Prologue: The Defection

As soon as the first brick crumbles, you can expect the entire tower to collapse.

It all started with the defection of the Senshi clan.

It all happened so quickly, Emiko would say, Deidara would say, and the Tsuchikage would say, and anyone who asked about it would be told similarly. And when the event was later listed in the history textbooks that children would skim through in the Academy, underneath the title, the first line you'd read would be: 'The defection occurred on the 12th June and was put down by the skilled jonin of Iwagakure within a day.'

And yet it was common knowledge in Iwagakure, in fact, that the defection was long, it was drawn out and it was painful to watch as everything happened and nobody could do nothing about it.

And although in the textbooks, the Senshi Defection would be listed as a single case that occurred as a spur of the moment event, nobody would really believe that to be the case. Anyone in Iwagakure would know that many events led up to the defection, and even more led up to those events, and so on and so forth, and they'd all know that nothing in the textbooks was quite to be trusted.

But even then, all the proof there was to disprove the textbooks remained in rumours and speculation.

Emiko sprinted alongside her mother and sister, chakra urging her muscles to move faster. The masked men were gaining on them.

"Keep going," her mother panted. "We're nearly there. They can't attack us in Kusagakure territory." The only response that Emiko could give was a short nod. Her eyebrows knit together in worry. She wondered how long her mother could keep up the defence against the two masked men behind them, what with the whimpering five-year old girl in her arms.

A kunai whizzed past her mother and towards Emiko. She plucked it out of the air with some effort and thrust it back at them, this time attaching it with an explosive tag. The closest ANBU faltered in his step, and Emiko took the opportunity to increase her speed even further. Judging by his short stature and the lack of markings on his porcelain mask, he was obviously one of those ANBU-in-training. Although he undoubtedly held huge potential, he currently he was only about as strong as a chuunin.

Her lungs and muscles burned, but it was easy to ignore the sensation with the adrenaline coursing through her blood. It was easy to tell herself that this was just another mission and she would be home soon and everything would be alright. It was so, so easy – tantalisingly easy – to tell herself that everything would be fine.

Emiko closed her eyes and tried to detect other shinobi in the area. It was no use. She couldn't even notice the chakra of the ANBU-in-training that was hot on their heels – there was no way that she'd be able to sense an actual ANBU! She could still notice everything around her though; she had gotten so used to training blindfolded that even running in unfamiliar terrain didn't pose a challenge.

"Nee-san!"

Emiko's eyes flew open. She dug her heels into the ground, skidding to a halt, although she knew that it was lethal, that by staying still she was practically begging to be killed. But she was placing distance between her and her family; it meant that one of them would hopefully be able to escape. Her hands moved to her leg pouch purely on instinct.

Her head spun from the impact of his punch. She inhaled sharply, struggling in his tight grasp, limbs flailing until she managed to shock him into dropping her. With teeth bared, she slammed the butt of the kunai into the masked man's face again and again and again – so many times that she couldn't count – before he passed out, blood oozing from the top of his head. She wasn't sure if he was dead or simply unconscious. And right now, she didn't really care. All that mattered to her now was survival, and he was going to hurt her family. She couldn't allow that.

"There's another one coming from behind, Emiko!" her mother screamed. "Quickly!"

And Emiko, stars still spinning in her mind, clumsily sprinted forwards. She barely noticed as her mother placed Aoi, her sister, down on the ground, pushing the two of them onwards, urging them to run, to flee, to escape.

"Take care," her mother said softly, a rare, beautiful, genuine, heart-achingly sad smile on her face. "Please protect her, Emiko," she whispered, and she nodded yet again, this time managing to weakly return the smile as confusion and desperation turned into determination. Emiko couldn't understand why she didn't smile more, because it made her look beautiful and her face glowed when she did so.

She felt a calloused hand on top of her head. Then as fleetingly as it came, the pressure disappeared, and her mother was suddenly fighting the ANBU behind them.

The forest came into sight and Emiko scooped Aoi into her arms and started running. "Please don't cry, Aoi-chan," she whispered. She pecked the girl's forehead and gave another weak smile.

What a strong girl, Emiko thought to herself. At only five years old, Aoi was becoming maybe even stronger than Emiko had been at that age. The young child's planetary eyes stared back into Emiko's ones, aware of what had happened but not willing to cause a fuss just yet – not when their lives were in danger. Aoi was remarkably, remarkably intelligent for her age.

Emiko ran. There was nothing else to do.

She knew that in the world of shinobi, this was what life was going to be like. Her father knew the risks of failure when he had plotted against the village. Her mother chose to sacrifice her life for them, but she had known the risks, and she wasn't a tonkubetsu jonin for no reason. Even Emiko, at the age of ten, knew that it would be an insult to waste the sacrifice.

Still, she knew that there was no way for the woman that they called their mother to leave the skirmish alive. Their mother was going to die.

But that was the way of the shinobi.

To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness. And she had lost both parents in the space of an hour. What did that make her?

"Were we the only ones to try and run?" Aoi whispered, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "Did anybody else escape?"

Emiko, truthfully, was not sure. She knew that all the children aged ten and under had been evacuated into the warehouses in the compound's underground systems. She knew that Deidara, the thirteen-year-old clan heir, was to look after these children. His blood had been deemed too precious to lose in the skirmish; if worst came to worst, Deidara would be able to escape and lead the Senshi children as the next head of the clan.

Among those twelve children, Emiko and Deidara were the only ninja. Nevertheless, Emiko still felt deeply inferior to the teenager. He had already been promoted to jounin, the youngest in the history of Iwagakure. Meanwhile, Emiko was simply a genin in the Explosion Corps.

"Shinobi Rule Number 25," she hissed to Aoi, unable to reply to the question. The lump in her throat burned and hot tears threatened to fall. "A shinobi must never show their tears." And she knew it - she did! It was just that the rules that she had memorised and recited over and over suddenly became meaningless when she was faced with something like this.

So what if she hiccupped here and there. So what if her eyes burned with tears. So what? she couldn't help but think.

Tree branches beat across her skin like whips. They were getting closer, steadily closer to another country's territory, where Iwagakure would no longer be able to try and hunt them without the ire of other villages – and everyone knew that nobody liked Iwagakure.

The ANBU behind them were far, far away now. Her mother had most likely died, but her children could - would - survive. All they needed was to run a little bit farther and they would be free. Free from everything.

"We're there."

Even though they were technically now in Kusagakure territory, Emiko did not stop running, motivated by pure, unadulterated fear. There was still the danger of bandits, and Emiko was in no shape to defend herself. Even worse, she was afraid that other shinobi would be present in the area.

Hours had passed, and the sky was already pitch dark. What had seemed like minutes to Emiko was in reality hours, and she was near the state of unconsciousness. She didn't even know when Aoi had fallen asleep. Her arms were shaking with the effort of holding her sister and her legs would have long collapsed under themselves if not for the chakra. It was lucky that she had been minimally injured by the ANBU.

"Let's stop here for tonight," she whispered to Aoi, even though she couldn't hear. She closed her eyes to look for the chakra signatures of other people in the vicinity; they were alone.

Emiko cradled her sister's body in her arms and held Aoi's head against her chest, tenderly stroking the wisps of dirty blonde hair. The rhythm of her slow breathing soothed Emiko a little. She took two soldier pills - the disgusting things - and popped them in her mouth, forcing herself to swallow. It took all her effort to maintain concentration and to keep watch until they could start moving again.

She was a fugitive.

Emiko wrinkled her nose in disgust. How disgraceful. Everyone knew that those who deserted the village were scum. She was scum.

As she closed her eyes, it felt so easy to pretend as if nothing was wrong. She would wake up the next morning and be back in Iwagakure. Her parents – her wonderful, wonderful parents – would be alive. She would be back with her comrades in the Explosion Corps. Everything would be fine.

But she knew that it wasn't.

Her lips trembled. Her clan had been disgraced. Everyone was most likely dead or going to die. Emiko herself was probably going to die. A painful sob threatened to tear through her body, but she stifled it, fearing that she would wake Aoi up.

At a loss as to what she should do, she took her Iwagakure forehead protector and lay it down on the floor before her. She took out a kunai. She didn't know how she managed to draw a straight line, considering the pounding of her heart and the tremulous shaking of her hands. But she did it.

It felt strangely easy. With that one simple movement, she had cast away her entire life. Her admittance of treachery was now permanently etched into the metal. It was over now. Her entire life as Senshi Emiko – as an Iwagakure shinobi – as a simple child was over – that much she knew.

A/N: I decided to rewrite the prologue because my ideas for this story have changed greatly! It's been a while since I last looked at this.

I realise that many people dislike this trope so here is my warning, without spoiling too much: Emiko and Aoi will go to Konoha and Emiko will be the same age as the Konoha 12. However, she will NOT join Team 7 etc.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could write a review with constructive criticism or your opinions on the chapter! Please keep in mind that this story is only a bit of fun for me; if you don't like it, you don't have to read it.