Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release.
As Bird was rushing home from his latest mission, sweat fusing his skin and mask together, he sensed something to be amiss within his surroundings. "Tch," he hissed, his wish of everything running smoothly until he and his team could finally return to Konoha. He signaled the three other shinobi to stop running through the trees.
"Nezumi, what do you hear?" Bird asked, waiting for Mouse to complete the given task with the use of his kikaichu colony. Mouse reached out, receiving the information the kikaichu collected. "There is a weak chakra signature that is present here, slightly stronger about a kilometer north-west of here, and the signature is stationary. My guess, someone ran through here not too long ago and given how sporadic and uneven the residual chakra signature is, the person of interest is hurt or weak. The information from my friends could not determine whether or not this unknown entity is a ninja or not."
"Tori-Senchou, this seems strange. Just because it appears weak does not necessarily make it so, especially since Nezumi can't sense it right. It could be a trap," muttered Horse lazily. Bird seemed to ponder that idea. A kilometer north-west…that is too close to Konoha for my liking. Maybe he is right and it is a trap… "Uma-"
"Well, we will never know until we check it out, right? So let's go see for ourselves if it is a trap. And would it be a trap for this ANBU team anyway?" Snake asks with an arrogant tone in his voice, practically seeing the cocky grin that is hiding behind his mask. The rest of the team sighs as Snake runs towards the area Mouse designated.
"Tch, why doesn't that stupid Hebi ever listen? And why did he have to be put into my squad…" Bird mutters as the rest of the ANBU team goes and follows Snake.
The ANBU team ran towards the chakra signature. Strange, this chakra…it…it almost seems familiar…foreign yet familiar…what…who could it be…thought Bird. Once the team was about thirty meters away from the target, it reacted as if it sensed them, running away as fast as it possibly can (which it was not fast at all, particularly when compared to Bird's superior ANBU team thankyouverymuch), and when the stranger ran about ten meters from its original location, the chakra signature was suddenly suspended into the air, staying that way.
Once the team finally reached the signature, they realized why it was suspended, whatever it was – the net of a poacher's trap was hanging within the trees, and the first thought that came to Bird's mind was how poaching, especially so close to Konoha's walls was illegal. His second thought was the internal musings of a young genius trying to decipher what, who could possibly be in the net. From the trap, there was something that spilled out from the bottom of the net…something that looked a lot like blood.
The ANBU team split up around the trap in order to gather information: Horse noted that the thing that looked like blood was just in fact hair, the color a little too blood red. Mouse confirms that this is the chakra signature that he felt earlier, and finally discerns that if this person was not in fact a ninja (and wondering why his kikaichu had such a problem in figuring that out. Could the buzz from their high caused by the extreme chakra intake really affect their present sensing capabilities? He must study this puzzling thought), that there was a lot of raw potential that if trained, could make a powerful ally or a formidable foe. Bird activated his Byakugan, making note of the chakra coils, agreeing with Mouse. Bird also notices large, strong chakra coils around the eyes, deducing that this being has a doujutsu kekki genkai, one that has similar coils as the Byakugan. Snake notes that the being is indeed a female that is in serious need of immediate medical attention. As Mouse and Horse start to undo the net, Snake started to reach for the face of the young woman trapped in the net he found through the leaves, trying to see if he can obtain consciousness from the girl.
Right as Snake's fingers are about to touch the being's face, a pair of white eyes flash open, startling Snake enough to take a step back, a puzzled look on his face to match his stance. "Who…wha…?" he mutters questioningly. "Senchou, come look at this here."
Bird walks towards Snake, wondering what could surprise such a ninja as Snake.
"I swear Hebi, if this isn't as strange as you made it out to be, I think an early appointment for Ibiki is definitely in your future."
"Well then I guess I will never need to see Ibiki ever again, because this is plenty strange for you Senchou."
Snake moved out of the way once Bird appeared behind him, the rest of the team gathering around as well. Despite the thick humidity of the surrounding forest, Bird suddenly felt cold, chills continuously running up and down his spine. He noticed the slightly gaunt looking face, the dark circles marring her pale skin, but what he most definitely noticed was staring right back at him.
Eyes.
White eyes.
"Do you think she is a Hyuuga, Tori-Senchou?" Mouse inquired.
"Are you kidding? Who has ever heard of a red headed Hyuuga before?" Snake stated. Bird could not figure out if Snake was being sarcastic or not from the tome of his voice, but Bird did secretly agree with Snake. Red hair on a Hyuuga is kind of unthinkable, and just downright weird and creepy. But on her…it was not too bad.
"Are you trying to be funny or are you just stupid?" Horse queried. "Anyway, there is a chance that these eyes were stolen from a Hyuuga. Do you know of any main branch Hyuugas that went missing or were killed during missions, Tori-Senchou? Any with their eyes removed?" Horse asked in an interrogating manner.
Stolen eyes?! Yes, stolen eyes make the most sense in this case. Who would dare steal eyes from a Hyuuga…well, there is always Cloud, with whom we are at war with since the incident…what, fourteen…almost fifteen years ago-
Bird's own white eyes widened at the thought. Could it be, could it possibly be…her?
Bird did not realize that he spoke aloud.
"Who could it be? Who is 'her'?" Horse questioned intensely, noting the severity of the situation (between the girl – Hyuuga or not – needing medical attention and speaking of possible sensitive information in technically 'enemy' territory).
"…Hinata…sama…?"
A/N: i really do NOT need to start a new story right now, but this one has been playing in my head for a while (although the original idea was totally different, but it was still hinacentered and itahina with some nejihina) while I was writing the outline, the ideas were not correctly communicating with the Word Document, and I wanted to start writing it to help with that and to see how my writing has changed (it was beyond atrocious when I was younger. Gomen) I want to write a little more of the outline, so this is not going to be updated on a weekly basis or anything. But I thought I would test the waters with this idea for now (against my better judgement. Since I will not be on top of this all the time, there is a fantastic chance for plagiarism.) Plus I am going into my sophomore year of college so I will have no time to write come September. :c
I am trying my knack at Naruto^^ this is my first Naruto story X3 hopefully I can work through it well, as do not watch/read it much. Ah well, it just means more research for me, which is honestly half the fun XD. (Speaking of my "research," -which I didn't do thankyouverymuch- I do not know if there are many different animal masks in ANBU aside from the standard cat one, but I DO know Itachi was a weasel -pffft- so I will just go along with that process. Any ANBU of the Konoha twelve will either be ironic or fits in with their actual personality.
If there are any factual mistakes (like if I made Sasuke's favorite food chocolate cake where in fact he hates sweets) do not hesitate to let me know.
But if it is something about characters being OOC, that is really just part of the story, and I can't make them any more IC, because it will disrupt the flow. Plus, this story takes on many key points in Naruto as they do not exist. Many of these events shape how the characters are. If these events do not happen, then the ripple effect of other factors and events that stemmed from that do not exist either.
I am presently playing around with the title/summary, so forgive any sudden changes in either.
Please Review. Critiques welcomed, flames are not. Thank you/ Debbie