Author's Note: I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters except for the OCs. 'Tis my first time writing a Naruto fic, so go ahead and criticize all you wish. Makes me a better writer. So, for those who have read my other stories, why have I started writing again? Personal reasons

Chapter 1:

The soft wind rustled the lazy leaves, lifting them up in the sky, picking some dust off the ground, making the leaves float in the air for a few seconds before crashing down. It had been a dull day for the guards at the Konoha gates. They were so bored they were noticing how the wind picked up the leaves. Their boredom, however, ceased to exist as a stranger walked closer in sight. The stranger wore a black cloak, which covered all of his features, including his face. He held no headband in sight, or any other means of identification. The shinobi guards merely waited as he got closer to the gate, to see if he had any sort of symbol, but nothing was seen. The only thing that could be heard was his footsteps, slow and steady, in addition to the wind's sound. Intrigued by the shinobi, one of the shinobi spoke up.

"Hey, wait up!" shouted one of the shinobi. He wore the standard Konoha shinobi green outfit, in addition to his headband on forehead, displaying his alliance to Konoha. His curly hair rustled by the wind. However, the moment the shinobi shouted, the stranger stopped in his tracks, and with his stopping, so came the stopping of the wind. The other guard noticed this, and tensed a bit. The interrogating shinobi, however, didn't. The guard started speaking, "We are going to need some identification-" but was stopped midsentence, for some strange reason. This caught the other guard's attention as he moved closer, but only managed to notice the incoming shadow from the shinobi's own shadow. A Nara? He thought, as it was too late, and his shadow had mixed with the cloaked shinobi's. Both of the guards' body moved forcibly to stand like the shinobi, with their hands in their pocket, and head tilted a bit forwards so the cloak could cover the shinobi's face. Then, all three shinobi rose their hands, as the cloaked shinobi lifted his index finger, and placed it sideways against his lips, making a gesture for the shinobi to be quiet. TheKagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Bind Technique) had been successful, but was it the Kagemane?

"How are you doing this? Kagemane requires hand seals," said one of the guards, his speech a little slurred from the finger against his lips. The moment the guard spoke, all of three were looking through their pockets, and while the shinobi pulled two kunais, the others didn't. Then, the kunai began glowing, blue chakra covering them completely. With that, the kunais were thrown, not at the shinobi, but strangely at the ground. Just before they kunai struck the ground, the Kagemane was released, and the stranger's shadow receded to its original state. With that, the guards attempted to move but noticed they remained bound.

"The blue glow on the kunai comes from my chakra, which was imbued in them. It acts as part of my shadow chakra," he said, as he pointed to where the kunai had struck, which had been the place were each of the guards's shadow was located. "I believe Shikamaru called it the Kagemane Shuriken no Jutsu (Shadow Bind Shuriken Technique)." One of the guards's eyes widened.

"Shikamaru Nara? Then you are a Nara!" exclaimed the guard, leading to a small clap by the stranger. With that, a single hand seal was formed, and two thin shadow tendrils rose from the ground, and went straight towards the guards's neck, pressing hard against a spot on each guards's neck. The guards did not last long, as the tendrils were pressing against the carotid artery, leading to quick incapacitation.

"Kage Nui(Shadow Sewing) does the job rather well," responded the stranger and with that, he entered Konoha.

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A dull night ruled over Konoha, with the moon's hazy glow cast on the city. It seemed as if everyone was sleeping, under the moonlight's relaxing spell. It all seemed so quiet and peaceful, but as everything in the shinobi world, this would not last. A large explosion rid Konoha of the golden silence of the night, as the fire from the explosion started spreading. The building from which the explosion came from had been mostly destroyed, with only a few parts of the walls remained, and the rest consumed by the fire and smoke. Using the smoke as a cover, three figures came out of the building. The taller one had white wavy hair, which came down to his upper back. His eyes were cold blue, with a slight icy-texture to them, which contrasted with his tanned skin. He wore a sleeveless white shirt, with beige pants. The figure to his right had a more slender body, with long, silky black hair that reached her mid back. She wore long black pants that matched her hair. She had a well-sized bust, which gave away her gender, if the feminine figure had not done it already. Her face, however, was blocked from sight by a white mask. In addition to the mask, she also wore a big white shirt, that too big for size-wise, though the sleeves were just the right side. To the left of the tanned man, a younger male stood, with short curly hair. He wore dark blue Shaolin monk robes, in addition to off-white eyes.

"Let's go before the ANBU show up. Not that we couldn't handle them, but we don't need the trouble," said the tanned man, taking command of the group. They all nodded as they started running but stopped as they saw a figure standing under the light of a streetlight. It was a cloaked figure, with the hood down. He had brown eyes, with brown hair that flowed down to the edges of his face from his head. The tanned man growled, but then grinned. "Kuro Nara," said the tanned man, looking at the cloaked man.

"Should we take him down, Kai-sensei?" asked the young male towards the tanned man, but he shook his head.

"I'll take this one, you two flee," he commanded, keeping his stare at Kuro. They nodded as they jumped to one side, Kuro making no move in response. "Not going to chase them? Play the hero, and all?"

"I'm not a hero, Kai. I'm a shinobi, following my own personal agenda," he responded, and Kai laughed.

"As you wish, but if you follow me, I'll have to kill you" said Kai, and with that he jumped towards a roof top, and started running away. Kuro was on the move, and chased after him, from roof to roof top. He threw a shuriken, heading straight towards Kai. At this point, Kai stopped and pulled a kunai to block it. Kuro jumped towards the rooftop that Kai stood on. Kai merely grinned as he raised his palm, making it face Kuro, and shouted. "Chakura Bakuhatsu(Chakra Burst)!" he shouted as a blue burst of charka came from his palm, heading straight towards Kuro. The hit struck him, but he turned into a smoke, revealing the shuriken he had thrown earlier. Thus, appearing very close to Kai, Kuro's shadow extended towards Kai's. Kai jumped to one side, cursing the full moon's light as a burst of chakra came from his arm, which he had placed in front of him parallel to his body for defense, towards Kuro. Kuro jumped back, barely dodging the blast of chakra, as his shadow moved back with him, allowing for a quick slap from the tendril to Kai, sending him towards the ground, off the roof. Kai struck the ground and skidded, until he managed to recover, but Kuro was after him once more. Kuro's shadow extended quickly, rising from the ground in the form of tendrils with spikes at the tip, ready to pierce Kai but then, he vanished for a split second, re-appearing in front of Kuro.

"Shunshin no Jutsu(Body Flicker Technique)!" managed to utter Kuro as Kai appeared out of nowhere. Before Kai struck his face, his shadow moved up his body, similarly to the Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu(Shadow Neck Bind Technique), to the spot where Kai would strike. The hit was successful, and surprisingly, it sent straight Kuro into a wall. The wall cracked a bit, as Kuro made an imprint on the wall from the hit. The right side of his face was bleeding badly.

"How the hell is he living?" asked Kai to himself, noticing Kuro remained conscious, as well as alive.

"Gouwan(Strong Arm)?" said Kuro, slowly breathing, trying remove himself from the wall. Kai nodded.

"Like Tsunade-sama, which is why I'm troubled that you survived. No matter, let's finish this," he said as his fist glowed, accumulating chakra for finishing blow. With that, he ran towards Kuro. Kuro desperately tried to remove himself off the wall, but didn't manage to do it. His shadow tendrils rose in defense as Kai jumped to deal the final blow. However, before he could make contact, a blast of what seemed to be air came at full force, hitting Kai, sending Kai several yards away, his body skidding on the street again. Kuro turned to see who it was, and noticed a Hyuuga. It had been the work of Neji Hyuuga, and his Hakke Kuushou(Eight Divination Signs Air Palm). Using the momentum he gathered from the attack, Kai used his hands to jump in the sky. Then, from his back, long amounts of chakra burst out, but rather than disappearing, they remained tied to his being, and soon started taking form into large wings, which he used to achieve flight.

"Byakugan!" shouted Neji, as his Byakugan activated, and he stared at Kai flying in the air, laughing. He was partially shocked to discover how much chakra he possessed. It's more than Naruto during the Chuunin Exams and that shark man's amount combined thought Neji, as Kai flew away. With that, he turned to Kuro. He had seen Kai's attack, which was very similar to Sakura's fighting style. What he did not understand was why Kuro's skull wasn't broken, like everyhing else Sakura struck. The two stared at each other, but before either could speak, the ANBU appeared.

"We can take it from here," said one of the ANBU. Neji stared at Kuro for a moment, then nodded as he took his leave. No point in arguing with the ANBU, and with that, the ANBU stared at Kuro, who sighed as his tendril receded back to the ground.