoichi dropped her hand from his wrist and closed her eyes. He watched at the woman in front of him finally went into a semi-peaceful slumber.

"It seems that our meeting has taken a different turn, so when it is convenient for you, come back another day and we can continue to discuss what we previously were before we were interrupted."

Kakashi nodded his head and looked down at the kunoichi on the desk one more time before asking a question that came to mind.

"When she," Kakashi pointed to the girl on the desk, "wakes up, tell her I apologize and will re-reimburse her for the cost of cracking her mask. I know that—"

"Kakashi, I am certain that the last thing on her mind will be getting a new mask when she wakes up."

"How do you—"

"I know because I will simply tell her that the young boy she saved all those years ago, had finally repaid the favor."

Kakashi looked at the Hokage with curiosity and skepticism. He couldn't recall a time when he was younger that he was saved by someone with the same attributes as the kunoichi in front of him.

"I'm not sure I completely understand you right now Lady Tsunade"

Tsunade let out a small sigh picked up one of the files that had fallen off of her desk and she handed it to Kakashi.

"When I first came here I made it a point to read up on all of the shinobi in this village. I pulled your file for our discussion today and I found, even though it is a small paragraph in passing, that an Anbu had saved your life when you just made the rank of jonin… I tried to look into the details of the event, but it seemed that it was lost with some of the other war documents. Nevertheless, I was able to cross reference this paragraph with the Anbu's activities… and well…"

"You linked it to the kunoichi that is currently on your desk?" Kakashi raised his eyebrows not believing what Tsunade was saying.

"As crazy as it sounds, this kunoichi saved your life Kakashi and without her, I am almost certain you would have never made it to where you are standing today."