She blinks, tilting her head to the side, and furrowing her brows at the sun rays shining through the trees, because maybe it was just her, but they looked sort of… different, somehow.

She sighs and stands up, wiping off any dirt or twigs off of her clothes, before shoving her hands into her pockets and strolling further into the forest.

It was weird really. The fact that she had woken up in the middle of nowhere with no memory of how she had gotten there in the first place. And no matter how much she tried to remember, she just… couldn't. All of her memories of before she had woken up were lost to her which led her to believe that maybe she had lost her memory somehow. It was a dramatic notion all on its own, but what other explanation was there?

Lost in her thoughts, she doesn't notice how much time has passed until she's staring up at an orange stricken sky, the clouds floating by having changed their color from a white to a pastel pink. With no memory of where her home might be, she sighs longingly and picks a tree to rest at, but freezes when a flock of birds scatter from the trees in a panic. She somehow knows immediately why, much to her surprise, and her first thought is that she has to run, but she stands there frozen with fear instead.

A few leaves crunch beneath someone's footsteps and a woman's voice sounds afterwards. "You know, it isn't safe for little girls to be wandering around this late at night." She says.

The girl takes a shaky deep breath and turns around hesitantly, a small smile plastered onto her face. "I know." She says a bit too calmly, searching for where the voice could've come from. She spots a woman dressed in dark clothing and mesh leaning against a tree about three yards/ two meters away from her, staring at her with cold, gray eyes while twirling her already curly hair slowly.

The girl watches her for a few moments before taking a step back and then turning and walking back towards her decided resting area beneath a tree carefully. "Just taking a little rest and then I'll be off." She says, moving to sit down. The hairs on her neck suddenly stand up.

"I think it'd be better if you stayed with my group and I for a while, don't you?" The woman whispers, now standing by the girl's ear. "It would be safer. There are a lot of bad people roaming these woods, after all."

The girl's eyes widen. It shouldn't be possible for someone to move that fast, especially with barely a sound. She swallows, trying to hide the fear now threatening to creep into her voice. "Really, I'm fine. Thank you for the offer though." She starts to move towards the tree again only to feel something sharp and cold pressed against her neck making her go rigid.

"Oh, sweetie." The woman sighs. She snaps her fingers. "It wasn't an offer."

A wave of realization washes over the girl and almost as if it's instinct, she doesn't wait any longer and so she finally decides to duck away from both the blade and the woman and start running.

Everything is a blur and the girl knows that she's not running at the normal pace a human should be running at, but at this point she could honestly care less.

She's only been running for a few seconds when her head starts to throb. The pain is bearable at first, but the longer the girl runs the worst the pain gets. She twists her body to the side sharply, narrowly avoiding hitting a tree head on, before continuing down the unmarked path she's decided to head down. She doesn't know if the woman is following her and she'd rather not look back to find out. Just moving forward was becoming a difficult task and her strange, sudden headache wasn't helping her in the slightest.

Suddenly, something whizzes by the girl, cutting her right arm slightly, before hitting one of the trees ahead with a thud.

The girl glances at the object quickly, spotting a black dagger with a handle wrapped in bandages and a small ring attached to the end of it. At the end of it is a paper attached that is slowly catching fire.

She clutches her head in pain as a sudden barrage of images and voices cloud her mind.

:: :: ::

A man with a scar across his nose clears his throat and holds up a black dagger. "This here is called a kunai knife which can be used as either a defensive or offensive weapon" He then holds up a piece of paper. "And this is called a paper bomb. It-"

"Paper bomb?" Blurts a blonde-haired boy as he shoots up out of his seat. "That means it explodes right? Blow it up so we can see, y'know!"

"Yeah!" Agrees a dark-haired boy as he also jumps out of his seat, the puppy atop his head barking in agreement. "Blow it up!"

The man's eye twitches as the two continue blabbering. "Quiet!" He yells, causing the two boys to freeze. He sighs. "If you guys would have listened, you would've heard me about to tell you that it has the power to destroy this entire room and that in order for me to show you how it works we would need to go outside, but SOME PEOPLE decided to interrupt." He says glaring at the blond-haired boy with three whisker- like marks on each of his cheeks and the black-haired boy with a single red fang- like mark on each of his cheeks, respectively.

The two boys look at each other and snicker as they return to their seats.

The man sighs again. "Anyway, in order to-"

:: :: ::

The paper bomb glows and then explodes, sending the girl tumbling through thickets of shrubs in the opposite direction of the explosion. Her back hits a tree, effectively stopping her, but also causing her to double over in another round of pain- one that was more physical than mental.

:: :: ::

A black-haired boy narrows his eyes and throws two kunai knives towards each of the two trees on both the left and right behind the man standing in front of him, taking in consideration of the large boulder directly behind said man.

"Missed." The man cackles, pulling his own set of kunai knives out. "Didn't they teach anything to you kids back in the academy?"

The boy smirks and quickly pulls the wires in his hands, that are attached to the two kunai knives, and traps the enemy against the rock with the wires. "Didn't they teach you to never underestimate your opponent?"

:: :: ::

The girl clutches her head in pain as more images continue flooding her head. Only one thing makes even a shred of sense in that moment. That the images and voices were memories. They had to be.

"You know, it would've been easier had you just listened to me, dear." Laughs the woman. "I will admit I was at first a bit surprised when you up and ran away from me. I wasn't expected you to be so bold." She notes, pointing towards the girl. She waves her hand to the side in a bored manner. "But you don't seem to emit any levels worth acknowledging which makes this a whole lot easier." She smirks, nodding her head in the girl's direction. "Get her."

The girl peeks up from between her arms just as a man dressed in similar clothing to the woman- but with a loose, swaying black cloth covering the lower part of his face- jumps down from his perch on a branch and makes his way towards her, kunai knife in his hand. She covers her face again, both from the pain and from the man, even though she knows that it won't do much to help her. She starts pushing herself back with her feet in a desperate attempt to distance herself from the the approaching man only to come back-to-back with the tree she had crashed against. She further buries her face in her arms, the pain in her head still not subsiding completely but instead lessening to a dull and achy throbbing. "Stay away." She pleads, voice quavering, and tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Please."

She was going to die. She somehow knew that. No one ever said she was going to, and these people never really said they'd kill her, but she knew they didn't have kind intentions in mind either. She was going to die without even knowing why she was living in the first place. What a way to go out.

The woman smiles. "What was that?"

The man stops and crouches in front of her. "Get up." He says, eyes boring down on her. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be."

The girl watches as her tears fall to the ground. She could tell that the man was trying to sound nice… sort of. Knife, chasing, and bomb aside, if they had really wanted to kill her, wouldn't they have done so already? So, what were they waiting for?

She shuts her eyes and bites her lip in frustration, further burrowing her head in her arms, her left hand reaching over and pressing against her right upper arm. She presses her hand around the area tighter as the warm liquid seeps between her fingers. She almost forgot that her arm was bleeding. Almost.

"The faster the better, Katashi!" Barks the woman, clearly fed up. "The price will already go down with that wound you gave her, don't mess this up any further!"

Pain shoots through the left side of the girl's head at the name 'Katashi' and for a split second an image of a man with silver hair appears, but it disappears just as quick as it came. The pain, however, remains.

The man curses beneath his breath and narrows his eyes at the girl in annoyance. "I said, get up." He hisses, any hint of kindness in his voice now gone.

The girl just barely hears him through the searing pain bouncing around within her skull. She clenches her jaw, her hands now balled into fists and pressed against each side of her head.

The pain doesn't let up, and the woman continues yelling much to the man's irritation and so he starts reaching for the girl's wrist.

The girl shrinks further into herself. She just wants it all to stop. The pain, the people, all of it. And in that moment she doesn't care how.

And so she snaps.

"I said stay away!" She cries out, burying herself in her knees, her hands clenching her head in frustration, pain, and fear.

It all happens so fast. They don't have time to react properly and by the time they realize what has happened, it's already far too late to do anything.

And the girl? She has no idea of what she's done. At least, not until she hears them screaming, telling her to stop, begging her to even. That's when she decides to glance up, to spare a hesitant look from beneath her arms.

She regrets it almost immediately.

A large wall of earth, having been ripped up out of the ground, pushes forward and destroys anything and everything in its path.

From her position, she only sees the flat side of the wall- save for all the plant roots and other organisms sticking out of it. She doesn't see the deadly spikes on the other side piercing almost everything that comes into contact with it.

The girl turns her head around frantically, searching for whoever had done it, but she spots no one else in sight.

"H- how?" Sputters the woman's voice.

The girl flinches and searches around for where the woman's voice is coming from. She spots her in the distance, face down in the dirt, and blood dripping down her forehead. "How… how what?" The girl asks hesitantly, but she doesn't move. She's terrified. Terrified because she was going to witness someone die right before her eyes. Despite them attempting, and partially succeeding, in harming her, she wouldn't wish death upon them. Maybe a punishment, but death? Not a chance.

"You barely had any chakra before!" The woman shouts as she lifts her head off the ground, blood dripping down her chin. "We detected almost nothing until now and then you go and pull a jutsu like that?! Completely wiping us out?!" The woman starts coughing up heaps off blood much to the girl's horror who covers her own mouth and looks away to keep from gagging just as her head in sent into another wave of pain, various new memories rushing through.

:: :: ::

The two components of chakra: physical energy and spiritual energy.

…..

Chakra has become a form of life energy that all individuals produce to some degree, meaning that those who run out of chakra will die.

…..

It's produced within the "chakra coils" that mainly surround and connect to each chakra-producing organ, the energy circulates throughout the body in a network called the "Chakra Pathway System", which is similar to the cardiovascular system.

…..

Certain groups, such as shinobi, have learned to generate more chakra and release it outside their bodies through pressure points called tenketsu in order to perform jutsu.

…..

Chakra is created when two other forms of energy, known collectively as one's stamina, are moulded together. Physical energy is collected from each and every one of the body's cells and can be increased through training, stimulants, and exercise. Spiritual energy is derived from the mind's consciousness and can be increased through studying, meditation, and experience.

:: :: ::

The girl clutches her head tightly as the pain continues.

:: :: ::

Jutsu are the mystical arts that a ninja may utilize in battle.

…..

To use a technique, the ninja will need to use their chakra.

…..

To perform a technique, the ninja will bring out and release the two energies of chakra.

…..

There are three basic types of techniques: ninjutsu,genjutsu and taijutsu.

:: :: ::

The woman tries and fails to lift herself up, settling with the notion to just turn over onto her back as she stares blankly up at the darkening sky. "And here… here we thought you were just… a regular civilian." Mutters the woman, out of breath from just flipping her self over. She starts chuckling to herself.

The girl tenses and stares up at the woman in shock, the pain in her head, while not completely subsiding, becoming the least of her worries with this new implication. "Are you implying that… that I did this… ?" She murmurs, eyes widened in disbelief.

The woman begins laughing hysterically. "Do you need me to make it more obvious?!" She cackles, coughing up another heap of blood shortly afterwards. She gestures to her own blood on the ground. "Well, I suppose that helps answer your question."

The sudden realization hits her and the girl gags and doubles over, emptying whatever contents she has in her stomach, which isn't that much to begin with. She covers her mouth to keep from throwing up again and glances back at the woman, her eyes wide with panic. "You're lying!" Her throat is raw and dry as she speaks, the words leaving her lips coming out in hoarse rasps. "You have to be… there's no way I did this… I don't even know how to… " She says, sparing another glance at the carnage around her. "And even if I did, I'd never… I'd never do this… " One hand clenches the dirt beneath her fingers and the other is pressed against the girl's forehead as her eyes are now on the ground, widened in both disbelief and fear. "You're lying… you have to be."

The woman only stares at her, her eyebrows knitting together as she begins to realize what's happening. But she says nothing concerning it though. "Do you see anyone else around you?" She asks in a surprisingly gentle voice, turning her head back upwards. Why would she say anything, anyway? There wasn't anything she could do even if she wanted to. "I mean, besides you, everyone else… everyone else is dead." She blinks slowly and stares up at the sky that looks a little too bright in her eyes. She knows why. "And it seems… that I'll be joining them too… "

The girl watches in horror as the woman's eyes flutter close and her head falls to the side slowly. She leans back against the tree trunk harshly and buries her head in her hands, one hand pressed against her chest as her breathing becomes ragged. "No- this… this isn't happening- this isn't real- " She chokes out, fresh tears streaking her cheeks. "Make it stop… just make it all stop… it's not real… "

She doesn't hear the pair of footsteps heading towards her slowly, nor does she feel their presence. Even when the pair stops and checks the surrounding mess before walking again, she's too deep in her mental breakdown to notice. She only notices when their voice calls out to her. "Hey, are… are you okay?"

Her head snaps up in fear and she instinctively backs herself further against the tree, shielding herself with her arms.

"No, I'm not going to hurt you!" They reassure, kneeling down in front of her. They try and peek at the girls face to get a better look at her condition only to move back and sit patiently. "I promise I won't hurt you." They reiterate, taking notice of the blood covering one of her raised hands. "And I don't break promises."

The girl opens her eyes and stares down at the ground, hesitantly looking upwards towards the voice who was, for some reason, being so kind to her despite them both being surrounded by corpses that apparently she was responsible for.

She blinks away the cloudiness in her eyes and stares up at the boy's watching her with a concerned look on his face. The pain in her head, having become a dull feeling at the moment, slowly gets stronger as she notices the bright orange clothing on him, the blonde hair atop his head, and his blue, curious eyes. When she finally sees the three whisker-like marks on each of his cheeks, she cries out as her head erupts in a new wave of pain, one that's far stronger than the previous ones.

:: :: ::

A boy dressed in an orange jumpsuit grins proudly. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like instant ramen in a cup, and I really like the ramen Iruka Sensei got me at the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, but I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the water in the ramen cup." He chuckles, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them, and my future dream is to become the greatest Hokage!" He says, pointing behind him towards the massive stone wall with four faces carved into it. "That way the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody." He points his thumb to his chest. "Somebody important!"

…..

"I'm not gonna run away, I never go back on my word! That's my nindo: my ninja way!"

…..

Naruto slams his hand down on the desk. "Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run!" He points at the large, burly man covered in scars at the front of the room. "You can act tough all you want! You're not gonna scare me off! No way!" He then slams both hands on the desk. "I don't care if I DO get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life! I'll still be Hokage someday!"

:: :: ::

The boy leans forward, panicked as the girl clutches her head in pain. "Hey, what happened? Did you hit your head or something?"

:: :: ::

Red chakra.

…..

An old man closes his eyes and lets out a drag from his pipe. "He holds the spirit of the nine tailed fox within him."

…..

A little boy pulls his friends away from the playground where a small blonde haired boy sits on the swing. "Get away from him!" He warns his friends. "He's the demon kid my mom told me about!"

…..

The young boy stares up at the old man, a clear sadness in his eyes. "Why don't I have a mom and dad?" He asks.

:: :: ::

Another pair of footsteps approaches the two, these in a much more rapid pace. "Naruto, what did I say about running off like that?! We're supposed to be heading back to the village!"

Naruto only points down at the girl. "Uh, pervy sage?"

The girl cries out again as her head erupts in another wave of pain.

:: :: ::

A man with spiky white hair, red lines under his eyes, and a large scroll carried against his back…

…..

"Yo! I'm Jiraiya! You can send me the love letter later!" He says winking at his teammate.

…..

His teammate clenches her fist before punching him and sending him flying across the clearing. "No way you perv!"

…..

"When people get hurt, they learn to hate… when people hurt others, they become hated and racked with guilt. But knowing that pain allows people to be kind. Pain allows people to grow… and how you grow is up to you." He says, smiling at the boy beside him.

…..

"I'm not a pervert… I'm a super pervert!" He says grinning.

…..

"The most important thing for a shinobi is the spirit and the will to never give up!"

:: :: ::

"Make it stop!" She screams, pulling at her hair, the hot tears in her eyes having spilled over and already replaced with new ones. The memories continue flooding through her head one after the other, sharp stabs off pain accompanying each one. She glances up at the newcomer hesitantly and immediately wishes she hadn't as the pain gets worse. It felt like her head would split in half if it went on any longer. Sure, she wanted her memories back, but at what cost? Anymore of it and she knew she'd likely get permanent brain damage before ever learning the truth.

And then suddenly she becomes light-headed. Everything is spinning and the two people in front of her start merging into one somehow and she knows that it's not possible. But the pain finally leaving her body as she falls unconscious tells her otherwise and she welcomes the relief that's replacing the pain. She's grateful for it really, even when her line of vision slowly slips into darkness.

::

Jiraiya watches as the girl falls to the side and passes out, the boy catching her and laying her down carefully before she hits the ground. He narrows his eyes and takes another look around him, not missing the countless number of lifeless bodies strung about the area. He turns back and crosses his arms at the blonde- haired boy. "Naruto, what happened?"

Naruto turns around and waves his hands in front of him defensively. "It wasn't me, I swear!" His gaze drops to the ground. "I just- I got here and she was crying." He doesn't mention the bodies, knowing already that Jiraiya is well aware of them. "When I asked her if she was okay, she just looked at me and then started clutching her head like she was in pain."

Jiraiya nods his head, stroking his chin in thought. "She reacted the same way when she saw me, right?"

Naruto glances up thought. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure." He turns back to Jiraiya. "Why do you think happened? I mean… look at this place... " He says gesturing to the large dirt wall in the distance, the destroyed landscape, and the bodies. He turns back to the girl with concern and then down at his hand that's now coated with her blood- from when he helped her down- before pulling out a clean cloth and wrapping her injured arm with it. He turns back to Jiraiya, waiting for his response.

Jiraiya doesn't reply. He only bites his thumb and thrusts his palm onto the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" A puff of smoke appears and soon clears to reveal a large orange toad.

The toad waves his webbed- hand and smiles. "Hey! What's up guys?" He says.

Naruto blinks. "Gamakichi?!" He shrieks. "You've gotten so huge!"

The toad laughs. "So have you Naruto! I almost didn't recognize ya!"

Jiraiya furrows his brows in annoyance. "Alright." He says in a strict tone. "Enough Chit-Chat. This isn't the time or place for a reunion." He turns to the toad. "Now, Gamakichi, I need you to help carry the girl over there until we get to the next town over. We need some answers and I think it'd be better if we didn't stay in this area." He says, sparing another glance around before walking ahead towards the path they had originally come from.

Gamakichi nods his head. "Got it boss." He says hoisting the unconscious girl up on his back and following after.

Naruto pushes himself up and follows after, quickly jogging up to Jiraiya's side before returning to a normal pace. "Wait, so she's coming with us?" He asks.

"Well, we can't just leave her here with all these dead bodies." Gamakichi replies, having taken in the surrounding mess.

Jiraiya sighs. "That's one reason... " He doesn't miss the gaped mouth of the body to his right and the way the eyed are widened in shock, but he doesn't comment on it. Instead, he looks ahead and puts on his best smile. "Anyway, let's go! The sooner we move, the sooner we get back the village!" He cheers. "Those three years sure flew by quickly didn't they?"


First chapter done!

For re-readers- if there are any- yes, this is edited. Yes, there are some changes. Yes, it is longer. WAY longer. And yes, the story did get a bit more… uh… darker? I just starting rewriting everything and the next thing I knew the story took a turn for the darker side, y'know. *shrugs shoulders* Oh well.

Also, sorry if the characters are a bit OOC. I try my best to make sure they act the way they are, if that makes sense, but I can mess up so I apologize if they act out of character. The only character I can make sure isn't out of character is my own OC, but even then I'll probably somehow mess up so badly that even she seems out of character. Tell me if something doesn't seem right and I'll try and correct it.

Oh, and yes, the story takes place after the approximate three year gap in Naruto, so basically right at the start of Shippuden!

Other than that,

Thank you to those that read, reviewed, followed, favorited, or just took the time to just check this out!

Thanks for reading!