Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto

Hello all! This is the same story that I've already posted, it's just been completely rearranged. For the most part the content is the same though. I didn't want to delete the other story yet, I'm not sure I will... We'll see. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story better now. I like it better the way it is now.

Chapter 1

Shadows

I could hear them. The quiet, almost indistinct sound of feet thumping against the soft wood of tree branches before pushing off again to glide through the canopy of green that surrounded the little cottage. I could hear the fluttering of fabric, the slightly quickened breathing of the people encircling the house and I could hear my own breathing hitch as my eyes snapped open. My mother was sitting on the edge of the bed, her back straight and a look on her face that I had never seen there before.

"Momma?"

She didn't turn to look at me or acknowledge me, her long hair that was a strange black tinted purple, didn't move, nor did her lilac eyes that were staring at the curtained window on the far side of the room.

"Kaya, do you remember the path I showed you? The one I told you you would have to take one day?" Her voice was different, monotonous and cold, but there was something else too. A sadness that I didn't understand.

"Y-yes." I couldn't help but to let tears form in my eyes, I knew today would come eventually. Mom always said that it was unavoidable. I was just hoping that it wouldn't have been so soon.

"Get the box and go. Now."

I couldn't move. Now? I had to go now? I wasn't ready to go yet, I wasn't ready to give up my mother. The one and only person who had ever cared about me.

"Kaya," she snapped, making me jump at the harshness I wasn't used to hearing in her melodic voice. "I love you, Kaya, but it is time for you to go," her voice had softened and she finally turned to look at me, smiling a smile that didn't reach her beautiful eyes. "It's alright. We knew this would happen one day. You're going to be alright, they don't know about you and they can't sense you."

"But-"

"No buts, Kaya, you need to go. I raised you to be strong, now show me how strong you really are, ok?" And she smiled again, that sad smile that didn't reach her eyes and I knew I had to listen.

My mother didn't move when I got out of the bed to slip on a pair of black sandals or pull on a black cloak and pulled the hood over my hair that would stick out too much in the night. After all, white hair with a pale purple tint wasn't something that could easily blend into the darkness I was about to plunge myself into. I wanted to look back, I wanted to see her one last time, but even at five, I knew better. That last look back would have made it too hard to leave and I had promised that I would leave when this night came.

All the candles that were burning in the house went out with a quiet swoosh when I stepped up to the front door. Putting my hands together in front of me, I took a deep breath and focused on nothing else but the hand signs that I was letting my fingers form. Then I opened the door and slipped into the night, blending in with the darkness that surrounded me.

The forest outside was always so quiet, so dark, but tonight, it was like a strange cloud had settled over the house. The stars were blotted out and not a single ray of moonlight lit the surroundings, but the darkness was something I was familiar with and it didn't frighten me. What frightened me was the fact that I knew there were people out there, assassins, but I couldn't see them and I couldn't sense them.

It was easy to make my way to the south side of the house and into the tall, fluffy pines that surrounded it. However, finding the right tree was difficult. I was rarely let out of the house and I had only ever been into a town once. The time that I had been shown the path that would lead me to Konoha. The path that I needed to follow now that I had a plain wooden box in my hands, but I couldn't go yet.

I knew all about chakra, and I knew I had my limits. I was only five and still not able to use much of my own and I knew that what I was about to do was stupid, I was going to need all of my chakra if I planned on making it to Konoha alive. That didn't matter though as I climbed up the trunk of a tree that would give me a view of the little cottage that I had spent the last several months living in.

Shadows slid from between the trees on all sides of the little wooden shack. Several more shadows formed, joining the ones in the clearing and not appearing until they were less than a yard from the house, it was like they had been invisible up to that point when their bodies reformed into smoky figures, shrouded in black. The house that my mother sat in, alone, in the dark while I remained undetected, thanks in part to the same blood that flowed through me as the men and women who had just appeared and also because of the jutsu I had been taught long before I could even remember knowing what chakra and jutsu were. The way they moved would forever remain imprinted in my mind. It was like they were nothing but shadows and smoke, it was hard to follow all of their movements, they were so fast, it was like watching a dance. A scary one.

I heard the creak of the front door open and I saw my mother step out into the darkness. Her head moved from side to side until she settled her vision on one of the shadowy figures. She approached the figure until she was standing less than a foot away.

The flash of steel was so quick and the move done with such grace that I was stunned. I hadn't realized I had gasped until I heard something move beneath me and looked down to see a shadow at the base of the tree that hadn't been there a moment ago. With one last look back at my mother who was now on the ground and was being ruthlessly dragged by the hair to the house, I stood and as silently as possible, fled.

I used the trees for cover until I reached the road. Unfortunately, I had been detected and only knowing the way on the road, I had to stay close to it. That made it very hard to shake off the people pursuing me because I couldn't risk getting lost and make my promise that I would find my father when the day came to part from my mother a lie.

Never before had I run this fast, my legs hurt and I felt as if my heart was going to explode from my chest, but all the while I kept a tight hold on the box in my hands and ignored the pain. Three senbon and a kunai embedded themselves into a tree trunk only a few feet ahead of me, I winced, but kept running. Even after another senbon and a kunai sunk into the flesh of my right arm. I didn't scream, I made no sound at all, I just kept running.

How long I was running, I still don't know. I know that when mom had chosen the location for our new home, it was because it was close to Konoha and the walk had only taken about three hours. When I finally saw the gates of Konoha and the torches that lit the guard post there, I almost couldn't run anymore I was so relieved. But I had to keep running, the guards wouldn't help me, it was unlikely that any of them even realized I was out here or that I was being chased. After all, the Fumei clan had manged to stay secret for a reason.

A scream fell from my lips and I stumbled, but I know someone had heard me. There was a shout and I saw a torch move and someone run out of the gate. I veered out of the trees and ran headlong for the man that was surprised at seeing a young child alone in the forest in the middle of the night. His shock only grew when three kunai came out of the trees from attackers he couldn't see or even sense and I stopped running to fall face first into the dirt.

It was oddly warm, but that was probably due to all the blood that was pouring from my back and pooling around me.

There was more shouting and several shinobi left their posts at the gates to disappear into the forest. None of them, nor the Jounin or ANBU that were dispatched would ever find a single sign that there had been anyone but me in that forest. At least not until they found the burnt patch of grass where my home had once stood.

My eyelids were growing heavy and I was so tired, more tired than I had ever been before. I tried to yawn, but it came out as a choked, wet cough that sent droplets of red onto the dirt in front of me.

Voices. There were voices everywhere, one of them was telling me not to go to sleep and when I managed to let my eyes open I saw a young man with a cigarette in his mouth, he smiled crookedly at me and that was the last thing I remember before everything faded away.

~A/N~

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